Hers To Cherish (Verdantia Book 3) (8 page)

Shoving two men aside, Ram grabbed the lash of the whip as it descended on Steffania.
He might as well have grabbed a rod of molten metal. As soon as he had jerked it from the Enforcer’s hand, Ram dropped it with a grunt of pain.
Ahhh, shit! Son-of-a-cock-sucking-jackal!
“Damn you, Kella.”

Strom
Kella eyed Ramsey coldly. “I warned you,
Dominus
DeKieran. I tolerate no infractions.”

A snarl
pulled at Ram’s lips. If a stony glare could kill, Strom Kella would lie dead. “What is her offense?”

“She attacked me,
” one of the other men said.

Ram turned in the direction of the growled complaint. “You are?”

“
Dominus
Mestrios. And your
slaaf
laid hands on me.”

The young woman who had brought
Ram knelt at
Dominus
Mestrios’ feet, head down, palpably shrinking with fear.

Ram examined the two livid welts striping Steffania’s back from shoulder to buttock cheek.
“The punishment for a first offence is two lashes. Your complaint is satisfied,” Ram snarled at the two men who flanked the X. “Let her down.”

With no attempt to be gentle, the two men uncuffed
Steffania’s ankles and then her wrists. Neither man prevented her uncontrolled collapse to the ground.

Ram rounded on
Kella. “You have incapacitated my body servant. As an invited participant in your games, I demand recompense.”

Strom
Kella regarded Steffania silently then smiled. “Yes, we do want you at your fighting best.” He tilted his blond head toward the utterly submissive woman clutching at the ankles of
Dominus
Mestrios. “Use that
slaaf
while yours recovers. Take her.”

Domin
us
Mestrios shoved the petite woman toward Ram with his foot. “Yes, take her for however long you need her. I have others who please me more.”

Ram addressed the shrinking
slaaf
. “Attend me.” She rose with evident discomfort and came to his side. “What is your name?”

“Pansy,” she whispered.

With a sweeping glance that took in all the parties, Ram moved to the base of the X and hefted a silent Steffania over his shoulder.

“Pansy,” h
e barked. “Follow.”

Sitting in the cab going home, Ram shook his head at the condition of the two women. Steffania had not said anything and nothing leaked through her comm-disc. She knelt at his feet, arms wrapped around his knees, her head in his lap. Tremors occasionally wracked her body. His right arm felt like flesh-eating insectoids were digesting it from fingertip to shoulder. He still couldn’t make a fist of his hand. She must hurt like hell, and her silence confirmed it. Steffania was the type to shut down and endure – or pass out. He’d been there.

Pansy knelt on the floor, blinking at him out of one violet eye
. Her bruises made a puffy ball of what was certainly a face of unusual beauty. The exotic brunette’s tiny, delicate body flaunted womanly curves with pert, full breasts and graceful hips. He had no sexual interest in her. Ram’s gaze dwelt on the silent woman in his lap and his disgracefully unrepentant cock twitched with life under Steffania’s cheek.

{
You really are a horny bastard, aren’t you, DeKieran?}

Ram grunted
. {Happily, for you, I’m a possessive, horny bastard.}

{
Yes, happily for me. Thank you, Ramsey.}
Silent tears wet her cheeks. Even through the comm-disc, her voice wobbled.

“Hmmm.”
Ram had many things he wanted to say to her but it could wait.

The cab pulled up in front of their villa
, and Ram nodded his thanks to the driver. “Steffania, can you walk?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Both of you, into the main bathroom. I’ll join you there in a moment.”

Ram walked around the outside of the villa where the power feed entered the main dwelling.
He looked around to make sure no one observed and then, with a grunting heave, pulled the main line out of the control box. The entire villa darkened in an arching cascade of sparks.
There, no ‘seeing eyes’, no listening devices, no nothing.

Ram
joined the women in the spacious bathroom and turned on the water to fill the soaking tub. His right hand and arm felt as if he had dipped it shoulder deep in acid. The livid welts on his right palm and fingers were a mere four inches. Two, three-foot stripes – six feet of welting – covered Steffania’s pale skin. He seethed at the thought of her agony.

“Pansy,” Ram said. “Sit
on the side of the tub and let me look at your face. Steffania, beside her please. I want to see your back.”

“
If it pleases you, but, Sir, I will—”

Ram cut Pansy off sharply. “
For the moment, you are mine. I take care of what is mine. Sit.”

Ram walked to the well-stocked meds cabinet and
stacked pain-pills, ointments and cleaning agents on the counter then returned to the women. Cursing violently about men who needed their balls removed, he tilted Pansy’s head gently into the beam of light filtering in from a window. Using his left hand, he methodically cleaned the blood from her face, applied ointment to her cuts and handed her a glass of water and two tablets of pain medication. “Sweetheart, go prepare an ice pack and put it on your face.”

“Sir, may I speak?”

Ram gave a tired sigh. “Pansy, in the confines of this villa you have freedom of speech and movement. Just don’t talk my ear off and stay within the call of my voice.”

“
Yes, Sir. Thank you. I . . .” The small pixie hesitated and hesitated.

“
Speak!” Ram barked and immediately felt like a brute when she leapt in place and then cowered abjectly. He scrubbed his good hand over his face and tried again. “What were you going to say?”

“
Before I was abducted, on my world I was a senior medica,” she blurted, “a highly-trained medical practitioner. There was an ointment I compounded that had miraculous healing properties, particularly for stim-whip injuries.” Pansy glanced at a white-lipped Steffania balancing rigidly on the stone-tiled ledge of the tub.

