Thorn had been away for days.

He hadn’t told me where he was going, just that he would be away for a while. After the bomb he’d dropped on me before he left, I felt upset and alone to lose him again, but there was no arguing with Thorn; nothing I could have done to change things. So I needed to keep my mouth shut and work on getting out of the Mansion.

The idea had grown in my mind over the past few days. I knew now I had to get away. It wasn’t just about me; it was about Amber, too, and mostly her safety. I needed to get her out of there while I still could, and I needed to do it fast.

I woke up that morning lazily, stretching out in my bed as the sun warmed my skin through the barred window. My eyes were still closed when I felt someone watching me, knowing right away who it was.

“Back already?” I asked, my lashes resting against my cheeks.

“Wanted to come and see you,” he replied in that low, almost threatening voice of his. “I needed to.”

I opened my eyes and rolled on my stomach, staring at Thorn across the room. He was sitting in an armchair, his hands clasped in front of him and his eyes on mine. He was dressed in a suit, but it was rumpled, which was quite unlike him, so I assumed it must have been from the traveling he’d done.

“I don’t like it when you leave me,” I whispered, feeling like an utter hypocrite. I was planning on leaving him, after all, the first chance I got. I would run as far as possible and never look back, never sleep soundly again. I’d always be looking over my shoulder from then on.

“I don’t like it, either,” he said, getting up from his chair and coming to sit next to me. His hand found my cheek, and he touched me gently, as if I were made of porcelain, a doll. “I want you next to me at all times, Rose.”

I leaned into his touch and wondered when would be the last time he’d touch me. Now it was time to savor these moments, to live for the last hours I’d spend with him. I was already planning my escape. I knew I needed to get away while I still could before it was too late for Amber.

“Are you going to fuck me?” I asked him breathlessly, my eyes going to his and demanding answers.

He pondered my question, his fingers gently stroking my skin as he looked down at me.

“Would you like me to?” he asked me gently, and I found myself nodding, unable to deny the truth.

I couldn’t lie to him. I’d always been a bad liar, and he’d called me out on it before. Now, I was desperate for him to touch me, to reveal my body to his hungry eyes and him taking what had been his all along. I was desperate for his touch, craving his body against mine.

“Please,” I whispered, and he let go of me, reaching for his tie and tugging on it until it came loose. “Please, Thorn. I can’t wait any longer.”

“Address me properly,” he growled, and my eyes grew darker as I stared into his.

“M-Master,” I managed to get out, and he gave me a slow grin before stroking my chin gentler than I knew he could. “Please, Master. No more waiting. No more holding back.”

“You can’t handle me,” he argued softly, and I stared into the dark abyss of his eyes, trying to convince him I could.

Finally, Thorn sighed and smoothed my hair back.

“Tonight,” he muttered. “In the playroom. Wait for me.”

With those words, he left me alone in the room, walking out on me. I shivered and shook, and hoped - for both our sakes - that he would let go and find it in his heart to let Amber go. I was willing to stay behind. I was willing to bear his anger. I was willing to do it all… as long as he let my friend go free.

* * *

I’d been collected from my room and led into the playroom. I’d been told which position to get into and how to wait for him, and I’d obeyed. I was kneeling for him with my legs spread apart and my palms on the floor between my legs. A maid had attached a collar with a leash, which I now had between my lips, teeth biting down on the leather.

My legs were shaking, and I was shivering; the temperature in the room was degrees too low. Then the door opened, and my eyes flew up, waiting to see him.

His suit was unbuttoned, his shirt slightly open at the collar. There was no more tie, but he still wore the black leather shoes he’d had on that morning, shining under the lights. As he walked towards me, his face slowly came into view from the darkness. He was unbearably handsome as he always was, and my pussy was drenched for him. I was sure he’d notice the second he reached between my legs.

I was only wearing a sheer white bodysuit with beautiful, intricate lace. I wore high heels with straps that snaked up on my legs, and my hair and makeup had been done perfectly, the way I’d learned at the Mansion. My eyes were heavy with black mascara I knew would run when he made me cry.

He stopped a couple of steps away from me, and I crawled closer, my eyes never leaving his as he reached out for me. I placed the leash on his extended palm with my mouth.

