Page 46 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

“Did you read the letter?” He nodded toward the yellow envelope he had given her.

“Yes.”

“I was thinking maybe we could go shopping this weekend. You could probably use some more clothes. And do you have a dress for opening night?”

“Devin buys me what I need if I need anything extra.” She paused. “Though he hasn’t said anything about a dress. Maybe he doesn’t want me going to the party.”

“I’d like it if you were there.”

Anna stared at her food. “I’ll ask Devin when I see him on Friday. I suppose I have some dresses at the house if Wilhelm hasn’t sold it. I don’t know if they’re still in style, though.”

“House?”

Anna glanced up. “Mine and Alex’s house.”

“You have a house and you were living in that crappy apartment?”

“I don’t want to live there. I don’t even want to see it.”

“Where is it?”

“Presidio.”

“Why don’t you want to live there? I would imagine it was pretty nice.”

“It’s beautiful. I loved living there, but—‍” She swallowed back tears. “I don’t want to be reminded of him. It’s bad enough I dream of him.” She put her fork down and pressed her fingers to her eyes to keep from crying.

Peter was quiet for a long moment, and when he finally spoke, his voice was soft, almost reverential. “You really loved him, didn’t you?”

“I did. He... saved me. He loved me. He told me he wanted to make up for all the years of abuse... and he did, before—‍” Her words ended in a squeak.

“I didn’t think Elder-Mistresses felt things so deeply.”

Anna shrugged. “I don’t know about the rest of them. They seemed to think I was strange at Alex’s funeral. Like, they couldn’t understand why I was so upset about a man dying.” The tears spilled onto her cheeks. “But when he died... all the hope and beauty in the world died with him. Devin helped me cope by giving me drugs. I couldn’t stand the pain anymore. That’s why I left Wilhelm. But maybe if I had stayed...” She shook her head and sniffed. Things might have turned out so differently. So many “if onlys” in her life. Maybe Devin wouldn’t have become so powerful. Maybe she and Kurt would have been married by now. Maybe she would have found happiness again.

Peter reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. “I’m sorry, Anna. I misjudged you. I shouldn’t have listened to—to some people, and should have listened to my gut when I met you.”

He tugged at her hand, and she moved to sit in his lap, allowing her tears to flow as he held her close, offering unexpected comfort.

Chapter 25

Devin gave Peter permission to take Anna to his family’s home for Thanksgiving. The weekend before the holiday she went to the Friday night Gathering as usual, but Devin didn’t have sex with her or anyone else, nor did he have her attend to any of his friends. She sat on her knees next to him and was generally ignored the entire evening. He took her to bed that night, but didn’t have sex with her then, either.

The next morning, he woke her as the sun rose, sucking on her clit. He brought her to the edge of her climax and then stopped and held her down and fucked her hard, but wouldn’t allow her to come.

Ian appeared and, with a strange sense of déjà vous, he and Devin tied her to his bed. Suddenly she realized what they were doing. “No! No, Master, please don’t.” Kaveh would arrive and impregnate her. It was the same nightmare that happened this time every year.

Devin smiled and held up the syringe. “I thought about mixing the pregnancy elixir with your favorite fluid.” Anna was about to relax, but then he continued. “And so I did.”

She shook her head. “Please, Master . . .”

He pushed the needle into her neck, and the pain started immediately. It was much, much worse this time, and she screamed as it entered her bloodstream, setting her whole body on fire. The nerve juice amplified the agony, causing everything, inside and outside of her, to become unbearable, driving her to the brink of madness. She screamed and shook and yanked at her arms and legs, which made everything worse, until she finally found some semblance of thought and forced herself to be still and stare hard up at the ceiling. Her only movements were the shallow breaths which kept the pain to a minimum.

Devin frowned and sat next to her on the bed, tracing patterns on her stomach with his finger, which she would have sworn he’d attached razor blades to had she not known any better. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore his touch, but when he flicked her nipples and it felt as if he’d used a taser, she couldn’t help but begin screaming again. He slid his finger inside her and caressed her clit. She arched her back and screamed until she couldn’t scream anymore.

Kaveh appeared as the elixir fire subsided, but the nerve juice was still active. When he entered her body and pushed into her womb, she imagined it felt exactly like that thick sword Devin shoved inside the bodies of the slaves to kill them at the Spring Gatherings. Had she been able to scream, it would likely have echoed throughout the entire Manor. Kaveh moved his hips and pressed in deeper and deeper. Tears ran down the side of her face as her stomach cramped. He thrust hard and deep, the pain rising to unbelievable levels. But she couldn’t scream. She could only lay there and feel the agony. Her body tensed and exploded as if she were having an orgasm, but there was no pleasure. Only searing pain. His cum was like an injection of molten metal.

As he pulled away, a faint flicker of hope lit, thinking the pain would stop, but it didn’t. Then she remembered the nerve juice and tried to keep the tears from running down her cheeks, but couldn’t. The tears sliced open her cheeks as she lay on her stomach, unmoving. Devin turned her onto her back and ran his fingers all over her body. He played with her clit and every orgasm he forced was more and more painful until a bright light surrounded her and she knew no more.

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