Page 14 of Mastering their Maiden

“Which is why you can’t go through the fence anymore,” Zander murmured. “Not unless you explain why it’s you who should be risking her life to—”

“Why should I tell you anything?” I said, trying to work the bite back into my bark. “If you’re all too stupid and blind to see what’s going on right under your noses, it’s not my responsibility to tell you.”

Zander growled, then reached around to cup my jaw and tilt my head back, his golden eyes peering down into mine. “We’re not stupid. We know what’s happening. But I fail to see how putting yourself at risk is going to change it.”

“I’m not trying to change it,” I said. “The Elders refuse to change. The only thing I can do is get more food to provide for—”

“What if you could get them out of power?” Dex asked, taking my face back from Zander by grasping my chin between two fingers. “What if we could put new Elders in charge? Chosen by the people instead of by birth or those already in power. Do you think that would make things better?”

I blinked at him, then started to laugh, watching his eyebrows lift. “I think you’re asking me to lead a coup. You’re asking me to tell a bunch of starving, distressed women, some with small children, that we should overthrow our leaders with what? Are you going to supply us with weapons? Teach us how to use them? Protect us if we fail and end up in the stocks or in the cells they keep by the gates?”

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Zander said. “The women admire you. To many you are a savior. Who else would we look to for an alliance?”

“I’m not interested in an alliance with men who want to fill me full of cum,” I muttered, throwing my shoulder back, trying to loosen Zander’s grip. “You’ll have a better chance at convincing me to suck your cocks again than you would at convincing me I should put the other women in danger.”

“Then let’s try that for today,” Zander suggested, knocking my knees out from under me and following as I sank to the floor with a yelp. “Dex hasn’t had the pleasure of your mouth yet.”

“Well, I have. But only how smart it is.” Dex cupped my head, unfastening his trousers with the other hand. “Not how sweet it can be.”

He reached in, unfurling his thick cock and rubbing the tip against my lips, laughing softly when I turned away.

Yesterday Kaiden had held me steady, keeping my head positioned and sometimes pushing it forward and back. Zander could easily do the same. But he didn’t, and Dex made no move to rough me up like the others had the day before. This wasn’t a punishment.

It was a request.

I swallowed, wondering why the word was so hard to push past my lips. “No.”

“How can I convince you?” Dex released his cock from his fist, and it swayed in front of me, stiff and aching for attention, much like the hollow space between my legs. He lifted my chin, stroking my lips with his thumb, pushing them down and sliding the digit into my mouth. I sucked involuntarily, and it brought a small smile to his face. “What if you could act up, like you’re so good at doing, and bring the Elders’ abuses into light? What if when they halved the rations, or denied them, you could speak out and we could step in?”

I jerked my head back as much as I could, dislodging his thumb from my mouth. “Despite how often I’m there, I don’t like the stocks,” I said, trying to hide the fear that crept into my voice. “And I refuse to be taken to the sept.”

“No one would put you in the stocks or take you to that vile sept. We would respond. Your ‘disobedience’ would force our hand, and if we have reason to inspect what the Elders are doing with the supplies we bring, they can’t say we’re interfering with village business.”

“And what would happen to me?” I asked, my lips trembling as Dex continued to caress them with his thumb. “They’d demand I was punished.”

“Then we would punish you,” Dex replied. “But no one else would. No one would touch you, Aria. I promise.”

“Only you,” I hissed, reading into his implication. “What kind of punishment would I have to endure? Hours on my knees while the four of you fuck my mouth?”

“If that’s what you need, then yes,” Dex said simply, but Zander purred in my ear.

“Or, if you were very bad, there are other places to stick our cocks.” He cupped my ass, shushing me when I squirmed violently as he dragged his fingers between my cheeks. “But you might like that too much.”

“I wouldn’t like it at all,” I snapped, and Dex laughed.

“We could make you like it,” Dex cooed, reaching down to grip his cock and pump his fist back and forth. “Or, if you were a good girl and didn’t fight, we could take you out into the woods ourselves. Help you hunt and harvest. Keep you safe.”

Zander had moved from caressing my ass to rucking up my skirt and moving his hand between my thighs. His fingers stroked soft circles over my clit, making it hard to think. I swallowed, looking up at Dex, scanning his face for any sign of betrayal. A lie. Maybe they’d get me out in the woods and attack me. Perhaps they’d get me out of the village and abscond with me to their city before procurement?

What would that matter if they did?

Unless I ran off on my own, there was no escaping my fate, and if I could use the time I had left here before they took me to make things safer for everyone, shouldn’t I try? What would that make me if I did? A harlot for these barbarians? Or a savior to my people?

I swallowed, closing my eyes as they continued to touch me gently, trying to picture what this arrangement would look like. The four of them… they would touch me, possibly violate me, but I could tolerate it, couldn’t I? I’d put up with starvation and terror after Esme had been taken. So many nights of tears missing her and worrying what was happening to her while I hid amongst the other maidens and tried to avoid drawing any attention to myself while finding my place. The first four moons after she was gone were the worst of my life. I’d survived that.

Then I’d found that loose spot in the fence, and Frayne taught me how to hunt. How to survive. I trusted him to keep my new hobby a secret and keep me safe.

But could I trust the Kavari?

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