Belly lurching, she caught up with the music and continued her weaving and whirling across the marble floor.
What did the girls think of her? She had still seen no malice or hostility in their faces, but how humiliating it was to have to expose her naked body to them in the lewd dance, and what an awful contrast to the respectable and refined English lady she had always portrayed herself to be. Now, she was sure, they would only ever remember her clad in nothing but jewellery and revealing every intimate detail of her nudity in this outrageous carnal display. At least George was not here to witness her degradation and heighten her despair, Penny told herself. That would have been too much to bear. She wished she knew if the Prince had paid him any money for her and, to her greater embarrassment, found she hoped that he had and that it was more than the four thousand pounds she had been promised for Julia. She was worth that at the very least.
The music ended abruptly, Penny’s cue to sink to her knees with her thighs spread wide and lift the big mounds of her breasts with her hands as if offering them to the Prince. He gave a non-committal nod.
“Here, slave.”
With the irritating bells at her nipples tinkling in the silence, she hurried to his side and knelt on the cushions indicated by his pointing finger, hoping desperately that he was pleased with her performance.
“Well, gentlemen,” Bahram said, “I hope you enjoyed my little entertainment. She has yet to be properly schooled but I believe she shows great promise.”
Penny bowed her head to avoid their appraising eyes as the men agreed that she had not done badly for a first attempt. She was oddly glad that none of them found any reason to criticise her.
“I’ll see you at tomorrow’s council meeting,” she heard Jahngir Khan tell his brother. “I’ll take my leave now, and I’m sure Mr. Ross has some last-minute preparations to attend to before he begins his journey in the morning.”
So the man was Ross, Penny thought, ears pricking up. Earlier in the day she had dared to ask Bahram what the occasion was at which she was being made to dance. His answer had been a dozen stripes with the switch to her bottom and a reminder that no slave girl, however beautiful, was allowed to question his decisions. Although the switching had hurt, Penny had felt quite pleased that he thought her beautiful.
“Remain where you are,” the Prince told her, and to her disappointment rose to escort his guests to the palace gates. She was not going to learn anything more.
“Goodbye, Mrs. Winter. I’ll come and see you again if I’m allowed.”
She looked up sharply and saw Julia give her a quick smile before the blonde turned and hurried in her master’s wake. Though she had every right to be, she had not seemed unfriendly and certainly not hostile, Penny thought, but did not ponder about the girl for long. The clips holding her nipple-caps in place, and even more so the one attached lower down were making their presence felt. They were the only covering she had been allowed while she had danced, a conical cap for the point of each breast and a gold disc the size of a half-crown on the flesh of her feminine bud, with three short chains ending in pearl drops hanging down from it and sorely inadequate to hide her sex. No longer distracted by the need to dance, Penny grew more aware of their painful pinching as the minutes dragged by and she waited, not daring to touch let alone remove them herself, or even to shift from the position Bahram had ordered her to take up.
She was not sure whether to be relieved or afraid when he returned.
“Jahngir wanted his new girl to have a chance to bid the red-haired one farewell,” he told Penny as he sat down beside her. “She is going on a long journey with her master. As I wanted my brother to see how well you’re coming along and I owed Jefferson the price for you and Subaidah, I suggested Jahngir and Ross come here and we could sort out the whole business at the same time.”
“Price?” She had been bought and paid for, Penny realized with a flip of her belly and a perplexing little tremor of excitement. “May I ask how much you paid for me?” It was still difficult to keep her resentment from her tone.
The Prince smiled broadly. “I won’t tell you. You’ll get even more conceited.”
She blushed and looked down, not entirely disappointed by his reply. He unfastened the clips from her nipples and cupped her breasts in his large hands, massaging their painfully pulsing points with the balls of his thumbs. It felt very soothing after the bite of the metal.
“You have very beautiful breasts, Penelope,” Bahram said, adding a finger to each gently rubbing thumb and rolling the stiffening cones at their tips between them.
“Th… thank you, Your Highness,” Penny said, more pleased than she expected by his appreciation. She arched her back to push them out.
