Bound by Desire: King of Diamonds (Wonderland Book 3)

by Jaymie Holland

  Neither of them spoke while he bathed her. It was just so comfortable being with him.

  Besides, what did one say to a man who tied you up, put a collar of ownership on you, spanked and flogged you, and took your virginity? Not to mention, a man who ate lunch naked with you and gave you multiple amazing orgasms.

  After her bath, and once Karn had toweled her off, he led her to the bedroom and to the clothing wardrobe. He magically opened it, but this time drew out a nightdress in pale pink. Again it was made of a sheer material. Annie’s instinct was to protest, yet a part of her enjoyed showing off her body since Karn appeared to like it so much. He apparently liked that she was a full-figured gal, and he sure liked how big her breasts were.

  She wanted to know what it would feel like to be held in his arms all night, and to wake up with him wrapped around her. “Are you going to stay the night with me?” she asked softly.

  “No.” Karn caught her chin and held her gaze. “I will see to all your needs, kitten. But it goes no further than my being your Sire, and you learning the art of pleasure.”

  He slid his fingers down her neck to her collar before he released her and turned away. She watched him leave the room and just stared at the doors after they quietly shut behind him.

  A low rumbling noise drew Annie’s attention as Abra curled around her ankles. She scooped up the cat and buried her face in the soft calico hair. Tears burned at the back of Annie’s eyes as the weight of what he did and didn’t say settled inside her.

  Karn would see to her physical needs, and he would make sure she was trained in fulfilling his sexual hunger.

  But he had no intention of opening his heart and letting her inside. He had no intention of loving her.

  Why did that matter?

  Because the truth was, she was falling in love with him.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ANNIE WOKE TO THE SOFT PATTER OF RAINFALL against her windowpane, with Abra snuggled up to her neck as usual. Memories of Karn, the garden, and their passion washed over her, and her entire body felt warm at the thought. She was deliciously sore between her thighs, the ache of a good sexual workout.

  Another thing she’d read about and now finally got to experience for herself.

  Annie smiled, but it dissolved into a frown as she remembered Karn’s parting words from last night: “I will see to all your needs, kitten. But it goes no further than my being your Sire, and you learning the art of pleasure.”

  It was strange how easily she had gone along with everything he demanded of her. Something about him made her want to please him, to be with him. But she hardly knew the man—although she certainly knew him well in many ways now.

  With a sigh, she carefully turned on her side and stroked Abra as she looked at the window and watched raindrops make trails down the glass. When she was young, she used to imagine that rain was the sky’s tears when its heart had been broken.

  While she watched the raindrops roll down the pane, she thought about her childhood. Every time her mother or others had stepped on her heart throughout her life, Annie had cried. She never knew her father, and her mother acted as if she hated Annie and resented her very existence.

  Annie’s grandmother had been a kind and good-hearted woman, and was the only person in Annie’s life who showed her any kind of love. But Grandma Travis had passed away close to Annie’s tenth birthday, and then she had no one.

  It wasn’t until she moved away from home to attend San Francisco State University on scholarship, that Annie found true friends and loyal family in her cousins, Alice and Alexi, and in Aunt Awai. They had embraced Annie as one of them and had taken her under their collective wings.

  She stroked Abra under her chin absentmindedly as she thought about her cousins. Alice and Alexi had been taken away from Annie, who had left Awai behind.

  Annie moved her hand to her collar and sighed. And here I am with a man who refuses to love. Talk about irony.

  Sparkles glittered in front of Annie, jarring her from her thoughts. Beya materialized, holding a tray. Abra scampered off the bed and darted beneath it.

  “Breakfast, Mistress,” the little woman said as she bustled toward the window. She placed the tray on the window seat as usual. “Sire Karn will join you this afternoon.”

  “Thanks, Beya.” Annie shifted and drew her knees up. “Do you think I have time to clean the art room?”

