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  Aketa looked at the Queen, eyes wide. The Queen’s hands were raised and the air before her seemed to shimmer. This was more magic, a terrifyingly powerful kind.

  “Forgive me, Aketa, but I need your attention for another moment. You see, there is something you must know.” A look of sorrow and grief passed over the Queen’s face and Aketa’s stomach clenched. She did not want to hear what the Queen was about to say.

  “Do you remember what I said, two days ago? I said you would each experience bondage first hand by learning to submit. I did not tell you who you would submit to.”

  No.

  “It is not Moregon that you will be with this night.”

  With that the Queen stepped back through the archway. Aketa saw her slap her hands to her thighs just before the image in this archway vanished. As it did the spell holding Aketa in place vanished too.

  Slowly she turned to face the man whose footsteps she’d heard.

  Rohaj.

  Chapter 23

  Rohaj stood, arms folded across his chest, wearing a pair of short breeches. His chest was bare, his dark skin slick and shinning. Ruby studs glittered in his ears and nose, while a small gold ring graced each nipple.

  He was as foreign to her as a creature from another planet.

  This cannot be. I want Moregon. I do not want to be touched by another. No, no, this cannot be. He is so frightening, so big, so dark.

  Aketa took a trembling step back, breaking the stasis.

  Rohaj, face blank as a mask, took one long step, closing the distance between them. He reached up and with a sharp tug, broke the laces holding her mask in place, throwing it to the side.

  Aketa gasped and brought one hand up to cover her deformed mouth.

  “So that’s what you are hiding.”

  His words enraged her. She narrowed her eyes and shot out a fist. Exactly as Moregon had done, Rohaj caught her fist with his hand.

  He transferred his grip to her wrist and spun her, forcing her arm up behind her back, his other arm going across her waist to pull her flush against his chest.

  Just like Moregon, but not like him at all.

  A sob, unexpected and heartbreaking, choked her. Aketa closed her eyes as tears fell.

  “Why are you crying?” Rohaj rumbled in her ear.

  “I thought it was Moregon, I thought I would see him tonight.”

  “That is what you were meant to think. Why do you cry?”

  “I miss him,” she whispered, sniffing.

  At her back, Rohaj heaved a sigh.

  “Where is he? Will he come tonight?” she asked.

  “No. Tonight you are mine.”

  She stiffened at his words, trying to pull away. Rohaj pulled up on her arm putting tension on her shoulder. Aketa stilled.

  “If you do not want this, all you have to do is tell me no. I will call Cryessa and she will return you to the Palace. I will not force you.”

  If you leave now you will lose him forever, but if you stay you will have to give yourself to this man who scares you.

  There will be no sex; the Queen said so.

  Technically you and Moregon did not have sex. There are many things that could be done that are not sex.

  “Did he want this?” she asked.

  “Did who want what?”

  “Did Moregon want me to … to do this, with you?”

  “This is part of the contest,” Rohaj said slowly. Aketa waited but he did not elaborate.

  She didn’t understand what was going on, was terrified of the man who so easily held her. The one person she was comfortable with had been missing from her life for days now. She ached with wanting him the way a traveler yearns for home.

  “This will not be easy, what I do to you. What Moregon did was play, too much pleasure to be real. What I will do with you is teach you to submit your will, to understand how and why people crave submission.”

  “So that I will understand Moregon?”

  “Yes.”

  Aketa hung her head. She’d said she would do anything to have him, to win him.

  And she’d meant it.

  “I … am willing. I will submit,” she whispered.

  Rohaj released her and backed away. “Strip.”

  She looked at Rohaj, her fingers shaking in fear. She wanted to deny him, wanted to run. Instead she reached behind herself and pulled out the bow that held the corset in place. She tugged until it was loose, then shimmied it down her hips. Gathering the long skirts in her hands, Aketa pulled her dress up and off.

  She was wearing nothing beneath.

