The Surrender of Lady Charlotte

by Lizbeth Dusseau

  “Ah! You disgust me,” he said shaking his head sadly.

  “I do?” Charlotte queried puzzled.

  “Women do.”

  “True. We are more difficult than slaves.”

  “And it seems that I’ll be plagued with them. What I’d give for an obedient slave,” he sighed.

  “You can have as many as you like, but they are not what you want,” Charlotte reminded him sweetly. Her report finished, she gave him a playful pat on the cheek and turned to leave.

  “You will produce her in my bed, loving me!” he called to her.

  “Patience, Mountbane, patience,” she called back and then disappeared.

  d

  Charlotte found the maid next brooding in a castle hallway.

  “My dear, how are you today?” she asked her kindly.

  “Worse each day.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because not only do I love Leonas, I now hate him as well.”

  “Ah, you must turn away from Leonas altogether.”

  “But how can I?”

  “Turn to another man.”

  “There are none who interest me, who are as handsome and charming.”

  “Oh, but there are—you simply need to look about you. Why I know of dozens who would declare their love for you.”

  “But I don’t want some foolish knave!”

  “I’m not speaking of knaves, but virile men.”

  Only now was the girl’s interest roused. “And who might they be?”

  “What kind would you like?”

  The maid considered a moment.

  “One who is constant, strong, determined—and very attractive.”

  “And you care about his fidelity?”

  “What is fidelity but a joke in this country? Just as long as he doesn’t lie. Most importantly, he must adore me.”

  Charlotte’s face lit seeing the conversation going exactly as she hoped.

  “Well, then, why not seek the most profound of all Ilusian men, Mountbane himself? I’ve even heard the lord raves about your beauty!”

  “He does?” she looked shocked.

  “Yes.”

  “But he is your husband,” Rosaura reminded her.

  “Yes, and we’ve been estranged for some months. Our marriage has hopelessly disintegrated.”

  “Then how would you know his fancy now?” Rosaura asked suspiciously.

  “In some matters I still have his ear. And, I know the man’s mind and cock very well. I can tell when he’s smitten.” She whispered this news quietly as though someone would overhear.

  “A Lord of Ilusia smitten by a woman! They use women, they don’t love them!”

  “But that doesn’t make them beyond love. They are human, strange as it seems. And they have feelings—though they might be hidden deeply.”

  “This is difficult to believe.”

  “You’re much too young to be so cynical.”

  “But Lord Mountbane?”

  “Yes, even he. And think what a fine man he is, what power, what handsomeness! He is the most ardent lover.”

  “And yet, he requires such submissiveness.”

  “In which there is such beauty,” Charlotte swooned.

  “I have yearned for these things,” Rosaura said with a shy blush.

  “Have you?” Yes, this was good.

  “I know the desire of my kinsmen, but I know so little. Father has kept me cloistered so I pant with need sometimes. I would have with Leonas… ”

  “And you’ll have much more than you would have had with Leonas when you have a man, not a boy.”

  “But can I make myself to Mountbane’s liking?”

  “You can learn. And the learning would be simple if you have the temperament for submission.”

  “I believe I do, though my father refused to let me think such things.”

  “Remember. The best men in Ilusia are lured by women willing to make slaves of their bodies. And how fine is that service. Imagine living in the bed of the finest master—Mountbane himself.”

  “I can’t even fathom the possibility.” Rosaura’s face was flushed with excitement and her body seeming to burn with the desire. “How would I begin to woo him?”

  “You have already with your ripe form,” Charlotte stared at her bosom deliberately so that the maid looked down, blushing still more as the woman appraised her voluptuous body.

  “This is what men see, isn’t it?” she said, seeing how proudly her breasts greeted the eye, beckoningly.

  “Often the very first thing,” Charlotte agreed. “Come, let me show you…”

  Charlotte led her through the castle corridors to her own room where there was a huge glass on the wall.

  “Let’s remove your dress.”

  “Now, Ma’am?”

  “You’ve been to the baths have you not?”

  “Only a very few times. Father did not approve.”

  “You have much to learn then.”

  The girl shook her head, “Oh, I don’t know about this. I should find some young lad who will be less a challenge. I can’t imagine that Mountbane would ever approve of me. And, truly, he scares me.”

  “All good sexual adventure is frightening,” Charlotte answered her. “That is what makes it such a passionate endeavor. Let me teach you.” Charlotte went about dislodging the dress from Rosaura’s body, pulling her out of the sleeves and letting the light fabric fall to the floor. Then standing her before the glass, the older woman stood behind the maid, herself admiring the virgin’s fine form.

  “Mountbane loves virgins,” she said as the two looked in the glass together.

  The vision of Rosaura’s body was even more breathtaking in the nude. The flawless perfection of her skin, the rosy tone, the firmness of her flat belly and how it undulated in its excitement. Tremors of lust tripped through her in gentle waves, seeming to build the more she viewed herself.

  “I’ve never seen myself so much a woman,” she said, though she looked quite mesmerized now by the body before her.

  Charlotte reached around her gently touching her skin. She ran her palm lightly over the silky surface and then more desirously as she reached her breasts, spreading her fingers over the mounds and offering them a gentle squeeze.

