8th November, 8 days until the banquet.

“Candace, honey. It’s nearly midnight.” Cardinal welcomed his daughter inside as soon as he could, if only to stop her pounding at the door.

“I know it’s late, but it couldn’t wait for tomorrow.” Candace skipped the physical pleasantries of meeting her father at the door. She wasn’t here to visit. She was here to pick a fight. “It’s urgent.”

“Are you alright?” Cardinal frowned. “What’s wrong?”

He stepped aside as Candace forced her way through the door, a more than familiar enforcer following her inside. Cardinal wasn’t surprised to see Nell, he was just confused to see them with Candace. Something was up, and he didn’t like it.

The door quickly locked shut behind them as Cardinal peered out the window, making sure they weren’t followed here. Candace was on edge from the moment she walked through that door, and her father needed to make sure that she was safe.

Cardinal did not take phone calls. That was the rule. If someone wanted to speak with him, they needed to come to him directly. “Since you came all the way here I’m going to assume it’s about me.”

“Of course it’s about you.” Candace fumed. “You tried to put my mother’s collar around my neck.”

“I did no such thing.”

“Like hell you didn’t. You’re trying to control me.”

“Candace, please. I know you’re upset, but can we sit down and talk this out quietly like a family instead of shouting in each other’s faces like common gangsters? We’re better than that.”

“Are we better than that, dad?” Candace huffed. “Because sometimes it feels like I’m not really a part of this family.”

“You are this family, Candace.” Cardinal smiled warmly. “Have a seat. Anywhere in the house, please. Take your pick.”

An exasperated sigh left Candace’s lungs as she entertained her father’s wishes, following him to his office alone. Cardinal even pulled out his own chair for Candace to sit in, letting his princess have a seat at her father’s desk.

“Now start from the beginning.” Cardinal stood directly behind her, setting his hands on the top of the backrest to keep it steady. “What happened?”

“I know how mom died.” Candace shrank. Not even sitting in the king’s throne could make her feel strong as long as her father was looming over her like this. “You lied to me.”

“How did I lie to you?”

“You knew Claudia killed mom and you never told me.”

“I left out that part, sure. But do you remember what I told you instead?”

“You told me you killed her.”

“I told you that the family killed her. Our family killed your mother. Not me. Not your sister. Our family.”

“You had better not count me in that. I had no part in my own mother’s death.”

“Do you want to be a part of this family, Candace?” Cardinal asked her. “Or do you want to be more than that?”

“More than what?”

“You could be more than just a part of this family. You could be this family.”

There was a long pause as Candace felt her father let go of his chair, the silence punctuated by the sounds of him pouring drinks behind her. Candace wasn’t fond of gin, but when someone placed a glass in front of her, she swallowed it.

“I am this family, and this family is me, Candace. I’m not just responsible for my children, but everyone who works under us. Every mistake we make reflects on me. Every gun pointed at you is one pointed at me. When my family is disrespected, it’s an attack on me.”

Candace curled in on herself as she brought the glass to her lips, knocking back her drink as she quietly listened to her father’s whispers.

“I tried teaching your sister to be like me, and she failed. But that failure isn’t just hers, it’s mine. She may have been the one to press the button, but I was the one who gave her the button. I’m the reason your sister is the way she is. If anyone is to blame for your mother’s death, it’s me. So that’s what I let you believe.”

“I don’t care who killed her, dad. It’s not about who’s to blame, it’s about all of the deceit.” Candace said with a weak voice. “I’m not mad at Claudia because she killed my mom. I’m mad at her because she lied to me about it. She could have just told me, but instead she hid this from me for twelve years, and she still tried to claim me like my mom. How could you ever trust her to put that collar on me?”

“I didn’t trust her, Candace. I trusted you.” Cardinal gently turned Candace’s chair to the side to face him, crouching on the floor in front of her as he took her hands into his and held them. “I trusted you to decide what you wanted to be. Because I knew you’d make the right choice, and what did you do?”

“I clasped that thing as tight around her throat as I could.” Candace almost sounded proud of herself. “That’s what.”

“That’s my girl.” Cardinal grinned proudly, slowly standing up in front of her. “I knew you had it in you.”

She let out a sigh of relief as her father praised her, the anxiety in her chest slowly unwinding itself. Sometimes Cardinal came off as an uncaring lunatic, but Candace knew deep down that he loved his family.

“But I still don’t understand why?” Candace frowned, gently letting go of his hands as he stood. “Why go along with her schemes? Why entertain her attempts to try and impress you? Why let her do something like that to me?”

“Because I love your sister. You and I both know that there is no better teacher than failure. Either she impressed me enough to become my heiress again, or she failed, and she learned from it.” Cardinal spoke with the confidence of the criminal mastermind that he was. “But make no mistake, she was never in control. I was. I would never hand over the controller to your collar to anyone, not after what happened to your mother.”

Candace swallowed nervously, carefully not to say anything that would cross the line. “And Claudia’s controller-”

“No.” He stopped her behind the starting line. “I will not hand over the controller to your sister’s collar for much the same reason. Especially not for something like this, because I know exactly what you’re after, and the answer is no.”

“But what about-”

“When I say no, I mean no.”

“Chloe risked her life to help me, father.” Candace leapt to her feet from her father’s chair. Chloe’s safety was the one thing she was willing to stand up for right now. “She’s the one who told me about mom’s death. Without her help I would have mom’s collar around my neck as we speak.”

“Then it’s your job to respect that, Candace.” Cardinal stood eye to eye with his daughter, his willpower unwavering. “If that girl really did choose to sacrifice her life in order to save you, then you need to respect that choice and let her go through with it. She might not have known what she was doing a year ago, but she knew what would happen when she humiliated you to my face, and she knew what would happen when she stood up to your sister.”

“So even after all of this I’m just supposed to let Claudia do whatever she wants with her?”

“She knew what she was doing, and I have no reason to believe otherwise. She chose this. Let her go out on a high, and don’t give her another chance to screw it all up. Don’t give her another chance to hurt you like your mother hurt me.”

Candace’s heart froze. “My mother?”

Cardinal’s facade broke after a few moments, shattering from the force of an anguished sigh as he reclaimed his rightful place behind his desk. “Your mother was special. She had this power that normal people don’t have, something that a commoner shouldn’t be capable of.”

“Power?” Her voice stuttered nervously. “What power?”

Her father, on the other hand, spoke with total confidence. “The power to change people.”

A single book sat in the top drawer of Cardinal’s desk, bound with leather straps that kept it locked shut. Candace’s hands trembled as she accepted it from him, shaken with total awe.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Your mother’s diary.” His fingers grazed the lock as they trailed away from the book, releasing it to her. “You can break the lock of course, but I’m sure your mother would prefer you find the key.”

“Okay. Where’s the key?”

“I wouldn’t know. She never let me read it.” The drawer slid closed with a thud. “And I’m glad she didn’t, because I let her change me once, and I don’t plan on changing again.”

Candace’s mind raced at the thought of opening this new mystery box of hers, not realizing just how close the key to unlocking it was as she held the diary tight to her chest, her heart beating with nervous excitement.

“But what about Chloe?” Her voice cracked as she said my name. “What am I supposed to do now?”

“Do as I say and let her die before she changes you forever.” Candace’s father insisted. “If she’s anything like your mother, then she has just as much power over you as you have over her. You need to crush that influence while you still can, and if you’re anything like me- which you are- you’re not going to have the power to do it yourself.”

“So I’m supposed to do what you did?” Her voice shook as she said it, unable to believe what was coming out of her own mouth. “I’m supposed to let Claudia do it for me?”

“Either your sister does it on her own.” Cardinal didn’t even so much as smirk. “Or I make her do it.”

“Is that why you hate Chloe?” Candace looked towards her father with tears in her eyes. “Because she has power over me?”

And Cardinal stared back without even a shred of regret in his eyes. “Yes.”

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9th November, 7 days until the banquet.

“What do you mean it doesn’t come off?”

Claudia refused to believe it at first, but the more her mother had to repeat herself the more it really started to sink in. She had expected it to be bad, but her situation was turning out to be far more dire than she had hoped.

“You can’t just undo the latch?”

“Not without electrocuting you to death.” Lilith seemed almost ashamed to find her daughter like this. “This is a slave collar. It’s specifically designed to keep slaves from trying to remove them.”

“But it was mom’s collar.” Claudia had no qualms about calling Alecia her mother in front of Lilith, her actual mother. Candace’s mother had been more of a mom to her anyways. “If it can’t be removed, how did you get it off of her?”

“Eugh.” Lilith just shook her head and sighed. It was unbecoming of her eldest daughter to refer to a slave as her mother, let alone find herself wearing said slave’s collar. “Cyrus. Please explain this to your sister. I do not have the patience to dumb this down for her.”

Claudia’s brother was largely silent while his mother spoke. She was usually the brains between the two of them until she got sick of repeating herself. But Cyrus didn’t mind, beating concise explanations into women’s heads was what he did best.

“The latch slides in and is held in place by mechanisms in the collar while the device is on. Once it’s off the mechanisms will release and we can pull the two ends apart. But as long as that collar is on, that latch won’t budge.”

