The shop was soon full of my creations, and I felt like a proud mamma as people perused my wares. I felt a thrill the first time one of my weapons sold. It was a pretty dagger (if I do say so myself). I had used it to experiment with etching the metal, so the blade was covered with random designs. The customer was a woman who saw it in the display case and thought it would be a wonderful gift for her eight-year-old daughter.

 

Well, of course. What eight-year-old doesn't need a needle-sharp dagger that's probably as long as her arm? This world, I swear.

 

 The Plan, part three (I think it was part three. Right?) was in high gear. I spent my free time playing with metal scraps. It wasn't hard to make a piece of metal look like a key, but designing a functional skeleton key was a different story altogether. On top of that, I couldn't just make keys - that would look pretty suspicious. So I made other little metal things too - little animals, flowers, things like that. Of course, I got teased for my new hobby. No one could understand why I never wanted to go drinking with them, and they saw little use in my trinkets.

 

They did have a point. The pieces soon cluttered up my workspace, which interfered with my real work. So I got some thin twine and made a wind chime out of some of my favorites. This elicited even more laughter until I hung it up just outside the door of the shop. It took all of ten minutes for the first customer to storm in and demand one. I had a minor hit on my hands and could now justify working on smaller pieces during my regular forge time in between the weapons and armor.

 

The second biggest upside to working the forge was that Demming no longer bothered me. He just sulked in his own area and stopped pestering me. The third biggest upside was that I got to be close to Jordy. He was funny and self-deprecating, a rare combination in this world, he was strong (as anyone working at a smithy must be) but not too bulky, and he was hot. He probably would have been a model in the old world. We flirted with each other incessantly.

 

What's that idiom about too much of a good thing? Every time I find a happy place, something fucks it up.

 

Malachite was the best metal for my skeleton key, I was sure. I was equally sure I had the right shape for the bit, and I was close to the right design for the wards. Soon...

 

I felt a tug on the back of my robe. "Heya, Shan, whatcha looking at so intently?"

 

I squealed and spun around, brandishing the key like a weapon.

 

Jordy laughed and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Please, unlock me."

 

I joined in his laughter and turned back around. "Just playing with things, as usual."

 

There was a silent pause, then I heard him take a step. "Well, perhaps I can help. I like...playing with things, too."

 

I stiffened as I felt his arms encircle me, his body press into my back. I closed my eyes and reveled in the feeling of being held. But I could not allow it to go too far.

 

"Jordy...." I said, pushing (sort of) on his hands. "I'm busy."

 

"Mmm, me too." He nibbled my ear and one of his hands slid upward and cupped a breast.

 

A gasp escaped me and I bit my lip. Not yet... "No, I'm busy with this." I motioned weakly at my forge.

 

He laughed in my ear. "That can wait."

 

His lips moved toward my neck, and I went cold. "No!" I spun and pushed him away; he stumbled back a step, a look of surprise on his face. "I...I'm sorry. I just...can't. Not yet."

 

"I don't understand you. It's been over a year. I know you like me. You were all into it just a moment ago. What's the problem?"

 

"I know, I'm sorry. I...made a vow. To my grandmother, on her deathbed, that I would stay celibate until I turned twenty-five."

 

"What? What kind of vow is that?"

 

"She was very devout. Please, there's not long to go. My birthday's in two weeks."

 

He stared at me for a long time as I quietly willed him to believe me. Finally, he shrugged and said, "Well, a vow's a vow. I'm holding you to it, though. Two weeks."

 

"Two weeks," I agreed, smiling with relief. "I promise."

 

"Well, we know your word is good, that's for sure." He winked and ambled away.

 

I turned back to my forge, trembling all over. So close... I had two weeks to perfect my design and get this damn collar off.

 

"Let's see what's really going on, shall we?" A voice, right behind me, as hands grabbed at my robe and yanked. It tore, and I felt hot air on my back.

 

"No!" I spun around, hands gripping the pieces of robe to my body. Jordy glared at me, hands full of cloth.

 

"I thought so. A runaway slave, trying to get her collar off. Think no one would notice your obsession with keys?" He threw the cloth down and grabbed for me.

 

"Leave me alone!" I yelled as I ducked under his arms. "It's not what you think!"

 

"Oh, it's exactly what I think." He reached for me again, and this time snagged my ponytail as I tried to get by him. My body jerked to a halt as he yanked on it. "Wearing a heavy robe every day in this heat, never doing anything with the rest of us, working on keys. It's pretty obvious." He pulled me to him and yanked the rest of the robe from my hands. "I've been looking forward to this moment for a long time." He ran his hand down my body, and I shivered. But for a far different reason than before.

 

"Please, Jordy. Don't..."

 

"Don't call me by my name, slave. To you, I am master." He squeezed my right breast, hard. I screamed.

 

"Leave her alone! What are you doing?" Demming ran through the smithy toward us, desperation in his eyes. "Jordy! What are you doing?"

 

Jordy smirked. "Just having some fun with a slave. What do you think I'm doing?"

 

"Slave?" Demming stumbled to a halt, looking at us with uncertain motions of his hands. "What slave?"

 

"This one." Jordy yanked my hair, lifting my chin, exposing the dull shine of the iron metal around my neck. "She's been hiding out here all this time. I should have figured it out earlier."

 

"You....you're a slave?" Demming's face crumbled.

 

"No, Demming, it's not..."

 

"Shut up, slave! I didn't say you could speak!" Jordy yanked on my hair again, and I gritted my teeth.

 

"I...you..." Demming shook his head, turned, and shambled away. I felt tears form in my eyes.

 

"Now, what I've been waiting for all this time." Jordy forced me to the ground, pinning my arms above my head with one muscular arm while forcing my legs apart with the other.

 

"Jordy." Adrianne's voice. I felt a trill of hope as he stopped. We both looked up to find her staring down at us.

 

Jordy tensed. "Ma'am?"

 

A long silence as she looked us over. Then she shook her head. "You know this isn't the place for this. The forge is a business. Take your extracurricular activities somewhere else."

 

Jordy grinned and said, "Yes, ma'am." He got up, dragging me up with him.

 

Adrianne looked me in the eyes - hers were moist, but she held herself still - and said, softly, "I'm sorry. It's the law. You should have come to me."

 

I gave in to despair and made no attempt to resist as Jordy dragged me from the forge - my home - and out into the street.

 

Don't feed the bastards - they'll just want more

 

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