TRIGGER WARNINGS: Simulated Rape, Pain (1 drop blood), Male Bi/Gay, MaleDom, FemDom, Family (no incest), Consensual Non-Consent, and Sex Work (idealized) The only coercion is from a sense of duty to family. All over 18.
Credits: Edited by the 'Erotic Confectioners. Many thanks to Onyx03, Grrl Orc, Jasmine27, and allnitediner as well as others for editing this story.
Note: Nine chapters total. Each chapter switches tense in the middle. I was experimenting with that as a way to increase pace. The chapter names just happened.
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"Now, one last thing." I took her hands and became very serious "I am not angry about your work with other men. I am not upset that we are sex workers, or that any of your decisions have led us to this place. Actually, I am... excited about our future here." Tears of relief welled up in her tired eyes.
"However," I said with a clenched jaw, and then pressed on despite the look of shock and fear on her face, holding her hands tight. "I am unspeakably injured that you failed to trust me enough to tell me about your debt before we married, and to share with me your burden and guilt before running away from me, leaving me heartbroken without you."
The look of shame, fear, and regret on her face was somehow comforting, in a very sad and wrong way.
I was revulsed at myself.
I noticed she was suddenly quiet and was staring at me. The guilt and shame were not evident any longer. She spoke in a strangely calm voice:
"In my family, there has not been a divorce or separation for generations despite what we have always done for a living. There is a special reason for this; an object... a family heirloom. It is... magical."
Reacting to my raised eyebrow she scowled "Yes, yes, simple backwards people who believe in magic. It is not that, it is just magical in the way it helps to solve problems; magical in the sense that we make it so."
"Ok... if you believe in it then the belief can have power." I agreed.
"It has a name that translates more or less as 'the Gatherer' and it allows a guilty party to pay for their error and move on. I asked my Mother to leave it in the cottage for me." Getting up she went to a high cupboard and brought out a long, thin, wooden box. Bringing it back to the bed, she opened it and showed me the contents. It looked like a magic wand, but thinner and longer, with a leather-wrapped handle at one end, and a very narrow strip of flat leather at the other end.
"That's a crop" I said in shock.
"Yes" she nodded, "and no. It is the Gatherer and it is necessary to fix our marriage and repair the damage I've done by not believing you could handle this." She looked at me earnestly. "I was going to bring it to you in America after I was done here and beg you to take me back. I hoped you could use it on me and repair our relationship, but I see now that I underestimated you. I think we can repair everything right now."
I started to reach for the crop and she stopped me. "No, I must hand it to you. The guilty must present the Gatherer and request a specific atonement." Reaching under the crop, she pulled out a slip of paper. "I have translated the words into English as best I could. I will say my part first, and then you must say your part."
Then she picked the evil looking thing up and held it up.
"I have wronged you, and I love you more than life, so that I can not live with the pain. I request that you gather my sins, release my guilt, and ease my pain so that we may love again."
Nodding to the paper in my hand, she indicated that I should read it.
"You will pay with your body, and your mind, and your soul. And when we are done, you will be forgiven, and there will be no guilt, and no pain, and we will have it behind us. Do you understand?"
She gulped and sobbed but nodded her head rapidly.
"I think you should say it." I ordered.
"Yes Master, I will pay with my body, mind and soul."