by Jen Eastwood
“Serve me?”
“Of course. 'Master' is most of 'headmaster,'”
Is he the kind of person I'm expected to be? “If you say so.”
He shot me a knowing grin. “Your mind will change after you meet Anya.” He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
I followed, ending up in an incredibly luxurious bedroom. A wall of windows overlooking the estate lit up the cherry floors and furniture. But in the chair in the far corner, draped in white fur like she was still in The Motherland, sat the most stunning blonde I'd ever laid eyes on.
She put down the book she was reading as we approached. The closer I got, the more I realized her eyes were in that weird space between blue and green. The only thing certain in them was the apprehension.
“Anya, this is Alexei.”
She looked up at me when I stopped just short of her. Thick as wax, Anya's accent made her even more exotic. “It is a pleasure.”
“Likewise.” I wrapped my hand around the fingers she offered up. Her wrist couldn't have been any more limp.
Grandfather noticed. “Anya, sledoyte za treneepobkoy.”
Anya looked at him, the slightest hint of resistance poking through the worry.
“Eto ranshe,” she jerked her hand back from me, “chem ya doomal.”
“Alexei, take out your bracelet.”
As soon as I had it out, Anya had to know what it was. She stood bolt-straight, yelling at my grandfather. “Natalia skazala, kto mne eto noosno!”
Even if I didn't know much Russian, his anger was clear as perfect English. “Ktot gneb dokazivaet, chto tebe kto noosno...”
She looked utterly defeated already. “Vi zestokiyi chelobek, Smolensky.”
She stepped between us, facing me. I wanted to grab her by the wrist and start running. The only thing stopping me was the resigned look she gave me. Anya knew it was futile.
Grandfather frowned behind her. “Znayi svoye mesto vetoy semve, Anya.”
Anya presented her wrist to me. “Do not make me regret this, Alexei.”
From the looks of it, she already did. I held the bracelet up to her arm, pulling the open ends apart. “Are you sure?”
“You still ask what I want,” Anya smiled faintly, “so yes.”
Alright then. I put the open end over her wrist, sliding it on her without letting the bracelet touch skin. The instant I let go and it hit Anya's wrist, it shone with a blinding, golden light.
I blinked hard for a moment, my vision marred with dark spots. Anya didn't seem fazed at all, or at least, what I could make out of her face. The band itself had closed to form a perfect loop around her wrist that would have been impossible to remove.
“You stared right at it, dumbass.” My grandfather grabbed Anya by the shoulders and sat her back down. “Give her a moment.”
“So that was how you work as a copper mage?”
“No,” he pulled yet another smoke out of his breast pocket. “That is how you get married as a copper mage.”
“WHAT?” My heart was trying to break my ribs. “There's no way I'd marry a girl I just met.”
“There is a way, and you just did, Alexei.”
“Do either of us get any say in the matter?”
He lit the cigarette, not caring that he was in someone else's room. “She was allowed to choose, but we do not get that luxury. That is our way.”
I was almost ready to bum a smoke off him. “Have you ever resented it?”
“I asked my dedushka the same question. We all fight against it at first, but then we see the benefits.”
“So if I'm taking over the academy, what will you two do?”
“Assuming you succeed in taking it over,” he took a drag and then blew a thick puff of blue smoke straight up, “we will go see our son for the first time in decades. Maybe do the usual American thing. Buy an RV, move to Florida, and play golf until I die of complications from tuberculosis.”
“You have TB?”
He almost laughed. “No, but it is in half the fucking obituaries I read, it seems. It is stereotypical but true, like if I was drunk on potato vodka all the time.”
Self-awareness at that age is rare, I guess. Hope I have that later. “So this is my life now.”
“If you do not fail miserably at it, yes.” He looked back at Anya. “She is coming to. Let me leave you alone.”
“Wait,” I didn't even know where to begin looking for him later, “where am I supposed to stay?”
