Page 15 of Kings of Cruelty

Kotya and Nikolai help me lie facedown on the bed. I groan when that makes the skin on my back stretch around the wounds.

“You can… you can go,” I murmur, clutching the pillow.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Sierra says, and the bed dips as she sits down next to me.

“I’ll get the supplies,” Nikolai says.

Kotya and Nikolai both leave, which means I’m alone in the room with Sierra now.

I realize this is a gift they’ve given me. Proof that my penance is over. Proof that I am once again worthy of Sierra.

“Did it turn you on?” I ask, half smiling. “Me naked like that?”

She lets out a choked laugh. “Yuri…” She slowly strokes my hair, like she had in the hospital when she’d been the injured one.

“Sorry you have to take care of me now,” I mumble, leaning into her gentle touch. “Even though you’re still recovering.”

“It’s notyourfault,” Sierra says pointedly. “Blame Kotya and Nikolai for it. Now they’re going to have to take care of both of us.”

“Nikolai will enjoy taking care of you,” I say. After a few moments of silence, I add, “It turned me on. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I got hard when they were doing my tattoos, too.”

Sierra pauses, her hand going still in my hair before she starts to card her fingers through it again. “There’s… a lot ofblood,” she says carefully. “You probably shouldn’t get Kotya to go that hard on you for fun or anything.”

“I don’t think the bleeding part was fun,” I admit. I roll my shoulders and hiss in pain. “I probably won’t go on motorcycle rides for a while.”

“Pity,” she says. “I kind of liked those. I…” She seems like she’s about to say something else, but I hear Nikolai and Kotya approaching, and she stops.

“Think we need a doctor?” Nikolai asks as he steps into the room. “You got him pretty good.”

“I did not go beyond what he can handle,” Kotya answers. He approaches the bed and ruffles my hair. “The cuts are shallow.”

“I knew you were holding back,” I grumble, but my face warms, too. I bury my head in the pillow to hide my blush.

Something occurs to me, and I turn my head so I can see Sierra’s face. It’s pale, as bloodless as my back is bloody, and I can see that she was crying during my whipping. But she got through it, like I did, and she isn’t panicking this time.

“Hey, you did well,” I say to Sierra, smiling as best I can. “And Kotya used the baby gloves on me.”

“Kid gloves,” Sierra corrects immediately.

“What’s the difference?” I ask.

Sierra snorts.

Nikolai has started to tend to my back, and Kotya’s comforting presence is right there. Between the three of them there, it’s not all that bad.

Sierra moves next to me, each motion exaggerated and slow as she avoids disturbing my back too much—and her injury as well, too, but she ignores it as she lies down. She leans in and kisses my forehead.

I blush again, much stronger this time. My chest warms in a way that’s unfamiliar.

“Thank you,” I mumble.

“For what?” she asks, sounding genuinely puzzled.

“For forgiving me.” I lift my head enough that I can see Kotya and Nikolai too. “And you guys too. I know I fucked up.”

“If you ever hurt her again, I’ll kill you myself,” Nikolai says bluntly. “So don’t fuck up.”

I nod seriously. “I know.” I let my head sink back down to the bed.

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