Emily's mind was muddled, still full of hot feverish images of Franz's body and Naomi's caresses. Between her legs her sex was throbbing; a dark heady mix of pleasure and an aching tenderness. On her buttocks the sting of the brand mark made every movement uncomfortable.
Her rational mind couldn't quite grasp what had happened to her, but the instinctive animal half knew only too well. She had been taken, she had submitted – and she relished it. There was a peculiar sensation of elation deep inside her. Her body was no longer hers, owned instead by the masters of Deuvar.
She had expected to stay at the Haroldson's guest cottage until the following day and was surprised when Naomi had announced they had been invited to the main hall.
The car moved slowly up the drive. Outside, the frost gave everything a strange magical quality, echoing the odd feeling Emily had in her belly. At the elegant main entrance to the mansion the car pulled to a halt and the occupants climbed out into the starlit night. Emily was hardly aware of the cold or the sensation of the gravel beneath her feet.
Franz tightened his hold on the leash and she wondered if he thought that she might try and make a run for it. If he did, he had wildly underestimated the effect he had on her. Instinctively she fell behind, letting Naomi, her husband and Franz take the lead. With eyes downcast, she followed them into the warm confines of Deuvar.
She shivered when she saw that the guard on duty was Birdie. He eyed her speculatively, grinning. She wondered if he could sense the change in her.
Naomi Haroldson barely glanced at him. "We have been invited up to Leonora's office," she said flatly, as she handed her coat to an attentive doorman.
Birdie nodded. "They are expecting you, Mrs Haroldson. If you'd like to follow me."
The little group walked in silence through the opulent house up to Leonora's rooms. Outside the panelled door, Birdie glanced at Franz and then Emily.
"Would you like me to take her for you, sir?" Birdie said, extending his hand, glittering eyes lingering on Emily's body.
Franz nodded.
An instant later Leonora opened the door for the party and signalled to Birdie. "Get Kai for me."
Emily noticed that the Eurasian woman didn't even look in her direction.
When the door closed again Birdie grinned. "Back early," he sneered. Emily bit her lip. Birdie continued, "You know why they've brought you back, don't you? They're going to punish Kai for your little escapade. I reckon they think it'll teach you a lesson. I told you what she can expect."
Emily shivered and then looked up at him. "I'm sorry," she said on a whispered breath.
Birdie looked at her quizzically, ignoring the fact that she had broken the rule of silence. It was quite obviously not the response he had expected. "Sorry?"
Emily nodded. Her mind had been racing since she had been to the Haroldsons. "Peter Howard used to come here, didn't he," she said flatly, the words spoken as a statement, not a question.
Birdie was still eyeing her suspiciously. "Yeah, he did. He was the guy you were engaged to, right?"
"Yes." She paused for a second, thinking about Peter's face and the bright flame of desire she had seen in his eyes when they had first met. Peter's features merged and changed slowly into those of Franz, Naomi Haroldson, even Johnson's. She glanced up at Birdie. Her voice was unsteady and full of emotion.
"Peter saw something in me that I didn't know was there. It's almost as if he meant me to come to Deuvar, if I hadn't come here, then he would have trained me in the same way. Peter wanted to be my master as well as my husband." A single bright crystal tear rolled down her cheek. "He understood me better than I did myself."
Birdie coughed, his expression unfathomable. "I've got to fetch Kai," he said.
Emily nodded. "If I'd understood I wouldn't have tried to escape," she said in a voice so low that she might almost have been speaking to herself.
Birdie said nothing, instead he turned and pulled her towards the stairs that led to the cells.
Emily sniffed miserably. Peter had recognised her natural instinct for submission. Her only regret was that it had been Deuvar and not Peter who had shown her. With Peter she would have willingly complied, without the need for Leonora's harsh introduction to the pleasures of obedience.
At the door to the detention cell Emily let out a long muffled sob as she saw Kai inside. Kai was hanging from the chains set in the ceiling. Her elegant dress was in shreds, hair tangled, face streaked with tears. A thin trail of glistening semen trickled down her thighs. Her lithe body was covered in bruises and scratches. When Birdie had told Emily that a lot of people wanted to see Kai fall she hadn't realised quite what he meant.
As Birdie unlocked the cell door Emily broke free of him and ran inside, pulled up short a split second later by a sharp tug on her leash.
"I'm so sorry," Emily murmured to Kai, lifting her hand to stroke the other girl's face.
Kai looked up at her and smiled grimly. Her lips were swollen, cheeks criss crossed by deep purple bruises.
"I told you it wasn't worth trying. You should have believed me." Her voice was cracked and uneven. Emily glanced at Birdie, who was unrolling the hose from the wall. She stared at him in horror, remembering the cutting, stinging icy blast.
"Please," she began. "Don't!"
Impassively, Birdie carried on. "Leonora will want her clean." He looked her up and down. "You of all people should know the importance of obeying the rules. Don't you remember the first one is supposed to be silence?"
Before Emily could reply he turned the tap on full blast, not just drenching Kai but Emily as well. Struggling in her restraints Kai screamed as the water roared over both girls. Birdie grinned lasciviously as Emily spun round to try and avoid the worst of the freezing torrent.
"So, you think you're a natural do you?" he snorted, above the roar of the water. "Well, so much the better, downstairs here they only play at it. Wait until after dark when the guards get their chance. You're up for grabs now you're broken in. They'll all want a piece of you. Clients and staff."
Emily twisted away from the jet as he played the water over her frozen skin. Dropping to her knees, she cowered on the floor, trying to cover herself.
Birdie laughed. "Your precious Peter might have kept you for himself, but at Deuvar they've made it very obvious that you're anybody's." He snapped the water off. "Come here."
She looked up at him in disbelief. "You've got to get Kai," she whimpered, shivering uncontrollably.
Birdie's expression hardened. "Don't tell me what I've got to do. You're the slave here, not me."
Standing over her he undid his trousers. "They'll be having drinks upstairs, having polite little conversations, and while they're having their fun, I'm going to have you. I told you I'd be the first after the Haroldsons. Get up and face the wall. I'm just gonna have a little slice of what they had. Get up!"
Emily shook her head, glancing at Kai, who still hung, shivering in the chains. "But -" She was cut short by Birdie yanking her roughly to her feet. His open hand exploded across the side of her face, filling her mind with flashes of light and pain.
"I said get up, bitch," he snarled. He pushed her legs apart with his feet, forcing her breasts and face against the sodden brickwork. Roughly he explored her body, splaying her bruised sex with his hands. She whimpered as his fingers sought entry, plunging into her.
"How did it feel? Did Franz and that bitch Naomi Haroldson do the job real well? Did she fuck you too, the Dyke bitch? Did she get her tongue right up inside you, make your little cunt hum?"
Emily flinched as he slid his cock between the cheeks of her bottom, holding herself rigid as she felt him trying to find a way into her.
"I see they got around to marking you," he whispered thickly.