Sacred Rites

by Ines Johnson

  “Please,” she whispered.

  Adom went in a little further. Then he waited.

  Alyss’ eyes were closed. Her hands gripped the rope. After a moment of bliss, she opened her eyes to see what the hold up was. Adom quirked one eyebrow.

  “Please,” she said again.

  He went in a little further. This time, she winced. He’d reached the barrier of her maiden hood. They both waited for the discomfort to subside.

  “Please,” she begged. And then, “please” again, and again until he was buried inside her to the hilt.

  Adom stroked her into bliss. She came twice more before he allowed himself to explode into her. He poured himself into her sweet heat and knew heaven on earth. Her orgasm gripped him so hard he saw stars. This was the way it should be, the way it should always be.

  Adom pulled the bindings on her ankles and flipped her over. The single rope allowed her wrists and upper body to rotate 180 degrees.

  “Adom,” she panted. “I can’t.”

  Adom peered down into her upturned face. He stared into the single glazed eye of her profile. The gold churned liquid fire.

  “I want to please you Alyss. Let me take you higher.”

  “But I can’t.”

  “You can. Trust me. I want to make you soar, just like in the painting. You are so beautiful when you sail into orgasm.”

  She closed her eyes and buried her head in the mattress. Adom grabbed her plump ass and brought it to his hips. He aimed his cock and entered her in one stroke. He reached around and grabbed the swollen lips of her core. Her body jerked. The muscles in her back pulled taut. Adom traced them with his fingertips itching for his brush.

  He pumped into her, deep and slow, swiveling his hips in an effort to touch every part of her. He felt her walls caving around him. She panted a chorus of high pitched pleasure, one melody ending and another immediately taking its place. Her head arched back exposing the column of her neck. Her upper torso stayed arched off the bed.

  He made her climb again.

  She panted, her breaths fast, faster than the beating of his heart. This time when she crested her mouth opened wide, but no sound came out. Her body jerked, trying to pull him down into the crash. Adom refused to go. He wanted more, needed more. Needed to take her higher, make her soar off into the clouds. Together, they would paint the sky.

  He spilled into her again as her orgasm gripped the life essence out of him. After he came down from his second orgasm, he withdrew from her. His cock might’ve been limp, but his desire for her still burned bright. He wanted to taste the canvas they’d painted between her thighs.

  But when he removed his hips from the haven between her legs, he saw she wasn’t moving. Her body lay prone, faced down in the bed.

  “Alyss,” he called. She didn’t move.

  He untied her wrists. She didn’t move.

  He unbound her legs. She remained still.

  He turned her over. Her limbs flopped like dead weight.

  Panic rose in his chest. “Alyss,” he shouted.

  Her face was slack, her eyes closed as though she were in a deep slumber. He gave her shoulders a shake. Still, no response.

  “No, no, no.” Adom grabbed at his temple, staring down at the limp body sprawled out below him.

  It had happened again.

  16

  “The Education Bill? You want me to head it up?”

  The Male Voice stood at Emet’s desk. The other males had long gone home. Only the two of them remained.

  “You impressed me today with your compromise. Most of the ladies feel it's their way or no way. You got a lady to listen to you.”

  The praise was great for Emet to hear, but the assignment wasn’t exactly the one he wished. “Education? Are you sure I’m the right man for the job?”

  “You were thinking of something else?”

  “I have ideas about the Right of Separation Bill.”

  “The Divorce Bill?”

  “I think we need to expand it for more than divorce.” Emet thought back to the look in Lady Alyss’ eyes after the nasty encounter with her Mother earlier this afternoon. “I think it needs to focus on other forms of separation. The right of bonded males to separate from their wives in the case of neglect, infidelity, and abuse. And to part with their fair share of the financial resources from the bond. But also the rights of young men…and young women to separate from their Mothers or female caretakers in cases of duress.”

  Emet waited while the Male Voice levied that intense gaze upon him. He’d seen the gaze cause older advocates, men who’d been in this office much longer than he had, falter and back down. Emet had grown up with monks who would sit and stare at each other for hours. He could easily win a staring contest. But this was neither a competition nor a meditation.

