Chapter 13
Arrek drops back into one of the enormous chairs and hooks one heavy boot over his opposite knee, settling in to watch.
I understand instinctively. Mero is the leader of the triad, and he is going to be the one who trains me first.
“Sit.”
I lower myself immediately, settling onto my knees, shifting uncomfortably against the stone floor and wishing for the furs beneath me.
“That is kneeling. Sit with your weight on the floor. Cross your legs.”
Mero’s correction is gentler than I expect. There is a patience to him. I guess when you have lived nearly six hundred years, you either learn patience or go crazy.
But I expected him to be sharp and hard, rushing me, trying to make me fumble so he would have an excuse to bring that huge hand down against my ass.
I shift awkwardly, lowering my ass onto the limestone and crossing my legs.
“Hands on your thighs.”
I place them there. I realize with a jolt that I am becoming more and more attuned to his voice, waiting for each command with something dangerously close to anticipation mixed in with the fear.
I try to force down the needy, frustrating jolt of pleasure between my legs, but the effort only makes me more aware of it.
“Straighten your back.”
The instant I obey, I become horribly conscious of what the posture does to me. My shoulders draw back, pressing my breasts forward. My nipples are already hard, standing out beneath the weight of their stares.
Don’t get turned on. Don’t get turned on.
Heat gathers between my legs anyway. It is their eyes upon me as though I am the only thing that exists. It is knowing I have to obey.
This will end the second they stop smelling my arousal. That is what Mero promised. All I have to do is stop wanting it.
But he can make me obey, and I cannot make myself stop wanting to.
They can taste my shame, my humiliation and, worst of all, my need.
Mero walks slowly around me, studying the position from every angle. He never touches me.
“When I tell you to sit, this is how you will sit.”
He returns to stand before me.
“Stand.”
I unfold my legs and rise. The little bell at my throat gives a humiliating tinkle.
“Sit.”
This time I lower myself onto the floor and cross my legs without being corrected. My hands settle upon my thighs, and I straighten my back before he has to tell me.
“Very good. You’re doing so well.”
His praise snaps me out of the strange focus I have fallen into. I was simply doing what he said, waiting for the next command, but now my cheeks burn an even brighter red.
“Kneel.”
I move onto my knees.
“Knees together. Hands behind your back.”
This position is stricter. I bring my knees together and clasp one wrist behind me.
“Interlace your fingers.”
I obey. The posture draws my shoulders farther back, thrusting my breasts fully into view, my nipples bared and presented to both men.
Whatever Talarin did to me in the Med-Bay has left me insanely sensitive. Or maybe it is the way Mero is speaking to me. I don’t know. The slightest breath of air across my naked skin makes me want to writhe, and I cannot stop imagining his huge fingers tracing over me instead.
“Chest lifted. Chin level. Eyes on me.”
My nipples tighten beneath his gaze.
“When I tell you to kneel, this is the position you will take,” Mero says.
I nod.
“Are you in any pain?”
I bite my lip, then shake my head.
“You are very flexible, but I do not wish to force you to hold a position longer than your body can bear.” His grey eyes remain fixed upon mine. “You may whimper if it begins to ache more than is bearable.”
My eyes widen in shock, but before I can decide whether he is mocking me, the next command hits like a slap.
“Open.”
My lips part slowly.
I cannot stop my gaze from dropping to the huge, thick ridge trapped beneath his dark trousers, the heavy line of it reaching almost halfway down one thigh.
A fine, electric tingling gathers along my slit, tightening around my clit until I have to fight the urge to shift my knees.
“Your tongue as well. When I say open, you will open your mouth and present your tongue.”
My face burns as I extend it.
“Wider.”
I open as far as I can.
“Hold.”
Seconds pass.
My jaw begins to ache. Saliva gathers beneath my tongue, but I cannot swallow without closing my mouth.
A bead spills over my lower lip and slides down my chin.
I almost want to let a pitiful whimper come out, but it’s too shameful, and it’s not the ache in my jaw that’s tormenting me, but the humiliation of having to stick my tongue out like I’m begging for them to slide those huge cocks down my throat, and the hot, traitorous pulse in my clit that comes in response to the image in my head.
Neither man looks away.
More saliva pools. A thin strand stretches from the tip of my tongue before finally breaking and falling between my breasts.
“Good girl.”
Mero’s voice comes in a dark growl, the words landing the instant I feel my spit touch my skin.
The praise sends a rush of pleasure through me so sudden and intense that my thighs tense. Shame follows it, hot and sickening, but it cannot erase the needy pulse between my legs.
Both men’s nostrils flare.
The heavy shape beneath Mero’s trousers jerks harder. Across from him, Arrek’s cock swells against his faded work trousers, and, totally unashamed, he reaches down to reposition it along his thigh.
They smell everything.
Mero reaches into his pocket and removes a single square wrapped in silver foil.
He takes his time unwrapping it. The faint scent of chocolate reaches me, and even more saliva floods my mouth.
I have always had a sweet tooth, and real chocolate is rare this far from the capital.
Another strand slips from my tongue.
Mero places the square upon it.
“Close.”
I obey.
The chocolate shell breaks between my teeth, releasing soft caramel and tiny crystals of salt. It is so much better than I expected that my eyes close. I let it melt across my tongue, the salt cutting through the sweetness, and for several long heartbeats I think of nothing else.
“Back to your cage, girl.”
I turn and begin crawling towards it. Only when I am halfway across the room do I realize that I could have stood.
There is no leash clipped to my collar, nothing holding me to the floor.
I tell myself that even if I stood, I would only have to lower myself again to crawl through the little door, but the bell tinkles with every movement, and as my naked hips sway behind me and I feel both men watching, I am all the more ashamed that I do not stand.
I crawl through the little door. Mero follows and reaches down to secure the external lock.
I cannot stop myself from glancing hopefully at his pocket for another square, and I hate myself for it.
The taste of salt, caramel and chocolate still clings to my tongue, better than anything I have tasted in my entire life.
I pull myself into the corner and wrap the fur around my naked body, pressing my back against the bars. Then I reach up and close my fingers carefully around the bell, holding it still so it cannot tinkle.
Soon, this collar will be replaced by one even worse. A bright pink one. What were Arrek’s exact words? “One with a bell that makes a beautiful sound.”
For six months, I watched this estate, and not once did I see any of them leave. Now, less than a day after they captured me, Talarin has carried several of his books into the Reaver and flown to the city. He cannot be going merely to buy a collar.
With my fingers wrapped around the bell, I picture chains, cuffs and whips, and wonder what else Talarin has suddenly decided I need.