David sat bolt upright in bed. He hadn’t woken up like that in months, not since he escaped the gladiator circuits. He didn’t have to fight battles anymore, but his heart was pounding like he did.
He let himself fold onto his knees, his breath heavy.
A hand rested on his back, the palm digging into the sore spot where his bad shoulder met his ribs. He grunted, ducking his head. “Sorry, Princess. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Nightmare?”
“Something like that. Old reflex.”
“You have a lot of those.” Her hand snaked over his chest, but he caught it.
“No.”
“Okay.” She leaned over his other shoulder and planted a kiss on his cheek. She slid off the bed, making her way to the vanity. “Do you want me to clean you up a bit?”
“Yeah, go ahead.” He looked down at himself. He was still naked, his body ached like he had spent a month in the arena, and he wouldn’t change a moment of the time he spent with Elana. Her stepmother Taria was a different problem. His face was still bruised where she slapped him, even though it didn’t have a mark other than the shallow cut her ring had left behind.
“This was supposed to be for you.” Elana held up the thick silver chain she had brought him, the key to his shackle dangling like a pendant from its links. “You don’t have to stay here and let her do this to you. I can let you go.”
“You’d get in trouble.” David looked at the long silver shackle binding his left leg to the bedpost. “I’m not doing that.” But why? He had wanted that. Cerces needed him… the castle and the army, running toward the capital of Astal.
But he was in the capital of Astal and spending his days with the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on.
“Rebel or hero?” She ran a hand through his blond hair. He craned his head into it, closing his eyes. Her touch sent shivers down his back.
“I don’t know,” he muttered. “I never thought this would work…”
“What would?”
He had claimed his birthright and escaped the arena. Now he was leading a rebellion. He could map out battle strategies, but he wasn’t a leader. If by some miracle Cerces did take the capital, he wouldn’t be able to stay in charge, not without a war going on. And if the wrong person took over, they would just have a new version of Astal.
People looked up to him. They shouldn’t. He wasn’t trustworthy.
Elana’s hand cupped his elbow. “It got out of control, didn’t it?”
How did she…? He nodded, lips parted.
“You can give a speech and put up a good fight, but it takes more than that to rule a kingdom, Prince of Cerces.” She poked his chest. “But what you did back there, giving people hope against Taria; that takes a big set of balls. I can attest to that.” She dropped a hand to his bare inner thigh.
David blushed and almost crossed his legs, but he had no modesty left to preserve.
Prince of Cerces. What a joke.
“Your stepmother’s coming. She won’t be happy to know we share the bed,” he mumbled.
“No, she wouldn’t be,” Elana sighed. “Where did she find you the first time?”
“Sitting on the floor.” He pointed at the bedpost, the one scarred from where he had tried to rip through it with the shackle.
“So you’ll be on the floor again. Over… here.” She gestured at the plush carpet between her bed, the closet, and the vanity.
He nodded and started to slip over the side of the bed, but she pressed a hand to his chest. “Your chain.”
It would be between the mattress and the other bedpost. A good catch. David stood and moved around to the carpet, his face tight.
“I think we need to set up some rules, make her think I have some control over you.”
A smile twitched David’s lips.
She scowled. “I will tie you down and tickle the life out of you right now.”
“Fine.” He raised his hands. “What are my orders, Princess?”
“That’s my title, not a nickname. Use it every time you talk to me. And… don’t talk back.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Crawl, kneel, bow. Act scared.”
“The last one won’t need acting.” The rest would be difficult.
“Come here, David,” she gestured. The chain rattled as he crawled toward her, and she grabbed his shoulders and spun him so his back faced her. Her hand met his bad shoulder, and he threw his head back a touch. She met his brown eyes through his overgrown bangs, her blue eyes like shards of ice. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you sure? You might enjoy watching me suffer.”
She stopped massaging his back to run her fingers along the sensitive scar on his upper shoulders. “What was that?”
He yelped. “Nothing!”
Maybe she was a touch sadistic, but she respected his boundaries. The queen would exploit them.