  “The rights and livelihoods of women does not fall under the jurisdiction of this office, Emet.”

  Emet inhaled the Male Voice’s words and allowed them to rest on his tongue before responding. In the end he had to shake his head and spit his rebuke out. “I have to disagree with that. These offices, every chamber in this compound, was formed to reach for what’s best for this society. We spend so much time fighting against women, instead of working with them. And they do the same. They accuse men, all men, of the faults of our shared past. Then, in some cases, they repeat those same faults. Wrong is wrong, regardless of whose hand strikes the raw deal.”

  The Male Voice stared at Emet once more in quiet contemplation. Emet inhaled and held the breath. He held it for as long as he could until-

  “All right, Emet.”

  Emet’s breath came out as a gushing sigh.

  “I’ll give you the Rights of Separation Bill, but…”

  Emet had been jubilant with the first half of the Male Voice’s sentence. With that one, small, three-lettered word it was as though the upbeat violin concerto turned from jubilant to ominous. Emet didn’t know how the Male Voice knew, but he was certain the older male would lecture him on what he saw today of his relationship with Lady Alyss.

  Emet headed him off. “It’s not what you think.”

  The Male Voice raised a single eyebrow, much like Emet’s brother Jian would often do in their youth. Jian, the most devout of his brothers from the Pleasure Temple, would indulge Emet in philosophical and spiritual arguments from time to time. Whenever they came across a debate that allowed the intrusion of faith over fact, Jian would raise an eyebrow in triumph knowing Emet couldn’t logically argue against the ethereal.

  The Male Voice arched his eyebrow in the exact same way, and Emet had to concede because what was going on between him and Lady Alyss defied any sense of logic. By all rights, the woman was an enemy to the Male Movement. Just because she’d come into harm’s way didn’t mean her mind had changed about the plight of man-kind.

  “She’s a good person.” Emet looked around the room. The words spewing from his mouth made him certain Adom had stepped into the space. But no, that was his voice defending the woman whom he had not trusted for a stone’s throw just two days ago.

  The Male Voice raised the other eyebrow to join the first. This was a feat Emet had never encountered with Jian.

  “She is,” Emet insisted. “Deep down. She just doesn’t know any better. She’s been with that family her whole life. She doesn’t know things could be different. None of them know things could be different. We have to show them.”

  The Male Voice smiled at Emet. It was a pitiful smile. One he remembered from his first days at the temple. As a new arrival, he’d told Elder Gerry that his parents would come back for him. Elder Gerry smiled, just like this.

  “You saw what happened today between her and her Mother,” Emet said.

  The Male Voice’s eyes darkened with that memory. Though they fought against women in this office, no male would ever welcome nor condone the harming of a female.

  “For generations that family has been on a mission,” said the Male Voice. His tone was less a warning
and more contemplative. “I’ve seen Lady Regyn and Lady Angyla manipulate any and everyone to advance their cause.”

  But Lady Chanyn had not climbed aboard her family’s initiatives. And Lady Merlyn had stepped off the track later in life.

  “Lady Alyss didn’t manipulate me. I thought that was her game at first, but…I can’t explain.” Really, how did Adom infiltrate this room. His idyllic voice kept coming through Emet’s logical person.

  The Male Voice put a hand on Emet’s shoulder. “I’ve come to trust your judgement, Emet. I’ll trust you have this matter in hand, and that it won’t come back to hurt the cause and the men of this office.”

  Emet wanted to plead Alyss’ case, but he didn’t see a way through with the Male Voice. Besides, he didn’t need the male’s permission to support her. And Alyss was no longer a factor in the Sisterhood. She’d said so herself. So there definitely was no manipulation.

  Emet rose to leave the offices while the Male Voice stayed behind. The Voice was often the first in and the last to leave. Emet opened the doors of the chamber to leave and nearly bumped into a young lady.

  “I beg your pardon, sir.”

