Perfect Master (5 page)

That pronouncement made Emerald seethe, but
she rose and forced what she imagined was a regal smile. “We must begin, then.
I’ll assume you’re as talented a lady’s maid as you are a personal pleasure
slave.”

Hikaru shrugged then shot her a mischievous
smile. “We shall see, my lady. Take a seat here by the window and we will get
started.”

She’d never felt quite so pampered.
Beginning with her toes and moving up the outsides of her calves and thighs,
the slave massaged warm oil from the sweet olive trees on Earth into every
square inch of her skin. Unlike her maid at home, he had long, strong fingers
and a sure touch that was more stimulating than relaxing, especially when he
spread her legs and worked his magic along her inner thighs and the outer
petals of her sex.

An exotic-looking creature, Hikaru seemed
oblivious to her feminine charm. Of course he was. He was a possession,
different from her only in the fact that he was neither male nor female—a
sexless servant who could arouse but apparently not become aroused himself.

A pity. Emerald’s juices were flowing. She
wanted release—had to have it before she faced the courtiers. She reached down
and stroked his cleanly shaved scalp and his ear with its diamond stud.
“Service me now,” she ordered, and when he dipped his head between her legs and
tongued her clit she pressed his hands hard against her breasts, needing to
feel the tug of the nipple rings and the chain between them.

So wet. So hot. She wanted her Master’s
cock in her cunt, her mouth, her ass. When she moaned, Hikaru began to
tongue-fuck her, his warm mouth and methodical stabbings more soothing than
arousing. He plucked at her ringed nipples until they swelled and hardened.
She’d never been so aware—aware that she needed the man in the room across the
hall. Her Master, who in one short day had spoiled her with his monster cock
and taught her there could be no substitute for it, not now. Not ever.

Emerald no longer wanted to come. Not like
this. Not without her Master. She wanted him to be the one to stroke and pet
her, to arouse her with his tongue. “Stop!”

Hikaru sat back on his haunches, his head
bowed. “I know what you need, my lady, and I wish I had it to give. Come now,
and I will dress you to meet the king’s faithful subjects.”

Shame washed over Emerald. “I am sorry.”
Surely it must pain this sweet, young eunuch who was once a royal prince to
look at himself and see winking diamonds on a royal crest, instead of male
genitals.

“Don’t be. They gelded me when I was nine
years old. Though I’ve pleasured powerful men of the court, yesterday was the
first time in my life I fully understood exactly what joys were taken from me.”
He fell silent as he picked up a pair of scissors from the dresser. “Don’t
worry. I’m only going to even it up. Prince Arik insisted that your hair be cut
short, not shaved.”

“I don’t mind bald. Your head feels…incredibly
soft. Still, I’d rather have some hair, even if no man but my Master will ever
get to see it.” Emerald loved the feel of the tightly curled, short pelt, the
incredibly light feel of her head, the unfamiliar coolness of the breeze when
it tugged at the short strands of her hair and swirled over her scalp.

“It’s traditional for the royal eunuchs to
remove their hair. By now it seems as natural as brushing my teeth to lather up
each morning and shave my head clean. Stroking it with the razor feels almost
as good as stimulating my prostate with a dildo.” Hikaru set down the comb and
clippers and tunneled a finger into the short curls at the crown of Emerald’s
head. “There. I think you’re finished here. Are you ready for your wig?”

“Yes.” She didn’t relish wearing the heavy,
jeweled headgear, but she figured she had to put up with a little discomfort
for the prestige of being consort to her country’s reclusive Crown Prince Arik.

“Close your eyes, my lady.” When Hikaru
clapped his hands, the door flew open. She felt a surprisingly light weight
settle on her head, heard the eunuch dismiss whoever had come in. Something
soft and silky fell over her shoulders, kissing her belly, her arms and legs.

“You may look now.”

