Chapter Ten
Brande woke to thesmell of seared fruit and something fizzing against her lips. Everything was sore, every muscle, every sensitive hidden part of her; it all ached when she moved.
She grimaced.
“Open your mouth, firebird.”
She shook her head, but strong fingers caught her chin.
“Sir... Ev, no,” she said in a hoarse voice.
“Yes, be good for me,” he said, his voice gentle now. The low rough voice that had driven her to such dark, difficult and delicious places the night before was gone.
She didn’t open her eyes, but opened her mouth. Something soft, cool, and cylindrical slid in.
She made a sound of protest, but he secured it.
It wasn’t large enough to stretch her jaws, but it was an invader lying along the length of her tongue.
“You don’t have to suck. But you do have to swallow,” he said, as tangy sweet fizzing liquid filled her mouth.
“Unnnh,” she groaned, but she did swallow and it went down smoothly, tingling along her throat and into her belly.
“Tonic and nutrients. A little more.”
Another mouthful. He was squeezing the end, she realized. Again, she swallowed.
“Good girl,” he whispered. He kissed her forehead. “When you drink it all, I’ll take the cone out.”
She didn’t move, but eventually she sucked some more liquid into her mouth. She didn’t know why it was comforting, like the time he’d made her suck the juicy fruit sauce from his fingers.
He removed it slowly. “Want more?”
“No,” she said, her voice hoarse from so much screaming the night before.
“Want me to read you a story?”
“Could you...?”
