He added another finger to the first. She clutched at his wrist to stabilize herself as she moved faster, riding his fingers yet wanting something more.
“So eager,” Bekion rumbled in an amused voice. He hooked his fingers inside her and pulled. “Come here, Starling.” He urged her closer with the hand on her behind.
Starling scooted herself to Bekion’s chest. Once she was where he wanted her, his fingers moved in and out of her again. She bit her lip and let her head roll to the side. So much time had passed since she’d felt anything this good.
“I want your breasts. Take off your shirt.”
She didn’t bother with the buttons. She released his wrist and yanked the shirt over her head. With her hands braced on his shoulders, Starling leaned forward.
“Give them to me, Starling. My hands are busy.”
Starling had to move forward a little more. She cupped one of her breasts and placed her nipple against Bekion’s lips.
He teased her nipple with his tongue. That garnered a sound of satisfaction from her. He smiled before he took her nipple between his lips and sucked.
Starling hugged Bekion’s head, enjoying his attention.
“Bekion!” Rois entered the room, stopped and then turned his back. “Sorry, Bekion, but this is urgent.”
Starling jumped away from Bekion and ran to the bathroom. She used her full weight against the bathroom door, slamming it shut.
“Oh my God. Oh my God.” She said the litany over and over, not believing what had happened. What she had let happen.
She knew better. Bekion knew better. They couldn’t do things like that. It was illegal. She should have put a stop to it the second Bekion started it.
She hoped Rois didn’t report Bekion’s momentary lapse. All the stress had made him act strangely. That’s all it was.
The inner chamber sounded quiet. Starling opened the bathroom door and peeked out.
No one was there, not Bekion nor Rois. She straightened her clothes and left the bathroom. She needed to sleep on her own bed tonight. It would be the first time since owning it.
Once everything calmed down, Bekion would laugh the whole thing off as a silly mistake. They would go back to their normal relationship of pet and master.
Going back didn’t appeal to her. The memory of Bekion’s touch heated her body. She shook her head. It wasn’t Bekion, but loneliness.
The stress of being kidnapped had worn off. She had adapted to life on Panagiota. That ease came with a return to familiar wants and needs, including and not limited to the healthy sex life she left behind on Earth.
She and her boyfriend had broken up a few weeks prior to her kidnapping but they kept in touch for the occasional romp. No one like that existed here for her. She would have to think about planning alone time for herself so she could work off some of her sexual frustration in a way that wouldn’t get her or Bekion in trouble.
* * * * *
Bekion flinched at the sound of the bathroom door slamming. He sat up and glared at Rois’ back. He warned in a cold voice, “This better be a matter of life and death, Rois. You know not to enter my bedchamber unbidden unless the situation is dire.”
“It is.” Rois faced Bekion. “Lord Orvey and Lady Ruset have launched attacks against each other.”
“What set them off?” Bekion jumped off the bed and grabbed his shirt on the way out the door. Rois followed close behind him.
“Intel doesn’t know,” Rois said. “A messenger was spotted leaving Ruset’s holdings. Twenty minutes later, she sent a messenger of her own to Orvey but that message was a bomb. It decimated half of his keep. Orvey responded with a missile strike.”
“Send them simultaneous messages of ceasefire. If either of them continues after receiving the messages, I will consider their actions treason against the crown.”
“Your Majesty.” Rois bowed and ran ahead to see the deed done.
Bekion cursed to himself. That attack couldn’t have come at a worse time. He finally decided to act on his growing attraction to Starling. He had denied her being to his tastes when he first got her. That proved to be a lie as time with her passed.
He recognized his need to have her near him at all times—sexual awareness. She felt it too. He didn’t doubt that. He’d had her close to climax before the interruption.
The timing of Rois’ intrusion made Bekion think it might be a sign. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to have Starling, even if she did belong to him. Only deviants had such relations with their pets. If someone discovered and reported he took his pet to his bed for pleasure, Bekion would lose his people’s respect. Those who didn’t respect their king wouldn’t obey him either.
Perhaps Rois had saved Bekion from dishonoring himself. It was a momentary weakness and a lapse in judgment. He had to take steps to make sure it didn’t happen again.
He would deal with this urgent matter between Lord Orvey and Lady Ruset first.
He arrived in his audience chamber and found said nobles already present on the viewing screens. “I have made my decision,” he barked.
Lord Orvey said, “Your Majesty, I am the victim here.”
“He is a pompous ass and deserves what happened,” Lady Ruset snapped.
Bekion said in a sharp tone, “Silence, both of you. As of this moment, Ajoki River belongs to the throne. All within it and everything over it is now property of my crown. The bridges’ tolls for the past year and henceforth belong to the royal treasury.”
Lady Ruset and Lord Orvey started to argue. Bekion glared them into silence. His current mood couldn’t handle their whining. He was sexually frustrated and angry with himself as well as them.
He said, “I will send to you both accountants who will facilitate the transference of funds. This matter is no longer up for discussion. Any further debate will lead to a nobility audit to see if either of you deserves to retain your position as a lord of Panagiota.”
Both mumbled their agreement.