He glanced at his crotch.
All of them.
Elana had worked out most of the knots in his bad shoulder when the door creaked. The supportive hand on his chest turned into a death grip as she scratched the scar on his shoulders.
He shrieked. “I’m sorry, Princess!”
“You don’t talk to me. I talk to you, understand?”
The tone in her voice was terrifying. He nodded, unsure whether to claw at the hand holding him or the one tickling him.
“Well done.” The blonde bitch stepped into sight. “He’s almost there. But you haven’t taken advantage of everything available to you.”
Of course her gaze was fixed between his legs.
“I have,” Elana asserted behind him. “Just about every part of him is ticklish. But these scars get the biggest reaction.” A fingernail raced over his shoulders. He jumped.
“I’m not talking about tickling.”
“He doesn’t respond to pain. You’ve seen that.” Elana’s voice cracked, just a touch.
“It’s been long enough. You haven’t broken him yet.”
“He’s almost there.”
“Let me try my way.” Taria grabbed David by the throat and yanked him to his feet.
“Finally. Get me away from that crazy bitch,” David choked out.
Taria started, then dragged David a few steps and threw him onto the foot of the bed.
Elana stood. “Taria, if you hurt my mark again—”
“I know.” Taria rolled her eyes and yelled over her shoulder. “Aldien!”
The guard rushed in with an armful of shackles. Taria popped one open, showing it to Elana. David caught sight of the fur inside before it snapped around his wrist. Then around the other, and around his free foot. There was a clicking sound— the long chain around his left leg had been shortened. He found his legs yanked apart, the other chained to the far bedpost. He was jerked upright, a chain going overtop each bedpost before locking over his arms. He couldn’t move, just slump in his bonds.
Taria stood back and smiled at her handiwork. Aldien backed up, unsure. Elana stood behind the two, hands over her mouth.
David was far too aware of how his balls dangled underneath him.
“Tickling’s well and all, darling,” Taria endeared, “but you have to know how to break him.”
“I’ve told you, Taria, he doesn’t respond to pain.”
“Not to speak out of turn, but Dalle isn’t as creative as I am.” Taria grabbed David’s scrotum. He set his jaw, but couldn’t hide a jump of surprise. “See? There we are. Now let’s get to work. Aldien?”
The guard had frozen stiff. He looked down at the box in his hands, then set it by the queen and backed off. “If your Highnesses don’t mind, I’ll see myself out.”
Taria turned, but Elana cut her off. “Very well, Aldien. I’ll call if we need you.”
The guard edged outside, pale. David swallowed. He knew that look.
“Now, if you insist on not hurting him, we’ll start simple.” Taria set aside a bowl of ice chips, alongside a rag. “David of Cerces, do you submit your reign to the kingdom of Astal?”
“Fuck no.” David glared at her.
“Oh, so today will be fun!” She dunked the rag in the bowl and wrapped the sopping thing around his crotch.
David lurched. Out of the corner of his teary eyes he saw Elana’s hands shaking. Should he give Taria her show and put his princess through this? Or play the brick wall and deal with it longer?
“We have lots of toys in here for us to have fun with, David.” She upended the box to reveal a horrible arrangement of tools. Clips, a weight, feathers, a curious tube; everything that would live in his nightmares for months to come.
Taria unwrapped the chilled rag, instead dropping a handful of steel clamps in the ice slurry. “Don’t just stand there, Elana. Pick something.”
Elana stepped forward and knelt by her stepmother, snatching up a thin feather. She traced the inside of his ankle. His leg twitched.
“Come on, girl, this is why I have to do this. You’re too soft. You’ll make an awful queen.”
Elana’s fingers turned white on the feather’s quill. She met David’s eyes, which he held. She should do whatever she had to to keep sight of that throne.
Her feather lashed across the top of David’s rod before whipping across his scarred stomach.
David shook, yanking at the chains. His cold-shrunken member was slowly reawakening.
“You have the right idea,” Taria muttered. “Go a bit harder.” She squeezed his balls. He flinched, his gut coiling, but he kept his face steady. “Oh, poor David. You’re freezing.”
