Broker -CH10-

“Yes. I am sure,” Holly said, her pale shoulders straightening.

“Well, let’s test that then a bit. I’m not a great person. I do what I must.

“That means you’ll end up privy to a number of secrets as my wife. Would you swear an oath to secrecy as if you were nothing more one of my people?”

“I would,” Holly said immediately, nodding her head.

“Then please do so. On Leah’s name, no less. On pain of death, and losing your soul. For the secrecy of anything I tell you in this room today and anything that happens in this room today.

“In return, I’ll swear an oath that nothing untoward will happen to you in this room today.”

Holly blinked, her eyes unfocusing as she stared through his head.

“Then I do so swear. On Leah’s name for the secrecy of whats said in this room, and done in this room. On pain of death, and loss of my soul.”

Alright. She’s willing to wade a little bit out into the water… let’s see how deep she’ll go.

“First… I have a dungeon that I’m slowly filling with women. Women who I’m slowly turning into personal sex slaves, pawns, or… well, tools. I plan on having them serve me till they die, and I plan on expanding their number significantly.

“What do you think about that?”

Holly’s mouth opened, her tongue touching the front of her teeth.

“I think that sounds like a lot of work, and you could use a helper. Or someone to manage the house while you take care of your business.”

“That’s certainly a good answer. So, if I cornered my local nobility into giving up their daughters in trades, turned them into whatever I wanted, you’d have no qualms?”

“No, so long as you continued to support my family, and my needs.”

Alex nodded to that. It was definitely an answer he appreciated in that, as well.

He’d need to dig into her details on what support she needed later.

“If I had you put in a cell with them to find out what they wanted. What made them tick. Their needs.

“You’d do so? Betray them to me, so I could turn them inside out into a bed pillow for my own needs?”

“Yes, if that’s what you needed of me.”

“As an example of what I mean, Two here,” Alex said, hooking a thumb at Carla. “Is my bodyguard and personal bed warmer. Once a week it’s in my domain to plow her into a bed and fill her up. For now.

“Thoughts?”

Holly’s eyes flicked to Carla and then back.

“I would hope you’ve purchased her Mother’s Bane, as I would prefer not to worry about bastards of my husband running around.”

Alex smiled at her wolfishly, deciding to close the trap and see how far she’d go for this.

“Yes, I’m supplying her with all the Mother’s Bane she can eat.

“Let’s take this a step further though. If I decided I wanted to splay my dear Two apart wherever we were,” Alex said, patting Carla on the rear end, then gave it a firm squeeze. “And fill her up to the brim my seed, then make you chow down on her until you fish it all out with your tongue, what’d be your response?”

Holly sighed as her face took on a pained expression. Then she gave him a bitter smile.

“I suppose I’d be eating out your servant until I was done.”

Desperate indeed. Let’s push it further.

“What if I told you that’s how you’d be able to get to the next interview? And there’d still be no guarantee I’d marry you.”

Holly seemed to stop breathing, her eyes floating from Alex to Carla, and back again.

“Would this count as your one time this week?” Carla asked, getting his attention. She was clearly looking for her own angle in this exchange.

“Hm? Yeah. It’d count,” Alex confirmed.

“Tch. Do you have to cum in me every time? I leaked for days last time.”

“That I do. Part of the fun. Filling you up to bursting is something I do enjoy.”

Holly cleared her throat getting his and Carla’s attention. She held up a single finger.

“You wouldn’t mount me during this exchange? My maidenhead would be intact? You wouldn’t touch me in any way, Alex? I see no reason to give you that if you’ll not be my husband.”

“Ah, yeah. You’d keep your maidenhead,” Alex confirmed.

Holly nodded her head slowly. She was very clearly torn on this, but he imagined the he himself was a significant possibility to help her family.

“Then I suppose you better hurry up and get to it. The interviews don’t have time limits, but it’d be circumspect if we took too long,” Holly said, her tone sounding resigned.

Alex knew his crystal wasn’t full. And this might just be a deal that could push him much further along.

“Alright. Let’s make this official then.

“I’m going to mount Two and fill her up with my seed. You, Holly, need to get it out and eat it up. I’m not going to touch you during the exchange, but I’m sure as hell going to watch.

“For this deal, I’d move you to the next interview round and earnestly consider you as my wife.

“On Leah’s name,” Alex said, closing the oath for himself.

Holly took a deep shuddering breath.

“I agree to the terms, as you’ve listed them, on Leah’s name,” she said. “Heavens help me.”

“Great. Go lock the door Holly,” Alex said, standing up. Pulling the tongue of his belt out he started to work his pants off. “Drop your trousers and hop up on the table, Two. Time for you to earn your keep.”

“My keep isn’t earned on my back, asshole. You hired me to keep your narrow ass safe,” Carla said with a growl. She unhooked her weaponry and shield and set it down on the ground.

Grumbling, she started to work on her belt.

“Today, that nice ass of yours is earning your keep. So put it on the table, get on your back, and spread those legs for me.

“I was looking forward to this,” Alex said. He didn’t want to antagonize her, but in the same breath, he had to keep her shame about the situation to a degree.

Otherwise she’d have no value in the trades.

“What?” Carla asked, the annoyance and anger clear in her voice. Her pants hit the ground with a clank of her belt buckle.

All she had on left was her leather armor and the padding under that.

