Hers To Cherish (Verdantia Book 3)

by Knight, Patricia A.

  The Khlossian g

  round out a chuckle. “No one ever is, Verdantian,” and followed Ramsey’s example, though on a far grander scale in keeping with his size. When Tok came up for air, he cradled an empty mug in two beefy hands and then leaned toward Ramsey. “I’ve been told to help you.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Many hours and an uncounted number of brews later, the giant carried Ramsey to a cab and tossed him inside. “Take Verdantian home,” the Khlossian grunted to the driver. “Good fighter, Ramsey. Tok’s friend.”

  Ram grinned blearily. “Friends, Tok.” He looked around the cab. Missing something. Ah, Steffania. At that moment, his new friend grunted and looked over his shoulder.

  “Are you really intelligent life? Get out of my way, you hulking cretin. I told you ten times, he’s my dominus. Where he goes, I go.” Steffania pushed ineffectively at the Khlossian blocking her access to Ram. Unable to shift the mountainous creature, she wriggled through the narrow gap between Tok’s legs, tripped over the vehicle’s running board and sprawled face-first onto the floor of the cab. “God-damned aliens,” she spat.

  Ramsey thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. He laughed riotously all the way to the villa.

  ~ ~ ~

  Well, I suppose if you live long enough, you see everything – including Ramsey DeKieran, scourge of Verdantia, drunk on his ass. When the Khlossian hadn’t killed Ramsey, Steffania had, in fact, followed the pair and fought her way into a dark corner of the dubious establishment. Within eyesight of Ramsey, she huddled on the filthy, sticky floor of the noxious bar with her back pressed against the wall. For hours, Ram and that Khlossian, their heads mere inches from each other, carried on an intent conversation while pouring immense amounts of alcohol down their throats.

  What can Lord Ramsey Melborn DeKieran have in common with that hulking mass of dubious intelligence? She caught only bits and snatches of their words over the ongoing clamor of multiple languages, the bonging of vid-games and the shouts from the wait-staff. The strong fumes rising from the floor began to have an effect on Steffania’s sobriety and her concentration wandered. Before long, her eyelids sank and she slipped into a light doze. The commotion of the giant Khlossian hoisting a drunken Ramsey over his shoulder jarred her awake and she hastily scampered after them, bowling over a quadruped with its head where most creatures had tails, a Govinian with three eye-stalks, and a cephalopod whose limbs she didn’t have time to count. She had followed Tok onto the street, demanding to know where he was taking Ramsey, but he had ignored her. Then there was the debacle of getting into the cab.

  The cab ride over, now Steffania staggered under Ram’s weight as she helped him out of the vehicle and then to the front door of the villa. A very anxious Pansy met them at the door.

  “Is he injured? Is he sick? I’ll call the medicus right away.”

  “Pansy.” Ram leered, swaying unsteadily. The little slaaf hovered around Ram and, with a revolted expression, surreptitiously fanned the air in front of her face.

  “Not hurt, just stinking drunk.” Steffania snorted. “Let’s get him bathed. Then I’d appreciate some help getting him into bed.”

  “Of course! I’ll start the water right away.”

  “And if you have some super remedy for a hangover, make it. This fearless warrior is going to need one in the morning.”

  Pansy stopped briefly. “And you? Are you?” The violet-eyed woman gestured vaguely to Steffania’s nipples and pubic area.

  Steffania smiled. “Yes, thanks to your lovely cream, I feel quite normal.” Somehow, Pansy had known of Steffania’s distress following Ramsey’s pleasantries with the nipple and clit clamps. She had knocked softly on the bedroom door early in the morning, proffering the pink jar. An appreciative smile on his face, Ram had watched as Steffania slowly massaged a dollop into her left nipple.

  “Give me the jar,” he’d ordered and then treated her right nipple until it stood erect under his teasing fingers. “Sit on the edge of the bed. Lay back. Put your feet on the edge and spread your knees.”

