Czar Gregovivk

“Bringing her to you was meant to take care of her fertilization.” I watch the closed door, hearing Mabel’s laughter with Sieta inside the small room as she changes. “Not to get her drunk and play oracle with her, Aunt! You shouldn’t play games of chance with Mabel.”
I raise my arm and knock on the door, feeling a rush to get her out of here. My mood isn’t the best. I had gone after Ramsés hoping he would reveal something about Mabel’s adoptive mother, but no, he had never seen her. Ramsés has a photographic memory; he never forgets a face, name, or place. His eyes have never laid eyes on Alekessandra, neither in Sodoma nor outside it. However, I received new information that makes me suspicious of old friends. I feel like I’ve returned to the beginning, with nothing connecting Mabel to Freire and her abominable idea of turning children into submissive alphas. Deep down, I refuse to believe they’re just coincidences, not when there are so many similarities leading them down the same path. Just because I haven’t found a concrete link doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist; it just hasn’t been found yet.
“Did you hear anything I just told you?” Aunt Yelena steps in front of me, looking nervous.
“I heard!” I turn and look at her. “Mabel, let’s go!” I call for her, keeping my eyes on my aunt. “I heard perfectly what you told me, and I understood that you used your gift and knowledge for body reading, taking advantage of her intoxication to find out more.”
Her stories about her youth had made me angrier, hating that I couldn’t prove my suspicions, to put an end to that Freire bitch for corrupting Mabel’s life.
“Tell her I’m waiting in the car, Aunt!” I turn and walk out of the house with heavy steps; I don’t like being here at all.
This house, far from the city, was my mother’s first home when my father brought her here. It’s where he and his wife, Valéria, brought their submissives. After my father chose my mother and took her to the palace, this place was closed until he gifted it to my aunt to live in with Sieta after her husband died.
“Anput, Czar!” I hear my aunt’s voice behind me, making me stop. “The young lady chose Anput’s mask.”
I turn slowly and glare at Aunt Yelena, who looks pale and nervous. She glances quickly at the door where Mabel is and turns her face back to me, walking until she’s standing right in front of me.
“Did you do the face test with her?” I hiss, narrowing my lips. “What were you and Sieta thinking, Aunt?”
The face test is an old game said to have been created by the first advisors. It’s how they discovered the level of commitment of their submissives. Aunt Yelena, although she didn’t want to enter the world of Sodoma, felt curious and connected in some way. For years, she delved into her studies as if it were the personal work of her life. She knew every initiation ritual, game, and test that masters performed with their chosen ones. And she knew that Anput was known for being the first sexual slave of her master. The few women who chose her were considered the most special because their submission matched the depth of their loyalty and obedience.
“The only time I saw someone choose that mask was thirty-eight years ago, here, in this house,” Aunt Yelena murmurs, pointing to the floor. “In that same room, when Valéria tested her mother!”
“You’re mistaken, Aunt.”
“I was here that night, Greg. Melissa took me in when I ran away from home; it was the first time I saw Valéria in person, with her fancy clothes and embroidered scarf, with the nickname her father gave her. Valéria let me participate; she even asked me to choose, but I didn’t choose because I didn’t want to enter the world my sister was being taken into. I didn’t see myself within it.” Yelena slowly twists the ring on her finger, shaking her head. “But your mother did! Melissa accepted to take the test; she didn’t even stay five minutes in front of the masks before pointing to Anput.”
“That’s just a bunch of coincidences.” I take a deep breath and step back.
“You’re not listening to me, nephew!” Aunt Yelena grabs my hand, making me look into her eyes. I see a dark cloud hovering over her blue gaze, a fear reflected within it. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there are no coincidences in Sodoma, Czar. I know what I saw in Mabel’s eyes, and unless your grandmother has risen from the flames of hell to torment my soul through that young woman’s eyes, showing me the past that you and I were raised in, I can assure you she has gone through what we went through.”
“You’re trying to tell me…” I speak softly, lifting my eyes to the door, which swings open.
“That I’m almost certain whoever created Mabel knew exactly how Melissa was raised,” my aunt slowly releases the words, making me look at her and seeing the real reason for the worry reflected in her anguished expression.
“I think someone here needs to learn how to drink vodka!” Sieta’s voice, laughing, makes me divert my gaze from my aunt, seeing Mabel leaning against her, blowing a strand of hair from her face and letting out a sob.
“I’m ready, sir!” Mabel smiles shyly and covers her mouth when another sob catches her.
“There are no coincidences in Sodoma, Greg,” my aunt murmurs to me, turning toward them.
I watch her smile at Mabel, holding her face and kissing her forehead, eliciting a laugh from her as she whispers something in her ear.

“Could have taken me home,” she murmurs lazily, yawning as I pull her out of the bathroom and into the guest room.
I snap out of my thoughts and hold her more firmly in my arms, her body wrapped in a towel.
“You don’t have a bathtub; I would have had to get in the shower with you to clean you,” I reply, sitting her on the edge of the bed. I turn and head to the closet, grabbing a clean towel for her hair. “And I didn’t intend to take a shower with you like that.”
“I could have showered by myself, you know?!” She yawns again, her voice dragging out. “With me like this?”
“Drunk! If I’d let you shower by yourself, you would have fallen in there, and it would have been a nasty fall because you’re intoxicated.” I return to her and extend the towel, drying her hair.
“God, you’re annoying!” she murmurs, letting out a little squeal when I pinch the side of her body.
“And you just escaped being disciplined because of the amount of alcohol in your system. Don’t think I believed my aunt’s little story.” I crouch near her and dry her arms and legs, noticing the mischievous smile on her face. “Don’t think we won’t talk about your misbehavior on the phone tomorrow morning before you go to work.”
“I could have managed to book a doctor for myself, sir.” She tilts her face to the side and yawns, her eyes fluttering as she fights off sleep. “Not that I’m complaining about Yelena. At first, I even suspected she wasn’t a gynecologist. I confess I was a bit scared of her at first when she offered me marijuana and a light juice, but aside from the scare with the abortion offer, I actually liked her quite a bit. I liked her a lot, to be honest, and Sieta too, even though I wouldn’t recommend anyone ride in a car with her.”
I hear her laughter fill the room. The warm touch of her fingers on my shoulders makes me turn my face, looking at her hand resting on me while she smiles and lets out a sigh.