Foreign Exchange (The Concubine Chronicles Book 1)

by Vanessa Cardui

  Liera twisted, tried to find a way to stand without having to pull herself up by her chains, tried to find a way to avoid the question that she'd been asked.

  Jalah grabbed hold of a nipple; the same one she'd grabbed before. "I have asked you a question, piglet. You will answer questions when they are asked."

  "Lady," said Liera. "It looks lovely. I don't know who the Ahrin are, and I don't know what they need."

  "Lovely, then?" asked Jalah. "You disagree with my assessment?"

  Liera gave a soft sob. Jalah's fingers hurt, and she didn't want to give the wrong answer. "I don't know. Lady."

  Jalah gave her a stern look. "Oh, I see. You fear that you are to be beaten if you offend, yes?"

  "Yes, lady," said Liera.

  Jalah laughed. "Oh, piglet. You will be beaten regardless of what you say. And then I shall hurt you in additional ways. Look at the piece, and tell me what you see."

  Liera looked. "It is lovely," she said. "The stone is very . . . it has clear edges and good color. And the filigree is delicate and very fine work. But it's a little unbalanced? Like the left side is stronger than the right?"

  Jalah looked at her, and laughed. Not one of the little amused noises that she sometimes made, or a polite, conversational laugh. A genuine, deep belly laugh, that left Jalah doubled up, tears at the corner of her eyes.

  "Oh, oh, my," she said, getting a hold of herself. "Oh, what you hear, when you ask piglet girls questions about jewels. What insight, that the buckle half is balanced over to the left, what cleverness!"

  She shook her head. "Very good." She patted Liera's breast. "But as I said, you are to be beaten regardless of what you said, no matter how amusing." She went behind Liera, out of sight. There was the rustling in cabinets, and then a whistling through the air that made Liera wince in anticipation.

  Jalah came back in front of her, holding a thin cane. It looked like it was made of bamboo, and had a silver handle. "This is going to hurt a great deal. You may shout and scream as you wish; I have chosen to leave your mouth open because I enjoy those sounds. But no words, piglet. Do you understand?"

  'Yes, lady, thank you, lady' leapt to Liera's lips, but she bit the words back and nodded instead.

  "Oh, very clever," said Jalah, and then hit her across her breasts.

  Liera yelped, twisted away as far as the chains would let her. That hurt, it had really hurt. Maash would do that sometimes, but usually she hit lighter even after warming Liera up. Another stroke of the cane, just a little lower. Jalah had the idle, unfocused smile of a woman petting a cat. Liera twisted; as soon as she straightened out, Jalah hit her again.

  Then one across the thighs as she was twisting, and a stripe of fire laid across her butt. Every hit was as hard as Maash's hardest, and there wasn't anywhere to go, any way to escape. Liera twisted, pulled herself off the ground by the chains, but Jalah didn't stop, didn't even slow down.

  She'd started crying almost with the first swat. Then Jalah brought the cane down across Liera's pussy, and she started howling. By the time Jalah was done, Liera's face was covered in tears, her nose was dripping, and her throat felt as badly abused as her breasts, her shoulders, her ass, her pussy.

  Jalah stopped, but Liera kept crying, little hitching sobs.

  "Very nice," said Jalah. "Very calming." Her hand ghosted across Liera's breasts, her stomach, and then down to her cunt.

  She rubbed, and Liera responded, through her sobs. "Calming for at least one of us," said Jalah, removing her hands and spreading her fingers, to show the thread of moisture between them. "Oh, it is such a pity that the young girls are so modern in their outlook, choosing only one partner at a time."

  She held her hand out, and Liera leaned forward, sucked Jalah's fingers clean.

  "If only she were looking for a husband," said Jalah. "You would be such a treat to add to the trousseau. And if there was anything that he wanted which Maash did not wish to give, he could take it from you, with no complaints."

  A pinch at her nipple, which brought fresh tears to Liera's eyes, and then the hand on her cunt, on her clit; her sobs turned into moans. "Which reminds me!" said Jalah, and rang a bell. "My husband shall be using your mouth and anus, of course. The other . . . well, soon. For now, I must not delay; I do not wish to waste the calm this exercise has given me."

