by Sharon Green
The spanking lasted much too long, and by the time it was over Elissia was nearly sobbing. The beast had made her bottom ache more than any of the other times, and she really did feel punished. When he finally let her up it was to help her out of her clothing, and then he led her to the bed.
“You can lie belly down until I’m ready for you,” he said as she crawled onto the bed and put her cheek to the quilt. “You more than earned the punishment you were given, but now it’s time for soothing. And since you’ve already asked to do your duty as my wife, you won’t need to ask again.”
Elissia was still desperate to be soothed, but she’d now reached the point of half wishing he would insist on going straight to sleep. Her bottom throbbed and ached with the results of his anger-induced punishment, and when he put her to his use it would feel as if she were being spanked all over again. But as thoroughly intimidated as she now felt, she knew that refusing him anything would be impossible. And she did still want him, even more than before
This time he blew out the lamp before joining her in bed, and when he took her in his arms she was very grateful for that. His kiss was gentle but coaxingly passionate, and she couldn’t keep herself from responding. When he began to caress her she put her hands to his bare back, shuddering as she felt the hard muscle under his skin. She couldn’t admit how much she wanted this man, she just couldn’t, not when he would never be hers. His lips on her breasts, his hand on her thigh she would never be able to live once the reality turned into nothing but memory, so it was a good thing she’d already made her plans. Once Gardal was safe she could end the pain but when he entered her she was very glad to have a reason to cry out. If he knew what she meant to do he just might keep her out of pity, and that would be a thousand times worse than death. No, she had to make sure he never found out, but meanwhile his heavy stroking made her forget about everything but him. And especially about the woman he would next do this to, once she was no longer in the way
Chapter 6
copyright 1999, 2002 by Sharon Green
Derand awoke first again the next morning, and thoughts of how nicely the night had gone led him to a repeat performance that he hadn’t planned. He was getting to the point where it was hard to keep his hands off Seea, but he couldn’t just pick her up and carry her off to bed even when there was a bed available. If he wanted her to be as eager as he was he would have to have patience, but hanging back wasn’t easy. So he took advantage of the fact that she was still asleep and made love to her again, then held her until sleep had reclaimed her. They’d had a long, intense bout of lovemaking the night before, and he would have enjoyed joining her in falling asleep again.
But if his men got back early enough today, they’d be able to move on toward Ramsond. Along with the information he needed, those men would also be bringing the items he needed for his disguise. Since he wasn’t about to discuss the disguise he’d thought of – especially with Seea - before he absolutely had to, he’d refused to tell her why they weren’t going directly on to the city. Her continuing lack of trust in him had hurt enough that he’d made an issue of it, but the whole thing had ended really well. He’d given her a spanking she’d remember for quite a while, but that hadn’t stopped her from nearly devouring him when he got into bed.
And to think I almost missed out on that, he thought with a grin as he dressed and went silently out to the front room. Her appetites are already enormous, much sooner than I expected. Once they’re firmly established and we don’t need to use the device any longer, she’ll probably respond as though we were still using it. Spankings will also help to remind her, and we won’t soon run out of reasons for those. As soon as she no longer has her brother to worry about, I’m sure to have my hands full.
Derand chuckled at the thought of the trouble Seea was likely to make for him, especially when it came to seeing to those chores the wife of a king had to take care of. He certainly couldn’t do everything himself even if he were any good at things like that, but to say that Seea was less than enthusiastic about running a palace’s household was to understate the matter severely. He’d tried to use his own mother as an example of how good a woman had to be to run such a household smoothly, but Seea had seemed to be dismissing every word he said. Once they found Gardal and freed him, he’d have to ask Seea just what it was that she had against being in complete charge of a palace. It wasn’t as if he expected her to do all the work herself
But there was something even more important that he needed her for, the job of being an advisor he could rely on. She had the knack of keeping her eyes open and actually seeing what people were like, which let her make shrewd and accurate guesses about what they were apt to do. And she also seemed able to spot a trap from a league away, then find a way around that trap. Abilities like hers were rare and precious, certainly not to be wasted.
She’d be kept busy as his wife and queen, but first he had to get her to relax and accept the position along with what went with it. She hadn’t mentioned their marriage being over anytime soon for a while, so maybe she was finally getting past the idea of being free of him. Being around her was like having your rope on a wild stallion; if you didn’t pay really close attention, the stallion would slip free and be gone. Right now the only thing holding her was the danger to Gardal’s life. He’d have to keep his eyes wide open once they had Gardal back and safe
After throwing water in his face to wake himself up, Derand opened the shutters on the windows to let his men know he was up and about. Even the assigned liaison wasn’t close enough to disturb his and Seea’s privacy, but seeing the shutters open would let the man know he wanted something. What Derand wanted at the moment was some bread to quiet his appetite until breakfast was ready, preferably with a generous coating of lightly salted butter. If his men had already gone to the nearest inn or roadhouse it might prove possible to get the bread. If they hadn’t, he’d just have to wait until they did or the porridge was ready
When his man came to the cabin door, there was a package in his hand that encouraged Derand to hope for the best. It did turn out to be bread, so Derand gave his man a few orders about what he wanted, and then returned inside to eat. The porridge would soon be ready, he’d been told, and as soon as it was, two bowls of it would be brought.
