by Alexa Black
“You will never be done,” she whispered. “Will you, my lady?”
Claws tickled her skin. They withdrew, replaced by the cool touch of the ointment she’d wanted.
She thanked her patron goddess for small, comfortable miracles.
Strong hands guided Cailyn onto her side. Strong arms wrapped around her. She sagged into them, relieved.
Teran reached for her breast and twisted her nipple once, hard. Cailyn hissed as the other arm reached down to stroke her vulva, soothing away the pain. Cailyn’s hips bucked. Teran bit her shoulder again. Overwhelmed, Cailyn trembled.
“I wasn’t done, no.” Teran’s fingers, slick with Cailyn’s wetness, traced their way back up her belly. “Apparently, neither are you.”
Cailyn said nothing. A clawed hand toyed with her hair. One finger reached to her ear.
A claw poked at her pierced earlobe. “You didn’t like it when I took these away from you.”
“No, my lady,” Cailyn answered.
“Why?”
Cailyn winced. If you want earrings, let me know and I will provide them. How could she explain how arrogant that had sounded without giving offense?
Still, it would hardly do to ignore a direct question from someone with newsteel-tipped fingers. She cleared her throat. “It seemed…petty, my lady.”
“Petty? Little one, you are mine, at least for now. Adorn yourself however you wish in front of others. Not me.”
“My lady, adorning myself well is part of my training.”
“Of course. But this is the first night you are mine, little one. And for that first night you are mine, I would see you as you are, with nothing between us.”
She bit Cailyn’s earlobe. A shudder ran though Cailyn’s body. Nothing between them, indeed.
Teran’s claw ticked against the collar around Cailyn’s neck. Her other hand snaked its way over Cailyn’s breasts. Metal traced over Cailyn’s skin.
Cailyn shivered again. Teran rewarded her with a kiss on the neck that became a hard bite. Pain blossomed through the column of her neck.
She gave herself over to it, let her anger melt as the pain bloomed through her. Naked, just as Teran had demanded.
She sagged against Teran, trusting to her training and her role.
“Much better,” Teran said, her voice low with pleasure.
Cailyn heard a faint click as Teran reached over to the nightstand. The lights dimmed. Hands wrapped around Cailyn again, pulling her close.
Cailyn’s back burned. Her neck throbbed with the pain of the bite. The heat and softness of Teran’s body surrounded her, warm against the wounds in her back. She exhaled and let herself sink against it.
As if in a dream, Cailyn remembered the earrings, their faint tinkle as Teran pulled them from her ears. Was she still angry? She wasn’t sure.
Breathing slowly into the now-dark room, she closed her eyes.
Chapter Twelve
Cailyn awoke slowly. The sheets itched her back where spots of her blood had dried on it. She rubbed her eyes and murmured quiet thanks to the courtesans’ goddess that, for once, Teran still slept beside her. Waking up alone after that first meeting had rattled Cailyn more than she’d cared to admit.
Teran had chosen to do that. She’d intended to use Cailyn and nothing more, at least that first time. But being dismissed without even a farewell felt wrong, as if Cailyn had left something undone, some service unperformed.
Teran had called her back repeatedly, so she must not see it that way. Still, Cailyn was glad that today, when her lady awoke, she would find her courtesan waiting.
Cailyn touched the metal circling her neck. It felt strange, lying against her skin like it belonged there.
So I’m hers, even now.
Cailyn reached out to touch Teran’s face. What did someone like Teran, someone with eighty thousand credits’ worth of steel implanted in her hands, dream about?
Teran didn’t stir. Cailyn watched the rise and fall of her breath. Somehow Teran seemed so much more human right now, curled up around herself on a bed full of blood.
She stroked Teran’s skin, wondering just how she’d gotten into this.
One of Teran’s eyes cracked open. Cailyn’s hand stilled. Would Teran mind her touch? She hesitated, unsure whether to pull her fingers away or not.
Teran’s eyes fixed on Cailyn. A smile crept across Teran’s mouth.