“Then turn it off?!”

“We can’t. It’s not designed to turn on and off. It only turns off when the batteries are dead.” Cyrus knelt next to his sister to explain it to her, tapping the collar once on either side of her neck. “There’s two battery modules- here and here- they both have to deplete independently for the system to shut off completely.”

“Or we could remove the batteries?”

“You can’t remove a battery until it’s depleted. Each compartment is held shut by mechanisms like the latch that don’t unlock while the battery is still powering them. It’s like that to keep slaves from removing the batteries. This way you can change one dead battery while the other continues to power the collar.”

“You mean the batteries don’t run down simultaneously?”

“No. The collar actually only needs one battery to run. But when one battery dies, it switches to using the other fully charged battery so that it will remain on while the other battery is replaced.”

“So you’re saying that I have to wait until both batteries are depleted before I can take this thing off?”

“Well, no. Because it will never fully deplete the second battery.”

“Excuse me?” Claudia gave her little brother just about the most baffled look imaginable. “I’m sorry. Did I hear that right?”

Cyrus took a quick glance over his shoulder to his slave of a wife and the collar still firmly clasped around her neck, knowing that this was likely not going to be pleasant news to any of the slaves in the room.

“To prevent slaves from running away and waiting for the battery to fully deplete, the collar will speed up the process of killing the second battery by unleashing about the last five percent of its energy all at once. That might sound fine on paper, but unless you’re dealing with a corpse, that’s fatal.”

Claudia was shaken for a moment. She could feel her heart pick up speed at the thought of a deadly electric shock. As a plantation owner she had subjected over a dozen unruly slaves to an execution by electrocution, but she never thought it was something she’d be in danger of.

And then she felt Josephine take her hand in hers and squeeze her palm for support, trying to comfort her. Claudia didn’t deserve a woman like her, but there she was, and she had never been so happy to have Josie by her side.

“So what you’re saying is that there’s literally no way to safely remove the collar from my wife’s neck?” Josie asked, staring straight at her mother-in-law. “You’ve used your genius intellect to design a collar that can never be removed so long as your daughter still lives?”

“That’s not it at all, actually.” Lilith was completely unmoved by what Josie was implying. “There is a way to safely get it off of her while causing minimal damage.”

“Then why not just say that?”

“Because given that the collar around my daughter’s neck is a precious family heirloom of specific sentimental value to her, I know that Claudia is not going to like it.”

“Please, mom.” Claudia was practically begging for help at this point. “What is it?”

“I won’t go into details so as not to give the slaves too many ideas.” Lilith sighed, specifically referring to Aria, Elizabeth, and I on the other side of Claudia’s office. “But the only way to remove the collar without killing you is by breaking it.”

Claudia’s heart broke in her chest as she squeezed her wife’s hand. Hardly a sound escaped her lips as her hand drifted towards the collar, gently curling her fingers around it. “But it was her’s.”

“And now it’s yours.” Lilith’s cane thudded against the floor as she stepped towards her daughter. “The collar is symbolic of one slave’s dedication to her master. To remove it would be going against her owner’s will for her. The only way to remove her collar is to destroy the bond between slave and master. That is why it was designed this way. Because the collar is nothing more than a symbol of her bond to her master, and that bond is more powerful than any machine can be.”

She stared at the collar around her neck with a sorrowful look in her eyes, one that showed just how precious it really was to her. “So my options are to either destroy the collar or kill myself?”

“Yes.” Lilith frowned, clearly not liking this any more than her daughter did. “Those are your options.”

The room filled with a bleak silence, spreading into every corner from the grim pit of despair that was Claudia. But then, a little light of hope appeared, because Josephine wasn’t about to give up like that.

“Those aren’t your only options, honey.” Claudia turned to her with that flicker of hope in her eyes, looking to her for salvation as she spoke. “Obviously I’m not going to let you hurt yourself, that’s off the table. So you could either destroy the collar, or you could keep it?”

I could see the horrified gears in Claudia’s eyes freeze at the sound of it, but not for a second did that light in her eyes go away as long as she was looking towards her wife. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it would suck to have to change the batteries when they die, but we already do that with the other slaves, we could make do.” Josie smiled, still holding Claudia’s hand. “You think I’m just some submissive housewife, but I’ve already got Darcey, Autumn, and Zenna under my boot without even needing their controllers. You can trust me to take care of you. I don’t even need the controllers. You showed me that recently.”

“But my cane, Josie.” Claudia reached her hand towards the table, nervously wrapping her fingers around her cane. It was heavier in her hand now than it ever had been, impossible to pick up. “Even if you weren’t going to electrocute me with the controllers, anyone can just kick my shin and take this from me. If someone gets ahold of this, they can electrocute me.”

“But they can’t electrocute you to death, remember?” Josie gently wrestled it from Claudia’s hand, confiscating it from her. “That’s why you carry this around and not the controllers, because you’ve never trusted yourself not to kill someone with it. Trust it with me and no one can hurt you.”

“You mean no one can hurt me but you?”

“Exactly.” Josie smiled, tapping the cane slightly. “Here, watch. I even know how to use it, let me show you the cane at full power. Can I get one of you girls to come over here?”

Josephine was obviously not going to demonstrate on her wife, so she turned to the three of us. Aria, Liz, and I were all nervously kneeling with our backs to one of the shelves directly across from Claudia’s desk. We knelt in descending age order of our owners, with myself caught between Lilith’s slave and Cyrus’ slave.

“Well I’m not doing it.” Aria mumbled under her breath, almost embarrassed to be chickening out. “I can’t handle it, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I sighed, nervously looking up into Josie’s eyes. “It should be me-”

“Whatever.” Liz just let out an exasperated sigh from beside me, rolling her eyes in disbelief. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I was literally seconds from getting to my feet when Liz beat me to the punch, standing up and making it halfway across the office before I’d even begun to move.

“It’s just one shock. If your sister is going to be such a big baby about it I might as well show her what a real slave is capable of.” Without flinching Liz stepped towards Josephine, her arms behind her back and her collar exposed. “Isn’t that right, Master?”

“Careful with that tongue of yours, darling. Claudia may have a collar around her neck, but that doesn’t make her a slave. At least not yet.” Cyrus smirked, glancing towards his sister out of the corner of his eye. “But yes, go ahead.”

“Yes, Master.” Liz slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath to prepare herself. “Thank you, Master.”

Josephine smiled with a bit of smug excitement as she raised the serpent’s jaws to Liz’s collar, delivering her a devastating electric shock that forced her to fall to her knees without a sound as she convulsed with pain.

But even though it looked painful, I knew that it was much worse given the fact that it was Liz on the receiving end of it. She had nerves of steel after years at her husband’s side, which was a direct result of being electrocuted time and time again, but that one still looked like it hurt.

“Okay, point taken.” Claudia winced as she watched it, averting her eyes as her brother went to help his wife back up and into his waiting arms. “It won’t kill me, but it still hurts.”

“And your father has the proper controllers, right?” Josie turned to her, pulling her close. “He’d never do that to you, would he?”

Claudia paused for a moment to think it over. At first she smiled, but then that smile turned to a look of worry. “I don’t know, actually. Everyone here has too many secrets.”

The whole room went silent at that remark, but only because everyone knew it was true.

“Whatever happens, you’re going to be safe with me.” Josie assured her. “I promise.”

“But the cane.” Claudia protested. “I need it to walk.”

“No, Claudia. You just think you need it. But I think it’s time you learn to walk without it.”

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10th November, 6 days until the banquet.

Claudia avoided me for a good while after that. She avoided everyone but Josie for a few days, especially Lilian.

And that put my fate into a little bit of a limbo, because not even I knew what was going to happen.

“You’re going to be fine!!!” Darcey tried to insist. “Promise!!!”

“Thank you, Darcey.” But Darcey wasn’t a very good liar. “I’m sure you’re right.”

“Come on, don’t be like that.” She smiled nervously. “We have things to cook for the party, remember?”

I’d almost forgotten about Lilith’s party in all of the havoc from the last couple of days, but it was a little bit refreshing to get back on a schedule, even if it was only as Darcey’s tail for the day. There were all these fancy foods that needed to be prepared well in advance, and she needed help making them.

“Hey, Chloe?” Darcey couldn’t help but stare at the way I cooked, more than able to tell that I was an amatuer. “Where’d you learn to cook?”

“Ummm.” I had to think about that for a moment. “From my foster mom, I think.”

“Foster mom?”

“Yeah. I was a foster kid. Her name was- err, is- Colleen. She raised me from about Lilian’s age I guess. She even sewed me that stuffed dog I love, Poppy.” I sighed, my chest heavy at the memory of her. “Most of the other kids were in and out really quick, but I was the one who never really found an adoptive family. Colleen cared for me and a couple of the other boys until we were ready to be real adults.”

“Awww. She sounds sweet!!!”

“She is sweet. Honestly, I really didn’t deserve someone like her, especially with the way I treated her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I worried her to death when I ran away. I was only like fourteen at the time, but I knew it was going to upset her.”

“Wait. If she was so sweet, why would you upset her like that?”

