Steel and Promise

by Alexa Black

  He circled Cailyn, studied her from all angles, and came back to stand in front of her. He stared, drinking in the sight of her body. She could see a slight bulge beginning to appear in his pants.

  Cailyn flinched under his stare. The bright, avid gaze sent a familiar thrill through her. It should have made her eager. But below the bright eyes, his smile curled into a scowling version of his son’s pout.

  “So you’re the one she wants,” he said at last.

  His hands fell on her shoulders. He drew handfuls of her hair to his nose to smell its perfume.

  “I can see why,” he said, letting his hands drop slowly, as if reluctant to let go.

  “Thank you for the compliment, my lord,” Cailyn forced herself to say. “But I am not here to talk about Lady Nivrai’s preferences.”

  He gripped her exposed shoulders. “Why else would you come here?”

  “My lord, you called for me.”

  “We don’t need pretenses.”

  Cailyn flinched in his grasp. “Pretenses, my lord?”

  “You’re her creature, after all.”

  His fingers trailed upward now. They settled around the blue metal of the collar. “You know what she thinks of me.”

  She flinched. “My lord, I would never presume to—”

  His lips brushed her shoulder. “You don’t want me. You want to know if she’s right.”

  His kiss was soft and gentle. Cailyn wanted to be soothed, but her skin crawled under the touch. I should leave, she thought.

  But if she left, she’d leave behind the chance to hear what happened, all those years ago. She expelled a shaky breath.

  “She’s wrong, you know. She’s a shattered mirror.”

  “My lord?”

  “What she tells you is all broken up. Exactly how she wants it to be.”

  Cailyn brushed his hand away. She stepped back, unable to bear his touch.

  His head snapped up in surprise. “You don’t want me. You want to know.”

  What could she say? True as it was, it felt wrong. Intrigue was for nobles.

  “I—”

  “I wanted her from the first moment I saw her.”

  Cailyn tried to move. Her feet refused to obey.

  “My family has a spot on the High Council. Everyone treated me well, no matter what I did. They fawned over me, dancing around to catch my eye.”

  Cailyn laughed in spite of herself. “Nivrai didn’t.”

  She thought back to Teran’s welcome that first night. To those first touches, Teran’s gentle, skilled fingers moving over her breasts. Even the steel had pierced her with care.

  “Teran looked at me. That was all.”

  Cailyn nodded. Those eyes…

  “My knees turned to water. I thought I might fall. She swept past me like I was nothing.”

  “And you wanted her.”

  “She was so beautiful. So beautiful and so sure.” He reached out a hand, blind and groping. It clutched at Cailyn’s arm. “I wanted so badly to touch her.”

  Cailyn wrapped her hand around his. Pushing him away would be too much, but if she needed to, she would.

  “And she didn’t want you.”

  “Nivrai is a rock full of nothing. I thought that she would jump at the chance to leave it.”

  “To be with you.”

  The long face twisted in misery. “I thought so, at first. Then, I thought she—”

  His head turned. He stared at the door Dion had left through.

  “I thought she would want a child destined for the High Council.” He shook his head. “I mistook her coldness for ambition.”

  Cailyn laughed. Only her training kept the chuckles crisp and light. “My lord, that’s not surprising.”

  “But in the end, she did agree.”

  Did agree. Because he threatened to cause a scandal, according to Teran. Cailyn scowled. Broken mirrors…

  “And you got what you wanted,” she said, her voice cold.

  “Yes.” He licked his lips and closed his eyes. “For months, I felt her body, lost myself inside her. I hoped my desire would wake something in her. I hoped I could draw her away from her cruelty.”

  Cailyn blinked. “You thought you could change Teran Nivrai?”

  “I thought if I offered her enough…”

  Cailyn said nothing. He slouched, drained, the brightness of unspent tears shimmering in his eyes.

  “The child.”

  “Mothers are kind. Mothers soothe. Mothers nurture.”

  Cailyn shivered. I felt nothing. They weren’t wrong. “You thought she would warm to him.”

  “Yes.”

