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IT HAD BEEN FOUR DAYS SINCE I LAST SAW A FAMILIAR FACE. Evelyn, the servant girl I was desperately trying to find a friend in, had not returned that night. In her place came a servant I did not know. An older woman who refused to even look me in the eye, let alone talk to me. She seemed to have assumed the worst of me and I couldn't blame her for thinking so. As far as she knew I was Lord Mercer's lover and most people wouldn't have been happy about that even if I were a woman.

It was unacceptable in this world of ours for two men or two women to lie together. Hell, it was bad enough to fuck anyone outside of marriage. Not that there were many of us on the streets who hadn't. There was little else to take pleasure from, after all. We didn't have a huge estate with servants waiting on our every whim or lavish mansions brimming with riches. We were merely condemned to live under the thumb of the aristocracy until the delightful slumber of death claimed us.

We had to work almost all day every day of the damned week just to put enough food on the table and buy clothes to cover our backs. When there wasn't much else joy in life, at least there was sex. Carnal pleasure was enough to make you feel good even if only for a moment. Enough to distract you from the bleak reality that was forced upon us.

I had my first time when I was around thirteen. Her name was Charlotte, a girl of fourteen who lived just down the way from us. She had beautiful red hair which she often wore tied back in a knot at the nape of her neck and had such gorgeous green eyes. We got on well enough and grew to come quite fond of each other as we each passed the time and explored the most secret parts of one another.

She died of scarlet fever only a year later.

After Charlotte, there was a boy named Will. He was tall and slim, with golden brown hair and bright blue eyes. He had thick, dark eyebrows that arched upwards slightly and the slightest hint of a dimple at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. To me, he seemed like an angel, even though there was no doubt that the expression behind those smiling blue eyes was anything but.

We'd never slept together. No, he was far too afraid of being caught by his father to do that. But we had shared a great many kisses down in the darkly lit corners by the Thames. His was the first cock I'd ever sucked, but when I looked up at him with his perfect golden brown curls, it wasn't his face I saw.

In my mind, what I saw was the face of the man I really wanted to be there with. The face of the first man I had ever loved, but that is a story for another time.

It wasn't a surprise to me that I learnt to enjoy selling my body. The only surprise had been that I hadn't done it sooner. Sex was something I was good at — actually good at — and it was something I never failed to enjoy. Even when it was rough and I was left with scrapes and bruises, marks lingering behind to tell the tale of the prior night's sordid acts.

Sex was something I was good at, so why hadn't he come back? Four days I had spent alone in my room. Four days waiting to hear him knock on my door to come and ravish me again. Four days of listening to him walking around in the corridor outside. He'd rise and go for his morning bath then leave and head out to breakfast while I ate mine at the small desk in my room. Then, at night he would return. I'd hear his weary sigh and the sound of his bedroom door clicking shut behind him. Four days of nothing. Four days anxiously waiting.

Now whenever I tried to leave my room the butler was there to prevent me. 'Lord Mercer has requested that you remain in your chambers for the time being', 'Lord Mercer will ask for you when he needs you', 'Lord Mercer...' — I was sick of it.

Before he had been parading me around like a new puppy but after he had his way with me he'd so easily tossed me aside. I knew what he was trying to do. He wanted to keep me on edge. He wanted me agitated and eager to fuck him again. He wasn't the first to try this trick to garner my attention and he wouldn't be the last.

Then, came the knock at my door.

It was muffled through the thick wood, as if it were being made with a wooden mallet. I stood stiffly as the sound echoed throughout the room when a second knock sounded against the door. This one seemed louder than the first and compelled me to face the man I expected to find on the other side.

Only, it wasn't a man at all.

"Evelyn?" My eyes widened when they fell upon her sheepish frame as she stood uncertainly before me.

"I'm sorry to disturb..." she began apologetically with her eyes cast down at the ground, "Lord Mercer sent me here to fetch you. He has summoned you to his office."

Her eyes flickered up to look into mine for the briefest of moments before that blush crept up her cheeks as it always did and she ducked her head again.

I wasn't sure what it was about me that made her react in such a way. Whether it was because she found me attractive or because she thought she knew the nature of my relationship with Lord Mercer. She had both seen my naked body when taking me to bathe and had held my soiled clothes that had been left behind from the night I spent with Lord Mercer. In all honesty, I didn't care. All that mattered to me was that she was kind and naïve in a place full of judgemental servants and ruthless aristocrats.

I swallowed anxiously, wondering what my Lord and Master had in store for me next, and nodded. "Very well, I'll be just a moment."

I beckoned her in as I sat at the end of my bed to tie the laces of my boots but she only remained lingering on the threshold of the half-open door. When I glanced up at her through my dark brown curls, she was looking at me with those curious cerulean eyes again.

It was then that I realised she was looking for the same thing in me that I was in her; a friend.

"What can you tell me about this place?" I asked as we began to move through the halls.

She seemed hesitant to answer, as though she was afraid someone would overhear us even though we seemed to be the only people around. After glancing about she took a deep breath in preparation to speak. "It is... well," she began hesitantly, "Lord Mercer inherited the estate from his aunt and uncle when he was nineteen, sir."

"He inherited it? What happened?" I questioned curiously, glancing sideways at her out of the corner of my eye.

Again, she seemed cautious to speak and withheld her answer when we cornered into another hall on our way to the stairs where another servant was busy dusting the paintings that hung on the wall. The two of them all but ignored each other as we passed by, each focused on their work.

