Bound to the Commander

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Bound to the Commander Page 12

by Libby Campbell


  Good. She’d do that. She’d start by getting her own CommBand, black market or otherwise.

  When Hugo came for his next appointment, with a new, untraceable CommBand, she smiled prettily and slipped it into her shoulder bag with a heartfelt thank you.

  * * *

  The evening of the symphony, Ezmar and Renee arrived at Quinn’s house as he and Pepper were finishing dinner. He didn’t raise a word of protest as they bundled Pepper upstairs to prepare her for the evening out.

  Taking her with him as his date to the symphony was probably a mistake, he realized. He usually went alone so people wouldn’t talk. Tonight some gossips would spend more time looking at Pepper than watching the orchestra. He didn’t want to put Pepper through that but part of him knew he had to.

  His feelings for her were strengthening more than he thought possible, which was why he’d stopped the daily spankings. It was increasingly difficult, when a spanking was over, not to lay Pepper down and ravish her. He wanted to give her pleasure and hear her moan in response.

  When she sat on his knee after a spanking, her face flushed and eyes soft and vulnerable, he wanted to tease her with his hands and tongue. To show her delights that would make her his. He wanted to cover her full lips with his mouth and kiss back that easy smile that made his heart tighten.

  He’d tried to push her away by offering her the housekeeper’s suite, but she’d refused that opportunity for independence. When she said she felt safer when he was closer, he’d wanted to kiss her better and tell her he would always keep her safe. But he’d resisted.

  He wouldn’t take her unless he was sure he could keep her, and she was still an unknown commodity in many ways. The night ahead would be an acid test for her. If she failed, he’d have to insist on finding her accommodation somewhere else. He’d have to remove her from his life so she would no longer tempt him.

  After such a short time together, the thought of not sharing long evenings in front of the fire with her sitting at his side, was unbearable. But not everyone was cut out for public life. Few people could bear the constant scrutiny of having their every move, every twitch of their face watched and reported. More difficult still was the constant responsibility of having to behave in an exemplary manner. He’d been trained since childhood to set an example for others. She had not. While she’d learned a lot these early days with him, it wasn’t nearly enough. It would be unfair of him to ask her to be his mate.

  He heard the muffled sounds of giddy laughter from Pepper’s room. He changed to his best black trousers that rode the best part of his body so nicely. Smiling, he tucked himself in. Unaroused, he had a sizeable package. He imagined Pepper holding his cock in her two hands. Kill that thought. It made his pants suddenly uncomfortable. He bit his lip to shock himself with pain, to banish his lust. Next, he pulled on his knee-high black boots. Do not think about spanking that round white ass tonight. Do not think of her in front of you, on her hands and knees. Do not think about fucking her on that sterile dining room table to bring some warmth and history to that inhospitable space.

  His next bite drew blood.

  Finally, he donned the scarlet serge inherited from his father. Forty years old, reserved for special occasions, the jacket withstood the test of time. It looked as smart tonight as it did when his father last wore it, a few years before. Quinn looked in the mirror and shook his hair loose from its usual band. His blue Devmaerean locks fell loose around his shoulders, as thick as a lion’s mane.

  There was a knock from the other side of Pepper’s door. Renee poked her head out.

  “Ready to view a vision of loveliness?” she asked.

  At that exact moment, his CommBand vibrated. He saw the caller’s name and held up his hand for her to wait. He walked out of the bedroom, down the hallway, before answering.

  “Commander Quinn Garrick,” he said. “Yes, Admiral?”

  “Nice to talk to you again, Commander. Our fleet is about twelve hours away from your port. Are we cleared to berth at Rosewyld Harbor?”

  “Affirmative, Admiral. Many of our people need that precious cargo you’re escorting. Our harbormaster is expecting you.”

  “Has the news reached you? I was joined this fall and my mate is traveling with me. Have you met Crown Princess Gael?”

