A Royal Rebellion

by Revella Hawthorne

  “Always yours,” Mason agreed, as Abe’s strokes grew firmer, more demanding. Precum oozed from the slit and Mason whined deep in his throat as Abe’s thumb brushed through it, spreading it over the crown of his cock. “Body, heart, soul, all yours.”

  It didn’t take Abe long to get him off. Mason missed his lover more than words could express, their lives a horrible mixture of quick, desperate rendezvous and snatched kisses in the palace halls. Too long denied Abe’s touch, Mason came after a handful of strokes, Abe catching Mason’s seed in his palm as it pumped out of him in thick, heavy spurts.

  Mason was limp, muscles useless as Abe held him up, supporting his full weight. The hand in his hair let go, and Mason slumped forward, resting his head on Abe’s shoulder, his arms dangling at his sides. He breathed through the aftershocks, and roused when he heard Abe groaning in appreciation. He lifted his head, and laughed.

  “You really are a deviant fuck, Baron Reynard.” Mason chuckled at the sight of Abe licking his fingers clean of Mason’s spend, obviously enjoying the taste.

  “But you love me, anyway, Prince Mason of the Blood,” Abe kissed him, and Mason could taste himself on his lover’s tongue.

  “I do,” Mason promised, and he found his feet under him again as Abe backed away.

  “Are you boys done now?” Lucius’ voice echoed down the hall from somewhere up ahead, and Mason laughed. “I’m too old to be loitering in drafty halls while you two…reconnect.”

  “We’re done…for now, you old perv!” Mason called back down the hall, and he muttered to Abe, “Not like he wasn’t watching the whole time.”

  “Was he really?” Abe said, eyes deceptively wide, and Mason fell out laughing at the guileless expression on his lover’s face.

  “What’s so funny?”

  They both turned to see Edward walking up behind them, Percy fully dressed and asleep in his mate’s arms. The little breeder had a faint smile on his kiss-swollen lips, and the scent of sex was heavy in the air. Edward passed them in the hall, sparing Mason a quick glance as he went by. “Mace, do up your pants, I don’t need to see what Reynard was just playing with.”

  Mason rolled his eyes and re-buttoned his waistband, and Abe wrapped his arm over Mason’s shoulders. They followed behind Edward as they caught up to Lucius, Edward asking the noble for a quiet room for Percy to recover in.

  Chapter Nine

  Percy

  Percy opened his eyes to see the red-haired pleasure slave inches from his nose, her beautiful eyes wide with curiosity.

  “Hello,” Percy said, keeping his voice low. Pleasure slaves could be skittish, especially the females, their reactions to things and people exaggerated to create a more enthusiastic response during sex. He had very little interactions with female breeders once he hit puberty, but their mental development was stopped right about that time, so she would be relatively the same as the others he knew from his life at Heritage.

  “Hi,” she breathed out, voice a girlish mixture of awe and enjoyment. “Are you a new toy for Master Lucius?”

  “No,” Percy said, not unkindly, sitting up. He was dressed again, though he couldn’t recall doing it himself. After he rode Edward until they both came he had very little recollection. He tended to pass out after sex. “I belong to Master Edward.”

  “Oh! He’s very handsome,” the red-haired slave gasped out, a delightful blush building on her cheeks, eyes twinkling. “Will we he want to try us, too? Master Lucius lets us share.”

  “Us?” Percy looked up, and saw that in the small sitting room where he was placed on a wide chaise, he was surrounded by the female slaves of Lord Lucius’ harem. They sat clustered around the chaise, the red-head laying stretched out beside him, others sitting on the floor or peering over the sides, all of them watching him. Percy smiled at them, and he felt oddly out of place. He thought even that to be odd, since up until a few months ago, he was surrounded by slaves and breeders.

  He swung his feet down, bare toes touching a thick, warm rug, and he stretched with his arms over his head, arching his back and moaning as his spine gave a few pops. Several gasps sounded from the chorus of slaves around him, and he lowered his arms and looked around, wondering what startled them.

  A slim, tiny hand reached out, and Percy looked down to see the red-head rubbing his baby bump. She tilted her head like a bird, and the others all gathered closer, staring at his abdomen.

