“And I said anything,” she cuts me off and I can feel my brow pinch together as I look over every inch of her expression to gauge her sincerity. “When you’re with me, I know that I can’t leave, and I don’t want to even try. But when you’re gone… it’s harder. So, I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want you to leave me.”
She’s a siren. I see it so clearly. It’s her beauty, her broken strength, her denial, and her acceptance. It all calls to me and I will do anything I can to wrap my grip tighter around my songbird while she sings beautiful lullabies.
“Tomorrow night, you’ll come to dinner with me. Kneeling beside me. You will obey. You will sit beside me, proud to be mine.” She nods her head as if she’s accepting a punishment, but this is so much more than that. “You’ll do as I say. Every fucking thing I tell you to do.” I emphasize each word, my finger running up and down her throat. “In front of my family and guests, you will show them how willing you are to obey me.”
“Yes, Carter.”
The way her breathing catches and she swallows the eagerness of accepting the punishment, almost makes me feel guilty for what I say next. Almost. “And tonight, you will sleep in the cell for daring to take advantage of the freedom I’ve given you.”
“Yes, Carter,” she replies although her words crack and her eyes close in agony. Her thick lashes flutter, as she opens her eyes again and she stares deeply into my own, waiting for more. The deep well of loneliness is already settling into her gaze. The look of sadness is something I’ve seen before, but in her eyes, it looks so beautiful.
“You’ll stay there until I feel you’ve learned your lesson.”
She nods and wipes the tear from under her right eye, but dutifully answers, “Yes, Carter.”
My own breathing quickens at the thought of having her to myself before sending her away. “As for right now, you’ll lie across my lap, feeling my hard cock dig into your belly as I punish you, spanking your bare ass and playing with your cunt until I feel you’ve paid enough for the offense of trying to leave me.”
“I will,” she says softly and raises her head to meet my gaze. When her eyes meet mine, she nods in agreement. “I will,” she repeats breathlessly.
The command falls instantly from me. “Tell me that your cunt is mine to play with.”
“My cunt is yours to play with.” And her obedience falls from her lips just the same.
“And your ass?” I prompt.
“It’s yours.” There’s no hesitation in her voice.
“And what about these lips of yours?” I question her in a deep voice ragged with desire as my thumb traces her pouty lips.
“Whatever you’d like to do with them,” she whispers against my touch.
“Lift up your dress and lie here,” I tell her as I sit on the ground of the wine cellar, too eager to have my hands on her to move us to the cell.
Her movements are rushed and reckless as she pulls the cotton dress up and moves to my lap. Her hips are balanced on my right thigh, but I move her ass to the center, forcing her to yelp as she tries to brace herself with her hands.
“Behind your back,” I command her, and it takes a moment. Her hair is everywhere, but I slip it over one shoulder, taking my time to gather it together before grabbing both of her wrists in one of my hands. My fingers easily slip down her panties, the lace fabric almost tearing, but I’m careful with it, letting my touch send goosebumps flowing over every inch of her skin.
She moans slightly, already enjoying her punishment. But I’ll enjoy it more.
With my hand rubbing a circle on her ass cheek, I tell her, “I think you misbehave just so I can punish you.”
She shakes her head, writhing over my lap and making her hair toss slightly. “I don’t want to upset you.” Her words are soft and saddened, but her whimpers speak of nothing but pleasure.
The first smack is light and followed by my grabbing her ass and then smacking the other cheek harder. Her body bucks, but I don’t even get a gasp.
Leaning to my left, I see her eyes shut tightly and her teeth digging into her bottom lip. I let my fingers slip to her cunt, and my cock aches with the pain to be inside of her.
“So tight,” I tell her with reverence in my tone and then rock her, so she can feel my cock.
She only moans and waits for more, but her teeth let up slightly while I take my time with her.