He glared at her.
“Let me warm these up for you.”
He tightened his fists as she scrubbed his balls with one hand. Elana, fuck, do something!
“Taria, what’s this?” Elana raised the strange tube the queen had set out.
“Oh, nice choice, darling!” The queen beamed and held out a rag. “It’s a lotion. Put it on this rag and give him a good rub.”
Elana glanced between the queen, the tube, and David’s irritated crotch. She popped open the tube, poured half of it into the rag, and spread it across David’s shaft.
“That’s it! Don’t forget to go further!”
Elana dropped the rag. David’s shaft was painted white with lotion, but Taria snatched it up, careful not to touch the lotion herself. She rubbed it into David as much as she could, completely across his crotch, between his legs and deep into his rear.
David stared, confused, as Taria sat back. “Now why don’t you show me what you do to him, Elana?”
Elana seemed no less concerned, but stood and crawled onto the mattress behind David. She traced her fingers along his ribs, making him flinch before she clawed his underarms.
The bed creaked as David pulled on the chains with everything he had.
<i>“AAAAAAAAhahaha haha PRINCEHESS haha haha PLEHEASE!”</i>
“No, sweetheart,” she chimed, “not this time.”
It wasn’t her. It was an act for the bitch. But it sent a chill down his spine as he ripped at the chains with strength he didn’t know he had.
Her fingers had grown tired of dancing in his fuzzy armpits, instead pinching up and down his ribs. He shook himself but couldn’t pull away. He never could.
But the movement had awakened a curious tingling between his ass cheeks. David bounced on the balls of his feet, then shifted his weight from one leg to another. It was just getting worse, something between burning and itching. Both? Neither. And it was getting worse.
He let out a scream that definitely wasn’t laughter. Elana stopped, horrified.
Taria clapped. “There we go!”
Elana stared at her over David’s shoulder. “What did we just do?”
The queen pointed. “That lotion’s made of sayoro root.”
A bleat of fear flashed through David’s mind. He craned his head back, a hoarse yelp escaping him.
Behind him, Elana sucked in a breath. “Sayoro root.”
“Powder and a pinch of water.” Taria grinned. “Sweat just activates it faster.” She bent over and closed a weight over David’s balls, and as he screwed his eyes shut she dug a pair of clamps out of the ice and snapped them on his nipples. He arched with a shriek, then winced as it sent his balls swinging painfully below him. He slumped, but couldn’t help wiggling as the burning continued. It kept the weight swinging like a pendulum. David gasped, a hoarse yell escaping him every minute or two.
Taria’s grin only widened as she watched David collapse before hopping to his feet again with a wince. She pushed open the door. “A delicious predicament, eh, Prince of Cerces? The Sayoro root will last until nightfall. And this will be today… and tomorrow… and the next… until you renounce your crown.” She turned to Aldien. “There are another pair of clamps in that bowl of ice. Every twenty minutes, I want you to go in there, remove the ones he has on, rub his chest with the cold rag, and switch the clips in the bowl for the ones he had on his nipples. Understand?”
Aldien had gone sheet-white. “But Highness, E-Elana—”
“But nothing. The girl can’t be trusted with this. And if you fuck this up, you’ll spend a day exactly like him.” She gestured. “The same goes if she helps him.”
David glanced at Aldien in a haze. The man had somehow gone whiter. He nodded, clapping a fist to his chest as she walked away. The guard caught David’s gaze as the door swung closed, pity in his eyes.
Elana barreled around him, reaching for the clamps on his nipples. “Holy shit, David, I’m so sorry—”
“No,” he slurred. He squeezed his eyes shut as he let out another thick breath, the burning kicking up a notch. “Your guard out there is at risk.”
“Are you— are you serious?” Her face contorted, glancing at him as he twisted in the chains with a rattle and a pained grunt. “David, be realistic. You can’t do this to yourself.”
“I’ll black out at some point,” he wheezed.
“That’s not a solution!”