“This is your room.” He started toward thee door, leaving me in place. “Well, yours and hers.”
“You're not leaving so I can...”
He stopped in the doorway and looked back. “Yes, consummate the marriage.” Grandfather shut the door and left like it was no big deal.
I came here expecting to catch up with my grandparents. Nobody mentioned I'd be inheriting a castle or that I'd get tricked into an arranged marriage. I looked back at Anya. She seemed like she was coming back to her senses.
I took one step closer to her and asked, “Does any of this seem crazy to you?”
Her accent still sounded right off the streets of St. Petersburg. “Whatever do you mean?” The way she relaxed in her chair struck me as odd.
“None of this bothers you?”
“I am your wife now, solnishko. All of this is right.”
Am I the only one who can't believe this? “What made you want this?” I expected it to stop Anya, or at least slow her down.
She had a wistful look in her eyes as the rest of her face seemed assured. “Life can be cruel outside of these walls. If you follow the rules, those cruelties go away.”
“So you're saying life wasn't always good for you.”
“Your babushka always warned me about living in the past. You should listen to her, Alexei.”
I knew the subject was impregnable. “So what about your future?”
“Our future, you mean?” Anya finally rose from her chair. “As you go, so do I.”
I wanted to back away when she put her hands on my chest. “What made you want this?”
She ignored it entirely as she eased me backwards. “You should worry about proving you can run this academy. Come, let us enjoy our first day together.”
I didn't even have a full idea of what this place was for, but Anya wasn't being vague about her intentions. The girl was coming on to me like a desperate prom date.
The back of my legs hit the side of the mattress. I fell backward, Anya right on top of me. The extra fabric of her long, flowing gown covered us both.
I won't lie, having her on top of me did feel amazing. The only thing worth frowning over was when I felt the fur draped over her shoulders and realized it was the genuine thing.
Anya pushed herself up, resting on her knees. She worked buttons loose all the way down and let the veil drop.
Did I wreck my car and die on the way here? Utter perfection is the only way to describe her. The black lace of her bra and panties didn't leave much left to imagine.
“You like what you see.” Anya beamed with pride. “I am glad.”
Grandfathers utterance of 'consummate' finally hit home. “Slow down a second. We met, what, not even five minutes ago?”
“We will have our whole lives to get to know each other.” Anya chucked the furs away, looking less like a Russian transplant and more like a Victoria's Secret catalog brought to life. “Relax, and I will show you how our students are supposed to behave.”
“That's what we teach?” Expecting me to teach the Kama Sutra was like expecting a drop-out to teach advanced trigonometry. I wasn't inexperienced at that point, but it was asking too much.
“You do not teach skills. You instill discipline and give final exams.” Anya spread her legs and sat herself right on my crotch. “Your staff and I teach the skills.”
It's the difference between a headmaster and a teacher, I suppose. But it still didn't explain the ravishing, blonde Russian straddling my package. Or why she agreed to be my wife bef
ore even meeting me.
“Now Alexei, tell me,” she stared down at me, those breasts catching my attention as much as her eyes, “do you like it slow, or would you rather be rough?”
The way she put the emphasis on 'rough' clued me in on her preference. “We should slow it down, period.”
“Teasing is the woman's job. Now tell me.”
It was time for a new approach. “Don't be a bad girl, now. Stop.”
“Bad girls need to be punished,” Anya put her hands on my shoulders and pinned me to the bed, “and I can be very, very bad for you.”
Now I knew what reluctant dates feel on college campuses everywhere. “You won't back down, will you?”
“Why would I? Your erection tells me it is working.”
It would feel even better inside her, but it still felt wrong somehow. “You looked relieved when I asked if you wanted this. What was that about?”
“Because I know you will be a kind husband.” Anya started pushing herself back and forth in my lap, making it that much harder to resist. “I was worried about the kind of man I was to marry, but you are not the sort of person I was afraid of.”
“That's good to hear.”
“No,” she picked up the pace, “it is awful.”
