Surrender

by Alvania Scarborough

  Well, it was time she remedied that.

  Riana leaned down and opened a drawer in her desk. She'd gotten some items out of the hold of the Midnight Mischief after her encounter this afternoon with Darias, hoping to entice him into trying them out. That was after the nooning meal and before she had to deal with another petty squabble between two Houses.

  One by one, she began putting the items in the drawer on the desk.

  Bryta's eyes opened wider and wider at the obvious use of some of the articles.

  Riana smothered a grin, not wanting to her friend to think she was laughing at her.

  Bryta touched a long string of metallic spheres with a tentative finger.

  Riana got the feeling if she yelled ‘boo', she'd have to scrape the other woman off the ceiling.

  "What are these?"

  "Wa'Shin balls. They can be used for men or women. They vibrate, enhancing pleasure."

  Bryta's mouth dropped open in a perfect ‘O'. She closed it with a snap. “You don't mean you ... I mean, you aren't telling me that you put them...” She shook her head.

  Riana nodded, solemnly. “That's exactly what I mean. Here,” she tossed the Wa'Shin balls toward Bryta. “Try them. You might even want to let Gaith experience them."

  "And this? What is this for?” Her shyness forgotten, Bryta sat forward, prodding a squat glass jar containing a thick blob of gel.

  "It's goldjel. It shapes itself to the man and pleasures him."

  "You mean it's alive,” she squeaked, yanking her hand back.

  "Don't worry,” Riana soothed, “goldjel is harmless. If you're uncomfortable with it, why don't you choose something else? Perhaps, the sonic nipple clamps or...” She held up an iridescent blue and green feather. “This. Go on,” she encouraged, “experiment."

  "Oh, I couldn't. I wouldn't know how.” But she cast a longing glance at the array on the desk.

  "I'll tell you a secret.” Riana leaned over the desk and lowered her voice. “Use the same repertoire as when you punish Gaith, only instead of taking the suppressant and remaining detached, participate. Bring both yourselves to fulfillment."

  "Are you sure it's allowed? I mean, isn't it forbidden?” She looked torn.

  A smile curved Riana's lips because she knew then that half the battle was won.

  "It was. Under the men. However, the men are no longer in charge. I don't see why we can't change things to suit ourselves. Do you?"

  A slow smile of agreement spread over the other woman's face. “You're right. You are absolutely right. We now run Nexar. We can invent a new custom if we wish. Goddess knows, they didn't hesitate to invent a new Rule whenever it suited them.” She took a deep breath. “You weren't punishing Darias, were you?"

  "No,” Riana confirmed gently, “I wasn't."

  "Did he mind? Outside of the bedchamber, I mean.” Her face turned almost painfully red.

  "No, I don't think so, but I let the choice be his. He had to agree or I would have stopped.” Riana didn't intend to say more. Some things were private between a man and a woman.

  Awareness crept into Bryta's eyes, and she nodded. The small, fragile-looking woman stood, hesitated a moment and then scooped up the Wa'Shin balls, the sonic nipple clamps, and reached for the container of goldjel but paused, hand in mid-air. “Are you sure you want me to have these? They are yours."

  Riana waved her hand. “Take them. I have a whole hold full of such things. You know,” she said slowly, as the thought came to her, “you might even consider starting a new business with me. After all, I have a hold full of cargo and Nexar has a country-state full of new clientele. Why shouldn't we go into business together? Just think of the possibilities,” she urged

  An intrigued expression flashed across the other woman's face.

  "I'll consider the suggestion.” Bryta paused at the office door and threw an impish smile over her shoulder. “Tomorrow."

  "Bryta?” She waited until she turned back and threw her second-most favorite novel to her friend. “Here. Read this. It might give you some ideas.” She grinned as Bryta tucked the book close against her chest before scurrying out the door.

  Well, there was no going back now. She put the rest of the toys back in the sample case and headed for the Midnight Mischief. For better or ill, she had now set things in motion.