Cailyn let out a breath. “Good morning, my lady.”
Teran yawned and sat up. Cailyn watched her stretch. Her fingers itched to touch Teran again.
Teran noticed it. “You want something now?” she asked with a laugh.
Cailyn blinked. She hadn’t yet washed. Her back had dried blood on it.
“Do as you will, my lady,” she said.
Teran laughed again. “Get up. Bend over the bed.”
Teran walked to a far wall and took down a paddle. Cailyn could hear her chuckle as she walked back over.
Cailyn swallowed. Her back was already full of small holes from the piercing. If she also had bruises on her buttocks, there wouldn’t be much clean skin left, at least not from the front. And she had taken a nonexclusive contract with Teran precisely because she hoped to see some other nobles.
“My lady,” Cailyn began, “don’t you think that’s a bit much?”
“That’s no concern of mine.”
Cailyn cursed under her breath.
“This is not for you, my little one. This is for me. I will hurt you. Do you understand?”
Cailyn nodded, her throat parched. “Yes, my lady, I understand.”
She willed herself to relax. The paddle tapped her backside. It would hit her regardless of what she wanted.
Of course, she could stop it with a word. She would always have that option under Guild law. Teran had even reminded her that she could refuse.
But if she did, Teran might never look at her the same way again.
And Teran might dismiss her. The last time she’d expressed reluctance, Teran had tilted her head toward the door. If she refused, Teran might send her away.
That thought sent a chill through her. The room felt suddenly cool and small. She closed her eyes and then opened them again, resolute.
So be it.
The first hard crack of the paddle reverberated through her. Her bones vibrated with the impact. Her teeth clenched.
Again and again, the paddle slammed into her flesh. She felt like a doll, battered by the force of the blows. There was no part of her they did not reach. No part of her was hidden enough, tucked away far enough, to avoid that insistent vibration. It rocked her, reverberated through skin, muscle, bone.
She did the only thing left to her. She opened her throat and cried out again and again. She drew in shuddering breaths and keened, high wails she could barely believe came from her mouth.
Teran’s hand fell to her side. Cailyn heard herself sobbing into the silence. Disoriented, she lifted her head, staring blankly at the room around her. Her buttocks burned with pain.
Clawless fingers traced the bruised skin. Cailyn jumped, unsure if she craved Teran’s touch or if she’d had enough. But Teran was gentle now. Cailyn sagged, relieved of the burden of endurance.
Teran’s pride warmed her, anchoring itself in the flesh Teran had touched and rising up into her chest. She lifted her head. Her hair spilled across her face. For once, she did not brush it away.
“Thank you, my lady.”
Teran nodded and stood. “Follow me, little one. We should clean you up. Prepare you for the conference.”
Cailyn twisted to look at the marks on her flesh. Bright bruises purpled her buttocks. She frowned at them. Then she saw Teran staring at them, her gaze unblinking and hungry. She shivered.
She followed Teran into the bathroom, eager to slough off dirt, sweat, and tears. But the purple spread across her buttocks would not rinse away.
She found herself wanting to keep it. After all, it was her lady’s mark.
Chapter Thirt
een
The water washed over Cailyn, trailing the soap down her body. Teran did not touch her. Instead, she stood under another jet of water and stared.
Cailyn smiled and preened, glad to be on familiar turf. She stared back, looking over Teran’s muscular body, small breasts, and erect nipples.
Cailyn turned to offer a better view of her marked back and rear. She could still feel Teran’s eyes on her as the last of the water sloughed away.
With a whir of fans, warm air filtered in to dry their hair and bodies. Cailyn sighed. It meant missing the opportunity to dry Teran herself. Her hands itched to serve. She forced them to her sides, moved to the mirror, and picked up a brush near the sink.
“So, little one.” Teran walked up behind her and watched her reflection as she brushed her hair. “How do you like being mine?”