“I didn’t like the way she fussed about every little thing. Back then I just thought she was overbearing. I didn’t think it was fair for her to tell me what to do.”

“What, did she order you around a lot?”

“Well, no. She just acted like any other parent would, I guess.”

“Then what was the problem?”

“I didn’t like being treated like a child. She wasn’t my mom. I didn’t want to listen to her.”

“She sure sounds like a mom to me.” Darcey smiled warmly. “And if she raised you like Zenna raises Lilian, then she’s probably your mom, right?”

“Yeah.” I smiled at the thought of that. “I guess so.”

“You know, if you think about it-” She sounded so smart, and she was confident in herself as she said it. “Maybe the reason you never got adopted was because you already had a mom.”

I blushed, my heart quickly beginning to weigh me down. “Well when you say it like that I feel like an asshole for not realizing it.”

“I’m sure she still thinks about you, right???” Darcey giggled, trying to cheer me up. “I bet she was proud when you kicked Candace’s ass in the finals!!!”

“I sure do hope so.” I frowned, trying to hide the tears in my eyes. “I got a lot of hate for defeating Candace.”

“Hate???” The sound of that discouraged the other girl. “How come???”

“It’s a long story. But I basically got booed whenever I won a tournament.”

“Really???”

“Yes, really.”

“Why???”

I could hear the concern in her voice as she went on, but I just kind of shrugged. “Because I was the villain.”

“How were you the villain???”

“Because nobody really roots for the underdog. I was Sophia Cavalier. I was a rookie who upset the established hierarchy.” I blushed, awkwardly trying and failing to avoid the real reason people hated me. “And I was kind of an asshole.”

“Yeah.” Somehow that didn’t surprise her. “That makes sense.”

“What else was I supposed to do? That’s just the kind of person I am, rough around the edges. People started hating me long before I was a contender, so I just leaned into it.”

“You know that being an asshole doesn’t make people like you better, right?” Darcey pondered over it for a moment. “Being mean just pushes people away.”

“I think that’s why I do it, Darcey.” I could feel her disappointment in me without even needing to see it. “I don’t know how to talk to people. That’s why I don’t have friends. I don’t like when people like me, because I just know they aren’t ever going to love me.”

“But that’s part of the problem, Chloe. None of us can learn to love you because we don’t know anything about you. We’ve tried being your friends, but you won’t let us in.”

I sighed quietly as we continued to work. Darcey was right. I didn’t like letting people in, I was always afraid of being hurt. I didn’t like relying on people, I always needed to do everything myself. But being a slave was the one thing I couldn’t do on my own.

“Once this party is over, I’m going to do better.” I lied out loud to the both of us, knowing very well that I wasn’t even going to live to see the party. “If you still want to be friends, I want to be friends too.”

“Promise???”

“Promise.”

“Then we’re friends.” Darcey giggled happily. “So you’d better not break that promise.”

“I’d never dream of it.” There were tears in my eyes, which for once I didn’t want to shake away. “Thank you, Darcey.”

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11th November, 5 days until the banquet.

I heard later that Josephine had actually taken Claudia to see a series of doctors over the course of the week. Psychiatrists. Therapists. Physicians. Marriage counselors. Anything you could imagine Claudia needing, Josie forced her into seeing them.

“I never told you this…” Autumn was significantly less optimistic about my chances than Darcey had been. “But I really like your hair…”

“Thank you, Autumn.” That was nice of her, honestly. Especially after I’d been forced to slice a good chunk of it off to help Candace. “I like your hair a lot too.”

“It looks great, but I gotta ask… Do you dye it?”

“I used to dye it.” I giggled at her question. “But the peach eventually washed out, and I’ve just been stuck with the usual orange.”

“It’s pretty either way. You look like Miss Josephine, and I think Josie is really pretty…”

“Maybe I’m just really gay, but I think you’re all pretty.”

“Aww… thanks…” Autumn didn’t quite know how to take a compliment. “Where’d you learn to dye your hair anyways?”

“Ummm.” I had to think about that for a moment too. “I think it was from my foster mom, actually.”

“Really?” Autumn smiled politely as the two of us continued to decorate for the upcoming party. “She was cool with you dyeing your hair?”

“Yeah. She was cool with most things, honestly. Colleen just had a policy of being home by sundown and not getting any tattoos.”

“What’s wrong with tattoos?”

“Tattoos and low income families might seem like they mix really well, but they don’t. They’re practically a beacon telling everyone who can see that you’re in a street gang.”

“So you never got any tattoos?”

“I was tempted to, but no. And honestly I’m kind of glad I didn’t. If the cops had seen me with a tattoo when I got arrested, they wouldn’t have let me off with a slap on the wrist.”

“Wait… You got arrested?”

“Oh yeah.” I used to be proud of that fact, but I wasn’t quite as thrilled with it anymore. “I was in jail for a few days.”

“How’d that happen?”

“Because I refused to tell them who I was when they arrested me, and I had no identification on me.”

“That I get… but why’d they arrest you?”

“Because I stole a car.”

“You stole a car?” She was downright shocked. “And you got away with a slap on the wrist?”

“It was a neighbor’s car. When they identified it, they tracked down my foster home pretty quickly.”

“Why’d you steal your neighbor’s car?”

“Because I was running away from home.” I always did hate talking about this. “I only really got out of being tried as an adult because of my foster mom, she did a lot to help convince the neighbors not to press charges.”

“So what, you got a slap on the wrist and a spanking when you got home?”

“No, god no. Colleen would never.” I shook my head at even the thought of that. “I got tried as a juvenile and spent what would have been my sentence attending community college and doing public service every weekend while I was on parole.”

“How old were you?”

“I was fourteen. But I’d dropped out of high school after like a year, so-”

“So you never graduated high school?”

“Nope.” I shrugged, not very bothered by that. If anything, it only really compounded into the whole having no friends thing. “Had my GED and an Associate of Arts degree by the time I was eighteen though, I liked that.”

“I would have never guessed…”

“Nobody would have guessed. It’s not like anyone really asks.”

“Can you really blame us…” She peeped shyly. “You’re kind of mean…”

“I know I am. It’s a problem I’m still working on.” I gave her a nervous smile. “If it means anything anymore. I’m really sorry about everything I’ve done. I’ve been an ass, and I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you…” She returned my smile. “You’ve done a lot of good around here too…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… Claudia…”

“Honestly, I’ve caused as many problems as I’ve solved around.”

“I don’t know…” Autumn wasn’t so convinced. “Maybe you ought to check your math on that one…”

“Maybe I do.” It was creeping up on me slowly, but I really was going to miss it here. “Thank you, Autumn.”

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12th November, 4 days until the banquet.

Day by day, the clock kept ticking. My time was running out, and every day it got that much more terrifying. I hadn’t seen Claudia in days, and by now it was clear that Josie was just stalling to let me live until Saturday.

That was when Candace was going to be hosting the world championship, and I wanted to see it before I was gone. It was my last request.

In the meantime, Zenna and I were just kind of visiting. Our master had been out of sight for several days now, but she had been far from out of mind, and it was beginning to worry us both. I figured she probably hid herself away in her office, too afraid to actually go to work, so the sitting room was our best bet to run into her.

“I almost forgot to congratulate you on the baby, Zenna.” I could only hope that I wasn’t bothering her. My relationship with Zenna had always been more rocky than with the other two. “Have you told Lilian yet?”

“Oh, um. Thank you, but no. I haven’t.” Zenna seemed more than a little bit distraught by that. “You want to know the truth?”

“The truth?”

Zenna frowned nervously, a little bit embarrassed to be saying it out loud. “I’m not really pregnant.”

That was a little bit disappointing to hear, even if I wasn’t going to be here to meet the baby anyways. “False alarm?”

“No.” She hung her head in shame. “I lied about being pregnant.”

“What?!” My eyes widened, just a little bit scared for her now. “Why would you do that?!”

“Because I didn’t want to leave Lilian. It was the only way I could think of staying with the daughter I already have.”

“So you lied to both Claudia and Josie?”

“No, actually. Josie and I both lied to Claudia.”

“You mean she was in on it?”

“She wasn’t in on it. It was her idea.” Zenna blushed, smiling just a little bit proudly. “And it worked.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, Chloe.” She purred under her breath. “I am kind of disappointed, though. I’d never really thought about having kids until Lilian, but now I really want one.”

I blushed at that comment. “I know how that feels.”

“Thinking of having kids?” Zenna asked, knowing very well how little time I had to live. “It’s never too late?”

“Oh god no. I’m not ready for that. I think it would kill me faster than Claudia ever could.” My hand made its way to my stomach, gently pressing against my womb. “Until recently I thought I’d been completely spayed, but even if I could get pregnant on time, I’m terrible with kids.”

“I used to think I was the same way.” Zenna’s eyes floated over towards Lilian’s door. “But then I became a nanny, and I guess that changed.”

“You’re not just her nanny, Zenna. You’re her mom.”

“That’s one good thing that came out of all of this. It’s nice to be able to finally call myself her mother.” Zenna was the one who had tears in her eyes this time. “I wish I could go back and tell my mom the same thing.”

It took me a few moments before that really clicked. “Foster kid?”

