Chapter 5
Chapter Five
CYPRIEN
Igot home late that night. It was my night off and the maid, Antonia, was in charge of my usual evening chores.
Upon opening the back door, I was surprised to see that she was still in the kitchen.
She shushed me with a single finger over her lips, then led me back outside.
“Your stepfather is in a real state tonight.” she explained.
“It seems the king’s steward came by with money and tales of a young man in an orchard who saved the royal children; described you down to the state of your shoes. ”
“Fuck me. I didn’t expect them to do anything about it and certainly not this quickly.”
“What happened out there? The steward said that you had saved the prince and princess from the woods and were leading them back to the house when the royal guard happened upon you.” She shook her head before continuing.
“Then he said you demanded a reward and reparations for the damages to the hay field. The master ranted later that it had made him look poor and uncivilized.”
“I didn’t demand a damned thing! I explained to the prince upon the approach of the guard that they were destroying our crops. They weren’t even within earshot when I said it. It was the prince who demanded that we be compensated. He’ll never believe me though. I’ll be lashed for this for certain.”
Antonia’s face grew somber. “I’m afraid to say I agree.
You had better tread carefully. . Your stepfather was embarrassed and is after your head.
I say a lashing is the least of your worries.
He refused the stewards money but was coerced into taking a favor in its place.
I’m unsure what type of favor he plans to ask for, but there is no way it’s good for us. ”
My eyes cast downward, shame heated my cheeks against the cool evening air.
“You’re right, Antonia, and I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to put any of us in danger.
They caught me off guard and I just… reacted.
I should have known better, but I didn’t even recognize them, I swear it to you!
They wore cloaks and spoke of stealing our apples. ”
Antonia patted me on the back, a sad look on her face. “I know you’d never intentionally put us in danger, Cyprien. We all know that. I’m not worried about us, I’m worried for you.”
She didn’t need to say why. She knew my stepfather’s methods all too well. I forced a small smile for her sake and headed for the door. “Don’t worry about me, get home to your husband. I can handle myself.”
Antonia didn’t say another word. She just shook her head and vanished down the path that led to her cabin.
I watched her until she was out of sight, then braced myself to enter the house “Well, finally decided to sneak home?” Startled, my head swung toward the voice.
Stefan was waiting for me. He never entered the kitchen, so whatever my stepfather had planned for me must have been especially heinous.
I decided to feign ignorance. “I was just outside offering Antonia a walk home. Is something wrong?”
With a wicked grin, Stefan grabbed my arm and started pulling me from the room. “You want to play dumb? Let’s see what Father has to say about that. Father! I’ve got him!”
Attempting to free myself would only make matters worse, so I let my stepbrother haul me through the dining room, across the hall, and into the sitting room. My stepfather waited there, perched in his favorite chair. Stefan shoved me to my knees in front of him, then backed away.
Octavius sat there as though he was sitting on a throne.
In a sense, I suppose he was. This house was his castle, the property his domain.
I was simply one of his subjects. He glared down at me, sneering in disgust like he’d just stepped into something unsavory.
Like I was an inconvenience to be removed and tossed away.
He had never looked at me with love, but he had also never looked at me as loathsome as he did in that moment.
“How nice of you to grace us with your presence, Cyprien. I had begun to wonder if you had run off after you disgraced this household and embarrassed my family.”
“No, sir.” My eyes were fixed on the floor.
“‘No sir? ‘No sir,’ what exactly? You would never run? Or you would never do anything to disgrace us?” Octavius leaned forward in his chair, hand clenched on the arm wrests. “Do not insult me with lies.”
“I would never intentionally do anything to harm you or the family in any way, sir.” I spoke softly but clearly, head still bowed.
“Oh, you wouldn’t? Are you calling the king’s steward, a better man than you’ll ever be, a liar?” He stood and paced around me.
“No sir. I simply meant to say that maybe his memory of the event wasn’t clear.
There was quite a bit of excitement.” I closed my eyes and inhaled softly, tamping down the burst of panic threatening to bubble up in my chest. Octavius stood behind me, but I didn’t dare move from my position on the floor.
My muscles tensed, nearly quivering. I did my best to hold still.
“Fine, “ he growled. “Tell me what happened, in your own words.”
So I did, only omitting the fact that I had accused them of stealing. He shook his head when I insisted that compensation came from the demands of the prince. “Why didn’t you tell them that we didn’t need their charity?” he spat.
“I was in no position to argue with the prince, sir. And even if I had been, I was too overwhelmed by the mere presence of the royal twins. I wasn’t thinking about how it might damage the family’s image.”
“No, you weren’t thinking. Now we’ve been humiliated in front of the king’s steward and I’m certain the king knows of it as well.
I cannot let that go unpunished. First thing in the morning you will be given thirty lashes with a horsewhip in front of the whole household.
Then you’ll complete all of your chores silently.
If I hear even so much as a whimper from you, you’ll receive thirty more lashes before bed.
” He gave me a swift kick to the ass, and I bit my lip to stifle a cry.
“Now go to bed. If you try to escape your punishment tomorrow, I’ll break your legs and leave you on the street to starve. Is that clear?”
I swallowed a sob and nodded. “Yes sir.” I scrambled up from the floor and hurried to my room, barely containing the tears until the door shut behind me.
ALARIC
I spent countless hours pleasuring myself in an attempt to quiet the hunger that had seeped into my very bones.
That farm hand’s image was burned into my memory every time I closed my eyes.
I was sure it would drive me mad. He was everything I wanted, signed and sealed in a beautiful gift that I could never have.
My father would never forgive me if I seduced a farm boy.
We were too good for that, and he was too far beneath me to be worthy of my attention.
Father might tolerate the child of a rich merchant or land owner, but he’d never allow me to pursue dalliances with someone who earned their way through life by the sweat of their brow.
I kept trying to tell myself that it was just a juvenile crush and that if I had him I’d lose interest, but something tugged in my chest. I began to wonder if it was fate.
Not that I believed in all of that rubbish.
At least, I didn’t think I did. But the pull of him had me wanting to entertain the idea.
Nothing I tried helped me clear him from my mind or eased the fire burning in my loins.
I got very creative with methods of self pleasure, using various scented bath oils and swapping hands so that my touch felt less familiar to me.
I even went in search of my prostate and sucked on the neck of an empty wine bottle to have something to fill me from both ends.
Sure, I got off, but I wasn’t thoroughly satisfied.
It was as though every time I came, I was only fanning the flames of lust that torched my soul.
Finally, I managed to drink myself into oblivion and blacked out in front of the fire, hand still on my stiff cock.