  Jalah returned to her workbench, and began twisting gold wires with sure, strong movements. Every so often she'd need a different tool, or another width of wire, and she'd go and get it; when she passed Liera, she would give a quick pinch, or swat, or caress. It helped distract from the growing soreness in her arms and shoulders, the ache in her calves.

  After a while, a maid came in with a tray. There was fennel root and slices of orange and green lemon, two small roasted birds, and a bowl of cold coconut soup with poppy seeds floating in it.

  There was also a whole ginger root, a knife, a small bottle filled with a red paste, and a folded piece of cloth. Jalah pulled out a release pin, and the winch came loose, dropping Liera's arms down with a rattle of chain. the sudden change overbalanced Liera, and she fell to her hands and knees.

  "Oh, very well," said Jalah. "Most people would prefer to stand, but I suppose I can indulge you, piglet. Besides, you look so charming like that. Come here; yes, closer."

  Jalah held out a slice of green lemon, and Liera ate it from her hand, her lips against Jalah's smooth skin. Later was a cube of fennel, a spoonful of soup held up to Liera's lips. It wasn't as much food or attention as she'd wanted. After she'd gotten all the meat off the bones that Jalah had given her, she looked up, hoping for a little more.

  "Tsh!" said Jalah, when she noticed her. "Pudgy!" she said, grabbing hold of Liera's side, pinching hard. "See! And while Maash seems charmed by it, I do not think I need to fatten you any more."

  She let go, and patted Liera's side, and then her butt, and then she fingered her cunt. Liera started thrusting, breathing hard. It had been a difficult morning, and Jalah's hands were so strong and smooth and knowing.

  "Very lovely," said Jalah, her touch growing lighter. "And I shall allow this to complete when my husband is thrusting into your anus; he enjoys the contractions most, that way. But for now, there is just a bit left on this tray for you."

  Liera was panting, sweating. "Just once. Please, lady, just once. Just a little one. I'll be as enthusiastic as you want, please."

  "Yes," said Jalah. "You will. But no, not even a little one; I expect that what is approaching will delight my husband, and I enjoy seeing him delighted. Now, let me prepare your treat."

  "First this," she said, and put one of the green lemons in Liera's mouth. "I shall inspect the skin later, to see if you can be trusted with my husband's member, or if we shall have to keep your mouth forced open."

  The lemon wasn't that big, but Liera was still hungry, and it smelled good; she started to drool, and couldn't swallow.

  "Also, it will keep you from saying things that nobody wishes to hear, which is for the best."

  Then the winch started moving, and Liera was pulled back up to her feet, back up to her toes. Jalah patted her hips, and she whined and twisted. It was all too much, and she wanted to come; she wanted to come now.

  "Belt size?" asked Jalah.

  "Eveeneen, aiee," said Liera.

  "As informative as I've come to expect. No matter." Jalah took a gold chain from the table, ran it around Liera's waist. She set it low, over Liera's hips, clipped it off, and fastened it. "Hm. No, the color is not quite right. It should be set off with stones. Something red? Or perhaps blue. This will do for now, though."

  She turned Liera around, so that she was facing the workbench, and then sat down, and picked up the hand of ginger.

  "Has Maash been using this on you?" she asked. Liera shook her head.

  "Oh, but she should. I shall have to talk with her about it. It produces the most delightful movements in girls; they will press and squirm, trying to escape the sensation." As Jalah talked, she started ca
rving the ginger with swift, precise cuts of the knife, turning it into a curved length, with a knob on either end.

  "This to widen you," she said, pointing to one end, "and this to prevent you from swallowing it, if your anus proves particularly hungry," she added, pointing to the other.

  A streamer of drool had already begun to drip from Liera's mouth. Jalah stood, wiped the ginger in Liera's saliva, and then spun her around, and worked it into her ass.

  At first, it hurt a little, because it was wide, but it felt cool. Then there was a tingle, and a growing heat. Liera whined, tried to shake it loose.

  "There, you see? Such delightful squirming." Then she put two fingers into Liera's cunt. "And the fluttering of the muscles here. Oh, Maash is very foolish not to use this on you; I am sure it would make her very happy."

  Liera moaned and twisted. It hurt, it burned, she wanted it out.

  "Now this," said Jalah, "I fear that Maash would be too soft-hearted for." She unstoppered the bottle, and there was a sudden, pungent smell of pepper. She poured a generous dollop onto the square of cloth, and worked it in. "I am merely using it because I enjoy watching you cry. And perhaps it shall make you spoil the lime; it is an excellent test for you."

  She attached another length of gold chain to the back of the belt, looped it around the ginger, and brought it up between Liera's legs. "Now," she said. "Tell me that you wish this upon your lovely little pussy, piglet."

  Liera didn't want it on her. She really didn't. "Ess laey, Aank ou laey," she said, and flushed.

  "So charming," said Jalah, patting her pussy. "I really must think of how to thank Maash for her loan." Jalah's fingers came away wet. "Your reward will wait until my husband's return, of course." She laid the cloth in place, pulled the chain taut, and fastened it.

  She looked up at Liera with a question on her face. A moment of anxiety, and then Liera screamed around the green lemon in her mouth.

  "Yes," said Jalah, standing on her tiptoes to look into Liera's eyes. "It is quite lovely, isn't it."

  It was as though she had been lit on fire. The ginger still hurt, she still wanted it out, but this was like nothing she'd ever felt. Liera kicked her legs off the ground, twisted, shook, but the chain held the cloth in place. Another scream.

  "Unfortunately, the intensity will diminish. And since you have to return to Maash so soon, I cannot keep applying it until you are broken down." She sighed, and turned back to her work.

  Liera twisted, pulled, sobbed. It hurt like nothing Maash had ever done to her. It wasn't a fun hurt; this was serious, and if she could've gotten it off, she would've. But she couldn't. Slowly, she stopped twisting, hung in her chains, her face and chest covered in drool and tears and snot and sweat.

  As Jalah had said, it gradually got less intense, more bearable. And while the ginger also still hurt, it also hurt less. Eventually, Liera just hung in her chains, her pussy sore and burning, her ass stretched and with a fire there as well. Jalah was using pliers to twist gold threads into curves and circles, snipping off each fragment, putting it precisely into place with a single, sure movement.

  It wasn't a fun hurt, but there was something to the idea of Jalah breaking her down completely, and then putting her back together the way she wanted. From time to time, Jalah looked up from her work, and smiled at Liera's moans and sobs. Eventually, she decided that the piece was finished; she put a layer of golden powder over it, and then took out a blowtorch.

  "A light hand is required with this," she said. "Enough to melt, but not sufficient to ruin."

  It was a light pass, and the powder was gone, and the opal was seated in its nest of filagree. "Yes," said Jalah, "At last correct. And next, you have to be cleaned and decorated. Appealing as you look now, this appearance is not to my husband's taste."

  She took the green lemon from Liera's mouth, wiped it on her shoulder, which was one of the few places where she wasn't covered in fluids. "Yes, let us see. There are some bruises on the skin of the lime." She flicked Liera's nipple. "Naughty! If you touch my husband's member with your teeth, Maash will receive a disappointing report. But you have not broken the skin. It seems that I will not need to apply the retractors."

  The hook dropped with a click and a whir, and Liera was once again on her hands and knees.

  "Please, lady?" she said, when she had her breath back.

  "Yes?" asked Jalah.

  "Please may I kiss you?" asked Liera. "Just your hands, or your feet," she added quickly. "Please?"

  Jalah squatted down beside her, rubbed below and to the side of Liera's eye with her thumb, clearing away the tears. "You have been a lovely little piglet. Very slippy, very noisy." She held up her other hand. "Very well. You may kiss my hand."

  Liera touched the back of Jalah's hand with her lips, lightly. Then she brushed it with her tongue, and was rewarded with a stinging slap.

  "Greedy girl!" said Jalah. "You have permission for one thing, do not attempt another." She rose, brushed her hands on her skirt. "And we must not delay your bath. Come along."

  This time, Liera didn't have to be told to crawl. It was the most natural thing, to follow behind Jalah on her hands and knees, to watch her shoes and the hem of her skirt, and try to keep pace, and to be encouraged with slaps when Jalah was forced to slow to keep up.

  Ralaathi baths were elaborate affairs, and the Krin's bath was no exception. There were two steps down to the bath itself, but there was an expanse of marble tile between the door and the bath, with counters and cabinets, and mirrors and perfumes. And there was another hook hanging from the ceiling, and a metal framework folded into the corner.

  "Yes," said Jalah. "It is often pleasant to have a girl writhing for me while I bathe; it is very soothing. But I fear there is not time for that today; my husband shall soon return." Jalah unhooked the chain that went across Liera's crotch, holding the square of cloth and length of ginger in place.

  Liera felt as though she'd been taken out of a fire. The cloth had stopped hurting, mostly, but then she'd started moving and it started again. She sighed, and then Jalah pinched her clit, hard. It was so sensitive that there were immediately tears at the corners of her eyes. But she didn't pull away; she ground down, moaned.

  "Very nice," said Jalah. "Just as I said; what is approaching will delight my husband." A small pat on her pussy. "Just a hint of perfume there, after you are bathed. But as for the other. . . "

  She took the length of ginger out, tossed it into the trash. "It shall have to be cleaned; it is not, at the moment, a fitting receptacle."

  Jalah unfolded the framework and strapped Liera to it on her hands and knees, with a few quick, certain movements. Much like working with gold, this was a thing that Jalah had done many times, and was expert at.

  Another light pat on her pussy, and then something pushed into her ass. It went in easily enough, but she was still sore from the ginger. It went further in. "We shall start with water," said Jalah. "There shall be time for other treatment soon."

  There was a gurgling, and the strangest feeling in Liera's bowels. She whined and looked up at Jalah.

  "Oh, do not tell me that Maash has never cleaned you out!" she said. "She is a charming young lady, but she has been sadly neglectful. I really must speak to her!"

  It didn't really answer Liera's whine, but she didn't really expect an answer to that. After a time, Jalah removed the hose from her ass, and put something else in, wide and hard.

  "There. You must hold it while it does its work." She knelt, held Liera's chin in her hand, tilted it one way, then another. "Well, at least the ears are pierced. Rubies, I think. And coral, but the lighter corals."

  "Lady?" asked Liera. "Please? My stomach hurts."

  "Of course it does," said Jalah. "You are over a drain; when it is time, you will be allowed to void. For now, perhaps you need a distraction."

  Her stomach twisted in pain, but she couldn't help but respond to Jalah's hand; if she'd been allowed to come, maybe, but . . . Liera groaned, clos
ed her eyes.

  A slap. "Eyes open, piglet!" said Jalah. "You will be stimulated when my husband is using you, and you shall look at him then."

  Liera opened her eyes, looked across at the bathroom, at the steam rising up from the tub, at the cabinets, at the marble and glass and amethyst and gold. Jalah was not bringing her to orgasm, not quite, but kept going closer and closer. "Smile," she said, and Liera tried; the intensity of her pain, of her pleasure kept pulling her mouth open, making her features blank, but Jalah set a mirror in front of her, forced her to watch, to keep pulling her mouth up into a rictus that approximated a smile.

  "Very good," said Jalah, after a while. "See, a distraction, and some education; exactly what was needed." Then she pulled out the stopper, and Liera's bowels emptied with a foul smell, and wetness on her legs.

  "There, yes, you see?" said Jalah. "You had been given too much food, and now you are emptied out. So much better."

  She sprayed Liera's ass and legs with a hose, then the tiles behind her, and the smell of shit faded. "The next one will be larger, of course. But cleaner."

  It was. And Liera had to hold it for longer, her stomach distended as she ground against Jalah's hand, tried to smile, tried to get some sort of release. The one after that was small, but hurt more; what came out when it was done smelled faintly floral.

  "And that is that. So lovely now," said Jalah, running her finger around the rim of Liera's asshole. "And still nicely taut, though not overly shut. I am sure you will give great pleasure. Once you are cleaned!"

  A few quick twists of screws and loosening of chains, and Liera was freed of the framework. Then Jalah gripped her by the ankle, turned and twisted, and threw Liera into the bath.

  "Yes, very good," she said, as Liera surfaced, gasping for breath, and threw a sponge at her face. "Do not take long," she said. "You are marginally cleaner, but not yet decorated. I shall return shortly; be clean, when I do."

  Liera scrubbed as quickly as she could, washing her hair, scrubbing her arms and legs and behind her ears. Being cleaned out on the framework had not been pleasant, but it had . . . the hook in Jalah's studio hadn't been pleasant, but it had . . . she wanted to do what Jalah wanted, as well as she could.