“You know,” Matilda said. “That morning in the court yard, I wanted to fuck you right there under the tree. I wanted you so badly I almost lost control. I planned to bring you back here and do all kinds of wicked things to you.”
“I thought you didn’t want me,” Vitoria responded. “When you helped me back into the wheelchair I thought you were rejecting me.”
“Never. I just had to regain some control, at least enough that I didn’t fuck you right there where anyone could see us.”
Vitoria’s cheeks heated at the memory. It was a good thing one of them had some self-control.
Matilda brushed her hair aside and kissed her neck. “Antonio and I have been talking.”
Vitoria felt suddenly cold. What did that mean? What were they talking about?
“We’ve been far too lenient with you. You ran off and we didn’t punish you.”
“Punish me?” Vitoria sputtered. “My movements are my business.”
“Your safety is our responsibility.” Matilda ran a soothing hand over her arm. “Therefore, your movements are our business. You disobeyed orders…”
“When?” Vitoria interrupted, her whole body stiffening even as Matilda ran soothing hands over her arms.
“When we told you to stay in the office. You disobeyed us and instead of punishing you we let you come. And today you tell me you are going out with Drayga yet you didn’t ask our permission.”
Vitoria pushed herself off the window seat and stood, hands on hips. “You can’t just make up rules as you go along and expect me to obey them retrospectively. I didn’t know that I was supposed to ask permission to go out.”
Matilda stood gracefully, drawing herself up to her full height, towering over Vitoria. “Am I raising my voice, kitten?”
Vitoria crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.
“Then there is no need to raise yours, is there?”
“I don’t know what the two of you expect from me. Complete, unconditional obedience?”
Matilda shook her head. “Trust. We expect you to trust us. We should have set out clear rules, we will do so later when you return from your trip with Drayga.”
“And you will expect me to follow them with nothing in return?”
“Nothing in return? You are getting nothing from this arrangement?” Her tone had changed and Vitoria knew that she had crossed a line, made her angry. “Are you getting less from us than you expected to get from the Dengara you were going to sell yourself to?”
“I was selling a service. You can’t own a person, and though you and Antonio might forget it, I am a person with my own thoughts and feelings. I’ve changed my mind about going to the market. If Drayga comes by, please let her know.”
Vitoria turned and fled from the room, hoping that she would get to her own before the tears began. She walked as fast as her ankles would allow. As she exited the room Antonio walked into the suite.
“Vitoria are you okay?” He asked.
She ignored him and continued to her room, closing the door behind her and pushing the lock across for the first time since she had been there. She grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around her naked body. They wanted her naked and obedient, and for what? A few months of their attention until they found their mate. A few months under their control and protection until she had to go back to fending for herself. She had to make a decision.
*
They didn’t knock on her door, which told her all that she needed to know. When someone did come to her room, it was Drayga.
“Vitoria, it’s just me,” Drayga said. “Can I come in?”
Vitoria unlocked the door and Drayga came in. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself. Nudity may not be an issue in Kiilasalia but it was where she was from. It was yet another way that Antonio and Matilda expected her to adapt to their way of life without any consideration of her. Even as she thought it, she knew that it was unfair. They had been nothing but considerate and patient with her. It wasn’t their fault that she wanted more than they were able to give.
Drayga made herself comfortable on Vitoria’s bed, leaning back against the pillows and folding her arms above her head.
“So… Er- Matilda gave me your message. I can’t believe that you gave the Queen an order. Matilda’s the most dominant Demalyn I know and you gave her an order.”
Vitoria sat cross legged on the bed, to the side and in front of Drayga. It was good to have someone to talk to, someone who wasn’t Matilda or Antonio.
“What order?”
“You told her to give me a message. She gave me the message and told me that you’re not allowed out anyway because you were being insolent.”
“Insolent? I’m not a child! You know what? Let’s go to the market.”
Drayga shook her head. “No way. The Queen… That’s the Queen of all of Kiilasalia, told me that you aren’t allowed to go to the market with me.”
“Well I’m not a Demalyn and she’s not my Queen. She told me they had talked and decided that they let me get away with too much and should have punished me.”
“Punished you for what?”
“Being disobedient, trying to leave Kiilasalia.”
“Leave Kiilasalia?” Drayga sat upright, her eyebrows raised.
Vitoria recounted the story of how she’d almost left Kiilasalia and when she was finished Drayga said:
“Have you ever thought that you’re lucky to have two dominants who care about you and who you care about? I would give anything for my- for a dominant to care enough to give me rules and boundaries and discipline.”
“Where I’m from this isn’t how it works.”
“Then maybe you should talk to them, explain to them. Work out what you want.”
Vitoria nodded. But if they cared so much why hadn’t they come to her?
