Ruled: A Dark Sci-Fi Romance

by Cari Silverwood

  She nodded, rattled, unsure where this was going.

  “You’re going to lie over the table and wait for me to punish you. Understood?”

  Startled, she dropped the last fragment of toast to her plate then frowned down at it. He’d not forgotten after all. Understood? Yes, but...

  “This is not acceptable. I’m an adult and can see where I went wrong, though I still think you were being too vague. I couldn’t tell if you were truthful.” She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, looked at Drake and was unnerved by the grimness of his gaze.

  “You didn’t trust me. You put yourself in danger. This is not going to hurt you like it might some but know this—it’s for your dishonesty, and how you disappointed me. Our agreement is not simply a verbal one. You are mine and I will punish you when you do wrong. So, answer this. Did you distrust me?”

  Her mouth twisted. “Yes, I suppose.”

  “You cannot rule alone. You cannot.” He leaned in a little. “We must trust each other, not lie. By going out there alone, you broke one rule. Then you lied.”

  She opened her mouth, searching for a good answer.

  “You will think on this. I’ll give you a choice. Stand over there facing the corner for an hour, thinking about what you did and why it was wrong. Or be spanked here, on the table.”

  “People would see.” She’d said that as if someone peered down their sights at them at this very moment. She’d said it softly too, as if they could hear her.

  It was silly but the idea of being spanked here, or made to stand in the corner, stirred mortifying shame.

  “No.” He smirked, leaned down, and pressed a button that was connected by a cord to the screen. Instantly the screen darkened, becoming opaque. “There.”

  Disturbed by his lecture, she stared at the long black screen then at Drake, at him rising and holding out his hand, and waiting for her to take it.

  Slowly, she stood, her chair legs grating as they slid, unsure of what she was doing. Drake took her hand, cleared the table’s contents away to the edges and pushed until she lay on her stomach.

  There again came that simmering excitement—knowing he was about to spank her.

  Her dress was pulled up, her panties slipped down to just below her ass, and his broad hand rested on her bared skin.

  “Remember, this is to make you think, to understand our relationship. Trust me in the future. Yes?”

  Gulping, she nodded. She’d suffered this before, yet it was still surreal to lie on her stomach and wait... and wait. She must think? The anticipation as he raised his hand was of oncoming pain and also a growing awareness of what this might be, if she accepted this as her future.

  To be his.

  To be punished when he thought it necessary.

  The first blow made the table rattle and spread fire over her bottom.

  Skin to skin.

  His decision. Her submission to it. When she wriggled, he planted his hand above her ass to hold her.

  “Be still.”

  She tried to stop herself from shifting as he applied more smacks, harder and harder ones, until she was giving suppressed yelps to almost every blow. The pain blossomed, deepened, made her horny yet also emphasized his dominance over her.

  Which was the whole point.

  By the time he was done, she was clutching the sides of the table and wishing he’d stop. There was a point, she’d found, where horniness gave way to a dread of the next smack.

  “I’m done, but you can stay there a while.” She heard him drag the chair around and turned her head to that side, to find he’d sat again, and was eyeing her. He laid his hand on the table, upturned so he could caress her face.

  “I was angry when I first heard what you’d done. Then sad. I want you by my side, but I don’t want to be forever fighting you. Have you thought? Do you see what you did was wrong?”

  His thumb brushed beside her mouth and over the corner of it.

  “I do.” It was true, though she had reservations still. She was sorry she’d upset him but simply asking him if he’d said the truth would’ve been a bad way to verify the truth.

  He wanted her to trust him absolutely. It was far too early for that commitment. Would it ever be the right time?

  “I do like you.” She could see him as a friend and a man she could respect, no matter what.

  “Even after I spank you?”

  She thought that through then smiled. “More, really.”

  That made him chuckle. “Good.”

  It was a puzzle. She didn’t understand her reactions. “Can I get up now?”

  He moved his hand to her ass, squeezing her there, directly where her skin felt hottest, sorest.

  It was only seconds before the throb of the pain converted and she took a slow inhale and looked inward, feeling every inch of where his hand touched her ass, where those fingers curved, toward her cleft.

  “You’re going to stay there while I fuck you, Princess. No coming this time though. None for you.”

  “Oh. None?” She raised her eyes, watching him stand then pull his shirt over his head and unbuckle his belt. The tinkling sound of a buckle undoing triggered lust in her, and she felt the first dribble of moisture from her entrance.

  “None.” Such a throaty denial. Sexy.

  She eyed this gorgeous male as he crossed behind her, the ruggedness of him, the perfect lines of his chest and stomach. She felt the nudge of his cock at her lips below. He smeared the head up and down, pressing at her, until she gasped and bowed her spine, parting her thighs to let him in.

  Her grip shifted on the table and she waggled her ass, begging.

  No coming? That only made her want this more. She needed to be fucked more than ever.

  “Say please,” he whispered, pushing in.

  “Please.” The word cracked as she said it because the choking ecstasy of him entering and fucking her had hit on that very last second.