  “You are a breeder?” She asked, coming closer, all but snuggling with him as she ran her hands over his baby bump, gently exploring. She was very naked, as were all the others, though her nudity wasn’t what bothered him.

  “Yes, I am. I carry my master’s babe,” Percy confirmed, and was about to lean back from exploring hands when she started to unbutton his shirt, pulling the sides apart. Warm hands on his skin made him jump, and he laughed, trying to back away, but he ended up pressed against the wide sloping arm of the chaise.

  The females gathered in even closer, two brunettes climbing up on the chaise and crawling up on either side of him. They ran their hands up his thighs over his pants, sliding with curiosity over his groin before landing on the swell where his babe slept. Their hands were soft and warm, skin smooth and with delicate fingers, and they oohed and aahed over him with extreme interest.

  “You are a male?” The red-head asked, sliding her hands down his belly, and Percy squeaked in alarm when she unbuttoned his waistband, opening his trousers. “A male breeder? Do you have a cock?”

  “Yes!” Percy cried out, heavily startled, as the red-head went searching in his clothing. Slim hands cupped his cock and balls, and the two other slaves grabbed his trousers and tried pulling them off of him. “No! I belong to my master.”

  “Can we taste? Master lets us play with each other. Can we play with you?” one of the brunettes asked him, eyes guileless and a deep green, but her hands were anything but innocent as she ran them up his chest and pinched his nipples. He gasped at the sensations, and he blushed as his body responded to the stimulus, cock hardening in the skilled hands stroking him, his nipples hard little nubs as the brunette leaned over him and suckled on them. His body was designed to respond to sexual stimulus, and it rarely listened to his brain, if ever. He needed to get off the chaise and back to Edward.

  “Stop! My master will be very upset!” In truth, Percy was getting upset himself. He saw now why slaves were separated at puberty. Sex would be all too common and unavoidable. The pleasure slaves were even more voracious than a breeder in heat.

  Percy shifted on the chaise, trying to wiggle out from underneath the tangle of slim limbs and graceful forms. He was afraid to hurt them, and he could. While he was weak compared to Edward or Reynard, he was still stronger than these girls, and he could hurt them badly if he tried to force them off of him.

  The two brunettes were all but sitting on him, and Percy tried pushing them away, and kicking at the chaise in an attempt to slide out from underneath the very eager girls. They were panting, flushed, and the scent of female arousal filled the air. Percy squirmed in earnest when the red-head knelt at his hip, hands on his hard cock, and she leaned down over her prize, mouth opening.

  “I said no!” Percy shouted, startling them. The red-head pouted, her eyes narrowing, and she squeezed his cock. It leapt in her hand in response, and Percy hated his designer with a pure bolt of resentment in that moment. “Stop!”

  The red-head smiled at him, and opened her mouth as she lowered herself down, fully intending to swallow his cock. Percy thrashed, and managed to get one of the brunettes off him. She fell off the chaise with a squeal of alarm, Percy rolled over, dislodging the red-head and sliding out from under the other brunette. He landed on the floor, and fast as he could he got to his feet, redoing his trousers and tucking his over-friendly cock back under his waistband.

  “What is going on in here?” a stern voice demanded, and Percy froze instinctively, eyes down, hands at his side. That tone of voice was always the same, regardless of the nam
e of the man who bore it or where he worked—a stable master.

  The soft slap of leather on flesh made Percy peek. A big, swarthy man dressed in a simple cotton shirt and soft-looking silk pants wielded a golden chamois-wrapped crop, and he was spanking the red-haired slave girl on the ass with it. She moaned, lifting her ass as she fell to all fours, taking the whipping with pain and enjoyment. The stable master slapped her ass again, and she fell to her side on the floor, obviously enjoying the punishment more than not.

  Percy risked a glance at the stable master as he waded through the slaves sitting on the floor, the girls ducking their heads and avoiding eye contact. The man was big, heavy-set around the waist and jowls, and his eyes were hard and narrowed as he caught sight of Percy staring at him.