  He’d separated her labia and found her tender clit. She flinched at the cold sensation when a generous amount of the ointment landed on her hot little bud. When Ram finished smoothing it in, Steffania had writhed on the bed, groaning with denied release.

  And now this. Damnation, will this day never end?

  With the help of Pansy, she was able to get Ram into the bath. While the women undressed him and guided his staggering steps, Ram nuzzled against Steffania, kissing her neck, petting her breasts, trying to snatch sloppy kisses.

  When they got him into the water, Steffania told Pansy to bring food. “Maybe he will sober up with something in his stomach.”

  Steffania knew alcohol rendered some men sexually incapable. Clearly, Ramsey was not one of them. Steffania finally fled from the tub. It was retreat or be drowned by his drunken attempts to maul her. When Pansy arrived with the food, Steffania gasped, “Put it down and help me get him into bed.” After a comedic, stumbling grapple, beginning at the tub and ending in the bedroom, all three fell onto the large bed.

  Ramsey regarded Pansy with a lopsided smile. “Mmm. A three-some.”

  Steffania looked at an alarmed Pansy. “Get out of here. Now!” she hissed.

  Pansy flew from the bedroom. That made Steffania Ram’s sole target.

  “Come here, vixen.” His dark brows waggled at her and a finger beckoned.

  “Ramsey, you are drunk out of your mind.”

  “Perhaps.” He looked down and stroked his wagging cockstand. “Important part still works.” He grinned boyishly, looking incredibly pleased with himself. A small giggle slipped out of her mouth in response.

  “Come here, sweetheart. Know you want to.” He blinked slowly, as if trying to focus.

  “Ramsey, no. I won’t be some drunken fuck,” she said softly. “You won’t even remember this in the morning.”

  Ram sprang at her and she shrieked in surprise as he flattened her into the bed, covering her with his weight. Her abdomen registered the press of his hard cock. His face hovered inches above hers. His hands lacked their normal coordination and he clumsily smoothed her hair away from her face. His expression held an innocent solemnity. “Exquisite Steffania. Never forget anything about you.”

  His mouth descended on hers in a kiss as tender and sweet as any lover might give his virgin bride. “Never forget you,” he murmured and passed out.

  Trapped underneath him, Steffania sighed in resignation and ran her hands through his dark hair in a lingering caress. “I’m afraid I’ll never forget you, either, Ramsey.”

  Chapter Eight

  A long, low groan awakened Steffania the next morning.

  “Get me the bottle of pain pills and don’t jar the bed.”

  She grinned slowly. Ram lay face down, a pillow pulled over his head.

  “Immediately. It’s terribly dark in here, let me pull back the draperies and let in the sunlight. Would you like some breakfast? Some lovely gilly-worm heads? Or if you’d prefer, I’ll fry up some Vortian blood curds. Maybe some dýr intestine?”

  A muffled, “Don’t fuck with me. I’m not in the mood,” emerged from the pillows.

  Laughing to herself, she got him the pain pills and a glass of water.

  He swallowed three with a shudder and closing his eyes, lay back gingerly.

  Taking pity on him, Steffania offered, “Would you like me to see if Pansy has a miracle cure for hangovers?”

  Ram cracked an eyelid. A baleful, blood-shot eye stabbed her. “Yes.”

  Sliding off the bed, she went to find the violet-eyed slaaf.

  * * *

  Steffania walked into the living room and saw Pansy curled on the sofa watching a promo vid about the upcoming games. One of the names mentioned was Veacon Narr. Steffania couldn’t miss the shudder that ran through the tiny beauty’s body at the mention of his name. When his picture appeared on the screen, Pansy turned off the viewer and sat staring a
t the black screen in silence.

  Curious. I must get this woman to speak to me about Narr. “Well, our lord and master has awakened. His head is just as bad as I anticipated. You don’t have another miracle potion up your sleeve, do you, Pansy?”

  The young woman started and looked up. Steffania repeated her question.

  Pansy winced in sympathy. “The pain pills in the meds cabinet will be as effective as anything I could concoct. That and a hot shower. Is he very bad? I could rub his head for him.”

