by Loki Renard
Shrieking and shocked, Sabine had never experienced anything like this before. Nobody dared lay a disciplinary hand on a royal princess. Suddenly, at the ripe age of twenty, she was discovering for the first time that consequences could really hurt.
“Stop! Stop it now!” Her cry was panicked as she fought furiously to escape his grasp, only to find herself locked more firmly in place and thrashed all the more soundly.
“No. Not until I think you understand me,” he growled between hard slaps. “There are dangers everywhere and the only way to avoid them is to do as I say, understand? Otherwise it won’t be a little flying drone we have to contend with. It will be an army.”
“Owwwwwww! It hurts!” She was barely listening to what he was saying. Words didn’t matter when her rear was aflame. He was still whipping her butt, every slap building on the one before it, making every part of her body tingle as the sensations shot through her nervous system. “Let me go! I hate you!”
“I don’t care if you hate me,” he growled above her. “I care that you follow orders. Are you going to do as you’re told?”
There was only one answer that would get her out of the painful situation, but the blood of kings ran in her veins and she was reluctant to give it, even though her rear was burning and so hot she could barely stand it.
This was a battle of wills, and she did not intend to lose it. If he wanted to beat her, he would have to eventually explain to her father why he had done so—and her father would not show mercy to him, of that she was certain.
“No!” She yelled the word. “Never!”
* * *
Maxim stared down at his little captive, momentarily stumped. This was so far out of his normal realm of expertise. Normally any targets he went after were dangerous men, those who threatened Ere in some fashion. He didn’t need to worry about gaining their cooperation; he simply neutralized them one way or another.
Subduing her chemically was out of the question. Probably. Maybe. No. As tempting as it was to simply render her unconscious and save them both the trouble she insisted on making for herself, drugging the princess was not on his agenda.
Surely he could handle a scrap of a girl like this one. She was defiant with a red rear, but that did not mean she could not be punished further. He held her in place and reached for his waist, his fingers manipulating the buckle of his belt. He slipped the long leather strap out of the loops and doubled it in his hand, no easy task given how much the princess was wriggling and cursing.
Taking aim, he brought the belt down against her bottom. Hard.
She stiffened and screamed as a red welt was left in its wake, crossing both her cheeks to mark the center of those blushing rounds.
“Do you need assistance, Mr. Monterey?”
Her screeching had activated Isri’s emergency circuits. He swore under his breath. He had been so intent on teaching this spoiled little princess a lesson that he had forgotten to deactivate her.
“No, Isri,” he replied. “There’s no danger here. Just a spoiled pet.”
“Understood. I will deactivate my auditory services for a period of one hour.”
“Thank you, Isri.”
“You’re nicer to that machine than you are to me,” Sabine whimpered.
“That’s because the machine listens to me and does as she’s told,” he said, lashing the belt against her rear again.
“Owwww! Stop!” Her cries were starting to become plaintive as the intensity of the belt made her initial resistance much harder to maintain.
A second dashed line of welts now appeared across her rear. He was starting to make his point.
“I’ll stop when you promise to be a good girl.” He softened his tone a little and laid the belt across her bottom. She had managed to wriggle her way almost sideways on the couch now, but he had her pinned by the scruff of her jacket still, the rest of her body lying over the broad upper back of the couch.
He could see the fine pale down between her thighs; her feminine lips still coated in his cum were swelling. He wondered for a second if he had somehow laid the belt between her legs in all the squirming she had been doing, but he quickly realized that was not the cause of their state. She was excited, all that writhing was pretty much the same as rutting and grinding. His cock stiffened in his pants, the memory of how she had felt wrapped around that hard rod still very much prominent in his mind. If she were truly his, he would have taken her again, pushed his cock back inside her and fucked her until she begged and pleaded for release and promised to do everything he said. But unlike their first coupling, which had been essential for entry into Centillion territory, any further sexual activity would be nothing more than defiling the crown, and that he could not make an excuse for.
“I promise,” she muttered softly, with a note of sullen surrender in her tone.
“Didn’t take much to break your will now, did it,” he observed, putting his belt down. “Two strokes of the belt. Just in case you’re thinking about going back on your word, Princess, next time you disobey me, you’re getting ten.”
“Ten! That would kill me.”
“It wouldn’t,” he replied. “But it might kill that attitude.”
“You’re the cruelest person I’ve ever met,” she gasped into the couch. “I swear, when I tell my father—your king—what you’ve been doing to me, you’re going to face far worse than anything you’ve done to me. He has dungeons, you know. Full of torture devices.”
“The castle dungeons have not been used for torture since your father conquered the realm. They’re essentially storage space now,” Maxim laughed. “If you’re going to threaten me, at least make the threats credible.”
“Well… when I get back, I’m changing that. I’m going to have a dungeon cell put aside just for you and… ow!”
She squealed as he snapped the belt against her rear again.
“That’s enough,” he growled.
