Chapter 11: Unsuitable consort

Reyna and I wait nervously for Tamaz to return. I try to pass the time by continuing with the repairs to my silk dress. Unfortunately my mind isn’t on the task, and I make very little progress. Similarly, Reyna resumes her embroidery, but she is also too nervous to do her work well. Fortunately we don’t need to wait long before Tamaz returns to our room with Zurab and Narek following him like naughty children.

“Are you, or are you not, the owner of the slave trading house known as the Halls of Valhalla?” asks Tamaz of me.

“I am,” I reply, puzzled why Tamaz finds it necessary to ask me when he must already know the answer.

“As I suspected,” muses Tamaz. “That is unfortunate because that means that you are unsuitable consort for Lord Giorgi.”

“I don’t understand,” I reply. “I’ve never made a secret of my background.”

It suddenly dawns on me that when Tamaz arrived at the Halls of Valhalla to seize Reyna, he mistook me for a slave. Samvel’s offer of me as a hostage did nothing to dispel that wrong impression. Zurab and Narek knew the truth, but for some reason they deliberately chose not to enlighten Tamaz. In any case, my subsequent enslavement here means that I can no longer claim title to the Halls of Valhalla.

“I’m well aware of that,” snaps Tamaz, clearly not wanting to air his dispute with Zurab and Narek in public. My origins have unintentionally hit on a raw nerve and exposed some secret power struggle within the Order of the Divine.

“So what is to become of me?” I ask.

“What is done is done,” replies Tamaz. “Lord Giorgi seems to be very protective of you. So, for now, you are to continue as before and attend to Giorgi’s desires.”

Our routine for the next few weeks soon settles down. Lord Giorgi often requires Reyna’s attendance for breakfast. Once in a while, Reyna is called to his room in the evening, and on those occasions she usually spends the night with Giorgi. I never spend the night with Giorgi. Which is something that occasionally triggers a brief twinge of jealousy. I am invariably called to the Giorgi’s room after his martial training with his soldiers. My routine with Giorgi is always the same; bathing him followed by some very physical rough and tumble. Fortunately Giorgi has provided me with some additional clothing, otherwise I could never keep up with the constant damage to my dresses. As it is, I spend a lot of my free time stitching and mending.

It’s no secret that Reyna is becoming Giorgi’s favourite. He is treating Reyna more gently and in return, he is reaping the reward of Reyna’s skills. She still despises him, but hides her loathing behind a false mask of an adoring concubine. As for Giorgi’s treatment of me, then the two of us have achieved a tacit understanding of what is, and what isn’t, permissible in our games. Not that I am able to protest too loudly when Giorgi oversteps the mark, but at least he generally confines his actions to those he knows I will endure without genuine resistance. Similarly, I begin to understand how far I can rebel against Giorgi’s dominance without resulting in another night in a dungeon cell.

Our established routine ends abruptly. Even with the support of the grey monks, Lord Giorgi’s hold on power in Bolnisi has always been tenuous. In the end it is the excesses of the grey monks that trigger Giorgi’s downfall. Tamaz’s order to round up fifty local teenage girls to refill the depleted Divine Harem was never going to be popular with the local population. Giorgi has always been seen as the puppet of the grey monks, and his failure to stop the monks’ actions was the final straw that brought about a revolt. Even Tamaz finds himself at odds with the majority of the grey monks, who seem more attuned to the mood of the people.

Fortunately Giorgi has the sense to agree to being exiled, rather than engage in a bloody civil war. As for Tamaz, he simply disappears. The Order of the Divine is both secretive and ruthless when it comes to dealing with their own internal politics. The arrangements for Giorgi’s departure are made with almost indecent haste. The day before Giorgi’s intended departure, Reyna and I are told that we are to remain in Bolnisi. Reyna is overjoyed. My own feelings are less enthusiastic. My relationship with Giorgi was a potential means of gaining my freedom. Now I’m back to where I was when I arrived here.

In the morning of his departure, Giorgi summons me to his room. We go through the same routine as usual, and Giorgi admits that he’ll miss my company. If I’m being honest, I will miss the sex we enjoyed, but I only ever regarded it as a means to gaining my freedom. Giorgi gives me some valuable jewels as a parting gift, but his offer only makes me feel like a courtesan. Nevertheless I accept Giorgi’s gift. High principles have minimal value to a slave. I console myself by silently reminding myself that in reality, that was all my relationship with Giorgi has ever been ... a lord and his pleasure slave.

As soon as Giorgi leaves, I’m transferred to the Divine Harem without any indication of what is to become of me. Fortunately, I’m not left in limbo for long. The newly appointed Exalted Brother Zurab calls for me as soon as I arrive in the Divine Harem.

“I must arrange for your future,” says Zurab.

I sit quietly while the Zurab makes a lengthy speech about the Order of the Divine’s customs and rules that are guiding his decision about my fate. I soon realise that my stay in the Divine Harem is to be short lived. My brief time with Giorgi has elevated my status within the Order. Being a communal concubine servicing randy monks is inappropriate in the eyes of whichever deity the monks claim to worship. Unfortunately, despite all Zurab’s words, I’m still unclear what is to happen to me.