She stiffened, but ceased making noise.
He unfastened locks and removed the wrapping from her upper limbs. She sat up and immediately jerked at the straps around her head.
“Careful. If you disrupt so much as a single strand of that mask you’ll be punished.” It was absolutely essential to his plans that her intricate mask remain in place.
Her hands faltered for a moment, then resumed their efforts to jerk the straps loose. She snatched the gag from her mouth and swallowed, then shook her head and rubbed her jaw, staring at the enormous rubbery phallus.
Her cool gaze slid to him.
“Do you know what I witnessed in the stable compartment on that glider?” she asked, her voice having a slight rasp. She swallowed several times.
“Tell me.”
“I will,” she said as she crawled from the cage, snatching the coverlet and wrapping it around her. “As soon as I’ve had a moment to use the facilities and clean up.”
He pointed.
She marched past him, chin high and defiant. When the door closed, he smiled. So much for her being cowed by the experience of being kept with a host of naked, bound pets.
After several long moments, the door opened and she emerged. Her hair had been dampened and finger combed. The mask was still perfect. Her lips were soft and moist, rather than dry as they had been.
“It’s a pretty mask. How much did you have to pay the artist to feel assured that the secret of my identity would be kept?”
“A great deal. And worth it.”
She cleared her throat, trying to extinguish the throaty rasp that was entirely sexy. “I hope the pursuit of pleasure bankrupts you one day, Lord Calex.”
Evston laughed softly. “Since your fortune is tied to mine, that’s an ill-advised wish on your part.”
She wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “We’ll see,” she said cryptically as she looked around, possibly for a means of escape.
He lowered himself onto a sumptuous chair and stretched his legs out, leaning back.
“I saw a girl milked and sodomized by a pair of men who couldn’t have gotten posts as volunteers in the palace stables, let alone earned wages.”
“Was it rape? Or did the pet enjoy it?” he asked, already sure of the answer.
“She was gagged and bound in chains!”
The corner of his mouth curved up. “A position she’s no doubt quite used to.”
“Isn’t it illegal to breed pets? Didn’t I learn that at the Submissive Assessment Center?”
“It’s illegal except in special circumstances. For example, Rocurt’s pet is now his wife. He’s free to impregnate her whenever he wants. And,” he said, extending his fingers toward Brande, “I can breed you.”
Her eyes narrowed, the anger in them snapping dangerously. He suppressed his smile. Yes, this was taking things to an extreme. But after leaving him, she had insisted on their going to dinner formally and then had teased him and flirted with him relentlessly. He was not accustomed to being toyed with. She had had to be taught a lesson.
“You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I should. But I’m not,” he said.
She was the most beloved princess in history and he was in love with her, which meant he’d indulged her in unprecedented ways. But he was still Lord Evston Calex, and she was still a beautiful young girl who he’d used as a pet. He would not let her control him.
“You’re using those words on purpose to provoke me. It won’t work,” she snapped.
He frowned at her tone. “You chose the wording. If certain words offend you, don’t initiate a conversation with them.”
She clenched her fists, clearly close to losing her temper. He raised a brow, which infuriated her more.