“How many do you think, my Aria?” I ask her and just as her lips part, my hand pulls back and I whip her ass with an open hand that leaves my skin stinging with pain. She cries out, throwing her head back as the pain and pleasure mix and my fingers dip back to her cunt.
“I asked how many?” My voice is calm but deadly. Inside I’m burning hot with a desperate need.
“How many—” she starts to answer me, and I spank her other cheek even harder than the last, forcing tears to her eyes. The sharp, sweet pain travels from my palm up my arm. Gripping her reddened skin, I wait for her to answer but with her eyes watering and her breath taken from her, all she does is part her lips to breathe.
“Answer me, Aria.” Before my words are finished she says as quickly as she can, “However many you’d like.”
A beat passes where she hangs her head to suck in a breath. Another beat passes where I pull my hand away from her skin and watch as she tenses on my lap.
The rapid succession of my hand hitting her tender skin over and over again until my arm is screaming with pain and my hand feels nearly numb passes in a whirlwind.
Her cries get louder as she fights me in my lap, naturally wanting to pull away from me. I nearly lose my grip on her wrists, but I manage to keep her steady and where I need her to be, so I can fulfill her punishment.
Her ass is bright red and my skin humming with a delightful sting by the time I slip my fingers back to her soaking wet cunt. Her body shudders and her yelp of pain turns to a sinful moan.
Over and over I spank her viciously, the underside of her ass, the right cheek, the left one… and then her pussy. My hand’s wet with her arousal as she trembles beneath me.
My fingers dip into her pussy with each smack, giving her only the tiniest bit of penetration. The intensity of the teasing bends her back even farther and her lust-filled gaze stares back at me with her strangled moans of pleasure and pain echoing off the walls of the cellar.
“Good girl.” I praise her and watch as she peers up at me with a wondering look in her eyes and her cheeks tearstained.
“Tonight, I’m going to fuck you into that mattress on the floor like I should have the moment I got my hands on you.”
Her pussy clenches around my fingertips and I reward her by pushing them in deeper and stroking her front wall.
Her back arches and I have to push her shoulder down to keep her right where I want her as I pull my touch away from her in order to leave her wanting. Her small moan of frustration is met with another slap of my hand on her bright red skin. Smack!
Her head flies back and those gorgeous lips of hers part with a deep gasp of longing. It’s no longer pain. She’s too close to the edge of pleasure to feel anything but.
Soothing the pain of the smack with my hand, I rub her right cheek and then pull back for one more strike.
“You would have learned sooner if I’d been rougher with you, wouldn’t you?”
She moans her answer with her eyes closed and her body still, knowing another punishing blow is coming, “Yes, Carter.”
Her answer is absent of sincerity. She’d tell me whatever I wanted to hear right now as she sits on the edge of pleasure and pain.
The days come back to me. Each of them and what I’d planned to do with her is in such stark contrast to what I’ve done. I let the fingers of my right hand trail over her ass, my blunt nails gently scraping along her tender skin and making her squirm on my lap. My left hand grips her throat, finally releasing her wrists, and I pull back, forcing her to look at me.
Her hazel eyes are filled with longing and lust. The haze is a
fog in the forest. Unable to see, but so tempted to go forward.
“I should have fucked you so much sooner.”
I remember that first day, how she screamed and cried for me to let her go, back when I hated her and she hated me.
Even with my tight grip on her throat, with my touch sending sparks through her body, she forces her head to shake, not taking her eyes from mine.
“No,” she whispers, and my dick hardens, even more, begging me to punish her for daring to defy me. But then she adds, “This is how it was supposed to be.”
Her breathing is heavy as she closes her eyes, her body bowed on my lap. She’s completely at my mercy and her pouty lips are there for the taking.
All of her. Every piece of her is mine and she knows it.
Mine.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Aria
Yesterday was full of regret.
The moment I saw Carter again, I wish I’d taken back those hours he was gone.
