Brande gave him a mutinous look.
“I told her not to come in here. You were supposed to be reflecting on your behavior.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I have reflected on that quite enough. And been punished quite enough for it,” she said, tugging on her chain.
He smiled, and it was such a wicked radiant expression that her heart gave a little skip.
“If you feel you’ve been severely mistreated already, I think the night ahead doesn’t bode well for you.”
“Why?” she asked suspiciously.
He strode over and took her chin in his hand, tipping her face up. “Because you and Melsint have willfully disobeyed instructions from your masters, and I think your friendship might make it hard to watch the repercussions unfold.”
Her eyes widened. “Watch them unfold?” she echoed with a bit of dread spooling in her insides.
He kissed her very lightly on the lips. “If you play together, you can pay together.”
Her brows shot up. “You will not punish me in front of her! That would be tremendously embarrassing for both of us. I’m her princess.”
“You are also a pet owned by the same masters. As pets, you’re equal.”
“Absolutely not,” she snapped.
The smirk at the corner of his mouth infuriated her.
“You won’t force me,” she said, her voice less sure.
“If you don’t want to be punished, you could try keeping your promises. You told me this morning you would spend the afternoon contemplating the past and our future life. You claimed you would do that in solitude. Ducks says she hasn’t seen Melsint all day, except for the times she comes down to get trays to bring upstairs.”
Brandese felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment.
“She came to visit. What was I supposed to do?”
“Send her away.”
She glared at him. “I didn’t want to be rude.”
“You had no difficulty excusing yourself politely from company you didn’t care for when you were in the royal palace. All you had to do today was tell Melsint you weren’t allowed to speak with her. She wouldn’t have been offended. She knows you’re being kept chained as punishment. You decided to break the rules. So did Melsint. It’s like you want to be spanked,” he said.
“That would certainly be convenient for you,” she said.
“Yes, it is,” he said calmly.
She flung herself back on the cushions and shook her head while staring at the ceiling. “I’ll submit to a punishment in this room. That’s fair. Anything else would be too extreme. We must draw the line somewhere, Ev.”
When he didn’t answer, she turned her head to find that he was gone. Instead Melsint stood in the doorway, quite naked and quite red-cheeked.
“Er, I—well, I need you to come out, please,” she whispered, marching around the bed. Melsint unlocked the leash from the collar with shaking fingers. Melsint’s breasts wobbled as she backed up. “My punishment will be wretched unless you come out. I don’t want to get sent to a pet cell for two nights at the wicked count’s house. I don’t like going places like that without the commander. Please come out,” she begged.
Those monsters, Brande thought furiously.Using an innocent girl as coercion!
“The commander wouldn’t send you anywhere that distressed you.”
Melsint bit her lip. “He might. He can be very stern when he decides to be. And he’s very set on this.”
Brande kept her eyes focused on Melsint’s pretty face, though her gaze was tempted to stray.
“It’ll be ever so much better if you just do what they want. Please!”