Zenna was just a little bit embarrassed to be admitting it. “How could you tell?”

“Takes one to know one, I guess.” I smiled nervously. “I wish I could go back and tell my own foster mother how I really feel about her.”

“You know, this is going to sound mean, but I’m really glad I’m not the only one that missed the chance to give my mom the credit she deserves.”

“At least Lilian gets to call you her mother. You deserve it a lot more than Claudia does.”

I watched Zenna’s blushing face turn red as I said that, but by the time I noticed her whole face glowing red it was already too late to do anything. The light on our collar’s didn’t serve as a warning, so the electricity was soaring into me before I even had the chance to brace myself.

The horrified look on her eyes was enough to convey just how scared she was to know that we were being listened to. It was one of the worst shocks I’d ever suffered, and for a moment I thought I was actually about to die, but once I was whimpering through gritted teeth it did eventually subside.

Blacking out was about the best way I could describe the following moments, brought to unconsciousness for just a few minutes following the shock, nothing too extreme. It was painful, but I’d been through much worse. It was mostly just an annoyance. My vision was blurred for a little bit, but my ears were ringing for a lot longer than I would have liked.

Listening was made difficult by the high pitched buzz, but once it was gone I could finally hear what was going on. Zenna was knocking on the locked door to the vestibule, while a pair of voices were going at each other in the office. From the sounds of it Claudia was freaking out and Josie was doing her best to help calm her down.

“Hey girls.” Josie quietly answered the door, letting Zenna step towards her inside of the vestibule. “See, Claudia. Chloe is fine, you didn’t kill her.”

“I don’t care!!” Came Claudia’s voice from deeper inside of her office. “Help me put them away!!”

Josie just sighed, giving her wife an exhausted smile to show how much she loved her. “Just put them back in the drawer, honey.”

“Is she alright?” Zenna frowned, asking after a moment of silence from Claudia. “What’s going on?”

“I’m trying to help Claudia get her confidence back with the controllers, so I let her shock you after that last comment.” Josephine frowned, shaking her head at me. “But she still doesn’t trust herself not to accidentally kill you.”

My voice cracked as I first tried to speak, still broken from the shock. “It’s fine, Ma’am. I know I deserve it.”

Josephine paused, unsure of how to respond. “Claudia and I talked it out, and I convinced her to wait until after the party. So if there’s anything you’d like to do before then, please make sure you do it within the next couple days, okay?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I let out a defeated sigh, knowing exactly what awaited me when my time ran out. “Thank you so much for everything.”

“Of course.” She gave me a polite smile. “I’m sorry that it turned out this way, but we can’t keep you after this. Please understand.”

I could feel the tears shaking free from my eyes as I nodded my head. “I understand-”

“I don’t.” Zenna quickly cut in, interrupting me. “You can’t do this to her, Master. It’s not her fault.”

My eyes sparkled just a bit as I turned to her, standing up for me like I was still one of her sister slaves. “Zenna?”

“That’s enough, Zenna.” Josie frowned, silencing her. “Claudia is still upset with you.”

“She’s upset with me?!” Zenna protested, snarling like a lion under her breath. “Did you tell her I’m not really pregnant?!”

Josephine instantly wished she’d caught Zenna before she blurted it out loud, her face nervously flustered as she turned to her wife, unable to find the words to say.

“What do you mean you’re not pregnant?”

Claudia was dressed in what looked to be an emerald green evening gown as she stepped towards the door, a confused frown painted onto her face. Her lovers, meanwhile, both looked about as guilty as they could be.

She blushed as she turned to her wife. “Josie?”

“Look. It worked, didn’t it?” She sighed nervously. “You’re not leaving us, right?”

Claudia needed a few moments before she could answer. “Of course I’m not. But it was still a mean thing to lie about.”

“In my defense.” Zenna added. “You were going to separate my daughter and I.”

“Lilian hasn’t stopped being my daughter, Zenna.” Claudia hid behind Josie, too nervous to stand alone in front of her slave. “I wanted to separate from her just as little as you did.”

“Thankfully that’s not gonna happen, right?” The cowardly lion quickly grew flustered. “We’re all together in the end, and I’m not pregnant, so you don’t need to worry about a new baby.”

“But I want a new baby.” Claudia blushed, her poker face fading away. “I just don’t want to screw everything up like I did with Lilian.”

“You didn’t ruin Lilian, Ma’am.” Zenna tried her best to assure her. “I promise.”

“I’ll believe it until I see it.” Claudia frowned. “Until then, I’m just going to let her be.”

“Of course, Ma’am.” Zenna bowed, her smirk giving away her mischievous little idea. “I should probably go get her from her nap.”

“You probably should, Darcey is going to have lunch ready soon.” Josephine giggled, pulling her wife into her arms for an embrace. Claudia just kind of had to awkwardly snuggle into her, because to be honest, it was really difficult for her to hide behind Josie when she was so much taller than her, even if her wife was also over six feet tall. “Could you bring your controller to me, Zenna?”

“My controller?” Lilian still had Zenna’s controller. “What do you need my controller for?”

“Claudia doesn’t like it, but she gave me all of your controllers for my own safety, and I want her to do the same. Especially if she’s going to be my trophy wife from now on.” Josie’s teases made Claudia blush profusely. “We’re going to lock them all away until she’s ready for that, though. Just to be safe.”

“It’s about time, too. I’ve always thought giving my controller to a five year old was a bad idea, even if it is Lilian.”

“Just go get it from her, okay?”

Josie smacked Zenna on the ass as she turned to leave, and I could see the jealous look on Claudia’s face for just a moment. But the second we locked eyes, my master growled at me.

“I don’t want to hear a thing from you.”

Her hostility towards me wasn’t surprising, and I’d already been keeping my mouth shut for her anyways, so I just gave her a nod. But that didn’t seem to satisfy her.

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this.” Her hands curled into fists as she stomped towards me. She was filled with pure rage, but what terrified me the most was the controller to my collar in her hand, about ready to press the button. “If I had my way, you’d be gone already. Josie’s the one who’s doing this for you, so you had better show her how grateful you are.”

My heart squeezed inside of my chest as I looked on at the both of them, bowing ever so slightly. “Yes, Master. Thank you, Master.”

She eased up after that, quickly filled with a brief sense of relief. Claudia was still clearly quite terrified of me, and the controller in her hand was more for defense than offense.

“Mommy!!” Claudia turned towards the sound of Lilian’s voice, quickly getting down on her knees as the little girl she hadn’t seen for several days now bolted from Zenna’s side to hers. “Slave mommy is trying to take the controller away from me, but I tried to tell her no!!”

I was only just realizing it, but Lilian was honestly really tall for a five year old girl. She shouldn’t be so big already, but when Claudia was kneeling she had to actually look up at Lilian, which was a weird sight to see considering just how tall her mother was. She was four feet tall already, and she undoubtedly got that from Claudia.

She was shaking with fear, too. The controller to Zenna’s collar was gripped tight in her hand, trying to protect herself. Lilian didn’t want to run to Claudia for help, but she didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t usually scared of Zenna, but when she was it really threw things off for her considering how terrified she was of her biological mother.

“Tell her she can’t have it cuz she’s a slave, please Mommy!!” And just like her mother, she was growing into quite the little mistress herself, already making decisions for her other mother, the slave standing behind her. Lilian had clearly been taught not to let slaves take their own controllers from her. “Tell her that controllers are for real people!!”

The look in Claudia’s eyes told all that she was sure that she’d ruined this child, but then an idea dawned on her which made her smile. “Lilian, sweetie. It’s okay, give it to her for me?”

Just hearing her mother speak scared Lilian, who was about as terrified of Claudia as I was. Clearly Lilian was already distraught, or she wouldn’t have ran up to her mother. She just sort of froze for a few moments, the tiny lego sized gears in Lilian’s head ticking away as she stood there, sniffling quietly. She hesitated for a moment, before slowly extending her hand towards her mother’s to give the controller to her.

And then those eyes of hers found something really curious.

“I don’t have to.” She pulled her hand away before Claudia could take the controller from her. “I’m a real girl.”

“Lilian, sweetie-”

“Mommy?” Lilian tilted her head in confusion. “What’s that?”

Claudia’s hands quickly clasped over the collar around her neck, her eyes shaking with fear at the look on Lilian’s face, staring at her like she wasn’t a real person anymore. Her daughter was actually seeing the collar around her throat and associating it with her being a slave, which was breaking her mother’s heart.

Lilian couldn’t quite understand what was happening just yet. “Mommy’s a slave now?”

A torrent of emotion washed over her face, unable to actually say no. “Lilian…”

Claudia’s face slowly began to tear up with anguish, but that quickly faded away as the light in Lilian’s amazed little eyes brought a smile to both of their lips. “That means I’m safe, right?”

Her mother went wide eyed at her daughter’s sudden confidence. “What was that, sweetie?”

“Nanny says I never have to be scared of her cuz she has a collar around her neck.” Lilian smiled happily, pointing at the collar Claudia was wearing. “I don’t have to be scared, see?”

“Oh, Lilian.” Claudia’s face quickly turned red, happy tears beginning to pour down her cheeks. “Your slave mom’s done a really good job of teaching you.”