  A soft smile curved the corner of Beya’s mouth. “If the king comes looking for you, I will make sure this is where he finds you.”

  Annie smiled. She had a friend in Beya, and it was good to have friends.

  ~~*~~

  Annie cleaned the art room until the wood floors were glossy, every corner and every item dusted, and all three windows were clean as far as she could reach. They were tall, magnificent windows, but she could only clean them to a certain point.

  Nevertheless, the room didn’t seem as dark despite the continued rainfall. It was as if the windows had a light of their own that filled the room with a soft glow.

  She was certain that Beya could have cleaned the art room with her magic. Annie appreciated that the woman hadn’t. It was satisfying and fulfilling to have done it on her own.

  The urge to paint was strong, and it was all she could do to contain herself. When she finished cleaning, she set an empty canvas on one easel, moved a stool in front of it, and set the palette she would use on the top of the chest of art supplies. She was ready to start tomorrow.

  Sparkles notified Annie she was going to have company right before Beya popped in.

  The tiny woman put her hands on her hips and surveyed the room. “Fine job you have done, Mistress.” She gestured to the windows. “Would you mind if I cleaned the part you cannot reach?”

  Annie smiled. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

  Beya made a tsking sound. She raised her hands and glittery light floated to the upper part of one window. In a mere moment, the higher portion of the windows sparkled as much as the parts Annie had cleaned. Beya took care of the two other windows.

  Annie spun around, a broad grin on her face, her arms spread wide. She felt like she’d really accomplished something for the first time since coming to Karn’s world.

  Beya was smiling when Annie stopped. The woman took Annie’s hand. “His Majesty is coming for you.”

  Annie’s heart leapt with fear of Karn finding out what she’d been doing in her spare time.

  Beya gripped her hand tighter and then Annie was flung through darkness and light.

  She gasped as everything blurred around her. It lasted only a moment but it felt longer.

  The next thing Annie knew, they stood in her room. She swayed, but Beya steadied her.

  Beya’s gaze raked over Annie. “You need one, but we have no time for you to bathe.” She released Annie before letting loose with sparkles that covered Annie from head to toe.

  Annie blinked. She felt as fresh as if she had just showered. She looked down and saw that she wore a short red dress that was pristine, unlike the clothes she had worn while she cleaned the art room.

  A knock came at the door and Annie jumped. Beya winked and vanished.

  Abra peeked out from beneath the bed.

  “Come in,” Annie called out with a waver in her voice.

  Karn entered her chambers and shut the door behind him. His massive presence filled the room, making even the furniture small in comparison to his large frame. Annie’s whole body reacted immediately, and she grew damp between her thighs and her nipples tightened.

  He frowned. “I expected you to be waiting for me at the lunch table.”

  She winced. “Sorry.”

  “You have been late too many times. You have earned another punishment.” His look was so dark that she was surprised into being speechless. He held out his palm and a red strap appeared on it.

  In a movement so quick she didn’t have time to catch her breath, he turned her on her belly so that she was lying half on and half off the bed.
In a matter of a second or two, he had tied her wrists behind her back with the strap.

  Annie’s face was in the bedcovers and she turned her head sideways so she could breathe. She gasped as he moved between her legs and spread her thighs wide. “Karn—”

  “Sire.” He pushed her dress up to her waist, exposing her bare ass. “Do you understand why you are being punished?”

  Annie tried to be mad at him, but having him between her legs was making her so hot. She couldn’t help but remember the erotic punishment he had dealt her yesterday. “You’re punishing me for being late again, Sire.”

  Karn caressed her naked flesh and then she felt his lips and his tongue on her skin and she couldn’t help a moan. She yelped in surprise as he bit her ass, hard enough that it would probably leave a temporary mark. Though the bite hurt a little, it surprised her that it had been pleasurable, too.

  He rubbed his stubbled cheek over her bare skin and kissed her ass. Annie moaned before he nipped at her flesh again.