  “But she never did.”

  His twisted face settled into a smooth, calm frown. “She never even nursed him. I decided on his name myself.”

  “My lord.” She shoved down her misgivings and reached out a hand. Offering comfort was a courtesan’s duty, one she had always loved.

  He looked down. “As far as Nivrai was concerned, the child was a bargaining chip, nothing more.”

  He raised his head, his gaze fixed on Cailyn. “What are you?”

  “What am I?”

  “What does she see in you that she would keep you here so long?”

  What did Lady Nivrai see in her? Cailyn had never dreamed she would like cruelty before meeting Teran. She’d never thought much of whips or paddles or fingers tipped with knives. Now she stared down at Lord Keriel’s wide fingers, at his plain, flesh-colored fingernails. She sighed. How could someone get so deep in her head?

  And however pained he seemed, Lord Keriel had no right to know. A courtesan’s business was private.

  Still, she had to answer his grief somehow. He’d carried it for so long. Now his son did, too.

  “I don’t know,” Cailyn said at last.

  “She certainly fancies you.”

  Cailyn blinked. “My lord, this isn’t about me.”

  “She uses most of the courtesans once. She’s called a few back, but only after years.”

  How did Lord Keriel know that? They couldn’t tell him. Unless they ignored Guild law because he favored them.

  Cailyn didn’t like to think of it. But Lord Ben Keriel was on the High Council, after all.

  “What’s your secret, Derys? With anyone else, it would be your name. But Teran Nivrai would spit on the High Council’s floor if she felt like it. What have you got?”

  The twitching hands reached out again. They clutched at her blouse.

  Cailyn grabbed at his hands and pushed them down. “My lord.”

  “Is it your name?” He licked his lips. “Is that what she wants?”

  “My lord,” Cailyn said again. “You’d have to ask her.”

  “So I might.” His hands twitched under hers, but he made no move to break free of her grip.

  “But what would I say?” His eyes darted from their locked hands to Cailyn’s face. “Teran Nivrai, why the hell are you falling for Cailyn Derys?”

  Cailyn gasped, so startled she let go. Her hand flew to her mouth.

  “Teran isn’t—!”

  Lord Keriel smirked. “Maybe you’re right.”

  Cailyn hesitated.

  “Go on, then,” he said. “If I’m wrong, you have no reason to stay.”

  Cailyn took a deep breath and lifted her head. Stern and unsmiling, she spoke. “Why do you say that Lady Nivrai is falling for me?”

  He snickered. “Because she acts just the same toward you as she did toward that stupid, hulking brute she kept hanging at her side.”

  Cailyn felt the room tilt. “What?”

  “She likes having you,” he said. He threw back his head and laughed. “Keeping you. In her room here. In her mansion at Nivrai for the weekends.”

  Cailyn blinked and put out a hand to steady herself. “Keeping me?”

  “She wants to own you. Own you like she owned that brute.”

  Cailyn put a hand to her collar. She shivered, hearing Teran’s voice in her head.

  My little
one…

  Lord Keriel’s hands, free now, tore at the fabric of her dress. He reached for her breast.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, patting Cailyn’s exposed skin with surprising gentleness. “I don’t want to treat you like she does.”

  “My lord. Take your hands off of me.”

  He didn’t move. “But I do want to know.”

  “Then you’ll just have to be disappointed.” Cailyn wrenched his hands off of her. She spat her stop word into the empty air.

  He made no further move. He glowered, silent, as she moved away.

  She tossed her colored scarf around her shoulders to cover the spot where his hands had torn her blouse and hurried out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Teran stared at the colorful scarf. For a wild moment, Cailyn thought that she could see underneath it, see the tear Lord Keriel had made as plainly as if she’d left it uncovered.

  “Welcome back. You weren’t gone long.”

  Cailyn shook her head, the movement too violent. For a wild moment, she could think only that her trainers at the academy would be dismayed.

  “My lady, you know I can’t discuss that with you.”

  Teran shrugged. Cailyn remembered the computer, her frantic move to hide Lord Keriel’s call from her.

