I unleashed him from the ceiling and led him toward the bench where I bent him over and anchored the chains to the floor so he was lying on his stomach with his ass bared to the whip. “Spread your legs wider,” I said, nudging at his ankles and forcing him to expose his genitals to me.
“Are you going to whip me there?” he asked.
“Unless you tell me not to,” I said.
He grunted. “Do your worst.”
“Still not sorry then?” I prompted, and his stony silence spoke volumes.
“Grip the edge of the bench and stay in position,” I told him. Soon after, I descended upon him, raining down on the taut meat of his buttocks with endless blows, turning his entire backside a bright cherry red. The whip didn’t cut his skin, but the repetition made the pain worse than if it had. He’d be black and blue for days. At last, he wailed, and once he got going, it seemed he couldn’t stop. I walked over to his front and gripped him up by his hair. “Are you sorry now?” I asked, forcing him to look at me.
“No, sir,” he bit out, each word a battle. His face was red and tears were only just forming at the corners of his eyes. Wet lashes, stormy eyes, he was a breathtaking sight. The anger would transform into something else very soon.
“Very well. Then let’s continue.”
I returned to his backside and flogged his thick upper thighs, aiming the flogger to bite at his balls every few strikes. The prince twisted and writhed on the bench, his skin slick with sweat and shiny all over. His wails had turned to moans until at last he broke into a quiet sob. I softened the blows until Iwas merely dragging the falls across his skin in a sweet caress. I undid the chains and gathered him up in my arms, careful not to apply pressure on his tenderest places.
“Are you sorry?” I asked. He nodded, his mouth a beautiful pout, and stared up at me with wide glistening eyes. “What are you sorry for, Cedrych?”
“Going after the assassin,” he said, imploring me to believe him.
“Why is it important that you follow my security protocol?”
“To… to stay safe,” he said.
“And why is it important that you stay safe?”
“Because I’m royalty and your betrothed.”
“And I’d be irreparably heartbroken if something bad happened to you. Do you understand now, Cedrych?”
He nodded again, contritely, with tears staining his cheeks. Impulsively I licked them, collecting the salty sweetness with my tongue.
“Will you bite me, my lord?”
“You’re already in pain,” I told him.
“I don’t care. I want to feel you in my blood. I want to be yours, in every way, Mercier. Please?”
It was difficult to deny him, especially when I wanted the closeness too. “Hold onto me tightly,” I said. He grappled me in a strong hug and I was reminded of just yesterday when he’d saved my life. In my anger and disappointment, I still hadn’t thanked him for his heroism, though I surely would when the time was right. I didn’t want my gratitude to muddle this very important lesson.
“Deep breath,” I said as I inhaled his bouquet of pheromones and sweat, the insistent press of his cock against my own. My canines dropped and I sunk them into his neck, tasting that sweet ambrosia.
“My lord,” he said in a symphony of want and desire. His hips ground against mine and he came with a sudden gasp, striping my pants with his pearly seed. “Oh, gods,” he murmured, hiding his face from me.
“Was it the bite or the flogging?” I asked, licking his puncture wounds clean while admiring my work.
“It was both.”
“Pleasure and pain are sometimes intertwined,” I told him and wondered if there might not be a streak of masochism in him.
“I’m sorry for disobeying you,” he said again, big blue eyes peering at me with sincerity.
“Thank you for the apology, Cedrych. I forgive you.”
I kissed his temple, then his mouth, tasting his tears and his remorse. So sweet, so true.
The fae prince would be my undoing.