  Steffania chuckled. “Perhaps you could cut it off? I think he’d appreciate that right now.”

  “The Vxloncians brew especially potent drink. I’ll go rub his head. It will make him feel better.”

  Steffania nodded ruefully as Pansy unfolded from the couch and left the room. She clicked on the vid-viewer and scanned through the offerings, looking for some light entertainment – some distraction for the weighty thoughts plaguing her. It had been days since she’d had any free time to herself. It had been years since she been on a world with modern conveniences. She was going to make the most of Ramsey’s temporary disability. She settled happily into the cushions to watch a diverti vid about two star-crossed lovers.

  Pansy came out some time later. “Steffania, he wants you.”

  With a heavy sigh, she handed the controller to Pansy. “Tell me how this ends, will you?” she asked and went to the master bedroom. Ram stood by the bed, barefoot and shirtless in a pair of his synth-leather pants. A soft, fresh hint of aftershave hung in the room. Wet hair slicked back from his clean-shaven face. The only hint of yesterday’s dissipation dwelt in his cautious movements and in his eyes, his half-lidded and bloodshot eyes. He dug methodically through the familiar black satchel. Multiple pieces of red and black rope lay on the bedding arranged according to length. He looked up as she entered.

  “Day two of your ‘challenge’.” Ram pointed to the center of the room. “Stand there. Nude. Legs apart, shoulder width. Leave your hands at your sides.”

  Steffania’s heart thudded in her chest like a trapped bird. She hadn’t anticipated this. She unpinned the sheer material wrapping her hips, folded it and then slipped out of her panties. Ram was waiting for her, rope held in one hand. With a hard swallow, she stepped in front of him and assumed the position he required. Ram studied her face then rubbed his forehead.

  “Again, I will not ask you to do the impossible.” He gazed at her for long moments before a ghost of a smile flickered. “I’m not interested in breaking you. Remember, you can stop everything with two words, Estrella Racha.”

  “But you will send me back to Verdantia.”

  “Yes,” he said.

  Steffania closed her eyes. If Ram looked into them now, he would see the craving that filled her to surrender everything to him. Quiet enclosed their small space for several moments. “If breaking me doesn’t interest you, what do you want?” she murmured.

  “I want you to know where your limits are. And then I want you to give the control to push you past those limits to me.”

  Her eyes flew open. “That requires a great deal of trust.”

  “Dominance and submission is an intimate binding. Those who submit must trust that those who dominate will never take more than they can give.” A sardonic smile twisted Ram’s lips. “Those who dominate must give those who submit everything they need but never more than they can endure.”

  “By your definition, the dominus has the harder role,” she whispered.

  “Perhaps. What is more difficult? To trust another so completely? Or to honor the responsibility to never betray such a trust once given?”

  “I guess that would depend on how much the dominus cared for his slaaf.”

  Ram shrugged. “I suppose it would.” Steffania saw a bleak pain in his eyes quickly masked. “Enough talking,” he said gruffly.

  Steffania stood silently for at least an hour while Ram again covered her body in an intricate pattern of interlocked ropes. When he finished, bands of rope began at each thigh then joined in a network up the middle of her abdomen to another band that wrapped her ribs just underneath her breasts. The network continued up her sternum to a vee’d collar that stopped just beneath the heavy gold links she wore always on this planet, on this mission. Just as before, her body heated with arousal.

  “Your beauty is stunning.” His eyes held familiar warmth. His pants sported a recognizable bulge. Steffania melted under his visible desire. Already, the constriction of the ropes around her body blew the ashes off the banked coals of her arousal. The swollen flesh between her legs slickened and the dull ache of desire dragged at her genitals with heavy weight.

  “Thank you.”

  Ram studied her thoughtfully. “I have bound you twice. Different experiences. Tell me about them – and Steffania – don’t imagine for a moment you can lie to me.”

  Steffania took a deep breath. Baring her carefully hidden needs to this man shook her to her core. “The first night, when you bound me so tightly I could not move my upper body.” Steffania dropped her gaze and looked away. “That just does it for me. I don’t have a choice. The control is out of my hands. I can surrender to the restraints and let go.”

