by Jesse Joren
Very gently I repositioned Felice from my shoulder, bringing her face closer to mine. I brought her to my face, closing my eyes and smiling as her tongue tasted the heat of my cheek in ticklish little strokes.
Standing up onto my toes, I raised my arms over my head. Instantly I felt the relief of that languid stretch as it coaxed away some of the tension that had built inside of my body during the auction.
Felice uncoiled and began to move across me like a living scarf. She rippled up one side of my body and down the other, her muscular coils pressing against me as I guided her.
Then she found the heat between my thighs, her head nudging as her tongue flickered. Carefully I tried to coax her up the side of my body, but she was having none of it.
She wrapped herself around my hips, her long tail coiling down my leg all the way to my ankles. When I tried to move her she gave a warning squeeze, relaxing when I went to stroke her instead. She undulated around my hips and ass, the rhythm erotic enough to make me catch my breath.
A sudden crash of bids hit the stage like a physical presence, making me jump. Felice raised her head from between my thighs and sent a flat, resentful stare toward the audience.
Théodore raised a hand.
"For the well-being of Lilith and her snake, we ask that this auction be conducted with restraint. I will now take your bids."
There was no time to pay attention to my auction because I had my hands full with Felice. Remembering the warning to keep her calm, I soothed her as a quiet stream of bids hit the stage.
As I petted and maneuvered her, part of me was straining to hear Hex's voice among the bids. I heard many others, and the amounts rose into the same dizzying spiral as the earlier auctions.
All at once his cool voice cut across the others, announcing a sum that startled the room to silence. I remembered what Megan had told me. This would be the final bid, the polite deferral to the "the one who brung me."
Théodore grinned, taking his cue. He was opening his mouth to accept when another voice retorted with a higher bid.
The silence returned. That oily voice was almost certainly the man in the sherwani who had taunted me before the auction. His tone held the unmistakable desire to win.
What happened to auction etiquette?
Théodore looked flustered as Hex's voice countered. The antagonist responded, and I stood stock-still as their quiet tones bit through the silence, sending the sum into an astronomical spiral.
Madame Colette appeared on the stage, stern-faced and with an angry edge to her voice.
"We will take a short pause," she announced, motioning me curtly from the stage, "then we will resolve the matter of who will claim the slave Lilith."
Chapter Forty
Yvonne and Monsieur Laroquette greeted me as I left the stage.
"Do you feel faint?" Yvonne fussed around me, tapping my face with a damp cloth and pulling my hair up to cool me.
"No. I don't understand what just happened."
Yvonne smiled and fed me a spoonful of sorbet, raspberry this time.
"It would appear that Madame's hunch that you would create trouble has proved correct."
The man put out his arm to Felice, and she coiled around it in a heavy, muscular ball. He smiled at me and said something to Yvonne in rapid French.
"He says that you are doing well," she translated, "only be careful not to let her curl around you too tightly."
Like I have any control of that.
I peeked at the stage. Théodore was nowhere to be seen, but Madame Colette glanced at me with a frown.
"Felice say you warmer than me," Monsieur Laroquette said. His eyes twinkled with the same shine as hers. "She want to come back to you."
I put out my arm, and he arranged her down the side of my body again. She seemed content to lay her head on my shoulder and be still.
Théodore was returning to the stage. He conferred briefly with Madame. She nodded and motioned me back to the stage.
"Mademoiselle," he said to me, "our buyers have agreed to suspend bidding in favor of a small side bet between them. Are you agreeable?"
"Of course," I said, trying to channel some of Megan's cool when faced with such a request.
Yvonne walked onto the stage, carrying a glass tray holding half a dozen squat, heavy glasses. A number was scrawled on the bottom of each glass. All of them were beaded and damp, but they were empty.
"Six buyers drank from these glasses," Théodore explained. "Each left a particular scent. Identify your buyer, and you will be released to him at the price of his original bid."
He didn't say what would happen if I failed. I decided to think about that later.
Something about his words seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it right now. The two neat rows of glasses mocked me as they gleamed under the overhead lights.
I picked up the first glass and put my lips to it. At first I tasted nothing, then the faintest whiff of bitterness emerged. I had no idea what it meant.
The second glass was equally subtle, this time a suggestion of anise. The third was a hint of caraway, the fourth a whisper of honey. Glass five held a warm tinge of vanilla. The final glass was strongest, tasting unmistakably of Scotch.
I felt dozens of pairs of eyes watching as I went through the glasses again. Desperation rose inside of me, then words whispered through my head.
Leave them in peace. I will not allow you to burn them.
Some memory tried to awaken, but it was gone before I could grab it. Again I catalogued the scents.
Bitter. Anise. Caraway. Honey. Vanilla. Scotch.
None of them reminded me of Hex. The Scotch made me think that they might be alcohols or liqueurs. There was a message here, but I was missing it—
A smile of triumph came to my lips as those words suddenly clicked into place. Now I saw the clue from Hex, something no one else would know.
Then the Queen that he had protected from the fire came and tasted the lips of the three sleeping princesses. She remained sitting on the mouth of the youngest who had eaten the honey before falling asleep.
