It took a long while before he was done, before he had everything he wanted. He seemed to know from the very beginning that my mind would not be giving him a deeper echo of what my body did, and he made no effort to try forcing, it from me as he had in the past. He merely used me with very deep pleasure and endless patience, then kissed me as deeply before withdrawing. Rather than just lie beside me, he held me in his arms, stroking my hair and idly touching my body.
“We have been asked to share the darkness meal with Cinnan and Aesnil,” he murmured, somehow knowing that my mind had been settled to a large degree by what had been done to my body. “You will serve me properly, as a wenda should, giving a pleasing impression to those warriors attending who observe you. Should there be one suitable among them, I do not wish him disinterested by unseemly behavior. I will see that he is fully informed of all of your faults before he bands you.”
“No,” I protested, distracted by his fingers gently squeezing my flesh. “You can’t allow someone else to band me as if I were a native of this world. I won’t allow it. I won’t obey either of you.” Suddenly that seemed to be my way out, and I repeated triumphantly, “I won’t obey either of you!”
“You will obey, wenda,” he chuckled, as though amused at the feeble protests of a very small child. “You will obey your l’lenda as all women do, else will you face his displeasure. You may rise now and straighten this room, then will you be taken to the bathing room and prepared for the meal. Your beauty will not be hidden beneath streaks of dirt and disarranged hair.”
“I won’t be prepared as if I were a sacrificial offering,” I argued, desperation allowing me the defiance. “You may he able to force me to obey you in other things, but you can’t force me to be pleasing to other men. This is where I draw the line, and I’ll stand behind it.”
“Have you not yet learned that you will be no other thing than pleasing to l’lendaa, simply because they are l’lendaa?” he sighed, moving his hand to my thighs. “Are you able to deny the manner in which you are touched? You gasp as I delve within you and cause you to squirm helplessly about, and this so soon after you were well and completely used. Are you able to resist my demands, are you able to force me from you? No more will you be able to deny any other l’lenda, no matter what stand you have vowed to take.”
“Stop,” I gasped, truly unable to resist him. The circular motion of his thumb drained the strength and will from me, a sorcery I had never been able to fight.
“Am I bound to obey you?” he asked, the amusement returning to him as he continued his ministrations. “Must I cease in obedience to your word?”
“Please stop!” I begged, writhing in obedience to his hand and will. “Please stop, please, please stop!”
“Much more acceptable,” he said with approval, slowly withdrawing his hand from me. I went boneless with relief as he did so, ashamed that I had had to beg but glad that I had done so, and then I gasped again, this time in surprise. Rather than let me lie collapsed on the fur, recovering, he lifted me from the fur and threw me face down across his knees. The leather he had used earlier was not available, so he had to make do with his leather swordbelt, minus its scabbard. This time it was a full dozen strokes which fell, one after the other, bringing my screams quickly and making them loud. The tears streamed down my cheeks as he finally let me crawl out of his lap, but I wasn’t allowed to crawl far. He took my arm and turned me back to him, then raised my face with one hand as the other wiped at my tears.
“You were instructed to put this room in order,” he told me gently as I looked up at him from all fours, replacing the tears he removed. “Your disobedience did not go unnoticed nor unpunished, nor will it again. Do you still wish to disobey?”
I stared at him very briefly before shaking my head, his swordbelt having removed all the defiance from me. I still felt defiant, but the throbbing ache in my thighs, bottom and lower back precluded doing anything about the feeling. He leaned forward and brushed my lips with his, showing me that he was pleased with the answer I had given him, then he let me go entirely. I climbed off the bed fur amid sniffles and began to clean up the mess I had made, wincing from my punishment but doing the best I could. If I hadn’t done so, I knew what I would have gotten.
Cleaning up the wreckage took longer than making it, but once it was done it was time to leave for the bathing room. For one frantic moment I thought I would be marched there naked, but the barbarian produced a yellow cloth wrap from the closet in the next room, and gave it to me to put about myself. He also chose the gown I would wear afterward, a pale, sheer lavender, then escorted me and the gown to the bathing room and its waiting female slaves. The three slaves listened to his orders with their foreheads to the floor at his feet, waited until he had left and closed the door behind him, then scrambled up to pull the wrap away from me and hurry me into the water. It didn’t matter what I wanted, only what he wanted, but that was the least of my problems. I told the slaves to let me soak for a while, turned the suggestion into an order in their minds, then leaned back to let the water ease my hurting body while I fought to straighten my thoughts.
As unacceptably unbelievable as it was, the barbarian really intended selling me. It made no sense of any kind, but that was what he was going to do. Despite the fact that he needed my abilities to help him consolidate his people, despite the bargains and agreements he had made with the Amalgamation, he was going to let someone else, some other barbarian, band me. For me, accepting the truth of that intention was like running through hip-deep mud, more nearly impossible than simply difficult. I just could not see myself being banded by anyone else, and that was an attitude I had to overcome. If I didn’t believe it I would do nothing to try to stop it, which would surely seal my fate.
I splashed some water over my shoulders and finally let myself wonder why he was doing it. Objectively it seemed to be a stupid move, but stupidity was a crime he wasn’t usually guilty of. He had to have something in mind, something that would benefit him more than my presence. To believe that he was doing it to insure my happiness was a belief I couldn’t allow myself. If I ever did, it would crumble the world, and I would never stop crying.
I was left to brood long enough to lose track of time, but the slaves couldn’t be kept away forever. They’d been commanded by a warrior and a master, and they had to obey those commands or face the consequences. I hated the thought of being prettied up for show, but my very recent experiences with the barbarian had convinced me that open defiance wasn’t the way to win against him. He had to find someone who was interested before he could sell me, and that was the key point I had to work on. How I was going to discourage interest with him literally looking over my shoulder I didn’t know, but I’d have to think of something. If I didn’t, it was totally my loss.