Yesterday a submissive bride, today a
princess. The short, curly-haired wig, not much different from the hair Hikaru
had just trimmed, had been strewn with diamonds set on fine wire mesh. Her
robes were not gold or silver but a shimmering combination of both colors, so
sheer she could have spotted the smallest blemish if one had dared pop up on
her royal person. “I want to see my Master now,” she said, imagining him
similarly attired, his muscles rippling beneath his own princely robe.

“In but a few moments, my lady. I must go
and ready him now that he has broken his fast.”

* * * * *

This morning he’d even hidden his cock
behind black leather. He had to be roasting in the heat, for Obsidion’s sun
beat down on them as they strolled through the palace gardens. Emerald bit back
a sarcastic comment when she smiled up at Prince Arik, or rather at the single
deep-brown eye that was all of him that she could see. “How do you eat?” she
blurted before she could call back the words.

“The same way you do, I imagine.” His tone
implied amusement, but it infuriated her, having to converse with a mate she’d
fucked and sucked yet never seen up close. “I take my meals in my chamber.”

Away from everybody, including me
. “Why?”

“Because I cannot eat while I wear this.”
He lifted his left hand and touched the spot where she guessed his mouth must
be. “Trust me, my princess. You don’t want me to remove it.”

Did he hide some horrible disfigurement?
Emerald couldn’t imagine he did. Still he seemed quite sane—not the sort of man
who’d adopt his fearsome mode of attire for no better reason than to intimidate
his father’s subjects. “Were you in your chamber the night before we mated?
Standing in the window overlooking town?”

“Yes. I find it clears my mind, looking
down at the Street of Pleasure, imagining myself playing there like other men.”

“I saw you. You are beautiful. Perfect. I
wondered then as I wonder now why you choose to hide behind all this.” When she
reached out and touched the leather stretched over his right upper arm, he
winced.

“I don’t know what you thought you saw, or
what kind of trick telescope you were using. I’m not beautiful. I am scarred,
so scarred I would terrify children and give their mothers nightmares if I
didn’t wear this bodysuit.” He spoke slowly, as though he thought her a
simple-minded child. “The scars are reminders of injuries I suffered years ago
in a dogfight off Eastphalia with three mercenary captains. My father had sent
them to kill me and they almost succeeded, in case you want to know.”

She’d attributed his halting gait to the
tight leather bodysuit, but maybe… “Were your legs injured?” That was the only
possible infirmity she’d noticed.

“One leg. One arm. One side of my body and
face.” He sounded weary, resigned. “If you saw me in the window and didn’t
notice, it must have been my uninjured side you were ogling. Come with me. You
have already taken my seed into your luscious body. Since you’re obviously
fascinated about seeing what I hide from the rest of my father’s subjects, I
will show you.”

* * * * *

In his chamber, Arik punched a button on
the intercom. “Contain yourself, my princess. The unveiling will necessarily
have to wait until my body servant arrives. Meanwhile, you may disrobe. I’ll
enjoy watching you, and watching him restrain you.”

“I need no restraining. I am your willing
mate.” Her steady gaze as she slipped off her royal robes and stood before him
naked but for her wig very nearly persuaded him she spoke the truth—that she
possessed the fortitude necessary to withstand looking at the devastation that
nearly made him vomit every time he saw himself.

She might even think she could take it, but
he knew better. “You forgot to take off your wig. When we’re alone, I want to
see you in all your naked glory.”

She lowered her gaze as though showing him
proper respect. “I have no shame, not before my Master.” She lifted off the
diamond-strewn confection of auburn curls, moved in front of the window and
shook her head. She must have known that would make the sun’s rays bounce off
her closely clipped hair, must have sensed how much he longed to discover with
his own hand the feel of that bright, curly pelt.

He’d soon indulge that longing. He’d stroke
her silken skin and lick the cream from her plump cunt lips the way Hikaru and
the other royal eunuchs had done in his stead during the mating ceremony. He
wet his lips behind the hood—the air vents suddenly seemed to have closed. He
practically gasped for breath at the closed-in sensations.

