On and on it went. First the drum roll, followed by a moment of silence that made the harsh smacking sound echo through the square. Finally, a fresh wave of burning agony such as she’d never known then the hateful voices of the men keeping count.
AJ bit her lip until she tasted blood, trying desperately not to make a sound. But that seemed to inflame the crowd even more. They wanted to witness her complete submission, wanted to hear her scream and beg for mercy.
She refused to give them the satisfaction.
Though she didn’t think it was possible, Thelo increased the severity of his blows. Hot tears flowed down her face, dripped onto the platform. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms, and tried to send her mind somewhere far away. Gradually, the noise receded. The pain of each blow blurred into the next, until all that remained was the scorching fire that burned hotter with each stroke.
By the time the crowd chanted twenty, AJ had escaped in her mind, imagining herself splashing in the cool lake she’d spied out her window. But as soon as the soldiers untied her arms, she rocketed back into her body. She did cry out then as the full force of the pain flooded into her consciousness, a sound she tried to choke off.
But Thelo heard it. He bent over the bench and whispered in her ear. “I promise you – next time will be worse.”
The rest of her punishment passed in a blur. Still naked, she was half dragged, half carried through the crowd back to the Citadel. All along the path, outstretched hands pinched and pawed at her. The men who had been given seats of honor had disappeared by the time the soldiers took her through the doors and down another series of endless passages.
A different harlot awaited her in a suite of rooms more luxurious than anything she’d seen till then. This one wore sandals with lower platforms, like Dianna’s, and a sheer deep purple gown. Her hair was drawn back on both sides into long blonde braids that met and merged into one at the base of her head. Oddly, she had some sort of feathered plumage protruding from the back of her gown.
The harlot never spoke, relying on simple gestures to communicate. She ushered AJ into a bathroom, where she bade her lower herself into a stone tub filled with water as cool and soothing as the lake she’d imagined. AJ complied gratefully. The woman’s silence was a boon to her tortured soul, just as the water was to her aching bottom.
The woman handed her a soft towel to dry off then stepped behind her and rubbed a cool lotion into her fiery bottom cheeks. AJ winced at the touch. The lotion soothed the worst of the burn. But nothing could do away with the strange, potent heat the paddle had ignited all through her lower body.
The harlot produced a filmy black gown and helped her slip into it. With deep slits at the neckline and up the back, it was so revealing AJ thought she might as well still be naked. Leading her to a dressing table, the woman motioned for her to sit as she rummaged through the pots and jars there. AJ lowered herself gingerly to the edge of the bench in front of it, grateful it had a padded cushion.
Using kohl and ground ochre, the harlot adorned her eyes and lips then rouged her nipples. Despite all she’d been through, AJ felt herself blushing as the rosy peaks of her breasts grew hard under the stroking of the woman’s brush.
Her attendant pulled AJ to a standing position. Then she opened a wooden box, taking out an item AJ couldn’t see. She spread AJ’s gown apart in back and wedged the item firmly between the cheeks of her bottom, arranging it so that it protruded from the back slit in the gown. Smooth and hard, the object nestled between her legs from her rear passage all the way to her vaginal opening. For the first time the woman spoke. “Squeeze your bottom cheeks together. Tight. Whatever you do, make sure this does not fall to the ground. It is a gift for your master.”
The harlot led AJ back into the sitting room, walking behind her and adjusting the object several times so that it was lodged securely between her stinging bottom cheeks. She’d barely managed to make it into the main room when the door to the suite flew open. General Tok strode in, with the ever-present guards at his side.
“Good. You are ready. I am giving you to Kaden, my comrade from the kingdom of New Atlantis. You will obey his every command tonight – or suffer another session tomorrow with the Implement of Correction.”
The general snapped out a command, and his guards disappeared down the hall. He ordered the attendant to pull a straight backed chair into the center of the room then sent her away as well.
Tok walked over and leaned against the wall near the door, folding his arms as he observed her in silence. Though it took all the courage she could muster, AJ returned his look steadily.
There was a rap at the door.
“Enter.” Tok’s voice rang out, but his eyes never left hers.
As she had done on the platform, AJ straightened her shoulders and raised her chin higher, vowing she’d never give up her free will to whatever lecherous gnome stood on the other side of the door. Tok’s eyes narrowed. It seemed her defiant spirit displeased him, too.
The door opened, and a man stepped into the room.
AJ drew in a sharp breath. So this was her new master. The silent observer she’d seen in the place of honor next to General Tok on the platform.
One glance told her he was descended from Atlanteans. Like all of them, he was tall. Much taller than the citizens of Petra, easily a head above her six foot frame, with the golden bronze skin that told of a Mediterranean ancestry somewhere in the distant past.
He wore a loose white robe with one end tossed casually over his shoulder. Grecian in style, tied at the waist with a knotted leather braid. His arms were bare, sleek muscle rippling under smooth skin. Hinting at other smooth, powerful muscles underneath the robe.
She lifted her eyes to his face framed by a full head of dark wavy hair hanging nearly to his shoulders. He wore it pulled back except for a few unruly locks falling over his brow.
Gorgeous deep-brown eyes met hers. Warm. Sensual.
AJ felt an unaccustomed shiver of lust as she stared into their depths. The man radiated a compelling aura of dark intensity. She dared not test her ability to control him by sending out her power. Not with Tok so near. Unlike the other inhabitants of Neodyma, the general was capable of perceiving her attempts to engage in mental combat. If she was able to control this master, he’d recognize it and assign her to another. She’d have to hold off testing until she was alone with him.
To her amazement, a part of her hoped she wouldn’t be able to use her mental training to control this man. The heat from her bottom radiated through her core, sparking a desire for sexual gratification. But how could that happen? She had no electrodes stimulating her.
The new sensations her body had experienced were so foreign, yet so intense. The high priest’s insolent probing of her most private parts, Dianna and the other harlot touching her in ways she had never been touched by another. Even the harsh paddling.
Her carefully regulated female hormones had been thrown out of balance. Now they surged through her, out of control. Combined with the unfamiliar but highly erotic physical contact, they’d awakened long dormant needs.