[RainbowSky]

Chapter thirty nine

Holly's POV

We made our way carefully back down to the kitchen. Luke's uncle was waiting for us, his face showing he already knew about the punishment. He looked me up and down and laughed. I tensed my jaw but didn't show any sign of anger. "You four are on washing and drying up duty. The rest have gone to do the cleaning chores. I expect to see my face in these," he said once he finally finished laughing and pointed at the stack of dishes. We nodded politely and made our way into the shabby run down little area that contained two sinks and some cupboards to store stuff in.

A towel was thrown at me. "Maybe you should dry," Liam suggested. "If you wash of any of that porridge I dread to think what would happen." I pursed my lips but Liam had a point so I unfolded my towel and stood waiting to dry up.

It was a weird feeling. Being able to talk to them. The whole time we had been here we were not allowed to talk to each other unless our master had given us permission. But they didn't want to risk their authority getting questioned so we had been silent the whole time. But as we'd been told this whole week was a collaborative team effort and therefore would require us to talk to each other. Lucy, I was beginning to realise, was Welsh. She had a nice sweet lilt to her voice that was calming and reassuring. Liam was from down near me as he had a southern accent and said 'barth' rather than 'bath'. George was local. Or local to where I assumed we were. He had the same accents as people at my university or the locals you met in town. It was so surreal hearing their voices.

"What about you Holly?" George asked. I shook my head snapping out of my reverie.

"Sorry what? I missed the question," I admitted..

"Why do you think they picked us?" George asked again.

I shrugged. "Have you not seen these people before?" I asked. They all shook their heads. "Maybe that's why then, they wanted to see new slaves and see how they act," I said thinking of the great first impression I'd set.

"She's got a point. I didn't know they knew Luke though," Lucy said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't everyone know who Luke is?" I said sullenly. "Isn't that part of the problem that everyone seems to have with me and him?" There was a silence as the others thought about that.

"Luke has been here a lot longer than the rest of us, it wouldn't surprise me if he hasn't dined with them before," Liam added, a strange note in his voice. "Luke was here before me, and even before George." I had noticed that George was branded, I guessed he'd been here longer than Liam.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Liam looked around quickly.

"How much has Luke told you about why he's here?" Liam asked quietly.

"Just that he was born into it and didn't have much choice," I replied, my voice barely above a whisper.

"That's true. It seems odd he wouldn't have told you more though. To earn his escape to uni, he was told that he had to submit and dominant," Liam explained in a hushed voice. We were carefully to keep drying up as he spoke. George and Lucy helped the situation by talking quite loudly over the top.

"But he didn't, it's why they cut his funding off. Because he hadn't dominated a girl. He came back, chose me and then when I get out of here, so will he," I added. Liam nodded but said nothing, allowing me time to process his words. I frowned as I thought over something. "How, as a master, can he submit and dominate? Is it just submitting to his families will or..." a lightbulb clicked. "No way!" I hissed. Liam nodded. "He was one of us," I said. Liam nodded.

"Yep, before going to uni, he allowed Saskia to control him for four weeks. She made it a tough four weeks. A living hell almost because she was set the tasks by the family, to make sure he was 'worthy'," Liam explained. "But she was the only person who cared about him. It's why they have such a good relationship even now. Saskia was the only one who thought he could do it and escape this place. But being back here, doing the same things to you... well... it's killing him Hols."

My mind was in turmoil. No wonder he was so nervous about hurting me, but also forced himself to do it. He'd probably experienced the worst things possible. And he didn't want me to face that. Every hit, every punishment was probably so difficult for him to do. It's like breaking his mind. I felt my heart wrench for him.

I also knew deep down that it wasn't him who had raped me. There was no way he would have been able to. Which meant... I was going to have to live with the shame.

Luke's POV

I kicked out at the mirror on my wardrobe and severely regretted it. My toe throbbing with the pain. Seeing James, seeing his smug little face had made me furious. I hated that guy.

Two years ago when Saskia had been controlling my every move, James had been a master here. But the worst you could imagine. Abusive, sexist, enjoyed inflicting pain on everyone. He was dating Sas at the time, which meant James's anger had been lashed out at him more often than not. He and his slave graduated, his slave leaving to try and live a normal life as you can. James, on the other hand...

