Divine Cruelty (8 page)

The conflict had left her breathless and she was grateful when Helena rushed to her side and began to wipe strands of sweat-soaked hair from her brow. The servant's concerned murmuring was the balm Rachel needed and she consented to be held and smothered with reassuring kisses.

Rachel shivered with a wealth of emotions she couldn't begin to understand, aware that, now the ordeal was over, her strongest worry still remained. She glanced curiously from Pearl to Master Vince, trying to work out how their discussion had progressed.

'Your favourite is good,' Pearl conceded, gracing Rachel with a grudging smile. She knelt down on the floor to unfasten the cuffs and slapped her blonde smartly across the cheek. 'Your favourite is very good,' Pearl told Master Vince again. 'But she'll be even better once I've trained her.' She stared abruptly at him and said, 'Let me have her for a week. She'll come back to you a changed woman. I won't just train her. I'll modify her as well. When she comes back to you she'll be as pretty as she is now, twice as obedient and she'll have the most divine pussy lips you've ever seen.'

Rachel opened her mouth, ready to protest that she didn't want to spend a week being trained beneath Pearl's cruel hand. She knew it would embarrass Master Vince if she did speak on her own behalf but the alternative, the idea of spending a week with the slave trader, was even more unpalatable. A part of her was tempted by the prospect of having her labia modified but she already knew the price for that transformation would be far too high. Struggling to find the courage to voice her reservations, she almost cried with relief when Master Bernard interrupted.

'You can't have her this week,' he said flatly. 'This week I've been promised exclusive use of Rachel at my albergo.'

Pearl glared at him but he only met her antipathy with a benign smile.

'My brother's quite right,' Master Vince agreed. He looked unhappy at having to break the news and Rachel wondered why he cared so much about the slave trader's opinion. 'I did tell him he could take Rachel to his albergo this week. Perhaps you could content yourself with working on her servant, Helena?'

Helena switched her beseeching gaze from Rachel to Master Bernard and then to Master Vince but no one paid her any heed. Pearl didn't look pleased with the arrangement and, with obvious bad grace, she said that would be acceptable.

But, seeing the way the slave trader glared at her, Rachel knew she had only delayed an inevitable confrontation.

CHAPTER SIX

Master Bernard had organised an honour parade to celebrate Rachel's arrival at his albergo. He greeted her in the hotel lobby, kissed her lightly on the cheek, then travelled with her in the lift to his private living area on the hotel's uppermost floor. Neither spoke during the ascent, both watching the level indicator as it measured their progress up to his exclusive penthouse domain.

It wasn't the first time Rachel had visited the albergo but each return was always preceded by a wealth of forgotten pleasures. There was the excursion from Master Vince's estate; a chance to dress in clothes rather than only her ermine cloak and the knowledge of how desperately Master Bernard wanted her there. There was also the secret pleasure of walking alongside strangers, all of them inhabitants of the normal world and each blissfully ignorant to the dark nature of her vocation. But, best of all Rachel thought, there was the ceremony Master Bernard always prepared to welcome her arrival. It always proved to be a stimulating start to the most wonderful weekends.

The lift stopped and the doors opened on the red and gold splendour of the albergo's uppermost floor. Rachel had time to see some of Master Bernard's staff waiting expectantly along the corridor before he pushed a crystal goblet into her hand.

'You know what to do with this,' he told her. 'I'll be waiting for you.'

Because she had visited his hotel before - and because she had seen his staff were in readiness - Rachel knew exactly what to do with the goblet. She thanked him, watched him make his way along the corridor, and then went to the first couple who waited by the lift's open doors.

A dark-skinned woman knelt in front of a suited man. She was naked and her dusky breasts gleamed dully beneath the baffled lights. As Rachel approached her, she unzipped her partner's pants and released his erection. Holding the slender length in one hand, moving the glans close to her richly-painted lips, she studied Rachel expectantly.

