Divine Cruelty (6 page)

Fighting a mixture of revulsion and intrigue, Rachel took a hesitant step closer. She could see what was being asked of the woman, and suspected it was a perverse parlour trick the slave was used to performing, but morbid curiosity made her want to watch without missing any detail. Helena tried to hold her back, the servant clearly anxious to remain in the sanctuary of the doorway, but Rachel pushed her hand away. Knowing that she might have to compete against this woman in one of Master Vince's torment trials made her need to know everything she could about the potential competition.

The strawberry blonde nodded obediently to her mistress. Without hurrying, she went to Pearl's side of the table and placed her backside over the chess set. Her buttocks were delicious, peach-like orbs, shaded by the fading memory of a recent caning and split by a deep, inviting crevice. She spread her cheeks daintily as she lowered herself over a bishop.

Rachel had time to glance the puckered 'O' of the woman's sphincter and then the strawberry blonde was settling herself over the chess piece's mitral head. The tip touched her flesh, pushed against the centre of her forbidden hole, then slipped inside her rectum.

Indifferently, Master Vince sipped his brandy.

The blonde squirmed against the table, urging the chess piece deeper, before releasing a satisfied sigh. She raised herself on unsteady legs, walked with strained grace toward the fireplace, and then turned to face her tormentors. After placing a foot on either side of Master Bernard's brandy glass, she slowly squatted until her buttocks touched the rim. Defiantly staring at a neutral space between Pearl and Master Vince, the blonde placed her hands on her thighs, tightened her jaw, then closed her eyes. Her smile looked like the epitome of contentment.

Rachel watched with mounting horror. She put a hand over her mouth to conceal a shocked gasp but the sound was covered by the tinkling of the chess piece as it fell into the brandy balloon.

With a surprising amount of dignity, the blonde pulled herself from the floor and watched her mistress in anticipation of another instruction.

Pearl pointed for the blonde to return to her sister's side. She turned to Master Vince and, with a victorious sneer, said, 'I'd like to see one of your stock to do that.'

'What makes you think they won't?'

Pearl rolled her eyes. 'It's a humiliating task,' she explained. 'It's an inordinately humiliating task. Even though they thrive on anal penetration, stock are always reluctant to take anything up the arse in front of strangers.'

Ruefully thinking of her own experiences, Rachel conceded that Pearl was right. The ordeal of anal penetration was a mixed blessing - a noxious blend of sweet delight and bitter shame - but the humiliation always bit deeper when it was done publicly.

'And,' Pearl continued, her smile shining wickedly, 'that aspect aside, they're even more loath to squat and drop anything in the glass because the process feels like something far more taboo. I've seen stock in tears because they couldn't manage the last part of that task.' Laughing nastily, she said, 'It really can be a trauma for poorly-trained slaves.'

Master Vince shook his head in staunch disagreement. 'Any one of my slaves would do that.'

Pearl looked sceptical. 'As efficiently as mine?'

'Of course. Maybe even more efficiently.'

'Would you care to bet on that?'

A half-smile lilted his lips. 'What stake are you proposing?'

Pearl frowned as she considered her choices. She placed her index finger against one ruby lip and chewed thoughtfully on the nail.

Watching her, Rachel got the impression the woman was only feigning indecision. She was struck by the thought that Pearl was acting and had decided earlier in the evening what stakes she would gamble should the opportunity present itself. She didn't know where the insight came from, or why Master Vince and Master Bernard seemed oblivious to the woman's charade, but Rachel felt certain Pearl had planned her response to this question before it was asked.

'What about the first month's profits from our proposed joint venture?'

Master Vince nodded enthusiastically and extended his hand. 'OK. It's a bet.'

Rachel didn't hear the remainder of their discussion, reeling from the discovery that Master Vince had already committed himself to a business partnership with Pearl. She saw Master Bernard return the bishop to the chessboard - and from a distance heard Master Vince and Pearl outlining rules for their impromptu game - but the details were beyond her comprehension as she tried to accept the enormity of what she had done.

She placed a hand over her mouth, beseeched Helena with a helpless gaze, and tried to think if there was any way of redeeming the situation. She had lied; Master Vince had believed her lie; and now he was dealing with an untrustworthy business partner. The fact that events had progressed so quickly didn't help appease her guilt and she wondered how soon she might be able to rectify her mistake.

'Rachel,' Master Vince called. 'Come here.'

Trying not to brood on her error of judgement, Rachel hurried to his side. She stoically met the disdain of Pearl's sneer and waited for her master's instruction. Standing beside the table she saw all the chess pieces had been returned to their positions as if ready for a fresh game. A second brandy balloon had been placed in front of the fire, and Rachel could easily see what was expected of her. Her stomach churned with dark foreboding.

'Mine are the white pieces; Pearl's are the black,' Master Vince explained. 'One by one, you have to drop my white pieces in that brandy glass.' He glanced at Pearl and said, 'The winner is the first one to clear all sixteen pieces, agreed?'

Pearl said that was correct.

Nodding her understanding, Rachel steeled herself for the embarrassment of the impending ordeal and shrugged the ermine cloak from her shoulders. If the circumstances had been different - if there had been no wager involved and if there hadn't been the risk of embarrassing Master Vince - she might have voiced her reservations. Because she knew there was no way to politely decline his instruction, she drew a deep breath and hoped the torment wouldn't be the trauma she anticipated.

One of the kneeling slaves moaned softly as her candle spilt a fresh trail of wax onto her backside. Because everyone seemed to be concentrating on Rachel, no one cautioned her for making the sound.

'You may begin,' Master Vince said softly. Placing a hand on Rachel's wrist, squeezing tightly until the eruption of pain forced her to look at him, he added, 'You'd better win this. I won't be happy if you lose. But I'll make sure you're even more unhappy. Do you understand what I'm saying?'