“Why?”
“A headmaster can not have a kind heart and a soft hand. Your dedushka is a cruel man, but that is as he should be.”
I have to be like him? It sounds awful. “So what do you have to be like?”
Anya was getting herself worked up against me, all by herself. “Your success is my success. It is the same with failure.”
“I don't think it has to be that way.”
For a brief moment, Anya looked genuinely happy. The copper band around her wrist suddenly burned through my shirt. She jerked to the right, writhing in pain.
I shot upright. She was pitiful like this, curled into a fetal position on her side and her face twisted in agony. “Are you alright? What the hell happened?”
Anya whimpered into the sheets, slowly relaxing herself. As her limbs straightened back out and she looked at me, streaks of mascara dribbled onto the bed. “That girl wanted to be dead. I can never let her come back.”
“You mean, the old you.”
Anya nodded and the gradually pushed herself up. “I have to clean myself up. This is unacceptable.” She made her way around the bed and to the dressing table on the left wall of the room.
“I'm sorry about this.”
Anya was already wiping the black off her face. “The Smolensky's did her a favor. I am grateful.”
“I mean what just happened, too.”
“That is my fault. I was weak.”
“What if I refuse to run the academy? That will set you free, right?”
Anya stood back up, marching right up to me. Her plush lips narrowed into a slit. “I do not want to be free if it means my life is like it was before.” She gave me a hard push, sending me onto the bed. Crawling over me, Anya tacked on, “And you are a fool.”
Me? “I don't believe that.”
Anya ran her fingers along my inner thigh, stopping right on my crotch. “You would give up your dedushka's legacy, but I would still belong to you.” She gave me a slow stroke through my jeans. “You do not even know what tour job entails yet.”
I tried to object as Anya tugged on my zipper. As I felt her fingertips on my shaft, I finally regained the nerve. “Anya, stop.”
She had my cock out, working on turning the chub into a full-on erection. Anya had her face inches from mine. “Shut up and enjoy it.”
I wanted to stop her, but my brain wasn't doing the thinking anymore. I clutched at the sheets when Anya's lips pressed against the tip. With a light grab at my balls, she took me in her mouth like she was starving.
I tried to back away, kinda. The tension around waist broke as Anya worked my belt and the button loose. By the time she had my jeans down to my knees, I knew I only had one choice.
Sorry for this. Taking a full fist of hair in one hand, the other wrapping around her throat, I forced her to back off.
Anya tried to go back down. As my grip against her neck got tighter, she actually smiled at me. Hoarse with restriction and accent, she fought to say, “That is it, Alexei.”
I let go, too horrified at the idea of doing anything more severe to stop Anya. “I didn't want to do that.”
She crawled back up my torso. “Hmmm.” Anya pressed her cheek against my face. “I know what your first lesson must be.”
“Lesson?”
She bit at my earlobe before saying, “If you want me to stop, you must make me.”
“I just did, didn't I?”
I should have known her answer when Anya sent a hand down. “No.” Even with her mouth next to my ear, another round of wet heat enveloped my dick.
I shot my eyebrows up and stared at the ceiling. When she moved her hips, I knew. “You're not joking, are you?”
Anya pushed herself back up, my cock hidden inside her cunt. She smiled and tossed her hips left and right. “You like?”
She just pushed her panties to the side, just like that. Another shift of her body closed my eyes.
“You can not give in like that with students.” Anya drove the point home with a swish of her body meant for drawing a rapid climax. “They will eat you alive, Alexei.”
Eat me alive, swallow my dick whole, what's it matter? I settled in and put my hands against Anya's thighs, hoping she wouldn't stop. That's when I felt the left side of my face light on fire with a pop.
“Nyet!”
“What the fuck?” The rise and fall of the sting was in tune with my pulse. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“You are lucky I did not stick knife between your ribs instead.”
I didn't know if it was just that brutal Russian honesty, or mental issues. “If you've got a point, tell me.”
