Rei #2

Lisa gave it. Sevastyan repeated the tie. He finished by bringing Lisa’s wrists together and lifting them above the slave’s head. With a clip, he latched Lisa’s wrists to the chain.

“Use the chain to ground yourself. Pull as much as you need. That anchor won’t move.”

Lisa nodded. He was already drawing inward, away from Sevastyan, the room, his own body, bracing to just survive what was coming.

Rei dug his fists into his own thighs. Sevastyan wouldn’t let him do that. Did Sevastyan understand the meaning of what he was about to do?

Sevastyan tightened the chain, bringing Lisa’s heels just off the floor.

Rei swallowed, feeling the stretch of Lisa’s body inside his own.

He knew this sensation. Under Sevastyan’s hands, it wasn’t one that scared him anymore.

Even when Sevastyan tested his limits to find what Rei could withstand during a public demonstration, he knew Sevastyan would carry him through, never leave him alone, never break him without cause.

Lisa had none of that trust to carry him through. He thought he was in the hands of another Merchari, stretched out, bare, defenseless.

Hot tears burned in Rei’s eyes.

Sevastyan dragged his hands over Lisa’s body.

His ribs showed from just below his collar bone to the very last line above his waist.

Sevastyan brushed his fingers over Lisa’s belly, coming back and stroking firmly, checking for swelling or blockages.

He pushed the sweatpants down Lisa’s legs, revealing fresh lengths of bare skin, nearly hairless from laser treatments years before, like Rei.

For high end slaves, it was almost standard. Safer than trusting them with a razor.

Lisa closed his eyes, holding himself still as Sevastyan checked his thighs, calves, and feet.

Sevastyan circled, stroking his back. Now and then he frowned.

Finding safe places to hit Lisa was going to challenge his master.

Lisa was still too thin. Strike on bone and it would just be pain and possibly serious injury.

Hit too many times in the same few places where Lisa still maintained enough muscle and the burn would build too fast.

Sevastyan straightened up and reached for the flogger, leaving the rubber crop where he’d placed it.

Rei flinched as the first flicks of leather fell against Lisa’s back.

This was between Sevastyan and Lisa. Had to be between Sevastyan and Lisa.

Rei’s role was to sit and watch in silence.

He pressed the knuckles of his fists into his thighs.

He could do silent. He could do still. If Sevastyan and Lisa couldn’t build trust, there was no way forward.

Among his limited options, this was the one Lisa had chosen.

Rei would respect that.

The second strike fell, almost as gently as the first. It didn’t even mark. Sevastyan warmed up his wrist, moving the flogger in a figure eight pattern, hitting just below the tops of Lisa’s shoulders and working both sides of his ass.

Lisa’s eyes closed. His head fell back. He was waiting for it to get worse, probably deciding whether to performatively break and give a master the satisfaction of his tears or to bear it grimly and hold on to his pride while taking more damage.

Sevastyan paused as a faint pink flush appeared on Lisa’s shoulders and stepped forward, stroking the marks. Then he breathed on them.

Lisa shuddered, unprepared for the sensation.

Sevastyan stepped back, striking the back of Lisa’s thighs, once, twice, working in twin hits, keeping the sensations even on both sides of Lisa’s body. He paused again, letting the heat rise.

Lisa shook his head, moving up on his toes. He shifted his head forward, between his arms, dragging in air, trying to brace himself. “Just get on with it.”

“No.” Sevastyan brushed his lips against Lisa’s arm.

Lisa kicked out, not so much trying to hit Sevastyan, as with pent up nerves.

“Breathe for me,” Sevastyan murmured. Then he stepped back, going back to Lisa’s shoulders with the flogger.

Lisa sucked in air. Sevastyan struck, using the flogger to hit instead of stroke. Lisa’s spine arched from the sensation, then straightened. The next strike he barely moved, ready for the increased force.

It was still a fraction of the depth and intensity Sevastyan had at his disposal. He went for another twenty strikes, ten to Lisa’s right shoulder and ten to his left. Lisa huffed through his mouth and nose, a slight trembling starting through his legs as he balanced between the ceiling and floor.

