Page 41 of Plug and Tame

“Yes, Nathaniel, let’s do exactly this. Show me what the consequences are for disobeying the Crown Prince.” She shoved him in the chest. “Show me exactly what the punishment is.”

She punched him, but he caught her fist. She swung with her other hand, her uppercut hitting him under his jaw, his teeth clicking audibly.

She laughed in his face, sounding half-mad to her own ears. “I expect I will need correction after that, won’t I, sir? For hitting you. For not being good enough.”

She hit him again and again, and he just stood there and took it, watching her in concern as her voice grew higher pitched as she taunted him. “Don’t just stand there, sir. Aren’t you going to punish me?” She swung at him again.

Nathaniel caught her wrist. “I will punish you if it keeps you alive. My father is not a forgiving man, and what he expects from his courtesans are—”

“Courtesans?” Kira half-shrieked, half-laughed the word. “Why not just call me a whore? Or a slut? That’s your preferred term, isn’t it? There’s no need to sugarcoat it. Or will it make you feel better to call me a courtesan when your father is the one who’s fucking me?”

Nathaniel flushed red, the veins throbbing at his temple. Kira laughed again, but this time it was a wretched sound, and that’s when she realised she was crying, the tears drenching her face and blurring her vision.

“That’s all I am, aren’t I, Nathaniel?” she sobbed, grabbing the front of his shirt and pushing him without letting go of the fabric, unwilling to truly push him away.

Her sobs cut off as he gripped her chin, his voice deep and menacing.

“You know what you are to me. You are everything.” He cupped her face, kissing her teary cheeks and mouth. His kisses stifled her sobs as she clung to him, wishing he did not have to let go.

“You are everything to me,” Nathaniel repeated, the statement resounding deep in her heart. He pulled back, looking haggard as love and pain flitted across his face. “But the road ahead is dangerous, and I will ensure you survive the ordeal ahead. This is not a game. My father expects you to be perfectly trained. So if you wish to avoid a whipping, if you wish to survive long enough that he lets his guard down so you can defeat him, then you must be flawless. And I will ensure you make it out the other side alive. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Because you will triumph over evil, Kira, and then you will rule.”

His expression changed, the raw tenderness he was showing her slipping away until his features were blank, and she saw a shadow of his father in the thin line of his mouth and the cold stare of his eyes.

“Now, let us begin anew. A fresh slate, a second chance.” He paused, as if to let his words sink in. “There will be no punishment if you obey me right now.” He paused again, and when he spoke next, there was no love in his words. “Get on your knees.”

Kira choked back a sob, shaking her head in fear and denial, as she spoke the only word she needed in order to challenge him: “No.”

“No? Think carefully, pet, before you disobey—”

“I said no.”

She glared at him, because even though it wasn’t his fault, he was the only one she could reveal her inner turmoil to. She was frustrated at how little control she had over her own life and was absolutely devastated that the person she wanted most in the world, the one who could make her heart sing and her soul come alive, was off limits.

Her rage bubbled beneath the surface, injecting her veins with fury until she felt like she’d burst. Maybe it wasn’t fair on Nathaniel, but lashing out at him felt good, giving her a fleeting sense of release.

“Kira,” he warned, sounding more like himself in that instant than his father as he urged her to obey. “Do not force my hand.”

“I said no!” she screamed, swinging for his head.

He ducked and grabbed her around the middle, wrestling her to the ground and turning her onto her front. He pushed her face and chest down into the mud as she cursed him.

She struggled, but his heavy weight pinned her, and she was powerless to do anything as he held her down.

“Calm yourself.”

“Fuck. You!”

He stroked her hair, offering solace and gentle words of comfort in her ear as her body convulsed with sobs for minutes on end.

Finally, the tears subsided, and it left her feeling tired and numb. She tried to angle her face so she could wipe her muddy tears on her shoulder, but she only managed to make it smear more.

A long silence followed as they lay there in the grey pre-dawn, Nathaniel’s hard body firm and heavy as he lay on top of her, his erection growing more obvious by the second as it pressed into her ass.

“Do it,” she finally said, because he had no choice, and because she’d given him a thousand reasons to punish her. He couldn’t let this slide. They both knew it.