Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 75260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
I couldn’t look up, couldn’t bear to see the knowing looks on their faces. My blush spread down my neck to my chest, staining my bare skin crimson. My hands, still clasped behind my back, trembled violently.
“Of course, Your Royal Highness,” First Minister Havelorn replied, his voice carrying a note of masculine understanding that made my humiliation complete. “You must be properly rested for tomorrow’s Academy tour.”
Mistress Orela nodded, her clinical gaze sweeping over my blushing form. “Indeed. And the girl will need time to recover before her first day of training. Initial anal penetration can be quite… overwhelming.”
Several of the Euporian men chuckled, the sound rippling through the hall like a wave. I wanted to disappear, to sink through the floor, to be anywhere but here—exposed and naked, my most intimate fate discussed as casually as the weather.
“Come, Viola,” Prince Hendren commanded, taking my elbow. “Bid our hosts goodnight.”
“G-goodnight,” I stammered.
CHAPTER 5
Viola
“I won’t go.” The words hung in the air between us, my voice steadier than I’d expected. We stood in the gorgeous state bedroom of the embassy, surrounded by understated opulence that made me miss my presidential palace with a physical ache in my chest.
“You can punish me however you wish, Sire,” placing an extra emphasis on Sire to make sure the prince didn’t think I meant the title with the slightest bit of sincerity, “but I will not set foot in that Academy.”
Prince Hendren’s expression didn’t change, but something dangerous flickered in his eyes. He stood before me in his immaculate uniform, the silver shield with three purple stars gleaming on his breast, while I knelt naked on the plush carpet of our private quarters. The contrast wasn’t lost on me, obviously—his clothed power against my naked vulnerability—yet I had found this small rebellion within myself.
“Is that so?” he asked, his aristocratic voice soft, but threatening. “After everything you’ve seen today, you still believe you have choices?”
I swallowed hard, but held his gaze. “In this, yes. Whip me if you must. I’ve endured it before.” My hands trembled slightly where they rested on my thighs, but I kept them visible, refusing to hide my fear. “But I will not voluntarily walk into that place.”
The prince circled me slowly, his boots making no sound on the thick carpet. “Fascinating,” he murmured. “After a week of training, you choose this moment to make your stand.” He stopped behind me, his fingers trailing along my shoulder. “Why, I wonder? What about the Academy frightens you so?”
“It doesn’t frighten me,” I lied, the words bitter on my tongue.
“No?” His hand tangled in my hair, pulling my head back sharply. “Then perhaps it excites you.”
My breath caught. “That’s absurd.”
“Is it?” The prince released my hair and moved to stand before me again. “Stand up and face the mirror.”
I rose on unsteady legs and turned toward the full-length mirror that dominated one wall of the chamber. My reflection stared back at me—naked, collared, my newly bare sex exposed, my nipples hardened despite my best efforts to control my body’s responses.
“Look at yourself,” Prince Hendren commanded, standing behind me. “Tell me what you see.”
“A prisoner,” I whispered.
“No.” His hands settled on my shoulders. “Look deeper. See the flush on your chest? The way your pupils have dilated? You don’t know yourself anywhere near as well as you think, Viola.”
I closed my eyes, unable to bear the sight of my treacherous body.
“Open them,” he snapped. “Tell me the truth, Viola. The Academy fascinates you, doesn’t it? The structure, the discipline, the complete surrender it demands—it calls to something deep inside you.”
“No,” I insisted, but even to my own ears, the denial sounded hollow.
As I stared at my reflection, a terrible realization dawned. I did want to be punished. I wanted him to whip me, not just because the pain had become inexplicably tangled with pleasure in my mind, but because, deep down, I wanted the excuse. If he forced me, if he punished me severely enough, I could go to the Academy with my conscience intact. I could tell myself I had no choice.
The truth hit me with such force that I swayed slightly on my feet. I was indeed fascinated by the Academy, just as my master had said. The total control, the submission it demanded—all of it called to something primal inside me that I’d spent my entire political career denying. The part of me that had, to my absolute horror, secretly thrilled when the Magisterian ships first appeared in Artemisian orbit, that had felt a forbidden excitement when signing the surrender documents.
I was so horrified by this revelation that I pushed it deep down inside myself, locking it away where Prince Hendren could never find it. I would never tell him. I would never give him that satisfaction.
“Your silence speaks volumes,” the prince murmured, his breath warm against my ear. “But I don’t need your confession. I can read your body perfectly well. Let’s start with your governor set to level three, to make sure you don’t get too excited.”