“It is.” He met her fiery gaze with teary eyes. “Because it’s not just that guard. It’s you, too.”
She tore at her hair. “Dammit, rebel.”
She lunged in and kissed him, but edged back as her chest nudged the clamps on his. He sighed against her. She was a cure-all.
Her kisses slid down to nibble across his neck and collarbone to just above where the demonic clamps bit into him, blowing hot air onto the chilled nubs before she climbed back up to his mouth. He rejoined her greedily, her tongue calming the gasps plaguing his throat.
She nudged him off, and as his breath picked up again she nipped his shoulder, breaking his focus on the pain.
She pressed her forehead to his. “Eyes on me, rebel.”
“Always.”
She drew him into a hug, and tugged on his hair before making her way down his cheek and against the corner of his lips. He turned and took her thumb into his mouth, holding it with his teeth. The other side of his mouth curved up into a smile.
“Little bastard.” She rubbed back his sweaty hair with her free hand.
“I wouldn’t know.”
She started, then shook her head. “Maybe I should leave you alone.”
“I don’t like that idea.” She fell back as he lunged for her lips, him swallowing the hiss that followed his weighted balls swinging between his legs. She met with him once more, and stepped closer so he could relax.
The door creaked open.
“Highness—” Aldien began, then cut himself off as he took in the display before him. Elana wiped her swollen lips and David slumped in his chains.
Aldien glanced between them. “Gods, it’s true.”
David’s breath hitched despite his gasping. Elana cursed. “Shit, is there a rumor going around?”
“Not around. I just suspected…” he glanced over David and the way he still shifted on his feet. “And you left him like that?”
“The moron insisted,” Elana seethed. David smiled helplessly. “Said it was for the better.”
“Son of a bitch,” Aldien muttered. “He’s doing it for me, isn’t he?”
“I’m right here,” David grumbled, “and yeah.”
Aldien turned. “You’re leading the rebellion? You’re too young!”
“I’m of age,” David snapped, “and more versed in war than you are! <i>Gah!” </i>He yelped as he lunged too far, the weight swinging under him.
“This is twisted,” Aldien muttered.
“Taria’s twisted,” Elana asserted, “and the bitch should not be on the throne.”
“Not to speak ill of the queen, Highness, but I agree.” Aldien tried and failed to regain his composure. “And I’m sorry, Highness,” David started when the guard regarded him with the title, “but I need to do this.”
Aldien knelt, took the clamps from the ice, and kept them in his palm as he plucked the ones off David. He took his sweet time rubbing off David’s chest, even long after he stopped grunting in pain. Aldien pressed the new clamps onto David’s nipples, first letting rivulets of water drip off. David still arched his back, but didn’t feel the same sharp cold as when Taria had first put them on him.
The son of a bitch had let them warm up in his hand.
Aldien stepped back, glancing between the two. “Taria said you’re not allowed to help him, Highness. She didn’t say anything about making it worse.”
Horror streaked across Elana’s face. “What? Why would I—”
“Sayoro root gets worse before it gets better.”
“Yeah.”
“Make it worse.” He slipped out the door.
Elana grimaced. “What the fuck?”
David raised bleary eyes. “Didn’t Taria say sweat makes it worse?”
“So if we get you sweaty…”
“This hell will be over with faster,” David finished.
“But how do I—”
“Tickle me, Princess.”
Her face fell. “You’re kidding me. David, I’m not going to hurt you like that. You have that thing hanging from you.”
“Listen. We can either get it all over with now,” he winced as he teetered too far on one foot, “or you can watch me do this all day.”
“I… I’m sorry, David.” She stepped out of his sight, and he felt the mattress give behind him. She pressed her chin to the crown of his head, her breath ruffling his hair. “I really am.”
She pulled back and dug her hands into his armpits. David squealed, lurched, and flinched as the weight swung. Elana curled her face into his neck, letting her hands drift down his ribs. The feelings would shock him, he’d lunge, then flinch back as the weight on his balls swung and landed right into her waiting hands. Still, the burning between his thighs kicked up. He cried out through his miserable laughter.