  “Lord Darien called me while you were out. I thought that might interest you.”

  “My lady?” Cailyn smiled in spite of herself. The memory of him inside her soothed some of the fear and anger she felt.

  “I saw you look at him during the meeting. You certainly looked intrigued.”

  “I—”

  “And if you did go on the dark channels, he’s one of the best for beginners.”

  Cailyn couldn’t help but laugh. Teran was entirely too good. “He does sound interesting.”

  “He called to invite us to a party. He throws them for the people on the dark channels sometimes.”

  “And you want to go.” What was that saying? Too much is never enough?

  “No. I don’t go to them.”

  Bright steel pulled back Cailyn’s hair. “I prefer to let the rumors feed themselves,” Teran said into her ear. “I can’t do that if I let them see me.”

  “Then why tell me this?”

  “I have no desire to go. But I thought you might.”

  Cailyn swallowed, steel at her throat. “You really do want to see me on the dark channels. My lady.”

  Laughter answered her. “I intended only to invite you. But, yes. The idea does amuse me.”

  “My lady, I don’t see why I would go.”

  “And I did want to mention Lord Darien to you. I’m meeting with him tomorrow to discuss the Councils’ plans for me.” She frowned.

  Then one corner of her mouth turned up. “I thought I might give you to him when he visits.”

  “Give me to him?”

  “If you consent, of course.”

  Cailyn thought of his fingers against her skin, of Teran’s eyes, watching, staring. She leaned back against the soft lips at her neck.

  “I thought you might like that.” Teran kissed her again.

  Her hands moved down to Cailyn’s shawl. Its colors danced as she drew it off Cailyn’s shoulders.

  Clawed fingertips investigated the skin beneath it.

  Teran arched an eyebrow. “Someone must have been excited.”

  It was Cailyn’s turn to frown. “You’re not supposed to ask. I thought you said you knew that.”

  “No, I’m not.” The claws trilled along Cailyn’s skin. “But since this is ruined anyway, it gives me an excuse.”

  Cailyn sighed, knowing what Teran was about to do. Still, the fabric was already torn. And this time, its rending would come from desire, not from pettiness or jealousy.

  And she could stop it with a word, if she really wanted to.

  Teran stared, her hand poised, unmoving.

  Cailyn nodded.

  A bright flash of newsteel glinted at her chest. The fabric tore. Teran’s hands clenched hard around Cailyn’s exposed chest. The claws bit into her skin.

  “You’re in a cruel mood,” she said, gasping.

  “I’ve been waiting for this,” Teran answered. The claws retracted, but no respite came. Teran’s slender fingers grabbed and twisted at her flesh.

  Cailyn slid out of her skirt as Teran led her over to the cross against the wall in the bedroom. Teran slipped metal restraints on to Cailyn’s wrists. The restraints shimmered as they shrank to seal against her skin.

  Teran took down a whip from the wall. Cailyn recognized the braided whip that Teran had used before to. She gulped in air, remembering.

  “What is this?” Teran chuckled. “If I’m going to offer you to Lord Darien, I have to make sure that your marks impress him.” She laughed again, her voice rich and resonant. “We don’t want anyone thinking their helldemon has gone soft.”

  Cailyn opened her mouth to answer, but the braided leather bit into her back. Her response became a shapeless scream. Her skin burned, as if Teran’s strokes laid it open, tearing her flesh, exposing what lay beneath.

  She cried out again and again as the thin strips of leather tore at her, the claws of some great animal. She thought for a moment of Teran, claws extended, cutting bloody lines into her back.

  Need rose in her. It spread from her back to the space between her legs as she imagined Teran tearing at her flesh, hands smeared with her blood.

  She clutched at the chains as Teran’s rhythm began again. Her body swayed as the whip buffeted it. Her vision blurred.

  Teran growled behind her. Cailyn twisted back to meet the whirling leather. Her mouth opened to let out the energy building in her flesh. A formless sound rose from her throat.

  The world swirled in her vision, dancing in time to the rhythm of the whip, until Teran’s whirling arm fell.

