A Life Discovered

Chapter 7 - First Time

Rhys woke from one of the most restful sleeps he had had in some time. He still had a woman on each side of him, each with their head on one of his shoulders. He felt warm. The embers of the previous night's fire were smouldering in the grate, and he could see the sunlight trying to pierce the heavy drapes hanging across the bedroom window. And, underneath the blankets, he had two beautiful and naked women cuddling up to him.

He thought back to the achievements of the previous day with pride. Kat had had a spectacular day. She'd received the first part of the documentation that formalised her status as a free woman. She'd been shopping and now had a wardrobe fit for her respectable position in Reiland society. She'd managed to deal with a bank, which was a massive achievement for an innumerate and illiterate woman. Along with Jade, she'd planned out the changes they wanted for their new house and had drawn what she envisioned in beautiful sketches. And she'd healed Jade after Rhys's attempts to be their dom had gone slightly wrong. She'd been beautiful, intelligent and talented before they met, but she'd never had the chance to show it. Now she was suddenly free, she'd blossomed into the woman she'd always had the potential to be, and he knew she had yet more of her persona to discover.

Jade was a woman of the world with a mysterious background that she was reluctant to share. It annoyed Rhys in a small way that she didn't trust him in that respect, but he trusted her enough to know that she must have a good reason. She knew many things about many subjects and continued to surprise him. Her mind was keen, and her physique incredible.

How had he, a young man from the boondocks of Seibjerg, come to be so lucky to have these two incredible women in his life, let alone being his lovers? His warm feeling didn't come from the fire or the sun. It came from those women. Their body heat, the magical flux that flowed between the three of them as they lay against each other under the blankets and the knowledge he had that he loved both of them, both of them loved him, and they also loved each other.

He looked at Kat, lying with her head on his left shoulder. Her freshly cut and styled short hair perfectly suited her and framed her pretty face. She breathed through her nose, making tiny, quiet snoring sounds as she slept. Rhys could feel her hand on his nipple, just resting there. He looked at Jade, taller and more classically beautiful with her delicate features. It was obvious to say it, but she looked the way she did because of her ancestors, whoever they were. She held his right arm with both her hands as she slept. She was holding on tightly, not painfully so for him, but it seemed more possessive, as though she subconsciously needed to hold onto him. Maybe it was a fear of losing him, or of him losing her. In contrast, Kat seemed content to just be next to him.

He lay his head back on the pillows, not wanting to disturb either of his lovers and revelled in the feeling he had. He dozed.

They all woke when the bell signalled that breakfast was ready. The women did the speed version of their morning routines while Rhys retrieved their laundered clothes and dressed. Kat had multiple sets of newly purchased garments in an adjacent room, but she also dressed in yesterday's clothes in solidarity with Jade and Rhys.

The Spencer children were still in the breakfast room when Jade, Kat and Rhys arrived. They crowded around Jade, telling her they were sorry she was leaving and extracting promises that they could see her again soon. Lars, the younger of the two, had been learning phrases in Seibjern from his older sister Violet so he could address Rhys in his native language. Lars bowed formally to Rhys and said, in slightly stilted Seibjern, "It has been an honour to meet you."

Rhys smiled broadly and replied, again in Seibjern, "I've been delighted to meet you, Lars, and I would be pleased if you would come to visit us in our new home." Lars looked confused - that wasn't one of the stock responses he'd learned from Violet. Violet took pity on him and whispered the Reijik translation into his ear. Lars beamed and hugged Rhys around his waist. Violet also hugged Kat around her waist, telling her they were pleased that Jade had such a lovely new friend and thanked her for visiting them. Kat was delighted and bent to kiss each of the children on their cheeks. Lars blushed ferociously, and Violet giggled before they scampered away for the journey to school.

Sarah had already left for the day, so Richard bade them farewell and promised to have their luggage (although it was mostly Kat's) delivered to their new house that day. The three lovers strolled out of the driveway, down the lane and back to its junction with the main road. Kat hailed one of the four-person Hackney cabs and asked the driver to take them to 12 Rowan Tree Road. The streets were busy with morning traffic, but they were in no hurry. Kat and Jade chatted away, and Rhys looked out of the windows, still fascinated by the mass of humanity around them.