  Quinn’s blew out a breath. Few Elsinanians ever traveled to foreign shores. He’d been to Senne exactly once himself but didn’t stay long. Now he was going to need a crash course on royal etiquette. “No, Admiral, I haven’t. I look forward to the honor.”

  “Tomorrow then. If it suits you, we’d like to stay a few days. Princess Gael is keen to talk to your healers, to discuss how they are coping with the Waking Illness.”

  “I will have the presidential suite at the Raven’s Lair prepared for you. Unless you’d prefer to stay onboard your ship.”

  “Thank you, we would appreciate the suite. This has been Princess Gael’s first sea voyage.” Kai chuckled. “She’s ready for a few nights on dry land.”

  With that, the admiral signed off. Quinn stood in the hallway for a minute, organizing his thoughts. The admiral would be here by dawn, along with Crown Princess Gael, bringing the prakinroot herbs that eased the Waking Illness.

  The magical herbs might make Pepper’s skills redundant in the capital city. That sobering thought had triggered an immediate sense of loss, even though nothing had happened. He couldn’t imagine his life without Pepper’s lively, challenging company.

  Chapter Sixteen: Fitting In

  Quinn shook himself back to the present as he entered his bedroom. “Okay,” he called.

  Renee stuck her head into the room. “Ready?”

  He smiled. “Don’t make me wait another minute.”

  She stepped aside and waved Pepper through the door.

  The gorgeous woman who stepped into his bedchamber couldn’t possibly be the country girl he’d brought from Rosemoor. He’d seen her natural beauty and thought he could imagine how she would look in fine clothes with a little bit of help. But his imagination had fallen short. The woman in front of him had stepped out of a dream. Her black dress, with its fitted bodice and skirt decorated with splashes of red roses, contrasted with her alabaster skin. The modest pumps she wore emphasized her small ankles. Her hair was fixed in an elaborate up-do that he longed to release. She wore no jewelry other than her CitizenBand.

  Desire surged through him. He bit his tongue hard to stop the lust from announcing itself in a change of his hair color. As the metallic taste of blood warmed his mouth, he gave Pepper a faint smile.

  * * *

  Pepper walked toward Quinn but, obviously coached by Ezmar and Renee, she stopped to spin so he could see the detailed braid of her hairstyle. A band of small red roses had been woven through the back of it.

  When he said nothing, just stood appraising her, Pepper lost her nerve.

  “Is this okay?” she asked, still feeling wildly out of her depth in these formal clothes, in a forbidden color, which exposed so much of her figure and skin.

  “Okay?” Ezmar said, coming out of Pepper’s room, shaking her head. “It’s brilliant. Quinn, you’d better say something fast or Renee and I will flip for which one of us gets to take Pepper as our date and you can take the loser.”

  “I’m lost for words.” He smiled.

  “There’s a first,” Ezmar said. “Everyone! Enjoy this moment while it lasts.”

  Quinn shot her a censorious look before addressing Pepper. “Sister Pepper, you are ravishing tonight. It’s going to be hard to remember my place as your guardian.”

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Ezmar asked. “Quinn is already in his public official mode. Nothing will distract him from his duty tonight. He’ll be all platitudes and good manners.”

  “Tonight is about duty, Sister Ezmar, best you remember that.” He took Pepper’s hand and hooked it through his elbow to escort her downstairs where a limousine waited.

  He stopped at the top of the stairs. “In less than twel
ve hours the fleet from Senne will arrive. At last, the prakinroot herbs will reach our shores. Admiral Kai Grenville himself is at the helm of the lead ship. Crown Princess Gael is traveling with him. She wants to speak to our healers about this dreadful disease.”

  Renee gasped. “The princess is with him? I knew he was coming so we do have everything in place to honor his arrival with a formal reception dinner. But if the princess is with him, we may have to lift our game a bit.”

  “You may indeed,” Quinn said as he held Pepper’s cloak for her at the front door. “Apparently Princess Gael has just had her first sea voyage and they would like a suite at the Raven’s Lair.”

