Chained (Brides of the Kindred) (13 page)

“A—never mind. You wouldn’t understand
because you’re part of it. Hello? Hello, I’d like to get out now!” Maggie
raised her voice and looked at the ceiling, hoping that someone in authority
could hear her. Who was in charge of the Dreaming Wood anyway? Whoever it was,
they needed to get over here
now
before she was forced to use corporal
punishment on naked slaves whether she wanted to or not.

“What’s the matter, blondie—not liking the
Mistress thing as much as you thought?”

The familiar, deep voice startled her
because it was coming from her lap. Looking down, Maggie saw that the skinny
toe-sucking slave had been replaced by a very large, very naked Kor.

“Kor!” she gasped. “What are you doing
here? And how—”

“Never mind ‘how,’” he said. “What I want to
know is
why?
Why did you pick this particular tree? Are you into bondage
and submission?”

“Absolutely
not,”
Maggie protested.
“At least, not
this
way, I mean…” She trailed off, her cheeks heating up
as she realized she’d said too much. There was no way she was going to tell him
she’d tried to get Donald interested in doing a little kinky sex play—with him
as the Master and Maggie as the willing slave-girl—and her fiancé had turned
her down flat. That was
way
too embarrassing on too many levels to
count.

“No, please go on,” Kor said politely.
“I’d be very interested to hear exactly
how
you’re interested in this
particular scenario.”

“It was an accident, all right? A huge
freaking caterpillar ran right over my foot and it scared the crap out of me. I
tripped in my ridiculous heels and fell into a tree with black leather bark.
Then I found myself here and I couldn’t get out.”

“That
does
seem to be a problem for
you.” Kor’s deep voice was remarkably calm. If it bothered him to be lying
mostly naked across her lap, possibly about to be spanked, he didn’t show it.
Maggie had to try hard not to look at his muscular, bare ass which was right in
front of her. It was certainly an improvement over Mr. “Let me suck your toes’”
boney butt.

“Will you stop making fun of me and get
off my lap and get me out of here?” she pleaded. “Come on, Kor—I’m
really
uncomfortable
here.”

“Then maybe some apologies are in order?”
He was still looking up at her, his head cocked over his shoulder with one
eyebrow raised.

Maggie frowned. “I’m
not
going to
apologize for getting upset about the things you said about Donald. I’ve been
with him for five years and I haven’t even known you a whole
day
yet.”

“But I bet you’ve had more adventures in
this one day than you have in the entire five years with him,” Kor pointed out.
“Right?”

“Well…” Maggie sighed. “If you don’t want
me to apologize for the Donald stuff, then what? Hurry up and tell me so we can
get out of here.”

“I
believe
I told you that the
Dreaming Wood was dangerous and you shouldn’t touch any more trees,” Kor said
pointedly. “Then you go and get lost and when I find you, you’re up on stage
about to beat some poor slave with a paddle.”

“I didn’t
want
to,” Maggie
protested. “Only that big leather giant guy with the zipper mouth made me. He sat
me in the chair and pushed this guy into my lap and insisted that I start
giving out just desserts with the paddle.”

“So this doesn’t get you off at all?” Kor
narrowed his eyes, looking at her closely. “You really don’t like punishing
people?”

“Of
course
not.” Maggie was
horrified. “Who do I look like—Lady Pope’nose?”

“No.” His face relaxed into a smile. “As a
matter of fact, you couldn’t be less like her. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

But just as he was getting up, the leather
giant came back. Maggie couldn’t read his expression because of the full-face
mask but from the set of his zipper, she guessed he was upset.

“Is there a problem, Mistress?” he asked
in a low, ominous voice. “Is there some reason you have not yet given this
slave his due punishment?”