He laughed softly. “But a short memory, it appears. Though I think that is not the reason you keep failing to obey me. You’re my slave girl, Penelope. What did I tell you slave girls must call me?”
“M… M… Master,” she stammered as the grip of his fingers tightened.
“That’s right. Not such a difficult word to pronounce, eh? But you’re finding it hard, aren’t you? It’s not the way of prideful Englishwomen to acknowledge anyone has the mastery of them, is it?”
Her gut tightened as she lifted her eyes to his and gave a tiny shake of her head. It was hard. Every time she said the word it felt as if she was surrendering a little more of herself, as if she was giving up a little more control to him. But what had being in control ever got her except discontentment and dissatisfaction? It had certainly never given her the fulfilment and happiness she wanted.
The soreness in her nipples dissipated under his touch, but they continued to pulse as they strained, upright and elongated, at the peaks of her breasts. Bahram sank his fingertips deep into the fleshy fullness of her twin globes and squeezed firmly.
“There, feel better now?”
Penny’s gaze was still locked to the dark glitter of his eyes.
Breathing faster, she nodded.
“Then say so.”
“Th… they feel better, M… M… Master.”
He smiled. “Good girl. And as long as you never fail to call me that in future, I won’t have to take a willow wand to your lovely tits, Penelope.” He used his grip on her breasts to push her down into the cushions, propped himself on one elbow beside her and ran his forefinger over the fullness of her lower lip. “You really are very beautiful. I expect a lot of men have told you that before, eh?”
“Y… yes, M… Master.” Her tongue seemed to thicken as she spoke the title.
“But none of them owned you the way I do, did they?”
“No, M… Master.” The fluttering in Penny’s stomach began spreading lower.
The Prince trailed one finger between the up-thrust swells on her chest and down her belly to where he had just had her freshly plucked.
He chuckled. “You’ll adapt, Penelope. You’ll get used to life in my zenana. You’ll learn to obey me in all things, and I mean all things, for there won’t be a minute, day or night, when you’re not under my control.
And sooner or later you’ll learn to love me as the other girls have, and you’ll be as eager as they are for my attention.” He opened the jaws of the third clip and pulled it free.
Penny let out a long sigh as the tight nip of the metal vanished at last. A heartbeat later Bahram’s finger replaced it, massaging the buzzing flesh where her thighs met with the same skill as he had her breasts. His mouth sought hers and brushed her lips.
“You were a naughty girl, Penelope,” he said softly into her ear.
“When you looked at your erstwhile protégées during the dance you let your concentration lapse and missed a step. I told you I always demand the best from my concubines, didn’t I.”
“Y… yes, M… Master.” Penny whispered in her nervousness.
“But you didn’t do your best, did you?”
“N… no, M… Master,” she admitted, fear wriggling in her belly.
“This evening at
six o’clock you will be stripped naked and chained at the whipping post in the zenana. Then, with the other girls looking on, you will receive twelve strokes to your buttocks with the cane for your inattention to your duty.”
She gasped, partly in fear of the punishment but mostly from the things his rubbing fingers were doing below her waist and the tremors of arousal he was creating there.
“After your caning you will go straight to your room. On the bed will be an ivory phallus. You will kneel on the floor by the bed, insert the phallus and keep it there while you spend the time until I come to you thinking of the ways that you are going to pleasure me.” He tweaked the flesh that was growing increasingly firm under his fingers stroking.
Penny wriggled and gave a mew of mingled passion and surprise.
Only twice since her arrival had he taken her. Soon it would be three times, one more than Subaidah. The beating would hurt, but after the thrashings she had had in the past she knew she could bear it. It was the thought of what would happen afterwards that made her belly wriggle and provoked her tingling excitement. Once again, something that should have been repellent suddenly seemed disturbingly attractive.
“Do you understand, slave girl?” Bahram demanded, his fingers pushing into her and tickling and teasing her sensitive tissues.
“Yes, M… Master,” Penny gasped and using the title did not seem quite so difficult, nor the ignominy of speaking it so painful.