Rachel knelt next to her on the floor, placed the crystal goblet by the woman's side, then nodded.

Immediately the dark-skinned woman accepted the erection into her mouth. She sucked on the end, allowing the whole length to penetrate her face, before sliding it free. The pale flesh glistened with her saliva and she extended her tongue to lick it clean. Her ripe lips remained in constant contact with the shaft and she chased her mouth around it eliciting groans of approval.

Rachel watched avidly.

She wanted to remain immune to the arousal that was inherent in Master Bernard's honour parades but it was impossible not to be touched by excitement. She was kneeling alongside the woman and able to admire the aesthetic perfection of her beauty. Should she have wished, without moving from her position, she could have helped lick the erection to climax. The scents of sweat, musk and pre-come were pungent enough to be overwhelming and, if she had touched herself, Rachel knew she could have wrung a scorching orgasm from between her legs.

But, knowing Master Bernard expected her to behave with more decorum, Rachel kept her hands clasped firmly in her lap and refrained from participating.

The dark-skinned woman worked her lips around the shaft, teasing the glans with the tip of her tongue and sucking lazily. Her fingers stole through the opening of the zip and, although Rachel couldn't see what was happening, she knew the woman was kneading his

scrotum.

'Bitch!' he gasped, his voice coming from miles above her.

The woman placed her mouth over the tip of his shaft and kept her lips pursed around the swollen end. She used a single hand to steady his shaft as it pulsed and jerked spasmodically. Her lover's growls and insults tapered to a sigh of relief as his length began to dwindle. Slowly, she removed him from her mouth and spat a wad of semen into the crystal goblet. A silver trail of his seed glossed her lower lip and Rachel was tempted to lick it away. Rather than break with protocol, she simply thanked the woman, retrieved her goblet, and went to the next couple.

Another dark-skinned woman waited on her knees beneath another suited man. Acting on Rachel's silent instruction, she extracted her lover's erection from his pants and began to suck him to a climax.

As far as torments went, Rachel thought this was as insidious as any of the crueller punishments Master Vince had ever inflicted. Being fully clothed had quickly lost its novelty value and, contrasting her own drab outfit with the exotic nudity of Master Bernard's slaves, Rachel felt she compared unfavourably. The slaves were all ebony, blessed with slender waists, full breasts and large, round buttocks. Each held herself with a demeanour of devoted servility. Kneeling beside every one of them, Rachel thought she must look dull, uninspiring and undesirable.

Worse still was the idea that she was missing out on something.

Watching the slaves give head - envying the pleasure they were being allowed to inflict - made Rachel greedy to accept the same humiliating treatment. Every time she knelt beside a couple it was a constant struggle not to push the woman out of the way so she could greedily gorge herself on the man's shaft. But, knowing what Master Bernard expected of her, she patiently contained her lust and simply allowed each slave to drain her lover before spitting the majority of his climax into the slowly filling goblet.

The penultimate slave finished her man with two short sucks. She paused, holding the wad of spend in her mouth, and looked to be savouring the flavour. With a flicker of reluctance sparkling in her eyes, she lowered her head and spat the unswallowed mouthful into Rachel's goblet. After glancing nervously toward the door at the end of the corridor, she placed a hand on Rachel's arm and said, 'How long are you here for, Mistress Rachel?'

Inwardly, Rachel frowned at the title, not sure she deserved to be accorded such prestige. During her previous visits several of Master Bernard's slaves had started to address her as "Mistress" and she still couldn't decide if it was appropriate. Also, she didn't know how long she was expected to remain at the albergo and, trying to brush lightly over the matter of her visit, she said, 'I'm here for a week, or until Master Bernard gets tired of me.'

The dark-skinned woman shook her head solemnly. In an earnest whisper she confided, 'The padrone would never tire of you. He constantly tells us all that you are the standard we have to match.'

