Constance flushed, remembering the intensity of that scene. “We’ve only played once. Oh, and I got one spanking.”
“Did he play within your limits? Was he attentive to your needs?”
Both Constance’s hands fluttered in the affirmative. “Oh, yes.”
“What about a safe word? How are you handling that? Did you discuss it?”
“I didn’t want a safe word, but eventually we agreed that it would be me saying no.”
Ms. Dresden nodded in approval. “That sounds workable. And how is the rest of the communication between you? You’ve found a way to make it work?”
Constance looked down at her hands, and then signed to Ms. Dresden with a rueful grin. “His ASL is terrible. Really pathetic.” Both of them laughed. “It’s actually a relief to sign with someone who’s fluent. But he tries so hard, it’s really endearing. So it’s okay. The lip reading fills in the rest.”
“That’s good. So he hasn’t been impatient with you at all?”
Constance shook her head. “Never. Not once.”
“He is even-tempered? Has he showed any anger to you, any intense emotion?”
“No. Actually...” Constance stopped signing a moment. She was ashamed to confess the depth of her own emotions to Ms. Dresden.
“Constance?” Ms. Dresden tapped Constance’s knee. “Did something happen?”
“No...” If Ms. Dresden knew the true extent of her feelings, would she make her leave? It was such a desecration of the code, to fall in love with your owner. “A few days ago…Mr. Chandler was playing the piano, and it was just... He looked so beautiful. He was explaining to me how the music sounded and I--I--”
“You what?”
“I don’t know. I suddenly felt a little…kind of…emotional toward him.” Constance couldn’t meet Ms. Dresden’s eyes. “It was only emotion about how lovely he looked while he was playing. And the kindness of trying to explain it to me. Do you think-- Is that kind of emotion an acceptable thing?”
Ms. Dresden’s hands were silent for a long while. Then she gazed at Constance and signed, “He is very kind to you in everything, isn’t he?”
Suddenly it seemed to Constance that Ms. Dresden knew everything. That she knew Constance was falling in love with Kai, and that the overmistress was disappointed in her. Constance was supposed to be for Kai’s sexual use. She was supposed to be his vessel, his relief. And she was doing this to gain independence, not an emotional connection.
“Well...” Constance shrugged. “Mr. Chandler is just a really kind person. He said he wished he could help me hear. That’s where we were today. Some big, famous hearing specialist he found down in the city.”
“He took you to a hearing specialist?” Ms. Dresden looked slightly scandalized.
“I told him he didn’t have to, but it was what he wanted. Isn’t that part of my duty? To do as he wants?”
There was a long, horrible pause as the overmistress’s pen flew over her notepad. Constance twisted her hands together.
Finally, Ms. Dresden raised her eyes. She put her pen down and leaned close. “I know that you learned about the danger of emotional attachment in this lifestyle. I also know that the first few weeks are the time a new odalisque is most likely to conceive an unnatural affection for her Master. Sometimes it can’t be helped. Just remember, the code requires that an odalisque not tax her owner emotionally. It cannot be done.”
Constance nodded. “I know. The night he played the piano…it was...one weak moment. It wasn’t really about any emotional attachment to him.” She signed that lie without the slightest tremble in her fingers. She almost convinced herself. But she doubted she convinced Ms. Dresden at all.
“If you are falling in love with him, Constance--at all--you must stop it. Remember why you are here. Focus on serving his sexual needs. Avoid him when you’re feeling emotionally needy. When we next meet, I’m sure you’ll be in a very different place. The glow wears off, and you settle into the dutiful aspects of the job. It is really much simpler then.” She tweaked Constance’s nose. “Mind the code. Promise me.”
Constance promised, flushing red under her guardian’s gentle rebuke.
Ms. Dresden made a few more notes in her leather portfolio, then put down her pen and looked up. “Has Mr. Chandler shared you with anyone yet?”
Constance shook her head.
“I suppose he hasn’t had much time to plan anything like that. Well, if he does before I see you again next week, remember that he agreed to certain protections for you. Hold him to them.”
“I will.”
Constance waited until Ms. Dresden was finished packing up her portfolio before she signed again. “It was nice to see you.”
The overmistress took her hands and squeezed them. She let go and signed, “Have you been lonely? Sometimes the occlusion is an adjustment. Has he taken you out and about at all?”
“Only today. To the doctor. We’ve been staying in at night. But I’m not lonely. He’s wonderful company.”
“Do you miss the Maison?”
Constance thought a moment. “Yes,” she finally signed. “But not enough to want to go back any time soon. I feel like this adventure is just beginning.”
Ms. Dresden smiled at her. “I hope this adventure turns out to be everything you dreamed.”
*** *** ***
Moments after Ms. Dresden took her leave, Kai appeared in the door of Constance’s odella wearing nothing but a smile. He led her into the saray, to the iron bed in the center. Constance was sure she was about to be thoroughly fucked.
But Kai proved to have other plans, and Constance wasn’t happy about them. He regarded her now over the top of his tablet computer.
“I remember quite clearly Bastien telling me that bondage was essential to an odalisque’s fulfillment. Deepening your feelings of slavery and all that. I am one hundred percent certain he talked to me about it.”
Constance whined in misery, arching her hips toward him. She was leaning back, her shoulders propped against a cushion on the wide white mattress. Her wrists were cuffed to straps around her upper thighs so she couldn’t touch herself. Her ankles were tethered with rope to each corner of the footboard, spread wide. He’d given her just enough slack to fidget and try to draw her legs together to soothe the ache.
But the ache could not be soothed.
Kai lounged across from her, the picture of masculine perfection, his cock cycling between hard and half hard, resting against the fur of his lower belly. He was long, lean male, tormenting her like some demon with the nearness of his physicality. Every so often he leaned forward to play with her pussy lips and run the lightest teasing fingertip over her clit. He’d make some flippant comment like, “Yep, still wet,” or “Wow, you look pretty horny,” before returning his attention to his computer screen. As he read, he’d run his fingers lazily over his abs, then down to rearrange his cock.
Oh God, he was killing her
. This was abuse, plain and simple. Where was Ms. Dresden now that Constance needed her? Helplessly, she shifted her hips forward even more and begged with her eyes. Begged for a touch, a fuck. An orgasm. Please...
He looked up at her and got a thoughtful gleam in his eye. “You know, this won’t do at all. I’ve given you absolutely no means to communicate with me. That’s not safe, is it? Maybe I should release your hands.”
She nodded frantically. Yes, yes. Pleeeease!
“Oh, but...wait. That would kind of defeat the purpose of the whole bondage and enslavement thing. Hmm.”
Kai rolled off the bed and went in the other room. He was gone a few minutes while she furiously tried to free her hands and pull her legs together. Oh God, her throbbing clit. Damn him. She gave up and lay back against the pillows. He was right. This was submission. Enslavement. She was his sex toy to use, if and when he decided to use her. She was his slave to frustrate, to deny, to whip into a frenzy of desperate need.
Kai was back again, raking his eyes over her quivering form in approval. “Oh, yeah. That’s a nice view. Bastien really knew what he was talking about with the bondage. Now, here.” He held up two sheets of paper, each with a message. One said, Oh, please, please, I’m dying! The other said, I hate you so much right now!
He put one down by her left foot and one down by her right foot. She immediately started grinding her ankle into the I hate you one.
“Ah, you’re sweet,” he said, laughing.
She laughed too, she couldn’t help it. This was all hilariously funny, or would have been if she wasn’t about to jump out of her skin with the need to be fucked. He leaned down to kiss her as she kicked helplessly at the other sign. Please, please!