Free Marketplace by Laura Antoniou Page A

larger man’s back. “Your ass is not the only place on
the body I may pay attention to.”
    Robert bit his lip and
tried to be quiet through the rest of the beating, but whimpers,
whines and squeaks came through his lips with every blow. Oh, he
tried, tried so hard, but it was so frightening! And with everyone
watching, it was ten times as bad.
    Finally, it was over. And
when Robert straightened up for a moment, the state of his nasty
thing was yet another embarrassment. He crouched down to kneel at
Chris’s feet and tried to hide the awakening of his cock, but he
knew that they all saw it. When Chris turned away to lead them to
the east wing, Robert deliberately stayed behind a moment more so
that no one could look at him pulling the pants back on.
    “This is Mistress
Alexandra’s wing,” Chris said, when they had passed through the
main house again. “It was added on in 1977, but the architecture
and construction are consistent with the Dutch Colonial design of
the main house. Her studio is, as Master Grendel‘s workshop, off
limits to you. Here,” he opened a set of wide double doors, “is the
solarium and exercise room. Some of you may be assigned to tasks
here. It is also one of the three places where you may spend your
free time, if you have any.”
    They looked around, curious
and impressed. The long, narrow room seemed to have an entire wall
made of broad windows. Light poured in and bathed an assortment of
gleaming equipment. A bar was on one end of the room, and a curving
staircase going down was on the other. Chris pointed.
    “The stairs lead to the
pools. We have a small swimming pool and a jacuzzi, both of which
are off limits to you.” Sighs and one barely audible “aww” answered
that announcement. Chris smiled briefly and then showed them the
various equipment. When they followed him out of the room, they all
glanced at each other. Surely, Sharon should have been punished
there?
    But the tour continued,
through the media room (off limits), and then to Alexandra’s study,
and then a brief nod toward her own master suite. The third floors
of both wings held guest bedrooms and store rooms. The third floor
of the main house had servants’ bedrooms, the dorm they slept in,
and the shower room. They hadn’t seen anything that looked or
sounded like a dungeon, or playroom.
    And when the tour ended,
Chris glanced at his clipboard and said, “Brian, to Master
Grendel’s study. Claudia, to Mistress Alexandra, in her studio.
Robert, to the kitchen, to be directed in duties by the cook, and
Sharon...” He looked up at her for a moment. The slaves felt a
moment of tension start to build.
    “Sharon, to the main
library. There, you will find a binder containing the standard
rules of decorum for property . You will begin to study it.” Chris snapped his fingers.
“Go!”
    They obediently ran off in
different directions.

Chapter Four

    “But can’t you do anything
else?” Alexandra asked. She glanced briefly down at the folder on
the table and shook her head. Obviously, no matter how many times
she asked that question, the answer was always going to be that
pathetically perplexed face and a shivering shake of that pretty
little head. The interview was already an hour and a half long.
Claudia was simply a slave with very, very limited uses.
    But she was a cute thing.
Standing in the slanting morning sunlight, her body free of that
shapeless gray dress, she looked like a little doll, pink, smooth,
and sweet enough to want to sweep up and take home. But then
what?
    “You know all the rituals
of various teas. You can squirm delightfully when you are teased
and you can take a formal caning with some panache. You can do
light housework, such as dusting, but your Mistress never insisted
that you do the real work.” Alexandra reviewed the salient points
again, expressing her amusement with every line. “After all,
washing dishes might ruin your nails. Vacuuming was just too
strenuous and inelegant for a