There was something going through my body, an electric current that threatened to swallow me whole. I wanted this. I needed it. And I was determined that night; I would finally make Thorn let go and fuck me like he needed to.

He tugged on the leash when my eyes drifted, and I looked back at him, my eyes full of yearning.

“Stand,” he grunted, and I got up, keeping my gaze on him. “Walk,” he said next.

I turned around, but his hand quickly met my cheek,

“Walk backward. Eyes on me.”

I obeyed, walking back into the room of toys, some of which I knew well, others I’d never tried before. He didn’t stop until my ass bumped into something I knew. Something I remembered. I squeezed my eyes shut then opened them back up a second later with fat tears welling in the corners.

“Not the bench,” I begged him in a shaky voice.

“Get on it,” he taunted me, his voice menacing. “Let me strap you into place.”

Of course he would fucking choose the item I’d lost my virginity on. After all, we had to come full circle to please his idea of me. I would submit to him in the very spot where he’d made me a woman.

I climbed on the bench while he held my leash.

“Not on your tummy,” he finally muttered, and my blood pumped faster through my veins. “On your back.”

I lay on my back, and he attached the leash to an O-ring on the bench then moved to strap in my ankles and my wrists. Once he was done, I was a shaking mess, and my eyes were closed tightly. The position I was in was uncomfortable, but he adjusted the bench so it would feel better. Then he started taking his clothes off.

My eyes were glued to him as he got naked. His cock was hard and bulging as he held it in his hand, showing me how engorged he was, slowly stroking his fingers over his length and driving me wild.

“I won’t stop until you’re begging,” he told me harshly, and I moaned in my restraints as he worked his cock, precum dripping off the tip and onto the floor.

“What should I be begging for?” I managed to get out, my voice raspy from not speaking.

“I’m sure you can figure it out, Rose,” Thorn smirked at me. “And address me fucking properly. This is the last time I’m telling you.”

“Master,” I whispered.

He took a step closer, and my arms struggled against the restraints as I tried to reach for him. He laughed at my misfortune, still stroking as he stood above me, grinning into my face and then spitting on me. He hit my pussy, and I moaned out loud when his spit ran down between my legs.

“What do you want?” he asked darkly, and I moaned in protest as he stood to watch, his cock throbbing between his fingers. “Tell me, Rose. Tell Master what you want.”

“I want to come,” I whispered, and he laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d heard all day.

“You want to come,” he repeated. “I thought I’d taught you better than that. Remind me who is the online one that matters in the playroom?”

“M-Master,” I said. “You.”

“That’s right,” he said in his deliciously dark voice. “Me… and my fucking pleasure. Have I not been kind to you, little Rose?”

I nodded, but he grabbed my cheeks between his thumb and other four fingers to make me look at him.

“Say it,” he growled, his free hand still working his cock. “Tell me I’ve been good to my slave.”

“Good,” I squealed. “So good, Master, so very good…”

“I’ve made sure you came when you wanted to,” he said sweetly, fingers stroking my cheek. “I’ve given you countless orgasms… Immeasurable pleasure. Isn’t that right?”

“Y-yes,” I whispered as his fingers dropped down my neck, over my collarbone then to my tits. My nipples were so hard they could have cut glass, and his expression was thunderous as he looked down at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

“You’ve given me e-everything,” I stuttered, and he smiled at me mercifully, stroking a hand through my hair. “Everything I ever dreamed of.”

“Would you like to have more?” he finally asked, his voice gentle and kind when we both knew it was just an illusion. “Would my slut like to have more pain… and pleasure… and beautiful torture combined?”

“Yes,” I whispered. “Please, Master.”

“Please, what?”

His fingers were gentle against my lips, tapping against my skin, turning me this way and that way and examining what he already knew was his property.

“Please give me pleasure,” I begged. “Please, give me pain…”

“Will you say thank you?” he asked, practically growling with held back passion. “Will you be a good little slut for Master like I taught you?”

“Yes!” I cried out, unable to keep my feelings at bay for much longer. “I promise, a good girl, just for you, I’ll be so good…”

He took a step back as I cried out for him, watching him pick up something off the wall with his back turned towards me. Once he finally turned back, my eyes widened, and my pupils dilated at the sight of him. In his hands, Thorn held a short whip, all black shiny leather.