I pointed to the fourth glass.
Felice gave me a gentle squeeze, as if confirming my choice. Her body was cool and dry as I stroked her and waited.
Yvonne carried the tray to Théodore, and he turned the glass over to see the number on the bottom. His face was impassive, but I sensed relief in his voice.
"Sold," he said, "to Buyer Number Eight. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes tonight's auction."
--
"You did so well." Yvonne was enthusiastic as she led me from the stage and out a side door. "The competitive bidding was highly inappropriate. Madame is not happy."
"She should collect a sample from the guy driving up my bid."
She pulled me into a small side room and closed the door. There was nothing but a single chair with a hairbrush and a small folded item on the seat.
"I am to prepare you for your buyer. We'll bring Felice because he did say that he'd like to meet her."
Yvonne took the heavy snake and allowed it to slither to the floor and explore the small room. Then she pulled off the bodysuit and G-string, both of them damp.
"Am I going to get another shower?" I asked hopefully.
"No, your buyer was very specific. He wishes to see you quickly and wearing this gift he sent to you."
She shook out the folded item. It was a pair of very brief panties, made of what looked like snakeskin.
"I'm sorry," I apologized to Felice. "I hope it was no one you knew."
Yvonne laughed and helped me step into them, pulling the thin straps high on my hips. Funny how it seemed natural now to be naked in front of her. Maybe Hex was right about me being a slave at heart.
She motioned me to the chair and began to smooth my hair with the brush. The long, brisk strokes made the tightness in my neck melt as Felice came to curl around my legs. The moment of quiet and relaxation was welcome after the tenseness of the auction.
&
nbsp; "Monsieur Laroquette may have to coax her to return home with him," Yvonne said, "but return she must. You will doubtless be very busy for the rest of the night."
My long-simmering excitement returned with a vengeance, sending hot blood coursing through me. Somewhere in this underground labyrinth, Hex was waiting for me.
Yvonne quickly braided my hair into a thick plait down my back before retrieving Felice. She draped her around my shoulders like a fantastic red-and-gold shawl, then opened the door and led me into the hallway.
I had expected it to be empty, but the walls outside the room were lined with black-clad handlers. At least two dozen stood there in a silent gauntlet, their eyes flickering over me.
"Your buyer has requested that you be thoroughly inspected before you are delivered to his chambers," Yvonne said, her face becoming impassive. "You will walk slowly and not resist."
Resist what?
I took a deep breath and started down the hallway. As I approached the first handler, he stopped me with a curt gesture. His fingers brushed my nipples, then he stepped back against the wall and motioned me to pass.
The next handler was a pretty, dark-haired girl about my age. She also motioned for me to stop. When I did, she turned me and gave both cheeks of my ass an appreciative squeeze.
All the way down the hallway, each handler stepped forward to touch me in some way. The stops became longer and the attention rougher. My nipples were pinched and my ass spanked. Several hands dipped inside my panties to stroke between my thighs.
"Do not startle Felice," Yvonne's voice cautioned behind me.
Felice? What about me?
The gauntlet had taken me by surprise, but that shock quickly melted into something like pleasure. Each strange tweak of my nipples, each hard spank of my ass was fuel on the fire already simmering inside of me.
We turned a corner, and the line ended. Now it was only a long hallway with cold, echoing stone walls. Yvonne led me with swift steps through twists and turns that left me hopelessly lost.
We stopped in front of a set of dark-red doors, heavy and silent. Yvonne gave a discreet tap, and Hex opened the door.
He was no longer the casual Hex I saw most of the time. He wasn't the cop in disguise, or even the sleek businessman who had wowed Natalie and Phillip on camera.
True to the fantasy we were playing out, Hex had also stepped back in time. He was wearing a plain white shirt with ties instead of buttons, casually undone to his waist. His black pants looked like soft leather, and his boots gleamed with dull elegance.
His hair was free of its ponytail, framing that chiseled face like a lion's mane. The dark wolf claw pendant that I'd seen once or twice gleamed at the base of his throat.
"I have brought the slave Lilith," Yvonne said. "You wished to meet her friend. May I present Mademoiselle Felice?"
"She's lovely." He put out his arm. "May I?"
"Of course."
Felice gave him a cool stare and slithered toward him. In a moment he was holding her and handling her with ease.
"Hello beautiful," he said, stroking her. "You had a lot of fans out in the audience tonight."
His words were for her, but his gaze was on me. My body was still flushed and pink from the unexpected line of handlers. A wave of shyness made me lower my eyes, watching as Felice rippled under his touch.
"Come, Felice," Yvonne said with a smile. "Lilith has been delivered to her master, and now you must return to yours."
The big snake went with a final flick of her tongue against my arm as she passed. Yvonne allowed her to curl around her arm for the ride back to her padded home.
"Good night. If there's anything you need, please ask." She and Felice disappeared down the dark hallway.
Hex took my wrist, pulling me into the room before locking the doors behind us. He flattened me against them with an arm on each side, leaning in to kiss me with lips that tasted of wine.
"I hope you saved some of that for me." My voice caught as his lips moved down to my throat.
"You'll be given an opportunity to earn some this evening."