Where was Hikaru? Arik’s cock had swollen
painfully within its leather confines. “Come, then, if you have no shame, for
looking at you has me seriously aroused. Free my cock and pleasure me while we
wait for Hikaru.”

“Yes, my lord.” When she fondled him
through the leather, searching for the zipper that provided access to his sex,
he couldn’t stifle a groan. “I love this…love the feel of it in my cunt.”

The zipper opened abruptly, and she slipped
one soft hand inside the suit to cup his sac. “I want to suck these, too. I
want to feel them bouncing against my warm, wet slit. And I want to feel every
inch of you caressing me.”

May the gods help me.
She was offering him the sort of fucking he’d accepted was forever
beyond his reach—an offer he was certain she’d rescind as soon as she saw him
as he was—as he’d vowed to stay for the rest of his life.

Emerald drew up a cushion and knelt on it.
She took his cock head in her mouth, encompassing it within that hot, wet
cavern, licking around the corona and lapping the slippery lubrication that
oozed from its tip. Her lips tightened around his shaft while she gently
squeezed his scrotum. Fuck, he was about to come, and he didn’t want it to be
like this.

“Stop.”

She lifted her head and looked up at him
but kept caressing his balls and the base of his cock with gentle hands. “Why,
my lord?”

Because…because he couldn’t bear to have
her show him heaven only to snatch it away. And she would. No woman could
possibly stand looking at the monster he’d become. Still, no woman could tempt
him to change his path—to give in to lust and toss away the righteous vengeance
he enjoyed each time he saw the pain and guilt in his father’s eyes.

“I don’t want you to see me. If you do, you
will run as others have, and I want very much for you to stay.”

“We are mated. You claimed me before King
Gawain and his entire court. I am your princess, and I intend to remain your
princess for the rest of my life.”

As certain as Emerald sounded now, Arik
wouldn’t let himself hope her determination would survive the shock she was
about to receive. But he was impatient, no longer willing to wait for Hikaru.
“We shall see how long you feel that way. Take off my hood.”

“How?” She reached up and stroked his
cheeks, a puzzled look on her beautiful face.

He managed to hold back an oath when she
ran the back of her hand over the ravaged side of his cheek, sending shards of
pain down his neck and arm. “Not there. The seam around my neck unfastens all
the way around. Once the hood comes apart from the bodysuit, you can loosen the
laces at the back of my head and lift it off.”

Cool air surrounded Arik’s throat as the
hood separated from the suit. A hiss erupted from Emerald when she slid her
fingers into the opening. “I told you I have scars,” he said shortly. “You said
you wanted to see.”

“I do.” She didn’t sound as certain now
that she’d felt part of the thick, raised scar that took a jagged path from the
stump of his right arm over mutilated flesh and bone, until it disappeared into
his hairline above where a laser shot from one of his attackers had gouged out
his right eye.

He couldn’t let her do it. “Zip the hood
back on, Emerald, and be satisfied with knowing only as much of me as I show my
father’s subjects.”

“No.”

“Do it.” Damn it, his princess was proving
to be a very disobedient slave.

As though she knew her touch would steal
his resolve, she wedged one hand inside the hood and tunneled her fingers into
his hair. “I want to know all of you, Master.”

He wanted to stop her but what she was
doing felt too good. “Please, by the gods, don’t do it.” Arik couldn’t bear to
see the revulsion on her face but he couldn’t make himself drag her hand away.

“Why not? Your hair is as soft as I
imagined it would be. Move in front of the stool so I can stand on it and reach
the laces. First, though, call off your royal eunuch, and trust that your scars
will not repulse me. I wish to serve my prince—my Master—in every possible
way.”

Her touch was warm, soothing, yet
incredibly arousing, her suggestion mesmerizing…hypnotic. He spoke into the
communicator by the bed. “Hikaru, wherever you are, I no longer require your
service. I will summon you after—”

“After he services his mate—properly this
time.” Her husky promise made Arik’s cock twitch to life, though it had
shriveled at the sound of her distress a moment earlier.