Aliyah pursed her lips and wished she could tell the arrogant woman exactly what she thought of her, but she knew that wouldn’t get her anywhere. “Thank you for the information.”
The woman snorted, disdainfully. “We were told to prepare you as if you were one of us, and that’s what we’ll do.”
“What exactly does that mean?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, not very pleased with the idea.
“We’ll start with a massage with scented oils. You’ll eat after that and then sleep. In the morning, we’ll bathe you and start dressing you while the elder females tell you what to expect of a mating ceremony,” she explained as she snapped her fingers, calling two bald women from a corner of the room. “Take all her clothes off and start working on her.”
The rest of the women took a seat around some sort of altar, in the middle of the tent while the bald women followed their instructions.
She hated the idea of being naked in front of them, but she had the feeling that if she refused, they would call the guards to do it. Choosing the lesser of two evils, she allowed the women to take off of her clothes and guide her to the altar.
The massage was long and very relaxing. The floral scents were intoxicating, and by the time they finished their work, Aliyah was so sleepy all she wanted was to close her eyes and forget about the universe for a few hours.
But they made her stand up, put on a thin tunic and eat the food they brought for her.
“Enjoy your last night as a single woman. We shall continue in the morning,” Almena told her when she finished eating.
“Thank you, I’m sure I will,” she replied, sarcastically.
The women left the tent, except for the two bald ones. So far, they hadn’t said a word, probably intimidated by the other female, but that changed the minute they walked out of the tent.
“What’s so special about you?” one of them asked her, with a bitter tone. “You’re as barren as any of us, and yet, they are allowing you to mate a male while we’re treated as slaves.”
Aliyah sighed, all her sleepiness disappearing. “I know as much as you do. I would be more than happy to leave right now and forget all about this,” she assured them.
They snorted, not believing her words. “Of course, you would,” the other one mocked her. “You would rather be a slave than a pampered mate. We get to serve everyone at the tribe. We belong to the whole tribe, and we have to accept whatever order they give us,” she continued, expressing all her disgruntlement.
“Why don’t you escape?” Aliyah asked, with a slight frown.
“They would hunt us down, and when they captured us, we would be severely punished for challenging the tribe’s rules,” the first one replied.
“Then, make sure you don’t get caught,” she retorted.
“There’s no place in the whole continent we could hide from them. And even if we managed to reach Terrion, they would force the people there to send us back. We have no escape.”
Aliyah was sorry for the women. Their lives were terrible, but she was sure there wasn’t much difference in serving a man you hated and serving a whole tribe. You would still be trapped in an impossible situation.
Desperate and wondering what had happened to Vrak, she lifted the cloth that sealed the entrance to make sure the guards were still there.
They were, and they looked as if they would be through the whole night. There was no escape for her, at least, not for the moment.
Her heart was aching so much she wanted to cry out loud. She couldn’t understand what had happened, why Vrak had changed his mind about her. She had been a fool for believing his sweet words when he had told her he would never let her go.
Now, he had abandoned her to her fate, and she was probably doomed to live a terrible life next to a man that would treat her like a damn doormat and be punished whenever her mate considered it necessary.
She should have considered all these possibilities when she signed the agencies contract, but she had been so desperate to leave, she had refused to think thoroughly on the consequences of her actions. Now it was too late. She had been abandoned to her fate.
“Don’t even think about escaping. If you think Zag’s punishment was bad, you would be terrified to know about the way fugitives are treated.”
Aliyah sighed. “I guess I better get some sleep.”
One of the women showed her to the small bed set against one of the tent’s walls, and Aliyah immediately laid down and closed her eyes. The conversation with the women had only depressed her more, and she could really use some cheering up, not more prophecies of doom.
She must have fallen asleep at some point, because next thing she knew, the other females were entering the tent with a few elder women.
A bountiful breakfast was served for all of them, and right after they ate, a huge bath was carried into the tent and filled with warm water and aromatic oils.
Aliyah was ordered to enter it, and soon the same bald women were washing her, making sure to leave no inch untouched. When they were done, she was taken out of the tub naked and dried in front of the other women.
Though she couldn’t hear their words clearly, Aliyah was sure they were mocking her appearance. She was very different from the women around her, and they had no problem bullying her over it.
“I want you to braid her hair to make it look like ours,” one of the elder women ordered.
Feeling as if they were treating her like a mannequin, she allowed them to take her to a chair and start braiding her hair in thick braids, tightly combed to her skull. When they were done, she had to admit it looked a lot like the other women’s hair, if you overlooked her blonde color.
“Are you prepared for the big step you’ll be taking?” the elder woman asked her coldly.
“No, not really, but I guess I don’t have a say on it,” she said in a sarcastic tone.
“Respect elder Ablisy, female,” Almena threatened her.
“I’m just telling her the truth, I meant no disrespect,” she assured her.
“You were granted a great honor, and you should be thankful,” Ablisy pointed out, with an ice-cold tone. “If I had a say in this, believe me, you would never be in this position,” she assured her. “Barren females have little use in our society.”
Aliyah pursed her lips, doing her best to keep the words struggling to come out at bay. These people had no idea how discriminative they were and how unfair. Being sterile wasn’t something many women would choose voluntarily and judging them over something that couldn’t be helped was damn unfair.
“I’m aware,” she muttered, furrowing her eyebrows.
