Chapter 6 The Barest Minimum

• "What happened?How was he able to sleep with her?" Rita questioned with surprise laced in her voice as Eleanor gathered the clothes on the bed to wash them up then they wrapped Onida in new clothes before taking her out of the room.
• "What?! The master slept with the new slave?"Margaret screamed, turning to one of her juniors and the latter nodded.
• She was infuriated, pained and felt utterly useless. She had been waiting for the past five years after that dreadful night.
• She received lessons from the best courtesans on how to please a man, make him feel loved and satisfy them in bed in the most pleasurable way. She spent her whole savings on her bruised skin to take it back to its former glory. She did everything!
• And now? He slept with the new dirty slave who had probably not received any lessons all her life.
• "How did this happen?"She yelled, asking no one in particular.
• "They only heard her screams coming from his chambers and the guards probably assumed that he slept with her already"
• "You could have prevented this! Who took her to the room? How did she get inside? On whose command?"
• "The Old Rita took her there on the Master's command"
• "That old twerp!" She screamed and stormed out of the room to witness the scene herself.
• On getting there,she paused when she saw Old Rita and Eleanor walking out of his chambers with Onida’s arms draped over their shoulders as they carried her out of the room. It seemed she had passed out.
• Margaret’s eyes trailed down Onida’s leg and it was true, the Master had slept with her.
• "What happened?"She asked, not being able to control herself and Rita scoffed.
• "You can see,It's obvious"
• "How did this happen?"She queried,almost close to tears.
• "Let's go," Rita urged Eleanor as they both carried Onida carefully out of the room, whilst ignoring Margaret.
• •
• Azazel stood in front of his yard, staring at the little stars in the sky.
• He felt at ease, even if it would be for a short while before he went back to that creepy room.
• He could at least, live like a sane person for some minutes.
• Despite the pleasures the slave had given him, it wouldn't be a good choice for him to keep sleeping with her. Something like that must never happen again, Else, He would end up losing his mind.
• Adriel joined him moments later and stood behind his back, guarding him.
• "You can take a rest, Today was a long day for us" Azazel mumbled. After a while, Adriel joined him with a sigh.
• "Did you do it, Master?"He asked curiously and Azazel let out a nod.
• Adriel took a deep breath of relief and anxiety too.
• He was relieved because Azazel was able to sleep with another woman after five years but scared for Onida.
• He might send out an order for her to be killed the next morning. Azazel wouldn't want anyone to see his weak side and a new slave who was able to take him out of his celibate state could be his weakness if it continued.
• "What should I do with her?"
• "Let her be for now" Azazel muttered simply before walking into the room.
• The Next Morning.
• Azazel couldn't sleep all night,He kept on having nightmares and chills all over his body.
• He wrapped his trembling hands around his head and shivered like an infant. His chest rose up and down,Like an infant having a convulsion.
• He was in pain and he needed to hold on to something.
• Shrilling voices kept ringing in his head,The voice of a young lad, scared to death, begging for mercy as lashes landed on his back at intervals.
• It grew worse because his body craved for Onida so much. He craved for someone to hurt, break and ruin. His head was aching and his groans were getting so loud that one of the closest guards went to fetch Adriel so he could check up on him.
• Azazel insisted that he was fine so Adriel had no choice but to leave him.
• After taking a long bath, he walked out of the bathroom with a short silk wrapper around his waist. His upper body was naked, showing his well toned skin.
• His long wet hair fell over his shoulders to his lower back. He looked so ethereal.
• Who would ever think that such a young man who was fighting for his life hours ago could look this surreal and handsome?
• Margaret came to visit him that morning and the guards insisted on not letting her enter but as expected, she forced her way into the room.
• She sat patiently and waited for Azazel to be done with his bath. Shortly after, he entered the room.
• Her eyes trailed down his body as she stood up to her feet immediately lost staring at the beautiful man in front of her.
• "What are you doing here?"His cold voice snapped her out of her trance and she pressed her lips nervously.
• She didn't reply,Taking a few steps closer to Azazel, he chose to ignore and watch her display her shameless gestures.
• "I'm here to check up on you my king and perhaps, warm your bed this morning since the sun is just rising" She says,politely.
• Azazel upper lips twitched a little as he stared at her in a weird manner.
• "Leave"He ordered in a very low but audible tone.
• She withdrew her hands immediately. She hadn’t expected that.
• Margaret assumed that the King stopped his celibacy and probably would consider the rest of them to warm his bed.
• "I know you found your way into my room after fighting with the guards but I won’t repeat this again, Don't come to my room without my permission. This isn't your playground and the next time you do this, I won't hesitate to throw you to where you belong" He threatened and Margaret shivered immediately.
• His last words had a big impact on her, She doesn't want to hear them.
• "I will leave now" She mumbled in fear before fleeing from the room.
• FIVE DAYS LATER ~
• "She's awake"
• "Really?"Old Rita exclaimed in shock, staring at the guard she had assigned to guard her and he nodded.
• She entered the room in excitement while the guard followed her.
• Onida, who was still on the mat,kept on hearing inaudible voices around her. Her body is so heavy that she couldn't even lift a limb. She clenched her fist to the ground as if she was being chained and tears streamed down her face with her eyes shut.
• It was just too much to handle, Her body wasn’t used to such animalistic torture yet.
• Her body couldn't take it anymore as she slipped into her unconscious state again.
• Old Rita knelt beside her and ordered the guard to excuse them. She dragged down the fabric on Onida, revealing her naked body and sighed as she stared at the little prints of blood on the mat, showing that the bleeding hadn’t stopped even though it had reduced drastically.
• She lifted her thighs up and cleaned the blood carefully.
• "Can you just snap out of your sleep and tell me how you changed Azazel's heart?" Rita whispered, rubbing Onida’s pale face with the turmeric cream.
• She took the bowl of water with the wet clothes and walked out of the room with a sad look on her face.