The Slave (Free Men Book 1)(6)

"As you wish, Kai. Now tell me, do you speak Thirskan?"

"A very little, perhaps. Master."

I ducked my head to hide my smile. Kai was trying to remember. For now, that would be enough.

Master tutted. "You will learn. Tam will teach you. Perhaps at the same  time, you can improve his pronunciation of your language?"

Kai started. "I meant no offence."

Master's eyes narrowed. "You meant no offence when you did what?"

Kai hung his head. "When I criticised Tam's pronunciation."

Master looked at me. "Tam, is this true?"

"It is, Master," I responded warily.

"And you didn't tell me our new slave was impertinent to you?"

"No, Master."

"What other secrets have you been keeping from me?"

"None, I swear!"

There was a dangerous edge to his tone, not quite like he was angry,  almost more like he was teasing me, but I couldn't read his intent when  he growled, soft and low, "Come here."

I stood before him, risking a brief glance down the long table to where Kai stood at the foot, also apprehensive.

"I'm surprised, Tam," Master murmured. "You're normally so obedient."

"I didn't realise I was to tell you. I apologise, Master."

He chuckled. "You don't have to tell me everything." He skimmed his  fingers down my torso, and now I knew there was definitely something  playful in his tone. "I'm sure between you, you can resolve things  perfectly amicably without my constant intervention."

He still spoke Granthian, and Kai nodded acquiescence.         

     



 

"How well did you obey me last night, I wonder?" He gripped my hip,  thumb brushing roughly over the sensitive skin of my stomach. "Did you  touch yourself?"

"No, Master."

"Hmm. Your sheets were clean"-I cringed-"but did Kai relieve you,  perhaps?" He pulled me closer, stroking firmly downward from my belly to  my groin, giving my dick a brief squeeze through my loincloth.

"No, Master," I gasped.

"No?" He stilled and looked from me to Kai. "After the state you left my chamber in last night? That seems a little heartless."

"I didn't ask him."

"And why not?"

I groaned as with a deft twist of his fingers, he unfastened the simple  knot in my loincloth and the material fell to the floor, exposing my  growing arousal.

"Ah, Tam. You didn't want him to touch you like this?" He gripped my  cock, tugging along the length, which rapidly swelled to full hardness.  "Such a beautiful prick." He pulled my foreskin back and traced the head  with the tip of one finger. Sensation shot through me, and I yelped. He  laughed, low and throaty.

He released my cock to cup my balls, rolling them gently in his palm. He  looked at me, but it was to Kai that he spoke. "Has Tam told you of our  little bargain?"

Kai's voice, when he answered, was carefully controlled. "He says you want him to train me."

"As I do." Master bowed his head to breathe lightly on my swollen flesh. "Only you can give him release, has he told you that?"

"No, he has not."

I squeezed my eyes shut, not sure if it was shame, guilt, or just plain  lust I felt as Master flicked me with the very tip of his tongue. He had  done that before, taken me into his mouth, and he knew exactly how it  affected me.

"You will learn, Kai, or Tam will suffer for it." He tugged my balls.  "Sweet Tam, he would rather suffer, wouldn't you dear?" He smiled at me  even as he gave the sensitive underside of my shaft a vicious pinch to  make it deflate. "Yes, it hurts, I'm sorry." He stroked my trembling  flanks, dropping a light kiss on my hip bone as I gasped through the  pain. "Come, dress yourself."

He smacked my arse and turned in his chair to face Kai as I picked up my  loincloth and rewound it across my groin, my cheeks scalding from the  humiliation.

"You know why you have been purchased." He drummed his fingers on the  tabletop. "Tam thought I would give you a better life than any of the  others who would have bought you, and he was right. But I have my rules.  You must serve your purpose. You will learn Thirskan, and you will  teach Tam to speak your language like a native. You will also have basic  house duties to perform. Fulfil those requirements, and I will be  lenient with you when it comes to your other duties. Unlike some, I find  no pleasure in forcing an unwilling lover, and for now Tam satisfies  all my needs."