  Chapter Ten

  Darias spun about on one heel and confronted Riana when she opened the heavy door to the bedchamber. His face was strained.

  "You lied to me."

  Riana tossed the small bag in her hand onto a chair and rested one shoulder against the door, surveying him wearily. It was clear he was furious.

  "How, exactly, did I lie to you?” She really was too tired for this. With Darias, it was one tiny step forward and then a giant leap back.

  "You told me that what happened in the office wasn't about Punishment. What would you call it if not Punishment to leave me unfulfilled? In front of my warriors?” A muscle jerked rapidly in his cheek.

  "Bad timing?” She gave a slow smile as it sank in why he was enraged. “And so will you before the night is over."

  He stared at her as if she had lost her mind. Riana was beginning to wonder the same thing. Goddess, she was slow. With the history between them, she should have expected this. Straightening away from the door, she removed her cloak, tossing it on the end of the bed.

  His expression turned distinctly wary.

  She sighed inaudibly. It occurred to her that nothing she had said earlier this afternoon had made a lasting impression on Darias.

  One step at a time, she reminded herself, it would take one step at a time before she could ever hope to win his trust.

  "I'm sorry you thought that. That was never my intention.” She touched the tips of her fingers to the pulse throbbing in the side of his neck.

  He flinched, and turned his face away.

  "No? The first time you Punished me, you made certain my shame was paraded before all. Today you made certain everyone knew I had been called into my ... your office and then aroused me until I couldn't think straight and put that ... thing in me. You left me in that condition for all to see."

  The sheer raw power in the low words raised the hair on the back of her neck. But it was the pain buried beneath the harsh whisper that caused her heart to ache.

  "Darias, I'm sorry.” She cupped his cheek in her palm and slowly, steadily turned it toward her.

  His eyes were shuttered, but betrayal radiated out from every pore of his being.

  "Truly I am. I wouldn't have left you if my duties hadn't intruded. I admit I had a plan, but it had nothing to do with humiliating you."

  His expression remained unyielding.

  She drew a deep breath, hoping to loosen the knot in her chest. She had to get him to believe her. While she loved being able to make Darias submit in the bedchamber against his deeply-ingrained instinct to dominate every situation, she gained the most satisfaction from the knowledge that he wanted it as much as she did. If she couldn't convince him of the truth of her words, something infinitely valuable would be gone from their relationship.

  "Look, when you first captured me, you made no secret of the fact that you had punished me. When you punished me in the garden you demanded I come to you in the Great Hall. The clothes you forced me to wear hid nothing of my state and the ordeal I'd suffered. You wanted everyone to know I'd been punished as a further humiliation and as a warning not to transgress again. You made sure that the women knew I'd been punished. A way to keep them in line, but you also made sure your warriors knew. Proof that you could keep your slave in line.” She rubbed her thumb over his bottom lip.

  "I think I hated you then. I know I wanted to kill you. Instead I decided to reverse our roles. You were to suffer everything at my hands that I had suffered at yours. Including the complete and devastating knowledge that while I couldn't control my response, you were indifferent."

  "That was a mistake. The practice should never have been instituted,”
he said, his voice tight.

  The frank admission surprised Riana. “You mean that?"

  "Yes. I ... realized the first night in the garden just what kind of damage the suppressant caused."

  She drew his bottom lip down, rubbing the pad of her thumb over the soft interior. “Progress. If you can admit that, then you should also be able to admit that you suffered no more at my hands than women have suffered at the hands of the men of Nexar for centuries. I stayed within Nexarian Rules when punishing you. The Rules of Nexar men and the Rules of their Supreme Chief. Well, part of the time, anyway.” She tried a small smile.

  His expression never lightened.

  "Those Rules were never meant to apply to men,” he ground out, eyes blazing pure gold.