  “The presidential suite!” Renee said. “We’re ready for a banquet but we haven’t had an occasion to use the suite for years. It’s all under cover. I’ll get onto housekeeping and have them go over it top to bottom immediately.”

  “Presidential suite?” Pepper asked. The country hadn’t had a president in her entire life. The old Elsinania, the country where two-thirds of the people starved while one-third didn’t even work, had had a president. Deposed by Quinn’s father, he was put on a boat to the penal colony of Silvelea, never to be seen in Elsinania again. After that, Garrick the Elder, Elsinania’s first commander had redistributed the nation’s wealth, ensuring every citizen had adequate housing, food, and clothing.

  “This is a holdover from the old president,” Ezmar said, drawing her red cloak around her midnight blue gown. “When Renee and I bought the Rosewyld hotel, we decided we’d keep the presidential suite available in case we ever had important visitors like this.”

  The four of them bundled into the limo and the driver and guards closed the doors behind them. Ezmar and Renee sat facing Quinn and Pepper.

  “We have a lot to do before dawn tomorrow,” Ezmar said.

  “Our staff will get most of it done before the concert is over,” Renee assured her. “We’ll just have to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to oversee the final touches.”

  “Roses. The princess must have the best autumn blooms in her room.” Ezmar started tapping notes into her CommBand.

  Quinn laid his hand over it. “What you must do now,” he said, “is think about nothing but the musicians who have worked so hard to prepare for this concert tonight.”

  He turned to Pepper. “And you must do the same thing and a little bit more. Many people will be curious about who you are and where you came from. You need to show them strength and poise. If people ask you difficult questions, personal questions, you are quite within your rights to refer them to me.”

  Pepper nodded. Her mouth was too dry to speak. She was going to be meeting more of the senior members of the Tribunal. The boxes were reserved for them. Some of these people would have been her patients already. She would have seen them in the scanty treatment robes. Illness was a great leveler. So was partial nudity. If she could remember them wearing nothing much, she’d be fine.

  Theory was fine but nothing in her short life had prepared her for the scene outside the Grand Theater. The barricades at the end of the road that kept most vehicles out opened for Quinn. Black-suited security guards waited at the end of a long red carpet. When they stepped out of the car, a roar rose from the crowd. Some people applauded. Others whistled.

  People were lined up so deep on either side of the carpet, Pepper couldn’t see where the mob ended. They pushed and shoved but were held back by temporary fences and the guards posted every twenty feet or so. The official national photographers were there too. Flashes popped everywhere.

  People shouted at them. “Hey, Commander! Look this way!”

  “Who’s the sister on your arm?”

  Pepper watched Quinn smile and wave first at one group, then at another. She copied him, planting a small smile on her lips as if she’d done this a thousand times before.

  She walked along the red carpet, holding onto Quinn’s arm, feeling disoriented to the point that it was like she was seeing the scene from a place faraway, outside of her own body. Quinn patted her hand reassuringly and led her into the theater.

  They’d arrived seconds before the concert started, with just enough time to slip into their seats. Pepper looked at the crowd seated in the dress circle below them. Thousands of eyes burned into her as Quinn eased her into her seat.

  On the stage, the musicians were tuning their instruments. Their actions seemed random, disconnected, right until then the conductor walked in. Then the instruments fell silent as every musician waited. The conductor bowed, raised her baton, and the concert started. The individuals became part of a greater whole, producing the most magical sounds Pepper had ever heard.

  In Rosemoor, there were only a few pianos and guitars. Lots of people sang, particularly on holidays and at sporting events. That was the only live music Pepper had ever heard before. None of it was a patch on the magnificence of seeing a hundred top musicians synchronized to create this beauty.

  She recognized this piece from the one Quinn had played in his ride on her trip to Rosewyld. But his recorded version was a pale imitation of this. The hairs on her arms rose as she thrilled to the soaring and dipping moods that filled the hall. One moment the music was rising and violent, reminding of her being spanked. It conjured the fall of Quinn’s hand and the exquisite release of all her worries as she anticipated the next swat. She closed her eyes to enjoy the images and memories it evoked. Then the music slowed, violins and cello only, soothing and kind, like Quinn when he comforted her after a spanking.