Cailyn reached down to touch one of her bruises. Pain flared out from the tips of her fingers. She sighed. “It’s difficult, my lady. But I think it has its rewards.”
Teran wrapped her arms around Cailyn and lingered a moment. She let her arms fall and tilted her head toward Cailyn’s room. Cailyn nodded and went inside.
Garments lay on the bed, laid out for Cailyn’s return. She bit back a sigh. Black pants again. At least Teran had chosen a dark red top to match them.
Like the other garment, it would keep her back covered. The front of the garment hid far less. Wide strips of fabric covered her breasts but left the space between them open. Delicate chains bridged the open space. Rubies cut into faceted droplets dangled from the tiny links.
Cailyn slipped into the clothes. She looked down at the pattern of rubies over her chest and slid on a pair of soft leather boots, red to match.
She liked the red of the garment but crinkled her lip in doubt at the rubies. She might have found it elegant anywhere else. Here, it looked too much like blood. She’d bled for Teran countless times now, but somehow it seemed vulgar to advertise.
Lipstick of the same shade lay open and ready near her mirror. She fought not to frown as she drew it across her lips. Yes, she’d ventured onto the dark channels not long ago. But did Teran have to make her dress the part?
She tugged one last time at the fabric and walked back into Teran’s room. Teran stood waiting, dressed in the customary gray. A large Nivrai symbol adorned the left shoulder.
Teran gestured. Cailyn spun around to offer Teran a view of herself from all angles.
“Pretty,” Teran said, her eyes fixed on the exposed skin where the shirt parted. “But it’s missing something.”
Cailyn swallowed. She couldn’t have forgotten anything. Everything she’d found laid out, she had put on. “My lady?”
Teran smirked and opened her hand. In her palm rested two ruby earrings. “Didn’t I tell you, little one, that if you wanted earrings I would provide them for you?”
Cailyn slipped the earrings into her piercings, half amused, half unnerved. She thought of what Teran had called her before: a gem in a world of stones. Whatever she thought of all this, Teran had sculpted her into someone she would be proud to have on her arm.
She lifted her head and looked with purpose at Teran. She’d trained to do credit to the one who had hired her. She knew how.
She heard Teran walk up behind her. Steel-tipped fingers twined in her hair and pulled her head back. Teran’s other hand circled her neck. The claws tinkled faintly as they touched the metal collar and reached up to tickle her chin.
“You look lovely, my little one,” Teran said. The claws retracted. Teran slipped on a pair of black leather gloves.
She’s hiding the implants, Cailyn realized.
Teran’s voice drew her from her thoughts. “Now let’s go.”
*
The nobles met in a wide circular hall with tiers of seats. Teran sat on the lowest rung, usually reserved for the members of the Lower Council. Cailyn sat beside her, feeling slightly out of place. A few of the council members had companions at their sides. Some were even courtesans she recognized. But most of the nobles sat alone, their faces smoothed into serious expressions.
She wondered if Teran felt out of place as well. A low-ranking noble from Nivrai would never sit on either of the Councils and could only come to this hall for official business.
Official unpleasant business. She looked for Lady Liana and found her in one of the lower tiers, her dusky face twisted in a frown.
That didn’t look right. Cailyn had always seen her smiling. She looked up, searching the higher tiers reserved for the High Council for a glimpse of Lord Darien.
She fidgeted, her fingers turning over and over each other. Like her father, she was far more interested in serving those who hired her than in the intricacies of their affairs. Getting caught up in the nobles’ intrigues could be dangerous as well as unpleasant. Cailyn had as little taste for them as her father had.
“Teran Nivrai,” said one of the women of the High Council. “The Councils have called you here for a very important reason.”
“I am at the service of the Councils,” Teran returned, with the same faint mockery Cailyn had heard once before.
Cailyn sighed. Baiting Darien when he called her had been funny, but this was the official council hall.
“That remains to be seen. You’ve no doubt heard about the recent attempts on Councilman Alain’s life?”
“Of course. I trust the councilman is safe now. In fact, I see him in this hall this evening.”