*
After Drayga left, she took a moment to compose herself and get dressed, and went into the living room. She had to speak to them. She needed to know what their expectations were, what they wanted from her. They were sitting in the living room so she didn’t have to look far. Matilda was sitting at one end of the sofa, her back against the arm of the chair, and her legs stretched out over Antonio’s lap as he rubbed her feet. They looked so comfortable together. Sometimes she felt like an outsider looking into a life that would never really be hers.
“Can we talk?” Vitoria asked.
Matilda swung her legs over the side of the sofa and Antonio moved over to make space between them.
“Come, sit with us,” Matilda said.
Vitoria took a seat and Matilda looked her over.
“You got dressed,” Matilda said. Her mouth was set in a straight line, her tone sorrowful. Vitoria’s heart didn’t feel like it was in a cocoon now, it felt like it was frozen painfully in a block of ice. She placed her hand against her heart, but it didn’t ease the sensation.
“I thought it would be easier to talk with my clothes on.”
Matilda nodded.
“Antonio and I have been talking,” Matilda began.
“It seems like you’re always talking without me,” Vitoria responded.
Matilda continued as though she had not spoken, her words spilling out like they were rehearsed. “If you do not wish to stay here we will make arrangements for you to go elsewhere.”
It felt like her heart shattered, the pieces mixing with the ice that had surrounded it. So much for talking things through. They were done with her.
“You will not need to go to the Dengara,” Matilda continued. “You can stay in Autunno palace if you wish. Drayga lives there for much of the year and you and she have much in common, you will be good companions to each other. If you prefer otherwise we will find somewhere else for you to live.”
They both stared at her, waiting for her to say something, but there was no way she could speak past the lump in her throat. Tears pooled in her eyes and her hands shook. She didn’t trust her legs to carry her out of the room, but if she co
uld she would have run. It wouldn’t end until she said something so she nodded her head. She wanted to beg them not to get rid of her, perhaps she would have if she had been able to talk.
Matilda took one of her shaking hands in her own, and that opened the flood gates. Tears poured down Vitoria’s face and her body shook with the sobs. How could this be the same woman who had held her so gently earlier and told her how proud she was of her? How could a few hours change so much?
“We’ve been unfair to you,” Antonio said. “We’ve expected so much from you when you aren’t Demalyn, aren’t familiar with our ways. I would like to say everything we’ve done has been for your own benefit but some of it has been selfish. It was unfair of us to bring you here and to expect you to adapt to our lifestyle. Submission should be freely given, and so you have a choice now. You have other options.”
“A choice? It doesn’t sound like I have a choice. It sounds like you’re discarding me.”
“Kitten, no,” Matilda said. “This is your choice.”
“I don’t want to go away. I came to tell you that I thought we should talk and set out some rules. But then… This.”
Antonio took her other hand in his and Matilda spoke again.
“You came in clothed. Antonio and I had already discussed giving you this option. It was what we should have set out for you when you first arrived. It is customary to give you the option of taking up residence away from us in one of the palaces or another safe place.”
She was surprised to hear that there were customs for when a Solviso trespassed on their land, and that those customs were so kind, when in her own region a wandering Demalyn would be imprisoned.
“We know that adapting to how things are here has not been easy for you and that it will continue to have its challenges. We want you to give your submission to us freely. When you were dressed we assumed that your decision was made. In our culture, that is how it is. It is in the books that you have been reading.”
She hadn’t been reading the books, not really. Vitoria shook her head.
“No. I just… Things are different here. You have all these expectations of me that I can never fulfil because I don’t know what they are. And I never know when you’re going to be done with me and the more you expect me to just trust you and submit to you, the more difficult it’s going to be when you’re finished with me, when you send me away.”
Matilda squeezed her hand.
“We’ve no intention of ever sending you away, kitten. Submission must be freely given so we will give you other options. You will always have somewhere else to go if you choose to leave us, but we will never send you away.”
“Sometimes I don’t even know if you want me.”
“Want you?” Antonio sounded confused. “We can barely keep our hands off you, precious one. How could you doubt that we want you?”
The ice around her heart thawed. Antonio used his free hand to wipe away her tears.
“I need to know what you expect from me, what the rules are.”
Antonio raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Our rules are simple. We expect obedience. When we give you an order there is a reason for it and you must follow it. We expect you to read the books we set out for you. They are more important than the romance novels you prefer to read. If you had read them you would have known what it meant to come in here clothed. If you are upset or worried about something, we expect you to talk to us.”
“Doesn’t that go both ways? You only ever seem to talk to each other and never to me.”
Antonio nodded.
“Yes, we will do better in the future. We will include you in the conversations. When we are alone you will be naked.”
“Can that one go both ways too?”
Matilda chuckled, and it was a relief to see something of Matilda’s usual-self coming back.
“No, kitten. This rule does not go both ways.”
“That hardly seems fair.”
“Oh kitten, if you think that seems unfair, I don’t know how you’re going to feel when we begin to really play.”
“Really play?”
“You know,” Antonio said. “When you’re the one tied up and at our mercy.”
