Melena stared at the man in amazement. Surely he didn’t do this with all of his women… did he? Clearly not every woman every night. But when they were with him, did he always feed them from his own fingertips?

She opened her mouth and he slipped the warm tidbit in. She began to chew and was delighted by the savory flavor. Her stomach rumbled loudly as she chewed. He laughed at the sound. She was surprised to realize he had a very nice laugh. It was not mocking or cruel as she had imagined it would be. It was warm and welcoming.

The rest of the meal continued like that. He ate, and in between bites he fed her. He fed her until she had to shake her head in denial.

“I can’t eat another bite,” she said.

She had not been this full in months. The Jorku food had been savory: warm and delicious. She had not eaten well even before she had become a slave.

“Is your brother like you?” she asked him suddenly. “We hear he is cruel and unyielding. His armies decimate the lands he marches through.”

“He can be very cruel. And very unyielding. He makes war for the joy of it… for the opportunity to subjugate those around him. Especially those who would defy him.”

“And you are not like that? You who command his armies?”

“I do as my brother asks of me. But… if it were me, I would choose another way. I would not extend my reach so far into other lands. I would spend time tending to that which we already have. I would spend time eradicating things like crop blights and the famines that follow. I would manage trade better… so all are treated fairly and more things are available to more people at a fair price. As it stands right now the wealthy hold power over the poor. They dominate to the point of cruelty. My brother favors those with money and forgets about those without.”

“What would you do differently?”

“I would tax the wealthy more strongly than I do those who cannot pay to begin with. Right now it is the working class that bears the brunt of taxes while the wealthy get away with taxation forgiveness as long as they are in good stead with my brother. But it is not as simple as that. Those wealthy men also provide the soldiers that keep our army strong. If we tax them too heavily all of a sudden, they will withdraw the lending of their troops.”

“But that would not be so bad if you no longer needed to keep so large an army, if you were content to stay within your own borders.”

He raised a brow in surprise. “Exactly,” he said. “You are a very intelligent creature. Can you read and write?”

“Yes. And cipher.”

“Good. I like for my women to be well-read and well educated.”

The reminder that she was but one of many made her stomach clench unexpectedly. She didn’t know why. Maybe it was because she did not like the idea of being one of many sheep who willingly did his bidding.

“Now. Stand up and walk with me to the bed.”

All new anxiety twisted her full stomach into a knot. He read the panic on her face and gently stroked her hair again.

“Do not be afraid. I will never hurt you.”

“But you threaten to punish me constantly.”

“You will be surprised to find out how much like pleasure a punishment can be.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“We shall see, won’t we? I have a feeling there is quite a bit of misbehavior in you yet.”

He was teasing her, an amused expression in his eyes. It was completely disarming. He seemed somehow easier and more approachable than he had at first. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all, she thought.

She stood up on wobbly legs and let him lead her to the bed.

“Now lie in the middle. I wish to look at you and touch you.”

“I… “She wanted to refuse him, her anxiety returning in full force, but his hands were strong and gentle as he guided her down onto the bed. The bed was so soft she sank in a little and a part of her wanted to revel in the softness. She had not known such luxury. The bed she shared with her sisters had been made of prickly straw. It hadn’t been so bad, but had been nothing like this.

“That’s it. Relax. Let the things around you bring you pleasure. Let me bring you pleasure.”

“But… aren’t you expecting it to be the other way around? Don’t you want me to do the pleasuring?”

She shouldn’t have asked the question. She might not like the answer. But he smiled at her and reached to stroke a hand down her arm, ending at her fingertips which he toyed with for a moment.

“I find pleasure in watching you. You will be pleasuring me, I assure you. There will be a time and place for everything. For now… I wish to touch you.”

She should feel threatened by his promises of the future, but for some reason Melena didn’t. If she had to give a title to her feelings of the moment, it was that she felt somehow secure. There was something very appealing in the idea of letting someone else worry about things for a change. She wondered about that, wondered how she could be all right with losing control of the situation… but it wasn’t as though she had much choice. She couldn’t fight him forever.

What was more surprising, she didn’t seem to want to fight him any longer. All of her fight seemed to be draining out of her. He wasn’t half the ogre her people had made him out to be. Then again, she had yet to cross him. But without doing so she knew that was something she knew she never wanted to do. She would never want to be in the shoes of a person who thought to betray this man. His vengeance would be merciless. She knew it just as sure as she knew his touch would be gentle and stirring.