“Yes, I’m here,” called a sharp voice from the lower circle. Its owner glared daggers at Teran.
“I’m pleased to hear it,” Teran said. She flashed Councilman Alain the open smile Cailyn remembered from their first meeting.
Cailyn exhaled, careful not to betray her emotions. Could Teran smile that way at will?
“But tell me,” Teran went on, “what does any of this have to do with me? Surely you haven’t called me here simply to wish him well.”
The woman scowled. “No, Nivrai, we have not. We’ve called you here because we need your help.”
“My help, my lady?”
“Our troops captured one of the men who masterminded the attack,” a nobleman beside her put in.
“Excellent. But what does that have to do with me?”
“We have reason to believe that the rebels are planning another,” he continued.
“However, the man is not cooperating,” said the first.
A frown creased Teran’s face. Cailyn could see the black hands under the table, twisting over one another. “How unfortunate. But again, my lords, what does this have to do with me?”
“We have reason to suspect that you might succeed where our interrogators have failed,” a third noble said. Cailyn recognized him from his shock of red hair.
Lord Ben Keriel.
The father of Teran’s child.
Cailyn looked over at the noblewoman. She thought of Nivrai, the empty mansion on a small planet. Had anyone else visited the lonely rock this year? Even Mariel, the person she’d come closest to loving, had belonged to her.
But Mariel hadn’t been noble. As long as she hid their affair, she could use him as she wished. Could a woman like that be a mother?
Cailyn wondered who the child was. Teran had called him her son, hadn’t she? How old was he? How much did he know about the infamous Teran Nivrai?
And what did Ben Keriel say when the child asked, “Who is my mother?”
Teran glared back at Ben Keriel. “My lord, what makes you think that I would succeed where trained professionals have failed?”
“Nivrai, we—”
“That makes no sense.”
“No sense?” said the other nobleman. “You are a symbol of everything that he and his people fight against.”
“You are one of the nobility whose rule he wants to destroy,” said the woman who had spoken first. “You have a reputation.”
Lord Keriel grinned. “People sit around asking one another just what it is you do, and just what you might do
to them if given the chance. You just might intimidate this man when our teams couldn’t.”
Cailyn blinked. Do what they couldn’t? Were they really asking—ordering—Teran to—?
“Teams of interrogators, you mean.” Cailyn could hear the faint rustle of leather as Teran’s fingers moved in her lap. “Torture? Are the council members really stupid enough to think I would do that for them? That I can do that for them?”
“You don’t have a choice, Nivrai,” the High Councilwoman said, her voice cold and even.
“Don’t I, my lady?”
Cailyn winced.
“Nivrai, you have no right—”
“Those tactics don’t work in the first place. You said yourself that you already tried them.”
“Some people do talk under torture.”
“Anyone can say what he thinks we want to hear. What we want to hear may not be the truth.”
“Nivrai,” Lord Keriel warned her.
Teran only glared at him “And what do we have to fear from them anyway? It took them this long to try to kill a minor councilman. And they failed at it.”
Cailyn bit her lip. Was that true? Cailyn had heard that anyone would break if pressed hard enough. But did Teran know they would lie if they did? Or was she just spinning pretty words to try to get out of this?
“Little to fear? Councilman Alain could have died. Does the loss of life mean so little to you, Teran Nivrai?”
“You caught him. No harm came to Councilman Alain. If any had, that would surely be regrettable.” A smile crept across Teran’s mouth.
Cailyn stared, startled by Teran’s glib words. “That would surely be regrettable.” She understood Teran’s rage, but this was a council member. Who had been attacked. Did Teran care at all about that?
She winced again. Teran had been cruel to her, yes, but never truly heartless. Hearing her now, Cailyn remembered all the whispered stories about steel hidden beneath Teran’s skin in impossible places. If the helldemon’s skin could sprout needles and knives, no doubt it would do so now. Cailyn wrapped her arms around herself, chilled by that thought.