He always keeps his word. And true to form, he took me back to the cell and fucked me on the mattress. Maybe it was the drunkenness, maybe it was something else, but the fear of the cell was absent and instead, I did everything I could to please him. My body begged me to.
Not because I felt the need to obey.
I wanted him to kiss me.
I needed him to. And every time his lips trailed down my neck, I tried to capture them. Tried and failed. He knows I want him though. A shudder runs through my body at the thought and it’s met with the dull ache between my thighs.
He fucked me until I couldn’t move anymore and even as I laid on my belly on the mattress, unable to grip onto it, unable to keep my back arched as he commanded me to. Even then he rutted behind me, pistoning into me and giving me a punishing fuck.
Last night I was his whore. He balled my hair into his fist and pulled back so he could rake his teeth along my neck and force my body however he wanted it.
And I wanted nothing more.
The realization should startle me more, but instead, all I can think about is that he knows I want him to kiss me, and yet he didn’t let me.
It’s different when he’s with me. The security I have with him is everything.
The sane part of me knows it’s not healthy and that I should keep fighting, but the sane part of me is the only part of me that’s held captive in this reality. If only I let it go, I feel free.
Free enough to feel safe for another day.
Free enough to know that what happens in the war will happen regardless of whether I’m here or not.
Free enough to slip on the dress that Carter’s laid out for me and stare at the image of a beautiful woman in the mirror. One who I envy. One I can’t believe is me.
With my hair smoothed and clipped at the side, the bit of makeup adding a definition of beauty to my porcelain skin, I feel so much like a songbird who sings soft melodies of hope, with her wings clipped in a gilded cage.
My fingers graze over the delicate lace and my eyes close, remembering last night.
The bruise on my ass sends a reminder of the pain through me as I smooth the soft lace down my curves. The sensation is directly linked to my clit and instantly my body begs for more. For me to put an ounce of pressure against the bruise.
A soft breath leaves me, a wanting one at that, and when I open my eyes, Carter is standing in front of me.
My heart slams and then does a soft trot. As if it’s galloping toward him, even though he’s the one walking toward me.
Each step is deliberate, but with a softness I’ve never seen from him and it captures every bit of my thoughts.
“You look beautiful, songbird,” he says, and his voice is like velvet as he rounds me. His steps echo in the bedroom as he walks in a half circle and stops at my back.
I can hear his breathing hitch as he pulls at the lace, sliding it up my backside and sending a thrilling shiver up my body. His fingertips trail ever so gently along the marks. “Beautiful,” he remarks before hiding them under the lace once again.
“Thank you,” I dare to whisper, meeting his gaze as he walks to stand in front of me. My fingers slip to the hem of the dress, toying with it to hide the anxiousness of wanting to touch him as he’s just touched me. I’m not allowed to today. When he opened the door to the cell, he told me if I obeyed every wish of his today, I would never see the cell again.
One day, and the rules of the game change forever.
A million thoughts are scattered through my mind, but only one of them matters.
“I’ll be good tonight,” I tell him in a voice I don’t recognize. One of obedience, but also strength. “I won’t disappoint you.” A past version of me would slit my throat before letting herself hear those words. There’s only a faint blip of pain in my heart at the realization.
The earlier version of me was foolish.
This version of me will survive. And this version has the audacity to admit that I enjoy it. Every fucking bit of it. To be wanted by a man so powerful who wants for nothing is a heady feeling.
“Aria,” Carter says my name in a way that makes fear blossom deep in my gut. “You’re going to want to defy me,” he tells me, and the worry shows on my face. I can feel it tugging my lips down as it dries out my throat. He stalks in a circle around me, occasionally picking at the lace of the dress. They’re cages. Each of the pieces of lace is a birdcage. And there’s never been a dress that’s adorned my body as beautifully as this one does.
“You may even hate me,” he says in a purely seductive cadence. His hot breath tickles the bare skin of my neck as he whispers at the shell of my ear, “But you will obey me.”