* * *
She wanted to cry, but she wouldn’t allow him to bring her to tears. Blinking furiously, she breathed deep in an effort to regain control over both herself and the situation. He still had her pinned over the couch, but he wasn’t whipping her anymore. She would have thought that would help, but the burning in her bottom was so intense that she was still being punished, her cheeks quivering with the heat and sensation.
“Fine,” she growled. “I’ll do as you say.”
“Good.”
He released her and she tumbled forward over the couch, putting the solid furniture between them. Once safe from further slaps, she reached back and rubbed her rear. It was still stinging, though it wasn’t quite as painful as it had been. Sabine was deeply embarrassed by what he’d done to her. First he’d fucked her, taken her virginity, and now he had beaten her with his belt, as if she were nothing but a common girl. She found it hard to meet his gaze, and she couldn’t stop her blush as he looped his belt back around his waist and caught her eye.
“Should I leave this off? Am I going to need it again?”
“Shut up,” she mumbled.
“Excuse me, Princess?”
“Oh, what, now I can’t tell you to shut up?”
“Shocking, I know,” he deadpanned. “How did you ever get this spoiled? The king would never tolerate it.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” she said with a little smirk. “But everyone else does.”
“I don’t.”
“You don’t count. You’re awful. You’re the worst man I’ve ever met. You’re mean. You’re cruel. You’re… you’re…”
With every word, his smile grew broader. “You’re a spoiled little brat,” he said. “I’m not done punishing you, am I, Princess?”
* * *
She had no idea what she was in for. Soon they would travel to the countryside and then he would open a gate to return to Ere. But not before he had taught her every bit of the lesson she needed to learn.
He had a feeling he was going to be using the belt a fair bit with this one. She was alre
ady starting to pout in a way that made his hand itch. The tremor in her lower lip made him think that she was somewhat in shock, and the way she was reaching back to rub her rear, those wide blue eyes watery and yet defiant… she was adorable. Incredibly naughty, but cute nonetheless.
“You better be done punishing me,” she muttered sulkily. “My butt will fall off if you do that again.”
“It won’t,” he assured her. “I could do much, much more to you than that.”
“No, you couldn’t,” she scowled.
“I could, so behave yourself. And stop rubbing.”
“Stop rubbing! Why?”
“The longer you feel that sting, the longer you have half a chance of behaving yourself,” he said. “We both need to eat.”
* * *
Meals were just as strange in this world as everything else was. Maxim did not cook anything that she saw, he simply went to a slot in the wall, spoke to it and a moment later, pulled two trays of steaming hot food from it. She imagined it must have come from a kitchen below, passed up by a dumbwaiter of some kind, probably.
She sat on a soft cushion on the floor, practically at his feet and sulked her way through a meal. It tasted strange to her, tainted in some way. Food in Ere was simple and rich. This had a weird texture and a bland taste that made her feel as though she was eating the idea of food rather than actual food.
“This isn’t really meat, is it?” She screwed up her nose.
“It’s synthesized meat,” he said. “It’s grown in a factory.”
“You mean it doesn’t come from an actual animal?”
“No. People decided that killing animals for food is barbaric, so everything is synthetically generated now.”
“The cows must be happy about that.”
“There are no more cows.”
“What? Why?”
“There are no more cows, sheep, pigs, chickens… name basically any domesticated animal,” he said. “When they were no longer needed for food and farmers could no longer generate income producing them, they simply died out.”
“But there are still wild animals?
“There’s not really much of a wild left,” he said. “So… no… there are a few reserves, but the numbers are so small that most every animal species is near enough extinct.”
Her face fell as she pushed the bowl away. “So there are no cows and there’s nothing good to eat. But there are swarms of drones like locusts and weird ladies in the walls who talk to you whenever they feel like it. It can’t all be like this. What about other kingdoms?”
“I’ve told you, there aren’t other kingdoms—they used to call them countries, but now there’s a patchwork of corporate territories spread across continents. You can visit what used to be countries, but for the most part there is just corporate sprawl.”
“But you said we’re going to the countryside.”
“We’ll be going North. Far North. To what used to be Alaska. It’s too cold for many to live there, so only hardy outcasts and a little wildlife. We can probably open a gate there without drawing undue attention.”
“I don’t know why you’re so worried,” she muttered. “Everything and everyone is so weird here, I doubt it would really matter if you opened a gate. It would be the least weird thing here.”
Maxim smiled at her tone. “Not so thrilled with this world anymore, Princess?”
“I’d probably be enjoying it more if I wasn’t with some madman who beats me,” Sabine shrugged.
“I did not beat you. I barely paddled you,” he corrected her. “Beatings are still on the table though.”
“You really don’t care, do you,” she accused. “That really hurt and you did it for no good reason either. You just wanted to hit me because I didn’t follow your orders right away like some kind of peon. I think you forget that I’m a princess.”
“Not here,” he reminded her. “Here you’re Sabine Monterey.”
“At least in Centillion territory, right?”
