by Loki Renard
“How do the authorities know it was me? I mean, on the shuttle?”
“People saw you, Tara. The authorities used the surveillance from the shuttle to…”
“Surveillance?”
“In public, the authorities can see almost everything. They have machines that feed imagines and sound to…” He paused. “It’s complicated, but they’ve seen you, Tara, and I need to explain who you are. I’m going to explain away your rather odd behavior the other day by saying that you were under the influence of a drug…”
“Drug?”
Kyren stopped again to explain. “Something you eat or drink that changes your behavior. You must have had fermented hops or berries on Earth… alcohol…”
“Ah,” she nodded. “You’re going to tell them that I was drunk?”
“More than that. You’re going to tell them. And you need to keep your story straight in your head. So listen to me and listen to me well. Your name is Tara—”
“My name is Tara,” she interrupted. Kyren sighed and rubbed his hands over his face.
“I was about to say, your name is Tara Antigone, and you are the daughter of a trader. You were sent here from a colony named Mareyx, after getting into trouble there, and I am courting you. I took you as a favor to your father, a man named Erthan Antigone. Understand?”
Tara nodded slowly.
“Okay. So. What is your name?”
“Tara.”
“Tara…” He drew the word out, prompting her to remember the second part of her name.
“Tara… Antelope.”
Kyren let out a sound of pure frustration, which made her giggle.
“I am going to thrash you so damn hard if you don’t start taking this seriously,” Kyren growled at her, making the smile drop right off her face. “Tell me the story I told you.”
“My name is Tara Antigone,” Tara said quickly. “My father is a trader and I came from a colony because I’m bad.”
“Okay,” Kyren nodded. “Close enough. All you need do is stay quiet, speak when spoken to, and apologize profusely when I tell you to. They are unlikely to ask you too many questions about your past and I will endeavor to make the luncheon brief. I have explained to them that you are not feeling well, but are eager to make your apologies.”
“So, stay quiet, apologize a lot, basically what I’ve been doing since I arrived here,” she sulked. She didn’t like the way Kyren was talking to her. He was being so curt and so stern.
“This is not the time for your mischief, Tara,” he said with a frown at her flippant response. “I want you to put on the most formal gown in the wardrobe and I will escort you to the dining room. We will be serving a small meal.”
“I don’t know what my most formal gown is.” Tara shrugged. “They all look the same to me. Sparkly and glittery and…” She shrugged again. Kyren’s concern was making it difficult to think.
“Listen, pet,” he said more softly. “I’m sorry to have snapped at you. This is important and I admit I loathe that we have to do this. But all will be well if you simply follow my instructions. These people are a problem I’ve been dealing with for many years. They are petty bureaucrats with more power than is good for them, and they don’t know what to do with it so they spend their days making laws on top of laws and watching everyone so they can be there to pounce when a rule is inevitably broken. We will not always have to contend with them, but for the moment we have to play along.” He smoothed his fingers lightly over her cheek. “Will you play along for me, pet?”
She nodded.
“Good girl,” he said, his smile warming. “Now, let’s get you dressed.”
Saving her the trouble of trying to make a decision about suitable attire for the event, Kyren picked out a dress from the wardrobe, a low-cut gold affair that fell in a fitted sheath about her body as he dropped it lightly over her head and let it fall in a soft cascade about her. Tara loved the way it felt against her skin, cool and soft.
He chose boots for her too, similarly toned and fitted below the knee. Matched with a pair of earrings that clipped to her lobes and hung in soft spirals, she was soon transformed from a tousled pet to a rather elegant-looking lady—just as he intended.
“You are beautiful,” he murmured, his eyes appreciative as he ran his fingers through her hair, rough combing it into semi-tamed tresses. “Now come, pet, let us see how your training has served you.”
He took her by the hand and led her to the dining room. Tara rather enjoyed the way it felt to walk next to him in her expensive boots and alluring dress. The expression in Kyren’s eyes told her that she looked as good as she felt. Perhaps the training was working. Maybe she was starting to truly become like the Udanese.
“Gentlemen,” he announced. “Please allow me to introduce Miss Tara Antigone…”
Tara took the room in with a glance. There were around ten men at the dining table, and together they were already through five bottles of Kyren’s finest wine. The men themselves were of varying ages. Two of them were gray-haired, but otherwise spry in their physical form. They were not stooped or warped by age beneath their black coats that gave them an imposing appearance. Most of the men seemed to be of a similar or greater age to Kyren. A younger man was with them, a few years younger than Kyren, perhaps. He shared some facial features with one of the older men, and Tara imagined that he must be his son.
“Gentlemen, this is Tara Antigone,” Kyren said. “These are the gentlemen of the Authority, Tara, first among them Mr. Hywell Senior, Authority head and Mr. Hywell Junior, his son.”
Several pairs of eyes turned to her and Tara’s blush came naturally.
“She is very beautiful,” the younger man Kyren had introduced as Hywell Junior said. There was something about him Tara didn’t quite like. He was passable in appearance, well groomed, but there was something cold in his eyes, even when he smiled as he was smiling now. Something predatory. A chill ran down her spine, the same chill she’d felt back on Earth when she was in the presence of danger.
