by Diana Ames
***
Wally roamed around the castle corridors until she found a servant to direct her to Mellissandra’s apartment. After several minutes of knocking, she turned the doorknob and found it to be unlocked. Walking in, she hunted through the empty rooms for Mellissandra or the babies. She found the three of them asleep on the floor in the twins’ bedroom.
Wally decided she would let them rest for a while and went into the outer rooms to wait. She planned on giving Mel a good talking-to as soon as she woke up. It was time that girl grew up.
***
Alondra tossed and turned the entire night, plagued by nightmares and memories.
“You’re a real princess, Alondra,” her mommy told her. “Someday, your father is going to take us to live with him across the ocean. We’ll live in a castle, and everything we’ve ever dreamed of will come true.”
“But I like our house, Mommy,” four-year-old Alondra said to her mother.
Her mother wasn’t listening though. She was lost in her fantasy.
***
Alondra heard yelling, and it sounded like it was coming from the living room. Her natural curiosity led her out of bed, and she tiptoed to the stairs.
“I have told you, Brenda. She’s a bastard! And I’m married!” a man’s voice shouted. “I can never claim her. Why do you have to ruin what we have? Haven’t I provided a beautiful home for the both of you? Haven’t I given you everything you need?”
“Why is it ruining it, Patrizio? I want to be with the man I love. I want my daughter to know her father and her heritage. You told me there is no love between you and your wife—”
“There is no such thing as divorce among royals, Brenda!” the man yelled again.
“Then, forget about taking us with you. You come live with us,” her mommy said.
Alondra could hear her crying.
“I have responsibilities. I can’t just pick up and move to another country,” he said.
“If you won’t be a husband and partner for me, you will be a father to Alondra,” she told him fiercely. “I’ll go to the media.”
“Don’t threaten me,” he said, his voice turning cold and low.
Alondra awoke with a start, sweat drenching her body. The nightmare was always the same. Her mother would be arguing with her father, a man Alondra had never met. She was thankful that she woke up this time before she discovered her mother’s bloody body.
On that night when she was four, she’d fallen asleep on the stairs while listening to the argument and chaos downstairs. It had been hard for her to understand everything that was being said at the time. Later, as an adult, she’d understood though.
Her father had been a titled member of a monarchy. He’d had an affair with her mother, resulting in her birth. He’d bought them a house and supported them in exchange for booty calls from her mother whenever he was in New York. When her mother had threatened to expose him, he’d murdered her.
Once the memories took her over, Alondra had trouble stopping the scenes from flashing in front of her eyes, and she relived every horrible moment of the trauma.
“Mommy,” Alondra called from the top of the stairs.
She woke up with a pain in her little neck from falling asleep with her head between the rails of the banister. Downstairs was quiet now, but Alondra was afraid that the fighting would start again.
“Mommy,” she called again. Rising, she crept down the stairs slowly. “Mommy?” she said once more when she reached the bottom.
Alondra went into the living room, searching for her mother. She hadn’t gone upstairs because she would have taken Alondra back to bed. Alondra couldn’t smell anything coming from the kitchen, not even the pungent coffee her mother loved to drink.
Alondra saw her mother’s feet peeking out from in front of the sofa. “Mommy, why are you on the floor?”
She went over to her mother to find her lying facedown with blood all over her head.
After that, the only thing Alondra remembered was screaming and screaming until nothing was left of her voice.
After hours of tossing and turning while trying to avoid the flood of emotions filling her, Alondra got out of bed. She knew she wasn’t going to be good for much of anything, but she had to make an effort to get it together. She had to be ready when James came through the village. She needed to get to the castle and expose the truth. She wasn’t going to let another royal use his title to ruin a woman.
CHAPTER 10
“Wally,” Damian said, nudging her shoulder slightly.
When he’d finally come out of his panic and ramblings, he’d noticed that she’d left her apartment. He’d decided on a course of action to show Sandra just how much he wanted and needed her, so he hadn’t worried about Wally’s whereabouts too much. He’d been surprised to enter his apartment and find her dozing on the sofa. Mellissandra and the twins were nowhere in sight.
“Wally,” Damian repeated. “Wake up, woman.”
Wally opened her eyes slowly and was startled to find Damian six inches from her face. She jumped and hit her head against his chin.
“Damn it,” Wally muttered as she shot a glare at Damian. “What are you doing back here? I thought you were going to give her time.”
“I changed my mind,” Damian said. “But it works out well that you’re here. Where are Sandra and the twins?”
“When I got here, she was sleeping with them on the floor in their bedroom,” Wally told him.
“Will you stay here with the babies?” Damian asked. “Sandra pumps continuously to keep her production up, so breast milk is in the freezer. You can thaw it in the bags—”
“I know how to take care of a couple of babies, Damian¸” Wally said with exasperation. “Of course I’ll stay, but what are you planning?” She looked at him suspiciously.
“I’m going to kidnap my wife,” Damian replied with a grin.
***
Mellissandra sat up slowly and stretched. She couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep with the babies playing on the floor. They weren’t crawling yet, but they rolled really well. What if they’d rolled into a wall or the rocking chair or a crib leg?