"Please don't think badly of me sir," she whispered quietly only when we were long out of earshot of anyone else, "It's not really my place to say but they passed before I started working here. During a burglary, I think it was."

I nodded slowly, digesting the new information as she continued, "I'm not supposed to gossip, but it just seems wrong to say nothing at all. You have the right to know who you're working for, just as much as the rest of us."

My mouth opened to ask her what she meant by those cryptic words but before I could, I was cut off by the opening of a nearby door.

"Ah, Mr Bennett. The master wishes to see you." The butler had a knack for showing up at the worst times and motioned past him to the door from which he had came, encouraging me to head into Lord Mercer's study.

I glanced one last time at Evelyn, who's eyes softened as if she were trying to comfort me before they meekly flittered over to the butler. Under his presence, she seemed as put on edge as I was and quickly offered a courteous nod of her head before scurrying off to presumably continue whatever work it was she had been doing before she was sent to fetch me.

My heart pounded in my chest as I moved past the butler and into the room, my body all but jumping when the door clicked shut behind me. It was the same study Lord Mercer had brought me to the night we first arrived; the one with the awful paintings and expensive furnishings.

One of the paintings hanging on the wall to my side depicted a deeply desolate scene. Amongst the crumbling stone arches of a dismantled chapel stood a lone figure; a bride. The dreary colours of oily paint showed her once-luxurious gown now tattered and stained. Among the fallen masonry, weeds grew rampant, entwining around the bride's feet like shackles of neglect. It was harrowing, the perfect picture of a love lost, lingering like a ghostly lament in the abandoned chapel's hollow halls.

Another showed a woman, her fingers dipped in a dark pool of blood. Jewels sat solemnly in her hair, on her fingers and around her delicate neck. A single, lonely tear rolled silently down the expanse of her face. Her hair was tangled as it reached almost to the floor, her elegant dress torn and covered in soot.

Sitting between both paintings was Lord Mercer. The curtain behind him was only just opened, allowing a small stream of sunlight to sparkle onto his desk. Papers of all kinds were spread out across his mahogany desk, scattered lazily as he wrote things down.

"Sit," he gestured towards the chair opposite him, his blue eyes never leaving the papers as I did so.

A lump formed in my throat, my palms suddenly becoming clammy as I sat down, nerves running through me. I felt like I had that day when he left me standing in the centre of the room, waiting for him to pay me any mind. Only this time, he had offered me a seat. When I looked back at him however, he still hadn't lifted his gaze from the papers that he had been writing on and didn't pay any notice to my discomfort.

After a few moments of agitating silence, I decided to break it. I cleared my throat uncomfortably before speaking, "Why am I here?"

He raised an eyebrow briefly, raising his cold eyes to look at me before turning his attention back to his papers, turning the page of the document he'd been reading.

"Because I asked," he said without looking up. "That is what you do, Theo. You come when called for."

The tone of his voice made me feel uneasy and something deep within the pit of my stomach told me that I should stay silent. But why? Why shouldn't I question everything when I knew he would give me no answers otherwise?

With my temper beginning to grow, I inquired, "What do you want from me? I haven't even seen you in days and now you summon me here to sit and watch you work? Or do you want another go? That is what I'm really here for, isn't it? That's what you bought me for."

Putting his quill down, he glanced up at me with a dark smile playing on his lips. "Is that what you want? For me to bend you over this desk and fuck you until you bleed? Only a few days and you're already so eager for it, not that I'd expect anything less of a whore I suppose."

My anger rose quickly, my hands balling up into fists as I pushed back from the table. I wanted to get to my feet and strangle him right there. Instead, I restrained myself, squeezing my fist so hard that my knuckles turned white. I knew he could see my anger; my clenched jaw. I could tell from that twisted sparkle in his eye, the one he had whenever he had claimed victory over me.

"Why bring me here if you hate me so much? What do you get out of it? If you want to fuck me then fuck me already. If you don't, give me something else to do. I can't stand sitting around in that room any longer," I snapped, my voice rising as I rose to my feet.

His expression changed slightly, his eyes darkening. He pushed himself from the table, coming around it slowly to stand before me. He stood in front of me now, his hands resting against the wooden surface behind me, trapping me between his body and the desk. His arms stretched out as he pressed his hands flat against it, leaning forward until our faces were mere inches apart.

His breath was hot as it fanned against my ear, almost taunting me as he spoke, "As much as I'd love to have you waiting anxiously in bed for my return, it could damage my reputation to keep a guest such as yourself here for a prolonged period of time. So," he continued, retracting himself from my personal space as he circled back around to sit at his desk again, "to keep up appearances you are to become my personal servant."

"Your servant? You want me to be your fucking pet," I spat, refusing to give in.

He scoffed and picked his quill up again as he returned to his work. "All the while you're here you belong to me, Theo. Don't forget that. You're free to leave of course, I won't keep you against your will, but if you do there will be no more money for your dear sister, will there?"

He was baiting me. He knew that I wouldn't be so easy to subdue if it wasn't for her. I hated him with every fibre of my being but Mary needed me. I would do anything for her. She was the only family I had in this world, after all, and I couldn't bear to lose her.

Deflated, I lowered my eyes and sat quietly back into the chair opposite him.

Lord Mercer smirked but still didn't raise his eyes to look at me again as he continued with his work. "Good boy. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

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A/N: I've been told that people tend to prefer shorter, more bite-sized chapters on this app so I decided to try it out with this chapter. What do you think? Was it too short, just right or still too long?

As always, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to seeing what in store next for Theo as he comes to learn a bit more about his new home...