Page 11

Alaric

G ods damn her to all the Hells that ever were or ever will be, she’s teasing me and there’s not a fucking thing I can do about it!

Why does she have to be so fucking beautiful? Or so fucking naked? So naked and I can’t touch her, though my hands are itching to cup those full breasts…to explore her lush curves and grip her deliciously wide hips as I duck my head and taste her honey from the source…

I try my best to push such thoughts to the back of my head as I follow her into the bathing pool. The water is miraculously warm all around me—I’ve only had a warm bath once or twice in my life.

Back home in Solaris, it’s a laborious affair—water must be hauled from the well and then heated in a giant cauldron which takes time and fuel. Then it must be dumped into a copper bathing tub—which only wealthy people have.

I know the GodKing has one, but I live in the barracks with the rest of the men. We have nothing but a broad trough that we take turns filling with cold water from the nearby pond each morning. Then we scrub ourselves down with the harsh lye and ash soap made by the Sisters of Correction.

Though I’m much too old to lash now, I’ve often thought of the soap as a continuation of their punishment. It’s certainly harsh and abrasive enough to scour away grit and grime—or your skin if you scrub too hard.

But my new Mistress…wait, I can’t believe I’m already thinking of her that way. No, I’ll call her Sylvanna, at least in my thoughts and if she catches them, too fucking bad.

Anyway, as I was saying, Sylvanna doesn’t use any kind of lye soap. She takes a tall, fluted bottle made of some deep blue glass from a collection of similar bottles at the edge of the round, sunken tub. She pulls the stopper and pours a generous amount into her hands, then nods at me.

“Duck your head underwater—get your hair wet so I can wash it,” she says.

I do as I’m told. The water reaches to my waist but all the way up to her chest. So when I come back up, I remain crouched down in the warm water so she can reach me. This seems to please her.

“Very good,” she murmurs. “I like how you bring yourself down to my level without me having to ask.”

Sister Beatrice never had to ask much either, I think. Not that I minded. I was eager—more than eager—to kiss between her thighs whenever she bid me do it.

Then thoughts of the past fade and I give a startled gasp of pleasure as Sylvanna begins to work the mysterious thick liquid into my hair.

Her long fingernails feel amazing as she massages my scalp and the liquid smells of flowers and pine needles—it’s so much different from the harsh lye soap I’m used to.

It doesn’t sting at all and it lathers into a mass of foamy bubbles I can feel dripping down my neck and shoulders.

My reaction seems to please my new Mistress.

“Hmmm, you like that, don’t you?” she murmurs as she continues to work the lather into my scalp.

Even more than her tender ministrations, I like the view I have of her full, bare breasts.

They’re wet and bobbing just in front of my face as she scrubs my hair.

The wide dark bands around her nipples look so suckable.

I want to feel them in my mouth…but even more I want to hear her moan my name as I give her pleasure… as I serve her with my lips and tongue.

I’m quite certain that Sister Beatrice would have “punished” me by having me suck her nipples if only she hadn’t been wary of my Holy Fire. In fact, I used to fantasize about exactly that.

I want to reach for Sylvanna…but I remember how her shadows were quick to restrain me.

I promised to keep my hands to myself—it’s no more than I’ve been doing all my life, after all.

But of course, for most of my life I couldn’t touch a woman without burning her.

And though I don’t mind hurting myself to raise the Celestial Fire, the idea of giving a woman pain instead of pleasure is sickening to me.

Now I have finally found a woman I can touch…only I can’t touch her. Not yet.

“Patience, my Paladin,” she murmurs and I know she’s probably been following my thoughts with that damn Jewel of hers. “Duck under the water now,” she tells me. “Rinse off your hair.”

I do as I am told and then rise to tower over her at her command.

“Very good—now I am going to cleanse you with my own hands and in doing so, claim you as my own,” she explains. This time the liquid she pours into her palms comes from a deep red bottle. She rubs it between her palms and starts with my shoulders.

