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Chapter 10

CALEB

The day of the inspection had arrived, and with it, the day for Lianna to wear that beautiful leash with a black tourmaline—which was the symbol of my clan—around her neck.

"Come on, lift your neck," I said to her, my sharp eyes watching her along with a smile.

"Do you really need me to be your pet so badly? You even said you were going to have fun with me yesterday and didn't do anything. Is it weighing on your conscience?" She seemed to want to throw something in my face at that moment—or even hit me in some way—but I just shrugged.

"Weight on my conscience? Why should I have something like that?" I arched my lips, my eyes looking her up and down. "You, on the other hand, should have a lot of weight on your conscience, don't you agree?"

Her irises—which were usually as bright as a freshly cut emerald—turned completely dark, which seemed to suggest that she was still very affected by that subject—even though all those assholes had literally betrayed her first.

"If that's what you want to believe," she spat out, her chin lifting for that leash to be placed around her neck. "And just know that I'm doing this because I really want to go back to my village. I wonder how many things you made me miss."

"What? With your 'sweet' and 'loving' ways?" I couldn't help but laugh at that moment, especially because in her head, she really should be behaving that way, or even being too obedient for her own liking. "Don't worry, I won't."

Her eyes narrowed almost 360 degrees at that instant, just for her to stand up and stomp on the ground with heavy feet, as if I had said the most offensive thing to her at that moment. And when she looked at herself in the mirror to see how she was with that leash, she just sighed heavily.

"At least it's pretty," she said, even though it seemed like those words were coming out against her will. "Can we go?"

"Of course, it is beautiful, my dear." I couldn't help but say that with some pride because I had really made an effort for it to come out decently, to be worthy of Lianna's beauty. "And answering your question, we can, my dear little puppy."

Her green eyes rolled, which made me hold back my laughter as I walked, and Lianna was forced to stay close to me, all eyes going in her direction as we walked through the corridors—after all, those vultures couldn't see something too bright without wanting to get their hands on it.

However, after we managed to get through that corridor that seemed to take years to end, a carriage was waiting for us as soon as we got off the ship, one that was as black as the stone that was around Lianna's pale and slender neck.

"How cute she looks with that collar around her neck." One of my soldiers teased, the coachman just looking from the corner of his eye as I approached, trying to maintain the class that none of those guards possessed.

"It looks great on that neck... it was so bland," another one wanted to join in the fun, which made me just look at everything with a certain coldness, my posture straightening as I ignored all that.

After all, she was nothing special.

Lianna was nothing special.

Lianna... should be nothing more than a cute little puppy that I had put a leash on.

LIANNA

That damn guy just stayed quiet while I was being confronted by all those motherfuckers, his image at that moment being completely cold and impeccable.

He didn't look anything like Caleb, who usually made fun of my face when we were alone, and even less like the one who laughed at any sign I showed of anger, or even that I would kill him with whatever I had within my reach. That made me wonder for a few minutes about the following question: who was the real Caleb?

Well, anyway, I finally got into that damn carriage—which was so bland for just having one color on that shit, which was black like everything that surrounded that bastard. But as soon as we got to the beach, I saw something that horrified me and made me completely furious.

The agreement was that my people would work, but they were being treated like true slaves, carrying things to that damn ship, while they were mistreated, covered in bruises on their bodies, and not content, those monsters still made them work even more when one of them fell, or even showed that they couldn't even keep their own body conscious.

I wanted to kill everyone there, I was planning to start a damn mutiny right now, to show all those motherfuckers who were nothing more than balls of fur with sharp teeth that humans deserve respect.

However... when I saw Lian full of bruises all over his body, with his bones showing and a dry mouth that seemed like he didn't even know what water was anymore, I ran to him, hugging him while crying without caring about the commotion I was causing at that moment, my tears dripping on his worn and totally dirty clothes from all that those things had made him work.

"Lian... what did they do to you?" I ended up saying between sobs, his arms that were now as thin as twigs, wrapping around my body.

"Lianna... I'm glad you're... okay..." He even had difficulty speaking, my chest tightening with that sight.

Now I wondered if my little sister was in the same situation, hurt while being forced to continue working without even being able to eat or drink properly.

And Caleb? When I looked at that bastard's expression, it was completely unchanged as it had been throughout this process, as if he wasn't feeling anything at all.

"Lianna, come back here now, you're causing an unnecessary scandal." That's what he said, nothing changing in his expression. "Now, Lianna."

"NO!" I yelled with all the air in my lungs. "LOOK AT WHAT YOUR PEOPLE DID!"

He didn't seem to care about my words at all, pulling me by the arm from there and throwing me into that damn carriage.

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