“I’m sorry, rebel.” Her hands snaked around his torso, a futile attempt to keep him from bucking.
It tickled. His balls ached. His crotch burned. Why had he done this to himself?
Elana kissed his ear, then dusted her fingers over it, chasing invisible ants down his neck to his ribs.
He’d done it for his princess.
It was getting hotter. Elana slowed, realizing he couldn’t laugh through his gasping. She ran her hands down his back, slick with sweat, then attacked the spot she’d spared: the sensitive scar across the back of his shoulders. He twisted uselessly, laughter mixed with cries of anguish.
<i>“AAAAAAAHHH!”</i>
Elana pulled back. David slumped.
It was over.
She swung in front of him, her cheeks streaked with tears. “You’re okay?”
He nodded again. His throat hurt too much to speak.
“You did so well, rebel.” She leaned up to kiss him again, but stepped back before he could draw her in further. Instead she pulled a rag from under the bed and grabbed a pitcher that had been set aside. David flinched, too aware of the bowl of ice below him, but Elana touched his knee. “I’m not going to do that. She said not to help you.” The pitcher was filled with rosewater. David let her rub the sweat off his legs. “I made it worse, which made it better, like Aldien said. Not helping you, right? It’s the form of torture I’ve been using from the beginning.”
David nodded again as she rubbed the rosewater along his scarred sides. He snickered under his breath.
“So I leave you here like this for the rest of the day. You don’t have to move and hurt yourself anymore. Aldien comes and botches that clamp order as much as he can. Then when Taria comes in you act like you didn’t give two shits. Got it?”
“Yeah,” he croaked. “I don’t have to act like I didn’t give two shits. I’m a brick wall, remember? I don’t care about pain. She’ll realize your way is better, Princess.”
“Rebel bastard.” She kissed him once more. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you,” he murmured into her neck. “How ridiculous does she have to look before your father picks you for the throne over her?”
“She’s getting close. She forced the army into a suicidal charge against Cerces’ northern border. The general argued against it. She ordered it anyway. I’m sure the news reached my father.” Her lips twitched into a smirk. “Thanks for misleading her.”
“You don’t have to ask.” He glanced down at himself. “I’ll be okay, Elana.”
“Are you sure?”
“We have that guard out there, right? You can go do your job. Talk to your general. Listen to them. Figure out how to keep Cerces from hurting crops, but still expanding into villages.”
She stepped back. “I have your blessing on this?”
What was he doing? He tightened his lips as he nodded. “If your only problem with us is the destruction, then stop that. But if you need to take the throne, you’ll need us. All of us.”
“But I won’t—”
“Do you really think that bitch will honor your father’s choice, even if he picks you in the end?”
Elana stepped back. She had never considered that. “She’s the only one who talks to Father.”
“How do you know what she’s relaying is true?”
She hadn’t considered that, either.
The door creaked open.
Aldien stepped inside, his head bowed, and stalked toward the bowl of melting ice to replace the clamps on David’s nipples. David didn’t react much more than a wince. Aldien pat his chest. “You’re doing well.” He turned to Elana. “Great job. You’re wanted in the war room.”
Elana met David’s eyes.
He gave her a shaky smile. “Go. Be a princess. I’ll be right here when you come back,” he joked.
She shook her head, ducking past Aldien and out the door.
David met the guard’s eyes. “Thank you.”
“Not necessary.” He bobbed his head. “Listen. If you need a sword to stand behind you, I’m right here.” He slipped outside.
So much for puppy-eyes not being a way of escape. David stumbled back as far as his chains allowed. Like this, he could rest his weight on the edge of the bed. Particularly, the weight between his legs. He adjusted himself, then sat down.
***
“Wake up, idiot,” someone hissed in David’s ear. He was lifted off the bed and dropped back onto his feet, his weight landing unexpectedly on his arms. He groaned as his bad shoulder took the brunt of it, and the sound escalated to a yelp when icy clamps landed on his nipples. His balls bounced under him. David ripped his eyes open to find Aldien.
The guard tapped his bruised cheek. “The queen is on her way. You are not asleep, dimwit. You are confident and don’t give a fuck about this.”
Right. Right. David straightened, rolling his neck. “Thank you, Aldien.”
Aldien smiled. “No worries, Highness.”
The guard left. Not a moment later, chatter sounded outside the room. The door burst open. The queen waltzed in, trailed by Elana. David held a deadpan glare.
Taria stepped back. “No.” She whirled to Elana. “You helped him.”
She raised her hands. “I did not. I was with you.”
“Aldien, on my life, you will have many long days like this—”
“Your stupid lotion wore off after an hour,” David blurted, then steadied his voice. “Maybe you should try using it on yourself before making claims like that. And after that shit burned out Elana tickled me.”
“That’s true,” Aldien interjected. “The son of a bitch was screaming for his life.”
“Tickling. Again with the damned tickling.” Taria spun back. “Tell me, David. Do you renounce your throne?”
“Fuck you.”
“Okay.” Taria drew the key for the weight around his balls and released it. David held himself steady, only his cheek twitching in response. “Cut him down, Aldien.”
“Yes, Highness.” Aldien made his way forward and unbound the chains holding David to the bedposts. David staggered as he dropped free, then his feet skidded on the hardwood and he collapsed.
“So much for being strong.” Taria scoffed. “But maybe you’re right, Elana. Tickling, as stupid as it sounds, is the route to go.” She swept out the door. “Just get him dressed.”
Aldien hauled David off the floor and set him on the mattress. “I’m sorry, Highnesses.” He glanced at the chain still binding David’s left leg to the bedpost. “Do you need that—”
Elana fished her copy of the key from her pocket. “We’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, glancing between them as he left.
Elana lunged for the rosewater, rubbing down David’s crotch as best she could. David groaned and watched her through heavy eyelids. She kissed his forehead and swung a leg over him.
David opened his eyes. He found the hem of her shirt and tugged it over her head, letting her chest fall free. His hands dropped to her waistband. She guided them, and slid off her pants. She let herself roll back to straddle him, kissing him gently before trailing down his neck and sore nipples.
He gasped as she slid onto him.
She rolled her hips, him too weak to move against her weight. Her lips captured his once more, his gasps in time with hers. Elana shrieked, and as she squeezed David, he did too, giving one last lurch before truly passing out.
Elana slid free, padded across the room, and drew a tin from her vanity. She bit into one of its leaves, winced at its bitter taste, then returned to the bed and dropped next to her unfortunate rebel.
He let himself fold onto his knees, his breath heavy.
A hand rested on his back, the palm digging into the sore spot where his bad shoulder met his ribs. He grunted, ducking his head. “Sorry, Princess. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Nightmare?”
“Something like that. Old reflex.”
“You have a lot of those.” Her hand snaked over his chest, but he caught it.
“No.”
“Okay.” She leaned over his other shoulder and planted a kiss on his cheek. She slid off the bed, making her way to the vanity. “Do you want me to clean you up a bit?”
“Yeah, go ahead.” He looked down at himself. He was still naked, his body ached like he had spent a month in the arena, and he wouldn’t change a moment of the time he spent with Elana. Her stepmother Taria was a different problem. His face was still bruised where she slapped him, even though it didn’t have a mark other than the shallow cut her ring had left behind.
“This was supposed to be for you.” Elana held up the thick silver chain she had brought him, the key to his shackle dangling like a pendant from its links. “You don’t have to stay here and let her do this to you. I can let you go.”
“You’d get in trouble.” David looked at the long silver shackle binding his left leg to the bedpost. “I’m not doing that.” But why? He had wanted that. Cerces needed him… the castle and the army, running toward the capital of Astal.
But he was in the capital of Astal and spending his days with the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on.
“Rebel or hero?” She ran a hand through his blond hair. He craned his head into it, closing his eyes. Her touch sent shivers down his back.
“I don’t know,” he muttered. “I never thought this would work…”
“What would?”