“Right,” he said. “Though most territories acknowledge ownerships formed in other corporate states. You’re stuck with me, Princess.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “You just know everything about this world, don’t you.”
“It’s my job to.”
She nodded and gave him a long look. “So how long have you lived here?”
“About ten years.”
“You’ve lived an entire decade here. That’s…” She looked at him with a growing respect. “That’s incredible. What do you do?”
“Just like you follow orders, so do I,” he said. “I make sure threats to Ere are neutralized. I stop curious people, soldiers, corporates, anyone really, from getting to Ere.”
“I’ve been cooped up in the castle for years,” she said. “It’s so boring there. The same thing day after day. The same people day after day. Even the city—when they let me go out into it—is the same. The same merchants with the same silks, the same dresses…”
She trailed off as she realized his eyes were on her with a quiet kind of interest.
“You think I’m spoiled though, don’t you.”
“Not on that count,” he said, surprising her. “I don’t blame you for wanting out of the palace.”
“But you blame me for not making it easy for you to take me back there,” she said. “Maybe… maybe if you told my father what you just said, maybe he’d listen. Maybe I could have a life of my own…”
Maxim shook his head. “I’m not telling King Savik how to raise his daughter,” he said. “And by the way your father was speaking, I think you’ll be lucky to see the outside of your chambers for a good long while.”
“So I’ll be locked up in a room and out here this world will be spinning,” she said, her eyes misting up with pure frustration. “I won’t ever be able to live my life, will I? I’m not even really a person to you, or to my father. I’m just a thing to be married off.”
Maxim’s expression was solemn and hard to read.
“You’re tired,” he finally said. “Maybe you should get cleaned up and get some rest.”
He was changing the subject. Trying to be loyal to the king. The only mind that mattered. What she wanted was irrelevant in his eyes. She was just a job. He didn’t really care. He just wanted to claim his reward and get back to living his incredible life—a life most people in Ere could not dream of living.
“I am sleepy,” she lied through her teeth.
“I have a room you can sleep in, Princess.”
He showed her across the apartment to a simple room with a bed and not much more. It was hardly the sort of accommodation she was used to, but nothing in this world was what she was used to. She was surprised that he did not intend to take her into his own bed, but perhaps she shouldn’t have been. He had said from the beginning that the sex wasn’t personal. As passionate as it had been, it obviously didn’t mean anything to him.
“Get some rest,” he said, patting her bottom to encourage her into the room. As soon as she was inside, he shut the door behind her.
She sat down on the bed, the soft mattress cushioning her tender rear as she gave herself over to some serious thought. This world she found herself in was incredible. Maxim said it was dangerous and maybe it was, but she could taste the freedom in the air here. The people on the streets were so much more alive than the winsome citizens of Ere who went about their repetitive business, never questioning anything. Here, everything had to be questioned. The possibilities seemed endless.
Even if she could somehow avoid marriage to General Isodor, Ere was stagnant and old and simple and boring… and far worse than any of that, it was a prison she had been born into. She would have given up her title as princess in an instant to be free of that world and become part of this one. Maxim didn’t understand that. He was a man. He didn’t know what it was like to be kept like a trinket to be traded. His body was not going to be given to the disgusting General Isodor.
Sabine lay on the bed, staring at the c
eiling. Sleep did not come.
Chapter Five
Maxim awoke in the middle of the night to an insistent vibration and Isri’s dulcet tones growing ever louder as he slept through her initial warnings.
“What is it, Isri?”
“Sir, your pet is attempting to leave via the front door. Should I allow her access?”
“No,” Maxim growled. “Absolutely not.”
Sabine really hadn’t gotten the message, apparently. He found her at the door, desperately trying to turn the handle, even though she must have known it wasn’t actually possible to get out. She had both her hands on the handle and was wrenching it hard enough to break something.
“Stop that!” He walked toward her and slapped her hand. Hard.
She gasped and yanked her hand back away from the door.
“Get back to bed. Now!” He thundered the instruction at her. It was not difficult to inject bass into his voice. This girl was trying his very last nerve.
Sabine turned around, drew herself up to her full height, which brought the top of her head roughly somewhere near the middle of his chest, pointed to the door, and glowered at him.
“Let me out!”
Was she serious? After all she’d been through? After having been swindled by street kids and chased by a fleet of drones? After all the time he’d taken explaining matters to her, she still wanted to run out into the electric wilds?
“I am not going to let you out,” he said. “Now stop shrieking.”
She threw herself back at the door, and this time he grabbed her before she could wrench at the handle again. Her fingers just barely wrapped around it as he dragged her away.
“Let me go! Let me out!”
His palm met her ass hard enough to get her attention. Far harder than it had been any other time. A hot red hand print instantly bloomed on her bare skin. She shrieked, predictably, and swore at him using words no princess should know.
“What got into you?” He growled the question as he caught her about the waist, pulling her away from the door. “You were calm when you went to bed.”