Arinna couldnât believe the situation she now found herself in. âStupid, stupid girl,â she muttered to herself under her breath. âYou just had to walk back to the hotel and not take a carriage. Youâre going to get everything you deserve for this foolishness, and you know it.â
âBut of course you are, my dear. Thatâs what youâre here for,â came a deep, chuckling voice from the shadows, causing Arinna to startle. âAnd I am so looking forward to giving you all that you deserve â and more!â
And it was quite a predicament Arinna found herself in. After being snatched from the dark street by the two men who were following her, she had passed out from the cholorform-soaked cloth they pressed to her mouth. Now that she was awake, she found that she had been stripped of her outer garments, leaving only her corset and bloomers to cover her body. There were leather straps, circling her wrists and ankles, tying her to the four corners of a surprisingly large and comfortable bed. Her hair had come undone, red curls spilling around her shoulders, no longer confined to the pins that had held her fashionable hairstyle in place. She assumed it had come undone while they were transporting her to this place. Wherever that was.
âAre you afraid to show yourself to me,â Arinna spat, âor do you always have to face women who are helpless and in the dark?â
âOh, no,â he said, as he struck a match and lit several candles on a table a short distance away from the bed, keeping his back to her while shielding her eyes from the sudden light. âI donât have to hide from you at all. After all, darling, we know each other very well. Very well indeed.â
He turned around, and Arinna couldnât believe her eyes. He was still as tall and dark as she remembered. His eyes a piercing blue that could see through her and into her soul. He was the only one she had ever truly loved. And she had left him. Her husband.
âJames,â she sighed, silently rejoicing inside that it was he that held her captive. She had been afraid all these years that he had forgotten her, or hated her so much that he never wanted to see her again. She wondered again why she had had to leave. But then she remembered. Because she had loved him too much. And despite the thrill that ran through her at seeing him again, she knew from the cold look in his eyes that this was not a joyous reunion for him. He was different, and she didnât know what was in store for her.
âHello, Ari,â he responded, his voice smooth yet menacing as he moved towards the bed â their marriage bed! â pushing aside the curtains surrounding it and leaning against one of its tall posts, the one securing her left ankle. âAnd how has my wayward wife been all this time?â
âAm I still your wife,â she asked? âI should have thought your family could have gotten you a divorce secretly enough so as not to shame their name. After all, what were you thinking, marrying someone like me?â
âWho I choose to marry and who I chose to divorce is not my familyâs concern,â he snapped, anger radiating from him in waves. âI told you that then, but you felt you knew better. You just had to make a martyr of yourself. Didnât you understand me when I said that I didnât care about my fatherâs ambitions? Didnât you realize I didnât need my âfamily?â All I needed was you. And you believed them, and not me. You left.
âI loved you more than anything, and you turned your back on me. You obviously couldnât learn what it meant to be a wife then, but now that I have you here again, you will learn, and you will finally obey me.â
All she could do was stare at him, waves of regret crashing over her, and tears threatening to seep from her eyes. She knew he was going to extract his revenge on her, and she knew that she deserved it. But what had she driven him to do? A curl of warmth began to blossom down in her belly as her mind began racing, thinking of what he might do to her. She yearned to be touched by him in any way. It had been so long!
He moved to untie her ankle, and the around the other side of the bed to do the same to the other. Then her right hand was released. But when he moved to the left wrist, he brought her right wrist to it, tying them together before releasing it from the bedpost.
âI donât want you running away from me just yet, pet,â he said, as he jerked her to her feet from the bed. âI have so much to teach you about being a wife.â
As he dragged her by her tied hands to the center of their marriage suite, her eyes, only now grown accustomed to the dim light, saw the changes he had made. No longer were there lush padded chairs for the two of them to sit in, side by side, as they rested before the fireplace after a long day. Now, to one side, there was a padded bench, approximately waist high, with chains and locks attached to the corners. On the other side of the room was what appeared to be a wooden X, again with chains and locks on all corners. A table, set with a delicate lace cloth, held what appeared to be various whips and paddles, as well as pointed instruments and other things she had never seen before. Arinnaâs eyes grew wider as she realized that these were for her. Her husband intended to punish her thoroughly, and her heart sank a little at the realization. James no longer loved her, but hated her, and this was her reward for abandoning him.
âWhen I saw you at the theater on that stage after all this time, I couldnât believe it was you,â he said, pulling her hands above her head to attach her connected wrists to a doubled-up chain coming from the ceiling that she hadnât even noticed. He fastened her so high, she nearly had to stand on her tip-toes so as not to strain her arms too much in their sockets.
âAfter all this time, you had finally come back within my reach,â he continued calmly, as he grabbed something from the table. âYou canât imagine how much I have waited for this moment, to finally teach you your place. You see, Iâve been doing some research, my dear, and it seems I used all the wrong things to keep you by my side.â He reached up and attached a collar with a ring on it around her neck. âYou thought my father was in control of our lives. Instead, you should have thought we were in control, and more specifically, me, as your husband.â
âBut James, your father said he would disown you if you didnât get rid of me,â Arinna said, tears now beginning to slowly roll down her cheeks, as James turned back toward the table for another object. âI knew you would never send me away and you would lose the life you had worked so hard for. I had to leave. You didnât deserve to have me as a millstone around your neck.â
âBut it was MY choice, my dear,â he said as he turned back to her. âIt wasnât yours or my fatherâs to make for me.â
âBut . . .â Arinna tried to speak, but James was too quick for her. He thrust into her open mouth a smooth wooden ball with an attached post and quickly buckled the straps behind her head. As she tossed her head and thrust her tongue against the object that now silenced her, she realized that while the ball keeping her mouth open was humiliating enough, he had made it even worse â the post was a short, thick phallus, with a very realistic head. The only thing she could do was accept the invader filling her mouth. She whimpered against the gag, as he smiled coldly.
âCanât have you making too much noise now, my dearest,â he tisked as he ran his hand down the side of her face and tapping his finger against the ball gag. âThis is all part of you learning your place. You may as well get used to it, sweetheart.â
He trailed his hands down the sides of her corset, resting his hands on the curve of her waist, and pressing them together, nearly encircling her waist with the span of his fingers.
âYouâve lost weight my dear,â he said. âPining after me?â He reached around a smacked her buttock with his open hand. She jumped against him at the sensation, and he grabbed her ass with his hands, pressing her fully up against him. He ground her hips into his, and she could feel his arousal against her through his breeches. He bent his head, trailing gnawing kisses across her neck as she moaned into the gag and her head drooped backwards.
The warmth in her belly burst into flame as he began kissing her breasts that were pushed up by the corset. It had been more than four years since James had touched her, and she hadnât been able to bring herself to find another lover to fill the void that had been left inside her. She arched against him, straining on her toes to make him touch as much of her as possible. She wished her arms were free so that she could wrap them around him fully â but that was one wish she wasnât going to be granted tonight.
He reached into her bloomers with his right hand, and began probing in between her thighs, forcing her to open her legs. Finding the wetness already gathering there, he used it to slide up and down her pussy, finally coming to rest on her clitoris. Arinnaâs scream was muffled by the gag, as the sensations of finally being touched there overpowered her.