Dark Empress: The Onic Empire, Book 5

by Anitra Lynn McLeod

  Errion stepped back and smiled. “You are the most lovely of any creation I’ve ever made.” He was afraid he would not be able to do her magnificent body justice, but he’d succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. She was stunning. With her legs parted, he saw that she had soaked the entire knot that pressed against the opening of her cunny. So wet was she that she’d saturated the rope all the way up to her clit. Drawing his gaze down, he surmised she’d soaked it clear through to the knot against her tender bottom as well. Both nipples stood firm, pinched between the ropes. Her face was flushed, but not with embarrassment. Arousal thickened her blood as it pulsed through her body. Dreamy eyes met his, glittering almost as if she were drugged. Many people felt a curious euphoria during Fentaru, but he’d never seen a reaction quite so strong.

  “How do you feel?”

  “Beautiful.” She stretched her arms up, holding on to the ropes as she arched her back and pointed her toes. When she leaned her head back, she realized the ceiling tiles had become mirrors. She gave a little gasp of surprised delight, then examined herself from head to toe. “I didn’t see the mirrors before.”

  “They weren’t there before. I flipped them over when I dropped down the final fens.” He checked the lines on her legs. “Are you comfortable?”

  She nodded, looking up at herself.

  Errion turned and offered a sharp bow to Lorren.

  Lorren set his drink aside and stood. Like the true connoisseur he was, he approached her slowly. As he circled her, his gaze took in everything from the line of her body to the patterns made by the fens to the way the ceiling reflected her image.

  Errion waited breathlessly for a comment. He’d engaged in Fentaru with Lorren before, but this felt different, more profound. He not only wanted Lorren’s approval, he craved it almost desperately.

  After the longest time, Lorren said, “You have outdone yourself.” His voice was thick with desire and his golden eyes had turned molten. Just as Farjika reacted intensely to being bound, Lorren reacted just as strongly to seeing her. His cock strained against the fabric of his trousers. Repeatedly he licked his lips as if he couldn’t wait to taste her.

  Errion’s pride soared. He would give anything to have an image of her bound as she was, but sadly, that would violate the most important rule of Fentaru; it was transitory. True practitioners would never capture an image of one who was bound, as it violated the spirit of the art. Each encounter was a fleeting moment, never to be repeated and never to be enjoyed again. Once he cut her free, the art disappeared. Errion had never liked that restriction, but he honored the constraint as a true master. He had learned his forms at the hand of another master, and he’d passed them along to a handful of others. Such kept their art pure.

  Lorren stopped circling her and stood between her parted thighs. He drew a deep breath, his eyes closing as he took in the musky scent of her arousal. Reaching out his right hand, he traced over the crimson rope on her left leg. She squirmed helplessly as he pressed the knot on the arch of her foot. Her eyes rolled back in her head as a wave of pure bliss infused her body. Each knot, when pressed, would give a similar reaction. Lorren knew just how hard to press and in which order to give her the most profound pleasure.

  “Are you enjoying your punishment?”

  She swallowed and tried to meet his eyes, but she was too enraptured to do more than nod weakly.

  When he pressed the knot on her other foot, she whimpered and gripped the ropes in her hands tighter. This in turn pressed the knots in the palms of her hands, causing her eyes to open in stunned disbelief.

  “What, what’s—” she stuttered helplessly as Lorren continued pressing the knots as he worked his way up her legs.

  “Errion told you the truth when he said this type of Fentaru stimulates sexual energy.” Lorren pressed the knots on the sides of her knees simultaneously, which caused her body to buck, almost knocking the stool aside. “What he neglected to tell you was that it rouses energy. It does not release it.”

  Her eyes widened with understanding.

  “The energy will build and build until you are cut free.” Lorren slid his hands up the inside of her thighs. “Only then will you climax.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Farjika realized now how this was considered a form of punishment. She didn’t understand that Lorren could torture her with pleasure, as the concept seemed implausible, but she knew he spoke the truth. Every time he touched a knot, her body quivered. Each tap caused her to grow more sensitive. Already her body burned with a need for release and she knew, deep in her soul, her torment had just begun.

