by Ashe Barker
Was she still being punished? She had no idea. It didn’t seem like it, but still, she was uncertain. That uncertainty did not last long.
Phahlen broke the kiss and hauled her up right, her back against his chest as he remained within her arse. She was impaled on his cock as he arranged her astride his knees, her own thighs spread wide. He had released her wrists from the bed though they were still bound together.
“Play time is over, little human. Time for you to do the work.”
“Sir, I don’t think—”
“Good, because I am not asking you to think. I’m asking you… no, I am telling you to get yourself off any way you can. You have ten to go. Toys are there, or you can use your hands. If you need me to help you along by fucking your arse some more, you have only to ask, I would be delighted to oblige.”
She hesitated for a few moments, the last barrier presenting itself. She had never masturbated while he watched, this would be a first.
But, he can’t see me, can’t actually see what I’m doing, not from where he is.
She comforted herself with that thought until he reached for her chin and directed her gaze straight ahead. The mirrored wall opposite reflected them in glorious, magnified detail. As she watched, he used a control, beside him to adjust the focus, enlarging the portion of the image that showed her swollen, pink pussy.
“There, now you can see what you are doing.” He leaned in to whisper in her ear, “As can I.”
Caria groaned, and surrendered her last shred of resistance. There was no point fighting, she had no choice but to submit, and no will left to do otherwise.
She lowered her bound hands to her pussy and went to work.
Phahlen watched in silence as she stroked her lower lips, opened them, slipped her fingers inside. She dragged them in and out, finger-fucking herself, waiting, hoping for the desired effect. It was a while coming. Despite her acquiescence, her natural inhibitions still hampered her progress. She sought that glorious sensation, that tingle of arousal, of awakening need, but it escaped her. She had it, almost, then it danced away again as she raised her face to meet his in the mirror.
“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t…”
He kissed her shoulder, then reached for the control by his side, He used it to release her wrists.
“Now, do as I say.”
She nodded, grateful for any help.
“Angle your hand, push two fingers inside, feel along the front wall. Imagine where your clit might be and try to press on it from inside.”
Caria obeyed, exploring as he directed. She gasped as a bolt of electricity seemed to connect her clit, her nipples, and her cunt.
“Ah, you found it. Now, stay there, work with it. Relax, let it happen.”
She leaned back in his arms, her fingers busy now as she teased her inner sweet spot at the same time as she strummed her clit. Desire rose, shimmering, firming, then crested and she fluttered into a mindless oblivion.
Her senses realigned, and Phahlen’s fingers were now stroking her clit. He chuckled in her ear, “Sweet human, you have much to learn about the noble art of wanking. Lesson number one… do not stop when you reach the critical moment.”
“I’m sorry, I just…”
“I know, so I make that nine to go. Try again.”
Caria did try. She tried hard, she experimented, she caressed herself, played, teased, and made sexy, scintillating discoveries. She found it was wonderful to stroke the skin behind her arse, to ease her pussy lips apart and press a cool thermal bead inside. Then another, and another. Under Phahlen’s tutelage she learnt to adjust the temperature, making the linked orbs cold, then hot. She shivered with excitement as her body responded. Her clit ached to be touched, her pussy yearned to be filled. The beads were replaced by the vibrator. She came with it lodged deep in her pussy, and again with it pressed hard against her clit. She was inventive, adventurous, and uninhibited, laughing with delight as Phahlen obligingly pressed her breasts together, then applied the vibrator to both at once.
“Twenty-four, little human. Six more.” Phahlen had lifted her from his cock and lay beside her.
Caria snuggled under his arm, her face on his chest. She was exhausted, her hands ached, her wrists were numb. Her pussy was sore, her clit reddened and inflamed.
“I can’t. At least, not yet. I need a rest.”
“No, you do not. On your back, spread your legs.”
“Sir, please…” She was done, exhausted, absolutely spent. He couldn’t mean to fuck her again… could he?
“Do it,” he instructed, in that voice that would brook no argument.
Apparently he could. When she heard that tone, Caria knew it was time to stop protesting and obey. She knew now exactly what he meant by too much of a good thing but she submitted, ready to do her best.
“Relax. Allow me.” He slid from the bed and tugged her to the edge, her legs dangling over the side. He knelt, put his hands under her knees and lifted them, separating them as he did so, to expose her well-used pussy. He leaned in, then blew on the heated flesh.
“Oh, sir, that feels wonderful.” Caria squirmed as he repeated the action, her hands laced in his hair at the back of his head. “Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.”
“Not even for this?” He lowered his head further, and drew his tongue along her slit. “Or this?” He wrapped his tongue around her clit, flicked it, then took the nub into his mouth and he sucked.
Caria came. At once. No steady build this time, no preamble. Her climax was explosive, her entire body shuddering in the rush of sensation. She cried out, the intensity shocking her, the contrast between his gentle, feather-like touch on her heated, inflamed pussy and her body’s fierce reaction almost unbearable.
He wasn’t finished. He allowed her the few moments she needed to catch her breath, then he lifted her higher. “Put your arms around your legs, hold them up for me.”
