Read Telepaths Don't Need Safewords, by Cecilia Tan for Free Online

to me,” she said to the rest of us, the motion of
her arm continuing. “He is but a spoil of war, like a good
horse. A fine possession which I will use, or misuse, as is my
privilege.”
    His
chest heaved with pain, and also I could see, anger. I suddenly
wondered what their safeword was. He opened his eyes again and I
looked away. Was she drawing blood?
    “Come
on Glin,” I said. “Let us see the rest of your prize.”
    She
stepped back, smiling. He hung limp for a moment, resting, while she
stripped the leggings down to his ankles. There was an appreciative
sigh from us, the rest of him was as perfectly formed as the upper
half, his strong legs lightly dusted with hair, and the family jewels
hanging delectably between them. In the light I caught the glint of
metal. He wore a ring around them that matched the circlet in his
hair. His legs quivered as she stepped him out of the leggings and
then reattached his ankles to the door frame.
    “May
I?” Marella stepped forward, dangling her cat from her hand.
    Glinda
bowed graciously and stepped back. “Please. Make him sing.”
    Marella
was even more graceful than Glinda, with more variation to her
rhythm. My palms were sweating. I felt my teeth clench as each blow
fell. He did not open his eyes now, trying to melt into the pain.
Glinda tweaked the nipple clamps with her fingers and he screamed.
Marella gave him no breath to go limp. My heart jumped as she gave
him a final extra-hard whack. I wanted to leave the room, but at the
same time, I couldn’t bear to leave his presence. Dara got up
next and went to work on him with clothespins. Each of the women had
a turn with him, Glinda making suggestions as they went along, as
though they were setting a table or making a flower arrangement. They
blindfolded him. They chatted among themselves as they marked him.
    Glinda
flicked the nipple clamps off and he screamed. But she had turned
away from him, to look at me. “Would you like a turn, as well?”
she was saying, but I barely heard it over Corwin’s song of
agony. My goosebumps sprang up and I could barely maintain the act to
nod my head.
    “Take
him down, onto his knees.” They released the collar first, then
his hands and he slumped forward into me. He tried to regain his
feet, but I lowered him gently to the carpet. I could feel his back
with my hand, hot, corrugated. I held his head back with my hand
wound in his hair and whispered into his ear.
    “You
are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.” I pinched a
very sore nipple and he shook in my arms. “You are truly, truly
a beauty. Do you know why I do this?” I slapped him on the
thigh and he gasped.
    “No.”
    “Pain
is a gift from me to you,” I continued, working on the nipples
more. “In exchange for your beauty. At this moment, you are the
most precious thing to me on Earth.”
    I
held him to my chest then, as he broke down sobbing.
    “You
are a prince,” I whispered. I looked up then and met Glinda’s
eyes. She glared, a hint of disbelief on her face. I don’t
think she’d heard anything I said.
    She
broke character for a moment. “Well, Cle’, do you think
he’s had enough?”
    I
shrugged. “Ask him.”
    She
raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms.
    I
spoke into his ear, “Corwin, Corwin are you alright?”
    He
would not look up from where his face was buried in my chest. I
shrugged at her.
    She
walked over, knelt down, her hair sliding down her shoulder to touch
his. “Come on, Corwin, let’s go.”
    He
clung to me. She said again, “Let’s go.” This time
she used her bare hand on his back. He wasn’t the only one who
gasped. “That is an order, princeling,” she added, as if
that could reestablish the scene’s rules. But it was she who
had broken them.
    He
covered his ears and she raised her hand again.
    “Wait,”
I said, grabbing her wrist. As our eyes met I could not tell what she
was thinking. I did not want to play this wrong. “Duchess, how
much do you want for