Divine Cruelty (21 page)

Members of the congregation showed their interest by sitting forward and making notes, but Rachel was happy to ignore them. She knew that they were no longer taking cruel entertainment from her suffering and realised they were simply treating her as a tool for divining success. But that observation didn't lessen her shame to any degree and she knew it wasn't going to offer a reprieve from her torture.

'The rat portfolio,' Master Vince began.

'Yes,' she said firmly.

'The snake portfolio has been reassessed.'

'No,' she replied.

Rachel lost track of time as her body was buffeted from one extreme to another. Pearl was clearly taking her chore very seriously because she never left her position by Jason's side. Sliding the vibrator's back and forth, inching one deep as she pulled the other to the lips of Rachel's pussy or anus, she inspired elation with infuriating ease.

The thick vibrator was too wide to be comfortable but its dull whine easily drove Rachel to the edge of orgasm. The irregular surface of the second vibrator, the ridges and nuances of its knobbly length, pushed her beyond that point and she had to fight not to scream with every climax. Shivering dramatically, she watched a pool of tears drop on the ermine robe and could only wonder if they came from delight or misery.

Master Vince's questions came thick and fast and, although she was trying to listen attentively, Rachel couldn't remember what had been asked, or what advice she had given. She briefly fretted that she might have missed the portfolio that Master Bernard had urged her to approve and she tried to find him in the congregation to see if his expression might give some indication as to what had happened. There were so many unfamiliar faces in the auditorium, and a sense of disorientation was beginning to set in, that she couldn't place him anywhere. She suddenly feared he might have walked out of the chapel in disgust and a wave of panic threatened to exacerbate her suffering.

Master Vince made another mark in his filofax and glanced around the chapel. 'And,' he began, 'for the final matter of the evening, I've been offered an opportunity to invest in an item we're calling the dragon portfolio.'

The words made Rachel sigh with relief. She realised what was expected of her and drew a deep breath to respond. Any doubts about her intention to lie were long since banished and she knew, if this simple deceit could start a process that would ultimately remove Pearl from the estate, it was a chance she had to take. Turning the cards slowly, pretending to ruminate over her answer, she waited for Master Vince to ask the question properly.

'Do I invest in the dragon portfolio?' he called.

She glanced into the chapel and finally saw Master Bernard. He was sitting forward in his seat, watching attentively.

Rachel met his anticipatory gaze and didn't bother to look at the card. She already knew what answer she was going to give and didn't need the divination of the tarocco to guide her with this question. 'Yes, master,' she gasped solemnly. 'The answer is yes.'

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

'Yes!' Rachel screamed. 'Yes, YES, YES!'

Master Bernard rammed himself into her, his final thrusts shaking her to her core and detonating explosions of pure bliss which flowed through her like molten lava. His nails raked cruelly at the weals on her back and buttocks, mementos of when he'd first had her strip and had had her tied face down on the bed. The flogging had been long and cruelly slow, preventing her from achieving orgasm but providing Master Bernard with great pleasure which he was now bringing to its climax and was allowing her to share.

It was the first true orgasm she had enjoyed since returning to the albergo and that thought saddened her pleasure. Master Bernard's summons had come halfway through the week following her most recent tarocco reading and she had been delighted to leave the estate and travel to be at his side. Pearl was making the atmosphere on the estate unbearable and Rachel could sense an impending confrontation that she felt ill equipped to face.

But, while Master Bernard seemed pleased to see her, and typically attentive to her needs, she sensed a coolness in his manner that was beginning to make her nervous. Even now, although he was grinning and his erection remained hard inside her pussy, she thought there was something in his expression that said his enjoyment could have been greater. Apprehensively, she wondered if she had done something to upset him.

'Thank you,' she gasped, savouring the tremors of satisfaction for a final time. 'Thank you.'

He wasn't looking at her face and, for an instant, Rachel could have believed that he didn't even care she was there. It was an unsettling thought that threatened to cool the glorious heat that still lingered in her cleft.