Funny that she would think that after his only touching of her to any great degree had been to spank her. Hard. He had not been so gentle then… but neither had he been too rough. She was not bruised or bloodied. He could have beaten her… but he had not.

She found herself being rolled over onto her back, his hands feeling as though they were everywhere as he touched her gently here and there. Nothing sexualized, but nothing innocent either. He stroked her softly, his coarse calluses catching on the silk she wore just as hers had done. She realized then they had some things in common. They were both used to a hard day’s labor. They knew things didn’t come easy in this world. And yet he was promising her ease.

He knelt with one knee on the bed and Melena’s heart began to race. Here it was. The moment when he would force himself on her… the moment when she would remember why she should hate him.

But he did nothing of the kind. Instead he continued to run caresses along her body, leaving no patch of skin untouched. She tensed when his fingertips glided over her breast, but he was only there for a moment before moving on. It was so soothing and non-threatening she began to relax. He touched her hairline and ran a hand down the length of her braid. When he reached the clasp that held it he unclasped it and began to unwind her hair from the plait. He threaded his fingers through her hair again and again, the still damp locks spreading out beneath his touch.

“You see? This isn’t so bad.”

She had to admit he was right. But as much as his touch relaxed her, he made her equally tense. She could not relax as she worried about what might happen next. When would he turn on her? When would he become the beast that had torn through her country and enslaved her people?

“I can practically hear your thoughts,” he said with a chuckle. “Perhaps I am going about this wrong. Perhaps you would prefer a firmer hand.”

Her eyes widened. What did that mean?

“Go on. Tell me what you prefer. Say ‘Yes, Sir, I prefer a firmer hand.’ Or say ‘No, Sir, please be gentle with me.’“

She laughed incredulously. “Why would I ask for a firmer hand? Why would I ask for punishment?”

“Because you know it will please me. And soon pleasing me will be all you will think about.”

“I will not!” she burst out angrily. “I don’t want any of this!”

“Your body says otherwise. Look at how it follows my caress. Look at how hard your nipples are in response to me.” He took the backs of his knuckles and ran them over one of her pointed nipples.

She drew in a breath as the sensation zinged through her. She was shocked she found pleasure in his touch, even when he was disturbing her mind. “Why can’t you leave me alone?”

“And what would I do with you? Sell you? Place you in servitude to a minor lord? No. I would not do that to you. You deserve so much more. You deserve all of the best.”

“I deserve my freedom!”

“Freedom to do what? To toil on a farm day in and day out? Is that the freedom you want? Your sisters and brothers are gone, never to return to you. Unless… unless I find them for you and reunite them with you here.”

“Don’t torment me,” she said, her eyes filling with tears of frustration.

“You can have all the best of all worlds here. All I ask is for you not to fight me.”

“If I do not fight you then you have no reason to punish me… and I can see that’s what you really want.”

“I want what will please us both. There is pleasure that can be found in punishment. Once you see how it pleases me, you will begin to want it.”

“I don’t want to please you!”

“You do if it means seeing your sisters again. Isn’t that right?”

“Are you just using them to get your way with me, or will you really find them and bring them here?” she asked desperately.

“I do not lie or make false promises, Pet. You will learn that about me. If I say I will find them and bring them to you, then that is what I will do.”

She had no choice but to believe him. There was little else she could do. If there was even the remotest chance he would keep his word, then she had to act as if he would. She had to please him. “Yes, Sir, I would like a firmer hand,” she said softly.

He smiled. Not a smile of triumph, but one of understanding. He knew how hard this was for her. He would not discount her feelings in the matter. She could sense that.

He reached down to the gossamer silk of her skirt and tore it from its seams. Her body jerked under the force of the tear and her heart leapt into her throat. He came away with a strip of silk about three feet long, pulled her hands together at her waist, and began to tie them up. Her breaths came quicker and quicker the tighter the binding became. It left a tail of silk free and he used the tail to jerk her arms above her head.

His full weight was against her side, his strength overwhelming and powerful. She felt helpless, and yet there was the small inkling she had some kind of power over him. She couldn’t explain it. She realized if she gave him what he wanted she would get things in return. It was perhaps a form of manipulation. And the ability to manipulate meant she had the power to do so.