“No,” I breathed. “No, please.”

I remembered the whip from when Ellis had played with me, and the second I lay my eyes on it, all those memories I’d worked so hard to bury came out to play again. His voice was so clear in my head it might’ve as well been in my ear, and he was snickering, laughing at me as I cried and begged him to stop.

I’d told Thorn he should’ve been the one to train me, but the moment I saw him with that whip in his hands, I changed my mind. I was terrified of him touching me. Shaking, I was so scared. My eyes begged him to stop.

“Remember your manners,” Thorn said gruffly. “You only beg for me to hurt you, not to stop. Say, ‘Yes, Master.’”

“Yes, Master,” I whispered as he drew nearer and nearer, gently slapping the whip over his palm. “Anything you want, Master.”

He touched the leather to my lips, the tassels tickling my chin.

“Beg for me to hurt you,” Thorn told me gently, his voice so much different than Ellis’s.

I’d dreamed of this moment, prayed we would get to this point, yet now that we were standing on the edge, I was afraid to jump. I was afraid my whole world would tumble into the hole before me.

“P-please,” I cried out.

He touched the whip to my nipples.

“Please!” I begged.

“Please, what?” he asked calmly.

“Please…” I took a deep breath. “Please hurt me. Please, Master.”

I didn’t expect the first lashing so fast, but the leather cut into my skin as he slapped me with the whip. I screamed, loudly, unashamedly. It fucking hurt. I turned my angry eyes to him, watching impassively as he twirled the whip in his hands.

“Ask for more,” he told me plainly, and I hated him with every bit of my body.

Still, my mind admitted - only to myself - that the pain hadn’t been quite as unbearable as I’d remembered. Either Thorn was going easy on me, or pain was a different kind of beast at the hands of a man I loved. I shook my head to get the thought out, but there it was, already deeply rooted in my consciousness, reminding me of itself every second I spent looking at my king. Before I could think about it further, Thorn slapped my tits with the whip, and I squealed at the sensation.

“Say it,” he reminded me, transporting me back into my reality. “Say it, slut.”

“More!” I begged. “Please, Master. More.”

And then he truly started hitting me.

My tits, my belly, my legs. He hit every exposed part of me, and because of the way I was put into my restraints, I was unable to resist a single hit. He laughed at me, but I could tell there was worry behind his eyes, and once I realized that, I knew I had him wrapped around my little finger.

The problem was… he had me, too.

He kept hitting, but the pain became bearable knowing that he was holding back, that he was still unable to let go like I’d begged him to a while ago. Suddenly the little devil on my shoulder spoke up, demanding I take action.

“More,” I begged Thorn without being prompted to do so. “Fucking more, Thorn. Give me more.”

His eyes sparkled with surprise, and he hit just a little bit harder. It made me twist in the cuffs and scream his name out loud.

“Fucking hit me!” I demanded. “Hit me like you mean it, you fucking bastard.”

That one stung more, yet it was still there - the unmistakable rigidness in his shoulders, the way he held himself with so much tension it leaked out and pooled at his feet.

“More,” I taunted him.

He tossed the whip aside. He was next to me in the next second, his fingers around my cheeks again and my chest rising impossibly fast as I panicked.

“More?” he asked roughly.

His eyes blazed like I’d never seen them before.

“More,” I confirmed, and he slapped me across the face harder than Ellis had ever dared.

“More?” he asked me again as I picked myself up, staring at him through the tears.

“More,” I begged, and he forced his cock between my legs, parting them with a sticky wet sound as he sank into my center.

“More?” he wanted to know, buried so deep inside me I felt him at my cervix.

“More!” I said. “More, Master. More.”

“Tell me to let go,” he said through gritted teeth, controlling the movements of his hips with the patience of a god. “Tell me you still want it.”

“Let go,” I cried out. “Let go for me.”

He roared into life.

As he pounded inside me, I realized I’d never done this before. I’d never been used, abused, treated like an absolute whore, and finally, right before my breaking point, I was pushed into sexual madness like a worthless fucktoy, fucked and sucked and beaten into utter, complete submission.

As I lay in his arms, broken yet feeling fuller and more stable than ever, Thorn pulled me against him and whispered in my ear. I drifted off to sleep with his words echoing in my mind.

I will always take care of what’s mine.