"As slaves, you are to never be seen without your collar wrapped around your neck, take them off without your master's permission and you will be punished. Meals are granted to only the most obedient, so don't think you're entitled to food. Your lives are worth less than cattle, and you'll have to fight to earn your keep. Starting from today, you will be assigned to cleaning duties, and will be monitored at all times, so I'd advise against taking breaks to rest." Melvina orientated the slaves all lined up in a single file.
It was their first day as official slaves, and Olivia had sustained a cramp from sleeping in a crowded room on a worn out blanket, with barely any space to stretch her legs.
"Come with me, you'll be cleaning the stables." Melvina's voice said from behind her. Without giving her time to react, she pushed Olivia forward, not caring that Olivia hadn't gotten used to this area.
When they arrived at the stables, Olivia could hear the sound of heavy huffs and grunting. She furled her lips into a frown at the strained voice of a woman groaning loudly and whimpering curses.
There sounded to be around three to five men, and only one woman.
"Here!" Melvina pushed a wooden bucket and a rag into Olivia's hands, "Wash the walls thoroughly, and once you're done come find me so I'll give you your nexy job."
"But, I can't see—"
"You have two hands don't you? If you really want to be thorough then you can try licking the wall to see if it's clean." She sternly interjected over the sounds which got more distinct.
Olivia heavily disliked Melvina, unlike Freina who sought to take care of the women under her, Melvina was a stark opposite, something she learned over the days she spent as a slave.
"Please, I swear it wasn't me! I did everything he asked me for—"
"Shut up!" Melvina raised her voice and slapped the blonde slave crying on her knees. Olivia recognized her voice, she was someone who slept next to her at night, and was stationed at cleaning one of the training chambers.
Melvina dragged her by her short locks of blonde hair, and brought their eyes to meet. "You were asked to strip, so why are you still clothed?" Melvina interrogated in a stern voice.
It had been six whole years since Olivia started working as a slave, and just like her some of the other girls were intensely going through puberty.
"B-But you said they wouldn't touch us until we turned eighteen." The girl replied choked with tears.
"And did he ask to touch? He only wanted to see you naked, isn't that a great honour on it's own?" Melvina asked, her gaze lingering to the girl's decently developed chest region.
The rest of the girls kept silent, it hadn't been the first occurrence since puberty hit. From the reports they eavesdropped, the older slaves who were passed around had fallen in large numbers.
Considering they were werewolves serving lycans in bed, their stamina was mismatched and they couldn't hold out for much longer and unable to perform. To that end, the masters would get impatient and try to get handsy with the younger slaves instead.
"Tsk! Forget it, what's done is done." Melvina said and flung the girl not caring where she landed. "You knew the consequences for hitting your master, so take your punishment." She took a pause, as though contemplating what to do.
"Send her to the well!" Melvina declared loudly. The guards standing around quickly marched over to the blonde girl nearly passed out on the floor and dragged her away.
"No! Please! Hit me! Beat me as much as you want! Starve me if you must, but don't send me there! I beg of you!" She violently kicked and bucked her hips as hard as she could, crying hard as they dragged her out of melvina's sight.
Olivia who had seen this scene repeatedly over the years clenched her fingers into tight fists, and bit her inner cheeks, fighting the urge to intervene.
Father told me to survive, she would remind herself, and turn a blind eye to everything going on around her.
"Now, it's time for dinner call. Leave to the mess hall once you're called." Melvina said to Olivia and the rest. She pulled out a list from the large pocket sewn over her apron and began to make the call.
"Numbers six, twenty five, nineteen, eleven, thirty…" With each name she called, a young girl would leave the room and head for the mess hall for dinner.
The list was compiled by Melvina herself, and it comprised of the most hardworking slaves who she deemed fit to eat dinner for that day. It was a reward system that was meant to boost the morale of the slaves.
But all it did was cause bitterness amongst them.
"And number sixteen."
