Chapter 22

Doran was not to be deterred.

He did not care what Roquan said to him. He did not care what Roquan was doing at the moment, even if he were in bed with one of his slaves. There was too much to talk about and too much to be done. He would not be turned away.

He dutifully gave Roquan until the sun had risen fully above the eastern horizon. That would certainly give him enough time to have his morning meal and do whatever urgent Manor business needed his attention. He knew that there had been some ruckus the night before near the merchant camp, and the merchants were none too happy about it.

Surely what he had heard could not be true! Roquan seriously believed someone had opened an unauthorized Portal into his midst? Preposterous!

Doran had turned down the path that led to Roquan's quarters when he was brought up short by the person he saw leaving the very same place.

"Ah, good morning, Overlord Doran."

Doran was too surprised to speak at first. "Uh, yes, good morning, Overlord Trennan."

He stared. Why was Trennan emerging from Roquan's quarters? And why was he smiling so broadly? Doran had never seen him so chipper.

"Doran, you're supporting Roquan in the Conclave, are you not?"

Doran was sure that he had made that clear enough multiple times. It showed exactly to what Trennan's ears were truly tuned. "Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

"Roquan didn't initially strike me as someone who was... well, as someone who understood how things worked," Trennan said with a knowing smirk. "I must say, I may change my opinion of him yet."

Doran was perplexed. "Er... you may?"

"The man knows how to deal. It is little wonder he does well with his clients despite his Clan's youth." Trennan smiled and clapped Doran on the arm. "See you at the Conclave later. I may actually start attending the debates now. Perhaps what Roquan has to say is worth a listen."

Doran's jaw simply dropped as the spirited Trennan walked away.

What in... ?

He finally marched towards Roquan's quarters again and entered without announcing himself.

Roquan looked up from his desk. "Ah, Doran, just the person I needed to see."

Doran blinked, momentarily nonplussed. "I am?"

Roquan finished writing something onto a parchment scroll and carefully rolled it up and set it aside. He rose to his feet, giving Doran a pleasant smile. "Yes, of course. We need to discuss some of the other deals that are to be made. I wish to ask that I be allowed to determine the timing of my visits to the other Overlords you mentioned yesterday."

"Well, yes, we need you to offer... now, wait just a moment!" Doran declared. He had been so taken by Roquan's sudden cooperative manner that he nearly forgot what had happened outside. "Did I just see Trennan emerge from your quarters not..."

"Yes, indeed, you did. I am happy to say that I have made him reconsider our offer with successful results."

"You what?? Are you serious?!"

"I have never been more so. Now, about the other Overlords, I believe that..."

"Wait! Stop!" Doran cried, waving his hands. "Roquan, just... just what did you offer him?"

"I managed to procure some additional spirits that Trennan was quite interested in."

"You did? From where?"

"From the young foreign merchant Jollis that arrived with the Ne'land Merchant Clan."

"That's not what I meant! What kind of spirits?"

"Does it matter?"

Doran looked aghast. "Does it matter?! Where in Oceanus would you have procured anything that could have topped whatever Berin had offered?"

Roquan carefully schooled his expression and his voice when he spoke again. "It is quite possible that we overestimated the value of Berin's contribution. If, as you said yesterday, he is receiving goods illegally, he may not be comfortable with relying on such a conduit for his supplies."

Doran stared. "Are you telling me you simply went on a hunch? Found some random spirits and offered it to him? And it paid off?"

Roquan paused a moment. "While I would not exactly call the selection 'random', I did indeed move, as you say, on a hunch."

"I do not believe this..."

"Doran, I told you yesterday that I am very well versed in dealing with clients. I simply adapted the process here. Perhaps we fear Berin's ability to tip the scales more than we need to."

Doran scowled. He was certain his information had been correct! He was sure that Berin had a major pipeline into the black market! After all, Berin's Clan had inherited a great deal of wealth some five years ago. He had plenty to spend on such things, which was why Gronnus was using him.

He sighed and cast a hard look at Roquan. "Fine. Then if you feel your negotiation tasks are up to snuff, there are three Overlords today you can make offers to by the time the Conclave convenes... what?"

Roquan had started to shake his head. "Let us not rush," he said evenly. "We have Trennan again now. Let me move a little more slowly. I wish to concentrate on only one today."

"Only one? But... !"

"Please, Doran, allow me to do this. You may coach me on what the Overlords may wish in terms of goods, but let me decide when and where I meet with them."

Doran frowned deeply. He cast a narrowed gaze at the other Overlord, as if trying to see what was on Roquan's mind. Finally he let out a slow sigh. When he spoke again, he wagged a finger at Roquan. "By the gods, you better know what you are doing! This is not the time to be playing games."

Roquan's gaze became icy. "This is no game to me, Doran. Last night someone opened an unauthorized Portal near the Manor."