  Rosaura gasped. “My body quakes.”

  “Indeed it does.”

  “It burns, madam.”

  “As it should.”

  Taking a nipple between her fingers, Charlotte pinched the rising bud until she saw the wince on Rosaura’s face. Then slowly caressing her way along the meandering curves of the virgin’s body, she finally cupped her hand over the untried pubis and squeezed that, too.

  “Ah! ah, ah ah!” the girl emitted short, choppy breaths of air, sucking her desire inside her.

  “Relax, Rosaura,” Charlotte purred in her ear as the girl’s head fell back on her shoulder. Charlotte slipped a finger into Rosaura’s wet in-between, identifying her hidden clitoris. Squeezing that, too, the older siren watched as a delightful tremor of lust made the virgin’s body quake.

  The excited young woman was amazed by her lack of restraint. “Oh, yes, please, more of that …” she purred, “yes, yes, yes……” She was spasming frantically, her body thrashing against Charlotte as she grasped her crotch, her hands over Charlotte’s hand as though she could contain the sharp clenching inside her cumming cunt. A stream of fragrant juice spilled from the opening, swathing both their hands with the orgasmic brew. Then, the two fell away toward Charlotte’s bed and lay down together to repair.

  “I have never,” the naked Rosaura exclaimed breathlessly.

  “Of course not,” Charlotte shushed her kindly. “This is the heart of your womanliness… what you experience from here will only be enhanced by the service you render your lover—whoever he is, and the efforts he takes to see that you are physically pleased.”

  “But what of the pain? I have heard that there can be terrible punishments.”

  “Some things do feel l
ike punishment, but much of what is considered barbed and torturous is, to me, as fine a heaven as lying on a bed of rose petals. When your body is as alive as it is now, all manner of stimulation only makes it aspire to more. Your pleasure rides such beautiful waves of intensity. Don’t think of your fears or worry of pain—just follow the thread of your physical need to its end and you’ll enjoy such satisfaction that you’ll wonder why you gave yourself so fully to your virginity.” Charlotte pressed her palm to Rosaura’s vulva again, feeling another wave of physical sensation building there.

  “This is true?” The girl still seemed skeptical

  “It is. I swear. I came to Ilusia against my will and yet, I found this the one truth that has not failed me since I became part of this world. I still relish my surrender. And you, who have been part of this place all your life, cannot possibly escape its joys. You wouldn’t want to deny yourself.”

  “No. I want to deny nothing.”

  Charlotte could only smile hearing these thoughts pour from the gentle virgin. It seemed that her own freedom was within her grasp. Keep on, she told herself. Keep on.

  The two lay languishing in their silence for sometime until Charlotte finally rose from the bed. She would have liked to spend her afternoon making love to this innocent temptress, but this was not her duty. She needed to remain fixed on the outcome she desired and not become too taken by other appetites.

  “My lady Charlotte, you have turned my mind so wholly. My entire being has been so opened to my need… but where do I take it now? How do I learn the requirements for loving a man like Mountbane?” She was rising to her feet, still self-conscious of her nakedness, and now groping the floor to retrieve her clothes.

  “The prescription is very simple. You will have to face the trials in an Ilusian dungeon—better sooner than later. You’ll want Caius in the castle dungeon. I assure you he is the best of training masters. He and his slave, Loria, trained me.”

  “I simply offer myself to him?”

  “Oh, heavens no!” Charlotte exclaimed. “You go to Mountbane and ask his permission. Since you have no husband, master or fiancé now—and your father would certainly not approve—Mountbane would have to sponsor your indoctrination and the exercises. This could be very good—especially if you set your heart on him.”

  “But then he’d know my own heart?”

  “And why shouldn’t he?”

  “I fear giving too much away,” she offered with a coquettish smirk.

  “Give nothing away, dear, but your body. Oh, your mind, your heart and feelings will soon follow your flesh and bones into the dungeon rites, but you can guard against revealing all of your cravings. And I assure you, if Mountbane truly desires you, there is no better place for you to seduce him. He relishes highborn women on their knees, and then in the poses you will learn. Give him half as much in desire as you exposed today, you’re bound to have the results you wish.”

  “I’m not sure what I wish for my future,” Rosaura sighed as though this was much too complicated.

  “You desire love, my dear, and the surrender of your body to its passions.”

  Rosaura smiled.

  What a fine prize she would be in Mountbane’s treasure chest, Charlotte mused to herself. Certainly, the girl would be a more compliant slave than she ever was. The Lord had once said that he wanted Charlotte’s fiery spirit; but he lied. He wanted a doting princess like this virgin would become. He required that Ilusian attribute of women that made them accept their fate with grace and not a rancorous spirit.

  d

  “She will come to you, milord, and ask permission to be trained in Caius’ dungeon,” Charlotte spoke to her husband candidly as they strolled the west portico that evening.

  The man smiled. “You’ve done well.”

  “And I am not finished,” she said.

  “You like this task, I see?”

  “I’ll do it well because I want my release. But, yes, I do find myself enthralled by the prospect of training this virgin for your service. It inspires me.”