The pledge of a few minutes wasn’t a lie, and shortly the bowls and a skin of fresh tea was brought to the door. It also finally came through to Derand how nice and warm the new day already was, so he added to the orders he’d given earlier before letting his man leave again. He’d given his wife a promise about something, and now meant to make good on that promise.
Derand knocked softly before reentering the bedchamber, which helped to bring Seea awake. She looked over at him blurrily, so he smiled.
“Breakfast is ready, Seea, so it’s time to get up and dressed,” he said, walking over to her saddlebags.
“I’ll wait for you in the front room.”
He took her vague nod as agreement, and so left her to wake up the rest of the way. He also took her saddlebags with him, to be sure that she didn’t put on either of the two changes of clothing she had with her. That would come later, after she’d had the bath she’d been promised.
It was no more than a few minutes before Seea appeared from the bedchamber, completely dressed and now looking more fully awake. She came to the table and paused to glance down at her chair, but that had already been taken care of. Derand, knowing what she’d been given last night, had already put the cushion on it.
“It’s a beautiful day, so after breakfast we’ll both go for a bath,” Derand told her as she took her seat rather gingerly. “Bathing in a stream is fun, and I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’ve never bathed in a stream,” she said after a short hesitation, looking at her porridge rather than at him where he sat to her left. “I think I’d prefer to bathe as best I can from the basin.”
“And miss the fun?” Derand said, suddenly very eager to rid her of that quietness.
He hated to see her like that, a suggestion of what she’d become for far too long in her father’s palace. “You need some fun in your life, to make you smile if for no other reason. I can’t remember the last time I saw you smile.”
Rather than answer, she began to eat. Derand had the feeling she was deliberately keeping silent rather than not having anything to say, a decision he would consider wise at another time and place. Right now, though Hopefully she would come out of it once the remnants of last night’s spanking were not so much with her.
Derand applied himself to his own breakfast, and again finished before she did. This time, though, she seemed to be forcing herself to eat, another sign Derand didn’t care for. He had to pull her out of the black mood as fast as possible, using the only tool he had against it.
“My men haven’t come back from Ramsond yet, but they should be here any time,” he said, quickly drawing her attention. “If for some reason they aren’t here by nightfall, we’ll plan on leaving early tomorrow anyway. I can see waiting one day, but not any longer.”
“Don’t forget it’s always possible they were captured,” she pointed out, finally pushing away her bowl.
“If they were then Waysten knows you’re coming for certain, and he’ll have more than casual traps set. I may have to go into the city alone.”
“If it comes down to that, we’ll figure out a way to make sure you’re protected even if you seem to be alone,” Derand said, hating the idea but forced to acknowledge the possibility. “But first we’ll have to make sure that Gardal isn’t being kept on an abandoned farm. If he is, no one will have to go into the city.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, and I don’t believe it’s very likely any longer,” she replied, reaching distractedly for the tea. “People in a farm district do know everything that goes on in it, so even using a farm that isn’t abandoned would be a risk on Waysten’s part. He’d also have to limit the number of men he has around Gardal, which would make freeing him much too easy. No, I think Gardal is being kept somewhere in the city, but I don’t yet know exactly where.”
“Wouldn’t it be even harder to disguise the presence of guards in a city?” Derand put, all but thinking out loud. “I mean, if a house in your neighborhood suddenly had all sorts of men guarding it all the time, wouldn’t you notice and mention it to your friends?”
“Yes, I would, so that leaves two possibilities,” Seea answered after taking a swallow of tea. “Either he’s being kept in a place where guardsmen are supposed to be at all times, or he’s in some location that’s run – and guarded by – the criminal element every city has. If the criminals are being led to believe that my brother is being held for ransom rather than for political reasons, they’d help out and keep quiet for the promise of a portion of the ransom.”
“And that would be the most likely place to find him, since the other possibility would have to be official and therefore easily traceable to Waysten,” Derand concluded for her. “There’s always the chance that they have him drugged and so don’t need too many guards on him, but that can be checked on both inside and out of the city. I, personally, tend to agree that the criminal element is involved, so we’ll have to make the strongest efforts in that direction.”
“Buying the information will be easiest if it’s done discreetly enough,” she responded after taking a second drink. “Do you have enough gold with you?”
“More than enough,” he assured her, then stood up. “So let’s go see to getting those baths. If we don’t, they’ll know we’re coming as soon as they’re downwind of us.”