The cab pulled up outside their house. Kat paid the driver, and they all walked up to the front door. Jade took her key out of her borrowed satchel and tried to unlock the door, but the key wouldn't turn. She tried again, with more effort, but with the same result. She was about to comment when the door opened and an older woman stood in the opening. Kade looked embarrassed - the door had been unlocked all along. Kat and Rhys were trying not to laugh.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked.

Kat and Jade looked at Rhys, who took the hint. "I'm Rhys..." He stopped suddenly as Jade elbowed him in the ribs. He got a flash of a thought from her. "...Rhys Niain, at your service."

Recognition dawned over the older woman in the door frame, who curtsied at him. "I'm Mrs. Hawthorne, your housekeeper", she said. "Please come in, Master Niain."

Rhys put his hand up, and Mrs. Hawthorne paused. "I don't like being called master," he said, ignoring the slight sniggers from Kat and Jade. "Could you call me Rhys, please? And what's your forename?"

"If you don't mind, Master Niain," Mrs. Hawthorne replied, "there's a hierarchy in the house like in all other grand houses, and what people call each other is an important part of that. Senior staff are addressed by their surname, junior staff by their forename. So I must ask that you call me Mrs. Hawthorne, or it undermines my authority with the rest of the staff. And I must insist on calling you Master Niain."

Rhys thought about how the Spencers organised their household. "Can we compromise?" he asked her. "I'll call you Mrs. Hawthorne if you'll call me Mr. Niain?"

Mrs Hawthorne nodded. "That would be acceptable," she agreed. She stepped aside and opened the door fully.

Just behind the door stood a woman, probably in her mid-twenties. She looked distraught, wringing her hands and keeping her eyes lowered. "Begging your pardon, Mrs. Hawthorne. I was in the orangery watering the plants, and when I got here, you'd already answered the door!"

"It's fine, Clara," Mrs. Hawthorne replied. "I've been expecting the new Master, so I waited here to meet him. No need to worry yourself. Now, Mr Niain, if you and your companions could stand here," she drew an imaginary line behind the front door with her hand, "I'll call the rest of the staff." She went over to a bell hanging from a bracket on the wall. It was similar to the one that had summoned them to meals in the Spencer household. Mrs. Hawthorne rang the bell and bellowed, "Staff!" She was so loud that Kat covered her ears.

Two women came up the stairs from the lower floor. One looked to be in her late teens or early twenties, and the other in her mid-thirties. Two more women, again, looking to be in their late teens and wearing maid uniforms, came down the grand stairs. Another woman in her mid-twenties wearing a long but figure-hugging dress followed them. A final woman came in from the orangery room wearing rough trousers and a sturdy shirt. She had a pair of leather gloves and socks, but no shoes. They stood in a line before the three friends, and Mrs. Hawthorne stood between them, but to one side.

Now that everyone was lined up, Rhys noticed Mrs. Hawthorne was looking at him expectantly. He cleared his throat. "Er, good morning, everyone. I'm Rhys Niain. I prefer to be called Rhys, but it's also OK to call me Mr Niain. I believe you've been expecting me?" He smiled, and some of the staff members smiled back at him.

He looked at Kat. "Good morning, everyone," she said. "I'm Katarina Wildwood and I'm Mr Niain's assistant." She smiled slightly as she used his formal address. "You can call me Kat or Miss Wildwood."

Jade took her turn. "And I'm Jade Niain," she said. "I like to be called Jade, but Miss Niain is also OK."

The staff then introduced themselves. The women who had been downstairs were Mrs. Shaw, the cook and Nell, the kitchen maid. The two women dressed in maid uniforms were Lily and Sarah, the housemaids. The smartly dressed woman who had also been upstairs was Louisa, the lady's maid. The woman who'd apologised for not opening the door in time was Clara, the parlour maid. The woman in her socks was Rosemary, the gardener. Each of the women curtsied at Rhys, Kat and Jade. Jade bowed back to each of them, and Rhys followed her lead. Kat looked close to being overwhelmed again, so Rhys squeezed her hand.

"You'll have noticed," said Mrs. Hawthorne, "that we have an all-female staff. The previous head of the household, Lady Featherstone, preferred it that way." She said it as a statement of the obvious, but Rhys knew there was a hidden question.

"I'm sure you're excellent at running the household," he said to her, "and these other fine women are more than capable of doing their duties. I see no reason to change that. I've never had a male valet or anyone else to look after me, and don't see why I need one now."

