Chapter 20 #2
The choice resonated somewhere deep inside me.
For years I had been prolific at my craft. Respected. Sought after. A master within the shibari community.
But the heart of me had always been something else.
A sadist.
Not because I enjoyed suffering. Because I understood thresholds. The narrow space where sensation became surrender, where trust became something undeniable.
Women had spent years seeking me out for that experience.
But somewhere along the way I had outgrown the performance of it. The scene. The role.
What I wanted now, with her, was something built on trust and longevity.
Something real.
“I couldn’t have prepared this room better myself.”
A faint smile touched her face.
“But before we do anything else, I need to know this is truly your choice.”
The smile faded, replaced by the attentive stillness I had come to know so well.
“When you asked for space, I made sure you were somewhere nobody had authority over you. Nobody had control over you. Not me. Not anyone.”
I held her gaze.
“This isn’t a club scene, Polina. We left that behind a long time ago.”
My voice softened.
“So tell me the truth.”
I glanced around the room before returning my attention to her.
“Why this?”
The question wasn’t about the room.
“Did you choose it because you thought it was what I’d want?”
I took a step closer.
“Or because it’s what you want?”
For a moment she didn’t answer.
Her gaze drifted around the room, the ropes, the frame, the careful intention of the space.
When she looked back at me, there was no uncertainty in her expression.
“I chose it because it frightened me.”
The corner of my mouth twitched.
“That’s generally not considered a selling point.”
A faint smile appeared.
“No. But it felt honest.”
She took a slow breath.
“The first time I walked into Midgard, I was pretending to be someone else. Every decision I made came through that lens. Hecate would have chosen what looked impressive. What she thought people expected. What she thought would keep her in control.”
Her eyes held mine.
“I don’t need her anymore.”
The words landed somewhere deep inside me.
She glanced around the room before looking back at me.
“Raia told me what Asgard was. What it meant to the people who built it.”
A small shrug.
“Mari supplied commentary.”
I laughed.
“Extensive commentary, I imagine.”
“Very extensive commentary.”
The corner of her mouth lifted.
“But what stayed with me wasn’t the stories.”
Her gaze never left mine.
“It was what they all had in common.”
A pause.
“Trust.”
The word settled quietly between us.
“Not because people found certainty here. Because they chose it.”
Her voice softened.
“I’m tired of being afraid of the things I want.”
She took a step closer.
“I didn’t choose this because I thought it was what you’d want.”
Another step.
“I chose it because it’s what I want.”
No hesitation. No qualifiers.
“No audience. No performance. No pretending.”
Her hand found mine.
“Just us.”
For the first time that evening, I felt the last of the distance between us begin to disappear.
I walked with her to the wall where the ropes hung in careful rows.
For a moment neither of us reached for anything.
The room had become very quiet.
Not awkward.
Reverent.
I watched her study the choices in front of her and realized that, for perhaps the first time since I had known her, she wasn’t looking for permission. She wasn’t trying to anticipate what someone else wanted.
She was deciding for herself.
The realization settled somewhere deep inside me.
Not because of the room.
Not because of what came next.
Because choice had always been the thing she had been denied.
And now she was standing in front of it with both hands open.
Winding her body in the soft threads was a new experience for me, there was a reverence present that had replaced observation. It wasn’t just anyone, it was Polina… her long silky thighs expertly cinched in her choice of rope.
Her chest and thighs glistened in the pool of light above her and she looked like the goddess whose name she’d claimed.
Suspended, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
Legs tucked up beside her ribs. Her bottom was thrust out, as were her breasts.
She looked delicious, good enough to eat.
For the next half an hour the only sounds were of leather swooshing through the air and Polina’s soft growls and moans of pleasure as I balanced her between two worlds. Her eyes were blown wide and I knew it was time to give her the rest of what she’d asked for.
I slid a finger inside her silky walls, and she clenched the digit with a ferocity that spoke volumes of her need.
I circled her hardened nub and reaching deep past all her defenses.
When I felt her walls quivering, I drew my finger out and reached for the bottle of lubricant.
I gently massaged her back-hole before generously lubricating the butt plug, she’d chosen for this moment.
I jiggled the plug once it was inserted, eliciting a deep moan from Polina. I stepped around to the front of her, gazing into her dilated pupils. “Tell me what you want, Polina.”
“You.” No hesitation. Not an ounce of question.
“Make me fly, Master Loki.”
That was all the permission I needed. I’d long since removed most of my clothing. Now, I toed my shoes off and dropped my boxers and trousers in one fell swoop. Her lidded eyes gazed longingly at my cock.
Gripping the ropes that held her, I slipped inside her entrance. Slowly, inch by insatiable inch I moved inside Polina who had dropped her head back with a sigh. Once I was seated fully inside, I reached around and grabbed her ass cheeks in both hands.
“You will ask permission before your first orgasm. After that, fly as far and as often as you wish.”
“Yes. Master Loki.”
The soft flesh fluttered under my ministrations and it wasn’t long until she begged for release.
“Now,” I commanded.
Polina’s primal scream was music to my ears.
This had been suppressed while she learned to trust, then again in her father’s home for security reasons.
But here, at Asgard, she could scream to her heart’s content and she did.
This more than anything spoke of our next steps, of leaving the past where it belonged, behind us and carving out a new reality for each of us.
When I finally took her down, she was spent. Already asleep by the time I’d finished massaging all of her limbs.