Chapter Three: Submit
I don't know what I'd been expecting, exactly. A darkly-lit dungeon, perhaps, kitted out with every kind of implement. Or an interview chamber, claustrophobic, where I'd be expected to lay all my secret wants bare before this new dom. A bedroom.
Surely, I had not imagined the ballroom, filled with dinner guests in gowns and black ties, in which I now found myself.
I was waiting with the rest of my group behind the curtains of a raised stage at the front of the room. Mistress Agrippa presided at a small podium, speaking to the seated audience.
At first glance this could be any formal gathering. It was only once I looked, and saw that the servers weaving though the crowd were dressed in fetish ware, or hardly at all; that some of those seated around the tables wore a mask, or were attached by leash to one of their fellow diners; that some of the suits and dresses that seemed so formal at first glance in fact included subtle alterations, ones that gave a distinctly unwholesome flavour to the ensemble.
The attendant who waited with us backstage began to push us toward the lights.
"And now let's have a welcome" called Agrippa through the microphone, "to our other new students at the house this week: the bottoms."
There was applause as we were ushered onstage and made to stand in a line behind Agrippa. My stomach dropped to the floor and my blood beat in my ears. All my fears of exposure were conjured here; I wanted to run. I saw Oscar, seated at one of the tables. He waved at me, and blew a kiss in my direction. I wanted to run to him, to tell him to take me home and hide me forever and ever. He would have to do it; we'd agreed.
Contemplating my freedom to leave bought me time enough to stay. I took a deep, deliberate breath, and looked at some of the other faces in the crowd. I recognized a few of the house masters from earlier: the one called Daddy something was at Oscar's table; Mistress Tigerlily, recognizable by the large tattoo of her namesake flower across her chest, was at the next. I'd thought Master Aries' table would be front and centre, but when I finally saw him it was in the second row.
"As you know," Agrippa had been saying, "many of these sweet things up here are new, and are under the tutelage of the house doms. If you are invited to play with one of them, do so with that in mind—and with the express permission of their master.
"Alright, now let's see who these poor lucky things belong to..."
Mistress Agrippa began to read names off a list, calling us one by one to step forward and then declaring for which table we were to depart the stage. Murmurs of applause and speculation went through the room as each name was announced. I listened as each master was assigned an allotment of my compatriots. Most of them took two of the new subs, though a couple seemed content with only one. When a third name was assigned to Master Black, Mistress Tigerlily shot a hand into the air.
"I'll take that one, Trevor," she called out. "Come on, you've got two already."
"So do you," Master Black replied, "and this is not an auction." His voice was stern but his expression bore a faint hint of amusement, as he turned back to face the student, who was standing unsurely on the stage.
"Four hundred dollars," said Tigerlily, over the crowd. "And the use of my darkroom for one afternoon."
Master Black deliberated, to whistles from the audience.
"Two afternoons," he said finally.
Tigerlily agreed, and the new sub left for her table looking somewhat dumbstruck.
Soon, only two of us were left.
"And last but never least, for Master Aries, we have..." said Agrippa. "Olive. Step forward."
The other woman left with me went to the centre of the stage. She held her head high, and the bright lights glowed upon her honey brown hair.
"The things I could do to her," said Agrippa evenly, into the mic. There was laughter in the crowd as the girl called Olive stepped off the stage and walked towards Master Aries' table.
"And also to Master Aries: the chocolate-haired Perdita. I'll give you all a moment to imagine those big brown eyes looking up at you, begging... Perdita: step forward."
It took a moment for my feet to catch up to the command. So I was going to Master Aries. The one with the voice.
I didn't hear the noise of the diners as I made my way to his table; my pulse beat loud enough to drown a storm. But I went.
I approached the man called Aries: lean jaw, oak-brown hair, dark eyes. He sat with ease and I could feel his energy almost physically, radiating toward me.
Olive was beaming and sitting across his lap, and I saw that there were no empty chairs nearby. Where was I to go? Aries smiled lightly, and pointed to the floor beside him.
"Perdita. Please, sit."
I looked at the other faces around the table. Some of them were watching; most were not. No one seemed surprised or shocked at the suggestion so I knelt, casting my eyes downward as I sunk to the floor. Why was I to kneel, and not the other girl? Was I an afterthought, not really meant to be here? Poisons of dread and anxious paralytics raced through my mind.
Then Aries' left thigh moved just slightly, and came to touch my shoulder. A moment later I felt his hand on the back of my head: no pressure, just a gentle touch, before moving down to give my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. He left his hand there for a moment, before withdrawing it, and I felt the electricity; subtle, waiting. I wasn't being ignored, no.
He was playing a game with me.
Back on the stage, Agrippa had finish speaking, and soft dinner music had begun to play. I kept my head bowed out of shame but I could hear the clinking of glasses, scraping of plates, and the din of conversation. I didn't listen to what was said. I was conscious of Aries only, waiting for him to touch me again. His hand was stroked Olive's back—almost at my eye level—and I felt jealous. I imagined her smug, superior in his favour. But then Aries touched my shoulder once again, and I closed my eyes and basked.
He stoked the hair on the side of my head and I leaned my cheek into the caress, unthinking. In response, his hand slid over the front of my blouse to cup my right breast.
My heart beat. What if someone saw?
They wouldn't blink at it, I told myself. Not in this place.
Aries slipped his hand beneath the blouse's open collar, closed his fingers on naked flesh. My nipples hardened and he pinched one, teasingly. A gasp escaped me, and I rocked forward where I knelt. Aries pinched the nipple harder. Perhaps it shouldn't have, but it felt good to have this man —who I'd never actually spoken to before—caress me like this. It wasn't just that he was handsome, or that he was master of this house. It was the thing I'd felt when he'd looked at me in the hall that day, that made me slick with wanting as I burned beneath his touch.
Despite the aching in my legs from the long crouch I held as still as I could, not wanting him to move his hand from me. When at length he did pull away, I stifled a whimper.
"Well my friends, I believe it's time that I retire for the evening," came Aries' resonant voice above the table. "Please forgive me; I have some business to attend before my night is done."
Olive slid from his lap as he stood, and Aries held out a hand to help me off the floor. I grasped it, as greedy for the contact as I was thankful for the gesture of dignity.
The Master beckoned, and we followed him out of the room. As I left the table, I saw two other men rise also, and walk out with us.
***
As we exited the ballroom, my stomach growled loudly. Had Olive had been given dinner, seated at the table? I hadn't noticed either way, my attention having been rather occupied.
"Yes, no doubt you both are hungry," Aries said. Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd heard my stomach rumble.
"Don't worry, I won't forget to feed you."
Master Aries led us down the hall toward what looked to be a mostly empty room. He asked the two men to busy themselves across the hall, and told me to wait outside the door as he went in with Olive.
I waited for an age before footsteps approached from within the room, the door jolted open, and Aries motioned me inside. Olive slipped past to exchange places with me.
Inside, I could see the room looked to be mid-renovation. An empty kitchen bar stood in the centre, its marble countertop glowing in the spotlights trained on it from above. A few chairs and a roll of carpet in one corner was all else in the room. Master Aries sat on one of the chairs, and motioned for me to do the same.