Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 68525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
It had the outlines of a young woman’s hands, for me to grasp and hold onto.
It had the shameful knob, below. Mistress Franla said, clearly noticing how I looked down at it with my brow furrowed and my lip between my teeth, “I hope his lordship doesn’t keep you waiting long, Wetquim, or I fear you’ll steal his pleasure from your little cunny.”
The way she said it brought a tiny whine from my nose: suddenly she had become the exacting mistress once again—the wise older woman who had no intention of letting the baron’s new pleasure girl get away with any misbehavior… the mistress who had whipped my pussy with the terrible barbarian cunt paddle.
Standing there with my hands around the bedpost, my wrists bound to the hook, my already mortifyingly damp panties only a centimeter from the terrible knob that I knew could provide some relief from the need between my thighs, I looked beseechingly into her eyes. I saw it then. I had thought it would require a moment free from the dark, distressing thoughts and feelings that the idea of my master’s arrival provoked. In fact, it came to me in the very midst of those feelings, thanks to the light I saw in my mistress’ eyes, the way she studied me not to oppress me or to take away my spirit, but to help me find it.
“You…” I started, and swallowed hard as Mistress Franla’s left eyebrow went up, conveying a warning with that tiniest movement. “Mistress, you… I… I mean, may I… may I please ask you something?”
A smile emerged on her face, and it banished my fear.
“Yes, Chalondra?” my mistress asked.
“What…” My forehead creased even harder as I tried to bring the question into focus in my mind, and at the same time my heart sped up as if in anticipation of at last having an answer—if only I could ask correctly. “What… please… what does it all mean?”
I dropped my eyes to the purple coverlet, trying hard to keep the knob out of my field of vision, despite how badly part of me wanted to look at it. I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes when I heard how very badly I’d done in phrasing my desperate query.
“Look at me, my dear,” I heard my mistress’ voice say, and I obeyed, though her tone no longer contained any of the strictness she had used a few moments before. Her smile—the smile she had had on her face when his lordship had told her she would have the captain’s quarters—had returned.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be with you and his lordship,” she said, “but I suppose my best answer to your question is that it all means you’ll be safe, which is what I care about most, after my own security.”
I blinked at the utterly unexpected nature of this response.
“Until today,” Mistress Franla continued, “I didn’t know his lordship well at all. I accepted his offer of a position as Mistress of Concubines because I had heard good things about him, and of course because he paid me handsomely despite my only being able to see to you for a few hours a week.”
My eyes went wide at this news, and rather to my surprise, my mistress laughed at my confusion: not unkindly, but lightheartedly, as if she were a much younger woman.
“Now, of course, that part-time position has changed rather drastically,” she continued with a smile. “And though I must confess I was quite concerned about both our fates, since I have found the vast majority of the Vionian nobility to be… well, frankly, to be very dangerous, especially when put in a dangerous corner as his lordship was. Even if he kept us safe for the moment, I wondered if the baron would use his power over us to sell us, or to trade us for his own safety… or even simply to hurt us for his own pleasure.”
I blinked at that, my mind torn between comprehension and confusion. Mistress Franla smiled again, a little more wryly.
“I know that sounds… well, rather absurd, to you, Chalondra. But there is a vast difference between what your master and I do to discipline you and what some nobles do simply for their momentary enjoyment. At any rate, his lordship is different, in my experience—and my experience is very broad.”
“And…” I said, grasping at straws that might make it all make sense. “And when he gave you the captain’s quarters…?”
My mistress nodded.
“It was the final confirmation for me that you and I had a very great stroke of luck, to be with his lordship today, when the empire fell. Your spirit and mine are different, my dear, but your master is the rare sort of man who can appreciate and help both of us.”