Barbarian Brides. Cecily Royce

to, but if she refused it would be far worse for her.

      Just as the man seemed about to say something, the girl went to her knees. She moved rather carefully, but she did kneel before she was ordered to bend over again. Casi found the situation intriguing in a weird way. They'd been conditioned to bend over when told to, but not to kneel. It took a moment, but then Casi thought she understood. They wanted certain actions to be trained into their captives rather than programmed, and the aim of the training could well provide a clue about the ultimate aim of these men. Was this a game to them? Did they intend to sell the girls to the savages as they claimed? She could not trust anything spoken by the men. After all, they had kidnapped them and were holding them against their will.

      "Very good, Five," the man said, clear approval in his voice. "Keep your head down just the way it is right now, and lean back on your heels. You don't have to come in contact with your heels, not when that would be rather painful right now, but I do want you leaning back."

      The girl shifted around on the carpeting Casi had only noticed in passing earlier, and then she settled back between her heels rather than against them. It wasn't possible for Casi to see the girl's bottom, but the chances were good that the three strokes of the switch were clearly marked on her flesh. She didn't wish to experience the same form of punishment, though the thought did elicit a response as a warmth trickled through her body. Casi did not dare admit such glee to anyone, not even herself.

      "If one of us calls to one of you girls, that girl is to take this position at the man's feet," the man said to all of them. "Your hands are to be put flat on your thighs and not moved until or unless you're told otherwise, and your head is to be kept modestly down. If you have to address one of us, you'll call us 'Master.' But you won't say even a single word unless you're answering a question or acknowledging an order. You'll be given a short while each evening to speak to one another, but that privilege will be revoked if it produces unacceptable behavior. All right, Five, get back to your feet."

      The kneeling girl stood up carefully, then followed when the man gestured her after him. She looked sullen and very unhappy, but she still limped after him to the hanging he walked to, then through the hanging. When the two had disappeared, one of the other men stepped forward. He held a switch very visibly in his hand, he and the others no longer hiding the things as they'd done at first.

      Great, Casi thought. The show does go on.

      Chapter 3

      It had started as an off-world adventure to Verena. He had been anxious to leave home, experience what the new planet had to offer. He'd never left his home world of Cosimia until he had applied for the position on Verena. Given the chance to discipline ripe young ladies seemed promising. What part wouldn't he enjoy? Although, in truth, he hadn't known exactly what the position would entail until after he had arrived.

      Haldin had been anxious to leave home after his girlfriend had broken his heart. He'd walked into their new apartment to discover that she was sleeping with another man. They hadn't even been living together for a month. She'd been cruel to him and unjust.

      It had sickened him to no end, made him nauseous at the thought of ever loving again, and so he had decided to respond to the help wanted ad for a disciplinarian on the planet of Verena, to work and live among natives, barbarians, and his own people.

      How bad could the work be? He was a quick study. He'd done well with his own professional schooling but hadn't figured out what he wanted to do with his life.

      Sighing, he realized he was mixed up in some pretty nasty stuff that he hadn't seen coming. Maybe he should have paid more attention and read the fine print a little more thoroughly.

      They were given numbers and he was assigned to One. Casi was her given name but he wasn't supposed to have that knowledge. It wasn't supposed to matter who she was in her previous life because now it was over for her. All of it would forever be changed.

      She would be changed. That was the plan.

      She was gorgeous, and as Haldin stared at her, he realized his mistake. She wasn't a brat, a wealthy elite who had been sent to the resort to be sold into slavery. She was a woman who might actually be missed, maybe. At least that's what the information he'd gathered had told him. He'd yet to hear her voice and experience his switch against her bottom. Her turn would soon come. She would undoubtedly slip up; they all did at some point. He would wait for that moment—whether it came in the next hour or the next day, he would mark her bottom.

      Haldin wanted to change what was to happen to her. Did she deserve to be switched? Would she undoubtedly resist as the other girls before her had? Was saving her really for her benefit, or his own? He could have easily taken her to the barbarians and sold her, that was what his job was, but did she deserve the life of a slave, a woman sold to a man for nothing more than a loaf of bread?

      There was some exaggeration in the exchange of goods, but that's what the women were: goods, property to be sold amongst men.

      He personally had seen to the selling of one of the young women six months prior. She had begged to be with the barbarians and had willingly submitted herself to their teachings and kind. There were few women who had ever been quite so eager and expressive about what they desired. It had struck him as odd and when he had spoken up to ask his leader about the occurrence, it was decided that he would train but no longer be part of the exchange.

      He hadn't quite understood what had transpired, but it was clear to him that asking questions wasn't allowed.