  “Good. Be very good for me. I’m getting you ready for more.” His thumb slipped around her asshole, circling it. “I’ve wet it with your fuck-juices, girl. My pre-cum. One day soon, you’ll take cock in here.”

  And while he spoke, while those murmured syllables slipped into her ear and his teeth nipped her, he slowly thrust deeper into her pussy. It made her forget to breathe, or think, or to resist what that bad thumb did to her.

  It had to be bad to take anything there, except it too fed into her pleasure.

  She mustn’t come.

  His thrusts jarred her, slapping into her heated skin.

  When his thumb was removed, she sighed then felt terribly empty. Both cock and thumb had given rise to a new concoction of sensations, and the combination was definitely nice.

  “Relax,” he grunted, working at her then pausing. Something new that was not a thumb nudged at her other hole and slowly pushed into her, popping past whatever resistance she had left, making her squeal and shudder.

  “What...” she managed thickly, her mouth not working well. She again slid on the table, back and forth, being reamed, penetrated, and doubly violated.

  Though she feared anyone hearing, her moans rose in volume.

  Her rooms were soundproof, weren’t they? Gods, she hoped so.

  “That.” He shoved into her and held himself there, grinding into her, circling his body on hers as if to bore a new hole in her pussy. “Is...”

  Her pussy clamped down.

  “Oh. Oh. Fuck.” Calli grabbed at the table and he pounded her hard. The new thing in her slid out and in, shoved by his body with each new ram of his cock.

  “That’s a dildo I found in a drawer, you dirty thing. Dirty. Girl.” His final thrust almost spilled her off the table, but he held her hips, claws digging in, as he roared his climax.

  She choked on a breath, shaking, wanting to come, wishing he’d do something to make her though also she was strangely pleased. Contented was the right word.

  With Drake over her, pinning her in place, she felt every twitch and pulse
, the last release of cum, the overflowing spill from her entrance despite how he plugged her. Then he pulled out and slipped the dildo from her, making her flinch as it popped from her circle of clenching muscle.

  “Done and fucked.” His slap to her ass made her squeal again.

  Too hard. Panting, she let her eyes close and turned her head to lie her face on the other side, sure she had the imprint of the cloth on her there.

  It was still awesome, she realized, whether she came or not. Something about being taken without having any say, simply letting him do as he willed, satisfied her immensely.

  “Shower time.” He helped her up, then swung her into his arms, cradling her, and kissing her mouth. “What a good princess.”

  Her joy was inexplicable, as had been most of what had happened this morning. She turned her head and hid her face in his bare chest, sucking in his scent.

  “Did you lick me?” Drake asked as he walked sideways through the door, into the living room.

  “Maybe?” she murmured happily.

  “Hmmm. I liked it. I think my cock will like your tongue on it too.”

  Which was how she ended up on her knees after the shower, with a towel under those knees, and his cock in her mouth. The growl from her mauleon lover as he fucked her mouth riveted her. She watched him and felt the slide of his large cock into her mouth and had to squeeze her thighs together.

  She loved this, being used and giving him pleasure.

  Chapter Sixteen

  For the court, she wore red, and was mostly mute as the ceremony proceeded. Her responses were rote, spelled out on a teleprompter, where the words ran across a screen hanging from the high ceiling.

  The red dress spilled down the dais steps to her left as she walked to the throne. The dais felt empty, since one throne had been removed. The marks from its legs showed in the carpet. Two brothers, two thrones.

  When she looked about, lonely, wishing to be elsewhere, and her gaze fell upon Drake waiting in the wings... he stepped forward.

  He came to her and stood to the right of the throne. No one said an ill word.

  A few had smiled and nodded as he walked to her, others merely looked interested.

  She’d sensed little ill feeling in the court.

  Why?

  Because they knew she was his? Or vice versa?

  It would be impossible for court gossipmongers not to have noticed they were a couple. And Drake, he was the victorious conqueror of Vass, in cooperation with her sec-force general and her palace guard. Had her brothers’ reign been so inadequate?

  It definitely seemed as if mauleons were not as maligned as she’d thought. Perhaps it was their time.

  And so, having been crowned as queen-to be, she indicated to him that he follow. She descended the court stairs with Drake close behind. The blue carpet stretched ahead leading to the immense silver doors. The murmurs and bows to either side were no less than she would expect, no less than she recalled had greeted her brothers on their day.

  It was promising.

  A tour of the city was next. Drake accompanied her in the coach, even stealing a rude kiss with his hand on her ass before they left the palace grounds.

  “That was good,” she said to him, waving out the window. Past the trotting ceremonial cavalry, the crowd flickered past. There were streamers, cheering, and balloons. “I think they liked you.”

  “The court? Most do. Not all.”

  “Oh?”

  “You forget. I helped your father. I know many of the nobility personally, have performed tasks as spymaster you will never know of.” He waggled his eyebrows, patted her knee through the material.

  “Hmmm. And so it begins. In a year, I will be queen.”

  “Yes.” He studied her.

  “And you will be consort or king?”

  “King would be my plan. Joint reign. It depends on how the public sees my role. If nothing else, I will rule you.”