  “And two nights ago?”

  “Was pure hell,” she answered promptly and looked down at his feet. “I was certain it was merely a matter of time before I disobeyed you and then...and then . . .”

  “And then?” he prompted.

  “You would send me home.” She closed her eyes. “I would have disappointed myself and you.”

  “But you didn’t disappoint either of us, did you?”

  She glanced at him. A slight smile quirked one side of his face. She cocked her head as a startling thought occurred to her. Ram had not allowed it to come to that. “No.”

  “Is it important to you to please me?”

  Steffania shrugged one shoulder. “I suppose.”

  “No lies, Steffania.”

  Her shoulders drooped. The bastard would make her say it. Her voice came out a whisper. “It is important to me to succeed.”

  Ram pursed his lips in thought and then walked to the bed and picked up a tiny vial of indigo blue fluid and a small brush. He walked behind her and a cold touch of liquid formed a triangle on her tailbone. A diamond followed, filling the gap in the rope at her waist. He walked to her front and painted a more elongated diamond where the rope split around her navel. “I’ve tried this on myself, but I’m told everyone reacts differently. I’ll stop here until we see how it affects you.”

  As Ram spoke, the triangles flushed with warmth and a gradually intensifying tickle traced random patterns underneath her skin. The titillation was endurable, but Steffania blessed the fact Ram had not picked more intimate spots.

  “Tell me what you feel.”

  “Strong tickles that move randomly.”

  “Good,” Ram said. “They are nano-bots. The suspension they are in confines them to the area painted by the brush stroke.”

  “What do they do?”

  Ram laughed. “Other than tickle like hell? Nothing. They are one of the many exotic toys I bought at the ship’s store.”

  “Do they ever run down?” Steffania couldn’t prevent a shimmy of alarm.

  “No. The bots run on the body’s electrical energy. You produce minute pulses of synaptic energy to move your muscles, to think, to breathe. These little bots sip from that energy. I have a neutralization fluid that interferes with their absorption of it – the amber vial on the table. That is the only way to stop them.”

  Steffania could only pray Ram was not going to paint other portions of her with the bots.

  She should have prayed harder. “Spread your feet wider. Now that we know how you react, let’s make this a little more of a challenge for you.”

  Ram painted more indigo fluid on the inside and outside of her swollen labia, beginning at her pubic bone and ending at her tailbone. She thanked all the gods she could name that he had carefully avoided her clit. T
he tickling around her anus alone was almost more than she could endure.

  “There.” Ram walked to a low table and set the small vial next to its companion. “You will be silent. You will keep your hands on your thighs. You will keep your feet a minimum of three feet apart. I require you to hold that position until I release you.” He picked up a data tablet and sat down in the low chair that had featured in the other night’s session. Ram began to read, flipping through some pages and carefully studying others. Occasionally, he would glance up and Steffania could almost feel his perusal ghost across her skin.

  The erotic torture was beyond description. Hot worms writhed through her intimate flesh – or at least that is how it felt. The titillation between her thighs had her shifting her weight repeatedly from hip to hip. Clenching and unclenching her buttock muscles did nothing to calm the insane tickle around her anus. Bouncing on the balls of her feet was equally useless. While Steffania guessed she had spent only a few minutes enduring this delicious agony, it felt like hours and she struggled to repress the burgeoning fear of failure. She whimpered softly once and then again some minutes later. The second time, Ram paused to look up from his reading and glanced at her.

  “Silence, Steffania.” His eyes flicked to the bedroom clock behind her. “You are to hold your position for another forty minutes.”

  Ram must have recognized the desperate plea in the wild flare of her eyes. He pursed his lips in thought. “I will shorten the time,” he said after several agonizing minutes.

  She nodded vigorously, and he laughed. “Don’t be so quick to agree. There is a price to be paid.”

  She wrinkled her brow in question.

  “I will shorten the time to ten more minutes but you will wear nipple clamps and a butt plug.”