She lay there, trembling, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.
“But first,” the general went on, “you must be punished for your crimes of invading our city and attempting to deceive us by disguising yourself as a male.”
His voice hardened. “At nightfall, you will be taken to the square, stripped naked in front of all the men in Petra, and receive twenty strokes from the high priest with the Instrument of Correction. Then I will award you to a man of my choosing, as my gift, to discipline you privately tonight before you are sent to the Lyceum for training.”
He turned, heading for the door. “Take her away. Send for one of the harlots to prepare her for punishment.”
Chapter Four
The guards untied her, jerking her to her feet. The djellaba fell down around her ankles, exposing her completely. Wearily, AJ bent down and pulled it back up. It hardly mattered anymore. They’d already witnessed her humiliation, her shameful reactions. Unspeakable things had been done to her, leaving her numb.
An involuntary shiver of arousal shot through her as her legs came together. She relived the sensation of Thelo’s tongue lapping her core of pleasure, his thick fingers stroking her inside, making her squirm with forbidden desires. She tried to purge the images from her mind as the soldiers once again tied her wrists together. Without a word, they led her, naked, out of the room and down another hallway.
She should memorize the route they took, but her mind refused to cooperate. Finally, they stopped in front of a door, one of dozens they’d passed, all looking the same. One soldier stayed behind in the hallway. The other, the one who’d spanked her, shoved her into another windowless room, this one furnished with a small wooden table and two chairs. With a last lecherous look, he backed out and locked the door behind him, leaving her alone at last.
Exhausted, she dropped onto a chair, only to jump up again, shocked. AJ had never been spanked before. Her bottom burned from the soldier’s firm hand. She tried to put the thought of twenty strokes from some unknown implement of correction out of her mind and willed herself to concentrate on her current situation.
Even though she’d been unable to bend any of the men she’d met so far to her will, AJ still held out hope she’d be able to use her mental abilities to control whoever the general gave her to tonight. She might have to pleasure him first, in some fashion or other. Shuddering at the thought, she decided she’d practice her mental skills, targeting the woman the general dispatched to prepare her for the evening.
She was vaguely familiar with the word harlot, recalling that in ancient times it was used to describe a woman of dubious character who bestowed sexual favors on whatever man met her price. To her surprise, when the door opened, a young female with downcast eyes and a shy demeanor entered. She wore a sheer red floor-length gown with nothing on underneath. It displayed her charms seductively, even while covering them.
The young woman carried a pitcher and bowl and a large basket covered with a black cloth. She spoke softly without making eye contact. “It is time to prepare you for your punishment.”
“I am called AJ. What is your name?”
“Harlot.”
If she was to successfully penetrate the young woman’s mind, AJ needed to bond with her. “Surely you have some name other than that,” she replied, her voice gentle.
The young woman glanced around the room nervously. “Once…once this harlot was known as Dianna.”
AJ perched gingerly on the edge of the hard wooden chair, motioning for the young woman to join her at the table.
“You say you are a harlot. I’ve been told I am to be one as well, Dianna. Can you explain to me what that means?”
The woman stared dully at the wall, replying in a singsong tone, as though repeating a speech she’d learned by rote. “Harlots serve at the pleasure of their masters. We have no duty but to please them. No desires but their desires. No will but what they will us to do.”
Carefully, AJ probed the mind of the woman in front of her. She was hit with an agonizing wave of hopelessness. Beyond it lay only sorrow. No spark of vitality, no essence of free will, no semblance of independent thought remained in this woman. It was as though she had entered a mind that was nothing more than an empty shell.
She sighed. Nothing in her training had prepared her for this. Her mental skills were worthless in this culture.
“Can you tell me what they’re going to do to me tonight?”
Once again, the woman replied by rote, parroting the words the general had uttered as though she’d been there in the room to hear them.
“At nightfall, this harlot will be taken to the square, stripped naked in front of all the men in Petra, and receive twenty strokes from the high priest with the Instrument of Correction. Then General Tok will award this harlot to a master for the night, as his gift, to discipline her privately before using her in any way he chooses.”
AJ wondered how many times this woman had uttered the same words to other hapless victims.
“What is this Instrument of Correction?”
Dianna shuddered visibly. “It is…”
“Yes?”
“It is a thick wooden implement. The high priest uses it on harlots in need of discipline.”
“A paddle? So I am to be spanked?”