Nineteen
A good brownie always takes care of others.
But a good little slut takes care of herself too.
- Arienna
The anticipation of Richard’s promise fills me with so many nerves that I don’t even need to be fingered while he flies me up to the Royal Floor.
All of his guards are left in the hall, including Jace, but when the door shuts, I’m happy he isn’t joining us tonight.
The look in my king’s eyes tells me I’m going to struggle with all he has planned for me.
There’s no way I’ll be able to handle them both.
“Ah,” I squeak, backpedaling towards the bedroom. “I didn’t mean to tease you.”
“Yes, you did.” He stalks towards me, undoing the belt at his waist.
“Only at dinner! Not in the Council Room – and you didn’t let go of my hands! So, really, I shouldn’t be punished for that.” I stumble through the archway of the bedroom.
“You won’t be.”
“I won’t?”
“Nope.”
Sighing in relief, I stop trying to run from him.
He slides his belt free of its loops. I eye it nervously, suddenly not feeling as ‘safe’ as I was when I stopped. I take a step back. He takes a step forwards.
“Teasing me or being a brat won’t get you punished.
I do not want to curb who you are.” He smiles, but it’s wickedly hot and not calming in the slightest. My legs bang into the edge of the bed.
I fall down on top of it, my heart racing as I stare up at him.
He stops right in front of me. With his belt folded over in half, he snaps it in-between his hands. I jump. My pulse skitters.
His eyes hold mine with every sinful promise.
“And I like to discipline. So whenever you want to tease me, my queen, know that you will not be punished.” Pressing the bend of the belt under my chin, he forces my head back further.
“For the consequences of your bratting will bring the both of us pleasure.”
With his other hand, he opens the button of his trousers. “But when you are punished, it will be to correct something you have a bad habit of doing.” His eyes heat as he slides the belt down my neck to my breasts.
I gasp as my nipples pucker in anticipation.
“Like not taking care of yourself.” He nudges my knees apart with one leg. My breaths quicken as he steps between them. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?”
“I was excited to see the walls, and I wasn’t that hungry.”
“I could’ve sent a servant to get you a snack while we crossed the room. You could’ve eaten it while you looked at the walls.”
Well, poop. I don’t have anything to say to that. “I didn’t think about it?”
He stares at me for a moment longer. “You will tell me the next time you are hungry. Is that understood?”
I nod.
“If you do not, I will punish you. It won’t be pleasurable for either of us. But the colours and safe word still applies. Now tell me, what can you call them for?”
“Anything.”
“Not just for pain?”
I shake my head. “If I’m not good emotionally either.”
“Or mentally. If you are not up for a punishment for any reason, it will not happen. You will either receive it later when you are – should you wish to continue this dynamic, or we will forgo them entirely, and I will find another way to make sure you take care of yourself.”
I nod, ready for whatever he wants to do to me. His cock’s straining hard against his trousers, and that button is already undone. I want to pull him out and suck on him. I lick my lips. He groans. His belt runs back up my neck.
“Tell me which one of the things you did today deserves a punishment.”
“The um…” I swallow as I stare at his cock. “Not eating.” I’m damn near salivating, my mouth as wet as my pussy.
“Good. Anything else?”
I blink. Then shake my head, but I don’t feel entirely certain. “No?”
My king nods. “The only time bratting will get you a punishment is if you continue when I call red.”
“Because limits go both ways.”
“Well,” he purrs, “since my good little slut is such a fast learner, I shall give you your funishments first.” He steps back as he starts to undo the top buttons of his shirt with one hand. “Lay down on the bed with your ass hanging over the side.”
I fall over onto my stomach, then scoot my legs off the bed. My pussy quivering, I fist the sheets and breathe in sharply.
“Colour?” he asks as his belt unravels through the air, the soft whoosh of leather making my body tingle.
“Green.”
“Think about it more,” he says. “You learned Saragese died today, and you watched Fabia kill an innocent man.”
I turn to look at him, pain in my chest. He does not order me back around. He merely stands facing me, his violet eyes watching me so damn carefully.
“If you need me to be gentle with you tonight instead, my queen,” he says, “tell me now.”
I open my mouth, then close it, giving this the amount of thought it deserves.
“I… I grew up believing there was no greater place than Brownston… That we had true freedom and peace.” I struggle with the words, but I push them through, make them real by painting them in the air.
“I’ve lived my whole life feeling safe, but…
I’ve never felt more safe than I do with you.