  In the sudden silence, Cailyn gulped in air. The sound of her own ragged breath filled her ears.

  She felt a hand against her chin. Teran’s fingertips drew her head up.

  “I want you,” Teran growled.

  Cailyn hung, the world still spinning, as Teran slipped on her harness. Teran unclasped her hands and pushed her to her hands and knees on the floor in front of the cross. Cailyn looked around and blushed.

  Teran ignored it, entering her swiftly. Cailyn groaned as Teran filled her torn body, slamming into her over and over. The driving movements pushed her open, forcing her body to stretch wider around its invader. Raw heat flared through her nerves. She wailed louder.

  Slender fingers gripped her flanks. The steel that tipped them bit into her skin. She could hear Teran behind her, Teran’s gasps almost as ragged as her own.

  Cailyn’s body twitched. The steel dug hard—too hard—into her skin as Teran plunged into her body one final time. Cailyn spasmed hard around the dildo, pushed over the edge by Teran’s pleasure.

  Then the dildo plunged into her again.

  She cried out, her eyes wet.

  Nobles had used her like this before, over and over, intent on wringing as much pleasure as they could from her aching flesh. But now she could barely hold her head up. She wailed, desperate for more, desperate for all of this to end, as the endless rhythm consumed her.

  Hisses and growls answered her, swirling in the flame that writhed in her flesh. She felt Teran buck harder, and she ground back on the thing inside her. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, blurring her vision again. The lights around the room danced, fey pinpricks of light before her eyes.

  She came with a long, desperate sob. Her body clenched around the unyielding thing inside it. She collapsed as the world went white.

  The dildo slid slowly out of her body. Without Teran close by to hold her up, Cailyn fell to the floor. She looked up from the ground, her flesh still twitching. Teran stared down at her, the ice-gray eyes bright.

  Cailyn blinked under the ceiling lights. Blood moistened her back. Her throat hurt from screaming. Tears stained her cheeks. She couldn’t remember cryi
ng them.

  She reached out feebly to stroke the face above her.

  “You liked that, didn’t you, my little one?” Her voice was quiet.

  “My lady?”

  “I think you did. I’d know if you hadn’t.”

  Cailyn nodded once, closed her eyes, and let darkness claim her.

  *

  Cool water dripped onto her forehead. The same face stared down above her; the same lights stung her eyes. She felt clean, warm sheets beneath her.

  “Hello, my lady,” she said.

  “You did well.”

  Cailyn rubbed her eyes and sat up. “I did well?”

  Her back stung, her welts rough against the soft sheets. “Was that some kind of test?”

  A smile quirked one corner of Teran’s mouth. “You could say that.”

  “And I passed.”

  It had felt good, too good, that last moment of pleasure cresting through her body.

  Slender hands, gentle now, ran over Cailyn’s skin. “Yes.”

  Cailyn’s body arched. She willed it back to stillness, not ready to let desire well up in her again.

  Teran busied herself with a water pitcher on the nightstand. She poured Cailyn a glass.

  Cailyn drank deep. “I’ve never known anyone quite like you.”

  Teran leaned down and kissed her. “I’ve never known anyone quite like you either.”

  Cailyn blinked.

  Teran held up one of her hands. She stared at it, watching the claws extend and retract. “Does that surprise you?”

  “I’m surprised it impresses someone like you.”

  “Are you?”

  “I fainted, my lady.”

  “You did.”

  “Half the courtesans on the dark channels probably do things like that for fun.”

  A corner of Teran’s mouth quirked. “Probably.”

  “They probably don’t also faint.”

  Teran laughed, silvery and clear. “You’d be surprised, little one. Two worlds,” she said, reaching out to stroke Cailyn’s hair. “Yours and mine. How can you span them both so well?”

  Cailyn shrugged, trying to laugh it off.

  But wasn’t this another world? Hadn’t Teran led her here? Hadn’t she followed, coaxed by the promise of Teran’s seductions? Hadn’t Teran pushed until she broke?