  They’d given her undergarments along with the dress, but she’d elected to leave them off, after seeing Sornes do the same. Shaking with embarrassment, Aketa nonetheless took time to smooth out her dress and fold it. She placed it on the floor with the corset on top.

  “Stand up straight.”

  Aketa straightened her spine, painfully aware of her breasts. She kept her head lowered, angry at herself for allowing one of the tailors to trim her hair so that it just touched her shoulders. Had it been long she could have used it as a shield.

  “You did not fight me on that command, why?”

  Aketa shrugged, then regretted it when the movement caused her breasts to jiggle.

  “You will answer me with words.”

  Aketa gritted her teeth and said, “I agreed to submit.”

  “Are you proud of your body?” Rohaj asked, walking a circle around her. “Did you want me to see you? Do you think to entice me?”

  “No. My body is nothing to display.”

  “There you are wrong, as I find you quite enticing.” Rohaj touched her shoulder and Aketa jumped. “That frightens you, doesn’t it? The idea that I find you appealing.”

  “You lie.”

  “Why say so?”

  “I am … big and scarred and damaged.”

  “That is nothing to me, as I know it was not to Moregon.”

  “Don’t!” Aketa stepped away from his touch, crossing her arms over her breasts, “Do not … say his name. I will not last if you do.”

  Rohaj hooked his fingers around her arms, pulling them from her breasts and forcing them back to her sides. “I will mention him often.”

  Aketa bowed her head.

  Rohaj released her, leaving only to return with a strip of leather attached to a chain. He tilted her chin up and slid the strip of leather around her neck. It was not until he buckled it in place that Aketa understood.

  She touched the collar, feeling it with her fingertips. Rohaj let her do it, let the reality of what he was doing sink in.

  He stepped back, the end of a chain leash in his hand.

  “Come. It is time to begin.”

  Chapter 24

  Where would he take her? Would people see her?

  Aketa walked behind Rohaj, each step shaky with worry.

  Foolish girl! Why have you agreed to this? Moregon is not yours. Do you really think the Queen would allow him to choose a farmer to be a lady of the realm?

  But the Queen supports me. She said that if I can learn what I must, be what I must, he is mine.

  Unless he chooses one of the others.

  Aketa’s only point of consolation, as she trailed naked behind Rohaj, her gaze on her own bare feet, was that Moregon had not been with either of the others. It was Lord Rohaj who had trained them, not Moregon. That meant that she was still the only one who’d touched him.

  Rohaj had not really answered her question about Moregon’s wishes. What if he didn’t want her to do this? What if making her do this was the Queen’s way of ensuring he did not pick her. What if—

  Her darting thoughts were interrupted by astonishment as Rohaj stopped, turned to the wall of the corridor they were walking down, and pushed. The wall swung open, revealing a hidden staircase.

  Rohaj started down. Aketa scrambled to follow him.

  They descended the staircase, the light from the corridor the only illumination. At the bottom Rohaj placed his hand a
gainst the wall and the chamber beyond filled with light.

  “You have magic too?” she asked, staring in wonder.

  “I am borrowing the Queen’s,” he replied. There was a bang as the door at the top of the staircase closed. Rohaj drew her into the chamber.

  Three of the walls were of unfinished stone, as was the floor beneath her feet. The fourth wall was simply … dark. Aketa peered at it, puzzled as to the material, but her attention was quickly diverted by Rohaj tugging her leash.

  “Time for your inspection,” he said.

  Rohaj used the leash to drag her to the center of the floor. Aketa looked at the hard stone walls, the lack of furnishing, and felt real fear.

  They were in a hidden room, far from anyone. He could do anything he wanted to her, and no one would be the wiser. She was alone, and at his mercy.

  Aketa took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was in a field of wheat. The earth was soft beneath her feet, the sun warm on her face. Wheat stalks brushed her palms as she walked. She was alone.

  She did not fear loneliness, did not fear pain. She would survive this.