Standing on her tiptoes to reach me, her small hands massage the warm liquid into my flesh. At the same time, her stiff nipples and full breasts brush against my abdomen and my cock throbs with need. I clench my hands into fists at my sides. May the Old Gods give me strength!

“You’re doing very well, Alaric,” she tells me as she finishes my chest. “Now turn around for me.”

I turn and she scrubs my back, this time using some kind of sponge that has a scratchy side. It feels fucking amazing and I enjoy every minute of it, even though my shaft is still rock hard.

It seems that my shaft is to be her next area of attention because she orders me to go and sit on the topmost step which leads into the bathing pool. Then she kneels on the step below it, right in front of me.

She makes quite a vision, kneeling there naked with her full breasts floating in the water and for a moment, I consider other fantasies I’ve long had.

Unlike my fellow knights who make use of the local wenches at the taverns, I’ve never had my shaft sucked.

I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to have a set of soft lips ovaled around my cock…

to look down and see a pair of beautiful eyes looking back up at me as a woman took me in her mouth.

“Later for that as well, my Paladin,” she murmurs and the Jewel at her temple pulses. “For now, we’re just getting you clean.”

To my surprise, she uses the sponge to wash my legs and feet before turning her attention to my cock. She gets more of the special liquid from the red bottle and grips my shaft, stroking up and down as she massages it into me.

“Oh… Gods!” The groan is torn from my lips and once more, my hands fist at my sides. How can I bear to let her touch me like this? How can I let her torture me with pleasure without returning the favor? But I must resist—I am not allowed to touch her without permission.

The pleasure rises higher and higher and, to my surprise, I feel the Celestial Fire rising within me as well. It’s almost like the two are linked, though in the past only pain has brought my Holy Fire to the surface.

Sylvanna must feel it too, because she abruptly stops “washing” me.

“That’s enough for now, I think,” she murmurs. “We can’t have you blowing up my bathing pool.”

I nearly groan as she takes her hands from my shaft and balls, but she’s not done with me yet. She bids me to come back into the water with her and she has me turn and bend over, facing away from her with my elbows resting on the stone lip of the pool.

“What are you doing now?” I ask and then jump, because I feel her small fingertips sliding between my buttocks. “Hey, what…?” I whirl around to face her, protecting my vulnerable ass. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I growl, glaring down at her.

“Simply claiming what is mine. Don’t worry—I won’t hurt you. See?” She holds up one small hand and I see the long, sharp nails suddenly slide into her fingers, which makes the nails much shorter. “Retractable—like a cat’s,” she tells me.

It’s not her nails I’m worried about—though maybe I should be.

“You never said anything about…about washing me there,” I point out accusingly. Everyone knows that a male who likes to have his arsehole played with is a lover of other men—which I most certainly am not.

“Alaric, I’m claiming every part of you.” Her voice is soft but stern. “You must submit to me, even when what I need to do to you isn’t comfortable.”

“I don’t want someone fucking around back there,” I growl.

“I’m not just ‘someone’—I’m your Mistress.” Her voice grows even more stern and her glowing eyes flash. “Now, will you submit to me and let me clean you or will you leave my tower at once and go back to your GodKing empty handed?”

I struggle for a moment…I tell myself I don’t want to do this. Only…part of me does. Part of me wants to give her what she wants, no matter how uncomfortable or humiliating it is. What the fuck is wrong with me?

The Jewel at her temple pulses and her face softens.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a desire to submit, my Paladin,” she murmurs.

“Submission doesn’t make you weak. In fact, it takes a great deal of courage to bend your will to that of another…

to allow someone to touch you in ways you’ve perhaps never been touched before. To seek pleasure in the unknown.”

“I’ve never…no one has ever…” I can’t go on, but Sylvanna understands.

“I know,” she murmurs. “I know. Now turn around and bend over for me, Alaric. Let me clean you and claim you.”

I do it. I tell myself I don’t want to and yet I find myself once more bending over with my elbows on the lip of the bathing pool. And then I feel her soft fingers again, prying between my cheeks.

“Spread for me,” she murmurs and I find that I am doing it—spreading my thighs apart to give her access.