  Percy dropped his eyes and was about to step out of the room when the stable master pointed at him with the crop, freezing him in his tracks. Percy kept his head down and curled his hands to fists at his sides, wanting nothing more than to run out of the room and find Edward. Where was his prince?

  “The master will be most displeased to learn you were in here, girls,” the stable master warned, his voice scratchy, as if he spent more time screaming than actually talking. “He had the prince leave his breeder in here so he could sleep undisturbed. Return to the harem quarters. Now.”

  The girls scrambled to their feet, filing past Percy on their way out of the room. They were gone in a flash of shiny hair and pristine skin, leaving Percy alone with the stable master. He could see the big man approach, his house-shoes coming in view of Percy’s downturned eyes.

  “I shall have to inform your master of your trespass, breeder. Touching Master Lucius’ property is against the rules. Sex without permission is worth a beating or two. Does he whip you or use a flogger?” The stable master may be asking, but Percy was too mad to speak. How dare this man think he was willing! He had no control over his body, and the response was automatic. He wanted no part of the female slaves at all, and they were the ones to accost him!

  Percy glared at the man in front of him, lifting his head and meeting his gaze full on. “My name is Perseus, and my prince does not beat me. They touched me, and I told them to stop.”

  Anger swirled in the stable master’s eyes, and he tightened his grip on the golden crop, making the leather creak. “Such insolence! Have you forgotten your place, slave? That collar about your neck doesn’t make you less of a breeder or the prince’s property! There are plenty of places I can punish you that would spare the heir.” The stable master raised the crop, fast as snake, and brought it down just as quick.

  Percy saw it coming, and in the first time in his whole life, dodged the punishment handed out by a stable master. The blow, meant for his upper chest, glanced off his left arm instead. It hit with a bolt of pain that made him gasp, but he kept moving. His arm went numb and tingled horribly, but he kept moving.

  “You brat! I’ll beat you bloody! I’ll beat you so hard you drop that mongrel early!”

  Percy ran, his bare feet finding plenty of purchase in the soft, luxurious rugs that covered the stone floor. He left the small sitting room, and found himself in a hall not far from the first room where they’d met Lord Lucius. Percy darted out of the way of the charging stable master as he barreled out of the room behind him, forcing Percy deeper into the house.

  “Edward!” Percy shrieked as he ran, his cry bouncing off the white stone walls. The stable master was a couple strides behind him and closing fast. “Edward!”

  There was a room just ahead, and he could hear men talking, their voices alarmed as they heard him screaming. “Edward!” he called again, weaker this time, his body still not used to running. He was fit, but lacked stamina, and his pregnancy left him alternating between exhaustion and cranky. If he didn’t make it to Edward now the stable master would have him. Percy didn’t doubt for a second that he was facing a horrible beating if the stable master caught him. His babe would not survive, not this early in his pregnancy.

  Fear spurred him on faster, heart beating hard in his chest, lungs burning.

  The stable master reached out for him with an angry shout just as Percy cleared the doorway. He saw Edward and ran full-out to his master, who caught him and spun him away from the stable master’s grasping hand. Edward swung Percy into Reynard’s arms, who caught Percy just in time for Edward to throw a nasty right hook directly to the stable master’s jaw. The other man’s momentum made him fly into Edward’s fist, and the stable master slammed back first to the hard floor, head hitting with a thwacking sound so loud it made Percy flinch.

  The stable master groaned in pain, but he was a big man and he shook it off, rolling to his side and then to his knees. Edward stepped forward and landed his booted foot directly in the other man’s sternum, knocking him flat again.

  Percy slipped out of Reynard’s arms, and ran to Edward’s side. His prince pulled him close, grabbing Percy’s upper arms, concerned eyes sweeping over him. Percy knew he looked a sight; hair disheveled, shirt open and revealing his upper torso, and he was sweating from exertion. Edward’s hand hit the spot on his arm where the crop hit him, and Percy winced, gasping in pain. Edward shot him a look, and lifted Percy’s arm, revealing where the crop tore through the fine material of his sleeve and raised a thick welt on his upper arm. Blood beaded along the center of the welt, smearing as the cloth moved over it.

