HIS REPRIMAND AND HIS HEARTT
he king closed his book and turned his attention to his mistress. “My slave does not manipulate me, Vetta. She has not been manipulative; if she is, it is for to me to find out. I haven’t discovered any, so this is an accusation you make without basis.”
He didn’t believe her!? “But my king---” she began again.
“Let’s drop the subject,” he ordered, never one to raise his voice.
Vetta snapped her mouth shut, raging in her mind. He wouldn’t even listen to the things she had to say! Was he shutting her out now? “Your wish is my command, Your Highness.” She bowed her head, biting her lips hard to keep her actual feelings in.
He picked up his book and opened it. The silence stretched as he began going through it.
Vetta hovered over him, wanting to share this moment with him. He writes, reads, and works with Danika—the one thing she couldn’t do. She hated it! She tried to see the words, but they may as well have been written in a foreign language. She was just literate enough to recognize the occasional word, so she focused her attention elsewhere.
Vetta placed her hand on his hair, and he stiffened automatically at the contact. But he didn’t pull away or order her out. She took it as the plus it was. She reveled in running her hand through the soft mass of curls. He had the best texture of hair.
“The reason I’ve been searching for you all morning is because of Danika,” he stated firmly, his concentration back on his book.
She ran her hands down his neck to his shoulders and back to his head again. “What about her, Your Highness?”
“You do not drag her by the hair or beat her up again without legitimate reason from today onwards.” He flipped through another new page and blew away the dust before reading.
Vetta’s hands faltered on him, and she stiffened. She wasn’t sure she heard him correctly. “M-my king?”
“In this world, every day, I write petitions and notes and oversee proceedings because of the maltreatment of slaves all over the twelve kingdoms. I must put a stop to it.” He continued with a flip of another page. “Slaves are humans and are already in the lowest on the food chain. They suffer every day, and they labour day and night.” He paused. “They do not need to be mistreated and punished for crimes they haven’t committed—especially from people who have no right to execute punishments on these slaves.”
Vetta was downright dumbfounded. She could only stare at the king, dread filling her heart.
He raised his eyes, sparing her a glance, and then said, “Danika is my slave. She is not just any slave, but the king’s slave. I am the only one with the right to treat her unkindly and abuse her recklessly as I see fit; she is my property. She belongs to me. I will not tolerate it if my mistress punishes my slave when she hasn’t done anything to deserve it.” His eyes found hers. “Walking around with a burning scalp.”
Her cheeks flushed with guilt at the mention of that. She averted her eyes.
“…. or going around with a handprint on her cheek,” he finished. “That should stop.”
“My king. A-are you saying that I should stop p-punishing her?” She couldn’t help asking, chastised.
He nodded firmly. “When she does nothing wrong to you.”
She opened her mouth. Snapped it shut. Opened it again.
He watched her with a giant frown before she finally said, “Your wish is my command, my king.”
Silence ensued, thickening in the air.
Vetta was so angry and hurt; it was in her composure. In every part of her being, she was almost shaking with it. The worst of it was that the king seemed angry too. When his eyes flashed, Vetta couldn’t help thinking that he had remembered something, and whatever it was, had his body frozen and drawn taut like a bow.
She didn’t want him to be angry at her because it wouldn’t go well for her. “I… I am sorry for mistreating y-your slave, my king. It wasn’t my intention to be hard on her. I just can’t forget who she is no matter how I try; I c-can’t forget what her father put us through.”
He said nothing. But his eyes were on her and not on the book.
She dropped herself to her knees in front of him between his legs and unbuckled his belt. She unclothed his soft flesh and took him into her hand.
“I am not in the mood for this, Vetta,” he said calmly.
“I will put you in the mood, my king.” She was relieved that he was not ordering her away.
When she took him into her mouth and began pleasuring him, he let her. Eyes like a bottomless pit watched her with an expressionless face. She closed her eyes and pleasured him, licking and stroking him while he grew hard in her hands. She relaxed perfectly and took her time worshipping him. She had been with him for five years; she knew how to please him, how to make his body feel for her. Want her.
It took longer than usual for him to enjoy her ardor; she realised she succeeded when his eyes finally slid close, and he groaned from the back of his throat in pleasure.
As she continued stroking and sucking him, he ordered her to touch herself.
It was a pleasure session she had missed. She snaked her hand beneath her dress and rubbed herself in time with each of her strokes on him. Her muffled moans filled the air. When she had him wired up, she stood and pulled up her wears. She straddled him, sheathing him deep inside her with a cry until she was fully seated on him. She rode him hard and deep until he came with a grunt. She followed right behind him until they were both satisfied, their breathing mixed and erratic in the air.
Finally, she rose from him with a satisfied smile on her face. Her body was tingling everywhere.
He dressed and pulled her close, palming her cheeks. “You please me.”
She glowed under the praise. She wanted to be the only person who pleased him. She wanted him to belong to her alone and would do everything to ensure that happened.
She bowed her head. “Thank you, my king. You please me, too, and I will remember your words forever.”
He nodded dismissively.
She arranged her underthings and started towards the door.
“Vetta?”
She paused at the door and turned back to him. “My king.”
He looked her in the eyes. “I was distraught yesterday, and I know you were too. You were worried about me, so I will pretend that I don’t know that you slapped Chad. I will chalk it up to how worried you were, but it should not happen again. Ever.”
What. The. Hell? He knew?
“T-thank you, my king,” she stammered out, flustered. She didn’t know that he would remember that with how drugged and sick he was.
“If it happens again, I will trounce you. Nobody should ever disrespect Chad. He does not deserve it. He is more than an assistant to me. I will not have it,” he stated in a gentle but vehement tone.
Chad is close to your heart!? What about me!? She wanted to scream at him. Instead, she lowered her head. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“You can go now.”
Vetta’s heart raced in her chest as she walked out of his room.
She put it all out of her mind. Instead, she withdrew her wrapped fertility pill from her corset and swallowed it.