  Aketa opened her eyes to see Rohaj watching her. The white of his eyes was starling against his skin.

  He lifted her arms one at a time and fastened thick metal manacles around each wrist in turn. Her arms were lifted and spread away from her body.

  Rohaj walked away. She looked over her shoulder as best she could and watched him disappear into the dark wall. Aktea yelped in surprise. A moment later he emerged holding something.

  “What is that?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder once more.

  “Face forward.” Rohaj dropped to his knees before her as Aketa turned back.

  The object in his hands was a thick dowel capped on each end by short lengths of chain and manacles. He fastened the first one around her right ankle.

  “Spread your legs. Wider.” Aketa inched her feet apart. Rohaj slapped the inside of her right thigh. “Wider.”

  She spread her legs until there was no slack left in her arms and the chains suspending them groaned softly.

  “Good.” Rohaj fastened the second manacle around her free ankle.

  Her body now spread in a giant X, Aketa struggled to maintain the calm she’d found only moments ago. She closed her eyes, to return to the field, but Rohaj barked, “Eyes open.”

  He circled her, eyes running up and down her naked body. Aketa’s face and chest flushed with embarrassment. By the time he put his hands on her the tension was so thick it simmered in the air, as the Queen’s magic had.

  “You are tall for a woman, good muscle, but your belly is too white compared to your arms.”

  He stopped in front of her and reached for her breasts. Aketa jerked back, the chains rattling.

  “There is nothing you can do to stop me.”

  He took her breasts in his hands, lifting and squeezing them. Aketa squeezed her eyes shut, but after a moment she realized it was not bad. She felt rather like a cow whose teats were being inspected by the dairyman.

  This was not so bad. Her family often treated her similarly to the way they treated their horses.

  “Your breasts are a good size, well formed. Nice nipples,” he added, tweaking each with a thumb.

  “Thank you,” she replied politely, pleased with herself for remembering to talk.

  Rohaj took his hands off her. “This is not affecting you greatly. Why?”

  What had she done wrong? “I don’t understand.”

  “You should be humiliated. You are naked, stripped, being inspected. Treated no better than an animal at auction.”

  “People are not kind to me.”

  Rohaj took a step back, eyes widening in surprise. He turned his back to her. Aketa waited nervously. I’ve done something wrong, exposed my failings, proven I am fit for nothing but hard labor in the fields.

  When he turned back his face was a cold mask once more.

  “Then I will have to treat you all the more harshly.”

  With those terrifying words he left her again, returning with a tray loaded with a stack of clothes, a jug of water, a piece of soap and a lidded jar. Aketa exhaled the breath she’d been holding. She’d been expecting some implement of torture.

  Rohaj knelt, which brought his face level with her belly. He licked her belly button, laughing when she yelped.

  “Since stripping you of clothes did not have the effect I wanted, I will have to make you more naked then you are. I will remove your hair. If you are good I will leave you with hair on your head. If you disobey you will leave this chamber as bareheaded as I.”

  Would he do that?

  He opened the jar, releasing an odd and unpleasant smell. He moved the stack of towels revealing a straight razor and a small pair of shears. He picked up the shears with one hand and petted the pelt of hair covering her sex with the other.

  Aketa yelped and tried to move away, terrified.

  “Be still,” he barked. He pinched a tuft of hair, tugged it away from her body, and snipped it off. When he was done a scattering of blond hair lay on the floor between her spread thighs. Rohaj picked up the soap and dipped it in the water, lathering his hand. He then rubbed his hand over her mound.

  “I will use the razor here, but the cream is for the lips of your pussy and around your anus.”

  He set the razor to her skin and Aketa whimpered. She was afraid to even breathe, lest his hand slip. Scrape by scrape he took the hair from her sex, until her mound was bald. He wiped his hand and picked up the jar with odd smelling cream. Dipping two fingers in, he spooned it out, then stroked his fingers along each lip of her sex. Aketa flinched, both from the cold and from being touched so intimately.

