“But think of the elevation in rank you’ll receive for this. Not just a Mage in my army, but a commander of your own battalion. An increase in pay. In freedom.”
The last two had me perking up. An increase in pay meant I could send money home to my brothers and sisters, hopefully get them out of my mother’s clutches in the brothel. Freedom meant I could maybe, eventually, choose what Iwantedto do, rather than what Ineededto do.
I felt myself nodding before my brain caught up to my decision.
“Wonderful,” Lord d’Refan purred as he strode toward one of the four doors on the opposite wall. “We start now.”
With that, he opened a door, expecting me to follow.
This third room was cavernous—largerthan the last two rooms combined ten times over.
And it was full of beds.
Tables really, as, like the last room, there were no linens or mattresses.
My steps immediately halted once I entered the room, my gaze drawn everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Aside from the sheer size of the room, my eyes registered the light first.
Orbs shone brightly on the walls and were embedded within the ceilings. The entire space was bright enough that there were no shadows within any corners of the room. The black obsidian stone practically shone in the light, so unlike what I was used to seeing in the rest of the Academy.
The noise hit second.
A blend of familiar noises created a cacophony of sound that echoed off the high ceilings and stone walls. The low moans of men and women in the throes of passion, and some pain, morphed together. The slick sound of skin slapping skin and the telltale slurping noise of a mouth around a cock. When one stopped, another began, creating a continuous soundtrack that ambled throughout the space.
My gaze immediately snapped to the men and women strapped to the tables. Each was secured in the same fashion as I was mere hours ago—a strap across the forehead, one across the chest and upper arms, and a third across the top of the thighs.
The biggest difference, though, was that my legs and feet hung straight from my body. Here, men and women alike had their legs spread wide, their position held by cuffs and chains at the very end of the table.
The reasoning was immediately clear, causing even me—a boy who grew up in a pleasure house—to blush.
Bare-assed men thrust into the open pelvises of those stretched out on the tables, the muscles flexing in their backs, shoulders, and butts with each thrust. Women balanced on top of tables, their bare pussies exposed to the rest of the room as they glided up and down the dicks of men on the table. I glanced down the row and noticed both men and women deep throating cocks and eating pussy, the legs of the recipients shaking in ecstasy as they came.
One man even had a woman on his cock while another man thrust deep into his ass. He groaned loudly, his sounds resounding higher than those around him.
Two men in black robes, the same I’d seen in the previous room, rushed to the table at the noise, clutching small instruments that glinted in the light.
I cocked my head in curiosity, watching as they surrounded his table, one on each side. In synchrony, they began making cuts along the man’s torso and arms. Small at first, but they grew in size and severity, the louder the man’s moans became.
I was transfixed, utterly unable to move. Caught somewhere between revulsion and intrigue, disgust and arousal, as I watched the two men in robes inflict increasing pain on the man as he found his release in the woman on top of him.
As soon as he finished, the woman pushed herself up and off the table, his softening dick falling from her pussy as his cum cascaded down her thighs. Without turning around, and not bothering to clean herself, the woman approached the next table and mounted the man strapped down without a second thought.
I shook my head slightly at the sight.
Clearly, these people were hired flesh and, on closer inspection, the brand on their right shoulder confirmed my suspicion.
I wonder which pleasure house they belong to, I thought as I watched the men in black robes make notes in a large leather journal that was attached to one of the front legs of the table. It hung by a strap, its suspension tool also serving as a bookmark for easy access to the current page of notes.
“They’re making observations about his blood. About his characteristics before, during, and after the experiment,” a low, gravely voice spoke in my ear, and I jumped at the intrusion. Lord d’Refan chuckled lowly. I glanced at him behind my shoulder, but his eyes never wavered from the robed men.
I opened my mouth to speak, but had to wet my lips a few times before I could actually voice my question.
“What are they doing?” I whispered. Lord d’Refan was silent, and I became concerned that my question was lost to the noise in the room.
“Each of the men and women on the tables you see is tested for the possibility of carrying two powers.”
“Like me,” I added unnecessarily.
