Page 37 of Ruled By Magic

He traced his hands down my body. Pushed my knees apart. I bit my lip as he drew patterns up my inner thighs to my center. A familiar move. He wanted me in his favorite condition—aroused but unsatisfied. He’d tease me, then stop, and have fun making me beg for release later on. My core clenched at the thought.

“Of course. I get to dress you up however I want, don’t I?”

His thumb grazed my clit through my underwear. Just enough friction to awaken my desire, but nowhere near what I needed. I edged away, and he gave my inner thigh a sharp, stinging slap.

“Keep still. Don’t make me restrain you.”

I froze. So far I’d obeyed his prohibition on self-pleasure, the threat of a week trapped in the apartment a serious deterrent. But it was more than that. His ownership of my orgasms added intensity to every sexual encounter. Desperation, followed by overwhelming satisfaction when I got what I wanted. Part of me loved it, even as another part screamed in frustration.

He teased me until my control faltered and I let out a low moan full of unfulfilled need. He pushed my knees together with a satisfied smirk, and an ache throbbed between my thighs. The bastard.

“I enjoy dressing you like this, but I’ve taken pity on you. For one day only. There are some sensible clothes in your wardrobe.”

A few deep breaths calmed me enough to investigate.

I dressed in real clothes for the first time in weeks. It felt like a suit of armor, the solidity of jeans around my hips and the welcome restriction of the bra. No need to be hyperaware of my body, one wrong move from indecent exposure. I braced myself as I opened the door, nervous about what the Lord Commander would think of my outfit. If he liked me in it, would he allow me normal clothes again? As soon as the thought formed, I cringed. I’d become so used to him dressing me.

He scanned me from top to toe and held out a hand. “Don’t you look sensible.”

I took it and stepped in close. “I feel like myself again. This is how I normally dress.”

“It suits you. Let’s get going.”

We stood on a rocky path that wound ahead into the far distance, with a sheer wall on one side and a sharp drop on the other. I eyed the track. Had I overestimated my fitness?

“This should take around three hours,” the Lord Commander said.

“You could have taken us right to the top.”

“Of course, but there’s no fun in that, is there?”

“I suppose not.” What would it be like to have so much freedom? To travel so far in the span of a thought? The possibilities made my head spin. “Where are we?”

“It’s called Mount Barker. In the eastern region, about a hundred miles from the ocean.”

We’d teleported over five hundred miles from the palace, right across the territory. My lack of surprise shocked me. Each day, what would have seemed incredible became commonplace. We set off.

“Can most mages teleport this far?”

“No.”

“What makes you different?”

He shrugged. “All mages have a limit of power they can hold. I have more than average.”

It sounded like an understatement.

We walked in companionable silence, stopping now and then to admire the views. Vast, unbroken forest stretched out in all directions, a patchwork of every shade of green. So little of Dexia was inhabited. After a couple of hours, we reached a flat look-out point and paused.

“Have you ever been to one of the settlements?” he asked.

The question took me by surprise. The settlements were rough border towns, carved out of the forest to supply workers for the vast farms that fed the city. Populated by male criminals who opted for hard labor instead of a prison sentence, they were dangerous places. Women rarely visited.

“No. My uncle goes to them. It’s good money. He stays a few weeks and fixes all the dental issues.”

“Your uncle’s a dentist?”

“Yes.” His surprised expression grated on my nerves. “What’s so strange about that?”

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