Mrs. Hawthorne looked pleased for the first time since they'd met. She clapped her hands. "OK, ladies, back to work. Louisa, Lily, Sarah, come with me." She turned to Rhys. "Your trunks and bags have arrived, and we took them upstairs. We need to know which bedrooms you'll be using so we can get everything set up." She headed up the grand staircase, the three staff members following her. Jade, Kat and Rhys cast glances at each other. It was about time to lay down the new rules of the house.

Mrs. Hawthorne opened the door to the main bedroom. There was a fire burning in the grate already. "I thought Mr Niain might take the largest room," she said. "We've unpacked your trunk already and have put everything away, if that wasn't too presumptuous?"

"That's fine," Rhys said. It had been a little presumptuous, but probably nowhere near as presumptuous as the next bit was likely to be.

"I thought Miss Wildwood could go in the southern linked room, so, as your assistant, she'd be close by."

"I need her closer than that," said Rhys. "She'll sleep in here, with me." Kat smirked.

Mrs. Hawthorne looked shocked but recovered her poise quickly. "We'll find a small bed for her," she said.

"There's no need," Rhys said. "We'll be getting a new bed in here anyway. She'll sleep in that. With me."

"Mr. Niain! I must strongly advise against sleeping with your staff!" said Mrs. Hawthorne. "A professional detachment is..."

Rhys interrupted her. "Thank you for your advice. But the matter is decided. She is in my family first and foremost. She is on my staff as a distant second. She'll sleep with me unless and until she doesn't want to. If she wants the linked room as a dressing room, that would be fine." He looked at Kat, who nodded.

Mrs. Hawthorne blustered a little, but Rhys stared her down. Louisa, Lily, and Sarah, standing slightly behind Mrs. Hawthorne, looked in different directions and tried not to smile. She tried to recover her demeanour. "And for your sister, I thought..."

This time, Jade interrupted. "I'm not his sister," she said. "People can share a surname without being related." She looked at Mrs. Hawthorne. "Let's agree not to make assumptions? And I'll also be sleeping here with Kat and Rhys. If Kat's taking a dressing room, we can share?" She looked at Kat, who nodded again.

"We'll set the other adjoining bedroom up as an activity room, so we're occupying the three rooms you'd earmarked for us," Jade said, "but not for the same purposes. We've also got plans for other parts of the house. We'll start organising everything this afternoon."

"Well!" Mrs. Hawthorne blustered. "I will have to consult the owners first. You can't just move in here and..."

This time, Kat cut her off. "We've already checked and have approval," she said. "If you want to ask the owners, feel free. We don't want to be on your bad side, but decisions have already been made. It will be much easier for everyone if we pull in the same direction. But if you, or anyone, wants to pull in a different direction..." She left the implied threat hanging.

Rhys was surprised at her tone and that she would speak in such a way to Mrs. Hawthorne, who, just a week ago, would have been someone far above her in the social hierarchy. He took it as a sign of her increasing confidence, which delighted him. Mrs. Hawthorne, on the other hand, was far from delighted. She looked like she'd swallowed a wasp. She spun on her heels and marched out of the room, leaving Louisa, Sarah and Lily behind.

Rhys heard a distant bell tower strike eleven. It reminded him that he needed to be at Mrs. Mather's by noon. "That's fine," said Jade when he told her. "Kat and I will spend a while briefing the staff on our plans for their departments, and we'll get some of the conversations started with the traders and artisans we'll need." She pulled out her notebook again and huddled with Kat, Sarah, Lilu and Louisa.

Rhys realised he was surplus to requirements, so he headed out of the house, went up to the end of the road and hailed a Hansom cab to take him to Mrs. Mather's "Millinery Plus" shop. He had lunch in the tea shop in Miller Lane, having a sandwich and a pot of tea as he didn't know what sort of exertions the afternoon might bring. As the clock in front of the jeweller's shop showed noon, he opened the "Millinery Plus" door and entered.

Mrs. Mather was waiting for him. She nodded in approval at his timekeeping. "Good afternoon, Mister..." she said.

Rhys considered the implied question. He still wasn't sure why he'd been given a new identity and briefly wondered which name to use. He realised there must be a purpose, even though he didn't know what it was, so he answered, "Niain. Rhys Niain at your service," and bowed slightly to Mrs. Mather.