'Tanisha!' he cried. His voice was uncharacteristically harsh. 'Chinue!' He snapped his fingers, motioning for the ebony slaves to move aside and stop licking at her breasts. Rachel had an arm around each of the women, holding them in place, and it was with genuine reluctance that she let them follow their master's instruction and step away. Her breasts remained silvered by their saliva and her stomach glistened with white streams from an earlier explosion of Master Bernard's orgasm. Raising her head to glance down at her cleft she saw the thatch of her pubic curls was matted by thick rivulets of his semen. The sight and smell was enough to make her arousal burn with fresh intensity and she tried to win his good mood back with her most devilish grin.

Master Bernard glanced at her soiled stomach and crotch and glared dourly at one of the ebony slaves. 'You've left her tainted, Chinue,' he barked. 'You should know better than to do that. Clean her now.'

Nodding demurely, and seeming justifiably surprised by the harshness of his tone, the slave returned to Rachel's side and began to lick at her stomach. Rachel thought of protesting, ready to say she could clean herself in the shower, but something about Master Bernard's manner made her hesitate. She had never seen him so gruff with his staff and that curtness, along with his aloof mood, made her suspect that something was preying on his mind. Confident that he would share his thoughts with her during their few days in his albergo, she continued to enjoy having his length inside her while Chinue lapped at her stomach.

The warm tongue tickled as it touched bare flesh and Rachel wondered if the contact might inspire another rush of climax. The slave was skilled in the art of using her mouth and her slick lips trembled against Rachel's abdomen. Already swelling with another rush of pleasure she rocked her hips back and forth against Master Bernard's erection. The promise of another orgasm seemed closer than ever and she thought the bliss of a shared climax might help to heal the inexplicable rift that had come between them. Her nipples tingled with heightened awareness, the ache in her clitoris beat with a familiar pulse, and she could feel his shaft throbbing as though he was ready to spurt again.

Chinue moved her face down to the thatch of ginger curls and nuzzled hungrily at the union between Rachel's sex lips and the base of Master Bernard's shaft. The slippery warmth of her mouth added a delicious frisson and a series of shivers bristled through her sex. Giving into a sweet wave of joy, Rachel allowed her clitoris to be lapped as her body hurtled toward another surge of ecstasy. Dizzy with pleasure, and breathless with her sudden need to share a mutual orgasm, she wrenched her dreamy smile from the top of the slave's head to meet Master Bernard's frown.

'It's a shame you didn't bring your servant with you,' he grumbled.

His shaft twitched inside her as he spoke and she got the impression he genuinely regretted that Helena wasn't there. Surprised he had mentioned the servant, amazed that he had even remembered her, Rachel wondered if she should take the opportunity to update him on developments at the estate. His lack of interest in her pleasure was infectious and, although Chinue's kisses were exciting, Rachel found it horribly easy to distance herself from the slave's attention to her sex lips. Not thinking about the erection inside her, or the slave's wicked tongue, she said, 'The way things are going at the estate, I doubt they'd have been able to spare Helena.'

He glanced at her face, his inscrutable expression giving nothing away.

'It's quite shocking the way things are going,' Rachel continued. 'The master's whore has been selling staff without any regard for the consequences.'

Finally showing some interest, Master Bernard lifted an eyebrow. 'Vince's whore? You mean Pearl? Are you telling me that Pearl's selling off Vince's stock? Is that what you're saying?'

His doubting tone made her uneasy. 'Yes,' she said quickly.

'All of his stock?' he pressed.

'She sold two teams of pony girls immediately after the tarocco reading, and I can't imagine there's any more stock left in the east wing's harem.' Trying to make light of the situation, she added, 'I don't expect there'll be many staff left when I return.'

His frown grew deeper and he shook his head with genuine concern. 'I didn't know she'd begun stripping his assets so fiercely. That wasn't what I expected at all.'