Standing, she picked up a sleeping Dominic and put him in his crib. Then, she repeated the process with Arabella. Mellissandra gazed lovingly at her babies, but seeing Damian’s features miniaturized caused her eyes to well up with tears once again. She left the room before she could break down, and she silently closed the door behind her.
Mellissandra was taken by surprise when her arms were grabbed and bound behind her back faster than she could react. When she opened her mouth to scream, a gag was stuffed in and tied around her head. Then, a blindfold was slipped over her eyes. Mellissandra kicked and swung her body, trying to get free, but her attacker would have none of it and tossed her over his shoulders.
Mellissandra stopped struggling, not wanting to be dropped. After a moment, she recognized the scent of the man carrying her. Damian was kidnapping her. Her fear quickly turned to anger, and she started struggling again. She wanted to get free and kick him in the balls for scaring her half to death. Who is with our children? Had he just left them alone? Was he allowing some random servant to care for them?
***
Damian knew when Sandra stilled that she’d caught on to him. It was confirmed when she started fighting even harder. She was angry, which Damian felt was better than sad. He could handle her anger, but her tears always unmanned him and made him weak.
When Damian finally reached his destination, he had a hard time holding the flailing woman on his shoulder while unlocking the double wooden doors. He nearly dropped her once. By the time he got them into the training room and relocked the doors, he was feeling the effects of her fight. She had kicked him once in the stomach and nearly taken his head off with an elbow.
Damian tossed her down onto the bed and pinned her legs with his knees as he tried to catch his breath. She bucked under him, trying to throw him off her. His cock grew hard as he wat
ched her back arch, making her breasts jut up at him.
Rising to his feet, he grabbed her around her waist and dragged her to the door of the dungeon. He knew he should have done it months ago, but her heavily pregnant body had frightened him. Since the birth, there just hadn’t been time or energy to introduce her to his personal flavor of lovemaking.
Damian kicked open the door to the room of pleasure and tossed Mellissandra facedown over a padded table with her ass in the air. Pulling off her blindfold, he stood in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest.
“In this room, you will address me only as Master. You will not scream, shout, or fight anything I want to do to you. I am in charge. Nod if you understand this,” Damian said.
Mellissandra just glared at him.
Damian walked around behind her and gave her a hard swat on one denim-clad ass cheek. Then, reaching his arms around and under her, he unbuttoned her pants and pulled them along with her panties to her knees. He stroked her bare ass before smacking again.
Then, he went around to face her again. “Do you understand me?” he said in a hard tone.
She gave one nod, fire and defiance flashing in her eyes.
“You are going to be punished for not trusting me,” Damian said. “You are going to be punished for jumping to conclusions when you only heard one sentence of a conversation. You are going to be punished for even thinking of leaving me over what amounts to nothing more than a misunderstanding.”
He took a deep breath. “If you are prepared to cooperate and accept your punishment, I will unbind you and remove the gag. This will go easier if you are able to adjust your body to a more comfortable position.”
When she didn’t move, Damian crouched until he was at her eye level. “Make no mistake, this is going to happen. This needs to happen,” he whispered.
***
Mellissandra couldn’t believe Damian wanted to punish her for being hurt over his actions. He’d left the castle and didn’t tell her. He had been short and nasty with her when she tried to get him on the radio. He had gone nuts when he saw that Anton had comforted her through the pain Damian caused her. He was the one who had said he never wanted or needed her.
“Are you going to cooperate?” Damian asked her, still looking into her eyes.
When she nodded, he pulled the gag from her mouth.
“I’m going to untie you, and you are going to remove your clothing. You will position yourself on this table for your punishment.”
Her wrists were released with one tug of the bindings, and she jerked her arms forward to relieve the pressure on her shoulders. Damian grabbed Mellissandra by the waist and pulled her into a standing position. He then stood back and folded his arms over his chest, waiting for her to comply with his orders. Her chin held high, she angrily removed her clothing and threw it to the floor. When she was naked, he shoved her back into position.
“Five smacks for each infraction,” he told her. “If you scream, I will start again. If you reach your limit and can take no more, say ‘love’, and I will stop. Keep in mind, if you use the safe word, we will begin again later.”
Mellissandra had no warning for the first hit, and she nearly cried out from the sting. Damian hadn’t tried to punish her since that first time over a year ago. She didn’t like this. She wasn’t submissive. But something told her that it was necessary—not just because Damian said it was, but because she felt they needed the healing this might bring.
***
Fifteen hits later, Mellissandra’s ass was beet red, and Damian’s palm was on fire, but she hadn’t cried out, and she hadn’t used the safe word. Damian felt like they’d taken a step in repairing the damage done to their marriage. Now that he had given his retribution for her wrongs to him, he knew he had to give Mellissandra her due.
“You did so well, my darling,” Damian said, moving around to the front of her and pressing a light kiss to her lips. He wiped the tears from her cheeks and stood once more. “Now, it’s your turn.” Damian began disrobing.