  It wasn’t often that Emet heard a lady apologize. The young lady ducked her face and didn’t meet Emet’s eyes. Recognition dawned on him.

  “Lady Eryka, isn’t it?”

  Her eyes raised a fraction, surprise in their crystal blue depths. She nodded in affirmation instead of speaking her answer.

  “My apologies, my lady. Is there something I can help you with?”

  “I was looking for Lady Alyss. Someone mentioned that they saw you speaking with her some time ago.”

  “Lady Alyss is…not here. But I can get a message to her for you if you’d like.”

  Lady Eryka looked over her shoulder. Fear lighting her eyes. She wouldn’t need to speak her message. Emet saw it moving quickly down the halls.

  Lady Angyla headed their way in a flurry of dark billows. “Where’s my daughter?”

  Emet bit the inside of his jaw to temper his response. “Why do you think I would know that?”

  “That compromise nonsense is not her doing. You’ve gotten into her head. I hear you are a trained sex hound. You lot are a menace.”

  “Or perhaps your daughter finally made up her own mind.”

  “You think you’ve won this battle?” Lady Angyla sneered. “This compromise won’t hold against existing laws. A woman is still master of her domain and all who dwell within it.”

  “And you think you can strike down a young woman like she is an insect that annoys you.”

  Lady Angyla balked.

  “You discarded your daughter, like she’s a third male.”

  A firm hand settled on Emet’s shoulder. “Emet,” the Male Voice’s tone was smooth and soothing, but it also held an element of command. “Your daughter is not in our offices, my lady.”

  Lady Angyla kept her attention focused on Emet. “If you have done anything to my daughter, I will have the Peace Keepers on you.”

  “Lady Alyss is a woman grown,” the Male Voice said calmly, though his hand pressed firm into Emet’s shoulder. “If any harm or ill will has befallen her, I’m sure she would alert the Peace Keepers herself.”

  Lady Angyla scowled at the Male Voice. He didn’t flinch. She turned her attention to Lady Eryka who’d squeezed herself into the corner behind the door. “And you, you little mouse.”

  Lady Eryka gave a start that sounded like a squeak.

  “If you’re harboring my daughter inside the chamber of crayons, I’ll have a word with the Society for Sacral Art. My family has had a place on their board of directors for generations.”

  Lady Eryka shrank further into the shadows of the corner.

  “This isn’t over.” Lady Angyla stormed down the hall.

  When she was gone the Male Voice rounded on Emet. The loudness of his intense stare spoke volumes his voice could never reach. Lady Angyla was on a dangerous rampage and would destroy anyone in her path. Emet set his chin. He still would not turn over Alyss. He couldn’t, not after that display.

  The Male Voice sighed and turned from Emet, his attention now off behind the door. He reached out a hand. “Would you allow me to escort you back to your chamber, my lady.”

  Lady Eryka, still wedged in the corner of the doorway, stared at his open hand for a moment. She reached out her shaky hand which the Male Voice wrapped into the crook of his arm. She gave the Male Voice a tentative smile. The Male Voice’s face had been impassive, but he blinked and then stared at the woman. Then he actually smiled, something Emet rarely saw him do. The two went down the hall. Lady Eryka’s steps wobbled, but the Male Voice lent her his full support.

  Emet left the building on quick feet. He was eager to see that Alyss was standing strong and well on her own two feet. When he got to the storefront, he was surprised to find the door locked. He turned his key in the lock. Once inside, he went down the stairs and straight into Adom’s studio. He was surprised that Adom was not at his easel. He looked deeper in the room and then he saw them.

  Adom cradled Alyss. He stroked her face and kissed her forehead.

  Emet waited for a twinge of jealousy. It didn’t rise. Instead his dick hardened at the sight of the two of them together. Adom’s naked body glistened with perspiration. Alyss lay limp in his arms, her naked body…appeared lifeless.

  Then he heard it. Adom’s whispers weren’t words of love, they were frantic pleas. Dread climbed up Emet’s spine as he looked again at Alyss’ limp form.

  “What have you done?”