“But I’m not going to wait until this evening, my prideful English rose,” he said, smiling as he stripped off his shirt. “I want you now.”
Her eyes widened as he removed his trousers and his arrogant length sprang upright. “Oh, M… Master!” Despite her rapid breathing and the pounding of her heart, the word came more easily than before.
Again his fingers probed deeply and Penny moaned and wriggled her bottom on the silken cushions.
“Oh, Master!”
Bahram’s weight came down on her. She felt his upright flesh rub against her own, shivered ecstatically and lifted herself to meet the first thrust.
“Ooh, Master!” Penny cried as he slid to the hilt and she felt a ripple of sparkling delight. “Ooh, Master!”
Suddenly it was not difficult to say the word at all.
*
“No regrets about what you’re leaving behind?” Kate asked.
Julia smiled and shook her head. “No, Kate. Nothing back in England means half as much to me as what I have here. I suppose I’ll have to write and tell my parents some of what’s happened eventually.”
She grinned. “I won’t be giving them a return address, though.”
“Nor I mine,” Kate said. “Not that I will have one.” Grinning broadly, she clapped her hands in delight. “Oh, we’re off tomorrow! I can’t wait.”
“I won’t bother to ask if you’re sure it’s what you want.” The answer was plain to see on the redhead’s face every time she glanced at the man she had chosen. He stood a few yards away, waiting beside the car, just as Jahngir was holding the horses and waiting for Julia. “We shouldn’t keep them hanging around,” she warned. “They’ll only get impatient.
“And we know how that will end up.” Kate laughed and tapped a hand on one buttock. “And I’ve got to ride a train tomorrow.” She wrapped her arms impulsively around Julia and they hugged one another tightly. “Good luck, Julia. Be happy always.”
“I will,” Julia assured her. “How could I ever be anything else when I have everything I want?”
“Me too.” Kate moved her mouth closer to her ear and lowered her voice. “Listen, if your man hasn’t put it up your bum yet, get him to do it soon. It’s absolutely wonderful.” She giggled and Julia joined in.
“I know. We’ve done it already. Whatever would our parents say if they knew?”
They laughed together happily for a moment then drew apart.
“Goodbye, Kate. Good luck on your travels,” Julia said. “Be careful and be safe.”
“I’ll always be safe. My man will see to that. There’s no one like him.”
“Except my man,” Julia said, and they both laughed again.
“I might be back in a year or two,” Kate said. “I’ll come and visit you.”
“And you’ll be welcome. Welcome always,” Julia replied.
There was nothing more to say. The farewells were over. Kate climbed into the car and drove off up the motor road, waving excitedly until she vanished over the brow of the hill. A little sadly, Julia turned away and took her horse’s reins from Jahngir’s hand.
“She’ll be fine,” he said as he helped her mount and she arranged her cloak to hide her flimsy clothing. “That Ross is a good man. He’ll look after her.”
“I know, my lord. I was just remembering the time we spent together with Mrs. Winter. May I go and visit her some time? Afia says it’s allowed.”
“You can come with me tomorrow,” Jahngir told her. “I’ll have a word with my brother. If he agrees, you can see her while we’re in the council meeting.”
“Thank you. I remember how I felt when I first came to your zenana. I thought she might need a little comfort.”
“She’ll do well enough. She’s a clever one. She’ll run rings round Bahram if he gives her half a chance. He’ll need to keep an eye on her.”
Jahngir laughed. “And I’m sure he’ll enjoy doing it.”
“She had stripes on her bottom,” Julia said as they approached the river.
“My brother’s discipline is strict. But he’ll take care of her, trust me. She won’t suffer any lasting harm. Maybe a few piercings, but that will be all.”
“Piercings?” Julia asked. “That sounds rather intriguing.”
He grinned. “Ask Afia.”
They rode side by side across the ford. A little way downstream Julia could see the water flowing from the newly completed aqueduct and into the river, and felt a glow of pride for her Master’s achievement.