"You can't mean what I've been hearing is true? Who would do such a thing?"

"Emperor Z'haas."

Doran snorted. "Ridiculous!"

"He is the only one in Oceanus that has a vested interest in disrupting this Conclave."

"Did anything or anyone come through this Portal?"

"We have yet to find anything, no. It is possible we detected the Portal in time and disrupted the Emperor's plans."

"That is far-fetched, Roquan! Would he be capable of doing such..."

"As much as he was capable of disguising an Imperial agent as a slave."

Doran fell silent.

"Do you see what we are up against? Do you see why this Conclave is so important?"

"I have seen, Roquan! I supported you from the start! That's why I don't want you to try anything rash!"

Roquan paused a long moment. "Trust me when I say this, Doran: Nothing I do is rash. I give everything the full weight of my thinking. When I choose to do something, I do it because it is the right thing to do... and I accept the consequences of my actions."

Doran thought that this was a somewhat odd thing to say, but he simply nodded in acknowledgment. He was tired of arguing with the man any further. "I suppose you will be Presenting Amanda again as a little gift to open negotiations?"

"Indeed I am. I will be calling for her shortly as soon as we are done."

"Then I shall not delay you," Doran said, turning away after a respectful nod of his head. "But please do tell me later how things went and let me know if you need help."

"I will indeed, Doran. Thank you for your support."

Doran paused at the door, giving Roquan one last look before heading out the door.

Amanda had hoped that Roquan was finally finished Presenting her, so she met with chagrin the summons back to his quarters that morning. It was not so much having to have sex with the older men of the Conclave anymore. Instead, she did not want to stand before the Overlord with all these thoughts going through her head and be unable to express any of them to him, or even ask the simplest of questions without his permission.

As before, Amanda was led to Roquan's chambers and bathed by two other slave girls. This time, however, Roquan remained present, hovering in the background as if observing her.

When the two girls were finished, they escorted Amanda into Roquan's bedchamber. Roquan paused, turning Amanda's collar over in his hands and looking at her intently. Amanda returned the gaze, though she felt suddenly nervous under his scrutiny.

Roquan dismissed the two slaves and waited until they had departed. He looked back at Amanda, still making no move to replace the collar around Amanda's neck. He took a deep breath.

"Amanda, I wish to make you aware of the fact that the information you provided me was very helpful," he said.

"Yes, master," Amanda said dutifully. She cast a rueful gaze at him despite her best efforts. Not even a "thank you," she thought.

Roquan paused a long moment. It appeared to Amanda as if he were struggling with something. "Now... I must ask you to do this again for me."

Amanda gave the Overlord an odd look.

"I will be bringing you to one of the Overlords this morning. I believe that not long after this, Berin will visit him as he did Trennan, and they will likely discuss business. I wish you to listen and remember what they say and inform me afterward. Do you understand this?"

Amanda had to pause a moment. Only now was she feeling the full weight of what Roquan was asking her to do. She was stunned.

"Amanda?"

Amanda lifted her eyes to his and cast a piercing gaze at him. "Yes, master, I understand. You wish me to spy on them."

Roquan appeared taken aback by this. "No, I am not asking you that. I am simply..."

"I'm sorry, but that is what you are asking me to do. At least that is what they call it back on my homeworld. Do you have another word for it here, master?"

"Amanda, this is not the time to be difficult."

"Then don't ask of me something that is difficult to do."

Roquan's gaze grew icy. Amanda's became defiant in equal measure.

"I fail to see how this is difficult for you," Roquan said, an edge creeping into his voice. "You are simply using your natural skill at observation and your intelligence."

"It is difficult, master, because you are telling me to go against my slave training, training that you yourself said would be a challenge to perform on me. Why would you then have me do this and make it even more of a challenge for me?"

Amanda's anger was rising, and she was unable to control it. Her voice grew increasingly acidic and terse. Roquan was very aware of this, and had to resist the urge to chastise her into submission.

For one thing, he had a feeling that it would simply not work on her this time. For another, he needed her to do this rather desperately. He could not afford to have her refuse. He did not want to threaten her into it, for he feared she would not perform well in that case.

"You can be assured that this is not going to somehow count against you. In fact, I will consider this a great duty you are performing for me."

"But why are you entrusting it to me? I'm sure you trust your older slaves more than you do me. Why not have one of them do this for you?"

"Because you are the one being Presented, Amanda, not them."

"Surely your other slaves service them as well, master?"

"Yes, but this will not..."

"Or are you considering another reason?"

By this time, Amanda's eyes glared at the Overlord, and her hands had curled into fists. Her voice had started to rise.

Roquan cast a steely gaze on Amanda. "Please remember who you are speaking with. You are very close to being disrespectful towards me."