Ablisy dismissed her words and gave another order. “Start dressing her.”
The bald women brought out several layers of fabric and started dressing her. The custom was so complicated and made of so many pieces, it reminded her of the Korean’s female traditional clothes. In fact, it even looked a lot like it, with all the tunics she was being layered in.
“Once you become a mate, you’re expected to follow your male’s orders without arguing or questioning them. He will be your master, your owner and he will know what’s best for you, even when you don’t see it,” Ablisy started her memorized speech and Aliyah wished she could tell the woman to shut up, that she had no interest in hearing it.
“You must accept whatever he asks of you, no matter if it doesn’t please you. Your pleasure has no importance from now on. You’re here to please your male, nothing else,” the woman continued, in a monotonous tone. “Whenever he chooses to punish you, you’ll accept your fate in silence and without making a scandal out of it. If he’s punishing you, it’s because you deserve it.”
“In sum, men are never wrong?” she asked with utter sarcasm.
“Exactly, and the faster you learn that, the better it will be for you,” Ablisy assured her.
The bald females finally finished dressing her.
“Now that you’re ready, it’s time to explain the ceremony to you,” Almena said, taking a step closer to Ablisy.
Aliyah sighed and hoped this was all over as soon as possible. “We wouldn’t like to make a mistake, would we?” she asked, in a mocking tone.
“Your mistakes will be our responsibility. We’re here to make sure you learn what to do and how to behave,” Ablisy explained, with a deep frown. “Every mistake you make during the ceremony will be accounted to all of us in this room,” she assured her.
Aliyah was in shocked. Could that be possible? Considering all she had heard so far, she had no reasons to doubt their words. Though she would love to ruin the ceremony, she knew she wouldn’t feel right knowing the rest of the women would pay for her sassiness.
“We will take you to the temple an hour before the ceremony, and you’ll stay there on your knees, thanking the gods of the universe for the blessing of becoming a mate,” Ablisy continued. The guests and the groom will arrive, but you will not move from your position until you are told by your mate.”
Aliyah nodded again wishing she was somewhere else. How the hell was she going to put up with that ceremony and more importantly with the night after it?
“Once you’re asked to stand next to him, you must remain still no matter what he does, and he will do a few things you won’t feel comfortable with,” she warned her. “You’re to remain still, with your eyes on the floor, never daring to look up and face your mate. You will only do that once you’re in the privacy of your tent for your first night as mates.”
Dreading the whole situation, Aliyah looked at her with a frown. “What kind of things?” she asked.
“You’ll know soon enough. Telling you about them will only make you apprehensive, and that won’t help any of us,” she assured her.
That sounded ominous, and Aliyah wanted to cry out her frustration.
Food was brought to the tent once more, and they all sat down to eat. She would be taken to the temple as soon as they finish eating. Aliyah felt an imaginary clock ticking second by second, and her heart was pounding harder and harder.
Deep down, she was still hoping for the moment Vrak would raid the tribe and take her out of here. Her rational side knew that was only the dream of a desperate soul, but she was so scared, so frantic that tiny little hope was the only thing making her move on.
She couldn’t believe he had left her there all alone, not after all he had told her, after all the sweet promises he had made her. She had to admit he had never promised a long-lasting future, and he had never mentioned the word love nor any similar feeling, but she had hoped for so much more than being left amongst these people.
The meal finally ended, and she was guided to the temple in some sort of procession. The other women were wearing a similar outfit to hers, only hers was white and red, and theirs were just white.
Once at the temple, she knelt on the spot indicated by the women, and they kneeled around her, forming a circle. They started chanting, and somewhere in the temple, someone was playing a chord instrument, creating a mystical atmosphere.
Despite the peaceful ambiance, Aliyah’s heart was thundering in her chest. She was starting to doubt she was going to endure the whole ceremony without trying to escape. She didn’t want this, her whole body shuddered with disgust at the thought of another man touching her. Nothing good would come out of a dreadful situation like that one.
There was such chaos inside her mind, time literally flew by, and when the women opened up the circle around her to make way for the tribe’s elders, she almost passed out. It took every thread of self-control she had to stay still and not look around to see what the hell was going on.
A man stood next to her and her heart crushed. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening, that Vrak had really abandoned her.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she pushed them back, determined not to let these people know how much she was hurting. She had never felt so alone and abandoned in her whole life.
The ceremony proceeded in a blur, and she spent the whole time praying for a moment of privacy to let go of the pain crushing her heart and making it so hard for her to breathe.
At some point, the man next to her took her by the arm and helped her up. After all that time on her knees, she slightly stumbled, but he steadied her with a firm grip. She wanted to shake off his hand, but she didn’t dare to move or even look at the hand grasping her arm.
Her heart was drumming so fast in her chest, its beating was deafening. Not that she had any interest in the words being pronounced around her, but she could have used a warning to the man’s actions when he suddenly released her and stood behind her.
His hands cupped her breasts and squeezed them hard before they slid down to her crotch and cupped her mound, squeezing it as well.
She couldn’t believe he was doing such things in front of the whole tribe, but she remembered Ablisy’s words regarding this part of the ceremony.
For the rest of the ceremony, the man stood there, with his hands over her pussy, claiming a property she hadn’t surrendered. She could feel his hard cock pressing against her back, even through all the layers of clothes she was wearing, and her whole body shuddered with despair.