“What do you mean?” Mellissandra asked, rising up from the low table.
“I am a dominant man, Sandra,” Damian said. “But you are not a submissive woman. I forget that from time to time even though I haven’t dominated you in the way I’d truly love to. It was wrong of me just to expect you to be okay with me taking off for a day and night without explaining what I was doing. It was wrong of me to speak to you with disrespect on the radio. It was wrong of me to think you would betray me with my brother.” Damian bent over to remove his shoes and socks. “As hard as this is going to be for me, I am going to cede control to you and accept punishment for the wrongs I have committed.”
Completely naked, Damian walked over to a table and picked up a leather flogger. Passing it to Mellissandra, he positioned himself where she had been moments ago.
“Your hand is not strong enough to cause me any pain. That flogger will hurt and sting me as my palm did on your ass,” Damian told her.
“You want me to hit you?” Mellissandra asked, horrified.
“It is necessary for you to have what you are due,” he replied. “I deemed a total of fifteen swats were sufficient for you. You have to decide how much punishment is due to me. Release the pain I have caused you, and give it back to me.”
“No!” She threw the flogger away as if it were diseased. “I don’t want to hit you or punish you, Damian. Punishing me might make you feel better, but hitting you will only bring me more pain.”
“You must release the pain I’ve caused you. You need to take back your power in our relationship,” Damian pleaded with her. “What can I do to help you accomplish this?” He pushed himself off the bench and kneeled before her. Pressing his face into her bare belly, he asked, “How can I make this up to you?”
“Where were you, Damian? Why couldn’t you tell me on the radio?”
“I went to the whorehouse to bring Wally and Ryan back with me. Wally is going to be a nanny to the babies,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell you and get your hopes up, only to be disappointed if they refused.”
“Oh, Damian,” Mellissandra whispered. She grasped two handfuls of his blond hair and pulled him to his feet. “You can’t protect me from disappointment. Had I known, we could have traveled together and approached them as a family.”
“I’m sorry, my love,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “I just want to protect you from all things. Just the thought of you hurting—”
“But you hurt me this time, Damian,” she said. “I was sure you were going to another woman because I bored you.”
“Is that why Anton was with you?” he asked. “Did he make you feel desirable in a moment when I made you feel less than that?”
“Nothing happened between Anton and me,” she told him with a sigh. “He held me until I finally cried myself to sleep. I was too distraught to be alone.”
“I know nothing happened,” Damian said. “I was an idiot to assume—even for a moment, even with the two of you in the same bed—that something sexual had occurred. But why would you think that you bore me? Why would you automatically assume that I was going to another?”
“Just a week ago, you asked me to invite your brother into our marriage bed,” Mellissandra told him. “You have been with hundreds of women. I’m just…me,” she faltered. “Nothing special, no experience, except for what you have taught me. And without hesitation, I shoot down the first thing you offer that isn’t ordinary.”
“When I asked you if we could include Anton, that was for his benefit, darling, not mine,” Damian said. “He loves you, and he’s miserable. Normally, I am not a jealous man, and I’m willing to do anything to give you pleasure. I think you would enjoy being with two men, and I’m sure the idea intrigues you. But never think for a moment that you don’t satisfy me. Making sweet love to you is better than any kink I’ve experienced with any other woman or women.”
“I want to give you what you like, Damian. I just don’t know what to
do,” she told him, looking at their naked feet.
“Then, let’s begin now,” Damian said with a growl.
Taking her hand, he led her to a flat padded table with shackles in place for her arms and legs. Sweeping her off her feet, he laid her on the table and proceeded to secure her in place.
“You must remember the safe word if anything I do frightens you or hurts you, Sandra,” he told her. “I have wanted to bring you here for so long.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to forget myself and push you too far your first time.”
Damian leaned over and licked at each one of her erect nipples. He would have to forgo the nipple clamps because she was still nursing. When a drop of milk made a trail down her breast, he lapped it up with his tongue and groaned at the unique taste.
He licked a path from breast to breast, down her stomach, and between her thighs. He deliberately teased her womanhood with his hot breath, but he didn’t touch her there with his tongue. He grinned against her inner thigh as she hissed in complaint.
Grabbing a tickler from the wall mounts beside them, he slowly traced the arch of her foot with the feathers. Moving slowly, he allowed the feathers to touch every inch of her lovely legs until they finally came to rest over her throbbing clit.
“Damian,” she moaned.
“Master,” he corrected her. “In here, I am your master.”
“Master, please,” she begged.
“Tell me what you want,” he urged. Damian surprised himself by not demanding her silence, but truthfully, her pleading excited him.
“Inside me…” She trailed off as the feathers again brushed over her neatly trimmed pussy.
Damian turned the tickler around and grasped the feathers. Gently, he slid the handle between her lips and stroked her. After a moment, he allowed an inch of the handle to penetrate her. Mellissandra gasped and tried to arch her body, but the shackles held her in place. Her efforts made Damian chuckle. He pushed the tickler inside her slowly until the entire handle was coated in her sweet juice.