She sensed the threat of retribution beneath his words and shrank from the prospect of his wrath. Nodding eagerly, trying not to let natural distaste interfere with her ability to perform the chore, she turned her back on the chess set and pressed her backside over a rook.

The crenellated edges were a barb against her anus, reminding her she was doing something base and vulgar. The murmurs of approval she could hear only added to her shame as she squashed herself onto the piece and allowed it to penetrate her forbidden hole. It wasn't particularly big but its cool, polished weight sat unnaturally in the confines of her behind. With adrenaline pumping through her temples, and her cheeks burning crimson, she strutted inelegantly toward the brandy glass and lowered herself over it.

She remembered how the strawberry blonde had stared toward Master Vince and Pearl when she had assumed this position and Rachel wondered how the woman could have managed to do that without dying of shame. She had suffered plenty of indignities during her time in servility but she had never had to put up with something as inhumane as this. She also remembered the tranquil smile that had broached the blonde's lips and wondered how anyone could equate pleasure with such a crushing torment.

Squatting over the brandy glass, and trying to expel the chess piece from her sphincter, all felt horribly familiar. The association inside her mind made her shame more poignant and it turned the episode into something that was deeply and darkly humiliating.

Pearl regarded her with a nasty smile. Master Vince's bored indifference had mutated into cruel interest. Master Bernard continued to appraise her with a broad, salacious grin.

Their leering attention was suddenly too invasive and Rachel felt as though she had never known an embarrassment as severe. Pearl had been right when she proclaimed this task was beyond her abilities and Rachel wondered how vindictive Master Vince would be when she failed to win the challenge. The idea that she had any chance of winning was too fanciful a concept for her to entertain and she resigned herself to defeat and the inevitable punishment that was bound to follow.

And yet, as soon as the rook had fallen into the glass, Rachel forced herself to stand so she could collect another piece from the board. Her cheeks burnt dully, and her head throbbed from the heat of her blushes, but she knew she had to obey her master's instruction. And, as she squirmed against the table and forced herself to accept the cumbersome shape of a knight, a sliver of arousal began to slice through her thoughts.

The penetrations were trivial and unimportant - this evening she had already been skewered by a butt-plug that was three or four times the size of the largest chess piece - and she was able to bear that part of the torment easily. But the shame of humiliating herself so publicly inspired a twisted, masochistic thrill. Unable to stop herself, Rachel revelled in the dark pleasure of discovering she had sunk to a new depth.

By the time she had taken all the back row from the board, she was oblivious to everything around her. She knew the blonde was working hurriedly to win, and she could hear encouraging cries from Master Bernard and the occasional voice that sounded like Master Vince's. But all the sights and sounds were peripheral. All that existed was the torment of squeezing another chess piece into her backside, stumbling quickly to the brandy glass, then forcing herself to expel the contents of her bowel.

Aching with growing arousal, wishing she could have found some way to glean satisfaction from this ordeal, Rachel glared hotly at the stone walls for fear one of her superiors might notice her growing anger.

'It's going to be tight,' Master Bernard declared. 'I reckon it'll be a dead heat.'

No one disputed his observation. Master Vince called for Rachel to move faster while Pearl hissed a string of expletives at her blonde.

Ignoring them all, Rachel worked her way through the pawns, wishing the pieces were fatter and more able to satiate the aching need that their presence inspired. She gasped with frustration as she took the last from the board and then rushed over to push it into the brandy glass.

Beside her, making the same musical tinkle in her own glass, the strawberry blonde deposited the last of the black pieces. She squealed softly as she expelled the pawn and almost stumbled with the effort of forcing it out.

'I'd call that a photo finish,' Master Bernard chuckled.

'My blonde won,' Pearl told him.

Master Vince shook his head. 'It's a draw,' he said firmly.

Pearl looked set to dispute his verdict but one glance at his face told her there would be no point. Pressing her lips tightly together she asked, 'Do you want to make it double or quits?'

Master Vince didn't bother to consider the question. He told Master Bernard to replenish their drinks while he and Pearl discussed the next round of torment.

In a haze of unsatisfied desire, Rachel listened to their plans with mounting dread.

CHAPTER FIVE

'You shouldn't be subjecting Rachel to this,' Master Bernard admonished. 'It's inappropriate for a slave of her standing.'

Pearl sipped from her glass and rolled her eyes. She was musing thoughtfully over a selection of vibrators and treated his observation with only passing contempt before returning to the task.

Master Vince shook his head and laughed bitterly. 'I sometimes forget you have a crush on Rachel. But I don't think this is the time or the place for you to publicly declare your affection. Just cuff her to the blonde so the duel can begin.'

Master Bernard blushed and cleared his throat. 'I don't think it's right for you to treat Rachel like this,' he repeated stiffly. 'She's supposed to be your favourite and, if she's meant to be an acquisition of such high standing, she should be treated with consideration.' Glancing at Helena, he added, 'Don't you have a common house slave who would be better suited to this sort of tawdry tournament?'

Master Vince's eyes had narrowed to menacing slits and Rachel was thankful he wasn't targeting her with his threatening frown. 'I've said my favourite will do this,' he began coolly. 'Therefore she is going to do it.' He raised a warning finger before Master Bernard could argue and added, 'The matter is not open for discussion.'

Rachel watched the exchange from her position on the cold stone floor. She was thankful for Master Bernard's attempts to relieve her of this obligation and the argument had briefly distracted her from the worry of what lay ahead. However, all her fears came rushing back when he fastened one steel bracelet around her wrist and snapped the connecting link to the blonde's ankle. The final click of the cuff falling into place meant they were bound together, each with one wrist secured to the other's corresponding ankle.