  The rage that welled up in Edward’s eyes was terrifying. Percy knew Edward had a temper, but he fought so hard not to let it escape him. The last time Percy had seen anger of this magnitude it was after the two footmen in employ of Heritage had insulted Percy in Edward’s private quarters at Hartgrove. Edward barely let those two men live, and all they had done at the time was insult Percy.

  Edward stripped Percy of his shirt, dropping it to the floor. He turned Percy so that the injury could be seen better, and the sounds that came from both Reynard and Mason, who was sitting nearby at a computer, made Percy flinch. Reynard moved to the stable master, but Mason jumped between them and grabbed the captain and held him back, whispering in his ear.

  Edward gently, with extreme care, set Percy aside, out of the way. The stable master was getting to his feet again, and was reaching for the golden crop on the floor at his feet when Edward picked it up first. Edward let the stable master regain his feet, and he stood there, a belligerent and unrepentant expression twisting his face.

  “Explain yourself, now.”

  The stable master glared at Edward, who was casually running his hands over the golden crop, testing the spring in its bend. “The breeder spoke out of turn. I punished him. I caught him cavorting with the master’s slave girls. They had their hands and mouths on him, and he was enjoying it. Sex is not allowed unless the master gives permission.”

  “They accosted me, Edward, when I woke up,” Percy said softly, refusing to let this nasty man pollute Edward’s opinion of him. “I told them no, but my body…it did as it’s meant to, and the slave girls were wrongly encouraged. I got away from them. The stable master came in and accused me. I corrected him. He struck me with the crop. I ran, and he threatened to...he threatened to beat me ‘til I lost my babe.”

  “I believe you, little one,” Edward reassured him, still holding the crop in his hands. He faced the stable master, who glared at Percy over Edward’s shoulder.

  “The punishment for assaulting a royal consort is death,” Edward said, so very calm that it was even scarier than if he was screaming with rage. “You struck my mate, who is pregnant with my child. You then threatened the life of my babe. Twice then, that you earned death.”

  The stable master’s face mottled with red and white splotches, anger, disbelief and some confusion marking his unpleasant features.

  “Lord Lucius!” Edward called out, and the stable master tensed. He tried backing away, but suddenly Mason and Reynard were at his back, taking both his arms and forcing him to his knees. He was a big man, but both the prince and the captain held him fast.

/>   “I’m here, my prince,” Lord Lucius said from the far corner of the room, stepping away from another desk, this one full of computers as well, dozens of screens flashing with images. Lord Lucius came to Edward’s side, and sent his gray gaze over Percy’s arm. The blood was running freely now down to his elbow, and Percy’s whole arm was throbbing, adrenaline wearing off, and he felt like he was going to be ill.

  “He assaulted my consort, the bearer of my heir. He dies, by your hand or mine,” Edward stated, and the stable master roared in anger, struggling against Reynard and Mason.

  “I agree,” Lord Lucius said calmly, “He won’t see the dawn. I have texted my guards. Gentlemen, would you mind restraining my former employee until my men detain him?”

  Mason grinned, and a knee came flying up, cracking across the back of the stable master’s head. The man shouted and struggled, but both Mason and Reynard held him still. “Our pleasure. They can take their time.”

  Edward handed Lord Lucius the crop, who took it with a raised brow and a shake of his head. Edward came to Percy, and picked him up, carrying him to the fireplace, setting him in a chair. Percy could hear the stable master struggling, cursing as men in dark uniforms entered the room and took him away.

  Edward’s big hands gently cupped his arm, turning it so he could see the wound. Percy cried out, biting his lip, and blood dripped from his elbow, hitting the crushed blue velvet of the armchair he was in, beading. Percy started to breathe fast, feeling like he was suffocating, and he shook all over.

  “Breathe, little one,” Edward chided, as Percy stared at the blood, transfixed, even as his stomach fought to revolt. He really disliked blood. “Slow down, and in and out. Relax, you’re safe now.”

  “It hurts,” Percy whispered, wiping his face on his shoulder, Edward holding his left arm up and away from his body, blood dripping.

  “I know, Percy. Reynard is right here, he has a first aid kit. Just breathe, and hold still, okay?”