by Finley Blake
“Fine. You’re right about that.” He turned to me. “Maybe I’m already no better than him, using you to do my dirty work. But I’ll tell you this – if the authorities manage to connect you to the murder, I will do everything in my power to keep you from going before the firing squad. You’re very wrong that I have only my life to lose. I stand to lose many things, including you.”
I lowered my gaze to my half-finished food and said, “I don’t mind dying if my life somehow means something, if the end of it means the beginning of something better for others. Otherwise, I really don’t have anything to lose, like I said.”
“That’s not entirely true. If I have you, then you have me.”
I raised my gaze and smiled a little. “I should visit the school. I’m sure the headmistress will be wondering about me and want a report on how things are going between us.”
“I’ve… unnerved you.” He turned and walked back toward me, took my hand, and raised me to my feet.
“Not at all,” I said, but a shiver wracked my body at his touch.
He regarded me for a long moment, then asked, “Adette, was there ever a time you smiled? I mean, truly smiled after your mother died?”
I considered his question and shook my head. “Not that I recall.”
“I know the feeling.” He kissed the back of my hand. “And I don’t know if anyone else in this forsaken country can understand what we’ve been through and how we feel, except one another.”
“Maybe,” I agreed in a soft voice, watching his lips move against my skin. “Maybe.”
Icharus finally let go of my hand and said, “We need to do something fun – something that has nothing to do with plotting murder. I want to take you outside and show you a special little secret. Get dressed.”
“Secret?” My curiosity piqued, I glanced down at the food. My stomach was full, though one more bite certainly couldn’t hurt. I popped another strawberry in my mouth as I turned to the closet for my clothes.
“Wear this.” Icharus selected two items and handed them to me. “And you’ll need your boots.”
It was the first time anyone had suggested I wear pants. They weren’t considered ladylike and the Regime frowned upon women dressing “like men.” Still, I drew the fitted black trousers over my legs and thrust my sleeves into the white button-down shirt. If anyone could break the rules, I supposed Icharus could. The items were remnants of my time on the streets before the school. The headmistress had told me to hold on to them in case I ever needed them. It seemed like an odd suggestion, but I didn’t think too much on it as I laced up my plain black ankle boots.
“Come.” Icharus took my hand in his. He had changed as well, dressed in his standard perfectly pressed slacks and button-down shirt, a pale green one today. The more time I spent at his side, the more handsome I found him. Now that I knew a little more about him, I couldn’t help but smile as he held my hand. He’d made himself more vulnerable to me than I’d ever expected, and that touched my heart.
We walked down the stairs, through the dining room, and into the rear hall. I hadn’t actually visited this part of his house, so it was my first time seeing the glass-paned door through which rays of sunshine angled.
“You wonder about this, don’t you?” he asked. “How do I have the sunshine when the city is still covered in that thick cloud of ash and smog?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “We haven’t seen the sun in such a long time in Los Angeles.”
“The people just don’t live in the right place. You’re about to see something incredible and I think it’s going to inspire you to stay the course.” Icharus opened the back door and together we walked outside. The back yard was a brilliant, fertile green, warmed by sunlight, and I gasped at the sight.
“I still haven’t figure out how you can see the sun here. We can’t possibly be at a high enough altitude to break through the fallout from the eruption,” I said.
“No, but we are at an altitude where we can see through one of the Regime’s many lies. Come here.”
Icharus strode through the yard and I followed, noting he had so much more than I expected – gardens, a pond, even stables! A pair of equine eyes followed us from an open stall and I returned the inquisitive gaze. When I finally dragged my attention back to Icharus, I looked where he pointed down the land that sloped away from his property and gasped at the sight.
At various intervals on the hillsides that surrounded L.A., there were immense machines belching out black smoke. The dark billows melded together, forming that thick, cloudy blanket that had obscured the city for so long.
“The Regime’s one goal is to keep the United States under its thumb and the key to that is controlling the masses,” Icharus said, his mouth a grim line of displeasure. “DeVille Enterprises is the mastermind of this operation. But what good is my money and power if all it buys are the privileges the Regime is willing to distribute? What if I want more than what they decide to reward me with, and what happens when they decide I’m useless to them? What then? They could easily slaughter both me and my father, and then confiscate all our assets, declaring them property of the government. The Regime doesn’t need us to run our factories and maintain these machines, but it’s convenient for them at this time. No matter what you might think, the DeVilles are just pawns too, because the wealthy and privileged give the people something to aspire to, while simultaneously keeping them down.”
“No, the privileged ones aren’t just something to aspire to. They are also something to resent.” I narrowed my eyes at the ominous plumes. “You might be the privileged elite now, but someday when the people figure out they can’t be you, they will find a way to do away with you, like they’ve done in so many revolutions around our world.”
“Precisely. And you aren’t just the daughter of one of the Regime’s most famous courtesans.” Icharus put his hand on my shoulder, his gaze also on the scene before us. “You aren’t just trying to follow in her footsteps in one way. Like her, you have the heart of a rebel. What you are seeing here is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the Regime’s hold on the States. Imagine, if you can, what else they have done, are doing, or will do to us if we let them continue to rule. None of us are safe, whether we are the poor or the privileged. We are all being taught to despise one another. The Regime is playing us, class against class.”