“And we decide to keep you on the edge for hours until you’ve really earned your orgasm.”
Her pussy throbbed with sudden desire and she had to force her mind back to the issue at hand.
“The other rules?”
“You ask permission to go out,” Matilda said. “And when that permission is granted it will be with a guard and not beyond the walls of the city. When you break the rules or if you put yourself or someone else at risk, you will be punished.”
“Punished how?” She couldn’t stand it if they punished her by sending her away, even for a short time.
“Spanking. It will be hard, and it will hurt. Spanking can be pleasurable, this one will not be.”
She nodded, her heart had sped up. The thought of a hard, unpleasant spanking was scary but she could avoid it by behaving. She would avoid it.
“Other rules may be necessary as we go along but if they are we will discuss and agree them. Do you agree to these ones?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
They were fair rules, and while she would like to avoid the punishment, Drayga had been right. It was good to have someone who cared enough to punish her when she was bad.
“What rules would you like to set for us?” Antonio asked.
“I get to set rules?” Vitoria’s lips curved upwards into a smile. This could be fun.
“Of course,” Antonio responded. “As long as they are reasonable, we will agree to them.”
“Do I get to spank you if you break them?” She grinned at them.
“No,” Antonio responded firmly, his smile making the word less severe.
“I want you to tell me immediately when I mess up because otherwise I’m going to be worrying all the time that I’ve displeased you.”
“We can do that,” Matilda agreed.
“During my afternoon nap, I want at least one of you to lay with me until I fall asleep. If you can. I know that you’re busy running the country and that it’s a lot to ask.”
“A short amount of time out of our day is not a lot to ask, kitten. We will try to set meetings at other times and to keep that time free whenever we can.”
“On the rest day, I would like us to share the first meal together, and before you go to bed at night I would like it if you came to wish me a goodnight.”
“If you were sleeping in our bed there would be no need for us to come to you,” Antonio pointed out.
Vitoria paused, her whole body warming at the thought of spending the nights in their bed. Was that what they were asking? “You’ve never asked me to share your bed.”
“We’re asking now,” Matilda said. “Your room would still be yours, you can sleep there should you ever need space, but we would like it if you shared our bed with us.”
Vitoria smiled, her cheeks flushed.
“I would like that too.”
“Do you have any more rules for us?” Antonio asked.
Vitoria shook her head.
“Very well. Would you like to watch a film with us?”
“What kind of film?” Vitoria asked.
“It’s an action film about a Demalyn woman who travels to Herdoona to rescue her mates.”
“Is it scary?”
It had been a lifetime since she had watched a film. Her parents had a television when she was very young, but after her mother passed over they hadn’t the money to pay for electricity. Not on her father’s salary alone. And even when she had reached an age to be employed there had been too little spare to replace the television they’d sold.
“I shouldn’t think it will be too scary,” Matilda said. “If it is we can turn it off.”
Antonio turned the large television on and found the film they were talking about. He put his arm around Vitoria and she le
aned into his embrace. Matilda turned so her back was again against the arm of the sofa and stretched her legs out over Antonio and Vitoria’s laps. The cocoon had formed again around her heart and everything felt right. Her decision was made. Now all she had to do was send word to Mira that she was not coming.
*
Vitoria tapped her finger repeatedly against the table. She took a swig of her water, her hand shaking as she lowered the glass back down to the table. It did little to ease the dryness in her throat.
“Is everything okay, kitten?” Matilda asked.
She nodded. It had been three days since their conversation and Matilda and Antonio had stuck to their end of the deal. Perhaps she wouldn’t have felt so bad about lying to them if they hadn’t. Well, not lying exactly. She hadn’t actually told them a lie. It was… It was just semantics. It was a lie by omission.
“Are you sure?” Antonio frowned at her and she looked away from him. “You haven’t touched your dinner. Are you unwell?”
She had promised Drayga not to say anything to anyone, but she had promised her master and mistress honesty.
“I have to tell you something,” she blurted out.
She looked up at Antonio who fixed her with a steady stare. She wished he didn’t look so concerned. She looked towards Matilda who looked equally as worried. She looked down at her food.
“D-do you remember the Dengara I was going to meet?”
“Yes.”
Matilda’s voice was arctic.
“Drayga has gone to break my contract with her.”
There was silence for a moment and Vitoria didn’t dare look up. Her chest felt tight, her eyes stung with unshed tears.
“Drayga has what?” Antonio’s steady voice broke the silence.
“I had to break my contract with Mira. I couldn’t just leave her waiting at the meeting point for me, and it’s not like I can just call her, they don’t have cell phone technology in Malita. Drayga and I were talking earlier, and I told her that I was going to send a bird but Drayga said that was a bad idea.” Kiilasalia had only recently reached an uneasy truce with the nomadic shifters and Drayga thought that hiring the birds to send a message, without the King and Queen knowing, might harm that.
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