Too embarrassed to know what to say, Rachel smiled diplomatically and moved along to the final couple. Here the slave already had her partner's shaft out and she stroked languidly back and forth to keep the erection stiff. As soon as Rachel had knelt beside her, and given a nod of consent, the dark-skinned woman lowered her mouth and began to suck.

From the shine in her ebony eyes it was clear she enjoyed the chore. She seemed to savour the sensation of her tongue gliding up and down the shaft, grinning with pleasure as she lapped the quivering flesh. When the length began to twitch, shaking with pre-climactic spasms, she encircled the base with her fingers and gripped tightly.

Rachel was mesmerised by the woman's control. She glanced briefly up at the man above them and saw his eyes were squeezed shut as he struggled to stave off his ejaculation. Not particularly interested in him, Rachel turned her gaze to the woman's smile. She winked once for Rachel, teased beneath the glans with the tip of her tongue, then placed her mouth over him before sucking and releasing her hold.

The man's climax was so strong Rachel empathised with his groan of release. She held her goblet up so the woman didn't have to strain to spit the come from her mouth. Their gazes remained locked as the dark-skinned woman allowed the spend to trickle past her lips.

Unable to stop herself, Rachel shivered. Her gaze flickered from the woman's eyes to the ripe swell of her breasts. Her nipples were stiff and the pulse in her stomach beat so forcefully it was possible to see the skin trembling in the centre of her abdomen. Embarrassed by the thoughts she was entertaining, Rachel took her goblet and murmured a demure thank you.

As she was about to stand up, the slave placed a hand on her wrist and stopped her. 'The padrone wants me to accompany you.'

For the first time Rachel recognised the woman as the ebony companion who invariably followed Master Bernard to Master Vince's estate. She would have made the association before but her concentration had been fixed on the way the slave's lips worked effortlessly up and down the thick shaft and she hadn't been looking for any sign that this was someone she knew. Nodding quietly she allowed the woman to walk by her side as she entered the sanctuary of Master Bernard's bedroom.

'How was the parade?' he asked. He sat in a captain's chair in front of the balcony overlooking a bustling street of traffic. A sheaf of papers on the floor to his side showed he had been busying himself with the minutiae of his business interests while waiting.

'You prepared a splendid parade for me,' Rachel told him. 'Thank you.'

He glanced past her, nodded at his slave, and the woman began to undress Rachel. Half-expecting this development, Rachel allowed the clothes to be removed from her body. Her jacket was taken off, her blouse was unbuttoned then slipped away, and finally her skirt was released and tossed to one side. Rachel was almost thankful to be rid of the restrictive garments and felt more comfortable when the slave had finally finished. She suspected the woman had been making more contact than was necessary, her fingers trailing too long over Rachel's exposed breasts, but she couldn't say she objected to the intimacy. After the arousal that the honour parade had inspired, Rachel was thankful for the attention of any intimacy.

'Is your goblet full?' Master Bernard asked.

She glanced at the glass in her hand, knowing what he expected. 'It isn't full.'

He snapped his fingers and summoned her to his side. At the same time he opened his zip and, without rising from his chair, produced his erection.

Rachel stared hungrily at him. After watching the honour parade her body buzzed with delicious excitement. Her need to taste his shaft - feel her lips exploring his thickness and use her tongue against him - bordered on being a compulsion. It took an effort of willpower but she resisted the impulse to fall on him and suck greedily.

A cruel smile played on his lips as he studied her. 'Is there room for any more in your crystal?'

He had to ask the question twice before she pulled herself from her thoughts and glanced at the goblet in her hand. Even with the mixed spends of a dozen men from the honour parade it was only half-full. She glanced respectfully at Master Bernard's face and nodded. 'I think there's room for one more,' she assured him.

He blinked once and, taking the sign as consent, Rachel lowered herself on her knees before him. She stroked her palm over his shaft at first, relishing the heat of his stiffness and enjoying the tactile sensation of his trembling pulse in her hand. Peeling his foreskin back, exposing the bulbous head, she licked her lips hungrily before moving her mouth closer.