  When Annie cried out with pleasure, he murmured, “Remember, it is about my pleasure, not yours.”

  “Yes, Sire,” she whispered, hoping his punishment would be as delicious today as it had been yesterday.

  Instead of flogging her, he picked her up and set her on her feet. Her hands still secured behind her back, he took her by the elbow and led her out the door he had left open. Her hair was wild around her shoulders since she hadn’t pulled it back, and she felt small and vulnerable next to him.

  He took her downstairs and guided her to the dining room, where platters of food had been laid out at the head of the table. After he seated her, with her hands still behind her back, Karn took the chair beside her, and moved it close. “I am going to feed you your lunch. Do not climax without my permission.”

  “Is lunch that good?” Annie asked, but then he was sliding the corner of a small tea sandwich into her mouth. She bit into it at the same time he moved his hand beneath her short dress. He slipped his fingers between her thighs and stroked her clit.

  She jumped from the initial contact and then moaned around the bite she’d just taken. She wasn’t sure what was in the sandwich, but the filling tasted like a cross between chicken salad and salmon.

  Throughout lunch, he drove her crazy, taking her to the brink of orgasm and then pulling back as he fed her small sandwiches and square pastries with clotted cream that reminded her of having high tea.

  At the end of lunch, he picked up a fruit tart then put it to her lips. Annie took a bite just as he thrust two fingers into her core, and she rolled her eyes back from the exquisite pleasure. The strawberry cream cheese taste melted in her mouth as he moved his fingers in and out of her. She pulled against her bonds, wanting to touch him, to hold on to something as he continued his sexual torture.

  When they had eaten the last of the meal, Karn bent and licked her nipple through the thin material of her dress. He continued to plunge his fingers in and out of her.

  “Karn…” Annie could barely speak, she was so close. “May I come, please?”

  “No.” He moved his mouth to her other nipple and kept thrusting into her with his fingers. “You must resist.”

  “I—I can’t.”

  “You can.” He moved his fingers in and out of her faster. “You will not orgasm, or I shall have to punish you.”

  Annie leaned her head back, her breasts thrust forward and he sucked her nipple harder. The cloth was wet now over each nipple, and they were hard and aching.

  “Stop. Please, Karn,” she begged, even though she wanted him to continue and wanted to come so bad she could just scream.

  “This pleases me.” He moved his mouth back to her other nipple. “And you are here to see to my pleasure.”

  Her thighs began to tremble, and a fine sheen of sweat broke out upon her skin. She worked to hold back the impending explosion, though she wasn’t completely sure why, except that it would make Karn happy. Maybe if she made him happy enough…

  He stopped.

  Annie groaned as he pulled his fingers out. Just one touch more and she would have come for sure.

  “That was your first punishment,” he said as he stood. “Your second will come later.”

  “You’re not going to let me come?” Annie’s clit was so sensitive that she squeezed her thighs together to try and calm the sensations. “What else am I being punished for?”

  “You forgot your place and did not call me Sire.” He stood and pulled back her chair, then helped her stand. “I will deal your consequences to you later.”

  Annie’s gaze snapped up to meet Karn’s. “What are you going to do to me?”

  He waved his hand and the tie fell from her wrists. She rubbed each one where the leather had been secured tightly.

  “Do not forget your place.” He took her by the elbow and guided her out of the dining room. “Always refer to me as Sire, or I may take you to the dungeon.”

  She swallowed hard as he took her back to her room. He remained silent and she wondered what he had planned for her.

  When they reached her bedroom, he opened the door and then closed it behind them. He released her and went to the trunk at the foot of the bed. He opened the trunk by skimming his finger over the keyhole.

  She couldn’t help the question from popping out. “You would lock me in the dungeon, Sire?”

  “Perhaps.” He shrugged as if indifferent to the fact that he was suggesting he would lock her up in a cell. “If you earn such treatment.”