Ram looked at
Steffania a little more closely as he turned off the faucet. “Check the contents of our medicine cabinets and then give me the list of ingredients we’re lacking. I’ll make sure you get them.”

Pansy’s
one still usable violet eye found him, and her distorted lips twitched in what might have been a smile. “Thank you, Sir.”

“I’d hurry with those ice packs. The villa has no
electricity. The ice will be melting as we speak.” The tiny beauty nodded and left the bathroom. He turned to a silent, motionless Steffania. Ram was certain it hurt her to breathe.

“
Our spies have no eyes or ears. Now, explain,” he said to Steffania.

“I was coming to find you to remove the
téad de ghrásta
. I intended to lie. Tell you the ropes chafed. In truth, they aroused me and that angered me.” Her head drooped. “My morning had been vile. I was already angry. I saw Mestrios brutalizing that poor woman.” To add to her misery, Steffania felt her eyes become heavy with threatening tears. “My temper got away from me.

Ram grunted. “What a surprise.”

“I am sorry, Ramsey. My lack of self-control could have brought us both down. If you hadn’t come when you did, I would have told him everything.” Steffania lifted welling eyes and tear-spiked lashes to him. “I am sorry.”

“Hmmm, yes. I’m sure you are,” he
muttered. “Turn. Show me your back.” Ram winced at the torn, swollen welts making a large ‘X’ on her back. A flush of pure rage ran through him at what had been done to her. “The marks scoring Mestrios’ chest were your doing?” He began to daub gently at the raw stripes scoring her delicate skin.

“Yes.”
Steffania stifled a whimper.

“Next time aim lower.”

Her laugh died in a gasp of agony. “I did find out something useful. Kella was very upset about the questions I asked yesterday. That’s really why he was whipping me.” She choked in pain, and Ram stopped with a sigh. There was little he could do now that wouldn’t add to her torment.

“The questions yo
u asked about DeAlbero and Narr?” he said.

“
Yes,” she whispered. Her body trembled visibly.

“Open your mouth.”
Ram placed several pain pills on her tongue then held a glass to her lips. “These are pain meds. Swallow, and then go lie on the bed.”

He followed her into the large bedroom and watched her climb painfully
onto the bed. “I’m going to cover you with a light blanket, Steffania. From the way you’re acting, your body is going into shock. The pain pills will kick in soon, sweetheart. We’ll clean your back then. Just try to lie still.”

She nodded mutely and turned her head away from him.

“I am very unhappy with you, but we will
address it when you have recovered,” Ram murmured.

Pansy padded softly into the bedroom
, bringing a sheet of paper.

“Is that your list?” Ram asked.

“Yes, Sir.” She handed it to him.

His eyes ran
down the page. “I can send for these when the evening servants come to service the villa.”

“Sir.” Pansy’s voice came haltingly. “May I serve you?
What may I do to help you?”

Ram let out a long sigh and dropped his head to his chest. “Yes, Pansy. Help me out of
these filthy clothes.” He held his arms away from his body, and Pansy began to remove his dirty, padded, synth-leather jacket.

“Sir!” she gasped. “Your hand!”

“Yes. Let’s hope your ointment is as good as you say.”

Pansy
began to strip him of his synth-leather pants. As she snapped open the buckles of his high protective boots, she murmured, “Shall I attend you in the bath,
Dominus
?”

Steffania stiffened under her blanket
at Pansy’s question. Ram knew well enough it would be only a bath. Pansy didn’t “do it” for him – not like a certain, feisty redhead. He required submission sexually, but otherwise? Give him a woman with a spine. “Yes, Pansy, attend me in the bath and then back to your ice packs until dinner.”

When the servants brought the evening meal, Ram tapped the male
who seemed to be in charge on the shoulder and handed him Pansy’s list.

“Also, as you can see, we are without power. It was like this when I returned from training. Send some service people to repair it immediately.”

“Yes,
Dominus
DeKieran. We are terribly sorry, Sir.”

Sometime
later, with the house glowing in the recently restored light, Pansy found Ram. He sat in a comfortable chair in the living space, watching an info-vid on the upcoming games. The vidcaster mentioned DeKieran several times as a dark-horse favorite in the betting.

“Sir.” Pansy held out a shell-pink jar of fresh-
smelling ointment. “If it pleases you, I would treat your hand.”

With a grunt, Ram offered her his right hand
, keeping one eye on the info-vid. She began to rub the ointment into his palm gently, with small circular movements. Every nerve in his hand shrieked with pain at even the most delicate of her touches. Pansy flashed regular, wary glances his way. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and she leapt back, dropping the jar. Ram tried not to growl. He didn’t hit women – well, not unless they were armed and swinging at him.

“I am not going to hit you.”

“But it is very painful, Sir, I would not blame—”

Ram tried
very
hard not to growl. “I am
not
going to hit you. Resume.”

From her reaction, he hadn’t
soothed her fears. With a silent nod, Pansy sank back in place on her knees. She treated his arm the same way as his hand, stopping when she got to his shoulder. Capping the jar, she leaned back, eyes downcast.

“You should notice improvement in an hour or so,
Dominus
. If it pleases you, I will do this again in another three hours.”

H
is hand already felt better. Whatever was in the cream quieted the hysterical nerves. Now instead of a host of flesh-devouring insectoids, there were only a few dozen. “Thank you. Come torture me again in three hours.” Ram eyed the young woman, thoughtfully. “Have you treated your face with this?”

“Oh, no, no, Sir. I
assure you, I wouldn’t do that. The ointment is not for my use.” Pansy immediately knelt forward and shrank lower in obeisance.

“I
require you to use that cream on yourself until you are healed.” Ram kept his voice as neutral as possible.