Kyren gave Hywell Junior a sharp look. Tara noticed that Kyren didn’t seem to appreciate the young man’s comment. Then he nudged her gently and she realized that she was supposed to make her apology.
“I am sorry,” she said, doing her best to remember the phrases Kyren had taught her. “For my behavior on the shuttle. I was… inappropriate. I see that now. I’m afraid I was not quite in possession of my right and proper senses.”
There was a brief pause as the men of the Authority looked at one another.
“You look quite different now than you did that day, Miss Antigone,” Hywell Senior said. His words explained the stunned fish expressions on their faces. They had been expecting the shabbily dressed rude maid. Instead they were meeting a fine lady. What power there was in clothing in this place.
“I was having a… rather bad day,” Tara explained. “I was new to Udine. My journey had left my senses rather addled. I am so sorry for the disturbance I caused.”
“Very nice,” Kyren murmured in her ear as he pulled out the chair next to his.
She sat, smiling as best she could at the men Kyren seemed to almost fear. They did not seem very fearsome to her, not even the one who gave her a bad feeling in her stomach. Not one of them was as strong as Kyren, and none of them were nearly as handsome.
The servants soon brought food, the mollusks that she did not care for, but she figured she had better eat what was served, lest their guests thought her strange in some fashion. Unfortunately, the meal was accompanied by a spread of cutlery that challenged her memory past the point of its capacity. She hesitated. Which fork was it that went with the swirly things?
Kyren coughed softly and picked up the third fork from the left. Tara followed his lead. The meal was conducted with a steady stream of conversation that had nothing to do with her misbehavior. It was a very dry conversation that she could not quite bring herself to follow, but seemed to largely involve interest in the construction of various buildings in
the city. There was perhaps some hidden negotiation in the endless words, but Tara was not listening for it. She was, against all odds, bored.
“As I said earlier, gentlemen,” Kyren said as the authorities finished their meal. “I am very sorry for the trouble Tara caused. She has been troubling her father for some time, and I agreed to take her in, thinking a change of scene might lead to a better standard of behavior. It has already improved vastly in the short time since she arrived.”
Hywell Senior cleared his throat and took a long swig of wine. “There have to be consequences, you understand, Lord Cirrus. You are an eminent figure, and we are loath to cause you any embarrassment, but this matter cannot be allowed to lie. The incident on the shuttle has become quite famous, and without any official statement on the cause of the crime, and resulting punishment…”
“I assure you, I have disciplined the young lady most thoroughly.”
“All respect, Lord Cirrus, when a public crime is committed, a public investigation must be conducted. And a public consequence.”
Kyren patted his mouth with his napkin and nodded. “Tara, dear,” he said. “I think it would be best if you retired from the table. You have made your apologies, such as they can be made. The gentlemen and I will discuss the terms of this matter and I will inform you of the outcome.”
Tara kept her teeth gritted and nodded politely. She rose from the table as gracefully as she could, with Kyren helping her. She could feel all eyes on her as she left the room.
Breathing a sigh of relief to be out of the dining room, Tara went back to the bedroom and waited. And waited. And waited a little longer. The lunch had not enlightened her about the nature of the authorities, other than the fact that they didn’t seem to do anything besides talk.
Finally, Kyren entered the room, his long legs drawing her gaze first. She couldn’t help but notice yet again what a handsome man he was, how naturally masterful he was.
“What are you smiling at?” He asked the question somewhat sharply.
“You,” she said simply. “I like to look at you.”
Her words brought a smile to his face. “Are you trying to flatter your way out of trouble, pet?”
“No,” she frowned. “You asked me what I was thinking and I told you. Aren’t I allowed to have good thoughts about you?”
“Of course,” he said. “Though I don’t know if you’ll keep having such good thoughts. You are in a record amount of trouble.”
“I thought I made a good apology.”
“You made a beautiful apology,” he nodded, crouching down in front of her. “You did a wonderful job of sounding like a spoiled, but well-bred young woman.”
“I just tried to talk like you do.”
“You did well,” he smiled, patting her knee. “But I’m afraid it wasn’t enough. The authorities are asking for a greater punishment.”
“Why?” She stared at him.
“The day you were on the shuttle. Did you notice how panicked the people were when you stole that candy? That’s because there is almost no crime here, pet. There is no crime because outside a few sacred spaces, and private locations like this one, there are eyes and ears everywhere. You frightened those people because they are so used to being able to trust that others will behave according to custom that even a small deviation from the usual order causes concern. The authorities want to make an example of you. If they do not, a hairline fracture in the public’s trust is allowed to grow. People might start to doubt them and their ability to maintain order…”
“That doesn’t sound like such a bad thing,” Tara said. “I don’t like those men.”
“Whether you like them or not, they’re bringing charges against you. I’ve had to fabricate paperwork for you, Tara. I’ve had to call in a lot of favors…”
“So?” Tara squirmed and threw out every excuse she could think of. “This isn’t my fault. I didn’t know anything when I ran away. I didn’t ask to come here. I didn’t ask for anything. This is your problem. You fix it.”