Caria obeyed, and groaned as he drove his fingers into her arse at the same time as he suckled on her clit. She groaned as another climax rippled through her, followed by yet another. She no longer relished them. Her nervous system was in tatters, her body aching, exhausted, utterly spent. She just wanted… needed… this to end. She needed to rest, to recover. But Phahlen wouldn’t leave her alone.
As she remained in the position he had demanded, he slid the cool beads inside her arse. As her entrance was still stretched and open from his cock, they were mercifully easy to accept. With each intruding orb he rubbed at her clit to drag another excruciating orgasm from her.
At last all the beads were inside her. He lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Now you can squeeze if you like. Tell me when you’re about to come.”
“You’ll know. You always know.”
“I want you to concentrate and tell me, yes?”
“Yes, sir.” She lay back and waited.
Phahlen’s mouth was on her again, his tongue probing inside her sore pussy, soothing her, offering comfort and demanding pleasure. She shook, willing her exhausted body to respond, to find something left in reserve to deliver the final surge of energy to meet his demands.
As though on a pre-programmed course, her body knew its part. The familiar curl and clench of arousal starting small, but building and growing. It was slow, desire struggling to emerge, to conquer fatigue and bone-deep satiation. But Phahlen would have his way. He teased, he licked, he tongue-fucked her, and her pussy was ultimately his to command. She gasped, arched under his insistent touch, tensed as her response built and gathered strength.
“Sir…” she managed.
“Tell me when,” he growled.
A few par-secs passed. Caria writhed, mewled as her climax rolled closer, closer, then…
“Now, sir. It’s happening, I can’t…”
She screamed as Phahlen dragged the beads from her arse at the precise moment her climax reached the point of no return. The impact was incredible, beautiful, her body releasing its final vestiges of control. She was undone and had
nothing left. Wetness gushed, pooling under her. Her limbs turned to liquid, her breath ceased to be. She was suspended, soaring, spinning, then drifting slowly, weightless, back to reality.
Epilogue
“Will Grandma remember me?”
Phahlen bent to pick up the small girl and perched her on his shoulder as he entered the bridge of the Empyrean.
“Daddy, will she? Will she?” The little fingers fisted in his hair. He grimaced, amazed as ever by her strength. She was a tough little female, this daughter of his.
He reached up to disentangle her tiny fingers. “Of course she will, Shree. She saw you just a year ago when she and Grandpa came to visit us on Vahle, and you have sent her messages since then. Many, many messages.”
“Will she remember Lylah?”
“She hasn’t met your little sister yet. But she knows all about her. I am sure she will be delighted to see both of you.”
“Will we stay on Earth? Mama says we might.”
Phahlen closed his eyes, unable to process the pain that prospect caused him. It was not his choice though. He had promised Caria that she would be free to live where she chose once her sentence was served. He would honour that pledge, and would even be prepared to live on Earth himself if that was what he needed to do in order to keep his family together.
He had visited there once, years ago, and had not warmed to the place. Earth was primitive in his view, populated by beings who continued to battle amongst themselves regardless of the peacekeeping efforts of the Global Jurisdiction who purported to rule this warlike world. But for Caria, it represented home, safety, and familiarity and he knew how much she longed to return there. She missed her family, her old life. She often spoke of returning to her previous career as a botanist.
“I am not sure what our plans will be, Shree. Now, do you want to learn how to steer a space vessel or not?” He set her down on the seat next to his own, the space normally occupied by Baren. His second in command was occupied in the cargo bay supervising the transfer of thermal energy into their storage tanks for extraction, so the seat was empty. His eager daughter bounced in the large chair, nodding enthusiastically.
“I can help. I’m good at steering. Let me show you, Daddy.”
“I know you are. You are a natural.” He grinned at her. These moments between them were not rare; Phahlen loved to have his little girl accompany him on his duties and she was a regular on the bridge. Even while her mother was still, at least nominally, in custody, the child had enjoyed the freedom of the ship. She had learnt at an early age not to touch the controls unless he or Baren was present and had told her what to do. Now, aged almost five par-sols, she was as much at home on the bridge as in their quarters. “Today I need you to watch the external sensor screen and tell me as soon as you spot a new planet appear. That might be Earth, and if it is we will need to adjust our course. Can you do that?”
“Of course, Daddy.” Her tone was scathing, not unlike his own when faced with a particularly lacklustre crop of new recruits. “It’s easy. Watch.”
He did watch, loving the intense concentration on her tiny face as she perused the huge screen. His daughter would make a fine ship’s pilot in due course.
“I don’t want to live on Earth. I want to stay with you.”
The small voice was uncertain, wavering, close to tears. Caught off guard by the sudden change in subject, Phahlen activated the automated course sensor and turned to regard her. “You will stay with me, whatever happens. We are a team.”
“But, what about Mama? Is she on our team too?”
Phahlen remained silent, searching for the correct response. It was a good question. She saw things too clearly, this tiny child of his.