“Mrs. Winter danced well, I thought,” she said as they began to climb the side of the valley.
“She wasn’t anything special, though she might be one day, with practice. She let herself be distracted when she looked at you. Bahram will probably punish her for it.”
Julia’s rear muscle tightened. “Oh! Does he use the… the oil?”
“No, he prefers the switch, or occasionally the cane.”
“My, lord,” she said tentatively, “would you switch me the next time I have to be punished?”
“Why would you want me to do that? Anyway, what makes you think you’ll do something that will make me want to punish you?”
“Oh, I will eventually.”
He smiled. “Is that a promise or a warning?”
“Neither, but it’s bound to happen sooner or later.” She felt a tickling quiver as she spoke. “And I would like to know how it feels to be switched. I mean, compared to the whip. Oh, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”
He shook his head. “Never mind, I understand. All right, if that’s what you want. If you prefer not to wait to satisfy your curiosity I’ll do it today if you like.”
“Would you? That’s very kind, my lord.” It sounded odd even to her own ears to thank him for a punishment, particularly when she had done nothing to deserve it, but Julia was genuinely curious to know how it would feel and did not want to wait before finding out.
“Then we’ll do it as soon as we’re home. We’ll need a reason to give the others. I don’t usually give out punishments for nothing, especially a switching.”
“Oh, can it wait a little longer? I’m to practice my dancing with Reshmina and Laila. I wouldn’t do very well with a sore bottom.”
Jahngir laughed. “Whatever pleases you, little murgah. Though you’re better than Mrs. Winter already. I doubt missing it for once will make much difference.”
“But I want to improve as quickly as possible,” Julia said. “I want to… to be graceful and beautiful and… seductive for you.” Another little wriggle teased be
tween her legs.
“You dance very gracefully now,” he told her.
“But I’m clumsy compared to the other girls.”
“You’re as graceful as they are, Julia.”
“That’s not true and you know it.”
“Are you contradicting me?” Jahngir demanded sternly. “I think I had better give you a switching, my love, to remind you of your manners.”
She could not help smiling. Julia always smiled when he called her his love. This time it became a giggle at the way he had turned her touchiness about her dancing into a means to give him an excuse to punish her.
“Oh, wait!” she said in sudden dismay. “If my bottom is all striped I might not be able to…. That is, I thought you might want to….” Her heart sank when he shook his head.
“Not tonight, little murgah, or Laila will think I’m neglecting her.”
He grinned slyly. “And, as you know, she has a very skilful way with her lips and tongue.”
“No, I didn’t,” Julia said stiffly, but her pang of jealousy lasted only a heartbeat. She could not begrudge Laila or any of the girls their fair share of pleasure with their lord.
Jahngir chuckled. “Then perhaps it’s time I let you find out. And you can show her some of your own considerable talents at the same time.”
Julia felt a rush of heat to her cheeks, not embarrassment, but excitement at the idea of making love to the girl with Jahngir watching them, and the pleasure it would give them all. She shifted in her saddle and felt the friction of its leather on her intimate place.
The Pathan gave her a sidelong look and smiled broadly. “It’s a long, uphill climb ’til we’re home. Perhaps we should stop for a rest on the way. There’s a glade among the trees just off the track where it steepens.”
“Yes, Afia told me about it,” Julia said with a sudden quickening of her pulse. She gave a mischievous grin. “Maybe we had better lie down there out of the heat for a while.”
“Good idea,” Jahngir said, grinning back. They tethered their horses and he took her hand, leading her through the trees to a little, grassy hollow beneath the spreading branches. He spread his cloak on the sun-dappled ground and unbuttoned his chapaan. Julia slipped her cloak from her shoulders and quickly shed her scanty clothing. She stood admiring Jahngir’s muscular body as he undressed, feeling deliciously reckless to be naked outdoors with the breeze gently caressing her bare skin. An eager shiver ran through her, ending in a ripple of arousal that teased and tickled all the way to the core of her femininity.
Kate and Julia: Slave Girls of the Raj Page 18