I nod my head and then croak out, “Yes, Carter.” It’s so silent in the room with neither of us speaking, moving or even daring to breathe. It’s so silent I swear the darkness itself could whisper and I would hear its threatening tongue.
“Your necklace suits this dress perfectly,” Carter says out loud although I don’t think the words were meant for me.
Absently, I roll one of the pearls between my fingers and then feel the thin chain slide under my thumb as it moves to the diamond teardrop. It feels heavier tonight. Everything feels heavier when Carter looks at me like he is now.
With dark eyes that pin me in place and keep me still, right where he wants me. It’s a silly thing, how the same gaze that once caused fear to ripple through my body now only heats my core and begs me to bend at the knees for him.
“Thank—”
Carter places a finger against my lips, silencing me. The small touch is addictive and the tension of the dinner tonight amplifies.
“Remember what I told you last night.” He speaks as he toys with the necklace, holding the large diamond and lifting the weight from me. “You will kneel beside me, and you will obey every command.”
Instantly my body heats. I worry my bottom lip between my teeth, wanting to ask him so many questions, but I already know he won’t answer. There’s only one thing to say. “Yes, Carter.”
A moment passes, his eyes searching my gaze for something and I can hardly breathe.
“After tonight, no one will question that you’re mine.” His eyes darken and the flecks of gold that are buried beneath the coal there turn to fire. A fire that ignites my own and soothes the worries.
“Come with me,” he commands me as he reaches for my hand.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Carter
My walk is calm and steady, even as Aria freezes.
The cocky smirk stays plastered on my lips, even as sickness stirs in my gut.
Every bit of my body is screaming to act, but this is for her. It’s all for her.
“Come,” I command Aria as she stares straight ahead at the entrance to the dining hall. Her chest rises in slow motion as her lips part with the hint of a shaky breath. “Aria,” I say, and her name slips from me like an admonishment, “I said come.” The demand is there, but the look she gives me in return is one of defiance and betr
ayal. There’s so much hate in the dark greens and ambers of her eyes that I almost regret this.
But she needs this. That hate for me won’t be there for long.
Stephan and Romano’s shared rumble of deep laughter is the only sound in the large room as they see her. With the blood-red velvet curtains shut tightly, the only light in the room shines down from the scattered crystals on the chandelier.
The smell of beef wellington, seated beautifully at the center of the table, greets us as we enter the room. The light shines off the butcher’s knife beside it.
Aria’s walk is hesitant but she obeys me, even if there are tears in her eyes.
“I was beginning to think I’d have to come up and get you,” Jase says as I take Aria’s hand in mine and motion for her to kneel beside my chair across from Stephan. Her palm is clammy, and her grip tight as she lowers herself to the floor. The pain I feel for her is nothing compared to what she’ll have in only moments.
As quickly as she can, she tears her hand from mine. And again, laughter from the two guests echoes off the walls.
“Still so defiant.” Romano’s eyes sparkle, but I ignore him, taking my seat.
I hate that for the moment I can’t keep my hand on hers, but soon I’ll have her again.
“No need,” I tell Jase, meeting his gaze and forcing a smile on my lips that grows as I turn my attention to Stephan, nodding a greeting and then turn to Romano. “Thank you for coming, gentlemen.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” Stephan says at the same time as Romano nods his head, the thin smile growing on his lips and turning wicked.
“It’s a delight to see you’ve taken a liking to our gift.”
Anger burns deep in my chest at the memory of him having his hands on her only weeks ago, but it stays where it is as I return his smile, placing my hand on the back of Aria’s head. She remains stiff, not leaning into my touch, which only intensifies the fire inside of me. But I will have patience, even if she tests me.
“I wish I could see her better,” Stephan says, sitting up from his seat for a moment and making a comical face. Jase gives him a bit of laughter, I’m sure because he knows what’s coming. He’ll enjoy this, but not nearly as much as I will.
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