“Eto piz dets, my husband is an idiot.”
You don't grow up in a family from a non-English-speaking ethnic group without learning their cuss words. “You've got a foul mouth on you.”
Anya made a quick swirl with her hips, trying to force me to give in again. “And you are weak.” A hand pressed against my sternum. “You see? You do not even try to push back.”
I took each of Anya's wrists in my hands, forcing them in front of her. As she kept rocking herself, I asked, “Is that better?”
“Do you think I just want you to be a little rough?” Anya's voice and movements had me dribbling pre-cum already. “You will blow your load early, like a weak, little man. I can feel it.”
Who knew I'd end up in an arranged marriage to the mega-bitch of Moscow? “You could be more pleasant.”
“I could be, but nobody is making me. That is not even asking.”
“It was a question.”
Anya broke a hand free, whipping it right behind her. Her fingers closed around my balls tighter than a camel's ass in a sandstorm. “Could you go ahead and come inside me?”
I sat upright without having to think about it. Both of my family jewels felt like they were about to burst. The only thing I knew to do was snake my hand between her arm and body, and then reach up. As I took hold of Anya's upper arm and pushed out with my elbow, the pressure finally eased.
Anya tried with her other hand. She smiled when I blocked it the same way. “Good, now get your dick out of me.” One more quick pump of her hips. “I need to be punished.”
When I tried to roll over, I realized how strong Anya was, despite looking feminine as all hell. I put my arms into it, sending her crashing onto the bed. Pulling myself out of her was the last thing I wanted to do, but it was time to make my point.
I sat back up and pulled Anya's legs over my lap. A quick swat to the ass seemed like enough.
“Is that all? You treat me like a child who stole a cookie?” Anya stuck her rear up. “Whatever you are about to do, think of something worse, and then think of something worse again.”
I
had gotten a few spankings as a child, but never an outright ass beating. I knew enough to figure out what might satisfy Anya. “Are you sure about that?”
“When the disobedient need to be punished, you do not ask for their permission, Alexei.”
“Hell of a fetish you've got.” I grabbed my belt buckle between the two of us and pulled it from the loops. “I kinda like it.”
“I hate it.” Anya's cheeks tensed beneath black lace. “But not as much as I hate having a weak husband.”
Something's fucked up in her head. Anya wants me to be a domineering jerk? I doubled the belt over in my hand and tugged her panties down. I shook my head at the thought of marring that kind of perfection.
“Do not hesitate. Make me regret it.”
I reared my right arm back. Giving it more force than I intended, the crack echoed through the room.
Anya's head jerked up. A strip of red stayed on her ass like I'd stamped it on there.
I pulled back for the second and watched her buns clench. The second one was just as hard, overlapping the first in a way that had to sting like a bastard.
The pain was obvious in Anya's voice. “Do not let up. Mercy is weakness.”
I should have felt guilty about the grin spreading across my face. My hand went vertical and then swooped back down.
Anya whimpered as the sound bounced around the room. I brought a few more down, finally wanting it to hurt.
Suddenly, it wasn't about punishment alone. “Stand up.”
“You are not satisfied?”
I got up with her, just to push Anya between the shoulder blades, forcing her to lean against the bed. My arm whipped back and then snapped in the other direction.
Anya squealed as I wondered if it broke skin. Not quite, but this time, my belt's stitching showed in the stripe on her ass. She still wasn't begging me to stop.
I pulled my shoes and socks off, and then let my jeans drop. Taking one shoe in hand, I put the end of the belt through the buckle. If the little bitch wanted me to be cruel, Anya was about to get my homework and the extra credit.
The loop of my belt went over her head and then tightened around her neck. I sat next to her, resting my elbow on the small of her back.
Her breathing went ragged as I pulled on the end of the belt with one hand, givng teasing taps from my shoe with the other. By the time the swats built up enough power to hurt, you could have cracked walnuts between her cheeks.