Tipping my chin up to the sky, I blinked into the brilliance of the blue overhead. “For now you have everything,” I said. “Why change a thing?
“Because the one thing I don’t have is peace of mind.” He turned me from the hills with their monstrous contraptions and guided me to the stables. “Maybe one day, there will be a mob of angry civilians at my door, ready to destroy me simply because I’m rich and they’re not. Or, like I said, maybe the Regime will decide I am no longer useful to them and then I will conveniently disappear. And then, of course, there’s just basic human decency. No one has a right to keep nature from any of us, especially not other men calling themselves leaders. Wait right here.”
As I pondered his words, Icharus walked into the building and the long face that had been regarding us disappeared from sight. When he emerged, Icharus was leading a white horse and a black horse. They were both so beautiful, it took my breath away for a moment.
“This,” he said, “is the true privilege – getting to know these beautiful creatures. Would you like to try riding?”
“Me?” I pressed my hands to my chest as I looked up at the horses. This was one thing the school could not afford, let alone maintain in the confines of the metropolis. Up here on the hill, however, I could get lost in all the luxuries offered to me if not for the knowledge that below us, people were suffering. It would be so easy to just myself be a part of this life, to beg Icharus to forget his scheme and allow us to live happily ever after…
“I know,” Icharus said when I slid my gaze back toward the valley. “But I didn’t bring you out here to make you feel guilty about being here with me. I did it to show you just one asp
ect of what we can change if we follow-through with this plan. Of course, there are other options, like just staying here with me and forgetting about it. All of it.”
How did he see through me so well? Looking up at him from underneath my lashes, I threaded my fingers together in front of me and whispered, “Really?”
“Really.” He watched me so intently, I had to turn away before answering.
“No,” I said, approaching the white horse and offering my palm for it to sniff. “I want to say yes, but I can’t do that for the same reasons you want to change all of this. I would never know peace if I lived like this, while accepting that others are in pain. If I can alleviate that pain, then I want to try. I have to do something.”
Icharus put his arm around my shoulders and kissed me, his lips pressing against my dark hair. “The only thing that exceeds your beauty and your intelligence is your heart, Adette.”
I bowed my head. Was the desire for revenge something he should commend? What about my determination to keep the Regime from hurting another human being? I curled my fingers against my palm. Was my acceptance that the death of Mr. DeVille was the only answer admirable or deplorable?
“Remember the old saying that you need to fight fire with fire?” Icharus asked, as if he was able to read my thoughts.
Raising my head and turning to look at him, I watched him for a long moment. “Yes,” I said. “I do.”
“Good.” He lifted my chin with the fingertips of one hand and brushed his lips over mine. “If you give us time, you’ll find that our hearts are telling us the same thing.”
I let his words hang between us, not sure how I wanted to interpret them, not sure I wanted to look for nuances that may or may not be there. Ever since my mother had died, no one had been nice to me without a use for me. Not even the headmistress. I reminded myself that Icharus was no different, even though hope – wretched and traitorous – told me it was possible he meant for something more between us.
With deliberate thoughts, I reminded myself why I had gone to the school, why the headmistress had chosen Icharus, and the job they both expected me to perform. I was not here as a lover. I was here to play the easygoing coquette who was capable of performing murder like it was nothing.
Tossing my hair, I smiled and pointed at the horses. “So, how do I ride one of these things?”
Chapter 9
We’d indulged in dinner out here, a concert or a play there, ensuring the reigning elite saw us as a couple in all the right places. That included Icharus’s father, who still treated me with contempt, but looked at me in a way that made me want to do more than simply throw a cocktail in his face. The way he would glower at me made me feel violated, even though he didn’t openly ogle any particular body part or make suggestive remarks. He just watched me and that was enough.
Tonight was our first social outing to an actual party and I didn’t understand why I was so nervous. At school, parties were a part of the curriculum. We used them to practice our socializing, our flirting, even our seductions. But never in my wildest dreams had I imagined going to a party where the seduction would go beyond illicit touching in a secluded corner.
Even though Icharus assured me the more sensual play would happen away from the actual soiree and with only a few “extras” involved in our scene, I couldn’t help but feel tense. The gown I wore was red with an elaborate laced bodice that crisscrossed my chest. My breasts were molded into soft mounds of cleavage that pressed against the very top of their confines. If I bent over, they would spill out for the world to see.
Before fitting me into the dress, Icharus had strapped a small, vibrating device around my thighs so that it rested between my legs, against my clitoris. It hummed gently, controlled remotely by Icharus, and I was sure everyone would hear it, would know I was being primed for use behind the scenes…
The party was at another home in the hills overlooking L.A. and our hosts were filmmakers – a beautiful, tanned, blond couple. While the wife raked me from head to toe with a bored look in her eyes and then turned away to greet other guests, the husband leaned close and his hand drifted down along my back to rest on my bottom.
“So, this is the one,” he said in a low voice. “She’s very pretty.”
“If you are interested, you can take her for a ride,” Icharus answered.