She nodded, pleased to finally have caught his interest. Chinue still lapped at her sex and worked around Master Bernard's shaft. Her tongue chased the crease of Rachel's labia, and tickled the tip of her clitoris, but Rachel barely noticed the stimulation. Trying to keep her voice level, wanting it to sound as though her question was raised innocently, she asked, 'Did my help with the tarocco get you any closer to removing Pearl from the estate?'

For a moment he looked confused, as though she was referring to events he didn't follow. When understanding finally illuminated his face it was almost as though she had brushed too closely against a well-guarded secret. His smile was too broad and his tone was overly cheerful. 'Your intervention has paid dividends,' he grinned.

Rachel frowned, not sure that her lie was supposed to have paid dividends. She reasoned that he might be speaking metaphorically and, because she thought his diffident mood called for it, she tried to appear encouraging. 'Paid dividends?' she repeated. 'Does that mean you might be close to removing her from...'

Master Bernard didn't give her the chance to ask her question. 'This conversation has reminded me that I need to phone my brother,' he said suddenly. 'You'll excuse me.' Without any word of warning or apology he snatched his length from her pussy, climbed from the bed and marched out of the room.

Stunned by his sudden departure, Rachel could only watch him go.

Chinue continued teasing at her sex lips but Rachel couldn't bring herself to think about the rich swirl of pleasure. Surprised by Master Bernard's behaviour she turned to Tanisha at the bedroom door and asked, 'Is something troubling the master?'

Tanisha shrugged. The gesture made her pert breasts rise and fall invitingly but Rachel easily ignored that distraction. She had seen enough of the ebony slaves since her arrival to be almost oblivious to the charms of their exotic nudity. 'He certainly seems preoccupied,' Tanisha agreed.

With Master Bernard away from the bed Chinue had easier access to Rachel's body. She buried her head against the sopping hole of sex, drinking the wetness and pushing her tongue deep into the pulsing ring of muscle. Rachel couldn't deny that her pussy was tingling with fresh sparks of excitement but she wouldn't let the pleasure stop her from questioning Tanisha. 'Is it something I've done?' she asked. 'Have I upset your master in some way?'

The slave considered her answer carefully before replying. 'I suppose that's possible,' she conceded eventually. 'But I can't imagine what it might be. He's been looking forward to your return since the last time you left. He's been looking forward to having you here again and hinting that you might become a permanent resident at the albergo.' Stepping away from the door, her mask of composure broke and she smiled with obvious enthusiasm. 'Will you be coming to live with us, Mistress Rachel? And is it true that you have your own servant? And that you can read tarot cards?'

The words offered a glimmer of hope but still Rachel couldn't quell all of her worries. Ignoring Tanisha's questions she asked, 'Is it possible I've done something since I arrived that might have met with his disapproval?'

Tanisha shook her head. 'You've carried yourself with your usual grace, dignity and aplomb, Mistress Rachel.'

Rachel smiled demure gratitude but the compliments didn't help to lessen her anxiety. With all the trouble at the estate, and the fears she still harboured for lying at the tarocco, she would have been happier if Master Bernard had given her some reassurance that things were working to plan. But, aside from treating her to the honour parade, and all the other familiar rituals that came with each visit to the albergo, she realised now that he had barely acknowledged her presence. Even when he had been riding her, his glorious thick length ploughing mercilessly between her legs, she knew he had seemed distant with his thoughts elsewhere.

Chinue murmured happily and pushed her face closer to Rachel's pussy.

Rachel glanced down and saw the slave's ebony cheeks glistened with silver tears of the master's spend. Her eyes shone with bright glee and her long pink tongue darted eagerly in and out between Rachel's labia. The semen that had matted her pubic curls was now gone and, judging by the lustre of gloss that coated Chinue's lips, it was obvious the slave had been savouring every drop.

Rachel tried not to be aroused by the sight, unwilling to simply submit to the slave's skilful tonguing. Her body craved another orgasm but she needed to find out the cause of Master Bernard's peculiar mood and she suspected one of the slaves might be able to give her an answer. 'Why is he phoning Master Vince?' she asked Tanisha. 'What's so important that he has to phone him now?'