  “I have never seen a more lustful yet terrified expression.” Lorren’s massive hands rested on either side of her sex. They felt heavy and unusually warm. Lifting one hand, looking right into her eyes, he slowly lowered his palm over the knot above her clit.

  She held her breath, waiting, almost petrified of how good the contact would feel. Heat from his hand penetrated the rope, causing her to gush anew. Every cell in her body wanted to surge forward and yet retreat. The conflict was almost unbearable.

  Lorren held steady with his palm a fraction away from the knot, his gaze locked on her face. His handsome features seemed hardened, more sinister, almost brutal. His bestial look clashed with his businessman attire, which only added to his authoritative allure. Between her widely spread legs stood an animal dressed in human clothing. He’d fooled everyone, including her, and now she was bound and hanging at his mercy.

  Farjika felt utterly exposed to him, more so than she had felt while Errion tied her up. Errion’s touch had been almost clinical, his movements precise and practiced. He bound her almost dispassionately, but looking at him now, she saw the hunger in his eyes was just as base as Lorren’s. She realized binding her in the ropes was just the beginning. The real punishment would begin now.

  “Do you feel the energy building in your flesh?” Lorren’s voice was husky and deep, his eyes penetrating into her psyche. “Do you feel the heat from my hand adding to the inferno that burns along the tender skin of your clit?”

  She tried to answer him, but all that emerged was a strangled moan. Her tormented body had short-circuited her brain, and she no longer knew how to form words. He’d reduced her to a grunting animal. Her primitive brain focused on only the basest of needs; the urge to mate. The horrible empty feeling that had plagued her dreams burst into this moment, making her desperate for something, anything, to fill the void within.

  Lorren chuckled and continued to hold his hand steady. “Now tell me again what you let Errion do to you today.”

  Struggling to form the words, she shook her head. She could see them in her mind, hear them in her mind, but she could not get her mouth to form them. Despairing, because she knew Lorren would not press upon the knot until she answered him, she tried again to tell him.

  “He put,” was all she could get out.

  “Yes. He put what?” Lorren asked, helping her confess.

  “His cock.”

  “His whole cock?”

  “The head.”

  “Where?” Lorren continued to hold his hand steady.

  “In my bottom.”

  He frowned so darkly she winced. “Did you like it?”

  She wanted to lie, to tell him what he clearly wanted to hear, but she thought she’d only get in greater trouble for a fib than the truth. In the end, she nodded.

  “You enjoyed having the tip of his cock in your tight little ass?”

  Again, she nodded.

  Lorren yanked his hand from the clit knot, and she released a disappointed cry. To her shock, he grasped her hips in his hands and pressed her against the seat, pressing the knot firmly against her anus.

  The bolt of pleasure blinded her. As Lorren held her, she wriggled, rubbing the knot all along her sensitive flesh. The memory of Errion’s cock pressing into her with the charged fabric seemed to echo within, making her feel the same feelings but intensified, as if they weren’t memories of
those sensations but were actually happening to her at this very moment.

  Lorren was speaking, but she couldn’t understand him. She was lost inside her own mind as she replayed the moment of penetration over and over again. Each time she felt her body move closer to climax, but the release never came. As he said, energy built, but there was no outlet. It was as if the knots held everything inside.

  Blinking rapidly, she looked up at herself in the mirrored ceiling. Her body appeared impossibly long and beautiful, the red rope shimmering against her flesh. Sweat beaded against her forehead, and she felt drops gather under her breasts, soaking the strands that wrapped around her chest. Each body part she turned her gaze upon bloomed into shocking awareness. She swore she could feel individual threads among the thousands that made up each strand of rope.

  It took a long time for her to realize Lorren was no longer between her legs. Dazed, she lifted her head, and to her shock, she found Gabriyel. Near the far wall he stood, head down, nude, with his arms bound behind his back. Next to him, Errion and Lorren argued, their faces twisted with fury, but she couldn’t understand anything they said.

