Felicia by S. J. Lewis Read Free Book Online Page A

word to me.”
    “It will be done, lord,” Selim nodded. “When you next see her she will be freshly bathed and perfumed.”
    “See to it that she is wearing nothing but that perfume,” Ismail said with a lazy smile. Assam and Felix laughed briefly at that. The other members of his council joined in just a half-second too late.
    Felicia stumbled along in the grip of the huge, strange-voiced man. Behind her, she could still hear the others laughing, and the sound made her sick.

Chapter Five
    Under any other circumstances, Felicia would have found the baths enjoyable. They occupied a very large room decorated in Eastern motifs, with colorful draperies, mosaics on the walls and floor, and scented candles burning in ornate sconces. There were two wide and deep pools, full of warm water and set with blue tiles. After so many days kept prisoner in that dark, tiny compartment of the ship, except for those few times they let her out to go to the head, she would have been grateful for the opportunity to wash off all the accumulated sweat and dirt. But her mind kept straying to her immediate future. That set her stomach to fluttering unpleasantly and her hands to shaking. She barely noticed how fine the scented soaps were even as she used them to wash herself. And all the while, that big, bulky man in the loose-fitting clothes kept watch over her, standing as still as a statue, his face expressionless but his small, dark eyes watchful.
    ‘Watchful’ was the word, she thought. She could see no sign of carnal interest in those eyes, and that only added to her fear and worry. It had been a terrible experience, being displayed naked in front of those men, as if she was livestock instead of a woman. It had been even worse when they moved her this way and that to better display this or that part of her body, making it clear to her that they were interested in her as a pretty, young female, but somehow did not regard her as a person. There was a word for people who were treated like that: Slave. Was she a slave? She shuddered, dropped the soap again and had to grope for it in the warm water. She didn’t want to be a slave!
    She thought back to that awful episode just a little while ago, and to the men. The one who had sat in the big chair was obviously the one in charge. He had looked so…normal in his neatly tailored suit. But on his head he wore that simple headdress that made her think of movies about deserts and Arabs, and his eyes had all but devoured her every time he looked at her. She shuddered again as she remembered the feel of his hands on her body, so sure and so possessive. She fought back a sudden urge to vomit. It was made easier by the fact that she had barely been fed at all during her time on the ship.
    The other men were just as frightening in their own ways. There had been the tall, broad-shouldered blonde one with the cold blue eyes. He’d been dressed in what looked like a uniform, which made her think of Nazis. The old, bent, crippled one had sized her up like a prize horse, the rat like little one had all but drooled over her, and the others, dressed, like the old one, in flowing robes and headdresses, had nearly done the same, even if they hadn’t said much. She shuddered yet again. There was no doubt in her mind that they were going to rape her, probably soon after she’d cleaned herself up. That thought brought another wave of nausea and also a sinking sensation of despair. She had no idea where she was. She didn’t think that anyone was looking for her, not even Marcello. He was probably too terrified of his nasty bitch of a wife to try, and she’d probably given him some bullshit story to explain why his pretty blonde playmate wasn’t around anymore, along with a warning to let the matter drop if he knew what was good for him.
    She didn’t want to think about it, but she couldn’t help thinking about it. What were they going to do to her? Aside from the obvious, of course. She thought that she