The following morning, Gemma was overwhelmed, both with excitement as well as a cautious anticipation. As she expected, when the maid awoke, it was to a message on her phone detailing certain specifics that Reginald wanted that day. Gemma winced slightly.
'Dungeon. Twin braids. That red and black underwear set you bought last month. Make sure all of my knives are sharpened. I left them in the kitchen. See you at noon.'
'Yes Sir.' Gemma replied on the device. "Dammit..." She complained to herself. She really liked that underwear set. And she knew Reginald wasn't having her wear it only because he wanted to see her in it. It was going to be in the long list of underwear sets that he'd be buying her again after he destroyed them. Especially with him telling her to sharpen his knives. Regardless, she did the crime and now she had to do the time. Now was the time to get ready, anyway.
Gemma had her own section of the mansion. It had previously been the staff quarters but as she was the only full-time staff, the area was entirely hers. It was like having her own little apartment. Reginald and Lyra had never even seen her bedroom. Despite her subservient position, both of them respected her space.
Her closet might not have compared to her employers' but it was still pretty impressive, nonetheless. The irony of course being that she wore her uniform most of the time anyway, making most of the outfits a moot point. But Gemma did have days off after all.
A quick shower later, she was getting ready for the day. She put on the underwear that Reginald had told her to wear and was slowly and methodically doing her braids. She always wanted everything about her to look effortless but it was anything but. Her appearance was something that Reginald never had any complaints over. But just like him, that was because she took a lot of pride in it. Her uniform was always immaculate, as was everything from her hair to her make-up, which for today was specifically designed to go along with the red and black lingerie. And she would check multiple times a day to make sure it stayed that immaculate.
It wasn't even for the sake of vanity, though Gemma was fully aware of how attractive she was. She saw looking desirable as part of her job. If he didn't want to fuck her senseless the moment that he saw her then she failed, and that wasn't something that the maid took lightly. Looking herself over once more, Gemma nodded, smiling to herself. With that done she headed down the stairs and her shift officially started.
After prepping a few things in the kitchen, Gemma made a cup of tea, as always being very specific about how long it steeped and about how much sugar she used. Covering it, she made her way to Lyra's studio. The closer she got, the more she could hear the music. Classical. That meant she was painting something detailed. She must have finished the sculpture at some point last night.
When Lyra was painting then Gemma could just go in as long as she was quiet. It still made her nervous, but she went in anyway, waiting for Lyra to acknowledge her. Gemma kept her mind on not fidgeting, since that was apparently distracting.
"You can put it down." Lyra spoke without looking at Gemma, her eyes clearly focused on what she was doing.
"Yes, ma'am." Gemma smiled as she put the cup of tea down next to Lyra. "What would you like for breakfast?"
It was like Lyra had suddenly froze in place at the question before pulling back her brush altogether. "I'm not very hungry. Toast and eggs will do."
Gemma quickly nodded. "Right away ma'am." She immediately started to leave and then stopped. "Just to remind you, your husband has me booked from noon til three."
"Of course. Then make me a lunch while you're at it and give it to me before you go." Lyra responded, painting again. "I think I'll be in the mood for chicken."
"Would a chicken salad be okay, ma'am?" Gemma offered.
"Yes, yes that's fine." Lyra muttered, her eyes narrowing at the painting. "I don't overly care right now. Go away and stop distracting me. Please."
"Yes ma'am. Sorry ma'am." Gemma nodded again and quickly hurried from the room. It took her a bit initially to get that when Lyra spoke curtly like that she didn't mean to come across blunt and sometimes even rude, she just always said what she thought. If you were distracting or bugging her, she would just tell you. It was simultaneously a relief and yet still nerve wracking somehow.
But Gemma quickly began to make breakfast, thankful that it was something simple. The more complicated what Lyra wanted was, the more things that she could find unacceptable about it. Even toast and eggs had to be very specifically done. Soon enough, the simple dish was finished, and Gemma just left it by the half-drunk tea and immediately left again to make herself some bacon and eggs as she baked the chicken and started to casually sharpen Reginald's knives.
The knives were slightly distracting because despite being in the kitchen, she knew what these knives were for and it wasn't for food. Just thinking about it made the maid lick her lips. It scared her, but it was a good fear. One she was looking forward to. Noon couldn't come fast enough. They were already pretty sharp from the last time Reginald had used them but he told her to sharpen them, so she was going to sharpen them.
Repetitive tasks like that could be soothing, allowing Gemma's mind to drift. Not to mention she was honored that he would even allow her to sharpen them. Reginald was very hands on with his tools. He bought them himself and he took care of them himself. The fact that he trusted her with them in the first place made her gleeful, and then she would remember what they were for and her breath would catch.
Gemma was tempted to send her employer a naughty pic of her playing with the knives, but she was in trouble enough as it was. When she pushed things, she ended up paying for it. She might have pushed things a little too far already. With Reginald there was a thin line between bad in a cute way and just bad, and Gemma lived on that line.
She carefully put the blades back in their case in the same order she found them, finishing her breakfast and checking on the chicken. It just needed a few more minutes so Gemma worked on the salad in the meantime. Like literally everything else, Lyra was very peculiar about the lettuce leaves so even salad took awhile. But soon enough, the food was prepared and in the fridge so that Gemma could continue her maidly duties.
Today she was predominantly doing the dusting in the upstairs hallways. Lyra's music echoed through until she reached the top of the staircase where it was much fainter. From there the time just flew by. In many ways the cleaning part of her job was the easiest. Maybe not the part she enjoyed the most, but it was the part she could do at least partially on autopilot. Before she knew it, a little alarm that she'd previously set went off indicating it was time for Gemma to start getting ready.
First thing was first. Gemma went to the kitchen to get Lyra's lunch ready, quietly bringing it into her studio. "Thank you." Lyra acknowledged, her focus clearly still on the painting, which meant it could still be some time before she ate. It was one of the reasons Gemma had suggested a salad in the first place.
With that sorted, Gemma went towards the stairwell that lead to the west wing of the mansion. Her heart immediately began to pound in her chest, the excitement and anticipation taking over. Once she reached it, there was a long hallway with various rooms which were all locked except for first one on the right. Taking a deep breath, Gemma entered the room.
Between the gray brick walls and the variety of cuffs, whips, ropes, harnesses, and restraints ranging from the floor to the walls to the ceiling among other things, the room just screamed dungeon, which is exactly why it was called as such. It reminded Gemma of the feelings she had when she would enter the master bedroom and couldn't stop herself from looking at Lyra's paintings.
In the dungeon, she couldn't help but to look at all of the various equipment. She'd barely had half of it used on her so far and yet it was all for
her
. This entire room was designed with Gemma in mind and she and her employer were the only ones that were ever in it. It was beyond flattering. The irony was that despite all of it being for her, Gemma wasn't allowed to touch anything here without permission. She made that mistake once and only once. Reginald always knew. Maybe there were cameras she didn't know about or something.
Regardless, Gemma put the knife case on the table where it belonged and began to take off her clothes, carefully folding them and leaving them by the door. She stopped at her bra and panty set. Usually the rule was for her to be naked, but he'd specifically said in his message to wear this set, so she had to assume he wanted her to wear them. She second guessed this decision a few times before keeping them on. With that done, all that was left was to wait.
And Reginald loved to make her wait. There was no telling how long she would have to stay kneeling with her head down by the door and Gemma was fine with that. This was supposed to be a punishment. If she enjoyed it all then it wouldn't be a very successful one. But she always wanted to be early regardless. Having
him
waiting on
her