  In the slow motion of a dream, Lorren grappled with Errion, forcing him down to his knees. Snarling something, he dragged him over to an oddly formed chair that faced away from her and strapped him in. Once Lorren had Errion secured, he looked up and caught her gaze. His upper lip twitched. Dismissing her, he strode over to Gabriyel. Pushing him back against the wall, he forced his head up, then placed a strap around his neck. Gabriyel could not lower his head without strangling himself.

  “You can’t do this to me!” Errion’s fury pierced through the wall of silence. “I deserve to watch what was my idea!”

  “Silence, or I’ll find something to shove in your mouth.” Lorren looked right at her as he ripped open his shirt. He didn’t even bother with the buttons—he just wrenched them right off, then tossed the ruined garment away. “This is your punishment for taking what belonged to me.”

  “But I didn’t go all the way in!” Errion defended.

  “Virginity is either there or it’s not.”

  Mortified, Farjika darted her gaze to Gabriyel. He had to know they were talking about her bottom, as she’d already given her most sacred virginity to the Harvester.

  Gabriyel’s tormented eyes met hers, then closed as if he couldn’t bear to see her like this. Or worse, that he couldn’t save her from the trouble she’d gotten herself into.

  Rather than returning to the spot between her legs, Lorren came up behind her. Wrapping his arms around her, he cupped her bound breasts, the edge of his hand ready to press the knots centered below. “Look at the captain of your guard.”

  Farjika did as Lorren ordered. Smooth skin stretched over massive muscles as he strained against his bonds. Every day of their journey, she saw him clothed only in a simple loincloth, but she’d never really seen him, never really looked at him, until now. Gabriyel was male perfection personified. Not attractive in a pretty way as were Lorren and Errion, Gabriyel was handsome in a purely physical, male way. Power, strength, and undeniable vigor embraced his body, making her aware and appreciative of the fact that she was feminine. Yet, despite his enormous size and unquestionable force, Gabriyel was the gentlest man she knew. Even with his men, he did not raise his voice. He didn’t need to yell to be obeyed. Unlike most men, he possessed a quiet strength.

  Gabriyel kept his eyes tightly closed, but a well-placed threat from Lorren opened them right up.

  “If you defy me in any way, I will punish her.”

  Sky-blue eyes focused on her eyes, as if he were determined not to look beyond her face. Apparently, he’d decided to drop the notion that he did not understand their language.

  Despite his words, Lorren proceeded to punish her anyway. Pressing the knots below her breasts caused her to drop against the edge of the stool, which pressed the knot against her bottom. More energy filled her already overwhelmed body, causing her to cry out desperately.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  Farjika tried to form the words. “I want.”

  “What?” Lorren’s voice was harsh against her ear as he kicked the stool away.

  Swaying now, the pressure off the bottom knot but now firm against the ones at the back of her knees, she begged, “Please.”

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “Release.”

  Slumping in her sling, she closed her eyes, ashamed that Gabriyel had to witness her submission. He would never be able to look at her the same way again, nor she him.

  “Look at him,” Lorren ordered, as if he’d read her mind.

  Opening her eyes, she returned her gaze to Gabriyel.

  “Look at how hard his cock is.” Lorren lifted up and ran his hands along her arms, pressing the knots as he went, making her squirm in midair. “What do you think he wants?”

  Fully formed, the answer tumbled from her mouth. “He wants to fuck me.”

  Gabriyel stiffened. He would have closed his eyes or looked away, but he didn’t dare. His reaction revealed the truth; Gabriyel had always wanted her; she’d just been too self-absorbed to notice. Now that she considered him with clear vision, she understood that he was not compelled by simple lust. Yes, his cock was hard, throbbing painfully as he was forced to look at her artfully displayed body, but in the fire of his gaze, she recognized a deeper, far more spiritual longing. Gabriyel didn’t want to fuck her. Gabriyel wanted to make love to her. He wanted to cherish her and use his entire being to bring her exquisite pleasure. His gaze told her that he could make her body writhe as it was now, but he wouldn’t need all these accoutrements. With only the tools of his body—his lips, his tongue, his fingers, the massive span of his hands, and that wickedly long and thick cock—he could compel her utter and willing surrender. However, the most erotic tool at his disposal was his mind. Farjika realized Gabriyel had had three long seasons to plan what he would do if he ever got her alone.