Normally such behavior would annoy Bekion. He let it slide so he could end the conference quicker. “I want a full assessment of damages in my hands when I sit down to my breakfast in the morning. Know now the cost will be split evenly between the two of you. Dismissed.”
He signaled to Rois, who pushed the button that ended both calls. Bekion slammed his fist against the table, finally venting. “Stupid. Both of them are morons.”
“Agreed,” Vieve said. She stood near the closed audience chamber door.
Bekion hadn’t heard her arrive but appreciated not having to call her. “I want a full and comprehensive survey of Ajoki River. I want to know what those two were reluctant to tell me. Something in that river or about that river caused this mess. I also want the accountants dispatched tonight. Right now.”
Vieve tapped away at her tablet. “Done. I’m sending palace attendants to take over the collection of tolls.”
“Good. Thank you, Vieve. You’re dismissed.”
She bowed and left the room, still tapping information into her tablet.
Once the door closed after her, Bekion faced Rois. The man wouldn’t meet his gaze.
Bekion said, “What you saw earlier was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
Rois looked up with surprise written all over his face. “Bekion, why would… You, of all people, shouldn’t be explaining your actions to me.”
“We were best friends long before you became my guard, Rois. If any deserves an explanation, it’s you.” Bekion dropped into the nearest chair and put his head in his hands. “I don’t know what came over me. Thank you for stopping me. I would have regretted it later.”
“Considering why I interrupted you, I don’t think you should be thanking me or anyone else.” Rois placed a hand on Bekion’s shoulder. “As a friend, I say this, Bekion. Be careful of her. Her looks make it easy to forget she is not jattikan. You should endeavor to treat her more like a pet. That would help alleviate your confusion.”
“I doubt it.” Besides, he had promise
d Starling he would treat her as more than a pet when dealing with her. He couldn’t have it both ways. Neither could she.
It didn’t matter what her life had been. She was his pet now. She needed to learn her place. Putting her in it would help him as well.
He patted Rois’ hand before pushing to his feet. Rois stepped back as Bekion walked forward and left the room, headed back to his chambers. He needed to set things straight with Starling.
She sat on the bed, wringing her hands, when he returned. The sound of him closing the bedroom door made her look up at him.
Her soft, hesitant smile firmed his resolve.
“Off the bed, Starling,” he said in a gruff voice, pointing at the floor.
A pet. She was nothing but a pet. Owners spoke to their pets this way. Bekion would do the same to Starling.
She blinked at him a few times, clearly confused, but didn’t do as he bade.
“Off. Now.”
She dropped from the bed. “Was everything okay, Bekion?”
“I resolved the situation.” He stripped off his shirt then sat on the edge of the bed with his back turned to her.
He heard her approach him. He had to do or say something before she touched him and ruined his intention of putting her in her place. “You’re sleeping on your own bed tonight. You’ll sleep on your own bed from now on.”
She made an affirmative noise and his insides loosened. He didn’t want an argument that would reinforce Starling as more than a simple pet.
She said, “That’s best. What happened earlier was a mistake. I hope you told Rois that.”
“I didn’t need to tell Rois anything. He knows I’m not one to indulge in bestiality.”
Starling sucked in a sharp breath that almost made Bekion flinch. He’d predicted her anger and had prepared himself for it. His choice of words had been deliberate. They also had the desired effect.
Good.
He chanced looking at Starling’s face. She had an expression that said she would love to hurt him. That was the reaction he wanted.
He said, “Such deviant acts are for common people and low nobility, not monarchs of the Gorov Empire.”
Starling’s brown skin was turning redder with each word he spoke. It surprised him that she let him continue without speaking her mind.
“My judgment lapsed due to my lack of comfort from one of my maids these past two months. Furthermore, I mistook you for one who could fulfill my need when that is not the case. Sexual frustration coupled with stress caused me to act in a strange, unexpected way.” He couldn’t look at her any longer.
Bekion never knew he could be so intentionally cruel. While he had made people angry with him in the past with his words and judgments, those times had been justified. The anger of the people receiving his words had been because they hadn’t gotten their way.
With Starling, he wanted…no, he needed her to be angry and said what he knew would spark that anger the fastest. She would put distance between them. Something he couldn’t do.
It wasn’t enough. Not yet.
He needed to say the words to her face, to show her his resolve. He met her gaze once more, steeling himself against her anger, to do what he must. “I will not make such a stupid and demeaning mistake again when I have better options available.”
Starling huffed a few times, opened her mouth and then stopped. She gave him a scathing look he had more than earned before stalking to the bathroom and slamming the door.
Bekion listened, waiting to hear if she would scream or cry or otherwise vent her anger at his words. He heard nothing. That scared him but he couldn’t check on her. She wouldn’t want to see him.
He left the bedroom and closed the door. Somehow, at the end of it all, he had self-exiled himself from his own sleeping chamber.
Nausic entered the outer chamber and bowed, interrupting Bekion’s thoughts.
Bekion asked, “Why are you here?”
“Lady Starling called for me.”