Claudia broke, her face bursting into a torrent of emotion as she sat there on her knees and sobbed. She didn’t like to cry, and her daughter didn’t like seeing her cry, but even Lilian could tell that her mother was happy.

“I love you, Mommy.” Lilian clamored into Claudia’s arms, and the two grabbed onto each other. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’d never dream of it, sweetie.” Claudia smiled happily, burying her face into her daughter’s shoulders as she glared daggers at me out of the corner of her eyes. “Besides, Mommy can’t leave. You’re gonna have a little brother or sister on the way soon.”

Lilian’s eyes went wide with excitement, while everyone else was just shocked to hear her suggest it. “Really?”

“Yes.” Claudia gazed softly towards Zenna, gently setting Lilian back down. “Really.”

“We’ll talk about it later, okay Lily?” Josephine smiled nervously as she crouched next to them both, extending her hand towards her daughter. “Right now I need you to give me that.”

Lilian looked on at her and nodded, gently placing the controller to Zenna’s collar in her redheaded mother’s hand. I was practically Josie’s cisgender doppelganger, and that meant Lilian looked a lot like me by proxy. I could really see what Claudia meant when she said Lilian wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, because even I could mistake her for being my daughter if I didn’t know better. She was just like Josie right down to that cute little head of messy orange hair, but with cloudy blue eyes that came straight from Claudia, Lilian was their daughter alright.

“Thank you, Mistress.” Zenna smiled as she took Lilian’s empty hand again, letting the kid cling to her all over again. “I’m going to take Lily back upstairs while you three talk things out some more.”

Claudia just crossed her arms. “We’ll talk to you later, slave.”

Lilian watched Zenna bow before following her nanny back upstairs, skipping beside her like nothing had happened at all. Soon enough, Zenna and Lilian were back upstairs, and all of the controllers were tucked inside of Claudia’s desk for safekeeping.

The two of them were always awfully sweet together no matter the circumstance, and nothing from the last two months had changed that. I was still just astonished that it had been that long since I got here at all, and it somehow felt like my life was crashing in on me far too soon.

“I’m sorry, did I miss a step?” Josie questioned her. “I thought we were on the same page about Zenna not actually being pregnant.”

“We are, but now Lilian is expecting one of us to have a baby.” Claudia smirked. “So you had better fix that before you break her little heart.”

“Honey, I don’t understand. Why’d you lie to her?”

“Because you lied to me.”

“That was only to try and keep this family together.”

“Telling me that Zenna was going to be having a baby was only going to work if she actually ended up having a baby. Even if your plan worked, it would have only fallen apart once I found out it was a lie.”

“Because if you stayed for a baby that doesn’t exist, you wouldn’t really have a reason to stay at all. But I wasn’t really going to break your heart and have a baby with any of our slaves, not without talking to you first.”

“Well congratulations, here is your talk. Our daughter is expecting someone to have a baby, so we need to have a baby. It’s as simple as that.”

“So you want to have another baby. You mean it?”

“Yes, Josie. I mean it. Let’s have another baby.”

The two of them just smiled at each other, and for once I could say it was nice to hear them talking, especially when they weren’t shouting at each other. But that just left one more problem to handle. Me.

“Master? Mistress?” I swallowed nervously, sick of sitting on the sideline for my last few days. “Where do I fit into all of this?”

“You don’t.” Claudia responded within an instant. “That’s the problem.”

“Master, I-”

“You knew what was going to happen.” Nervous eyes remained fixed on anything but me as she spoke. “You said you’re ready to die. Do you still mean that?”

“Yes.” I replied without a moment of hesitation. “I just want a few more days, please.”

“I bought you for this party. So you are going to serve at this party.” Claudia frowned. “That’s the plan at least.”

“You really trust me to serve at your party, Ma’am?”

“No.” Claudia practically snorted at that one. “But that just means I get to kill you in front of all of my guests if you fail. The girl who humiliated Candace St. Clair dying by my hand in front of a live studio audience. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

“No. No it doesn’t, Ma’am. If I have to go out I think I’d rather go out before then, if that’s okay with you?”

She clearly didn’t like my overly defeated attitude. “What happened to all that fight you had in you?”

“She’s still in there somewhere, Ma’am.” I gave her the most lifeless smile I could manage. “But Sophia Cavalier only comes out to play against worthy opponents.”

Her begrudging enjoyment dropped dead right then and there. “We’ll see about that.”

✶ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✶ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✶

13th November, 3 days until the banquet.

Lilian would need to be talked to about how slaves were people, but for now it was okay to keep her in the dark.

I only had a few days left to live, so I wasn’t going to be here to watch it all blow over, which was fine with me. I just wanted to spend my last few days with my fellow slaves, knowing that they were the ones who were really going to miss me.

But we couldn’t really go a week after what had happened without sitting down as a household and talking it all out.

“Alright, girls. Have a seat.” Josie gathered us all in their bedroom, having the four of us kneel beside the vanity. “We have to talk.”

“This is about Chloe, isn’t it…”

“You’re not really going to get rid of her, right???”

Came the responses from my fellow slaves, more than just a little bit concerned for my well being. They knew by now what was going to be happening to me, they’d seen it once before.

“Master, please.” Zenna was the strongest willed one of us to protest this, knowing that by now she was practically immune to being put down. “You can’t do this.”

“Shut it, Zenna.” Claudia snapped at her, growling loudly. “This isn’t about you, this is about the good of this family.”

“And for the good of this family.” Josie continued for her, far more calm and put together. “We really have no choice, girls.”

“And why not, Master?” Zenna snarled, gritting her teeth. “How can you just let Claudia do this?”

“I’m not letting Claudia do anything, Zenna. You should know by now that things are more complicated than that.” Josie pointed the cane towards us, still getting the hang of using it as she tapped the head of Claudia’s collar, making her wife shake with fear for just a moment. “This collar is not a laughing matter, we can’t just let it go unpunished. It’s not a choice at this point.”

Claudia grimaced. Five days of wallowing in fear had been enough for her.

The cane fell prey to her grasp as she wrapped her fingers around its neck, sliding it out of her wife’s hands and into her own. Her confidence always dropped without her prized weapon in hand, but now that she was holding it for the first time since her sister had ripped it from her clutches, Claudia felt unstoppable.

“My father is going to be here tomorrow, so I need each of you to be on your best behavior around him.” She held it in her right hand for a moment before flicking it to her dominant hand, and then back. Amidst the chaos it was easy to forget that she was left handed. “If my word of torment isn’t enough to justify this for you all, remember that my father wants Chloe dead as much, if not more, than I do.”

Thump . She slammed the tip of her cane against the ground with a far less coordinated, but much more forceful, thud. I watched her slump forward, putting her weight onto it as she lorded over me, mere feet from my face.

“And he still has the controller to this collar around my neck.” Her eyes were two fiery balls of rage pointed towards mine. “So what he says goes.”

“Your daddy wants me dead.” I smirked, rolling my eyes. “And because you’re that much more of a bitch than I am, you’re going to do exactly what he says.”

Claudia gasped, and for a moment she glanced towards her left wrist. She wished she had the confidence to wear her controllers like Candace and Josie could, but she would settle for beating me in the head with her cane. Luckily, before she could even pick it up I had more friends than I probably deserved there to defend me.

“Please put the cane down, Ma’am.” Zenna was holding onto the other end of the implement, knowing that she was more than capable of wrestling it out of her master’s hand. “We can talk it out, let us help you.”

“It’s not her fault, Mistress…” Autumn practically clung to me like a cocklebur, which thankfully didn’t grow here like they did back home, considering that I was allergic to them. It was weird given that Darcey was supposed to be the one made of straw, but I was happy to see that Autumn had enough heart to care about me. “She can’t help but be mean, it’s a defense mechanism. She doesn’t know how to talk to people.”

“You have to go easier on her, Ma’am. Please!!!” Darcey pouted, the metallic gears in her little scarecrow brain going off at a mile a minute, trying to work out a way through this. “She’s got like textbook red flags going on. Irritability. Aggression. Guilt. Not to mention all of her self-destructive behaviors. Talking back. Refusing to make friends. Purposefully antagonizing the people close to her.”

I blushed as she listed all those things off, watching Claudia slowly lower her cane back to the floor. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who was still amazed to see Darcey and Autumn do things like this, and I could see how Josie was swooning over her two personal slaves.

“If you do this, we’ll never be able to forgive ourselves, Mistress.” Zenna pleaded with her as she held onto Claudia’s cane, making the eyes of a desperate little kitten up at her. “Please don’t put her down. Not after what happened to Bella.”

Claudia couldn’t help but stare at those eyes of hers, letting her cane fall into Zenna’s hands. “I know you girls got attached to Bella. But there was a reason she didn’t even make it a year. You didn’t know Bella like I knew Bella.”

Josephine slowly crawled towards her wife as Claudia sat down on the edge of the bed, gently placing both hands on her shoulders and beginning to rub them. “I’m sorry, Claudia.”

“I don’t blame you, Josie.” Claudia smiled, placing her hand over her wife’s, still rubbing her shoulder. “It was my fault for not saying anything sooner.”