She nodded again. "Well, Master Niain..." She held her hand up as Rhys started to object. "No," she continued, "You can call yourself whatever you like here and now. But when you go through that curtain," she indicated the covered doorway that led to the upstairs room, "and when you're dominating your subs, you will be Master. You must put aside your preferences, to some degree, and be what they need you to be, not what you want to be. If you love them, you will put your preferences and ideals aside for their sake."

Rhys thought that was a bit of a low blow, but he understood what she meant and nodded.

"Today," Mrs. Mather continued, "we will start your training as a dom. If you've read the book," Rhys nodded, "you'll have the basics already. But there are some things you'll actually have to practice. We have a safe space here that we will use to get you the experience you need to keep your subs 'entertained' and, above all, safe. Today's session is to help you think and act like a dominant.

"We have a sub here today. You can call her Vada. She's currently unattached, so she doesn't have a dom. She'll do you the favour of allowing you to practice on her and giving you some feedback. You'll do her the favour of relieving her 'itch' for a while. I'm here to reassure her that she won't have another bad experience. Not that I'm expecting you to go rogue on us." She smiled.

"OK," said Rhys, "that seems fine." Mrs. Mather held the curtain aside that covered the upper floor staircase. They both went up and emerged on the upper sales floor.

There was a large canvas bag on the floor by the sitting area. "Before we start, this isn't going to be a gentle or short session," Mrs. Mather said. "In ideal circumstances, I'd have introduced you more slowly to some of the roles a dom may have to perform. I apologise if you find this a bit too much to take in, but Vada's in a bit of a state, so if we can help her out..."

Rhys nodded, understanding. He smiled inwardly at the thought that Kat had spent a good portion of the last few days being overwhelmed by the experience of being a free woman, and now here he was, perhaps at risk of being overwhelmed by a needy submissive.

"She's brought some of her equipment in," continued Mrs. Mather. "Please use it, if you can." Rhys went over to the bag and carefully lifted the contents out. There was a collar with a leash, a metal "O" ring wrapped in leather and with straps, a strange collection of straps that were linked together, two sets of padded leather cuffs, a couple of what Rhys assumed were dildos, a few assorted straps and other pieces of leather that Rhys couldn't identify and a few lengths of chain. He laid the items out on the chairs in the seating area.

Mrs Mather handed him a paper bag. "You'll need this," she said. Rhys opened the bag. Inside was a canvas bag connected to a rubber tube with a strange rubber bung, like a smaller version of a child's spinning top. "Enema kit," Mrs Mather added. Rhys looked at her with wide eyes. "I said this would be a bit of an intense first session," she added, "but Vada has specifically asked for it. When you're ready, she's in there." She indicated the door to the toilet that Kat and Jade had used the previous day.

Rhys made his way over to the door, which was closed. He made to knock on the door, but Mrs. Mather stopped him, shaking her head. Rhys understood - he was to be in "dom mode". He opened the door with as much drama as he could muster. The "toilet" turned out to be more than that. There was, indeed, a toilet in there, but it was more like a wet room with extra furniture. The item he immediately noticed was a larger version of a carpenter's saw horse. He noticed it because it had a naked woman draped over it. She was lying lengthways, face down, her legs next to the legs of the saw horse nearest to him, her arms next to the legs at the other end.

Mrs. Mather went over to her. The woman looked up at her. "He's here," Mrs. Mather said. "Are you ready?" Vada nodded. "Very well," Mrs. Mather continued and produced what looked like a padded sleep mask from a pocket on her skirt. She slipped the mask over Vada's eyes. "Is that fitting OK?" she asked, and Vada nodded again.

Mrs. Mather returned to Rhys's side and led him back through the door, closing it behind them. "I'm going to coach you," she said, "but the first things on the agenda are that you secure her to the bench, then give her an enema. I'll not speak unless I have to, so as not to spoil her fantasy, but I'm here to give you technical advice and her reassurance. But, after the enema, she'd like some light chastisement and humiliation. I'll leave it up to you. You're fine to do some sexual touching but nothing more today, though."

"Agreed," said Rhys. "Are we ready to start?" Mrs. Mather nodded, so Rhys opened the door and entered the wet room. He quickly moved over to Vada and started by fastening her ankles and wrists to the bench using the straps already attached to its legs. He gave her a quick, light, spank on her butt which caused ger to grunt. He walked around to her head and fastened her wrists in the same way.