When we… do these scenes. The way you watch me…
No one’s ever paid me that much attention.
” I shake my head with a wry smile. “Well, other than Fabia, but I don’t want to fuck her. ”
A grin twitches at his lips, but he doesn’t let it free. “Do you not trust me outside of these scenes?” he asks softly.
“I do.” I wince. “Mostly,” I say, knowing how much he values honesty. “I don’t understand why you want to stab everyone, but I’m trying to trust you.”
“Do you trust I left Saragese behind at the market for a good reason?”
I flinch. “I don’t know,” I whisper.
“I needed to get you out of there.”
“But you went back.”
“I did.”
“And if we stayed there, you might’ve been able to save her in time.”
“Perhaps.”
“So she died because of me.”
“No,” he says harshly. “She died because some assholes decided to attack the market. They are the only ones to blame.”
“But if I could fight like you –”
“And if I was a witch. Or if Jace tackled her instead of shoving me. Or if Odin himself decided to smite her. We all could’ve done different things, but none of us are to blame for her death. Tell me you understand this, Arienna.”
I stare at him, my lips trembling. “Logically, yes, but in here…” Raising a hand to my chest, I shake my head.
His eyes soften. Dropping his belt to the floor, he opens his arms. I stumble into them, and he holds me.
“You will not have to suffer this life for long,” he murmurs as he kisses the top of my head.
“Once we are no longer royalty, we can go live somewhere up near Vyla, away from all the fighting. We can be peace ambassadors, and we can even get some leffington rats.”
“They’re so cute!”
“Mmm. I will protect you from this world, Arienna. You just have to trust me.”
I press my cheek against his chest, feeling the solidity of his strength. Tilting my head up to him, I say, “I do.” Then I smile, wanting to bring him joy just as much as he wants me to bring it to Raza. “So are you going to spank me now for being naughty?” I tease.
His eyes heat, but they still track me. Judge me. Try to look beneath my smile to see the real me. Where my head is. My heart is. Making sure my colour is green.
Releasing me, he steps back and nods at the bed. “Back on your knees, my queen.” I do as he says and wriggle my cute little butt in the air. His hand slaps down on it. I hiss in a breath as I prepare myself for the next one, but it doesn’t come.
“You will receive half of them while you’re clothed,” he says. “The rest will be given with you naked, when you’re kneeling beside me and sucking on my cock. You will take me as deep as you can and hold me in that pretty little throat of yours until I spank you again.”
I rub my thighs together as I try not to squirm.
“As you’ll have your mouth full, we will use signals to communicate. Slap the bed.” His fingers trail across my ass, raising goosebumps beneath my clothes.
“That is green. Can you snap your fingers?” When I do so, he says, “That is yellow.” His hand slips between my thighs, petting me over my clothes.
I push my ass against him. He pulls back and spanks me.
“Concentrate, my queen. Show me green and yellow. Good girl. And red is raising your hand in a fist. That’s my good little slut. Now count them.”
I jerk beneath his spanks. He doesn’t slap me hard, but the knowledge that he soon will, that he’ll tease me and test me and fucking edge me has me squirming against the bed. Every one I count has my anticipation building that much higher.
“Five.”
When I get to ten, he’ll make me strip.
“Six.”
Or maybe he’ll make me wait until eleven.
“Seven.”
I start to pant, my legs trembling with the desire to be bared to him completely.
“Eight.”
I hiss in a breath as he spanks me harder.
“Colour?” I start to open my mouth, but he says, “Show me.”
I slap the bed.
“Now tell me.”
“Green.”
“Good.” He slaps me so hard I scream. My skin burns beneath the jumpsuit, feeling red and raw and bruised. “Colour? Show me.”
I hesitate between red and yellow. Thinking it through, I snap my fingers. “Yellow,” I bite out harshly.
“You forgot to count those two, so they do not count.” He slaps me just as hard. I cry out, then whimper.
I snap my fingers again. “Yellow. Nine.”
“Good girl.” He massages my ass. I hiss in a breath as the pain radiates down my leg. “My good little slut likes being spanked. It takes quite a lot to make you call yellow.”
My cheeks flush hard at the truth of his words.
He spanks my other ass cheek, making it ache just as fiercely.
“Ten,” I pant. My eyes burn from the pain, but the desire to be naked and sucking him off is making me squirm.
He spanks me hard, and I jerk up the bed on a groan.
“Colour?”
“Yellow.”
“Show me.”