Page 103 of Brighter Than Gold

“Would you like a taste?” she offered in the sweetest voice.

“Fuck no,” Briggs said immediately.

“What about you,Your Grace?” her toned dripped with sarcasm.

I stood. “Yes.”

Both Briggs and Meloria glared at me surprised, Briggs incredulous and Meloria thrilled.

“Everything off from the waist up,” she ordered.

Nervously I pulled off the long dress coat, the baldric and the tunic.

“Burke…” Briggs warned, as I lay the clothes on the chair.

“Stand there,” Meloria ordered. Thankfully it was away from the other men’s sight. “Kneel.”

I’d known immediately why she’d said it. It wasn’t for her ease with the whip, no she was perfectly capable of striking a man when he was standing. She said it to push me, to see if Iwouldkneel at her command, to test my willingness and obedience.

I grit my teeth as I lowered to my knees slowly. Meloria came up from behind me and smoothed her hand across the nape of my neck.

“So good, my little pet,” she said, dragging her nails pleasantly through my hair.

“What, no horrible name calling for me?” I asked.

“My darling, those men are like good leather, broken-in and malleable. You’re fresh, I don’t know you yet.Youdon’t know you yet.”

I decided against answering her assumptions and let her fingertips trace over the tops of my shoulders. My skin prickled at the gentle touch.

“I’m going to strike you three times,” she said. “The first time will be the lightest, the last will be the hardest. Tell me to stop at any point you need me to.” Her hand dropped from my skin, and she took several steps back. My whole body tensed as I waited for the first strike, and I jerked my head back when it finally landed.

It fucking stung.

The sliver of skin that the whip had found grew hot, and I could already tell where the welt started and ended. Slowly the pain dissipated, and I was already stiff and ready for the next blow.

I heard the sound of the leather cracking against my skin before the pain registered. But when it did, fuck, I was seeing stars.

“Breathe, Your Grace,” Meloria said calmly behind me.

I let out a ragged, shuddering breath that I didn’t know I was holding. The pain wasn’t letting up as quickly as the first hit, and it felt as though fire raged over my back.

“Last chance,” Meloria said as she prepared for the next blow. I could hear the sadistic smile in her voice.

I steadied myself as best I could, my fists balled tightly on my thighs as my whole torso trembled from the core with the anticipation of pain.

When the last deafening crack of the whip sounded, the pain was so great I thought I may faint. Meloria had viciously struck me across the other two searing lines on my back, and all I could concentrate on was the scorching fire radiating off of my skin.

“Breathe,” I vaguely heard Meloria whisper behind me. I fought for each breath, tears stinging in my eyes as the pain seemed to spread out across my skin. I could feel the strike on my shoulders, on my thighs, on my chest, on places the leather had never touched; my whole body was singing with pain.

One of the girls, the one with dark hair and pretty green eyes knelt before me and dunked a cloth into a pitcher of water. She wrung it out and slowly draped it along my back. The coolness of the damp cloth began to sooth my angry skin, and I allowed her to pat it over me several times.

I heard Meloria’s heeled shoes, and she came to stand in front of me, glancing down with a relaxed expression.

“How do you feel?” she asked, looking down her nose at me.

“It fucking hurts.”

“That’s all you can focus on? The pain?”

---