There was darkness. Voices. Dreams, dark and murky. Fear, pain. So much pain.

Inayah opened her eyes, but the light hurt. She winced and tried to move. She could not. She was in a room, bright and open. She saw Mathilde come into view.

Her first reflex was resistance, struggling to relieve herself of the chains and shackles that bore her to the bed. But her body seemed to have a mind of its own, completely slack and hot and in pain. Only her mind seemed hyper-aware of their enemy.

Mathilde's cheek was wrapped in gauze, and she walked with a limp towards the bed. Her eyes held darkness equal to Salem's and hate, so much hate.

"There you are, child. Why'd you go and do such a horrible thing? Master has just been beside himself, he almost lost himself completely. It's such a shame what you did to him. I'd half a mind to let you pass on in your fever dreams, but he demanded I help you heal. I did, but I didn't like it, not one bit! Your burn is better there is no bone showing anymore, that's healed over. No more than you deserve if you ask me..."

"I didn't ask you," Inayah croaked. "Get away from me, let me die."

Her hand rose, "You spoiled little bi-"

"Mathilde, has she woken?"

"She is awake master, but not yet out of danger. I was about to get her some water."

Salem appeared in her view. He had shaved and his hair trimmed, but he still looked tired. "You will not die, Inayah," he demanded.

"I will if I have anything to say about it."

"You do not," he said, lifting the bandages to look at the burn. He smirked at her. "Do you know what it is?"

"A burn," she answered dully.

He snorted. "No longer the biddable, sweet girl. No. It is my initials. You will never be able to go anywhere without everyone knowing you are MY slave. Not just any slave, but mine. Not my brothers, not any other man's."

"Who are you?"

"I am death, Inayah. The oldest of my three brothers who deal in slavery and the slave trade. Kade is the master charmer who works down at the port overseeing all the human cargo that is inbound and outbound. And Lycus-" Salem's mouth shifted in a sadistic smile, "your prince charming is a slave hunter. He is paid ransoms to capture royalty and people of high statuses for the slave trade. Together we have created the largest slave trade company known... but the problem with working with blood is rivalry..." a sigh as he drags a wistful finger over her gauzed breast, "you had to ruin it by whoring around with my brothers, didn't you?"

"I'm not a whore. You can tell yourself whatever you like, but you forced yourself on me before I gave you what you wanted so that you wouldn't take it and hurt me in the process. Self-preservation is not whoring. And I have been with one man in my whole life, the man who raped me and tortured me and made me do horrible things. The only thing worse than you is your servant, your female servant, thinking it is ok for you to do those things to girls and making excuses for you. You are disgusting and a monster, but she is worse."

"Silence, Inayah," Salem hissed. He put a hand to her head, her chest. "Once her fever is down. Let me know. I will begin her punishments."

Salem left, and Mathilde sidled up to her with an angry scowl. She slapped Inayah as hard as she could, then did it again and again. "You little bitch! I hope he tortures you for a decade!"

"Truth hurt, Mathilde?" Inayah asked, turning back to the woman calmly. "You are an abomination. I hope you live to see your hateful life ruined, have your own deeds turned back on you tenfold. I will make it my life's mission."

"You won't be getting unbound till I am long dead."

"I will, and once that happens I will come for you first."

"He'll kill you before that happens. You and that bastard brother of his."

Inayah gave her a dark smile. "We will see, won't we?"

It was two days before Salem returned after Mathilde told him her fever was gone. He scowled down at her. "Who has been hitting her?" he demanded.

Inayah turned her innocent gaze on his slave. "Mathilde has been beating on me this whole time, telling me I am not good enough for her master and demanding I just die."

Salem spun to Mathilde, who stepped back, wide-eyed. "Master, the things she would say about you! I couldn't let her just say them!"

"I told you no one lays a hand on her but me!" he screamed, and the woman flinched back.

Salem turned back to Inayah, his nostrils flaring. He unfastened all of her cuffs, then yanked her up by her hair. She immediately went to her knees, her legs too weak to hold her yet. He yanked her up and carried her like a sack around her waist. He brought her back to his room, which surprised her.

He took her to a small cage, far too small for a human, then laid it open. He set her down, pulling one of the sides up and opening it. It worked like stocks, locking her head and hands in place. He pulled up the sides, pushing hard against her hips on both sides. He moved her legs to line up with the bars as he pulled up the back wall, pushing hard against her ass, her calves and feet sticking out. He locked it all, squeezing her in so tight that she mewled in pain.

The bars dug into her shoulders, hips and ass. He locked a bar in place just above her calves, then yanked hard on her ankles. He pulled until the back of her knees dug into the bar, then he secured her ankles in place. He reached up and spread her ass cheeks open against the bars, exposing her asshole and pussy.

She was pressed so hard into the bars, the pressure held her ass wide open. He moved again and secured the top of the cage, pressing into her back and tailbone. She was crying at this point, but he wasn't done. He yanked her head back as far as he could, then braided her hair into the bars, forcing her head up at a painful angle. She was panting, her body already starting to cramp. He took a leather strap and threaded it behind her hanging breasts, then pulled them forward so they were pushed out of the bars. He attached clamps to her nipples, making her scream again, then slid a small rod through the loops in them, forcing her breasts and nipples to jut out of the cage.

He stood, but he was not done. He picked up a whip with several long strips of leather hanging on it. He drugs it across her face as she sobbed, then moved behind her. The first blow on her open asshole made her scream, but she couldn't move a muscle to escape. He circled her, striking every bit of flesh that was pressing into the bars. He continued to circle and strike randomly, making her beg and promise him anything if he would stop.

He did stop, finally, when a hard strike to her breasts made a clamp release with a painful yank. He growled, then grabbed a cloth from the basin table and pressed it to her tender nipple. He had drawn blood, she realized. Apparently a lot of it the way he pressed so hard for so long.

"Do you like him?" he demanded, glaring down at her.

Inayah forced her tear-stained face off the floor and onto Salem, "No." she confessed.