He turned me to face the room, which was large, lush, and low-ceiling like the others I'd seen tonight. An enormous bed covered in dark red was in one corner, an old-fashioned claw tub in another. A large black table was against one wall, along with a heavy black chair with leather padding.
But what held my riveted attention was the wooden device in the middle of the floor. It looked like an eccentric type of sawhorse, like something that could be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Hex's voice was somewhere behind me.
"You've had a taste of what it means to be a slave. Now you'll learn exactly what that means. Bend over, and be very quiet."
Chapter Forty-One
My whole body was trembling as I leaned over and put my hands flat on the floor. His fingers slid under the hips of my panties, pulling them down my legs.
"Let's see how you liked the evening so far," he said, cupping his hand between my legs. Both of us felt the soaking wetness that the snakeskin had barely contained.
"So the auction served its purpose." His voice was tender as he rubbed deeply. "Not that I had any doubts about that."
Something hard rubbed against my swollen lips, making me jump.
"Be still. Know your place, Eva."
The firm tip pressed deeper into me, sliding into my wetness. After a moment Hex withdrew it very slowly, his fingers brushing me just enough to tease.
Then the warm, wet tip touched the ring of my ass as Hex rocked it against me. The plug pressed higher as he worked, making me catch my breath. After a moment, I felt it slide higher into place.
Hex pulled my panties up around my hips. "Well done. You can stand up now."
My face was flushed as I straightened, and I had trouble meeting his eyes. He tilted my chin upward, smiling as he stroked between my legs again.
"You look beautiful wearing my revenge."
I took a deep breath. "What did I do?"
"Not what's inside of you," he grinned. "The panties. Don't you recognize our old friend from outside the cabin?"
Hex had made a great show of saving the snake that had bitten him during the hike that was my first taste of freedom from Walden. Now I understood why.
"I would have given it to you soon, even if you hadn't picked the auction. It took a little while to have the skin prepared the right way."
"It was a surprise when Yvonne showed them to me," I admitted.
He reached into his pocket and produced what looked like a small remote control. "I like surprising you," he said, pressing a button.
The plug began to expand inside of me. He touched another button, and slow vibration quivered inside of me. The intense excitement inside of me went up another notch.
My eyes fell again on the strange contraption that looked like a sawhorse.
"Do you know what this is?" Hex asked, following my gaze.
I considered myself well-versed with BDSM, but this was new to me. "No. Are we going to build something?"
"Only an understanding," he smiled. "The French call it the chevalet, but in some circles it's known as the wooden pony."
That made my heart beat faster. I had read how intense wooden pony sessions could be. The horizontal beam was thin but rounded on the top edge, with four strong legs supporting it.
Hex picked me up and walked across the room, setting me down to straddle the beam. The rounded edge slid neatly between my lips, riding high between my legs. My feet were flat on the floor, but just barely.
"A very cruel dominant would force all of your weight to rest on that little board," Hex said. "You're in luck. I only feel a little cruel tonight."
There was a black pedal on the floor. Hex went to it and pumped twice. The wood pony rose a few inches between my legs, forcing me onto my toes. I put my hands on the plank, helping to support my weight.
Already I understood the subtle evil of this device. My calf muscles could only keep me o
n my toes for so long, and my shoulders would get tired. As my body settled onto the board, the pressure between my legs would toss me between pain and pleasure.
"Don't be afraid," Hex said, reaching into his pocket again. "We'll go very slowly."
Again the plug swelled inside of me, making me squirm on the hard board. The cool room was starting to feel too warm.
"Your legs are strong," he said. "All of those bike rides are about to pay off. You know the word for when it's too much."
Something about the way he said that was like a challenge. My body pulled straighter as I looked in his eyes.
"I'm not easy to break," I said.
Shut up. Before your mouth writes a check that your ass can't cash.
"I'm glad to hear it. That means we can up the stakes."
Hex glanced over my head, making me look up too. There was a naked beam over the wooden pony, and while I was staring at it, Hex went to the bed and returned with something in his hands.
"Primitive, but this will do," he said, showing me the coil of black rope.
Now I regretted my rash statement about not being easy to break. "I was only joking."
He smiled, touching my face. "I wasn't. Give me your hand."
When I held out my arm, my weight against the wood increased at once. Hex wrapped the harsh rope around my wrist, tossing the coil over the beam. The rope slithered over it until the other end dangled down.
"Let's do both arms," he said. "Because you aren't easy to break."
He pulled both arms over my head and tied off my other wrist. All of my weight was now on my tiptoes. Already my calf muscles were feeling the strain.
"I thought you said you weren't cruel." My voice was more breathless than usual.
"I'm not," he said, standing behind me. "That would be hanging you until your toes barely touched the floor."
For a moment I heard rustling behind me, then a warm smell that was familiar but hard to place while so distracted. His hands found my breasts, tweaking the nipples until I writhed on the wood.
The warm feel of his lips trailing down my neck made me melt. His arm went around me, supporting some of the pressure from my toes.
"I think you're ready for more," he whispered in my ear as the plug expanded inside of me again. "My sweet slave who doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut."