by Annie Eppa
Adelai closed his eyes, assuming it was Thornton, and that tonight was another humiliating repeat of the night before.
“Your Highness!” Her eyes flew open in surprise, because it wasn’t Thornton’s voice, but someone else’s that she didn’t recognize. “Milord, the apartments are on fire!”
“What?” The hands groping at her breasts stilled.
“Your Highness, a fire has broken out in the rooms where the Lady Maestre has been staying, and it’s spreading! Your Majesty, we must bring you to - “
It was the first time she’d ever seen fear in the king’s face. Adelai found herself tipped unceremoniously off his lap, sprawling on the floor. King Garrant had rushed toward the inner sanctum of his chambers, throwing open a small dresser and fumbling at something inside it.
“Milord!” One of the guards had dashed into the room. “Your Majesty, they’ve been able to contain the fire, but the Lady Maestre’s missing!”
“What?!”
“The Captain of the Guard was in the city, overseeing preparations for the attack, and she must have escaped shortly after he had left. We found Lord Goetzel trussed up, and unconscious.”
The king was turning to face them, his face nearly purple with rage, his cock still hard. “And no one realized this sooner?”
The man actually trembled, at the king’s rage. “We were told by Lord Goetzel not to interfere, that no one else was to enter after he did, until he gave the signal to.”
The king snatched up a vase and threw it at the guard. It barely missed his head, crashing into the wall behind him. “Out!” King Garrant thundered, nearly beside himself with fury. “Out, out, out!”
The guard retreated. With no one else to vent his rage to, the king turned on Adelai. “Get up, you little bitch,” he snarled, hoisting her up to her feet, his fingers digging into her arm. “So, you think your friend can escape me? I suppose I shall have to take her insolence out on you.”
He all but threw her on the table, the wood slamming painfully into her stomach and knocking the wind out of her. She had little time to recover - the king bound her wrists once more, looping it into a small chain to keep her from escaping. He slapped her hard across the face when she tried to struggle and kick herself free. He did the same to her legs, tying them together instead of forcing them apart. On her stomach, she tried to raise her head, only to have it slammed back down, her vision swimming from the force.
“That stupid bitch!” she heard the sounds of something being uncoiled, the hard rasp of a rope braid, and then something cracked across her bare buttocks, the unexpected pain making her scream. The king was behind her, a whip in his hand. She’d heard of men who liked to inflict pain, had even heard of shrinemaidens who enjoyed such ministrations, who sometimes returned to the temple in order to specialize in such acts. But it was considered poor taste to do such things to shrinemaidens barely a year out, those who certainly had little experiences in such fetishes.
But she could do nothing. The king brought the cord down onto her tender flesh, and Adelai shrieked again. But she was trapped on the table and unable to move, unable to do anything but take his rage as the king assaulted her buttocks and thighs again and again, leaving angry red welts with every blow. Each lash sent a white-hot pain through her senses, and she thrashed on the table, desperate for him to stop, even as that unforgiving whip came down, always hitting its mark.
It felt like a long, long time, for the whipping to end. She was motionless when it was finally over, the pain crawling up her body, her backside too sore that every little movement made her gasp in hurt. She could hear the king’s harsh, heavy panting as he stopped, as he debated whether to continue her torture. Adelai was sobbing hysterically, no longer trying to hold it in. All she wanted was the burning to cease.
“The conniving bitch,” the king said again, but with less heat in his voice. The beating had helped exorcised his fury, but he was far from done with her. She felt him touch her buttocks, sliding a finger down the crack to press against her sex. “How does that feel, Adelai? You must be quite close to the Silvermaiden, to be so willing to take the punishment in her stead.” A finger slipped into her, began to pump in and out of her nether lips. The strange mix of pain coupled with pleasure was both agonizing and exquisite all at once. Two more fingers entered her, thumb pressing against her tiny nub. She was still wet from the king’s fucking before he was interrupted, and these helped her lubricate further, despite the burning.
“Sshh. It’s over now, little one. Look how pretty your ass has become, tender and red. It’s going to look better with your ass stuffed with cock.”
She was sure she wouldn’t be able to take him fucking her in her rear hole, after everything he had just done to her, and she shook her head frantically. He only laughed, his humor restored.
“Oh, you’ll like this, Adelai. You’ll be begging me for more when I’m done.” She felt his cock enter her cunt again, and she whimpered while he thrusted in several times to coat it in her wetness. He pulled out, and settled against her tiny, wrinkled hole.
“No,” she moaned, “oh, no, no….”
“Yes,” He surged forward, and the cockhead parted her rosy cheeks. He forced his way through the tight ring just past the hole, inch by painstaking inch, until he was buried inside her backdoor, her body gripping him tightly. He withdrew, then moved again, stabbing deeper and deeper into her protesting body, and she had to accept his girth as it forced her open.
“Fuck,” the king moved his hips back and pressed forward, impaling her again on his invading cock. “You’re truly a sweet, tight little thing when you’re in pain, aren’t you.”
The burning sensation only increased, sending little jolts of pain up and down her backside, but it was a shock to realize that it also seemed to increase her pleasure, more so than it would. He ignored her pleas, and began rocking back and forth until she was stuffed with his cock at every plunge forward. His ass-reaming was slow at first, but grew faster and rougher the more excited he became, slapping her ass while he fucked her, sending that heady combination of agony and ecstasy through her again.
“No,” Adelai panted, not wanting to believe that she could find release after he had hurt her so cruelly like this. But there it was, the pleasure burgeoning, lifting higher and higher, intense because of the pain that came with it, until finally it became almost unbearable.
“I want you to call my name, Adelai,” the king hissed, and then his teeth bit down savagely on her neck, making her cry out again.
“Garrant,” she babbled, wanting this to end, wanting this new humiliation to be over with. “Garrant….”
“Louder!” He barked, and then his next bite was on her shoulder, almost hard enough to draw blood. “Say it, Adelai!”
“Garrant!” She wailed, as she began cumming. “Garrant!” Her snug channel clamped down hard, as if trying to pull more of him into her dark recesses.
The king roared, coating her insides with his cream even as she sobbed and writhed, her bottom grinding against him.
He slumped down on top of her, nearly crushing her with his weight, but Adelai was too tired to protest, only grateful that it was finally over. Her buttocks still hurt, and she was still crying, satiation giving way to exhaustion and fear.
He kissed her ear, and then moved to stand. He undid her ropes, and she wobbled once she got to her feet. She only had time to shrug into the dressing gown she had arrived in, before the door opened and she was shoved into a guard’s arms. “Send her back to her room,” the king ordered, “and make sure this bitch doesn’t escape, either.”
Every step was agony. Still, she kept her head up, not wanting the guards to see her beaten. She stumbled into her room - she wanted to curl up onto the bed and sleep, to pray that this was nothing more than a nightmare. But she had a duty to keep.
Despite her aches, she went to her dresser and penned a quick note. It felt strange to write standing up, but she knew she could not bear sitting down, no
t with the burning still so acute. She folded the paper, took another lace handkerchief, and tied it to the window bars again, around the note. She surveyed herself n the mirror, nearly wept again at what she saw. Crisscrossed lashes marked her buttocks, at least one breaking her skin. She had nothing to help soothe the pain except a cream she had for small cuts. She winced as she applied it to the worst of the injuries. She had enough energy to clean herself up with a washcloth as thoroughly as she was able to - the water on her washstand was too cold for her to do much more than that. It was only then that she made her way to the bed, sprawling on her stomach. She covered her face with her hands, and began to cry.
She must have dozed off for awhile, but was suddenly aware of knocks against her door. She bolted up, wide-eyed and frightened, wondering if the king was not yet done with her. It was still dark outside, still several hours before dawn.
Shaking, she crossed the room, and fumbled for the door.
The captain of the guard stood outside, and there were no guards posted at the doorway. He was the last person she wanted to see, and her first instinct was to wrap her robe tighter around her, not wanting him to see how badly she’d been hurt. Her second instinct was to close the door on his face. But he caught the side of it with his hand, preventing her from doing so, and moved into the room, the door falling shut behind him.
“Show me,” he growled.
“Show you what?” She whispered. Her throat felt sore from screaming, from crying.
“Don’t play games with me, Adelai,” his blue eyes blazed. “Show me what he did to you.”
She hesitated, then dropped her hands. He took them in his, his eyes hardening at the sight of the redness that still encircled her wrists. He reached over and undid her gown for her, pushing the material off her shoulders.
Adelai blushed, knowing what he must be seeing. Her neck and shoulders were marked by bites, dark against her pale skin. There were also red welts across her breasts from his hands. There was bruising on her sides from where she had hit the table, and the mild throbbing on the side of her face where he’d hit her.
“Where else?” Thornton’s voice was harsh.
Immediately she shook her head, then realized that she’d done it too quickly to make it believable, and his eyes narrowed. He made her turn, pivoting her around so he could see the ugly red imprints against her buttocks and thighs, where the king had whipped her unmercifully, the small and shallow streaks of blood there.
He growled low, startling her by the suddenness of it, and then he was pulling her into his arms, into a breathless, bruising kiss. There was a quiet violence to him, like he wanted to bury all of himself into her. His tongue snaked past her lips to taste her, thorough and demanding, and his teeth scraped at her lower lip. He ground himself against her bare form, the texture of his trousers against her thighs. Adelai kissed him back just as urgently, raising herself on tiptoes and pressing herself even closer so he could have better access to all of her.
It was only when one of his hands found her bare buttock without thinking, and her moan this time was one of pain rather than delight, did he seem to realize how rough he was being. He gentled the kiss and his touch lightened, his mouth moving away from hers so he could lower his head and kiss her neck, at the very spot where the king had shown his cruelty.
“Thornton.” But the captain ignored her, his lips traveling to the dark marks along her shoulders, giving them the same loving treatment. He moved down to her breasts, dropping down to one knee as his lips pressed against a sensitive nipple. His kisses were different - they weren’t kisses of passion, Adelai thought, her eyes filling with tears again, but for a different reason. He was demeaning himself for her, kneeling now and quietly asking for her forgiveness, helpless to do anything else for the moment but ease her pain.
His large hands encircled her waist as he moved lower, pressing butterfly kisses along the length of her stomach, at the faint bruising there. He turned her around, and Adelai gasped when she felt his mouth kiss her buttocks - not hard enough to hurt, and the feel of his lips there felt soothing.
He turned her again, and a sigh fell from her when he kissed her in her most intimate of places, fingers parting the soft curls so he could lap at her there for a few seconds, before straightening up again. “Go to the bed,” he said, hoarse.
She followed, and he made her lie on her stomach. She still wanted him inside her badly, despite it, wanting to erase the king’s touch with his own. But the captain showed no indication of taking her, only intent on finishing what he’d done when he’d been on his knees.
His tongue licked at her, from the swollen crest of her cunt to between her cheeks. Adelai gasped and tried to move, to tell him that he did not need to do this for her, but his harsh voice stopped her. “No, Adelai.” There was a queer desperation in his voice, like this was as much for him as it was for her. Overcome by the day’s events, Adelai didn’t have the strength left to argue.
His clever tongue coaxed her body into sweet pleasure, dipping into the apex between her thighs one moment, before sweeping up to ream her back hole. No one had ever done that to her before, and Adelai moaned at the sensation, at the new things he was making her feel.
Before, he would sometimes bring her to climax this way, though for the most part he was keen to let her linger over the edge before thrusting his cock inside of her, wanting to feel her climax around his cock instead of against his mouth. Now, he doubled the pace, and she knew he was intent on letting her cum this way, wanting her to reach her own pleasure without needing to find his own.
His tongue burrowed into her tightness, his hands sweeping over her back and buttocks, his caresses too gentle to hurt. She was pushing back against him without meaning to, aware of the rising tension inside her, wanting to experience that breathless rapture as his tongue drew her close, closer, so incredibly close. “Thornton,” she moaned, and he responded by licking her harder, doubling his pace as he focused on a spot underneath her hooded bud, tonguing it again, again, again, until she cried out, came wildly before him.
He moved away when the worst of her writhing had stopped, her clit too sensitive to withstand another round. She felt him place a chaste, tender kiss at the top of her head. “If he touches you again, in any way,” he whispered, “I will kill him where he stands.” He started to get out of the bed.
“No,” she implored, reaching out for him. She didn’t know how he was able to reach her room undetected, or that if he had been able to avoid detection at all. But the thought of him leaving frightened her, and she knew she did not want to be alone that night. “Please….”
He stopped, and moved out of view. Adelai closed her eyes in despair, until she heard him disrobing, and his warm, hard body slid next to her. “I’m here, Adelai,” Thornton said quietly, answering her unspoken question, and she relaxed against him, eyes falling shut again. It took her a little longer to fall asleep, to the sounds of Thornton beside her, murmuring soothing words against her ear, and for all that happened bad dreams did not disturb her that night.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Rebellion
He was gone when she woke the following morning, but Adelai was expecting that. How he’d convinced the guards to leave their posts was puzzling, however. She opened her door and peered cautiously out, just to check again, and found two pairs of eyes glaring back at her. The guards here were different than the ones the day before, which meant they had not been on duty when she had stumbled back into the room that night. She retreated hastily with this knowledge. Her next step was to check her windows again, was pleased to find the handkerchief missing once more. Her buttocks still burned, and she gave up trying to sit.
The soldiers were being mobilized for an attack on the city, and the focal point of the assault was to be at the Watch barracks. Even locked in her rooms, Adelai could sense the tension in the air, from the hurried marches of men through the corridor outside, to what she could see from her window - the palace soldiers�
�� barracks a short distance away, where much activity seemed to be taking place. She was not allowed to walk the gardens that day, and she suspected that with things so quickly coming to a head King Garrant did not want to take any more chances. The king was busy with other
matters, and Adelai hoped he would not summon her back to his chambers that night. Not when the attack was to begin that day, to take up most of his attention.
She knew very little of what happened to Shannika, though from the king’s words it sounded like she had gotten away, and she felt relieved. She had already wept for Khalid, wept for the grief his death would undoubtedly be causing the Silvermaiden. She had neglected to ask Thornton about the fire that had broken out, and the servant who had brought in her meals that day would not provide an answer to the questions she asked, only shaking her head and looking frightened.
There was nothing else for Adelai to do but to wait for nightfall, and prayed to Inne-Anneah that this would soon be over, that the Wolf was as crafty as people said he was, that he would be able to defeat the king despite the odds.
She knew the attack would begin after midnight, and so was not prepared for the sudden sound of wood breaking that echoed through the room like a loud thunderclap. She started up, her hear pounding. It was barely time for supper, which meant the attack had began several hours earlier than expected. She ducked, falling to the ground with her hands clapped to her ears as another boom sounded, and then came the unmistakable sounds of fighting.
She ran for the door, opening it a crack so she could see what was going on. Many servants were running, panicked and screaming, and from the babble she could make out came the realization that the castle had come under heavy attack. The guards were still posted at her door, looking completely unmoved by everything that was going on. “We have to leave!” Adelai shouted at them, attempting to do so, but one of the guards blocked her way. “The king’s orders, milady,” he said gruffly.