Page 19 of Cruel Master

“Don’t do it, Juliet. Don’t disrespect me again.”

The heavy, warning note in his voice shuts me up. His fingers disappear, and he comes into view. If seeing the room again jarred me, seeing Saldar is a slap in the face. He doesn’t look any more human. The creepiness is magnified a hundredfold, knowing this apparition just had his fingers in my pussy. Knowing how entitled he feels to my body.

He crouches so he’s eye level with me and pushes my sweaty hair back from my face. I catch a brief glimpse of his hand. It’s inked with a design I don’t have time to take in. What does this man look like under his costume?

If things go the way I expect them to, I’ll find out soon enough. I don’t think his fingers are the only thing he’ll stick in me. A shiver racks me at the pure helplessness of it, and he notices. The mask creases into an inhuman approximation of a frown, features shifting with that odd, sand-like motion.

He runs a finger over my cheek, touch gentle. “This is the hardest part. Once you’re trained, it all becomes easy. You’ll love being my slave, Juliet.”

He believes it. He actually believes it.

And you haven’t wanted this for years?

That voice seriously needs to fuck off.

I search for words, but he speaks before I get the chance, tone stern once more. “You withstood your punishment well. Now, apologize to your Master for your behavior, and I’ll release you.”

I open my mouth to do just that, but my brain clicks into gear before the words come out. They’re just words. They don’t mean anything.

But to him, they do.

To him, this is part of the fantasy he’s built. He punishes me, I fall into compliance, then I become his willing, obedient little slave. His happy slave. The more I act the way he imagines I will, the more convinced he’ll be that he’s doing this for my benefit as well as his own.

It might be the longest shot on the planet, but I can’t shake the feeling that belief is important to him. The setting he chose, my own game and the character I love, point to a desire to makeme happy, even if it’s in the most fucked-up way imaginable. The less I play along with his delusions, the better.

I brace myself. This will hurt. “Fuck off. You’re a crazy psycho, and I’m not apologizing for shit. I don’t want any of this, and you’ll never be my master.”

Shit.

I tense my whole body, braced for the explosion. Surely he’ll yell. Beat my ass with a cane. Something. Instead, he just sighs, an oddly human sound even through the voice changer.

“That’s unfortunate. Thirty minutes.”

Wait. What? He can’t mean…

Fuck. No.

I’m yelling by the time the fiery lube hits my ass. Again. It’s worse this time. So much fucking worse. He pushes the plug in, and I break. “I’m sorry. Please. I’m sorry, M—”

Even now, I can’t force the word out.

I don’t think it would have made a difference anyway. He doesn’t react to my words at all. Once he’s handed down a punishment, I don’t think anything I can say will change it. He’s as uncompromising as a brick wall.

Just what you always wanted.

The lights go out, he resets the timer, and the door clicks shut, leaving me alone with my misery.

***

The timer hits one minute, and he still hasn’t returned. The burning discomfort in my ass is almost equaled by the rest of me from being stuck in this position for so long. God, I need to move. I’m covered in sweat, and it’s made my skin itchy. I can’t stand this. I can’t cope for one more fucking minute.

What if he doesn’t come back?

I’ve been trying not to think about it, but now, watching the numbers tick down toward zero, I can’t hide from the thought anymore. What if something has happened? He’s been hit by a car. Had a heart attack. No one knows I’m here, and I could die here, in the dark, like this.

A sob bubbles up at the thought, and it’s a pathetic sound, echoing weirdly in the stone room.

Zero. Oh God, he’s—