“Claudia, honey.”

“It’s funny, you know.” Claudia snapped out of it, leaping back to her feet. “All this time I thought that you coming out as a woman was some sign from above that I was meant to step it up and be your husband. But that only led to further and further misery for all of us.”

It took everything I had to hold my tongue during Claudia’s frankly cartoonishly villainous speech, but I bit the bullet anyways.

“I’ll admit it. I’m gay and I always have been, just like Josie. She’s always been a beautiful woman, and that’s why I fell in love with her.” She turned to her blushing bride beside her, and just for a moment we could sense the connection between them as Claudia sat down and grabbed her by both hands. “But you were never meant to be the housewife. This is who you’ve always been. You weren’t the one to change, I was, and it was wrong of me to try and change you.”

“And it was wrong of me not to say something sooner. I shouldn’t have just gone along with it when it was obvious that trying to be this for me was hurting you. I knew that being the wife wasn’t working out with me, but instead of being honest, I just bought slaves to do the job for me.” Josie squeezed Claudia’s hands, trying her best to help her wife open up. “I should have realized how scared you were. But I gave up and left you to deal with it all by yourself, and you ended up getting hurt because of me.”

“Bella.” Zenna’s hands curled tightly around her master’s cane, still in her hands. I could feel the tension in her beside me, growing more defensive of her lovers with every word, and I could only hope that anger wasn’t about to unleash itself. “Bella hurt you?”

“I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I just didn’t want you all to think I was weak. I would rather you all be afraid of me for putting her down than let you know I was afraid of her. Because what good is a husband who can’t even stop her own slave from beating her to the ground?” Claudia smiled sadly, hanging her head ever so slightly at the memory of it. “That was why I made you wear all of the controllers. Not so that you could protect yourself, because I know you can protect yourself. It would so you could protect me.”

“And I’m going to protect you from now on, just like a good husband should.” Josie tipped Claudia’s head upwards just slightly, pressing her lips to her wife’s and stealing a kiss. “So let’s show the girls how good of a wife you can be, huh?”

Claudia’s face lit up with embarrassment as she lied back in bed, letting her wife climb on top of her. “Whatever you say, dear.”

For the first and last time I think I’d ever get to see, Josephine was on top, and within moments the two of them were somehow stripped naked and ready to let us watch them ravish each other.

Claudia more than happily melted into sex with her wife, spreading her legs at even the slightest touch from the other woman. This wasn’t something new to her, this was something she’d kept bottled up for a while now, and it left her wet with anticipation.

Josie was grinning like an idiot, almost surprised at how easy her own cock slid into her wife’s already dripping cunt. They’d planned and rehearsed this of course, that was why the four of us were here, so that we could see who was really in charge from now on.

For all the kinky sex I’d gotten used to having, there was still some magic to the missionary position, especially when seeing just how much fun those two were having with it. I couldn’t tell what was happening with those spinning gears in their heads, but it was obvious that they were having a lot more fun now than they had in quite a while.

Claudia always had this playful hiss to her, even and especially when she was on the bottom. I hadn’t yet seen her be penetrated, but she quite clearly loved it enough to be moaning in moments.

Josephine, on the other hand, had a crazed hunger to her like I’d never seen. She wanted this, and she was willing to take it by force now that it was within reach, and Claudia was willing to give it to her.

Or rather, Claudia wanted her to take it.

For all the flustered heat building up between my own thighs, I couldn’t really touch myself as I watched this. Claudia had forced me into her own chastity belt before attempting to collar her sister, and she hadn’t exactly taken it off of me. She was saving that for later.

But it was an inferno getting to watch these two. Claudia was more of a brat than I could have ever taught Josephine to be. And when I watched the girl on the bottom reach for the riding crop she’d gifted Josie with for their anniversary, it all came full circle.

Claudia was not the kind of person who could take more than a few snaps from a riding crop like that, not like I could. So when she started whimpering at just the feeling of the crop rubbing against her skin, it was clear she wasn’t going to last much longer at all. Josephine and Claudia kept pushing further and further, and they got right up to the edge before having to stop themselves.

And that was when I realized what I was watching. Because I wasn’t just watching these two have safe vanilla missionary sex at all.

I was watching Claudia get cucked by her own wife.

“Oh Zenna, sweetie.” Josephine was gasping for breath as she pulled out, leaving Claudia lying there, desperate for more. “Can you bring me my wife’s chastity belt?”

Zenna was clearly as surprised by this as we were, considering how hard she was blushing as she turned towards me. “Yes, Master?”

I bit my lip and spread my legs, letting Zenna bring the head of the cane to my crotch, and with a click, the harness unlocked and slid right into her hands.

“Go ahead. Lock her in there.” Josephine beckoned Zenna into bed between them, positioning her on all fours on top of Claudia, returning the chastity belt to its rightful owner. “Be a good girl and just let Claudia watch.”

Oh how Claudia seethed as she watched Zenna slide the belt onto her unprotected cunt and locked it into place. It was hard to tell from her expression, but it certainly looked like she hadn’t been expecting it. “J-Josie?!”

“Oh hush, my love.” Josephine cooed at her from behind the doggystyle slave between them. “Zenna deserves this, don’t you think?”

“Y-yeah… but-” Claudia stuttered nervously. “R-right now?”

“You were the one who promised Lilian a little sibling.” Josie held Zenna tight by both hips, forcing an excited purr from the lion’s lips. “And I think we both know who deserves to give her one.”

Zenna purred happily at the sound of that, licking her hungry lips. With another click, the eyes of Claudia’s cane began to glow crimson, ready to record all of this as it unfolded.

And Claudia’s cheeks turned just as red as she rested her head back onto the pillow behind her, watching with bated breath as her wife’s cock slid its way inside of the lioness’ cunt. She might not have been able to touch herself while watching this, but I was. Like hell was I going to let the sight of my new tormentor getting cucked go without getting a little pleasure out of it, so that’s what I did.

I hadn’t heard such happy sounds coming from Zenna’s lips than when she came, feeling Josephine fill her with cum, which just left Claudia whimpering with heat and jealousy.

Claudia was not exactly happy about what had just happened, having been humiliated in front of the rest of her slaves by her own wife. A familiar look in her eyes flashed with anger hidden just beneath the surface, but all of that faded away when she felt Zenna climb on top of her.

“I love you, Master.” Zenna curled up into Claudia’s arms, nuzzling her head into her owner’s naked chest for comfort. “Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!”

The tears that littered Zenna’s eyes were clearly as happy as can be, but even they didn’t last very long when Claudia wrapped her arms around the girl and wiped them away. “You deserve it, Zenna. You really do.”

Oh how I longed to really be a part of this family at that moment, but the look in Claudia’s eyes as she just glared at me told me that I was not long for this world, and a little piece of her did regret that. They looked so happy together just then, and all I wanted was to be a part of that.

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14th November, 2 days until the banquet.

My hands trembled as I sat on the floor of Claudia’s office, positioned in front of the very same television that I’d been forced to watch Claudia kill Candace’s mother on, because of course this was the way that it was going to happen.

Today was the day, finally, Candace was going to be hosting this year’s tournament at the convention. The very same convention that had ruined my life almost exactly a year ago.

And it was going well enough. Candace was hosting and commentating live on the matches in progress, which currently were semifinal matches. The focus wasn’t on her, of course, since she wasn’t playing. I was just surprised to find out that the other commentator was my ex-boyfriend, so it was strange to hear the two of them interacting again after so long.

“She’s in here.” Claudia led her guests into the office with her, directing them straight to me. “You said you wanted to see her.”

“Yes please.” A more than familiar face followed her inside, sporting her usual head of curly brown hair. “Before your dad rips her to shreds.”

Leah Watts, unusually chipper for a day like today, slowly crouched next to me. She must have sensed my tension, because she got onto a similar position on her knees as I was, most likely to help me relax around her.

“Hey kiddo.” She smiled, respecting what little dignity I had left by not looking at me anywhere but the eyes. “How ya doing?”

“Oh you know.” I just rolled my eyes. “Bad.”

“Hey, Claudia?” Leah turned to her once very good friend. “Can we have a moment?”

“Sure.” My master frowned, turning her back on the two of us. “I’ll go check on my father.”

Even the sound of the door clicking shut did nothing to ease my fears, because I knew I couldn’t trust Leah anymore than I could trust Claudia. “What do you want, Leah?”

“I wanted to see you one last time.” She relaxed into a more comfortable position on the floor once she realized kneeling wasn’t the way to go. “Honestly.”

I just shook my head at her. “Well if you want to do me a favor, how about you take that gun of yours and put a bullet in my head already?”

“Oh you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Leah snorted. “Trust me. It’s not the way to go.”

“And you would know somehow?”

“Nah.” She nudged my shoulder just gently. “Never been shot in my life, and I don’t plan on changing that.”

“Leah.” I started, my voice already nervous as I tried to figure out whether that gun of hers is loaded. “I fucked up.”

“If it helps at all, I think you did the right thing.” Leah had tears in her eyes as she looked up at the screen. “I just really wanted to thank you for helping her make the right decision, you know?”