  "And they never should have been applied to women,” Riana snapped back, anger getting the better of her for a moment. “I don't know what they were meant to accomplish in the beginning, but I do know that over the years they evolved into a practice no woman could hope to live up to. Any transgression, even the smallest, was punished. And to make it worse, transgressions were whatever the man decided they were. The woman had no way of protecting herself. The man, on the other hand, had absolute power. The system corrupted the relationship between men and women. Haven't you ever wondered why the men of Nexar make rules women can't help but break? That maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with the fact that the full experience of sex is reserved for punishment."

  "Then why are you perpetrating what you consider an abomination?” he shot back, snatching her hand away from his mouth.

  "Because it is your system. Why should the women be the only ones to suffer? Why shouldn't men have to experience what life as the ruled is like here on Nexar?” Her chest heaving, Riana paused to rein in her emotions. She continued more slowly this time. “And because I wanted revenge."

  He opened his mouth to speak, but Riana rushed to continue.

  "Did you really think the women accepted their way of life without ever questioning whether they deserved their lot? That thoughts of revenge never entered their minds? Women didn't respect the men of Nexar. They feared them. Putting the women in charge, allowing them to mete out punishment in accordance with the laws that had ravaged them, gave them the opportunity to get even. More than that, it let men get a taste of what it was like being totally without power."

  He turned and wrapped one large hand around the bedpost and stared down at the sheets. “So the scene in the office was just another way of getting revenge?"

  Pure frustration shot through Riana. His head was as hard as a krakel lizard's. “No! Revenge had nothing to do with my actions this afternoon."

  He looked back over his shoulder. “Then why did you want my arousal to be public?"

  "I didn't even think about that aspect at the time,” she said with complete honesty.

  But she should have. She should have remembered how repressed Darias was about sexual play. Though it hadn't been her intention, she had left him aroused for all the keep to notice. A cool breeze blew in from the open doors leading to the garden. The sweet, spicy fragrances gave her an idea.

  Riana held a hand out. “Come with me."

  "To where?"

  "The garden."

  He stiffened, the hand about the bedpost tightening until his knuckles turned white. “You intend to Punish me.” It was a flat statement of fact.

  Riana kept her hand out. “Answer me this. When I punish you, is the pleasure from the beginning tinged with pain? Oh, not physical, but mental."

  His glance questioned her meaning. “You know it is. Even though the acts themselves inflict no harm, the stimulation quickly becomes intolerable. As it is meant to."

  "Exactly. Now answer me this. This afternoon, was anything I did to you painful? At least a pain you didn't crave?” She ignored the dark flow of blood that tinted the high cheekbones. “Did I take the suppressant before starting to caress you? Did I hold myself separate from you?"

  "No.” Some of the resentment faded from his eyes as doubt seeped in to replace it.

  "Have I demanded that you stand in the Great Hall displaying your arousal to the court?"

  "No.” An indefinable relaxing went through the massive frame.

  "Then take my hand and trust me. If only for tonight.” Her breath lodged in her throat, she waited.

  He looked into her eyes, then looked down at her hand. Taking one step forward, he reached out and his hand, large, hard and callused, engulfed hers.

  She released the breath she'd been holding in a tiny rush. Feeling light, almost giddy, she led him to the garden door. On way past the chair—the same one she had first spanked him over—she picked up the small, black bag and then led him outside. She still felt tension in his body, but at least he was following her willingly enough. It would do for now.

  Night had cloaked the garden in shadows, letting the more bashful shrubs and flowers scent the air with a delicate enchantment that went unnoticed during the day, when the magnificent trees and flowering bushes reigned supreme. Their feet made a slight crunching noise on the path leading to the Punishment Stone. The closer they drew to the stone, the more tension stiffened Darias.

  "Trust me.” She sensed his conscious effort to relax. Next to the stone, she drew him to a halt. Placing the bag at the base of the carved, white rock, she put the palm of her hand over his heart. It was pounding inside his chest.