  The music released a terrible, delicious longing in her. As if he understood, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “If I wanted to spank you tonight, what would you say?”

  Her eyes flew open but her only answer was a quick nod and the small smile that was part of her official costume for the night.

  At intermission, she stayed on his arm. He introduced her to the other Tribunal members who were seated in the boxes around them, acting like a perfect host. It was almost as if she’d dreamed his whispered comment.

  Daedra Mazrant was there on the arm of a Devmaerean man half her age. She glared at Pepper as though she could incinerate Pepper with her eyes.

  * * *

  Pepper passed Quinn’s test that night. He was a master at observing people without them knowing it and all his attention had been on her from the moment she slid into the limo. She remained poised as she walked down the red carpet with him. Even though he smelled her terror, he noted that she gave no outward sign of it.

  Her reaction to the music had pleased him enormously. He’d held her hand throughout the concert, savoring the way she’d almost squeezed the life of out his hand when the music excited her. Other than the way she hung onto him, she gave no other hint of her elation.

  When he whispered the suggestion of a spanking in her ear, it was part of the test, to see if she’d remain graceful under pressure. Her response had been perfect; she’d acknowledged him in the positive, but no one observing them would detect that he’d said anything inappropriate. She didn’t simper and blush like an ingénue. She didn’t signal her agreement with a salacious grin. She reacted as coolly as if he’d commented on nothing more than the conductor’s technique.

  At intermission her exemplary conduct had continued. He’d seen the looks the others gave her. Men and woman alike treated her to glances of envy, admiration, dislike, and even sympathy. She answered them all with the same enigmatic smile and clear, neutral eye. She may not have been born to greatness or prominence, but she was up to the job.

  He’d sensed this quality about her right from the start. She’d composed herself so quickly after her paddling in the forest that he thought she might be made from the right stuff.

  All he had to do now was persuade her to stay.

  Chapter Seventeen: Initiation

  Back home, Quinn led Pepper into his study. He sat down in his armchair and pulled her on his lap, holding her in a gentle embrace.

  “I want to spank you tonight. You said y
es. Did you mean it?”

  “I did,” she said. “But why?”

  “You’re asking me why you said yes?” He sounded amused.

  She laughed. “No. I’m asking you why you wanted to.”

  “Because I want to leave my mark on you. I want to claim you as mine. Again. I’ll ask you the same question: why did you say yes?”

  She exhaled a heavy sigh and, for the first time that night, her shoulders slumped. Her body curled into a small C. “Ever since Ezmar and Renee persuaded me to get this dress, I’ve been nervous. When I stepped onto the red carpet at the theater and saw all those people gawking at us, my worry went through the roof. Right until the music started, I was wound up as tight as a spring. When you suggested the spanking, I was hypnotized by the beauty of the moment. I’d never felt anything like being in that theater with such beautiful music washing through me.”

  “And?”

  “The music reminded me of being spanked, the change in pace, the change in energy. It made me long for the surrender that I’ve only ever felt with you. I can’t explain it but when I’m over your knee, submitting to you, I feel freer than at any other time. I don’t like the pain. I’d do anything to stop it while it’s happening, but I like the letting go, the being whole in the moment with you.”

  This was what Quinn had been waiting for. He hadn’t wanted to seduce her when she was under duress. He’d been hoping for a sign that she liked the things he liked.

  Now it was here. She was telling him that she wanted to be spanked. But he wanted her to say it out loud and unambiguously. “Then I should spank you tonight?”

  “Yes. I think it would be a good idea. Especially if you want me with you tomorrow to welcome the admiral and princess. The music relaxed me, but the spanking will stay with me longer.” She turned her head away shyly, as if embarrassed by her own desire. He guided her face back to his and kissed her tenderly and long.

 

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