“I learned to do without bathing on hunting trips,” she said, ignoring the hand he held out to her. “If you use basin-washing it isn’t too bad, and I’d rather – ”
“Seea, we’re going to take a bath,” he interrupted firmly, reaching to her hand and taking it just as firmly. “And we’re going to have fun, just the way I said we would.”
Her expression briefly looked as though she were flinching on the inside, and then she stood up with a sigh. She seemed to be expecting his idea of fun to be painful, which meant he had to show her she was wrong. Or maybe fun always had been painful for her, and she’d gotten to the point of expecting nothing else. He hoped he was wrong about that, but was afraid he wasn’t. So how did you make something fun for someone who didn’t know how to have fun?
Derand used the hand he held to lead her over to her saddlebags, then told her to take out a clean outfit. He went into the bedchamber to do the same with his own saddlebags, then came back out and went toward the bow standing in the corner of the room. The bow and a quiver of clothyard shafts had been waiting when they reached the cabin, but happily Derand hadn’t needed the weapon then. Now he might, so he wasn’t about to leave it behind.
When they were both ready he led the way out of the cabin, moving through the woods in the direction the stream was supposed to lie. Seea followed him silently for a time, but then she moved up to walk beside him.
“Why do you keep calling me that strange name?” she asked, her attitude telling him that curiosity had driven her to put the question. “My name is Elissia, not something you might call a pet.”
“‘Elissia’ is a pretty name, but it’s too long and formal,” he responded, deciding to try again to lighten the mood between them. “Besides, you are my pet, at least for the time being. Why don’t you relax and enjoy the time? It won’t be for too much longer, remember, and then we’ll have to go back to the everyday demands of the world. Haven’t you ever learned to take enjoyment when you can get it?”
Her only answer was a lowering of her head, which made Derand sigh on the inside. Hadn’t she had any enjoyment out of life until now? She’d seemed to enjoy making her father do things her way, but had she really? If she’d considered it a duty rather than enjoyment, he’d misjudged her badly. That was something else they’d have to talk about, but not at the moment. He could see the stream through the trees ahead, and was really looking forward to that bath. He’d been raised to the idea of regular bathing, and tended to miss that the most during the time of campaigns.
“Will you look at that,” he said when they came out of the woods and were able to see the stream clearly. “Isn’t it the most beautiful and inviting sight you’ve seen in a very long while? And it even comes equipped with large towels we can use to dry ourselves with.”
She looked at the towels with a frown, apparently taking him at his word at first. Then reason prevailed and she transferred a dark look to him, which made him grin.
“All right, so it was my men who provided the towels,” he allowed with a chuckle. “But it’s more fun to think that all streams come complete with the essentials, including the soap you can’t see but which also ought to be there. You do know how to pretend, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know how to pretend,” she answered with a sigh, but that wasn’t all she had to say. She hesitated a long moment, then added, “But it isn’t possible to pretend about everything. I’m now forced to admit that I can’t swim. That’s why I wanted to wash in the basin back at the cabin rather than come out here.”
“Why are you making it sound like such a tragedy?” he asked, seriously curious. “No one can do everything in this life, and not knowing how to swim is something that can be easily taken care of. The area near the bank ought to be shallow enough to stand, and afterward I’ll give you your first swimming lesson.”
“You expect me to put my life in your hands?” she blurted, now looking positively pale. “Considering how much trouble you seem to find me, I’d probably be safer with that cat I killed yesterday.”
“I don’t find you to be any trouble at all,” he corrected her, speaking the absolute truth. “Another day will be another matter, but right now you’re anything but trouble. And what did we discuss about not trusting people who ought to be trusted?”
He’d used the word “discuss” in case there was anyone close enough to hear their conversation, but Seea’s blush told h
im she knew what he really meant. Part of the reason she’d had the device put in her early last night was because of a lack of trust, and she obviously needed the reminder. But why did she need it? Was she deliberately letting herself forget everything he said and did because she expected to be rid of him soon? If so, that was something they needed to discuss right now.
“Seea, are you thinking that our marriage will be annulled once we find your brother?” he asked, knowing he had her attention even though she didn’t look up at him. “I believe I’ve already said that that isn’t going to happen, so you’d better get used to the idea. And I’d like to know what you find so terrible about running a palace as its queen and mistress. It isn’t everyone who can do it right.”
“Of course not,” she muttered with a snort of disbelief and scorn, still keeping her gaze away from him.
“It takes the incredible talent of finding people to give orders to the servants, and then sitting back and letting them give those orders. My mother happens to have that talent, and she must work at it oh, a good five or ten minutes a day – if that long. I don’t think I could stand the pressure and strain.”
Derand knew that Seea’s mother was a really sweet woman, but so passive that it was hard to tell just how intelligent she was. She never pushed herself forward or voiced an opinion that wasn’t asked for, and since people rarely remembered she was around she was never asked for an opinion. But quiet and unobtrusive didn’t necessarily mean stupid
