SurrendersMischief (12 page)

Darias thought about refusing, but the memory of punishment
changed his mind. He shuddered to think of the effect of another session so
soon on his overstimulated body.

He cleared his throat, the taste of capitulation bitter on
his tongue. “I need a few minutes to dress.”

Gaith nodded and quietly shut the door.

Darias looked around for his breeches and tunic, dreading
the thought of leather against his hypersensitive nerves. A scrap of gold cloth
on the bed caught his eye.

He picked it up. The gold and leather thong was unmistakably
an undergarment. The cloth, barely big enough to cover him, was formed to cup
and accentuate his genitals. Darias dropped it as if it burned. He turned to
the rest of the outfit, a black spidersilk tunic and breeches. Against the dark
blue bedspread, the outfit looked exotic.

Folded neatly beside them was his warrior’s outfit.

Riana was taunting him with a choice.

Darias seriously considered donning his old outfit. He’d
feel like a fool, trussed up in that bit of nothing.

And Riana knew it.

She wanted him to choose the leather and give her another
reason to punish him.

Slowly, he reached for the thong. She’d have to do better
than this. If she wanted war, he’d show her war. Not only would he win at her
game, he’d give her a defeat from which she’d never recover.

His breath hissed between his teeth as he slid the confining
material over his erection. The back of the thong slid into the cleft
separating his buttocks, each movement recalling the erotic glide of slender
fingers.

He stepped into the black breeches, hoping the dark material
was cut full enough to conceal his erection. To his shock, the front was cut so
that his balls and shaft were outside. Clothed in gold, his erection stood
proudly and publicly at attention.

Darias set his mouth in a grim line and reached for the
tunic. Beneath it was a leather harness. A mocking imitation of the clothing
he’d forced her to don.

She would allow him no modesty. She intended one and all
should know his shame.

Riana would pay. Both for last night and for the indignity
she was forcing upon him in this excuse for clothing.

Darias was studying his reflection in the mirror when Gaith
poked his head back inside.

“You were right, Gaith. I should have made her rue her
impertinence in challenging her position. I underestimated her resolve.”

“It is too late for regrets. The honor of Nexar must not be
tarnished.”

“Tarnished? No, I will not tarnish it, but I will find a way
to recapture it.”

“You have a plan?”

Darias smiled into the mirror at Gaith, a wolfish showing of
teeth that revealed the ruthless warrior. “Do I not always have a plan? They
are women. What do they know of running an estate, much less a country-state?
Faced with the enormous tasks involved, they will naturally turn toward the
men.” He shrugged with patently insincere regret. “Unfortunately, we are but
slaves, unable to advise.”

Gaith began smiling back.

“At first, our refusal to help could mean repercussions,”
Darias warned. “We must all be prepared for the consequences.” His glance
flickered down his own body, making clear his meaning. “But sooner or later
they will see the folly in their actions and beg us for help. Then we will set
our terms. We must stand firm, as one, otherwise, the plan will fail. See to it
that word is passed to all the men.” He turned, his arm held out to Gaith.

Gaith clasped it, sealing the pledge.

Darias stepped into the hall, still burning with rage, but a
controlled rage with purpose now. He refused to be dragged before Riana like a
recalcitrant servant.

Each step became an agony of arousal. The combination of
gold silk sliding across his erection and the tug and pull of the breeches kept
his desire at a fever pitch.

They were almost to the first set of stairs when, to his
discomfiture, he saw Gaith’s woman advancing toward him, with her was a
brunette Darias didn’t recognize.

The women didn’t even have the decency to look elsewhere but
boldly lowered their gazes to his groin. When they looked up, both wore
identically amused expressions.

Darias cursed beneath his breath as a furious blush heated
his cheeks. Never in his entire life had he been so publicly humiliated. He
felt a muscle in his jaw pulse.

The women stopped in front of them, forcing them to halt.
They were beginning to draw attention of several servants and people who slowed
to watch, sensing a spectacle.

