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Two guards appeared at the door and there was no opportunity for her to speak to Marco again as they cuffed her wrists behind her back. As they marched her out of the room, Marco eyed the drawer that contained the strap. That expression on his face, one of annoyance and disappointment, was etched onto her mind as the men bundled her away. She’d wanted adventure, something to break up the routine of life
, and she’d gotten it, heaps of it.
Chapter Twelve
Marco paced up and down Lalita’s office. Having managed to stave off his anger in front of Freya long enough to have her taken away, he’d subsequently come close to punching his fist through the wall of his office.
It made no odds to him that she’d done the deed for another. What bothered Marco was that she hadn’t trusted him. How to prove to her that she could and that she had to for both of their sakes? He’d been alarmed when Lalita had reported her missing from the Volta. The overseer left in charge had had second thoughts about Freya’s request and contacted Lalita, who in turn had sent for him to check his office. He’d not expected to find Freya there because logic taught him that prisoners tried to escape. She’d not though, and it seemed she’d every intention of returning to the Volta, and then what? Confess? Her reasoning defied the logic he preferred to live by.
She’d accused him of having no conscience. He disagreed. He spent much time and energy trying to drag the colony out of anarchy because he believed it was better for the prisoners. Yet, perhaps he’d given little thought to individuals. After he’d calmed down, he’d inspected Lucilla’s file and he was appalled. Her treatment saddened him. A young woman bartered about and when her rebellious father had risen up in arms again, she’d been taken as a hostage and sent to Tagra. Although in the meantime there had been a fragile peace on her home world, Lucilla’s fate had seemed forgotten—she was an inconvenience to the empire. The only reason she’d been sent straight to the Volta had been to keep her safe from hostile prisoners. The previous governor had seen to that, but beyond keeping her out of harm’s way, he’d left her to live in apparent ignorance and to placate her family, he’d merely sent the occasional proof that she was alive. Marco’s predecessor had not even bothered to tell the new governor about Lucilla.
While Lucilla might be the kind who accepted her fate, Freya wasn’t. Freya’s benevolence stirred in Marco a strange sense of pride, but at the same time, it riled him that she’d not thought to approach him directly.
Lalita, sitting in her office, was furious at Freya’s deception.
“She broke so many rules, governor. She is a jenjin. An inferior alien. She must not assume she can simply order us about. She might have adapted to life in the Volta, but she’s still a prisoner and from what I can see, a potential upstart. The others must witness her punishment.”
“I agree she should be punished. I shall carry it out this evening.” He’d prefer to do it privately, but he sensed Lalita wasn’t going to be obliging.
“I insist I am present, and the overseers and servants. Gellis will be spanked thoroughly too by me.”
“Freya coerced her into this; I don’t think she knew that it was a ploy to reach my office.”
“Nevertheless, Gellis admits to her involvement.”
Marco halted his pacing. He felt calmer; it helped to think of Freya and how he would turn her bottom red. The question was how red and with which implements. He folded his arms. “You want this to be witnessed?”
“Absolutely. She will be bound, too. She must be made an example, sir.” Lalita’s eyes were tiny pinpricks and she exuded a determination that even Marco couldn’t consider countering. The woman had been the favorite of one of the emperors and consequently, she had powerful friends back on Halos.
“What else were you thinking of?” he queried softly.
“Her tight little bum hole. It would be appropriate to punish it, don’t you think?”
Marco sighed. It would and he’d thought many a time on how he would do it if the occasion arose. The fantasy itself often had made his cock hard, but now, faced with the reality, it wasn’t so easy to induce an erotic pleasure. “How?”
“The crushed seeds of the sarne plant.”
Marco shook his head and grimaced. “Even Vendu women struggle to tolerate the burning. Too harsh. She’s my jenjin, remember, and I won’t have her suffer.”
Lalita huffed, but she seemed to be losing the fire in her eyes. Time always quelled anger—Marco relied on that theory a great deal when dealing with difficult situations.
“I would suggest the aylerberry then, sir. The juice of which is less potent.”
He used it before, and its side effects might prove useful. It would do. “Very well. This evening she will be brought back to the Volta and straight to the bondage room. You may bring your witnesses, but Lucilla is not to be among them, understood? I have other plans for her.”
* * *
The guards escorted Freya from her cell, where she’d been contained since the morning, and took her back to the Volta. They had left her wrists unbound, but kept her sandwiched between their beefy figures as they walking in unison.
For the few hours she’d been in the custody block, listening to the shouts of the prisoners held in solitary confinement, she’d fretted that Marco might change his mind and send her down into the canyon. When the soldiers had ordered her out of the bare room, they’d said nothing of her fate, but as they marched across the plaza, their destination was apparent.
Although she knew she was walking to her punishment, she was relieved to be returning to the relative safe haven of the Volta. Pacing her tiny cell, she’d realized she feared being cast aside by Marco more than anything. More than the punishment that awaited her. More than the years of captivity. He’d been angry, and perhaps in hindsight, he’d every right to be. She’d treated him not as a lover in whom she could place her trust, but as a means to unlock Lucilla’s secret—she’d abused her position as his jenjin.
She would be corrected and probably severely. She envisaged the punishment suite with its array of implements and spanking benches, wondering which he’d choose. She gritted her teeth and walked up the steps of the Volta—she would have to dig deep, but with Marco, and him alone, she could accept her fate.
Lalita met them in the atrium. Freya expected harsh words of reproach or some cruel words. However, to Freya’s surprise, Lalita seemed pleased to see her. “You’re safely back here, Freya. It would have been better for you not to breach the rules we put in place for you protection and care, but,” she slowly shook her head in an overt display of disappointment, “what’s done is done.” She spoke to the lead guard. “Take her to the bondage room. That is where she will be punished.”
“Bondage room?” stuttered Freya. She edged backwards and one of the guards snatched her arm, halting her progress.