“Oh!” His brows rose toward his hairline. “Oh, I see. So when it suits you, you are a free woman who wishes to be treated as an equal. But, now that you are in trouble, you are a little pet who can bear no responsibility for the consequences of her actions. I don’t fault you for running, Tara. But not knowing that there isn’t a crime isn’t the same as not committing one. If you are to be a citizen of this planet, you must be treated like one.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I offered to pay a fine for your behavior, a very generous one, but they refused. This isn’t a matter of money. It was a matter of public unrest. It must be settled publicly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Back on Earth, long before you were born, people would deal with matters of public justice in many ways. Some were barbaric. Some were merely embarrassing. Fortunately, the authorities of Udine are not given to barbarism. They are fond of embarrassment, however. You embarrassed them on the shuttle the other day. Now they are determined to embarrass you in return.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they are planning an official censure.”
“What. Does. That. Mean!?” Tara nearly yelled the question, which she had asked three times already and not received anything like an answer.
“It means,” Kyren said, his voice falling into a deep growl, “that you are going to be spanked long, hard, and publicly. And judging by your tone and volume, that might not be as unnecessary as I first thought.”
There was a quiet moment as his words sank in. The prospect of public punishment. Being taken over his lap, her bottom bared, her cheeks slapped bright red under the eyes of the authoritarian society. It would probably be painful and embarrassing… as much of her experience on Udine had already been.
“Oh. Is that all!” she finally said with more than a hint of sarcasm. “Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place.”
“Because I wanted to explain, pet. Rather than dragging you off to the center of the city and putting your bottom on grand display, I thought you might like to know why.”
Tara folded her arms over her chest and turned her head away from him. “Who cares why? There hasn’t been a why since I was taken. This, then that, all ending in my punishment.”
“Don’t sulk, pet,” he said. “It doesn’t suit you. Besides, there may be a way to avoid the public affair. Or at least, make it less public.”
“What?”
“The authorities were… taken with you at lunch today. They have said that if you were to submit to a more thorough discipline before their eyes, they have agreed to forgo the central square.”
“Soo…”
“They want me to punish you in front of them,” he said simply.
“So either they will watch… or everyone will watch.”
“I will leave the choice to you, pet. I can take you over my knee in front of millions. I do not like it as an option. It could lead to curiosity about you from wider afield. It could come out that you are not, in fact, a guest from a nearby planet. The more private affair will be more embarrassing, but I think it may distract the authorities enough that they will not inquire further.”
Tara sighed and looked down at him. It was a little strange to see him from this angle. He usually towered above her, but now he was slightly lower than her, his hand on her knee in a comforting way. The choice seemed clear to her. Better to be punished before ten than before millions, even if those ten were stuffy members of an over-class who seemed to have no humor or sense of leniency in their blood. She had to trust Kyren.
“I’ll do what you think is best.”
“Very well. The private punishment it is. Remember, pet, this is much more about a display of obedience on your part and control on mine than anything else. I expect you to do precisely as you are told. You can begin by removing your dress.”
Tara was confused. “You want me to look more civilized… by going out there naked?”
“They will take your nudity as a sign of true penance and submission to the Authority. It will please them, and…” he smirked in a handsome way that made her stomach do little flips, “it will please me. I admit, pet,” he said, tracing his hand gently across her cheek. “The prospect of displaying your beauty is appealing to me. You are mine, and I am proud of you.”
His fingers were at the fastening at the back of her dress, drawing it down so the gown fell first from her shoulders, then from her hips and into a silken puddle on the floor around her feet. In moments, she was quite naked aside from the string of pale jewels around her neck, and the earrings clipped to her lobes.
Tara caught sight of herself in the mirror, and even though it was her own naked form she was looking at, it felt somehow unfamiliar. She had filled out since her arrival at Kyren’s home. Her curves were pronounced, especially her bottom, which was fuller than it had been before. Her breasts were larger too, she had noticed them becoming weightier, but not truly seen how beautiful she was now her body was no longer in a state of frequent deficit.
Kyren pressed his mouth to the back of her neck, kissing and nipping her lightly as he ran his fingers over the circle of her collar. “I should remove this,” he said. “It wouldn’t do for the authorities to put two and two together and realize that you are my pet.”
The collar snapped open and he slid it from her neck. To Tara’s surprise, she immediately missed the feeling of it. It had become a comfort and a reminder that she was safe under Kyren’s protection. Without it she felt far more naked than she had when her dress was removed.
“Keep your shoes on,” he said, gesturing to the delicate heels. “And hold your head high. You are mine.”
There was an affection in his words that made her feel warm on the inside. Though she was about to be taken before a group of powerful men and publicly punished, the moment felt very intimate, as if it were really only between her and Kyren.
He took her by the hand and led her into what he called a drawing room. She didn’t know why he called it that, and she didn’t care in that moment because the couches and chairs that were almost always empty were filled with Authority members, and in the space between them was a long, low bench covered with black leather.