  "Privacy shield.” The muted crackle of the electrostatic shielding sounded like a roar of thunder in the silence.

  His heart actually stopped.

  "Sound shield.” Beneath her palm, his heart began thumping again. She leaned forward, putting her mouth over his nipple and sucked, drawing silk and flesh into her mouth. “You're wearing your tunic,” she whispered, before latching onto his nipple again.

  Darias knotted his hands at his sides, and threw his head back. “I wasn't until three hours ago."

  Against the soft skin of her stomach, his cock stirred.

  A tiny grin lifted the corner of Riana's mouth at his defiance. “I'll forgive you this time.” She stepped back, anticipation of the night ahead tightening the muscles of her lower stomach.

  Darias groaned. “No, not yet."

  "Don't worry,” She leaned down and ran her hand over the stone to activate it. “I'm not going anywhere."

  The stone became luminescent.

  In its gentle glow, every expression that flitted across Darias’ face easily visible, yet they were still wrapped in the intimacy of the night, safe from prying eyes or ears.

  Her hands went to his leather harness. She unbuckled it, sliding it off his shoulders until it dropped to the ground with a soft plop. Next she drew the silk tunic up, over his head. The small, masculine nipples hardened as the breeze, cool compared to the dry heat of the day, brushed over them.

  "I love your body. So strong and warm. Sleeping next to you is like basking in the summer sun.” She flicked her tongue over the center of his magnificent chest.

  Chills that had nothing to do with being cold chased across his skin.

  She smiled against his chest. She worked her way down his chest, stopping her to taste his small, male nipples, there to drag her tongue down the ladder of his ribs until she reached his navel. Dipping her tongue inside the small indention, she mimicked the act of love.

  His hands came up to fist into her hair.

  Turning her head until her cheek rested against his muscled abdomen, she inhaled, bringing his scent deep into her lungs. He scent was so pleasing, so arousing; wild, clean, male. Her sex creamed. Taking one last deep, breath, she sat back on her heels and unlaced his breeches and slipped her hand inside, cupping him intimately.

  He pulsed and throbbed in her palm, a subtle promise of ecstasy to come.

  She slid the breeches down over his muscular buttocks without resistance.

  Darias stood clad only in another gold thong and sun-darkened skin. He made an abortive move toward her when she stood. His arm
s dropped back down to his sides, his fingers twitching. His chest expanded and contracted with each rapid, shallow breath.

  With the need to strangle her or to cover himself?

  A full-blown grin curved her lips. She put one finger under the waistband and tugged. “A tad upset with me, were you?"

  "Yes."

  The word was stark, unadorned, wiping the smile from her face.

  His eyes glittered with some undecipherable emotion.

  Putting one hand behind his neck, she pulled his face down to hers. “Maybe I'll let you convince me to forgive you for defying me,” she whispered against his mouth.

  A mixture of need and desire turned his eyes to molten gold.

  Fascinated, she almost forgot her plan to seduce him and was, instead, almost seduced. Wrenching her gaze from his, she knelt before him.

  The scrap of material did nothing to hide the strength of his erection. It emphasized his maleness quite nicely. Riana shaped its length with her hands, loving the contrast between the smooth silk and the heated flesh beneath. Her breath came faster.

  Each glide and pull of the silk under her touch elicited a deep, guttural groan from Darias.

  She felt herself grow damp between the legs, her body tingling with desire.

  His hands tightened in her hair, urging her closer yet.

  In the faint light issuing from the stone, she glanced up the length of his body then, slowly slid the gold silk down his legs.

  Fine shivers racked Darias, the muscles of his stomach taut, his eyes were closed and the tendons in his neck stood out.

  She parted her lips and blew gently on the tip of his erection.

  * * * *

  Darias tightened his thigh muscles, bracing himself before he collapsed with pleasure. A wave of heat surged up his cock, followed by gentle ripples of contractions. He swore he felt her mouth on his swollen flesh, even though she had yet to touch him there,