by Tee, Marian
A STRANGE TIGHTNESS constricted within the marquis' chest as he watched the bookshelf by the alcove swing open to reveal a staircase from which his pet eventually ascended. He had spent the entire night in the school's restricted library, reading what he could of soul seers. A foolish attempt to convince himself that Lady Zari's vision might not come true, but it was all he could do, with Sir Isaac yet to respond to his urgent missives.
An exquisite scent drifted to him, and it drew his attention back to his pet. Lavender, frangipani, and poison ivy. And when she came close, he saw that her eyes were soft and lustrous, and her cheeks flushed with color. Would it make him an arrogant arse to believe that this was because she was pleased to see him?
With any other girl, that would indeed be the case, but with his pet and her emotionally distant ways...
Probably not.
"Good afternoon, milord." His pet's voice was a sound that was still wonderfully and uniquely her own. Lace soft and hauntingly serene, innocent still, but something had changed, too. A whisper of allure, Mihail thought, that only a woman who knew the pleasures of flesh could only possess.
"Good afternoon, milady." He waited for her to ask of his whereabouts last night, but she did not. She was indeed every inch the perfect pet, one he did not deserve...
Rhapsody was startled when the marquis suddenly cupped her chin and place a quick hard kiss on her mouth.
When Mihail pulled back, he saw that his pet was gazing up at him with wonder.
"How unexpected," his pet marveled as she took the arm he offered, and they began to walk.
"What's unexpected?"
"Your spontaneous kisses," she explained. "I did not realize how strongly attracted you were to what's Not Normal."
Mihail was exasperated. "It's not—-"
His pet looked up at him expectantly.
Ah, fuck it.
If such a thought was what gave his pet a sense of security as his pet and heartkeeper, then he was fine with having her think he was a pervert.
"Where are we going, milord?" Rhapsody thought to ask as the marquis helped her into a carriage, a sleek, black model with a discreet emblem of the House of Sangre's coat of arms at the back.
"I received a message from the authorities," Mihail murmured. "Their chief coroner has returned from Brimstone. He shall be performing the autopsy today. I thought you'd like to be present while he presents his findings."
"It would be nice to have additional proof that I was not his killer," his pet remarked.
Mihail casually turned his gaze towards the window so as not to be tempted to smile. While his pet had a point, the placid tone in which she uttered the words had made it seem as if she was discussing something as trivial as the weather.
It was a fairly short ride to the headquarters of the Enforcers, and its facade deceptively nondescript: an old stone building located across the Office of Citizen Affairs and with nary a signage to identify it.
The marquis' coachman steered his horses towards a narrow passageway that led to the building's side entrance, a sturdy-looking metal door illuminated by the torch burning brightly on each of its side. An Enforcer, his assignation made recognizable by the uniform he wore, came out while the marquis was helping Rhapsody out of the carriage.
After bowing to them in greeting, the officer wasted no time in escorting them straight to the mortuary, where the chief coroner was already busy dissecting the corpse.
"Come forward, milord..." The coroner's bushy brows shot up when he saw Rhapsody. "Milady."
Mihail's pet curtsied in answer to the greeting, and the marquis could very well relate when the coroner started coughing. Here they were, surrounded by dead bodies, and yet his pet acted no different from how she usually was when being introduced in balls and such.
Seeing that the coroner was still in a laughing coughing fit, the marquis took over introductions and simply presented his pet as Lady Rhapsody Norwood.
"I am Sir Rudolph Mulligan, a baronet from one of Lunare's bear packs." The coroner, now recovered, responded in a gruff tone.
"Thank you for making time for us," Mihail said, knowing that the man had yet to rest from his journey.
"It is of no trouble. I enjoy my job—-" Rudolph paused, realizing only at that moment how strange and suspicious this would sound, considering his line of work. But when he glanced at the marquis' companion, the young lady was actually nodding in seeming assent.
How eccentric, Rudolph thought, but delightfully so, and it was nice to see a man such as the marquis appreciating a girl like her. Might be an interesting story there, too, he pondered, but that was something to think about for another day. For now, work beckoned.
"As you can see here..." The coroner used his scalpel to point at where the victim's throat had been slit open. "I can say with absolute certainty that this isn't self-inflicted. The slice is too clean, almost delicate in its precision, and such a manner requires time. If this were self-inflicted, you would not even reach the halfway mark before your hand starts shaking and the wound starts becoming a little jagged."
Rudolph placed the scalpel back on the tray. "I have examined the rest of the victim's body thoroughly but have found nothing of note. No bite marks from a shapeshifter, no puncture wounds to indicate the involvement of vampires..."
"A human killer then?" Mihail asked.
"It's possible. That's all I can say."
Rhapsody, not in the habit of voicing her opinions unless asked, kept her thoughts to herself as the marquis thanked the coroner for his time. Once inside the carriage, however, she was startled when her Master indeed asked for her thoughts on the coroner's diagnosis.
"It was unexpected, milord," Rhapsody answered honestly. "I do not think he is incorrect in any way in his diagnosis, but I also know how stringent the kingdom's procedures are for granting visas to tourists."