I suck in a breath as I feel her soft fingertips finding their way to my back entrance.

She’s using a different kind of liquid now—something thick that doesn’t wash away in water.

It warms when it touches my flesh. She circles my rosebud with one fingertip before sliding inside me, making me groan and clench against her gentle invasion.

But all the while, my shaft is aching—I’m harder than I was, even when she was stroking me. What the fuck is happening to me?

“You’re submitting to your Mistress, that’s all,” I hear Sylvanna’s soft voice from behind me.

The small finger inside me is joined by another.

“You’re opening your body to me for the very first time…

and doing an excellent job, if I may say so,” she adds.

The fingers reach further and stroke something inside me—some spot that makes me jump and groan with sudden pleasure. Gods, what is she doing to me?

“Do you feel that, my Paladin?” she murmurs and does it again. “That’s the special spot inside you that gives you pleasure. Did you know it was there?”

“No…Mistress,” I grit out. It feels so good I’m afraid I might spend my seed, right here in the tub! “Why…why must I submit this way, though?” I ask her belatedly.

“Because at some point in the future, I may wish to fuck you,” she says lightly.

“What?” Startled I turn to look over my shoulder. “How the Hell could you fuck me?” I demand. “You don’t have the right equipment!”

“I have a pleasure rod,” she tells me. “Believe me, my Paladin, you wouldn’t find it an unpleasant experience. But fucking isn’t the only reason you must learn to submit to me like this. You’ll also need to wear a tail if we’re to enter the City of Night with you as my Blood-servant.”

“A tail? You mean you want me to wear something inside me?” I sound indignant—and I fucking am!

How dare she say such a thing, as though it’s of no consequence?

But deep inside, I feel that strange part of me—the part that’s always been there ever since Sister Beatrice gave me the Grip of Chastisement—moaning with pleasure at the idea.

“Yes, but don’t worry—the rod attached to it won’t be very thick,” she tells me, ignoring my indignation. “Not much thicker than my two fingers and you’re taking those beautifully.”

As she speaks, she thrusts in and out of me several times, making me grit my teeth to keep from moaning as sparks of pleasure flow through me.

I can’t believe I’m in this position! I’m a strong knight—a man in my prime.

And yet here I am, bent over with my thighs spread, allowing a woman who’s barely half my size to slip her fingers deep inside me so she can use me or abuse me however she sees fit.

I shouldn’t do this—I should hate it. But somehow, I don’t.

Gods damn her to Hell—why does it feel so fucking good?

“Because there are lots of nerves here—many pleasure receptors,” she tells me, still stroking. “But I can feel your magic rising again. For now, I think you’re clean enough.”

She’s right—my Celestial Fire had been getting close to the critical level. I have to take deep breaths to control it.

Mercifully, she withdraws her fingers, leaving me feeling opened in a way I never have been before. My ass feels slightly tender as I straighten up and turn to face her.

“Are you finished washing me now, Mistress?” I bite out.

“I am,” she says calmly. “You’re clean and claimed. It’s almost time to swear your oath. But first, I think I want to shave you. Sit on the steps again—the third one down this time so I can reach you.”

I do as she says, watching as she produces a long, silver straight razor. She uses some kind of foaming soap on my face and then scrapes it off with the razor, giving me the cleanest shave I’ve ever had.

I’m extremely aware of how much I’m trusting her. She’s my enemy and she literally has a blade at my throat. And yet, I still don’t feel as vulnerable as I did when she was fingering my ass.

Finally, she seems satisfied with my appearance because she steps back and nods her head approvingly.

“Very nice, my Paladin. You’re quite handsome when you’re clean.”

“I don’t go around dirty—I wash every morning,” I tell her, frowning.

“Well here we take our baths at night. It’s so much more relaxing.” She smiles at me. “For now, we’re finished. Are you ready to take your oath?”

I nod grimly. After everything I let her put me through so far tonight, taking an oath of loyalty seems small in comparison.

“Yes, Mistress,” I tell her.

“Good. Then let’s get out and dry off.”