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denying himself or his crew the use of her body for the long trip home. Most of his crew were sodomites, but only by necessity. A woman aboard was a blessing—if she wasn’t a virgin. Mehmed began to hope she wasn’t.
    “She is terrified, Rais,” the white eunuch said quietly by his side. “Shouldn’t you get Hakeem in here to tell her this is just a simple procedure?”
    Mehmed shook his head without taking his eyes off the girl. “He must become her friend if he is to help her to adjust. The more he can teach her of her new life, the more malleable she will be, and so the more valuable. If he were here now, even to explain, she would never trust him later, never be willing to learn from him.”
    “Then get it over with, before she faints.”
    Chantelle didn’t faint. She screamed, piercingly, until a cloth was stuffed in her mouth to muffle the sound. And she fought, wildly but uselessly. Herblanket was used against her, trapping her arms beneath it as she was pushed down onto her back, the man in the silk jacket lying across her upper body, pinning her to the floor. She kicked, regardless that this dislodged the blanket from her legs, but in seconds, each foot was caught by a different man, and her legs were spread wide and held down with a hand pressed against each knee and ankle to keep them straight and still.
    Her eyes were wild with horror, expecting the worst. She couldn’t see past the broad chest of Silk Jacket, who lay on her sideways, his hands on her shoulders, his heavy side gouging her stomach. She didn’t know that the sailors holding her feet had been ordered not to look at her, that White Robe was a eunuch who couldn’t have raped her if he wanted to, that he did this to all female captives. She could only feel what was happening, the shock of something pressing between her legs, being inserted into her body, probing painfully, then withdrawing. She thought she had been raped. She didn’t know she had just passed the test that would save her from it, at least while she was on the ship.
    The blanket was pulled down over her legs, alerting her that apparently only one man was to violate her for now. Words were exchanged, and her legs were released. She didn’t try to move them. Depression was already setting in. She had feared the worst and the worst had happened. Nothing else mattered at the moment.
    The two bare-chested sailors left the room before Silk Jacket removed his bulk from her. She didn’t care that he pulled her up with him. But she did snap out of her shock when he snatched her blanket away.She reached for it, only to drop her hands instinctively to cover herself instead.
    It was the final humiliation, to be deprived of her dignity in this manner. They were animals, and she told them so, though they ignored her words, not understanding them. Her contempt and outrage were more easily understood, however.
    “By the prophet’s beard, she’s magnificent,” Rais Mehmed got out, though he suddenly seemed breathless. Never in his life had he seen a woman like this.
    “She does have spirit,” the eunuch allowed.
    “Such curves—”
    “She could be plumper.”
    “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
    “Your tastes are not the usual,” the eunuch reminded him. “Nor is she for you. But Hamid Sharif will be pleased.”
    Mehmed grunted, for the merchant Hamid Sharif, owner of their ship, already had four wives who nagged him to distraction. “He would rather have the profit, which will put more coins in our pockets. He might even be able to tempt the Dey with this one, though it has been a long while since he has bought any new women for his harem.”
    “It is not for us to be concerned with whoever eventually buys her, Rais. It is for you to see she is delivered to Hamid Sharif in good condition.”
    With that he handed the blanket back to the girl, offering her an apologetic smile. Mehmed laughed to see her take the blanket, cover herself with it, then spit at the eunuch’s