"I was thinking the same thing myself," Mihail acknowledged grimly. Chalys had embassies all over the world, and in those places their people employed the most advanced technologies to eradicate any threats to the kingdom. In worst case scenario, this meant killing spies and terrorists thinking to come into their land. But in most other days, this simply meant rejecting visa applications of individuals with even the smallest potential to cause the kingdom unnecessary trouble. It was not uncommon, for instance, for a foreigner to have his application rejected merely because he had been given a speeding ticket.
"Another possibility is for a local to be the murderer," Rhapsody thought out loud, "but does this not seem improbable as well?"
"Extremely so," the marquis said with a deepening frown. "The people of Asphodel have their own dark sides, I'm sure, but I'd imagine that if a local were to kill someone for reasons outside the usual, it would be more ritualistic, owing to the influences of the other territories..."
In other words, Rhapsody interpreted silently, the children of Asphodel grew up hearing whispers about ghosts and demons, werewolves and vampires, and all things that went bump in the night. Such stories would never be discussed in the light of day and within the drawing rooms of Polite Society, but deep in their hearts, they knew that the unspoken was true.
"Quite the conundrum," Mihail heard his pet seemingly murmur to herself, and the way her lips pursed afterwards almost had him smiling...until he remembered how she used to occasionally involve herself in investigations of murders and hauntings.
Shit.
For as long as she stayed within school walls she remained safe, and he would have nothing to worry about. But outside it?
"Milady?"
"Yes, milord?"
"Just to be clear," he warned, "you are not to involve yourself in this investigation in any way, understood?"
"Yes, milord."
Her unquestioning obedience was refreshing, but at the same time, he couldn't help thinking it was too good to be true. Where his pet was concerned, things were rarely as simple and straightforward as she made them seem to be.
"Master?"
He jerked in his seat, caught off guard by the sound of her voice making sweet love to those sinful syllables. "What is it?"
"Would you tell me when you wish for us to copulate?"
Chapter Eight
Mihail nearly choked. Had he truly heard his pet correctly? Or perhaps she had another one of those bloody homeworks from Social Graces that required her to make a joke? His gaze narrowed, but her dark eyes remained calm and serious. Eyes that firmly told him no, his pet was not joking at all, and the knowledge just about killed him.
All at once, the carriage that held the both of them felt too cramped, and the cravat around his neck too damn tight. Worst of all, however, was how his cock, now a fucking oversized beast, was about to tear a hole out of his breeches.
The marquis drew a deep breath. "It is like this, milady," Mihail tried to explain in discomfited fashion. "I am a man, and like any other man, I always want to have sex." Then again, 'want' right now was a vast understatement, and just the memory of his pet saying those words—-
Would you tell me when you wish for us to copulate?
The bulge under his pants grew, and Mihail was about to shift in his seat to ease the pressure when he heard his pet swallow rather audibly. His head lifted, and it was then he saw his pet's gaze solely concentrated on his crotch.
Mother of Hell.
His beast of a cock swelled even more, and the sight actually had his pet ever so slowly...biting her lip.
Fuuuuuuuuuuck.
The marquis had just bit out an expletive, and the muscles in Rhapsody's stomach rippled with awareness at the tone of her Master's voice. It was there again, she thought. That unnatural thickness she had once found strange and unfamiliar, but after having heard it countless times every time her Master claimed her, she knew what it was now. And the knowledge was making her want to squirm restlessly in her seat.
"What are you thinking right now, milady?"
"Something strange," Rhapsody admitted.
"Tell me," the marquis ordered.
"I would just like to know..." Rhapsody paused to carefully think on how to word her question. "Do only men feel that way?"
It was not terribly hard to read between the lines of what his pet was saying, and the realization almost had the marquis swearing out loud again. Mother of fucking Hell, but this girl truly had the knack for seducing him...and she wasn't even fucking trying!
"No more speaking in circles, milady. What exactly do you wish to know? Are you wondering if women also feel the same urges?"
There was a moment of silence, and then his pet answered in a pained voice, "I am afraid it is much worse, milord."
The marquis frowned. "In what way?" As far as he was concerned, the only thing worse than his pet wanting to have sex with him was not wanting to have sex with him...or wanting to have sex with another man, which he would never fucking allow.
"This morning when I was in class, I was...distracted. It was all I could think about."
"It?"
Rhapsody cast her Master an impatient glance. "Copulation, milord."
Mihail's cock jumped.
"So it is not that I wonder about whether such urges are possible. I already know it is so. What worries me, however, was how distracting these urges were. I had an extremely hard time focusing on my lessons, milord. Extremely."
"It almost sounds as if you want me to apologize for that," he remarked.
"No, milord."
Good, he thought. She had just told him she had spent the whole morning thinking of having sex with him. In his book, that was a good thing. Extremely.
"But..." Rhapsody clasped her hands on her lap. "I do need your help, milord."
"I am at your service."
"I wish to know if there is a way to eliminate such an obsession."
Ah.
"Is there?"
"Absolutely," the marquis didn't even hesitate to say.