  He took up more cream and slid his fingers between the globes of her ass, his fingertips brushing the hole Moregon had penetrated.

  Rohaj wiped his hand clean and rose. He took a fistful of her hair, “Shall I cut this?”

  Aketa closed her eyes. She would be even more the outcast to be bald as well as scarred. She tried to find her center once more, imagining herself in the field of wheat, but it was not a sunlit field, but a moonlit grove that calmed her. With her eyes closed she could see him, hair gleaming in the moonlight, blue eyes looking down at her, his low voice speaking softly.

  Aketa relaxed. It was only hair, it would grow back.

  Rohaj released her and she opened her eyes.

  “Tell me when the cream starts to tingle.”

  The moment the words left his mouth Aketa’s sex began to tingle and burn. She yelped and Rohaj smiled. He moved to lean against the far wall, watching her as she squirmed. This continued for what seemed like an hour before Rohaj knelt again at her feet. Wetting a cloth he used it to wipe away the cream. He went through three cloths, wetting them and wiping away both hair and cream.

  When he was done he bent low and inspected her sex. He took each lip between his fingers, pulling it out to inspect it for hair. Aketa’s face burned with painful embarrassment.

  “Very good.” He took away the tray and returned with a mirror. “Look at yourself.”

  He set the square looking glass on the floor and leaned it against his legs. The angle of the mirror showed her sex between her lewdly splayed thighs. Her sex was bare, the parted slit starkly revealed. Her naked mound clearly showed the point where this intimate crevasse of her body started.

  Tears of embarrassment stung her eyes and Aketa turned her face into her arm, hiding her shame.

  “Good,” Rohaj said. She heard him move away and the next thing she felt was a heavy thunk against her ass, followed by a burn. “Pay attention,” he commanded, raising the flogger.

  He brought it down on her ass nine more times, Aketa counted, but the blows were not really painful. He came around to her front, and, as Moregon had, brought the flogger down on her breasts.

  Aketa closed her eyes, and she was no longer in a frightening room with a man who terrified her, but in a candlelit chamber with the man she loved. Ak
eta sighed and arched her back into the next stroke of the flogger.

  “You’re thinking of him, aren’t you?”

  Aketa looked at Rohaj, who regarded her with cold, glittering eyes. He picked up something from the ground behind her.

  There was a sharp whistle and then a slash of pain across her ass.

  Aketa screamed.

  “That flogger is nothing. It is used only to awaken the skin to the kiss of something more powerful.” He laid a second stripe across her ass. Aketa gasped in pain. “This is true pain. Do you know why I’m beating you?”

  Aketa shook her head, blinking watery eyes. It felt as though he’d laid stripes of fire across her buttocks.

  “I beat you because I can, because you are owned by me, body and soul. Nothing you could say would stop me. You could scream and beg, but I will not stop, not until it pleases me.”

  Aketa shook with fear until he lashed her with the cane again, this time catching the skin at the top of her thighs just under the curve of her ass.

  Rohaj caught her chin on his fist and licked the tears from her face. He kissed her scarred lip. “You will have to trust me. Trust that while you are here, while you are bound, you are free from choice. I choose your pleasure, I choose your pain. You give me all your trust and in exchange I give you freedom.”

  She didn’t understand; it hurt too much. Aketa shook her head.

  Rohaj stepped back and raised the cane. This time he landed the strip across her thighs. Aketa could see the welt, a line that showed stark white then filled in angry red.

  He gave her another across her thighs and then her belly. The one across her belly was lighter, the terrifying whistle of the cane not as loud, but it burned, a bright line across her belly between her navel and sex.

  “Shall I cane your tits,” he traced the tip of the cane over her breasts, “or your pussy?” He dropped the cane, pressing the tip into the mound above her sex, hard enough that the skin dimpled. “You choose.”

  Aketa shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

  “Choose or feel the cane on both your breast and pussy,” he roared.