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“I gathered all the records I could on you. You have been in trouble your whole life. You never got into serious trouble because you were shielded by people who thought they were doing you a favor, but instead led you down a path that very nearly saw you deprived of the degree you were deeply in debt for. Your life on Earth was going to become far darker than you can imagine.”

“I was going to work for my friend’s dad’s friend. Not that dark.”

“So naive. I was the one who took you. If someone else had? You would have…”

“What, ended up kidnapped and fucking him?” I snap back, finally giving back some of the attitude he’s giving me, actinglike he is perfect and I am some sort of stray from a shitty planet. Maybe Earth isn’t great. Maybe humans are not great. I don’t think we ever pretended we were. Most of what we do is complain about how we all suck. He’s not telling me anything I don’t know. I could say much worse things about the world I am from that are much truer. The horrors he’s mentioning barely count considering some I could name.

He narrows his eyes at me.

“You think what I have done to you is cruel and wrong.”

“You’re not exactly the poster child for…”

“I am not here to argue with you. I am here because I needed to save your life, because you made it necessary to save it. You can’t tell me what should be done with you because you do not know what should be done with you. So let me tell you what is to be done.” He lets go of my chin and steps away from me quite deliberately.

“You are due another breeding,” he says. “And a thrashing.”

He reaches out and casually pushes a tree over. It falls slowly at first before crashing to the ground, spraying leaves and bits of bark in the process. “Bend over,” he orders. “Now.”

I hesitate.

He does not allow it.

He closes the distance between us, takes me by the back of the neck, and marches me over to the tree, yanking clothing away from my rear with his rough, clawed hand.

“Bend. Over.”

The thunderous tone of his voice combined with the absolute stillness of his body is intimidating. He glares at me with an intensity that finally makes me move. I bend over the tree, which is thick enough to lift my hips so far off the ground that my toes have some difficulty touching it.

I feel a lash land against my ass, something uncoiling fast, like a whip. There is a loud crack as the lash makes contact with my ass. It hurts like fire being seared against my skin, a quick and brutal punishment.

He pauses for a moment, his large, scaled hand on the back of my neck.

“You will not run from me. You will never take up arms again. If I find you with so much as a heavy rock in your hands, I will fuck your ass. Hard.”

I believe him.

“The only reason I will not be claiming that ass now is because your pussy needs to be filled.”

Crack!

The lash lands again. And then again. Each of them snaps against a different part of my cheeks, which are still tender from the first round of punishment they got when I was still on Earth and things still made sense.

I cry out, because there is no reason not to. It hurts. Every single stroke is perfectly placed in a new location, a constellation of pain manifesting on my skin.

“I’m sorry!”

“Are you? Sorry implies you would not take these actions again. Are you sorry for stealing a horse? Sorry for leaving a room I told you not to leave? Sorry for murdering a kobold?”

“You murdered two of them!”

“I had to in order to protect you; they were about to tear you apart. So yes, you have made me an accessory to your malfeasance. The kobolds are protected. Sacred. Not to be harmed by anybody. I cannot believe you slaughtered one having played a game.”

His lash lands so many more times, dozens, in fact. He lashes me until I am sobbing with pain and remorse, truly and desperately sorry for what I have done. I never thought of the beasts in this place as being anything other than what they were in the game—bodies made of experience, not flesh and bone.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

“I do not yet know if I believe you, but fortunately for you, I cannot beat and fuck you at the same time. At least, not this way.”