“You’re damn right there is.” Kor stood up
to his full height, snapping the thick leather restraints easily. Maggie was in
awe—was he really that strong in real life or was he able to tear leather like
tissue because they were in a tree-dream? Then again, he
had
carried her
half the length of a football field without even breaking a sweat so maybe—

“You’re out of order, slave,” the leather
giant growled, breaking her train of thought. “Get back into the mistress’s lap
and receive your punishment or much worse penalties await you.”

“I don’t think so.” Kor took a step toward
the man, his eyes starting to glow. “My lady doesn’t feel like punishing anyone
else today so I’m taking her home.”

“No. Your lady—our mistress—will stay and hand
out punishment as is her duty,” the giant snarled. “Or perhaps
she
will
receive a punishment herself.”

Kor’s eyes glowed brighter than ever,
emitting a red hot light that reminded Maggie of molten lava. “Are you
threatening my lady?” he asked in a soft voice. “
Are
you?”

For the first time, the leather giant
looked uncertain.

“In entering this part of the wood and
touching this tree, she made a promise. A promise she has not yet fulfilled.”

Maggie frowned. What was he talking about?
Were the people here in this dream actually alive somehow? And why did they
want her to play Mistress so badly?

“My lady touched your tree by accident and
was unable to free herself,” Kor said, still in the same, soft, dangerous
voice. “She is a gentle, innocent soul who has no wish to hurt or punish
anyone.”

The leather giant frowned. “She must—”

“She must leave here
now.
I am
escorting her back to the wood,” Kor said. “Lay a hand on her and I’ll snap
your neck.”

Maggie wasn’t sure if it was his calm,
matter-of-fact way of threatening or his glowing eyes, but the towering leather
giant finally backed down.

“Very well,” he muttered. “But if you do
not enjoy these activities, do not enter this dream again. We who live here
require sustenance—it is cruel to offer it and then withdraw at the last moment.”

Kor nodded briefly. “Fine. You won’t see
us here again—that’s a promise.”

“Then you may go.” To Maggie’s relief, the
leather giant stepped to one side and allowed Kor to grab her hand and lead her
off the stage.

“That was close,” she muttered from the
corner of her mouth as they passed through the silent leather-people who had
gathered at the foot of the stage to watch the whipping that never happened.
“Uh, how long until we—”

Suddenly the dark sex dungeon was gone and
they were standing among the trees with black leaves again.

“Get out,” Maggie finished. “Oh—here we
are.”

“Yes, and you appear to be wounded.” Kor
was frowning at her.

“What? How?” Maggie was mainly thinking
that
he
appeared to be
dressed
again. She didn’t know whether to
be happy or sad about that. Though he was certainly all kinds of tasty in the
nude, there was no doubt it was more comfortable to see him with his naughty
bits covered.

“I don’t know how—let me look at your
back.”

“Oh, right—my back!” Maggie remembered a
scratching sensation she’d thought was the centipede right before she’d
blundered into the bondage tree. Looking around, though, it seemed more logical
to assume she’d stumbled backward into the spines of the barbed-wire tree.
Thank goodness she hadn’t grabbed that one by mistake! Who knows where she
might have ended up—probably Nazi Germany or someplace equally awful.

“You’re bleeding.” Kor sounded so grim,
she turned to face him.

“What’s wrong? It doesn’t
feel
that
bad—can you see bone or something? Is my scapula sticking out?”

“No.” He sighed. “But there’s no way we
can go to the Remembrance Pool now. An open wound would make you much too
susceptible to its fluids.”

Maggie shrugged. “Okay, well, let’s skip
it then.”

He shook his head. “You don’t
understand—touring the Dreaming Wood and the Remembrance Pool isn’t
just
a social custom—it’s actually a required part of being at the spa.”

“But…why?”

“This place is run by Sensorians—beings
who feed on emotion. By providing their patrons access to their deepest dreams
and fondest memories, they are generating emotion which they can feed on—both
directly and indirectly.”

“Oh…” Maggie suddenly understood. “So the
people in that tree-dream…”

“Were actually actors put there to
generate emotion,” Kor finished for her.