“W-would you like to punish me, S-sir?” she asked, testing the bounds of her power.

“Is that what you would like? To be punished?”

“I want whatever you want,” she said. And she found she meant it.

“That is a most pleasing answer. What I want right now is to taste you. To torment you. To discipline you until you beg for me to stop… and in the same breath beg for me to continue. And then, maybe, I will take everything from you… only to give it back a thousand fold. Would you like that?”

She was surprised to feel an answering yes coming from deep inside herself. She was breathing hard, lost in the uncertainty of what he meant. Craving an explanation. He made it all sound so appealing. How could that be? How could she find anything attractive in anything he did?

“Say ‘Yes, Sir,’“ he instructed her against her ear. “Otherwise tell me to let you go and I will send you to your rooms. Neither of us will get what we want then.”

He was offering to let her go? He would do that? Why? Why would he do that?

Choices. He was giving her choices again. She could choose to be let go… but then she might never see her sisters again. If she consented to him he would give her the world. But would it cost her her soul?

“Yes, Sir,” she said softly.

“Yes, Sir to which? Do you want me to make you beg for more?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir,” she said softly.

He exhaled hard and she heard satisfaction in the sound. He was pleased with her. It made her feel… something. Something good. Almost as if she were as pleased with herself as he was. It confused her. She should be hating every minute of this, shouldn’t she?

He got off the bed, pulling her with him. He led her by her bound hands to the foot of the bed. “Kneel, sweet dove.”

She dropped to her knees obediently and Valerian smiled at her. He reached to stroke her face along her jaw and looking directly into her eyes said, “Please me tonight and every night and you will have your sisters… so long as they are still alive I will find them and bring them here. I will see them cared for and given good lives.”

“In your harem?” she asked, tensing visibly.

“No. I only want you. Your elder sister is damaged by her experiences no doubt. She deserves some time to heal. She will work as a servant in this house until such time as she is ready for a good marriage. Please me and I will do this. Your youngest sister is too young for marriage. I will put her in the harem with you… as a servant to my women,” he added quickly. “Then, when she is old enough, I will see her happily situated as well. That way you will see her every day and can protect and guide her in her new life. Does that please you?”

Tears came to her eyes. She was overwhelmed. Would he really do all he said? Just for her? Just because she gave him pleasure? Suddenly she was eager to please him. Anything. Anything! As long as it brought her sisters to a safe and protected environment.

Strange she should see the fortress as either of those things. But she did now. She believed him when he said he would take care of her family and herself. She had no choice but to believe him. The alternative was unbearable.

She raised her bound hands up to him and touched his belly. She stroked him, feeling the play of intense muscles beneath the fabric of his shirt. He was hard and powerful. Intimidating. But she pushed through intimidation and tried to do whatever was necessary to please him. She dropped her hands lower, aiming for his groin, knowing that was where men liked to be touched.

But he caught her hands and moved them away from his body, holding them up. “I haven’t given you permission to touch me,” he said. “Touching me is a privilege you must earn.”

She was confused. “Then how am I supposed to please you?”

“You already please me. I will decide what is to my taste. Let’s start with this.”

Valerian pulled her arms high above her head until they were level with a hook that was in the bedpost. She had not noticed it, but quickly discovered what it was for when he hooked her bound hands into it, her kneeling body stretched out to its limits. His hands glided down her outstretched arms, his fingers fitting every contour. He skimmed past her armpits to her breasts as he bent to whisper in her ear.

“There now. How pretty you look. Stretched out and awaiting my pleasure. Waiting for me and only me. You are mine. Mine to do with as I please.” He cupped her straining breasts in his hands, shaping them and molding them to his palms. He caught her nipples in his fingertips and pinched them strongly. The slight pain sent a shot of heat and awareness through the center of her body. No one had ever touched her like this.

She had been too caught up with her life on the farm to be distracted by things like boys. She had not even kissed a boy except for once when she’d been eleven years old, because someone had dared her to. She was well aware the kiss of an eleven-year-old boy was nothing like the kiss of a man like Valerian. She wondered if she should tell him of her inexperience, that it went beyond her just being a virgin. Perhaps it would change his approach. But she didn’t see how. In her opinion he had been quite gentle with her so far.

