21
Jase
My ass was on fire, every breath, every scream pulling my diaphragm and shifting my body just enough that I moved the tiniest fraction. When I moved, that damned thing in my ass did too, sending fresh waves of agony, which made me sob harder and scream anew. And the bugs. I had told myself back at the cell that I could handle bugs and darkness. I had been soon proven wrong. I could still feel the phantom movements in my ears, up my nose, in my mouth. The pain got to be too much, and my voice could scream no more. I forced myself to close my eyes and tried to calm my breathing. The soft scritching of the insects against the wood and the feel of their feet tickling against my skin as they crawled set me off again. I began to scream again, this time silently as my still hoarse voice gave out.
The darkness closed in tighter, squeezing the air from my lungs. When a hard, wriggling body fell into my open mouth, I spat. I clamped my lips together tightly. I felt one crawling along the side of my cock, more across my belly and chest. I whimpered, screwing my eyes tight. If he came to get me out, I would do whatever he said, as long as he never did this again. I wasn’t against a bit of kink, but the beating, confinement, and this thing in my ass were beyond my self-imposed limits. Not that I could tell him no. I’d endure even that if it got him off, as long as he didn’t shackle me up in the dark with bugs. Anything but that.
I had no idea how long I’d been in the box. I knew that it had been long enough now that I’d run out of tears and my voice had given out some time ago. I knew the bugs were still crawling, and once it registered that they were concentrating on areas that itched from where the guards had come all over me, I realized they were feasting on the flakes of dried semen. That made me shake anew. These were beetles, what if they began to eat me along with the cum? I thrashed my head from side to side, trying to rid myself of the terrifying vision that brought.
I thought I’d finally gone mad when the lid was removed from the box. Lord Willow’s smiling face looked down at me. “Oh, my, you’re going to need those bites looked after.” He looked over his shoulder. “Call the mobile groomer and see if they can fit in appointment today,” he said to someone outside of my field of vision.
“Washer, Sergeant Crimini, and I can wrangle him into the tub. We’ve got something that’ll work on the bites. The welts, too,” came the reply.
Oh, God, it was Keeper. I didn’t want her to see me like this.
“Fine, fine. See to it and put him in his cage if I’m not back from downstairs by the time you’re done.”
“Yes, Lord Willow.”
Lord Willow bent over me, his hand reaching down to stroke a thumb over my cheek. “Punishment is over. Let’s see if you can do better today. You won’t like what happens if you don’t.”
I nodded frantically.
Two strong-looking fae appeared alongside Keeper. They were average in height for a human, which they were not. One had pointed ears, round cheeks, and a stocky build. He wore a peaked hat on his curly brown mop, looking rather like a garden gnome. The other looked as if he could be his brother, only wearing leather armor and no cap.
Lord Willow undid my ankles, and the two fae moved around to opposite sides of the box, each one lifting an ankle and bending my legs up. I screamed, a harsh, weak guttural sound the only thing coming out, as pins and needles ran riot.
“Hush, you’ll tear your throat up,” Lord Willow said. “That’s right,” he addressed the two fae. “Lift him up, I need to turn the key to make it smaller so I can remove it.”
I prayed that the relief I felt at having that pulled out wouldn’t be marred by my discovering I had a prolapsed rectum.
“Look at that, still gaping so wide. If it’s still like that when I’m done, we should have a little party.”
I didn’t want to know what that meant, but I wasn’t going to object. I’d learned my damned lesson. Still, if I found a way to get my revenge later, I’d take it. It might be ten years down the road, or even twenty, but I wouldn’t hesitate.
“Okay, I’ll see you soon. Keeper, just something light today for dinner.”
“Yes, sir,” she answered.
The two men moved again, one moving to my head, where he unfastened my wrists before lifting me p by my shoulders. Everything hurt, including those. My eyes hurt too much to even close so I could give them some relief against the sudden light they’d been exposed to.
“Take him to the tub,” Keeper told them as they carried me by my shoulders and legs. “Pool already filled it with medicated water.”
They eased me through the door and into the tub. The water stung, the antiseptic smell of whatever was in the water stinging my eyes as much as the stuff itself did my wounds.
“Thank you, Sergeant Crimini, please tell Lieutenant Ash we appreciate him sending you to help us move him,” Keeper said.
“My pleasure,” the man replied as he turned to leave.
Keeper turned her attention to the other fae. “Washer, you best go contain those beetles and scrub out the box. It smells like he peed himself in there.”
Washer grunted, giving me the side-eye. I didn’t care. So what if I had? I bet he would have, too.
Keeper looked at me. “Can I trust you to not drown yourself while I go put some soup on for you?”
I nodded weakly.
“Okay. Pool will keep an eye on you anyway.”
Hearing her name, Pool materialized between my feet, causing me to jerk in surprise. Jesus, I wish she wouldn’t do that.
“I’ll let you know if he slips under,” Pool said.
“Thank you,” she told Pool. “And you,” she addressed me, “Please try to stay out of trouble. Broke my heart to see that, it did.” With that, Keeper ambled off to make me soup. The steam from the hot water re-moistening my eyes enough that they no longer felt like sandpaper, so I closed them against the sting. Trusting the water sprite to keep their word and not let me drown, I relaxed and fell into sleep.
