Read The King's Pleasure for Free Online

mother was cut off from everyone else, we’ve been outcasts from both groups. I’ve been raised to see everything that happens in court as dirty and immoral. There is no way my family can ever see things in the same way others in the kingdom do. I’m not even sure if I can. We have a sense of modesty you don’t have—and maybe can’t even comprehend.”
    There was a bit of an edge to the king’s voice when he replied, an edge Abigail wished she could erase. “If our ways disgust you so much, why hasn’t your family packed up and moved elsewhere?”
    “It’s not so easy when you have no money. We can’t just leave. Even if we did, gypsies aren’t welcomed in many other places, either. We’d face the same social problems. I think this was easier for my parents. My father likes being able to look down on something he disapproves of in the people who look down on him. Please don’t be angry with me. I can’t help how I was raised. They can’t help that they were shut off from everyone. How can you begin to understand a culture that pushes you out? Of course we’d react differently.”
    “And do you hold the same extreme feelings of disgust toward our ways?”
    She didn’t say anything. It felt too exposing to be draped across his lap in a slave garment with his guards standing just outside. If she’d been wearing something else or had been in a different setting, perhaps it wouldn’t be so uncomfortable, but she felt foolish being here, dressed like this, when she didn’t fit into their ways at all. She felt like a ridiculous prude in his presence and thought he must think the same thing.
    Secretly, Abigail had considered the permissiveness of Himeros to be liberating, or at least potentially so. She wished she didn’t understand the concept of shame being linked and mixed with sex. She wished she could erase her upbringing so she could be as free as the women she’d caught glimpses of as they’d danced for the king.
    His hand drifted from her hair to part the strands of beads and jewels. He caressed her bottom, his fingers moving lewdly between her cheeks. He was pushing her buttons, testing her. She squirmed uncomfortably, even though there was no one to see the exchange.
    “I’m not letting you go. I don’t care how you were raised. You’ll learn,” he said.
    Her breath hitched in her throat as he touched her. It was as if her body had lain dormant, waiting for the right man to come along and awaken her to her erotic potential. Every touch, every caress, no matter how lewd or invasive heated her from somewhere deep within. She wondered if he’d share her with visiting nobles as was custom. The thought made her heart thump hard in her chest, and she prayed he’d show her mercy when men started asking for her, even though a part of her grew wet over the idea.
    Finally he stopped fingering her. “Sit up.”
    Abigail obeyed the order, afraid of what might be coming next, but he simply gathered her in his arms, adjusting her so she sat on his lap. Then he guided her head to rest on his shoulder and held her, rubbing her back.
    “You will be exquisite. I’ll train you, and in time this shyness and discomfort will go away. Your wishes will not factor into my choices, however, I want to know where you are right now. If it’s possible, do you want me to take your inhibitions away?”
    With her face pressed against the king’s neck, she felt safer. “Yes, Master.”
    “Have you always had these feelings of discomfort and repulsion about our ways?”
    She knew he felt her head shake against his shoulder. But for some reason she felt compelled to explain her reply. “When I was little, I wanted to grow up and be one of the king’s harem. I didn’t know what a harem was then. I just knew I thought they were beautiful and free, and I wanted to feel like that. But my father got angry and yelled at me when I said something about it. He told me those women were bad people, and it was shameful to want