Chapter 31 The Twins Together, Eve #2
I fumble with the bra straps, but before I can drop them, Lorian snatches the fabric from me. He loops them around my wrists and yanks them tightly until the edges bite into my skin.
“Perfect,” he mocks. “Bound by the very thing that was supposed to cover you.” He tugs, forcing my arms high so my breasts lift. “Just like the ghosts made you. Only now it isn’t just a fantasy.”
I watch as Lorian retrieves the neural paddle, tapping it lightly against his palm. “On your knees,” Lorian orders. “Let the goddesses witness your punishment.”
I sink to the cold floor in defeat. The circle of holographic goddesses flickers around me; twelve serene faces watching me.
I’m trembling while I wait, imagining what is going to happen now.
Although that paddle from yesterday didn’t leave any marks, I will never forget how excruciating the pain was when I was beaten with it.
“Kneel properly,” Rafe says. “Back straight and head up. Do not close your eyes at any point during your punishment. You will hold this posture until I say otherwise.”
I obey, spine rigid, thighs spread just enough that the Venus Lock hums against me in warning.
Lorian circles me with the paddle balanced in his hand. “Look at her, Brother. Already shaking, and we’ve barely begun. Shall I help her learn stillness?”
Rafe doesn’t look at him; his serious silver eyes remain on me. “If she breaks posture before the Chime sounds, she will feel the paddle.”
The minutes drag like hours. My knees burn. My arms ache from holding them so rigidly. A tremor runs through me, and before I can stop it, I shift.
The paddle cracks across my ass, and it hurts so much I almost lose my balance.
“Stay still,” Lorian says.
I use all my strength to stay still. Sweat beads on my temples. The lock hums harder, making my thighs quiver.
At last, a low tone chimes through the chamber. Rafe nods. “Crawl.”
“Sovereign?”
“Crawl,” he clarifies. “You will circle each goddess. At every pedestal, you will bow until your breasts and head touch the floor. You will present yourself as an offering. And you will do this silently.”
Heat scorches my cheeks as I begin. The stone floor bites into my knees, and I have to crawl like a wounded animal with my wrists bound.
At the first pedestal, I rise up on my knees and then lower myself, pressing my breasts against the cold stones.
My nipples harden instantly, shame burning hotter than the ache between my thighs.
And I almost lose my balance trying to get upright again.
I don’t think I have the kind of core muscles to be able to do this twelve times.
“Lower,” Rafe orders. “Forehead to the floor. Submit properly.”
I obey. My ass rises high, fully exposed.
Lorian rubs the paddle against the curve of my hip. “I don’t think she will be able to do this twelve times.”
I move to the next goddess. And the next. At each, I bow deeper, my body trembling harder. By the sixth pedestal, my whole body is in agony and covered with sweat. Every movement hurts.
Lorian leans close as I press my chest against the seventh pedestal. “Do you feel them watching you, Eve? Twelve divine witnesses. And you? Just a wet little heretic, crawling around the floor in circles.”
Tears sting my eyes, but I keep crawling.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten goddesses. I’m almost there.
At the eleventh, my legs give out. I collapse onto the cold floor with a sob.
Lorian strikes the paddle across my ass, making me yelp.
“Up,” Rafe commands. “Finish. Your. Punishment.”
Somehow, I do. I drag myself to the twelfth pedestal and press my breasts and forehead against the floor one last time, shaking, bound, and humiliated.
When I finish, I stay collapsed on the silver crest, too weak to rise. My nipples ache. My knees throb. The lock hums mercilessly, vibrating me closer to an edge I know I won’t be allowed to cross.
Rafe steps forward, looking down at me. “You have completed your circuit. But you have not earned release.”
No shit, I think.
Lorian crouches beside me, brushing damp hair from my face. “Remember this, my wicked human woman, the holographic shadows you begged to fuck you last night didn’t demand anything from you. But we do.”
“Your sexual pleasure is a reward. Not something you can just access at any point in time with anyone,” Rafe says. “Do you understand that now? Or should we continue with this punishment?”
“I’ve learned my lesson, Sovereigns.”
“Tell me what you’ve learned out loud,” Rafe says.
“I must learn to control my instincts.”
“And?”
“And that my sexual release belongs to my Sovereigns.”
“Good.”
Lorian calls the guards in. “Take her back to her suite.”
“But I’m naked.”
“Yes. I never said the punishment was completely over,” Rafe says.
The shrine doors slide open, and Lorian hands me off to the guards, who get me to my feet and begin to push me ahead of them, half carrying me into the corridor.
My bare feet slap against the polished floor.
We take the elevator up, and I’m forced to walk through the public corridors and the Grand Lobby.
Gasps.
Whispers.
Stares.
I hear guests ask if I’m the Sovereigns’ new human companion. I hear them comment on my pubic hair, which they call fur. One man requests I be sent to his room. It’s humiliating, and I want to close my eyes and pretend it’s not happening.
“Eyes open,” Rafe says from behind the guards.
I obey although my sight is blurred by tears threatening to fall. But I have cried enough. I will not give them the satisfaction of doing it in public.
Receptionists in black tunics freeze mid-stride, their eyes darting to my breasts, my bound wrists, and the wet sheen between my thighs. Thankfully, Lira must be on a break because I don’t see her anywhere.
I want to disappear. I want the floor to swallow me whole. But there is no hiding. Not like this. Naked. Bound and humiliated before everyone.
Rafe’s voice sounds behind me. “Let this be a reminder to all staff. Disobedience will always be seen. And it will always be corrected.”
I stumble, but the guards grip me and haul me forward until at last we reach my suite. The door opens with a soft hiss, and they help me inside.
Once there, Rafe undoes my bra straps with a tug of his hand, then he leaves me, naked and shaking.
Silence.
I collapse onto the bed and get under the sheets. I want to disappear. My whole body aches, but worse is the shame. They made me crawl for their alien goddesses. They paraded me through the hotel naked. They stripped away every shred of privacy, and I hate them for all of it.
But that’s not entirely true. A part of me, the darkest part of me, longs for them to come back. To touch me. To tell me I belong to them and to fuck me hard with my underwear in my mouth.
What is this place doing to me?