Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Sullivan stares me in the eyes. “I would rather you hit me than said those things.”
“I would rather you developed a conscience and apologized.”
“I have apologized! Again and again! You don’t hear me! You are too obsessed with hating me to hear any apologies I might make. You’ll never forgive me, will you?”
“Maybe that’s because what you did is unforgivable. Some failings stay with us forever, Sullivan.”
She looks at me and cocks her head to the side with that expression people get on their faces when they think they’ve had some sort of deep insight. “What can’t you forgive yourself for?”
My answer is swift and succinct.
“Following you.”
“Alright. I think that’s enough of that.” Avel stands up, picking me up in one arm and grabbing our plates in another. “One day, we may be able to share meals together in peace, Alpha Thorn. Today is not that day. Forgive us for our early retreat.”
“Forgiven, Avel,” Thorn says. There is an energy between the two saurian males that also speaks to unresolved issues, but they’re not going to be addressed today.
As I am carried out of the room, I hear Sullivan yelp. She’s in trouble. Good. I hope she gets her ass whipped so hard she can’t sit down for the next six months. There’s no amount of beating she does not deserve.
“You are lucky you have recently been terribly injured,” Avel says once he has me safely back in our private room. “If not, you would be in serious pain right now.”
He sits me down on the bed and hands me my plate. Curiosity and exasperation war on his face.
“I am in serious pain right now, if that helps,” I say. “But you can’t expect me to play nice with Sullivan. You don’t understand what’s happened between us. You don’t know what she’s done. I know it seems stupid because we’re throwing dinner, but trust me, that’s because we don’t have anything more dangerous. I won’t ever forgive her, and she won’t ever forgive me.”
Avel nods solemnly. “I understand.”
“Do you? I’ve never even told you.”
“I heard what you yelled at her, and that was rather suggestive, but you are right. You haven’t told me what caused such loathing in you. Tell me, Raine. Tell me everything.”
I take a little bite of dinner, and chew thoughtfully, wondering where to start. “Alright,” I say, swallowing. “Here’s what happened…”
9 THE HARD LASH
Raine
Six weeks later…
“Avel, come on. All of that was so long ago! You can’t possibly punish me for historical crimes.”
“I told you there would be a reckoning, and there will be.”
It is the middle of the night, and Avel has flown me to the Hall of Bones. I stand beneath the great arch of furious dead creatures and saurians, squirming in place on a dais on which I hoped never to stand.
Our wounds are mended, and we are physically fit. True to Avel’s word, I have not been permitted any sexual pleasure in this time. He has kept me chaste even when the both of us could barely stand it. I think he might actually have suffered more than me for not being able to express our love physically.
“You know this has to happen,” he says, softening his voice slightly and extending a finger under my chin to lift my eyes to his. “I do not do this merely to hurt you. I do it because this must be atoned for, and you must learn your lesson.”
“Can’t the experience of being abducted and nearly murdered be enough of a lesson?”
“You’ve lived a lifetime of danger,” he says, the pad of his thumb running up my cheek to stroke my scars lightly. “You’ve been hurt many times. I want this to be the last.”
He is so loving right now, and so very serious and stern at the same time. I have never felt so cherished in all my life. It is for that reason I allow him to put me over a custom-made punishment bench, a soft, raised surface that puts my ass in the perfect position for being disciplined by a saurian enforcer. There is no way this is made for anybody besides me. It is too small for a saurian, and it has little foot supports for someone with my leg-length.
“Good,” he says when I am settled into position. My upper body is supported and slightly inclined, and there are bars to grip with my hands. I am as comfortable as it is possible to be. He removes my dress, as I knew he would, leaving me entirely naked. I am fortunate that he decided to do this in the depths of the night so I might maintain some modesty.
“I have thought about this punishment for six weeks,” he says. “The entire time you and I were healing, I considered what proper means of discipline might truly impart to you the way I felt when I realized you had run away from a secure area and gotten yourself into danger. The feeling was impossibly painful, Raine. It was a torture like no other. And for that reason, I choose this.”