"I am sorry, master," Amanda said crisply. It was very clear to Roquan that she was anything but sorry. "I am simply frustrated that just when I believe I'm doing better at slave training, you ask me to forget a very important part of it."

"I realize this. I am grateful you are serious about wishing to be a good slave. I will not forget what you are doing for me. I intend to reward you for this when the Conclave is done."

"Will you be rewarding me in the same way Mistress Freya attempted, master?"

Roquan's eyes flared anger at this. "We have discussed that before, Amanda. That is certainly not something I intend to do to you."

"Why not?"

Roquan paused, looking at Amanda strangely, furrowing his brow. "What?"

"I said, why not, master? Mistress Freya thought it was a fine reward."

"I believe I had made it clear that Freya should not have used such contraband on you..."

"But that's not the point, master. The point was that it is considered a good reward. Even Mistress Sirinna said so."

Roquan glared at Amanda and took a step towards her. Amanda did not flinch in the least. "I had told you to keep everything in confidence," he said darkly.

"I did, master. I said nothing about Mistress Freya in connection with it. I simply asked her about things that make you cum continuously. So why would you not make that my reward since it's something that's given to other slaves?"

Roquan paused a long moment. "Because, as you stated yourself, you would not enjoy it."

"And why don't I enjoy it, master?"

Roquan remained silent. His hands gripped the collar more tightly.

Amanda's voice rose. "It's because I'm different from the other slaves, isn't it, master?"

Roquan's jaw tightened.

"It's because I haven't had the Draught, isn't it?"

"That's quite enough, Amanda," Roquan said in a low voice, turning away.

Having the Overlord turn his back on her suddenly made her anger escalate into raw fury. "The Draught does more than just make people forget. It changes them. It does something to them."

"I said, that's enough!"

"Sirinna wants sex all the time. All the other slaves do, too. They crave it. But I don't. The Draught did that to them, didn't it? There's something else in it. You and the other Overlords use it to make them trainable, by making them crave sex. You make all your slaves addicted to sex!"

"Enough!"

Roquan's eyes blazed as they fell back on Amanda. There was a long silence. Finally, the Overlord spoke in a tone of forced calm. "You will not speak of this to anyone. Anyone."

"But is it true, master? Is that what the Draught does? It's the only thing that makes sense! Or would you rather I continue thinking I'm a failure as a slave?"

Roquan sighed. Perhaps Amanda never did want to be a slave in the first place. He could get himself to admit this now. Yet she possessed the drive to excel at any task she had been given. And to do what she had done when starting at an inherent disadvantage was amazing indeed.

She deserved some reward for that.

"The Draught does not make a slave addicted to sex as you so crudely put it," Roquan said with some disdain in his voice. "I personally frown upon the practice of putting that much of the ingredient in it."

For a moment, Amanda was aghast. She had hoped on some level that she had been wrong, that she had misinterpreted everything. She thought hearing herself vindicated would make her feel better. Now she had an explanation for her difficulties and it was not her fault. Instead, it filled her with horror.

"It is hard to explain exactly what the ingredient does," Roquan explained. "It lowers inhibition a bit. It makes having an orgasm give a greater sense of euphoria. If there is any actual craving, it is very mild. Just enough..."

"To make her easier to train," Amanda said flatly.

"Or him. It works equally on males as well."

"And what about Mistress Freya, master?"

Roquan stiffened. "She uses entirely too generous an amount in her Draughts," he said, the disgust evident in his voice. "That much reduces the slave to a plaything."

"And what was she trying to prove by using that toy on me, master?"

Roquan remained silent. He knew of one possible answer, and he feared that it was the correct one. He could not get himself to say it.

Amanda, however, felt under no such compunctions to keep it quiet. "She wanted to find out if I had had the Draught, right? That explained what she did the first time."

"That is possible," Roquan said in a low voice.

Amanda saw the anxiety in his face. Her expression and voice softened. "Master... would it be bad if someone discovered that I had not had the Draught?"

"Yes, Amanda, it could indeed be."

"Then... why did you do it, master?"

Roquan raised an eyebrow.

"Why did you collar me? Why did you try to train me instead of forcing me to go home?"

Roquan believed he knew the answer to that as well. He liked that answer no better than the other. It was Rennis that had told him several times in the past that he sometimes needed to set his ego aside. Perhaps if Rennis had been there when Roquan had collared Amanda, Rennis would have stopped it.

He could admit this to himself. He could not admit it to anyone else.

"Would you have been happy to be forced home?" Roquan asked instead.

Amanda hesitated. "No, master," she replied softly.

She did not add what she was thinking, which was: since when did Roquan care what other people wanted? Ultimately she decided it was not fair to him to ask that. At least not now.

"It is useless to go over the past," said Roquan. "I cannot 'revoke' your position. We have both committed to the path of making you a slave, and that is how we must continue."