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Besides, I considered it my good fortune to get another look at her delicious, perfect curves. She was covering her breasts with her crossed arms, her nostrils flaring and her eyes wide and alarmed.
“Easy,” I murmured as I walked toward her. I approached slowly, watching every movement.
She was breathing hard but did not move as I neared.
When I was within arm’s length I stopped, reaching my palm out toward her. She watched it warily but did not stop me. I closed my fingers around her tiny, delicate wrist and pulled her to me.
“Good girl,” I praised her softly as I stroked her cheek. “No one will hurt you. Well—” I made sure her eyes were on me as I added, “No one besides me, anyway.”
Ari
My eyes widened as his words registered. I tried to pull my wrist away, but his strong fingers only tightened their hold. I tried to speak—I opened my mouth to protest. No! Why would you hurt me? I’ve done nothing! What do you want from me?
But when I heard merely unintelligible grunting, the complete picture of what I had done in giving up my voice hit me with a sickening impact.
To make matters even worse, the way the prince was looking at me had my thighs quivering and some sort of water gathering in the folds between them.
“You have to get dressed.” The prince’s statement was laced with authority. “Those poor women you were attacking were only trying to do their job.”
Their job! Their job cannot be to manhandle me! I did not come here for this! Though I could not speak, I locked gazes with the prince and let my eyes do the talking for me.
He must have seen something there in my expression or the jut of my chin because he chuckled. “They obey my orders, waif, not yours.”
And before I could wonder what a waif was, his hand came down in a lash across my skin. My mouth opened, and though not a sound emerged, I was indignant at his action. Pain bloomed across my skin—the place that had once been the top of my fin.
“Do I need to spank you?” he asked, his eyes boring into mine. “Or will you obey now?”
Stunned by what had occurred, I nodded and dropped my head in defeat.
Without another word the prince walked over to the selection of clothes and returned to my side moments later with a long pink garment.
“Lift your arms,” he said, his voice silken but authoritative.
Afraid of what would happen if I didn’t—the pain still throbbed along my skin—I reluctantly held my arms up. Then the pink fabric whispered across my skin and down my body.
The prince took a step back, looking at me. “You look lovely,” he announced. “Not as much as when you were naked, but there is nothing to be done about that at present.” Then he winked, and suddenly the hurt was soothed to a slow, tingly pulsing. “You can certainly be a handful,” he remarked. “But as I think you can see, I know how to deal with that, so I suggest you behave.”
Meekly, my head bobbed.
“Good. Now, are you hungry?” He offered me his arm.
I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to do with it, so I stood motionless, watching him with curiosity.
“Naughty waif.” He clicked his tongue, but sounded amused as he took my hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. “Now, come along. I’ve worked up quite an appetite.”
Damian
I did not know what to make of her. We were seated next to each other at the long banquet table, and taking a meal together was proving to be quite an education in who this nameless waif was.
She could not speak, that much was obvious, and yet, she seemed to win over all the servants with her limpid green eyes and the flash of a beautiful smile.
The angry wretch I’d encountered minutes ago had evaporated with the first course. A less intelligent man might think she’d only been hungry, but I’d seen the way she’d responded to my discipline.
If a single spank can turn her mood around, imagine what a proper whipping could do…
But I dismissed the thought while I watched her make faces at the infant being held across the table. The child giggled at her antics, but my personal butler Grimsley looked unamused. Of course, he often did, so I disregarded his sour expression.
The child’s mother appeared utterly charmed. “She has been quite a handful,” she admitted with a weary sigh as she leaned forward.