  Annie remained quiet as he withdrew the pair of doeskin boots from the trunk. She wondered if he was taking her outside when he took out a leather dress and a cloak. They were different from what she’d worn outside the time he took her to the ridge above the village.

  He handed the dress to her. “Put this on.”

  Annie did as he bade, not wanting to add another punishment to her tally. His dark eyes looked hungry as he watched her slip out of the red dress and into the leather outfit.

  When she got the outfit on, she was sure she was going to die of embarrassment, because her full breasts poked like twin torpedoes out of holes in front of the dress, not to mention the dress was so short it barely covered her mound.

  Karn’s feral smile caused Annie to shiver with excitement. As long as no one else saw her in this dress, it actually turned her on to have her breasts on display for him.

  He held out his hand, and two white diamond pendants appeared. They looked like earrings, only they had loops at the top of each pendant. Before she could ask him what they were for, he reached up and pinched her nipple, causing her to gasp and the taut nub to grow even harder. He released her, then slipped the looped end of the diamond dangle over her nipple, then slid a golden band up the loop so that the ring was taut. Her nipple turned darker red, almost purple, and the sensation was one of both pain and pleasure.

  Annie watched in amazement as he repeated the process on her other breast, then examined his handiwork. It felt exotic to have the charms dangling from her nipples, the loops tight, keeping the nubs erect.

  “You will wear these and think of me touching you, tasting you.” He flicked one of the crystals. “Put on the boots.”

  When she bent over to put on the soft leather boots, the diamonds swung and she almost gasped from the sensation of the nipple charms tugging at her as they rocked back and forth. After her boots were on, he held the cloak over one arm, then took her hand and led her out the chamber door that opened with his magic as they approached.

  Panic rose inside Annie as he guided her through the door and into the hallway. “You’re not going to make me walk through the mansion like this, are you?”

  He frowned at her, and Annie was quick to add, “Sire.”

  “Do not question me.” He led her toward the stairs. “Or another punishment will be added.”

  Annie clamped her teeth together, caught between the urge to rage and the desire to submit.

  When they reached the landing, Annie stopped wa
lking, digging her heels. Karn could have used his massive strength to drag her on, or simply have thrown her over his shoulder, but thankfully he didn’t.

  Karn looked down at his mate, but this time he did not frown. She looked so upset, her eyes glittering as if she was going to cry. A key twisted in his heart, unlocking emotions he had not allowed himself to feel in decades. “What is it?”

  She bit her lower lip then took a deep breath. “I can’t do this. Punish me if you want, but I can’t walk around other people like this. I didn’t mind while we were alone in the bedroom, but I can’t with anyone else.”

  Annie’s voice trembled as she spoke, and that key in his heart turned a little more. She was such a gentle creature, yet willing to stand up to him if he crossed her boundaries. He did not want to hurt her. Even though he would not allow himself to love her, he could not help but care for his future queen.

  Without saying a word, he took the cloak and wrapped it around her, helping her to put her arms through the holes, then fastening it so that it covered her breasts.

  When he finished he hooked his finger under her chin. “If ever there is something I ask of you that causes you such pain, then tell me. I feel no pleasure in your distress.”

  He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, then forced himself to back away and take her hand again.

  Annie sighed with relief as they walked down the stairs together. No doubt in Karn’s kingdom he was used to his subjects obeying his commands. They probably enjoyed it, even. But the fact that he had listened to her, and cared enough to cover her when she was truly embarrassed and pushed beyond where she would ever want to go, raised her estimation of him even higher.

  While they walked together, Karn was silent. The cloak chafed her nipples and the dangles bounced against her breasts, keeping her stimulated. The leather outfit felt exciting the way it held her breasts in the holes, and the way the bottom of the dress brushed her mound as she moved. Even the collar she wore for Karn was a turn-on.

  Yet, the walk through the mansion was a little nerve-wracking. What did he have planned for her next punishment? Annie’s cheeks burned every time they passed a castle servant. What if they knew what she had on beneath the cloak?