“And…” She bit her lip. “Back at the
reception desk when you were, uh, kissing my leg? And then afterwards the
attendants were so thankful and they turned that weird rosy pink color… You
weren’t just putting on a show?”

“Not completely. I was also giving them a
little taste of my feelings for you.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “It seemed
to make them very happy as I recall.”

Maggie’s heart was suddenly beating
harder.

“Oh, but you…you don’t really…”

“Feel desire for your sweet, curvy little
body?” Kor gave her a slow smile. “Of course, I do, blondie. After the way you
touched me when you were washing off the verium…”

“I only did that because I had to,” Maggie
protested. God, she wished he wouldn’t look at her like that. It made her feel
naked.
“It wasn’t like I was…was
fondling
you for fun or something! I mean,
I
am
engaged.”

“Yes, I
know,”
he said dryly. “So
you keep reminding me.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I wonder how dear old
Donald would feel if he knew you got all dressed up in black leather and
paddled people for fun?”

“Don’t tease me,” Maggie muttered. “You
know perfectly well that was not
fun
for me. And Donald is very straight
laced—I don’t think he’d be interested either.”

“Uh-huh.” Kor was looking at her
speculatively. “Right.”

“Leave me alone.” Maggie crossed her arms
protectively over her breasts. “Just drop it—okay?”

“I’d drop it if the idea didn’t appear to
interest you—at least on some level,” he growled, breaking into her thoughts.
“But I think you like it, Maggie. Maybe not the whole punishment aspect but you
like being dressed up and put on display. You’re not nearly as ‘straight laced’
as your dull fiancé.”

“I’m telling you, I
don’t,”
Maggie insisted.
“It’s just not…
me
. I mean, just look at me. I’m not like some kind of a
sex kitten who crooks her little finger and all the guys come running. I look
ridiculous
in this kind of thing.” She gestured at the tight cat suit. “And even worse in
that getup I was wearing in the tree-dream.”

“Actually, you looked amazing.” Kor’s
voice was a soft growl. “More than amazing. I don’t know why you don’t have
more confidence in your own beauty, blondie. If you came up to me, wearing those
clothes, maybe wanting to play a little game…”

Maggie’s whole body began to feel hot and
flushed.

“I…I would never…I don’t want to talk
about this anymore.”

“Just trying to get to know you, Maggie.” Kor
stroked her cheek which was hot with embarrassment.

“Don’t.” Maggie pulled away from the
gentle touch, her heart pounding. “We shouldn’t.”

“All right. Not now, anyway.” He let his
hand drop to his side. “But you may have to get over that whole ‘touch-me-not’
attitude in the very near future—that is, if you want to get out of here.”

Maggie felt a twinge of unease. “What are
you talking about? What do you mean by that?”

But Kor only shook his head. “Never mind,
my lady. Let’s just get you back to the room and treat your wounds. I’ll inform
the front desk that my mistress is tired and resting before the Grand Banquet
tonight. We’ll just have to go to the pool early tomorrow morning.”

With that, he led the way out of the
woods, refusing to answer any more questions, no matter how often Maggie asked.

* * * * *

“Damn!” Xandra the swamp witch clenched her too-long
fingers into fists at her sides as she glared down into the pale blue
concoction in her cauldron. They weren’t going to the Remembrance Pool! But it
was necessary—they
must
if the
seed of memory was to be planted. Without it, Therron would never return and
she would never have her revenge.

She paced beside the cauldron for a moment, watching as
the other patrons of the spa walked in a leisurely manner to and fro. Suddenly
she stopped and nodded once, sharply to herself.

“Oh, you’ll go to the pool, my darlings,” she muttered,
reaching for a glass jar of something dark and viscous. It slid with oily ease
as she poured it into the mixture in the cauldron, turning the water a dark,
cloudy gray. “You’ll go whether you want to or not—and there the seed will be
planted!”