Bekion looked over his shoulder at the closed door. Starling had called for Nausic? When had she learned to use her armbands in such a way? He hadn’t told her. But then, she spent significant amounts of time with Nausic and Furielle. Of course Nausic would educate her.
Bekion moved and waved Nausic past. “See to her then.”
Nausic opened the door.
Before he could walk through, Bekion said, “Starling doesn’t leave my chambers.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Nausic bowed and entered the room.
Bekion pulled the door closed, giving Starling privacy. Rather than stand there like a spy, he sat at the dining table to contemplate his life. Everything had made more sense when he didn’t have a pet.
But he couldn’t imagine Starling leaving. He sighed, annoyed at himself and his predicament. Would he be this introspective if he and Starling hadn’t been interrupted, if they hadn’t been caught?
He hit upon the real problem. Not his desire for Starling, not the risk to his reputation, but the fact that they had gotten caught. If anyone other than Rois had opened that door, Bekion would probably be having an audience with Supreme Emperor Udo this very second about who would sit Panagiota’s throne while Bekion rotted in a prison.
The bedroom door opened and Nausic stepped out then closed the door behind him. Bekion lifted his head and looked at Nausic. “Well?”
“Lady Starling wished her bed moved to the farthest corner of the closet. I had to resituate some items to accommodate the bed but the task is done.” He searched Bekion’s gaze with an uncertain one. “Should I have consulted you first, Sire?”
“That’s fine, Nausic. Good night.”
Nausic bowed and left.
Bekion looked at the closed door as though he could see the closet. He wanted to demand Starling stay where he could see her. That was stupid. Looking at her would test his resolve. Banishing her from his bed wasn’t enough. Starling had done the right thing when she moved out of his sight as well.
Once he was married, thoughts of his pet would leave him.
Marriage? Had his situation become so desperate in such a short amount of time that his most hated and avoided duty became a light of hope?
Bekion shook his head. He corrected his thoughts. Once he exhausted himself in the arms of a palace maiden, he would no longer lust after Starling. Stress and a need for release caused his distraction with her, as he had said.
He tapped his arm cuff.
“Yes, Bekion,” Vieve said through the intercom.
“Send me a girl.”
Bekion could almost see the woman smiling.
“You haven’t requested a girl in quite some time. I was beginning to think you’d gone impotent and didn’t want anyone to know.”
“Vieve,” he said with plenty of warning edging his voice.
“She will be there presently.”
Bekion pushed the button, ending the call. He didn’t appreciate the amount of amusement in Vieve’s tone. He glanced over his shoulder at the bedroom door. Instant guilt gnawed at his gut.
He had no reason for the feeling. His actions were answerable to no one, least of all Starling. The knot of tension settling in the pit of his stomach wasn’t alleviated.
The amorous mood moving him earlier had vanished. As much as he wanted to cancel the girl he ordered, he stayed his hand and waited. He hoped the partner Vieve sent him was worthwhile. She would have her work cut out for her. Bekion also hoped his performance wouldn’t make the girl suspect his inner turmoil.
In the days to come, once Starling forgave him and their relationship as master and pet resumed in an amicable way, everything would be right again.
Chapter Nine
Starling stared at the ceiling of the closet with no inclination to leave her bed. The comfort of the soft-as-oven-fresh-biscuits mattress didn’t cause her lethargic behavior. It should. The very well-constructed bed made her feel sorry she hadn’t indulged in its use before this past night, but other thoughts kept her i
n it.
Bekion and avoiding him topped the list.
He’d already left the bedroom. She couldn’t help but hear the door open and close when he exited. He didn’t stop to check on her.
That was for the best. She might forget herself and yell at him. She had barely stopped herself the night before. She’d wanted to curse a blue streak and hoped he strangled on it after what he said.
She almost had. The way Bekion watched her, as if he wanted her to explode, stopped her. If he had said it all to get a rise out of her, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
A soft knock at the closet door pulled her from her thoughts.
Nausic called, “Lady Starling.”
She pushed back the covers and left the bed. Rather than tell him to enter, she opened the door. “Is he gone?”
Nausic nodded. “A moment ago.”
“Did you tell him I didn’t want to come out until he left?”
“Yes, when he asked. He agreed with the wisdom of your decision.” Nausic stepped to the side as she passed him. “He also said he wouldn’t call for you today.”
“Good, because I won’t go.”
“Whether you want to go or not doesn’t matter, Lady Starling. If King Bekion calls, I must take you to him.”
“Take me wherever you want. That doesn’t mean I’ll stay.” She headed for the bathroom instead of the outer chamber and breakfast. She didn’t have an appetite. Exercise would get out most of her frustration and help clear her head.
She changed into her workout clothes and ran out of the room without waiting for Nausic or answering the servants who greeted her.
Nausic caught up with her easily. She wondered if he knew why she and Bekion were estranged. He hadn’t asked. Then again, curious people probably didn’t last long as royal guards.
If he knew, at least then she would have someone to talk to about it all. She wanted to rant to someone other than herself. She had never noticed she didn’t have anyone with whom to talk. Nausic and Furielle were her constant companions besides Bekion and sometimes Rois. None of them counted as conversation partners.
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