“I was looking forward to this. Having you. I wasn’t teasing when I said you felt great.”

Alex stood in front of the table and patted it.

“Come along, Two,” he said, smiling at Carla.

“The door is locked,” Holly said, rejoining them.

Carla complained under her breath as she got up on the table. Shimmying around, she got to the point that her bottom was at the edge of the table.

“First a desk, now a table,” she said.

Alex shrugged his shoulders and stepped up between her legs. Reaching up he started to unstrap her leather armor.

“Maybe you’ll get a bed next time. Or maybe I’ll give it to you in the coach with the new wife watching.

“Dunno yet,” Alex said.

Carla fended his hands off while growling.

“Knock it off. Just hurry up. We have work to do today after this.”

“Fine, next time I’ll get you properly undressed,” Alex said. Pressing a hand to her shoulder he pushed her down to the table.

<Redacted>

***

Alex set six sheets to the left side of the table, making sure to put Holly, Anna, and Eugenia on the top.

Leaning back in his chair, he stared up at the white washed ceilings of the Brit mansion.

He’d already narrowed his choice down to two of those three ladies even before Holly had finished up with Carla.

At first he’d put Anna on the discard pile. But with how readily she accepted everything, and the sheer size of her dowry, he couldn’t deny his own greed.

That and she was one of the prettiest ladies he’d seen so far with a body to match.

“You put Eugenia in?” Carla said over his shoulder.

“Yep. She’d be pretty useful. We’ll see how she does in the next interview.

“I might see if I can get her to do something to make it to the final interview,” Alex said, shrugging.

“You realize you’re poisoning the relationship at the start doing that?” Carla asked.

Looking to her he hesitated in his response.

Telling her how he’s handling others might give her ideas on how he’d been handling her.

“They’re all in need of me. Some desperate, some not. The three I picked are more on the desperate side of things.

“There were women with more connections, better alliance possibilities, or simply better talent. Hell, or just being prettier.

“You saw them. The problem is all of them would want to be treated equally. I have no desire for a partner, I need minions,” Alex said with a shrug.

“Which is why I’m here, rather than a corpse rotting somewhere,” Carla said with a strange look on her face.

“Accurate, yeah. You have a skillset I need, and you were in a position that I could leverage.”

“So… it wasn’t to turn me into your personal fuckdoll.”

“Originally, no. That’s just a benefit that came secondary.”

Carla grumbled to herself and pressed her fists to her eyes.

She was dressed in her “off duty” gear. Which was padded armor and a short sword, rather than her full kit.

This was what she felt was suitable for wearing in the mansion.

“You’re such a prick,” she said through her hands.

“Sorry, Two. I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to be the Count of Brit, and to rule it decisively.

“My kidnapping opened my eyes.”

“You’re never going to release me, are you,” she said. It wasn’t really a question.

“No, Two. You’re bound to me until you die. If it makes you feel better, I don’t plan on spending your life frivolously. You’re quite valuable to me.

“And speaking of value, I’d like to offer you a deal. Simple things, for something I know you want.”

“Uuuuugh… more deals? You already bed me, you work me to death, and you used me on another woman. What else can you do to me?”

“A number of things, but I can also give you quite a bit, too,” Alex said and folded his hands in his lap. “I never asked about what you needed to do in town with all that money, but I’m going to assume family or friends. An example of something I could do, is to set up part of your salary to be turned over to someone here, for you.”

Carla dropped her hands, and glared at him severely.

“Did you spy on me when I went on my day off?”

“No. Just a guess. That’s all. Would you like that though?”

Surprisingly, Carla pouted, and nodded her head. “Yes… but you’ll want something extreme for it.”

“Not at all. I’ll make this one simple. I want you to wear a collar with a silver and gold tag on it that simply reads, ‘Two’. That’s it, and I’ll do exactly what I said. You would just have to dictate how much to give out.”

“You want me to wear… wear a dog collar?” she said through clenched teeth.

“Yes, Two. I want you to wear a collar around your pretty throat. A nice one. With my ownership tag on it, and your name.

“Come now, it’s a very simple trade. It costs you almost nothing, and you get something you know you need.”

“Fine, yes. Fuck you, Alex. Fuck you,” Carla groused, folding her arms across her chest. “I swear on my oath to your terms.”

“Well and good. I also swear to those terms. Next I’d like to offer you your own room here in the mansion, your own room in our capital, and the possibility of the house down the road,” Alex said, moving quickly to his next offer.

Carla’s eyebrows shot up to the top of her head. She was an expressive woman.

“That’s… unexpected. I thought I’d have to sleep like a dog at the foot of your bed for the rest of my life.”

“Hardly.”

“And what do you want for that…?”

“I want you to let me style your hair in the way I deem fitting, and for you to address me as Master, unless otherwise specified.”

“My hair…?” she asked, a hand going up to her very short hair.

“Yeah. Your hair, and calling me Master. For a room here in the mansion of your own, a room in the castle back in Brita of your own, and guaranteeing you a house at some point down the road, of your own.”

“I… why my hair?” Carla asked, still fingering said non-existant locks.

“Because you’d look much prettier with longer hair.”

Carla’s face flushed quickly, turning her face to one side.

“I agree to your terms, and swear to the oath.”

“I accept, and agree to the terms as stated. I’ll have your room put together tomorrow, Two.”

“Thank you… Master,” Carla said, not meeting his eyes.