“Well it isn’t,” he snapped. “Seriously. Stop talking about her, Pavel. I don’t want—”
“Did she force you, baby? Or just take advantage? Use her position as the Imperial Heir against you? If I’d known that, I would never have left you to her.”
“Pavel.”
He ignored the warning. “What about Professor Diar? I don’t like the way he looks at you. Have you ever—”
“He fucking wishes,” Zane shook, rattling chains but unable to free himself. “Even if Lyra gave him the go-ahead, I wouldneverlet him touch me.”
“Don’t worry. That will be dealt with.” He hadn’t known that either, not until Zane had mentioned the deal with his grades. But now that he did, he wouldn’t allow it to go unpunished. The second he’d secured Zane’s hand and they were off this island, he was going to be paying a visit to both Lyra and Wells Diar.
He checked around Zane’s front, silently cursing when he saw his doctor was still slightly turned on.
“Isn’t that the line Lyra used to sneak in with Kazimir?” Pavel didn’t want to bring it up, felt bad for bombarding him with such unpleasant things, but he needed him to soften so they could proceed, and he wasn’t willing to change his plans. “Shetold Kaz the two of you were already screwing on the side, so he let her in that night he played robber at your apartment, right?”
Zane had one on campus that he sometimes used, or at least he had sometimes used. Looking back on it, Pavel should have known what was up the second Zane stopped staying there after that night Kazimir and Lyra snuck in. He’d assumed it was because things had progressed in Zane’s relationship with the Imperial Heir, but now he was seeing more clearly.
“It was a threat, wasn’t it? A way for her to get you sleeping at the Little Palace again. She’s really obsessed with you, isn’t she?” Pavel didn’t like that.
“She’s not obsessed,” Zane corrected him. “At least not with me. She only wants me when it seems like she can’t have me. The second that changes, she loses interest and walks away. If you’ve been stalking me as long as you claim, then you must have noticed she’s been seeing a new guy.”
“For about a year or so, yeah.”
“She killed him.”
Pavel frowned. “What? Why?”
“Because she realized there’s something going on between you and me. She killed him as a warning to me. To show me that she’s capable of doing anything to get what she wants. That she’s capable of discarding anything that no longer appeals to her.”
Pavel got a sinking feeling and forced himself to ask, “Are you afraid to become her Royal Consort, is that it? Do you want it but fear her too?”
If Zane had feelings for Lyra, Pavel didn’t know what he’d do. He didn’t know what hecoulddo. People like Zane didn’t fall easily, didn’t grow attached. If he’d managed to develop a connection to Lyra, a real one involving emotional entanglements and everything, it’d be near impossible for anyone to sever them, let alone Pavel.
Hell, that was why he was going through all of this trouble in the first place. He was desperately trying to build that connection himself. Trying to get Zane to need him, even if it was only for physical pleasure.
If he ruined Zane for anyone else, the doctor would have no choice but to come to him for his orgasms, and if that were the case, he’d be more easily convinced to marry him for the convenience of it all. More than anything, Zane wanted a home. Wanted a family and a place where he felt like he was needed and he belonged.
Had Lyra beat him to the punch there?
Had she somehow managed to convince him she—
“Pavel, that hurts,” Zane whimpered and Pavel realized he’d spaced out and started locking the cage around Zane’s dick before he was ready for it.
A quick glance showed that little bit of pain had been enough, and paying more attention, Pavel managed to lock the golden cage around Zane’s lax dick even as the other man struggled against him.
Once it was done, Pavel hushed him and ran a hand soothingly down his back. “Relax, gorgeous. Almost there.”
“What—” Zane swore when Pavel flicked his wrist, activating the ring, and his arms suddenly dropped.
Pavel caught his bound wrists and hooked them beneath the cock cage, the metal clicking together magnetically, forcing Zane into a slightly bent angle, unable to do much of anything other than press his fists to the table to steady himself. Ignoring his harsh protests, Pavel grabbed the other objects he’d brought with him, reaching around to clip them onto Zane’s nipples.
Zane jerked, but there was no escape, and Pavel leapt off the table and moved so he could eye his handiwork all over again.
“You can’t see them, but the nipple clamps have little golden daggers dangling from them. Isn’t that cute?” Pavel rested his elbows on the edge of the table and set his chin in his palms, sighing contentedly. “You look perfect, Doctor. Well, hold on, almost perfect.”
Pavel rounded him, taking the end of the leash on his way. He tugged, forcing Zane’s head up, and then slipped the end through the hook he’d screwed onto the surface at the other end of the table.
Now, Zane was positioned with his head and shoulders back so he didn’t cut off his airway, kneeling with his knees spread and his hands caught underneath his caged cock. His body shook, and it was hard to tell if it was from arousal or anger.