Well let's just say that he had entered the slave business himself, buying them to play with. He had at least two last time Luke had heard. He was also in the business of recapturing slaves, or escapees from the school. Which is why, 8 months ago, when the funding had been cut off to pay for his last term at uni, he appeared. On the doorstep. No word of warning, just plucked straight out of uni and landed him back here. It had taken two months to wear Luke down enough to agree to dominant someone, only on the agreement that his family would pay for him to redo his first year as many times as needed and the following 2 years. Which is why, when October had swung by he was back at his uni, pretending he'd never done his first year (not just not finished it) and stalking Holly.

6 months of trust to this point. The point where she was at the mercy of someone he hated even more than Alex, although Alex and Amanda had been here when Luke was training and had also been annoying then.

He sighed and opened up his wardrobe, finding the best smart clothing he could for the formal luncheon that would be happening later that day. Knowing, he needed to find out the motives for James being here.

Holly's POV

We finished washing up and the others inspected the porridge, prodding it to make sure it was completely hardened. "You're good," George declared, "now go find this Mr Proud and get it off." I nodded and left the kitchen. The trio had described how to get to the guest rooms from the kitchen and I followed their instructions, getting to a luxuriously carpeted corridor with polished mahogany and cream walls. I walked down the corridor, checking each sign on the door. As I did so I walked past some of the other slaves doing their cleaning chores. I got to a door labelled James P. I froze outside it.

"He's in," Megan said walking past. "We've just been in there," she added. I nodded and thanked her for her help. I knocked on the door.

"Come in," he called. I pushed the door handle down and walked in. "Ah, here she is. Come over here Holly, into the light." I closed the door behind me and walked further into the room. What I saw scared me. Laid out on his bed, the floor, the desk were some of the scariest looking instruments possible. Latex and rubber, and skimpy clothing lay scattered around. But it was the metal devices that were in the room - they looked like torture devices. "I see you've noticed my collection. I'm a slave collector you see. I use these instruments on my slaves. Part of the reason I'm here is to talk about some potential slaves who don't want to go back into the real world. Anyway, enough about me. More about you. How are you feeling?"

I knew this was a rhetorical question so I gave the honest, but also expected, answer. "Humiliated, thank you, Sir."

"Good, very good. Maybe Luke has done a better job with you than I first thought. Well let's have a look at you," he said. He walked around me, peering at all the exposed areas, including my arse and pussy thoroughly. "Very well it has hardened." he said. He said no more, just turned away, he came back with a pair of handcuffs and ankle cuffs. "Hands, back" was all he said. I moved my hands to behind my back and felt the cuffs latch on nice and tight. He then attached my ankles together with the other set. He gripped the metal bar on my handcuffs and pulled me towards his bathroom. "Lay down in the tub," he said. I awkwardly slid into the bath and laid down. He turned the water on and it came gushing down on top of me, the cold water shock making me gasp. The water kept coming, no hot water added, until it was covering my body. He turned it off. I lay there, helpless and defenceless. He leant over the bath and looked me straight in the eye, an evil glint in his eye. He rubbed a rough heavy soap over a hard bristled scrubber. My eyes widened in fear, I didn't want him touching me. Restricted in movement I began to thrash about in the water. Water splashing everywhere... including over him. He grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked me upwards. Anger flaring in his eyes. "You've got me wet. You'll pay for that later. Now lay still," he said through gritted teeth, before slamming me back under the water. I froze and stiffened. Horrors flooding back of being unable to do anything. I felt the rough bristles scrub at my stomach and legs, then my thighs and my arms, then my breasts - he seemed to pay particular attention to my nipples and then finally my vagina, scrubbing it as hard as he could until it was raw. I was silently crying, my body frozen with terror. He flipped me over and I had to crane my neck upwards to not get submerged under water but other than that, I fought no more. It had left me. I felt the cuffs be removed and I sat up. "Get out of my room. I'll deal with your other punishment later." I jumped out the bath, dripping water as I ran out the apartment room and back downstairs to the kitchens.