Olivia sighed in relief when she heard her number, she turned around and stuck her stick in front to guide her towards the exit door.
On her way out she heard the grumbling and complaints from her fellow slaves.
"Getting preferential treatment, again." One said with a hiss.
"Must be nice not being able to see and getting things easy." Another spat out and shoved Olivia, hoping she would trip and fall over.
But Olivia didn't pay them any mind, because she knew there was no need to please the enemy. If she wasn't selected to have dinner, they'd say she deserved it for slacking off due to her ailment. But when she was picked, they accused her of playing the pity card.
Olivia knew her way around the slave quarters and could get to the mess hall without being escorted or sometimes even without her stick to guide her. Over the years, she had learned to depend more on her senses, and survived solely on instinct.
Her stomach churned at the strong scent of gruel and pig intestines served on her plate. It wasn't a delicacy to look forward to, but it was far better than drinking water and going to bed.
Olivia took her seat at her usual spot at the edge of the mess hall, where no one would even toss her a glance. Considering there were less than ten of them, there was more than enough space for all the slaves to sit far apart from each other and eat silently.
However, their peaceful meal was disrupted when some maids came in to gossip.
The slaves mess hall was a place that none of the maids would be caught dead in. However, it was free from the scrutiny of the head maid of the third division, Edna, and hence became where maids came to slack off and bad mouth their superior.
"You should have seen it for yourself Merith, none of the warriors from the other divisions could hold their own against him. I except no less from the Alpha's chosen." Said the maid who plopped down on the nearest table.
Merith, her companion let out a hiss. "But to think that Kieran is so hard to approach, he's already eighteen but hasn't bedded a woman yet. Some seem to think he can't get it up—"
"Nonsense!" The maid sharply interjected, her loud voice nearly made Olivia's spoon fall from her left hand. Over the years, Olivia had become so dependent on her sense of hearing, that the slightest noise threw her off.
"He's just reserved, and not a pig like the rest of the third division warriors. Let me tell you, I've seen him bathe in the morning once, and I can tell you once he makes a move, none of us women will be safe." She gushed in a vulgar tone.
The thought made Olivia sick. However, she was glad to hear that Kieran was faring fine in the castle.
'I see, so he's doing fine, thank goodness.' Olivia couldn't help but think, after the incident of six years ago that led to Freina's death, she and Kieran hadn't seen or spoken to each other ever since.
Despite that, Olivia's chest would not stop pounding whenever she heard the maids speak of Kieran over the years. Whenever he achieved something great, her day would be fine, but if she heard a bad report, her countenance would fall drastically.
And Kieran had bad reports about him as often as he had good ones.
After all, he was the infamous rebel from the third division.
"Tomorrow night, Kieran will gain his wolf, and then choose his mate! Who do you think it will be?" Merith asked overly excited.
Olivia inwardly scoffed. The maids certainly had enough time on their hands to discuss matters that didn't concern them. It made her angry and she didn't understand why.
"Please, do you think it's that easy to find a mate? Just like all the other nobles, he'll find a shewolf who can measure up to him and make her his mate. Or, he could just be like the Alpha…" she took an abrupt pause and leaned in to whisper the next bit, as quietly as possible, so as not to catch the attention of the other slaves.
But Olivia could hear it distinctly, even though she didn't want to eavesdrop on their gossip.
"He can make like the Alpha and just take a sex slave instead. From what I heard, the Alpha just took in another bed warmer."
Merith gasped, "That makes twenty nine!"
Olivia was unfazed and continued to eat her gruel. She had heard relatively the same rumour while tending to laundry, while working on the farm and even whilst weeding plants. Everyone, including the warriors always had something to say about the Lycan King, King Lucian, who had an insatiable lust.
He never found his mate, nor did he even try to get one. Aside Nadia, he had no other child to inherit the pack, and then there was the most jaw dropping rumour…
That Alpha Lucian had sex with his slaves for twenty four hours without breaks, which ended up killing over half of the bed warmers in his harem!