“Use your grip.” Sevastyan stepped closer and wrapped his hand around Lisa’s, folding his fingers around the rope and chain. “Take the strain off your legs and feet.”

He let his touch fall down Lisa’s arms and stroked his fingers through Lisa’s hair, almost praising him. Lisa’s fingers tightened around the rope and chain. He half turned, trying to see Sevastyan, eyes wide with questions.

Sevastyan ignored the movement, running his palm instead down Lisa’s back. “Twenty more, down here. You can take it.”

Lisa growled between his teeth.

Sevastyan didn’t answer. He stepped back, measuring the striking distance, and set to work painting blush on Lisa’s buttocks.

Lisa dropped his head forward, breathing through the strikes. Sweat appeared on his arm. “Stop. Fucking. Around. I saw the crop. Just beat me. I know you want to. I fucked with your stuff. I didn’t show respect. Just beat me, dammit.”

The flogger didn’t even hesitate. Sevastyan finished the set of twenty and stepped close again, examining his work. Lisa tried and failed to suppress a shiver.

“You’re getting warm,” Sevastyan murmured. He caressed Lisa over his flat stomach and the arch of his hips, stepping around him, exploring with his fingers as if Lisa were a work of art. They were eye to eye.

Lisa wet his lips with his tongue, dry from panting. “Fuck you.”

Sevastyan wrapped one arm around Lisa’s waist. “I’m going to go harder. It should feel different now. Lean into it, make it your own.”

“Just break me, dammit,” Lisa panted.

“Don’t break,” Sevastyan whispered. “Bend, and wait, and watch. You do that already.”

Lisa glared at Sevastyan, a different kind of anger and horror in his eyes.

Sevastyan stepped back, stroking the long tails of the flogger over his hand. “Don’t endure, Lisa. Embrace.”

He circled, striking Lisa’s shoulders and back.

Rei shivered. If it was him, he’d be flying by now, floating on the heady cocktail of pain, dominance, and powerful chemicals washing through the body as it responded to stimuli.

Sevastyan was a master of timing, mixing touch with violence to evoke a swirl that never failed to leave Rei sick with want and weak with submission.

Lisa’s eyes started to close. His head fell back, grip going slack as Sevastyan worked him over from shoulders to thighs. There was sweat on his ribs now, tiny droplets on his hips and down between his legs, on the back of his ankle. Rei crept closer so he could see Lisa’s face more clearly.

Sevastyan paused. Lisa’s ribs expanded and contracted. His breath was slower, even after the most intense bout of flogging. It was starting to catch him and pull him under.

“Is this where you fuck me, then?” Lisa whispered, syllables almost slurring, an angry edge layered inside them all the same.

“No,” Sevastyan said. He stepped close again. Lisa trembled as their skin sealed together, sweat making wet sounds as they breathed against each other. Sevastyan pressed his hand against Lisa’s back, supporting him, taking the strain off his arms and legs.

“I know what you’re doing,” Lisa gasped. “You’re training me to need you.”

“Whether or not you know it’s happening, it still works,” Sevastyan replied.

Lisa lifted his head. His eyes looked like he was drunk. “I hate everything of what you are.”

“What am I?”

Lisa searched Sevastyan’s face. “A murderer. A trafficker. A criminal.”

Rei curled in on himself.

Sevastyan stared straight back at Lisa. “I’m all those things.”

“You know what I hate most about you?” Lisa whispered.

“What?”

“That you’re not all bad. That you made Rei love you when he should hate you. That sometimes you’re kind. That sometimes I close my eyes and want to stay. So show me the devil’s face and kill me before I need you.”

“No.”

“Why?” Lisa’s voice was almost strangled.

“Because you’re more than a slave and I’m more than a criminal. Someday, you might even see that.”

Sevastyan unhooked Lisa’s hands from the chain and swept him up in a bridal carry. “Let’s get you clean.”