Rhapsody sighed with relief. "Pray tell what it is, milord," she appealed.
"It will take time though," he warned.
"All the more reason for me to work on it right away," she decided.
"Based on what I know from, er, other similar cases...the best method in eliminating such distractions is to target the source."
"Do you mean not to copulate?"
Hell no, the marquis almost said out loud. Clearing his throat, he said levelly, "It is the opposite actually, milady. You must increase the frequency of your participation in such activities until you become completely accustomed, and your mind no longer perceives it as a novelty."
And this was the truth, he reasoned to himself, and heartkeeping wouldn't have let him utter the words if it wasn't. In his younger years, he would sometimes find himself intrigued by a woman, but time always found a way in making his interest in her fade gradually into nothing.
"I see." Rhapsody's lips pursed. "This method is similar to how children are with shiny new toys, I think?"
"I suppose."
"To withhold a new toy from a child will only make him or her want to play with it even more..." His pet was now thinking out loud. "But if they were allowed to play with those toys whenever and for as long as they wish, their interest in it would eventually wane..."
"That is correct."
"How wonderfully ingenious, Master!"
And for the first time since their meeting, his pet bestowed on him his first glimpse of her smile.
It was a captivating sight, but also one that was strangely bittersweet. It had his cock swelling in girth under his breeches even as his chest tightened with something akin to pain. But most of all, it reminded him of the things he had yet to tell her—-
"How shall I let you know when I wish to participate in such activities, milord?"
Mother of Hell.
All good intentions and sensible thoughts were thrown out of the window the moment he understood what she was asking.
"You do not have to say such a thing if you find it improper," he managed to say. "Perhaps a nonverbal cue would be better, such as if you were to bite your lip for at least three seconds, then—-" The marquis' lips curved. No need to say anything else, with his pet already biting her lip.
"That is enough, milady," he said softly, not wanting her to accidentally bruise herself. "The message has been effectively conveyed."
His pet gifted him with another enticing glimpse of her smile. "What next then, milord?"
"Share with me what you have been thinking," he cajoled, "and mayhaps we can start there."
Rhapsody hesitated. To do so felt quite embarrassing, but if it was what her Master willed...
"There is this new course in school," she told the marquis.
And he knew exactly what this was, of course, since it was what he had signed up to teach.
"I have yet to attend it, but I already have a slot reserved."
"Go on."
"I have been hearing things about this course, and there was this day I was walking down the hallway where the class was being taught. It was then I saw one of the students on her knees, and she was..."
"Pleasuring a man with her mouth?"
"Yes," Rhapsody whispered.
His cock jerked, and already he could feel pre-cum coating the head of his erection.
"You have been thinking of this?"
"Yes."
"And it is something you wish to do?"
A moment's hesitation, and then, "Only if you wish for it, too, Master."
Before the marquis could answer, they both felt the horses slowing down as the carriage came into a stop. A moment later, the coachman opened the door—-
Mihail simply looked at the other man.
"Right, milord," the coachman said without hesitation and promptly shut the door closed.
Soon enough, the carriage was moving its again, horse hooves galloping off, and Rhapsody turned to the marquis in surprise. "How on earth..."
"He is a man, milady." Also, the carriage smelled strongly of arousal, but such
lessons were best left for another day. Right now, what he was most interested in his pet's carnal thoughts...and making them come true.
Green eyes that glittered with lust narrowed at Rhapsody, and the scorching feel of it on her skin had her swallowing.
The marquis crooked a finger.
And she found herself slowly dropping to her knees as the skirts of her gown billowed around her and over the carriage's carpeted floor.
"Do you think you can take my cock out?" Mihail asked thickly.
She nodded and reached slowly to unbutton his breeches. Once in a while her fingers would brush over the rigid bulge of her Master's erection, and she would feel her own inner muscles contracting as his cock twitched and throbbed in response. Since the marquis wore modern drawers under his breeches, it was easy enough to pull the gartered fabric to the side and gently wrap her fingers around his manhood.
Although they had made love countless times since the marquis breached her maidenhead, she hadn't yet had the confidence to touch him on his own. But now that she had her Master's permission...
Mihail sucked his breath when his pet suddenly tightened her grip on his cock.
Hearing this, Rhapsody was immediately concerned, asking, "Does it hurt?"
Feeling her fingers starting to loosen, he immediately denied this. "No, milady."
Her fingers stilled.
"A tight grip brings more pleasure," he managed to explain and was instantly rewarded with the feel of her fingers once again locking around his cock.
"I can feel it throbbing," Rhapsody whispered.
And of course, the words had his cock throbbing even more.
"Start moving your hand," he gritted out.
Her hand moved up and down slowly and cautiously. "Like this?"
"Yes," he hissed.
He let her stroke him for a while, and when he could bear it no longer, he reached for her hair, fisting it in his grip just before slowly pushing her head down. He heard her intake of breath, and the tinge of feminine fear only sharpened the edge of his arousal. Her lips parted willingly as the thick, slippery head of his cock entered her mouth.
Mother of Hell.