His hands travelled down to her ribs and along her sides. He knelt behind her, fitting his body to her back. He whispered in her ear.

“So pretty. So unmarked. But you will be marked. Marked as mine. Everyone will know it. You will know it.”

He reached to the ties around her neck holding her blouse in place. There were ties at her mid-back as well and he undid them. Her blouse fell away and her cheeks burned as she knelt there topless and completely at his mercy. His hands shaped her bare back, his fingers caressing warmly.

“I’m going to teach you how to feel pleasure from pain. I have a feeling about you. I believe you will challenge me to great heights… and deep lows. I will enjoy both immensely.”

He moved away from her, getting to his feet and moving somewhere where she couldn’t turn to see him. She felt bare and exposed without him close by. She felt more naked not knowing where he was than she did feeling him against her.

She felt him return to her, felt him standing over her. She looked over her shoulder at him and saw he held something in his hand. There was no mistaking the many tails of a flogger. She tensed, tried to pull away.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I won’t cause any damage that can’t be easily repaired. The only thing we are breaking down is any desire you might have to fight me. To disobey. The more you fight the more I will be compelled to break you down.”

“Please! Don’t!”

“You will say ‘Yes, Sir’ if you wish to please me.”

She struggled. Not physically, but mentally. She had agreed to this. This was what she wanted. And yet she was compelled to fight.

“Your instinct is to fight me. I understand that. You don’t yet know what this can bring to you. But you will discover it. We will discover it together. Now say what I want to hear.”

Tears burned in her eyes as she struggled with herself. She didn’t want to be whipped, but she didn’t want to displease him either. She didn’t understand why he felt compelled to whip her. She had done nothing wrong.

“Please, Sir. I’ll behave,” she said desperately.

“I am pleased to hear that. You are learning quickly. I have no doubt you will prove to be most obedient given time. Now tell me what I want to hear.”

“Yes, Sir,” she said in a small voice. “I deserve to be…” She broke off, unable to finish.

“Punished,” he supplied. Then he pulled back his arm and sent the whip singing forward. The tails struck her back and she yelped. He was a strong man, but she could tell he was not putting his full strength behind the whip. Still, it stung badly. Her back was burning when he swung again. The stripes laid across her skin felt white-hot. She tried to turn her back away from him.

“Don’t twist. I might strike your face or your breasts. Your back can bear it far better.”

“Yes, Sir,” she said meekly as she turned her back fully toward him.

The flogging continued. He whipped her until she felt as though her entire body was on fire. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The longer it went the louder she cried out. And yet she knew it could be far worse if he wished it to be.

He stopped just shy of breaking her skin. He came up behind her and touched a hand to her burning back. He ran his fingers over the welts he had made.

“Such a pretty red,” he said hoarsely. “On such fair skin. The contrast is extraordinary.”

“I am not fair. I am tanned from working the farm,” she argued inanely.

“Your arms perhaps. But your back is fair. As are your buttocks and thighs. I long to stripe those red as well. But we will save that for another day.”

“Why does it please you to hurt me?” she asked tearfully.

“I do this for your benefit. I do derive pleasure from this, but this is mainly for you. Now you will know what awaits you if you purposefully defy me. But it was not so bad now, was it? Now it is over?”

“No, Sir,” she said with a sniffle.

“Does it burn you? Shall I soothe you?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl. You are learning.”

He left her again and returned just as quickly. This time when his hand touched her back it was with a soothing cream on his fingertips. He spread the cream all over her back. It hurt to be touched, yet at the same time the relief he was providing gave her no small amount of pleasure. The contradiction confused her. She should be angry with him. She should be in pain and hating him for what he had done to her.

But nothing was as it should be. And she wasn’t sure if it was a bad thing or a good thing. Before today she had expected nothing from her life except to work the farm and care for her brother and sisters. Now the entire landscape of her life had changed and it was all because of this man. Instead of being depended on by others, she was dependent on him, but he had strange ideas about what it meant to take care of her. Her burning back could attest to that. Now that the flogging was over, his touch was gentle and soothing. The words he whispered in her ear were soft and reassuring. He told her how pleased he was with her. He told her how beautiful she was.

If this was punishment, the flogging might be worth it.