  And if Lorren found out, she had no idea what he would do.

  Farjika realized she would suffer anything to protect Gabriyel from Lorren’s wrath. All this time Gabriyel had been willing to throw down his life for her. Since this situation was entirely her fault, she vowed to do anything to shield him.

  “I swear, Lorren, if you let him fuck her while I can’t see, I will never forgive you!” Errion sounded beyond furious.

  Lorren left her then.

  Looking up into the mirror, she watched Lorren grab a length of discarded crimson rope. Quickly he knotted it several times in the center. Unlike Errion, Lorren didn’t measure or make any effort to perfect his work. Once he’d fashioned what he wanted, he approached Errion. Forcing the rope around Errion’s head effectively gagged him. After everything Errion had done to her, she had no sympathy for him at all. Yet the question remained—what, if anything, would Lorren make Gabriyel do to her?

  Lorren caught her gaze in the mirror. Deliberately he stepped out of range, forcing her to grasp the ropes and lean up, which inadvertently pressed the knots in the centers of her palms. Fighting against the waves of pleasure, she used her fingertips to hold herself up.

  Darting her gaze over, she found Lorren standing next to Gabriyel. Cupping his hand around Gabriyel’s cock, Lorren stroked once, twice, and then whispered something into Gabriyel’s ear.

  Farjika strained to hear, but she couldn’t make out more than the rise and fall of his husky voice. All she could do was speculate as Gabriyel kept his gaze riveted to her, probably at Lorren’s behest. Stroking him slowly, his hand working him from the base to the tip, Lorren’s skilled touch caused tears of moisture to release from the head of Gabriyel’s cock.

  She wanted to scream at him to stop tormenting Gabriyel when he hadn’t done anything wrong. All he’d ever done was try to protect her. Had she listened to him, she wouldn’t be where she was now.

  Gabriyel shook his head, refusing whatever Lorren asked of him. Lorren’s fist tightened around his shaft, turning
the head dark with blood. Nostrils flared, torment eating up his features, Gabriyel finally relented. Bowing his head as much as he could in the restraint, he agreed to do whatever Lorren demanded.

  Her heart beat so fast her vision trembled. All along, she thought Errion was the cruel one, the brutal master. Lorren had hidden his monster well. From the far wall, his molten gaze hit her, drilling into her as forcefully as his prick had last night. Somehow, in a short span of time, he’d changed drastically. As afraid as she was, she also hungered for his control.

  Perplexed by her dual longing and fear, all she could do was hang bound in her restraints, awaiting the revelation of Lorren’s erotic plan. She waited breathlessly, her eyes going wide when Lorren released Gabriyel from the wall restraint but kept his arms bound behind him.

  When Gabriyel failed to advance, Lorren wrapped his arm around his shoulders, moving him forward. He kept right on whispering persuasions and subtly nudging until Gabriyel stood, right between her now trembling thighs. With him so close, she could smell his sweat. His scent was familiar and reassuring, comforting. She met his tormented gaze with what she hoped was forgiveness if not outright encouragement. She could lie to Errion and Lorren but the fact of the matter was she wanted Gabriyel. Moreover, she believed Gabriyel wanted her too. Perhaps not quite like this, but in truth, Lorren did not make either one of them do anything they didn’t secretly want to do.

  Softly, in Diolan, she whispered, “I know you have no choice.”

  “My lady, I—”

  “Step closer,” Lorren urged. “You know you want to.”

  Closing his eyes, Gabriyel stepped forward until his cock was a fraction from the knot above her clit.

  Her gasp of need forced his eyes open, and he panicked, terrified that he’d hurt her.

  Shaking her head, she whispered, “Please.”