  “You’re inspired? How fine for you. But not until I’m poised with the prize ready to be initiated into my world as my new wife will you be freed.”

  “Are you sure you want another wife?”

  “It gives me greater reign.”

  “No one has greater reign than you.”

  “I like the title husband, then. It doesn’t matter to you. It’s what I want.”

  “Then, of course, proceed.”

  “Bring the virgin to me,” Mountbane said, “and we will.”

  Charlotte nodded and went her way. She thought the morning would be the best hour to advance the plot and so she waited until then.

  Chapter Fifteen

  In the dungeon now, the Lady Charlotte found herself surprisingly comfortable in an atmosphere that had been so filled with anxious musings and tremendous pain—and, of course, overwhelming bodily delights. She gazed on the cowering young virgin on the floor and smiled to herself knowing what terror faced her. Charlotte envied her. As horrible as her first months had been in Ilusia, those hours at the mercy of the ruthless Caius were her first moments of sexual ecstasy. She’d received the most amazing physical gifts. And then the wedding, that fine, fine feast of debauchery and perversion. It could not be surpassed… it was there she first made love to Sir Tristan. As Charlotte settled on the picture of the man, her body burned again. She tried to push the thought away, but it was just too present with her to disappear.

  Still, no relief from her required chastity, she would have to guard against too much stimulation in this task. She could not afford more nights of sexual misery. She hoped that a few labors as an attendant mistress in the dungeon might placate her needs; but thoughts of Tristan would not do. This undertaking must be made without his remembrance. No, she’d keep her mind fixed to her purpose, on the fledgling submissive, Rosaura, who now knelt so sweetly, with such trembling and such innocence. Her virgin body would soon be torn apart—and before that—her virgin mind would be wasted. She would learn of the bizarre and twisted paths of her country’s darkest secrets.

  It had been a fine ceremony, Charlotte thought, as she reminisced about the brief moments between Rosaura and Mountbane earlier that day. Of course, it had been a shock to the girl coming before the ruler and making her hesitant request. Her body quavered and she was nearly in tears.

  “What is it you desire?” Mountbane had asked her while pouring out all the verve of his most domineering mien. Had this been too much? Charlotte wondered at the time. Still, Rosaura remained firm in her conviction.

  “I wish to be trained in your dungeon,” she’d said sweetly.

  Up to that point Mountbane had no verification of Charlotte’s success, and this nearly made him smile with glee. He did, however, keep his poise.

  “For what purpose?” he asked the girl.

  “So I might better serve an Ilusian husband.”

  “You are wise to seek this instruction. But what of your father?”

  “He will not approve.”

  “And would it be wise to dishonor one of my finest nobles?”

  “I respect my father and yet he is shallow in his thinking. There is no way that he can protect me from my homeland and its practices forever. No man in Ilusia wants a comely but untried, untrained wife.”

  Ah! She was far more than comely, the Lord was thinking—so Charlotte presumed as she listened on. “That is true,” he agreed. “Should I speak with your father on your behalf?”

  “If it pleases you.”

  “And are you truly ready to withstand the rigors and punishments this entails?”

  “I must be ready. I can’t let my life slide by denying myself half of what I desire. I have already, foolishly, allowed myself to be lured into a woefully lacking love.”

  “Then so be it,” Mountbane announced dryly. Though Charlotte could see that Mountbane was holding back his own desire, she also witnessed the shuddering sweep of satisfaction that was
so manifest in Rosaura as she took in the commanding presence of this man. She’d felt that satisfaction, too—but it had lied to her of many things, distorting the nature of Ilusian love, making her hope that this lust had real affection behind it.

  In this case, however, she had to consider Rosaura. She was Ilusian by birth, and she felt her submissive birthright in her bones. Perhaps, unlike herself, Rosaura would not fall prey to the same miseries that plagued a noble-born woman from a land across the borders. Then too, as Mountbane suggested, there was something quite different about this possible coupling—most notably her husband’s surprising appetite for the girl. He was smitten, truly smitten.

  It was not for Charlotte to predict outcomes. Her task was simple and she was on with it determined to win her freedom.

  Charlotte waited herself, now, standing beside Loria as Caius circled the virgin and made his plans. “She knows her place,” Caius remarked seeing Rosaura’s surrendering essence in her untrained but wholly submissive pose. “She’ll be much easier than you were,” he declared to Charlotte.

  “I’m sure, sir,” she agreed.

  “You’ll whip her first,” he announced.

  “So soon?”

  Caius stared at Charlotte with a steely eye, the first such glance she’d seen from the dungeon-master in many months. Their paths rarely crossed except for those few times in the last year when Mountbane sent her to be flogged. However, that hadn’t happened in nearly five months since Mountbane had given her up to the chastity belt.

  “Do I need to retrain you before I train her?” he asked.

  “No, sir,” Charlotte said stepping forward. She was no Gwnyth, and was unaccustomed to the procedures or feelings of command. It felt almost unholy taking the whip from Caius’ hand and circling the young maid. But she would take on the task. “Stand,” she ordered.