Cruel to the end, he plucked that raw nub of flesh. Pinching it between finger and thumb, rolling the aching bundle back and forth as she kicked and shrieked. Sending her soaring through a sky alight with liquid fire, trails of it snapping over her skin. Flaying her with exquisite sensation, leaving her naked and open to the explosion of fiery hues that blotted out everything but the man growling against her throat.
Endless bliss. Perfect and complete while she heard her feral noises from far away. Body shuddering, twitching to a rhythm all its own as darkness engulfed her. Swallowing her vision as she sank into the downy softness of the bed with his midnight groan following her.
Aida woke to the sweltering afternoon sun baking into her flesh. Sprawled naked and face down upon the bed, sheets crusted to her skin along with flaky white patches that reeked of musk and cedar. All of it smelled of him and of something with the faintest hint of sweetness. A scent that she’d long known as hers, yet strange and different. Fuller, richer.
The first twitch of her thighs had the pain returning in full force. Throbbing agony between her legs, centered in that place she’d become far too aware of. Learning more about the delicate, ruffled folds of flesh in the hours of the night than she’d known in all her life. Touched by him and her own hand, guided by his as he spat curses and vicious obscenities that made her moan and clench.
Burying her face in the thick drift of sheets crumpled into a loose bolster before her, Aida turned on her side. Beyond tender, every move making her gasp, she tugged a blanket free to drag over her miserable body. Not before she saw the raw, red marks. Bites and scrapes. Dusky blue-green bands and rounds peppering her arms and legs. Fingers ghosting over the aching line of her throat, a hiss slipped through clenched teeth as she felt the deep marks there. Sure to be worse long before it got better.
She didn’t care that she roasted under the heavy blanket as the sun poured through the thick panes. Cold down to the very marrow of her bones, every moment replaying in her mind’s eye, she knew herself for the awful words Otaso called her. Cocooned in piles of bedding, she let the silent tears flow. Who knew when her new master would return, when he’d take his violence out on her person again? Aida would take this time to mourn everything she’d been or ever dreamed to be, for he was sure not to let such moments last.
For she was a slave now. Whatever she’d been to Otaso, he had treated her with some respect all these years. He had not belittled and demeaned her at every turn. Kept her a prisoner, yes, but until that night under the stone arches, he’d treated her with some form of kindness. One she still did not wish to repay with what this unfamiliar man had taken with such pain and ferocity. If Otaso had planned even a portion of this, she would never have given herself over without a struggle.
Though she had struggled little against this one. Not the first time he’d taken her, the second, third, or even the last time as the sun brightened the sky and she was so weary even his raking teeth had failed to pull more than low sighs and whimpers from her.
“Get up.”
A swift smack to her backside followed on the heels of his command. Pain ricocheting up her spine, she clenched her teeth around the shriek as she leapt from the bed. Aida fell in a tangle of blankets and limbs, blinking up at the man whose name she could scarce remember. Daring to clutch the thick folds to her naked breasts, hiding away the lurid marks, she cringed when he snapped his fingers in her face. Whimpered as he grabbed her arm and tugged her along like a rag doll when she didn’t move fast enough for his liking.
Swung into the side of the bath, Aida grabbed hold of the edge before she could tumble over into the steaming water. A near miss that became pointless when his hand slapped between her shoulders and shoved her in. Surfacing with a sputtering cough, Aida swiped at her face and dug her heels into the floor. Sluicing through the scalding water until her back braced against the side, as far away from her tormentor as she could achieve.
He laughed at her. A great, deep laugh that came from the belly and all at her expense. Full of mirth while he shed his strange clothes, tossing them away as if they were nothing but cheap muslin. Climbing in after her, he circled her ankle in his grip. Tugging her to where he wanted her, pushing and pulling at her body until she sat spread upon his thighs. Back molded to his chest, he cupped Aida’s chin and craned her neck back. Fingers holding that vulnerable column firm as he set her head against his shoulder and nipped at her ear.
“You did well last night, princess,” he murmured against her damp skin, tongue leaving a burning trail as he licked at her cheek. “For that, I have decided to grant you a measure of mercy. You have much to do, and I do not have time to take my full pleasure from you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Aida murmured to the ceiling. Eyes gone cloudy, filmed over with a sheen of despair, she gave the response she hoped he wished.
He grunted, stiff at her back with a tension that she could feel sizzling through the air and crackling along her skin. Perhaps it hadn’t been the correct response. In a flurry of motion, sloshing water sent all over the place, he rearranged Aida so she faced him. Made to straddle his thighs, her averted gaze landed on the very thing that made
