Page 9 of The Apples Hung Like Stars
She swallows, and nods. “Yes, Clíodhna.”
I kiss her. “Call me Clíodhna when it is just us. Now, in front of your audience, you are right. ‘My queen’ seems more appropriate.”
Her smile melts that little bit more and the slight incline of her head seems more regal than any move I’ve ever made. “Yes, my queen.”
“Now turn and look out at your audience.”
She turns her head, and I can tell the moment she registers their gazes. Her entire body goes rigid, and I place a hand on her shoulder, grounding her. Slowly, the lines of her body soften until she takes another breath.
“Their eyes are glowing,” she says. I hadn’t noticed, how used I am to fae ways. From this angle, looking out from the stage, all you can see are eyes in the dark. Green eyes, mainly, and then the red of my banshee subjects.
“They are nothing to be afraid of,” I say.
“I’m not afraid,” she says, and though it’s not quite a lie, it’s not quite the truth either.
I straighten and look out at them all, meet my sister’s eyes on the dais, and throw back my head andkeen.
It’s as heart-breaking a sound as I’ve ever made, and it echoes around the room, reverberating in every aspect of each being there. As one, all the fae bow their heads in acknowledgement, and Janet gasps.
“See, kitten,” I say. “The only one you need to be afraid of here, is me.”
She moans then, unwittingly, and I drink in the sound.
“What’re your safewords again?”
“Green, yellow and red.”
“Good girl,” I say and she flinches. She actually flinches, as if she hasn’t had anyone praise her like this before.
Unacceptable.
My Janet deserves to be showered with praise at every turn.
After she’s taken her beating.
Chapter Seven
Janet
My entire body is humming with anticipation.
I’m so aware of every single step Clíodhna takes, walking round the cross, the air around me moving as she brushes past.
When she loosed that cry, I thought I might weep. Tears brimming, unshed. Now I feel like I might cry if she doesn’t touch me.
I remember what she said, how she wanted me to beg, but at this point I’m so desperate for her touch that I don’t know if I can use words anymore.
I feel untethered, floating, even as I’m cuffed to this cross. And I want it to change, Ineedit to change. Stillness for too long sets my ADHD brain on edge, sets me on edge, and that rarely has good results.
Eventually,finally, I utter a single word. “Please.” I imbue it with everything I’ve ever wanted, but had denied. Everything that I thought I’d never get to have, never get to experience. I don’t need to beg her over and over, because it’s all encapsulated in this single word. “Please.”
The first strike, when it comes, startles me.
I’m not sure what I expected, exactly, but it wasn’t this.
The thud of the tails as they hit my arse reverberate through me, setting my body humming. Awake and ready for more, desperate for me.
She goes again, and the sound the strike shocks out of me is guttural, deep. An “uh” that wouldn’t be out of place on adult film set.