They were about to be disappointed. “My ladies.” He inclined
his head at both women but refused to look directly at them.

“Why are you not in the Great Hall?” Bryta directed her
question toward Gaith.

Beside Darias, Gaith stiffened. “We are on our way there
now, my lady.” Darias noticed that Gaith also kept his gaze directed over the
tops of the women’s heads.

“You are late.” Bryta’s gray eyes were hard. “We will
discuss this too tonight.” She swept past them, her chin haughtily in the air.

“I take it you are not in her best graces?” Darias asked as
they continued downstairs.

Gaith’s hands clenched and unclenched by his sides. “I am to
wait in our garden. It seems gardens have become a popular place of late.” He
lifted a wry brow.

“What did you do?”

“Somehow she found out that my badge contained a sexual
suppressant. She was furious,” he admitted.

Darias didn’t have to wonder how Bryta found out. He knew.
Riana. For a moment he wondered how she had found out then realized in order to
change the voice command on the force field, she had to have bypassed his
password. His curiosity swelled. Did she have the technical skill to hack such
an intricate system or had she somehow used her ship? Then he brushed his
curiosity aside. No matter. The salient detail was she now had access to all of
Nexar’s secrets—and his.

But it was a massive database, he reminded himself. It’d
take time to learn everything. Time they could not afford to waste.

By now, probably all the women in the keep knew of the
suppressant the men took before administering punishment. As well as the
stimulant. That left him and the other men with one less method of
manipulation.

He recalled Riana’s anger. “Do not discount the depth of
your woman’s fury,” he advised. “Nor the effect of detachment during
punishment, even though you know it is artificial.” For the first time, Darias
began to question that aspect of punishment. Nothing had prepared him for the
profundity of his shame when Riana had remained indifferent to his uncontrolled
desire.

Nothing.

“Do not worry. By the time evening approaches, her fury will
have died. Bryta is a gentle soul. She is not like your Riana.”

Gaith’s confidence worried Darias. “I think we have all
underestimated the women’s resentment. It would be dangerous to continue to do
so.”

Their conversation came to halt as they stood in the archway
of the Great Hall. Women jammed the huge room, and he realized Council was in
session. It seemed to Darias that all eyes turned toward him as Gaith escorted
him forward to Riana.

The first step of his plan was to push her off guard by not
giving her any reason to punish him.

He stopped in front of her and knelt without being prompted.

She ignored him for several seconds. When she finally
deigned to look at him, her green gaze was impassive.

The explicit memory of Riana remaining completely unaffected
as she caressed his body slammed into him. Right then and there, he made a vow.
When Nexar was once again in his hands, he would see that the suppressant and
its mate destroyed. It was obvious now that the harm they did was more powerful
than the point made.

“I see you decided not to shame me today.”

His ears burned at the public rebuke.

“No, Lady.”

“Good. Stand up and face the Council members.”

Darias’ head shot up, a protest on his lips.

Riana watched him, a faint smile on hers.

Grinding his back teeth together, he did as commanded,
feeling totally exposed. He stood rigid, his hands at his sides closed into
fists.

“Tell the Council you regret your impudence and have learned
your lesson.”

“I have learned my lesson and regret that you think I was
impudent.” Fury roughened his voice and, despite his best intentions, he
couldn’t resist the jab.

“Stand beside me until business is concluded.” She let the
small defiance go.

What she meant was stand there for all to see his shame. Be
a lesson to the other males of the world. If the former Supreme Chief was not
above chastisement, then neither were they. It was, he admitted silently, a
masterful statement of power.

The day wore on. Darias found he had trouble concentrating
as, every once in a while, Riana would brush the backs of her fingers against
his still painfully erect cock or press her shoulder against his hips. Subtle
but effective reminders of last night.

At last she seemed to lose interest in taunting him,
allowing his arousal to fade until he was only semi-erect. Late in the
afternoon, he finally relaxed, his muscles no longer tightening against
unexpected jolts of pleasure.

Only to jump as Riana, in full sight of anyone who cared to
look, cupped his ass in one hand.