He stroked a broad palm down my back, and I pressed into the heat of it,  warmed by his possessive touch and the pride in his voice.

"But do not doubt I am your master. Displease me, and you will suffer.  Disobey me, and you will be punished. You will respect me, my house, and  the things I give you." Master levelled Kai with a pointed look. "To  which end, I will not be replacing the items you destroyed yesterday  until you show yourself deserving of them. If that means you are  uncomfortable in the interim, perhaps it will serve to remind you what  your position is now."





҉҉҉





"You let him treat you like that?" Kai turned in the middle of his room to face me, his expression incredulous.

My cheeks burned. "He's my master, he can do as he pleases. Others could treat me far worse."

Kai shook his head. "Didn't it hurt?"

"Yes, it hurt," I flared. "Of course it bloody hurt."

"How can you love someone who hurts you?"

"He doesn't, not normally." I looked at my feet.

Kai frowned. "So it was what-a display? For me?"

"Something like that."

"Proving how powerful he is?" Kai's lip curled in a sneer.

"No, of course not."

"What, then?" He laughed. "Does he think if he keeps you on edge, I'll  take pity on you? Is that it? I'll succumb and fall into your arms so  you can deal with my inexperience and get me ready for him?" He  shuddered. "It's never going to happen."

"You're not exactly my first choice either," I snapped.

"Will you really not touch yourself?"

"Not without his permission."         

     



 

"How would he even know?"

I felt my face redden again. "He'd know."

Kai snorted. "I'd do it anyway, if I wanted to."

"Well, good for you." I glared at him. He didn't understand. I didn't  obey Master because he ordered me to or because I feared him. I obeyed  because I wanted to please him. Because it made me happy when he was  happy. It filled me with a ridiculous sense of pride when he petted me  and told me I'd done well. Ever since I was a child, all I'd wanted was  to earn a smile or a kind word from him, and Master was generous with  both. Perhaps if he'd been cruel to me, I wouldn't have been so keen to  heed him. Maybe even taken a perverse pleasure in disobeying his orders.  Suddenly, a lot of things began to make sense.

"Did you ever respect anyone?" I asked. "Did you have a single superior officer you obeyed simply because you wanted to?"

Kai stiffened. "I followed orders."

"But why?"

He looked surprised. "Because I had to."

"Because you'd be punished if you didn't?"

He nodded.

"I'm not like that." I wondered how to explain. "I'd punish myself far worse than anything Master could think of doing to me."

He looked horrified. "You punish yourself?"

"Not the way you're thinking. He doesn't order me to"-What methods did  an army use?-"to flog myself or anything. I mean I'd feel bad if I  failed him. He doesn't need to punish me any other way."

"He really has got you well trained," Kai sneered.

"You just don't understand," I snapped. "I don't know how to explain it  to you." I huffed, annoyed at his lack of comprehension and my inability  to articulate myself. "Your friend, the one you loved. Imagine if you'd  failed him somehow, if you'd let him down. Think how badly you'd feel.  That's how I feel if I displease Master."

Kai's face fell, the colour draining from his skin. He recoiled, his  expression stricken. "You don't know anything about him," he hissed.

I stepped forward, and he took another step away. "I was only trying to explain how I feel."

"You haven't got a clue." His eyes narrowed venomously. "You have no  idea what it was like, so don't presume to know me. Don't presume to  understand."

"I'm sorry." I held my hands up, a gesture of peace. "It was a mistake. I'm sorry."

He turned his back, sinking onto the bare mattress, bundling himself up  in a tight knot. "You don't know what it was like," he repeated, rocking  slowly back and forth.

I approached, wary of upsetting him further. He didn't react when I sat  beside him, save to turn from me and curl up on his side, his knees  tucked under his chin. I let him be, content to sit quietly beside him  as he trembled with some unknown emotion. I knew I'd screwed up. I knew  nothing of his life, save the very little he had told me, so perhaps it  was stupid to have tried to lever some advantage using that information.  All I'd wanted was to make him understand … .