The Fall of Vequera

Chapter sixteen | Nikolai

TW MENTIONS OF: SEX WORK INVOLVING MINORS, SEXUAL ASSAULT, ABUSE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE TOWARD MINORS, FORCED SEX WORK, PEDOPHILIA, BLACKMAIL, MURDER

LOCATION: ARCADIOS, VEQUERA - AMASHA, VEQUERA

YEAR: 620 C.E

AMASHA SHOULD NOT EXIST.

It was a filthy city. Filled with filthy lords who took a piece of anything and anyone that they could get their hands on. Human or not. Child or not. There was a total of seven pleasure houses in Amasha and the seventh is where they kept the orphan children. Some were abandoned by their parents, some were sold, and others were kidnapped for profit. None would see the outside after they stepped foot inside those walls. Unless... they were bought by the highest bidder. And Sadira had been there for more than eleven years. His mother's whisper had told him. It was night when he finally arrived in Amasha with two royal guards.

With the permission of the Queen, he left Arcadios. She knew exactly why he was there and what he planned to do but she didn't care to stop him.

"Ser Fredrick make sure no one enters and no one leaves," Nikolai commanded the knight standing next to him and Ser Samuel walked into the pleasure house with him.

It was nothing as he expected. Torches lined the walls of the establishment. There was a long hall leading up to the main room. A few lowborn lords laughed around a table with ale in their hands. Nikolai's face fell but not for the reason it normally would. There was a little girl on the ground on her hands and knees right next to Lord Arik Llewelyn. None of them noticed him for longer than a moment and when they did, the color drained from their faces.

"Your highness, w-what are you doing here?" Lord Llewelyn stuttered as he met Nikolai's cold eyes.

Nikolai suppressed a chuckle, but a smile escaped from his lips. "I am here for a girl. Her name is Sadira Strong. I was told she would be here." He moved his arms behind his back. He studied every man in that room. Remembering all of their faces if they opposed him and his demands. The girl looked no more than ten years old. She looked up at Nikolai with pleading eyes. Bruises covered her neck and face.

"Strong? That Bartel's girl."

Nikolai's brows lifted in surprise. Bartel frequented here. A highborn lord seen here with these lowlifes could ruin his reputation with the crown or even the commoners if they knew. These men's preferences were not allowed. Not with Koridar sniffing around. He was always watching. Just like the Queen, the Koridar had whispers everywhere. "I'll buy her from him then." Nikolai knew Lord Bartel had helped Dawson get his position at the palace. He sponsored him.

He laughed at the thought. He beckoned for Ser Samuel from behind him and he handed a pouch and threw it on the table. "Eight hundred slivers. That should be enough." The men laughed as Lord Llewelyn pulled the strings of the pouch and peeked inside before a smile lined his face.

"Do as you wish, your highness. This is more than enough." Lord Llewelyn, a man no older than thirty laughed.

"She is down the hall on your right. The last door." Lord Llewelyn lifted his hand and pointed to the right.