Page 73 of Darkest Desire

“Then I’ll spank her again—here in public so you all can watch!” Sirex snarled. He was angry that Phoebe had disobeyed him and left the room when he’d told her to stay put. Because of that, he was willing to give her another spanking to appease Thruck.

But the Trollox was shaking his sane head.

“No—that’s not good enough! She caused the Shining One great pain by forcing him to look upon her unpierced nipples. They must be pierced as punishment.” He gave Sirex an evil grin. “The only question is, who’s going to do the piercing—will it be us?” He pointed a thumb at his own thick chest. “Or will it be you?” And he pointed at Sirex. “She’s your woman—by the law you should be the one to pierce her nipples,” he added. “Though we will be happy to step in and do it for you if you don’t have the stomach for it!”

Sirex felt his heart fist in his chest. He didn’t see any way out of his—Thruck was in charge here and he had fifty males, not to mention all the servants in the palace, backing him. He had decided that Phoebe’s nipples must be pierced as punishment for her trespassing in the Emperor’s rooms. So they were going to be pierced and now Thruck was offering him the right to do the piercing.

But he had sworn to never hurt her again—hell, he’d promised himself he wasn’t even going to touch her again—at least not sexually. And now he had no choice. It would either be him wielding the nasty sharp object in Thruck’s hand…or Thruck himself. And Sirex didn’t trust the sadistic Trollox not to mangle Phoebe’s delicate flesh and make the piercing even more painful than it was already going to be.

“Fine.” He snatched the silver piercing instrument from the Trollox’s clumsy fingers and examined it carefully, making certain he understood the mechanism and how it worked. Then he looked at Phoebe.

Her eyes were wide with fear but her jaw was set, as though she was determined to endure the coming pain. Sirex wanted to comfort her—to let her know he took no pleasure from this act and that he would make it as quick as possible.

“Phoebe,” he murmured, cupping her cheek in his free hand. “I’m going to have to do this and you’re going to have to let me. Can you be a good girl and hold still for me? Can you bear the pain if I make it quick?”

“I…I think so, Sir.” She nodded and swallowed hard. “I’ll try to be good.”

“You can do it,” Sirex assured her. “And after this is done, we’ll leave.”

“If they let us.” Her voice was so low only he could hear it but Sirex could see the doubt and fear in her eyes.

“Don’t worry about that—I’ll fight our way out if I have to. You just stay behind me,” he told her. Though he privately wasn’t very happy about his chances, considering there were fifty other males in the Grand Salon and one of them was a ten-foot-tall Trollox. Still, he wasn’t going to let Phoebe see him doubting.

“All right.” She nodded. “I’m ready, Master. Please—just make it quick.”

“As quick as I can,” Sirex promised. He positioned the sharp points of the piercer on either side of her berry-dark nipple, which was already tight with fear. “Hold still,” he told Phoebe, and then he squeezed the mechanism fast and hard.

The jaws snapped shut, forcing a silver ring through the delicate flesh and closing it at the same time.

Phoebe let out a gasp of pain but to her credit she held still and didn’t jerk away.

“Are you all right?” Sirex cupped her cheek again, looking into her face anxiously.

“I’m f-fine.” There were tears standing in her eyes, but she was refusing to cry. “Just do the other one quickly, please,” she whispered. “And let’s get out of here!”

“All right. You’re being a very good girl—a very brave girl,” Sirex told her, stroking her cheek. “Just hold still for me one more time.”

“I…I’ll try, Sir.” She nodded and a single tear ran down her cheek.

Sirex felt like his heart was being squeezed in a vice. He wished he didn’t have to do this—didn’t have to hurt her and make her cry—but he had no choice.

Feeling like a complete bastard, he positioned the piercer around the other nipple. There was already another silver ring in position in the mechanism, ready to go as soon as the needle-sharp jaws snapped shut.

“Take a deep breath,” he told Phoebe. She did as he said and just as she completely filled her lungs, he squeezed the piercer again.

This time the sound that came from Phoebe’s throat was more like a shriek.

Sirex dropped the piercer and cupped her face in both hands. Leaning down, he looked anxiously into her eyes.

“Sweetheart? Are you okay?”

“I…I think so.” Tears were streaming down her cheeks now. “I don’t know why the s-second one hurt so m-much more than the f-first,” she stammered.

“Maybe because you knew what was coming.” Sirex brushed her tears away with his thumbs. “You were such a good girl for me, baby. I’m so damn proud of you.”

“Th-thank you.” She looked up at him, her lovely silver green eyes filled with emotion.

Sirex wanted to gather her to him—wanted to hold her close in his arms and let her cry. Then he wanted to heal the wounds he’d just caused—he was sure if he bathed her nipples with his essence it would end her pain.