“You okay?” I managed to get my own eyes off the screen long enough to give her a worried look. “I think you’ve got something in your eyes.”

“Shut up.” She sighed, wiping them clean of tears before looking back up. “Candace’s wellbeing means a lot to me, that’s all.”

“Why?” I frowned, glaring her directly as she turned to me. “Why do you care about her so much?”

“Same reason as you.” Leah was unphased by my piercing looks. “Because I love her.”

A knot grew in my chest as she said that, swallowing a large lump in my throat as I returned my focus to the screen ahead, towards two players who I had ironically defeated in last year’s tournament, knowing that one of them was going to be going to the finals.

“How can you stand to love someone like her?”

“It’s not about being able to stand someone. It’s about sticking by them even when you can’t.” Leah also returned her eyes to the screen, a smile overtaking her as she listened in. “Usually you don’t get to pick your family, but I did, and that’s what Candace is to me. Family.”

I smiled at the thought of that. “How’d you meet her?”

“Through her sister, actually. Claudia and I went to school together. My dad worked for her dad so it was a whole thing.” Leah rolled her eyes, fastforwarding through the tale of her life. “Long story short, I was her babysitter at age fourteen.”

I snorted. “She needed a babysitter at age fourteen?”

“No, smartass. I was fourteen. She was four.” She shoved me just a bit. “You know, Lilian’s age.”

I giggled at just the thought of Candace at that age. “And what was she like when she was four?”

“You have to promise not to tell anybody, especially her sister.” Leah actually made a quick scan around the room to assure that the coast was clear. “But I had a little sister just a little bit older than her, so I grabbed my eight year old little sister’s dresses and started bringing them with me to babysit Candace, and I started dressing her in them to bother Claudia.”

“You’re kidding.” My eyes went wide at the sound of that, unable to help but laugh. “What happened with that?”

“Oh, Claudia flipped her shit.” Leah giggled maniacally. “But this kid could not get enough of it. So I just kept doing it, until eventually I had to start buying new clothes to dress her in.”

“And what did her parents do?”

“Well when her mom found out it wasn’t like she was going to tell her husband.” Leah sighed at just the thought of Candace’s mom. “Because like he was going to kill me for turning his son into a queer. But it wasn’t like she could afford to buy the clothes herself, so it was just like this little agreement between us. I babysit and play dress up with Candace, and her mom doesn’t rat on me to her husband.”

“Leah?” At this point I was having more than just a good time gossiping about Candace. “You know the implications of this, right?”

“What, that I created Candace St. Clair?” Leah was almost proud to say that. “Yeah, and?”

I smiled just slightly, sighing under my breath as I thought about my own family back home, or the lack of one therein. “It’s a wonder you don’t have kids of your own by now.”

“Believe me, I would love to have kids, but I would never force them into debt like my father did to me.” The only thing keeping her from frowning at this point was that she was watching Candace on the screen with me. “She’s the only family I have left, and family isn’t about loving everything about someone, it’s about accepting the things you don’t. Even if you hate everything about someone, if they’re family, you still love them regardless.”

I couldn’t help but think of Candace at every waking moment of my life, even now. She had always been so close, but so far away at the same time, and now it felt like I’d never been further away from her.

“I love her, Leah. I love Candace St. Clair.”

“No you don’t, Chloe. You and I both know that. You don’t love Candace, you just want to love Candace.”

“And is that so wrong?” I sniffled back tears. “Is it wrong to want to love her?”

“No.” The air was filled with silence for a few moments, before Leah turned to me and smiled. “I think that’s all any of us can ask of you right now.”

I climbed into her arms with tears in my eyes, feeling her hold me close in a hug. Leah was somehow the worst and the best person in the world right now, but some people were just like that. She reminded me of my foster mother sometimes.

“Take care of her for me, Leah.” I wiped the tears from my eyes as I pulled away, watching her climb to her feet. “Please?”

“I’ll take care of Candace.” She smiled, petting me one last time. “You just worry about yourself, okay?”

Leah opened the office door for Claudia and her father, welcoming them both inside together. Claudia didn’t at all seem to enjoy seeing me, but her father was delighted.

“Pfft, Candace’s mom wore that?” Leah taunted her as she saw the collar around Claudia’s neck. “Glad it’s around your throat and not mine.”

“Careful, you.” Cardinal actually smacked Leah in the back of the head as he walked by, a little bit of recompense for making fun of his daughter. “One can be arranged.”

“I appreciate the offer, Sir.” Leah just shuddered as she made her way out. “But I think I’d like to decline.”

“Leave.” Cardinal needed only say the word for it to happen, and leave she did. “This’ll be quick.”

“Take your time, Daddy.” Claudia was clearly quite nervous to be around him, knowing that her father had the controller to her own collar. “I wouldn’t rush you.”

I was noticing for the first time just how terrifying he really looked. Either he dyed his hair or he was just rich enough to keep it from greying, because even at almost sixty years old that head of hair and nordic looking beard of his were pure blonde.

But under these lights, the most terrifying part of him weren’t those evil blue eyes of his, but those lichtenberg figures that scarred much of one side of his face, his hair shaved to accommodate it.

“So you ruined my other daughter’s life now.” He smirked as he turned to me, shaking his eyes in amazement. “I’m impressed, really. I’m not even mad anymore, I’m just astonished. You’re an impressive girl, what else can I say?”

“Thank you, Sir.” I nervously lowered my head as he got close, my heart thumping in my chest when he pulled up a seat and sat behind me. “It just comes natural I guess.”

“You know I was there last year, right?” I could feel his fingers on my head, pulling my head back towards him, forcing me to look back up at the screen as he pet my hair. “When you made my daughter cry on stage. I was there.”

“I’m sorry, Sir.” I swallowed nervously as I felt his loose grasp in my orange locks, not even treating me like a threat. “I was a different person back then. Your daughters have made me a better person.”

“No they haven’t. They’ve made you a worse person. I don’t pretend to be a good person, and neither do they. We just focus on taking care of our own.” He rolled his fingers in my hair, twisting it into curls in his grasp as he watched Candace host the world championship with me. “We know who our family is, and you’re not one of them.”

“Daddy.” Claudia finally cut in. “The controllers?”

“No, Claudia. You’re not getting it.” I thought for a moment his grasp was releasing, before I felt him forcibly thudding his knuckles against the top of my head. “I want her death on camera before I hear any more demands from you, sweetie.”

My heart dropped in my chest at the sound of that, but my master seemed unphased. “And then you’ll give me the controllers to my collar?”

“Pfft, no.” He snorted, laughing at his own daughter. “I love you, honey. But that was your mom’s collar. You shouldn’t have let it go on if you didn’t want to be controlled.”

“It wasn’t my fault, Daddy.” She stomped her foot in protest. “It was Candace.”

“It’s okay, honey. Calm down.” He rose to his feet and stepped towards her, pulling his daughter close, one hand on her waist and one hand on her shoulder. “Daddy’s right here. Daddy’s not going to hurt you. I just don’t feel confident handing over the key to killing you to anyone but myself. You’re my daughter, let me hold onto them. Let me protect you, okay?”

Her nervous eyes locked with his. “You promise you’re not going to hurt me?”

“I promise.” He pulled her in for a hug. “You’re always gonna be my little girl. I would never hurt you like that.”

“But you would, though.” She let herself fall into his hands, somehow feeling smaller than him despite her height. “When I was a kid you’d molest me for disobeying you.”

“Yes, I would.” He frowned, his hand making its way to the head of his daughter’s collar, the one that his late wife used to wear. “Before Alecia came around, I would.”

Claudia sniffled back her tears, looking on at him in confusion. “What?”

“That woman changed me, Claudia.” He scoffed, letting go of the collar and retracting his hand. “Some might say for the better, some might say for the worse, but that woman changed me.”

“Is that why you didn’t do it again?” She was almost saddened by it. “Is that why you didn’t rape me when I killed her?”

“Yes.” He sighed, just a little bit of loathing in his eyes as he stared at that collar. “Thanks to that girl, yes.”

“I still have her tape, Daddy.” Claudia couldn’t force herself out of his grip. “What do I do with it?”

“Whatever you want, sweetie. It’s yours now. Your punishment is over.” He gave her one last smile before turning away, returning to me. “But I want one of her on my desk by Monday night.”

“I’ll get it to you after the party.” She very nearly chased after him. “I swear.”

“Good girl.” He smirked, staring at me even as he spoke to her. “Now get out. I need this thing to myself for a second.”

“Yes, Daddy.” Claudia scurried out of her own office, quickly being kicked out by her father. “Thank you.”

It was scary to watch him weasel his way out of anything, especially when I expected brute force. But sure enough, Claudia left us alone at his command, knowing that obeying her father would give her the world.

“Let’s get one thing straight.” He smiled, crouching directly in front of me. “I can’t kill you.”

My heart seemingly stopped beating as he stared into my eyes. “Why’s that, Sir?”

“Because you’re special.” His evil smile curled into a cruel smirk, looking on at me not like I was an enemy, but like I was a challenge to overcome. “You have that same power that she had.”

“Power?” I almost snickered at the sound of that. Ridiculous. “What power could I possibly have at this point?”

