Page 45 of A Kingdom of Pleasure and Torment

“True.” I go to the immense jewelry box Luthian gifted me this afternoon. He was so pleased by my performance, he said I deserved a reward.

The only reward I want is for him to fuck me. I’m beginning to feel slighted.

I know it isn’t crucial to our scheme. Still, the feeling of his cock pushed against me, so close to giving us both what we desperately want from each other, haunts me.

Luthian stands behind me and holds my gaze in the mirror. “Give him what he wants. I need him to trust you.”

“He will.” I’ve worked too long at my lessons to fail now.

“Good girl.” He leans down and kisses the curve where my neck meets my shoulder. I shiver.

We walk downstairs, to the great hall, where a new egress appeared upon our return. It’s tall, with a pointed arch, and swirling, colored glass fills two windows in the gleaming silver door. Luthian opens it onto a long, deserted gallery with black walls and black-and-white checked marble upon the floor. Two sylphs wait for me, reach out to snatch my wrists as they did that morning.

I jerk my chin up and say haughtily, “You will not put a hand on me. I am a guest of His Most Gracious Majesty.”

They float back, but they flank me as I walk the length of the gallery, and they open another set of doors when we reach the end. I want to look back at Luthian. I try not to. He would not want me to.

I can’t resist.

What I see stuns me. The same rage, the same pain from the throne room twists his features as he watches them deliver me to his enemy. But there is no one to see him here, no one to act for. And when our eyes meet, he looks away and closes the door.

I’ve seen something I wasn’t supposed to see.

There’s no time to wonder about it; the sylphs have delivered me directly to the king’s chamber. The walls are black with long panels of ruby satin. Various implements are displayed proudly in the way a trophy hunter hangs his conquests. There are rods and canes, whips and paddles, restraints attached to the walls. Various objects for pleasure are there, too, from phalluses of varying sizes and materials to potions like the ones in Luthian’s study. One entire end of the long room is a vast bed, made up with black silk and mounds of pillows. Shackles dangle from every post and from the headboard. A wide arch divides the room in half, and I stand before a long, black dining table set with a mouthwatering feast.

At the head of the table is King Arcus.

“Welcome, my lady,” he says, gesturing to the seat at his right. “Do come join me.”

“It would be my pleasure,” I say, swallowing with exaggerated force so that he can see, even from where he sits, that I am afraid of him.

“You look beautiful,” he says as I draw closer. “Did you pick that out for me, or did your mate?”

“I chose it. Luthian did not approve.” How strange it is to say his name.

“You dressed this way for me.” Arcus smiles, transparently pleased with himself. Of course, a king would have no shame. There is no need for it when one holds all the power.

Power.

That’s what drives his lust. That knowledge is the key that will unlock my understanding, and therefore, my control, of him.

“He was so angry with me, but I wanted to impress you,” I say as Arcus moves the chair back for me with magic. I sit and the chair slides to the table, where there is a plate set before me. Sorry, Guardian, I think. I must disobey you.

I wish I would have paid better attention at Brujon’s lessons.

Arcus’s eyebrows lift. “And he didn’t? I would have thought that ridiculous climber would have sent you here to seduce me.”

I shake my head. “Oh no, Your Majesty. He was frightfully upset with me at what transpired in the throne room today.”

“With you?” Arcus pours some wine into the goblet before me.

“Because I liked it.” I toy with a fork and don’t look at his face. I simply hope that my words have had the intended effect and continue. “He’s a fine lover, of course. But such a display of raw power, the way you dominated him and made him look a fool in front of those courtiers... well. You felt the evidence of my appreciation for your skill.”

“I sense I’m being played with,” the king says, and I glance up to find him studying me with undisguised suspicion.

“Not at all.” My heart begins to pound. I force myself to keep calm. “The only reason he returned to court at all was to please me. He knows how much I enjoy cuckolding him.”

“Is that so?” Arcus is intrigued. “The Luthian I knew would not have allowed a mortal to bring him so low.”

---