Shocked, he darted a glance down to hers.

Riana’s eyes were slumberous with desire. She stood up. “The
meeting is adjourned.”

Her hand still on his ass, she urged him forward. Darias
heard soft laughter, and the back of his neck grew hot. All too well, he
understood. The suppressant had worn off. Riana intended to have sex with him.
Right now. And she didn’t care who knew.

Darias found he did.

* * * * *

“Take your clothes off.” Riana was already shedding her
clothes with haste. When Darias hesitated, she quit working on her clothes and
began on his. “Hurry. I want you now.” She tore the tunic in her haste. “This
minute.” She shoved down his breeches, her mouth open against his chest. He
smelled clean with a faint tang of musk.

She was burning. Between her legs, her panties grew wet. She
sucked harder, rewarded with his sharp intake of breath, then tore her mouth
away to taste his stomach, licking and nipping at the corded muscles. “Hurry,
Darias!” Impatient, she gave one hard shove.

His feet tangled in his breeches and he toppled backward
onto the bed.

Riana followed, straddling his hips. She didn’t even bother
to remove her opened shirt. Her mouth fastened on the flat copper disk of his
nipple. Raking the beaded nub of flesh with her teeth, she gave it a small,
sharp bite before running her tongue over the small hurt.

Darias went as still as death beneath her.

It took Riana a second to realize he wasn’t responding. She
lifted her head.

“What is it? What’s wrong? I didn’t really hurt you, did I?”

“Why are you punishing me?”

Riana moistened her lips, not sure she had heard correctly.
“Punishing you?”

His eyes searched hers. “You are using your mouth on me.”

“So?”

“Such methods of arousal are reserved for punishment.”

Riana dropped her head onto his chest. She closed her eyes
and prayed for patience. She lifted her head as she put her finger on something
that had been bothering her since being stranded on this benighted planet.

“Is that why you didn’t kiss my breasts whenever we had sex?
Or use your hands to arouse me?” Riana couldn’t keep the incredulity from her
voice. For a race who used sex as a punishment, they were oddly reticent when
it came to foreplay in making love.

“It is forbidden. Custom reserves such intimacies for
punishment.”

“Well, I hate to tell you this, but your customs are about
to change.” She sought the leather thong about his waist and tugged it off in
one swift motion. “Lie back and close your eyes. Think of Nexar. Tell yourself
you have to submit to my desires. Hell, I don’t care. Blame it on the
suppressant—another of your charming customs,” she reminded him sarcastically,
still smarting over her previous punishments. A blatantly sexual smile curved
her lips as she ran her hand the length of his cock.

The muscles in his legs became rock-hard.

She smiled down at him. “Just don’t tell me you don’t want
me. It’s kinda hard to hide the proof.”

Riana was determined to arouse him to the same fierce level
that she had last night. Only this time she was going to give him satisfaction.
A satisfaction that would blow his narrow Nexarian mind.

Her insides quivered with need. First she had to find a way
to control the blasted aftereffects of the suppressant. She was so hot already,
it was a wonder she didn’t incinerate them both.

“You truly are not punishing me?”

His deep, midnight-dark voice thrummed through her. More
liquid trickled from between her legs. If he could do that with just his voice,
Zethra help her if he should actually touch her.

His rough warrior hands closed on her waist before she had
even finished the thought. Riana arched her back, shamelessly offering him her
breasts before she remembered she needed to stay in control long enough to show
Darias the error of his ways…and to teach him things that would make his eyes
cross.

Licking her lips, she took his hands in hers. She guided
them to the thick spindles on the headboard. “Grab them and don’t let go,” she
commanded.

“Riana,” he growled, wariness returning to his voice.

“Trust me, Darias. This is not about punishment.” His hands
flexed under hers and she held her breath as long moments dragged by. Then,
with a reluctance he wasn’t even trying to hide, he did as she bid.

She favored him with a brilliant smile.

“Last night, you enjoyed it when I took you into my mouth,
didn’t you?”