  Adom lifted his head to Emet. “I’m just waiting for her to wake up.”

  Emet stepped closer.

  “I went a little overboard this time. I’ll hold back next time.”

  Emet saw the red marks up and down her wrists from where he knew she must have pulled at the rope. The same markations were also on her ankles and thighs.

  A bell dinged over the door. Emet and Adom’s eyes went to the top floor. It was well past closing time. It could only be Peace Keepers. Lady Angyla had kept her promise. Once the enforcers saw Lady Alyss in the basement, nude, with angry red markings all over her body, it wouldn’t be jail for he and Adom. It would be death.

  Emet dashed up the steps, heart pounding, mind racing. He just had to keep them from going downstairs. They needed a warrant to search. They couldn’t have gotten one so fast, and definitely not at this time of night. Unless Lady Angyla had pulled strings. He was sure her family sat on more than art gallery boards.

  When Emet got to the top of the steps, a young lady, one he recognized from the Sisterhood entered the store through the door he’d left unlocked.

  “I’m looking to buy a dress. I believe this is where Lady Alyss purchased a dress of ropes. I’d like to get one similar. But different. I’m not a copy cat.”

  “We’re not open.”

  “The sign says otherwise.”

  Emet marched forward and turned the Open sign over to Closed. He held the door wide for the young lady.

  “Well,” she huffed, “I never.”

  Emet slammed and locked the door behind her. A Peace Keeper strolled down the street. The Peace Keeper nodded to the lady, but she didn’t even notice him. The Keeper kept on his way, not once glancing at Emet.

  Emet sagged against the door. He tried to turn the lock again, to find he’s already done that. He pulled the curtain. But it was already too late. That customer wouldn’t be the last lady. Alyss’ Mother might turn up next at their doorstep. And Alyss lay down stairs limp, her body covered in marks. It didn’t matter if they were marks of pain or pleasure. Lady Angyla was out for blood. Adom’s would be just as good as Emet’s. The Male Voice’s words sounded in his head. That family would do anything.

  Emet was torn. He couldn’t send Alyss back to that woman. But she couldn’t stay here either. Adom had made it evident that he couldn’t control himself around her. Even in the beginning, he couldn’t keep his brushes away from he
r. If she were here all hours of the day, hours when Emet had to work and couldn’t keep Adom in check, Adom would tie her up again. He would take her over and over again, searching for her boundaries and then nudging and pushing past them. Adom couldn’t help himself. Emet had never minded. He craved Adom testing his own limits. But it could never be anyone else’s limits. And definitely not a woman’s.

  Adom had proven that he couldn’t hold himself back with a woman when a curious, newly bonded, young woman had allowed him to bind her and he went too far. And now, years later, he’d proven it again with Lady Alyss.

  Emet didn’t think for a second that he could reason with Alyss’ Mother to keep the family out of scandal like he’d done with the newly bonded client all those years ago. Lady Angyla would use this as proof to get the amendment reversed, and likely have the offices of the Male Voice silenced for once and good.

  Emet rushed down stairs. Alyss still laid limp in Adom’s arms.

  Emet grabbed her dress and covered her. “We have to get her out of here.”

  “But she’s come to stay,” Adom protested.

  “She can’t stay with us.”

  “But you told her she could come.”

  “I was mistaken. She can’t stay. You’ve done this again. Why couldn’t you have waited for me.”

  “Em…I may have gone too far this first time, but-"

  “There’s no but, Adom. There will be no next time. We have to get her out of here. Before the Peace Keepers come looking for the both of us.”

  17

  Alyss pressed her thighs together. A dull throb thrummed deep within her core. It wasn’t unpleasant. She felt both filled and empty at the same time. Her inner muscles clenched as she stretched her limbs into wakefulness.

  She reached out to her right and then to her left, coming up with air. She frowned and opened her eyes. She found neither Adom nor Emet in the bed with her. She supposed she may have assumed too much to expect the men to spend the night with her. They were married after all. They were likely in their own bed. She was a guest here in their home. A guest in their bond.