“I do not know.” It was his honest answer, and he would never dream of offering Shree anything less.
“We should ask her,” asserted Shree.
“Yes, we should.”
If only it was so simple. And if only he was less afraid of hearing her answer.
* * *
“I spoke to my father again today. Mum’s not well, but he says she doesn’t complain. The cardiac reinvigoration procedure she received when she visited us last year helped, but the effects have worn off now.”
Phahlen recognised the anxiety in Caria’s expression. Shree was asleep, their evening meal long since finished. He was studying the charts for tomorrow’s course, a task he preferred to do in his quarters in order to spend more time with Caria and the children. He was intensely conscious that those times might be coming to an end. Caria rocked their youngest child on her lap, and chewed on her lower lip. He wondered if she had any idea at all how much he adored her, this ex-prisoner of his.
“I am sorry to hear that. The procedure is not available on Earth, but she could return to Vahle sometime to obtain a top-up. I expect she is looking forward to seeing you again.”
“Yes. And this time I will be able to visit properly. I won’t be under house arrest.”
“That is true. Do you have plans?” He held his breath as he waited for her answer.
“Not really. It’s just different, that’s all. I still have to pinch myself to remind me that I really am free now.”
“Five par-sols was a longer sentence than we anticipated or hoped for, but it is over.” He paused, dreading the conversation he knew he couldn’t avoid much longer. “Shree mentioned that you spoke of remaining on Earth.”
Her gaze jerked from the baby in her arms to him. “Oh. She said that?”
“Did you ask her not to?”
“No, of course not. It’s just that I’m not sure yet what I want to do. What would be best for us.”
“Us? You mean you and the girls?”
“Yes. No. All of us. You too.”
Phahlen opted to get his big statement out of the way. “If you want to stay on Earth, I will remain there also, if you wish it.”
Caria’s eyes widened, her expression one of astonishment. “But… why? You hate the place. You belong here, on your ship. Or on Vahle.”
He shook his head, but held her gaze. “I belong where my family is. I confess I would prefer the Empyrean, or if I need to settle somewhere I’d rather it was my home world than yours, but I can compromise.”
“I don’t understand. Why would you do that?”
He detected the bewilderment in her tone and was puzzled by it. “You know why. It is obvious.”
She shook her head. “No, Phahlen, it isn’t. At least it’s not obvious to me.”
“Then I will spell it out. I want to be where you are, where our daughters are, because I love you.”
“You love our little girls, I know that. I’ve always known that and I’d never want to separate them from you. Shree especially, she adores her daddy.”
“We talked about that today, she and I. I promised her that we would stay together and I suppose that is when I made up my mind to remain on Earth if I had to. I will keep my word to her.”
“You won’t insist that they grow up on Vahle? I mean, with your population issues…?”
“Vahleans are located all over two galaxies. That isn’t an issue for us, we are a race of travellers and our girls are Vahlean wherever they might be located. Earth is an allied world and therefore an acceptable habitation for them. Eventually Shree and Lylah will be required to return to their home world, unless of course they meet a Vahlean mate elsewhere, but that is thirty or more par-sols away and need not concern us now.”
“I see, I think. You never made that clear to me before.”
“It was never an issue before.”
“You detest Earth.”
“Did I say so?”
She shook her head. “No, but it’s obvious.”
“I can adapt. Just as you did, to captivity.”
“I suppose I did, though I longed for my freedom. But now I have it…”
Phahlen waited. There was more, he knew it.
“Now that I have it, I wish nothing would change. But I was expelled fro
m Vahle, it was a condition of my release. I have nowhere else to go but back to Earth.”
“You could return to Vahle as a Vahlean citizen. That would extinguish the expulsion order.”
“It would? But, how could I…?”
“As the mother of two Vahlean female children, you could make an application and you might well succeed. As the wife of a Vahlean male, you would be entitled to citizenship as your right.”
“You? You would marry me? Me?” She gaped at him, though Phahlen had no notion why she would appear so amazed at the offer.
“Of course. Why would I not? I love you.”
“You… love me? Me?”
“Yes, you. For the avoidance of doubt, please watch my mouth, Caria. I. Love. You.” He scowled at her in exasperation. “You know that I do.”
“Why would I know that? You have never said.”
“Of course I have, many times.”
She shook her head. “No, you haven’t. Not ever.”
“But we have two children. You have been my constant companion for more than five par-sols. I adore you. I always have, from the very beginning. You must have known.”
“I was in your custody. I assumed you were doing your duty.”
“My duty could have been discharged by keeping you in the brig, or installing you in a holding centre on Vahle. I had no need to share my quarters with you, but I chose to. I wanted to, I love having you here, with me. And our daughters. I love you, Caria. It really is that simple.”
“I… see. I think.”
“Good. So, now we have that matter clarified, there just remains the question of how you feel about remaining with me. Would you allow your jailer to stay with you on Earth? Or would you consider returning to Vahle as my wife? I know your feelings for me are more complex, but we have our daughters to consider. In time, I do believe that we could—”
“Idiot.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said, you’re an idiot.”