Our host’s eyes roved my body and finally returned to my face. “It’s nice to meet you, Adette. My name is JD Reich and I understand we’re going to have some fun together tonight.” He tilted his head so his mouth brushed against my neck as he whispered, “Are you ready for me, slave girl?”
“But… what about…” I looked wildly around the room. The heat in my core was intensifying as both men looked at me, the lust in their eyes apparent. JD wore cologne – just enough to fill my senses with the clean, crisp smell of it, and a haze settled over my thoughts. Two men taking me at the same time… “What about your wife?” I finally finished.
“She has her own party to attend.” JD nodded his head toward the door and I followed the gesture. Two uniformed men were laughing with his wife, one with a hand on her back and the other stroking her hair. They were Regime soldiers – perhaps even officers, considering the ribbons on their uniforms. Mrs. Reich didn’t look at all put out by her husband’s flirtation with me. Even though we were in a room full of people, her own hands were at the front of each soldier’s pants. With a smile, she led them through the throng and went… Where, I did not know, but I realized the morals of the people gathered here were quite fluid. No one seemed to pay any attention to the trio when they left.
“Not that she didn’t want to participate,” Icharus said. “But we’ll make use of her later, after we’ve had our turns.” He placed his arm around my shoulders and ran his finger down my arm. “We’re going to pump that sweet pussy of yours full of our seed and then she’ll give you a nice surprise when we’re done with you. What do you think of that?”
My breath hitched and I felt moisture slicking my thighs. Before I could process his words, the vibrator’s speed increased and I let out a very loud – and very wanton – cry. I didn’t have an opportunity to see if anyone else noticed, because that’s when JD pulled me to him and kissed me, his tongue plundering my mouth and his hand lifting my dress.
They were going to do this here? Now? In front of everyone?
No, thank goodness. JD guided me backwards as he kissed me and the lighting beyond my closed eyelids darkened. I heard a door close. The kiss ended and JD pressed his hands to my shoulders, forcing me to my knees in front of him. I sank to the carpeted floor and opened my eyes.
“Let’s see what that school of yours trained you to do,” he said, unzipping his pants. “My cock needs a good sucking by a beautiful slave while our guests enjoy the show.”
I hazarded a glance to the side and realized Icharus was watching, as well as was someone sitting in the shadows. Whomever the stranger was, he sat still and silent in an armchair, which made his presence even more unnerving.
And damn exciting.
JD reached down to turn my face back to him. “That’s just my valet. He’s here to assist us if needed and get his when I’m done with you. He deserves a good show, so we’re waiting, girl.”
With a shuddering breath, I reached up to slide his undone pants down over his hips. He wasn’t as slim as Icharus. Instead, his body was sturdier, more muscular. His length also was not as impressive, I realized as I uncovered his partial erection. I tried not to let the comparisons distract me – I wasn’t supposed to be attracted to Icharus, after all.
But I couldn’t help it. The cock I took into my mouth was not the one I wanted there, even as it hardened in response to my attentions. The hands that clasped at the back of my head were not the ones I wanted to hold me. And when he pumped his hips against my face, I knew his domination would never be welcome.
In the moment, however, and despite the many conflicting emotions that warred in my mind, the overriding one was excite
ment. Icharus was a man of his word and he was driving that point home tonight. The sensual threat of public humiliation was happening here and now, and all I could think was how much I wanted to see where this went. As JD thrust into my mouth eagerly, moaning encouragement for me to “Suck it like a good girl,” I felt the familiar ache between my thighs, the need for someone to touch me and alleviate it. Surely the vibrator was soaked in my own juices by now.
Perhaps because he knew me so well, Icharus decided that was exactly what he should do at that moment. I felt his hands part my thighs from behind and work their way up beneath my dress to remove the vibrator. As soon as it fell to the ground, I let out a sigh of relief around my mouthful of turgid flesh. His hands then moved around to cup and squeeze my breasts before releasing them from the laces at the top of my dress. He caressed them, rolling the nipples between his fingers as I encircled JD’s hard member with my tongue and gripped his wide hips with both my hands. When Icharus’s fingers left my breasts, I moaned with disappointment. The next sensation was strange at first – something filling the space between my legs, forcing them to spread further until I felt Icharus’s tongue licking the drenched slit between my wet, swollen nether lips. This time when I moaned, JD tightened his grip on the back of my head and thrust harder into my mouth.
I had never straddled anyone’s head before and the unfettered access Icharus had to my pussy only excited me more. Every long, firm drag of his tongue up along my flesh made me writhe atop his face. My fingers dug into JD’s slowly pistoning hips and he took it as an invitation to thrust harder, his cock sliding in and out of my mouth even faster. The warmth, scents, and sounds of both men filled my senses and I felt my hips twitch against Icharus’s searching tongue. My knees parted even further to allow me to settle down on his mouth as he ate my cunt. It was barely another minute before the shudders took my entire body, thrusting my hips down and onto his tongue and lips. Any control I might have had remaining snapped and spiraled far beyond me as I gave in to the orgasm that made me gyrate wildly against Icharus’s face.