  Oh, the excitement rising in her from his words was entirely wrong. She smiled, swallowed. “I see.”

  “I sense some skepticism. I’d pin you down and fuck you here, but it might upset people. Not you, but those.” He gestured at the crowd outside.

  Her blush roared in. “Drake, you cannot say or do such things. Not in public.”

  “You have no idea what is coming.”

  She blinked, startled. Luckily, or unluckily the roar of the crowd distracted them both.

  They toured the hospital, visiting her favorite maternity ward. From within the ward, behind the viewing glass, Shree blew her a kiss and waved. She was cradling one of the babies.

  “Huleons, hmmm? More than I expected.” Drake tapped on the glass with a big finger and appeared to make faces at a child who stood by her mother and a new baby in a cot. Though busy sucking her thumb, the child waved back.

  There were many huleon babies this year. The fertility problems were not going away. The human population had dropped. The mauleon too, she’d heard—due to mutations and higher death rate. This planet needed terraforming, as was done in the past, but the techniques were beyond their tech.

  Perhaps opening a fertility clinic where it was acceptable to cross human with mauleon should be first on her list of things to do? It was a clandestine industry, if one could call it that. Official would be better.

  “You like children?”

  “What else could one do except love them?” He smiled.

  “So...” The big question, she must ask it. Now. They had space and she asked it softly. “You must know I am infertile.”

  “I do.” He took her hand, squeezed it, and they strolled along the corridor, with entourage of guards and matron in tow.

  They were holding hands in public. Even this made her wonder if he’d gone too far. Was this what he meant by his words before—that she had no idea what was coming?

  “Though I would love children, I think loving you is more important.”

  She sneaked him a look. This mauleon was far too good at compliments. And she was far too wounded inside to not doubt his answer.

  Trust, remember? She breathed slow and deliberate. “Thank you.”

  “That needs no thanks. It simply is how I should feel.”

  That was the first time she felt a trawl of something bad cruising through the silent darkness, a murky foreboding.

  Drake was too good for her. Something evil was coming. It must be.

  The second-to-last place they visited was unexpected.

  The coach curved out of the city, still flanked by cavalry, though they’d slowed and had been joined by a mauleon force as well. They entered a forested area, where thin-trunked trees towered to either side. Drake refused to tell her where they were going until a large square building slid into view past the gray bark of the trees.

  The coach halted on the road beside a gated entryway. A wire fence topped by spikes surrounded the compound.

  He’d slid over to sit beside her for much of the journey and now he squeezed her knee. “I felt it best to show you this. It’s evil but it needs to be seen.”

  Her heart picked up speed.

  “This is a secret site where General Vass had dissenters tortured. Sometimes to get them to confess, other times just because he liked doing it.”

  Horrifying. She gulped down the lump that sat in her throat. “I never liked him. That seems petty now, but I sensed he was bad.”

  “Yes. What I say next you may reject, but it’s also true. He could never have done this without the help of your brothers. There are records of their visits.”

  “Oh.” There it was. She’d known this too, just never done more than circle it. “I understand. And...” She nodded slowly. “I believe you.”

  “I could show you the evidence but I’d rather not. It’s gruesome. Some of it.”

  “I see.” Here it was. “I believe you. Remember? Trust.”

  “Good. Good.” He seemed more lost than before. “Why I felt this was important was that it says why defeating Vass was the
best result for the people here. Being appointed to posts or inheriting them does not mean you are good or just. I’m sure I will make errors.” Drake stared out the window at the building.

  His warm, solid body beside hers was reassuring but for once she wanted to hug him, just because he seemed to need it, so she reached for his arm and twined hers under it, leaned her head on his shoulder, and snuggled in.

  “I don’t know how well you know the truth of your own family. Your father was a good man, the best in some ways. But your dynasty began after the Quarantine, when a great-great-grandfather took control by force.”

  “Yes,” she murmured. “I know. He was the controller at the spaceport.”

  “But did you know all he was allowed to do was direct the landing routes of ships? He was not in charge of the city, not like your family teaches. We mauleons have records too. He raised an army and took over the city, killed the men elected as mayor and councilors, and created the kingdom after that.”

  She did not know that.

  It was a revelation. The Dywin family was not what she’d thought. What was more surprising was that she accepted his explanation. Was this why the memoirs of other Dywin rulers were locked away where she could not reach—inside a solid ball of glassomer, as a decoration at the palace?

  She must read the rest of her father’s memoirs, the earlier years.

  “It’s a poor end to such a grand day.”

  “Reality. You gave me reality. I think that’s best.” She patted his arm. As the last remaining Dywin, it somehow was less important than it might have been. She was the only one who was affected. “Were there mauleons brought here?”

  “Yes. They were persecuted equally.”

  “You know, I may not have been taught how to govern, how to be a royal, but I’m glad when I see things like that.”

  Silence, then a moment later, he spoke. “You weren’t given instructions. I had heard that. A rumor.”

  “No.”

  He grunted in a noncommittal way, as if she’d surprised him, or made him think. She wasn’t inclined to ask what he was thinking—not when she had the poor people who’d come here and never left to be sad for.