“You change people. I wasn’t able to see that until now. But you change people.” He scoffed, and as he stood up I understood just what I was up against. “And let’s be honest, I don’t want to be anywhere near that.”

“You’re scared.” I could feel my whole body trembling, somehow more terrified of him now than I had ever been. “You’re scared of me.”

“No. I used to be scared of people like you. But now I know. I can’t kill you. These hands can’t kill you, because you’re not worthy of dying by them.” His smile was the most chilling thing I’d ever seen. His hand curled and uncurled, like it was somehow burning to the touch. His scars somehow extended into me as I stared at them, infecting me like he’d infected everything else. “Go on. Win. Fight. Survive. It will never end. Not until you’re dead. This is the game now. These are the rules. Mark my words, as long as you live, these hands will never touch you again. Not until I’ve won.”

His words twisted into my heart, making me want to vomit. My whole body shook as the tears rushed to my eyes, staring up at his open palms in abject horror as he toyed with me.

“This is a game to you. I’m just a game to you.” Candace’s last few words echoed inside of my head as the tears burst from my eyes, streaming down my cheeks as I practically screamed at her father. “This isn’t a game. This is my life. Is my life just a game to you?!”

Cardinal Russo simply smiled at me as I cried.

“I'm God. Everything is a game to me.”

And then he just walked away.

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The live feed of the convention continued in the background as I curled up against the wall, suddenly finding myself forced into a game that I didn’t want to play.

When the real game I wanted to play was up on the screen.

This was all I had left, getting to watch her host the world championship, and I was going to enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, the final match was going to be a ZvZ, just like last year. Zephyria was just the most viable faction to take to the finals in my opinion, that’s why so many people played them, including Candace and I.

Alongside Candace at the commentator booth were two lesser known but still wildly popular professionals from years prior. Neither of which have actually ever won the world championship, but let’s be fair, neither has Candace.

Rounding out the group of course was Justin Donovan, my former manager and ex-boyfriend. He was the only real reason I ever made it to the championship in the first place, and look where that got me.

The showing was always strong for the Korean teams, so I was honestly surprised to see the Italian born player Not go up against Claw, actually managing to best the two time Korean champion at the end. It was a tight match that he ended up winning 4-3, which honestly kind of shocked me. Back when I beat Silver Notts in the year prior’s semifinals, I never would have expected him to come back and win the next WCS. Notts was good, but I didn’t think he was Hyo good. A year ago he wasn’t even really Candace St. Clair good, but he really pulled through, and it was an enjoyable show regardless.

And then came the after match celebration on stage. Notts went up to grab his trophy and give a bow and a little speech, but since he only spoke Italian he needed a live translator on stage to talk to him, which the convention was more than prepared for.

“Well there you have it!!” Candace had the sweetest smile on her face as she stepped onto the stage next to the winner, a microphone in one hand and a pamphlet in the other. “Looks like this year’s WCS global champion is none other than our very own Not!!”

As always, she spoke with an enthusiasm that got the whole crowd cheering for him immediately, while Silver just gave an overdrawn bow to the audience with his own great big smile.

“Let me just say from one runner-up to another, now former runner-up, turned champion. Congratulations!!” Candace spoke in English for the primary attendance of the convention, which was held in Anaheim, California- a lot closer to where I grew up than where she did. “You and I both know what it’s like to be up on that stage and walk away a loser, but you’ve had a long road to get here so I’ve gotta ask, how does it finally feel to be the champion?”

Candace turned to him, and without a moment’s hesitation, repeated everything she’d just said to the American audience in perfectly fluid Italian for him. I never stopped to think about where she’d learned Italian back when we were just rivals, but now that I knew that her roots were firmly planted into the classic Italian-American mafia, I kind of shivered. Nonetheless, he answered back in perfect Italian, which Candace subsequently translated to English for the audience.

“I couldn’t put it better myself. It’s been an honor, he says, to find himself on the stage of the world championship finals again after four long years from feeling that very same title slip through his fingers. He never thought he would ever have the chance to reclaim that lost championship when just two years ago he was taken out of the quarterfinals by the very same opponent he faced here tonight. Give it up for Claw!!”

The audience went on, at their behest, with cheering and whistling and clapping for the runner-up, which must have been an all two familiar sight for the dear sweetheart Candace after being last year’s loser, and I would know. But then Silver leaned in and said something else to her, again in Italian, which I wouldn’t have understood even slightly if I didn’t hear my own name within the syllables.

“I will quote his words directly this time. It’s no secret that you and I have a history on this stage together, Candace. As amazing as it is to go up against and defeat the champion who won both the year before and the year after I took second place, I really wish it had been with one of you girls. It’s a shame that you couldn’t come back and play this year, and it’s an even bigger loss that Sophia Cavalier couldn’t be here with us. I was really looking forward to a rematch.”

Candace had a nervous lilt in her voice as she said my name, her eyes frantically avoiding the camera as she pushed on. It was clear that even from so far away she was thinking about me long before she heard my name. If there was anyone at all in that building who had the right to miss Sophia Cavalier, it was probably her. As far as I knew from this side of the screen, but things both looked and felt so much different on her end.

“You and I both. Chloe-”

Her cheeks turned just a bit pink, and so did mine, when she accidentally said the name of the girl she loved in place of her accursed archrival on stage in front of thousands of people. It was cute to see that I somehow managed to humiliate her again for just a brief moment on that very same stage without even being there. But in just a split second before anyone had the chance to notice or really think about it, she blinked, shook her head, and brushed it off.

“Whoops, don’t know who that is.”

She gave the audience a cute little giggle and a bimbo’s smile as she nodded through it. Candace played a character when she was on stage, and that’s why everyone thinks she’s a sweetheart, unable to see the devil she kept hidden deep down.

“But I think I speak for everyone when I say that I wish Sophia Cavalier was here with us tonight. To her friends and family we both want to wish our deepest condolences, and I welcome everyone to attend tomorrow afternoon’s panel where we’ll get some more thoughts from our champion here today as well as pay tribute to our fallen superstar. But tonight- tonight is about you, Silver- so let me just say one last thing before we get back to things.”

Candace’s smile was both sorrowful and hopeful as she stared into the camera, making sure I knew that she was talking to me.

“If you’re watching this, Sophia Cavalier, we miss you. So if you are out there somewhere, wherever you are, stay safe, be good, and hopefully things will be okay before you know it.” Candace smiled eagerly, taking a moment to hype the audience back up as she repeated herself in Italian, grabbing this year’s champion by one wrist and holding it and his trophy high in the air to celebrate. “But without further ado, let’s give it up for this year’s WCS global Champion, Not!!”

The crowd went wild for that last bit, including the message of goodwill to me, which both warmed and twisted my heart. Candace had successfully done it, she’d hosted the very same championship she’d lost the year prior, and the event was now over.

“That’s enough, please.” I hung my head in defeat as I watched the camera begin to zoom out, signaling that the tournament broadcast was finished. “Turn it off.”

And with a click of her remote beside me, Claudia turned off the screen with her cane. “I hope that was worth it.”

“It was.” I quickly snapped back at her, not giving it more than a second to think. “She’s worth every moment.”

Claudia, on the other hand, needed more than her fair share of time to think. “And I’m not?”

“It’s not about you.” I looked up at her, standing over me with her favorite weapon in hand and a dazzling little slave collar around her neck. “It’s about me.”

“Because it’s always about you.” She just shook her head in abject disgust. “Isn’t that right?”

“I’m about to die, Claudia.” The tears in my eyes burned into my own skin as they rolled down my cheeks, steaming with anger. “I know you’re about to kill me, but please, allow me some dignity here.”

“Oh. So you want to talk about dignity now.” She took the head of her own cane and used it to point at the head of her collar. “After you gave me this.”

“I didn’t give you that, Candace did.” I glanced desperately towards the fading picture on the old school television screen, the gears in my brain wondering even at the worst moments how they managed to get the livestream to play on it at all, while I hoped deep down Candace would come and save me. “Just like she gave me mine.”

Claudia stopped dead in her tracks for a few moments, gazing wistfully at the head of her cane, Preyboy. “Okay. If that’s how you want to play things. Let’s do this already.”

I shivered as she stepped past me, rounding the corner around her desk to retrieve the controller to my collar. This was it. She was going to kill me. All I could do was sit there and let it happen. “Do it then. Put me out of my misery.”

“That would be showing you mercy.” She stood there, the controller in hand. “Do you think you deserve that mercy?”

“Yes.” I stared up at her, pleading for her to go ahead and get it over with, tears pouring from my eyes. “Please.”

Claudia stared back, a wicked smile crawling its way onto her lips. Candace wasn’t coming to save me, but honestly, I almost didn’t want her to.

She took a deep breath, squeezing her cane in one hand and the controller in the other, and it was almost like even she wasn’t sure what she was about to do.

And then she took her finger off the button.

“On second thought. If you’re not going to be at the party after all, I might as well have my fun with you first.”

Claudia reached towards me with that vile thing one last time, clasping her cane to the head of my collar.

Click. Click. Click.

And with the press of a very different button, the electric bite of her metal serpent sent me into shock, and everything turned black.