He had claimed his birthright and escaped the arena. Now he was leading a rebellion. He could map out battle strategies, but he wasn’t a leader. If by some miracle Cerces did take the capital, he wouldn’t be able to stay in charge, not without a war going on. And if the wrong person took over, they would just have a new version of Astal.
People looked up to him. They shouldn’t. He wasn’t trustworthy.
Elana’s hand cupped his elbow. “It got out of control, didn’t it?”
How did she…? He nodded, lips parted.
“You can give a speech and put up a good fight, but it takes more than that to rule a kingdom, Prince of Cerces.” She poked his chest. “But what you did back there, giving people hope against Taria; that takes a big set of balls. I can attest to that.” She dropped a hand to his bare inner thigh.
David blushed and almost crossed his legs, but he had no modesty left to preserve.
Prince of Cerces. What a joke.
“Your stepmother’s coming. She won’t be happy to know we share the bed,” he mumbled.
“No, she wouldn’t be,” Elana sighed. “Where did she find you the first time?”
“Sitting on the floor.” He pointed at the bedpost, the one scarred from where he had tried to rip through it with the shackle.
“So you’ll be on the floor again. Over… here.” She gestured at the plush carpet between her bed, the closet, and the vanity.
He nodded and started to slip over the side of the bed, but she pressed a hand to his chest. “Your chain.”
It would be between the mattress and the other bedpost. A good catch. David stood and moved around to the carpet, his face tight.
“I think we need to set up some rules, make her think I have some control over you.”
A smile twitched David’s lips.
She scowled. “I will tie you down and tickle the life out of you right now.”
“Fine.” He raised his hands. “What are my orders, Princess?”
“That’s my title, not a nickname. Use it every time you talk to me. And… don’t talk back.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Crawl, kneel, bow. Act scared.”
“The last one won’t need acting.” The rest would be difficult.
“Come here, David,” she gestured. The chain rattled as he crawled toward her, and she grabbed his shoulders and spun him so his back faced her. Her hand met his bad shoulder, and he threw his head back a touch. She met his brown eyes through his overgrown bangs, her blue eyes like shards of ice. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you sure? You might enjoy watching me suffer.”
She stopped massaging his back to run her fingers along the sensitive scar on his upper shoulders. “What was that?”
He yelped. “Nothing!”
Maybe she was a touch sadistic, but she respected his boundaries. The queen would exploit them.
He glanced at his crotch.
All of them.
Elana had worked out most of the knots in his bad shoulder when the door creaked. The supportive hand on his chest turned into a death grip as she scratched the scar on his shoulders.
He shrieked. “I’m sorry, Princess!”
“You don’t talk to me. I talk to you, understand?”
The tone in her voice was terrifying. He nodded, unsure whether to claw at the hand holding him or the one tickling him.
“Well done.” The blonde bitch stepped into sight. “He’s almost there. But you haven’t taken advantage of everything available to you.”
Of course her gaze was fixed between his legs.
“I have,” Elana asserted behind him. “Just about every part of him is ticklish. But these scars get the biggest reaction.” A fingernail raced over his shoulders. He jumped.
“I’m not talking about tickling.”
“He doesn’t respond to pain. You’ve seen that.” Elana’s voice cracked, just a touch.
“It’s been long enough. You haven’t broken him yet.”
“He’s almost there.”
“Let me try my way.” Taria grabbed David by the throat and yanked him to his feet.
“Finally. Get me away from that crazy bitch,” David choked out.
Taria started, then dragged David a few steps and threw him onto the foot of the bed.
Elana stood. “Taria, if you hurt my mark again—”
“I know.” Taria rolled her eyes and yelled over her shoulder. “Aldien!”
The guard rushed in with an armful of shackles. Taria popped one open, showing it to Elana. David caught sight of the fur inside before it snapped around his wrist. Then around the other, and around his free foot. There was a clicking sound— the long chain around his left leg had been shortened. He found his legs yanked apart, the other chained to the far bedpost. He was jerked upright, a chain going overtop each bedpost before locking over his arms. He couldn’t move, just slump in his bonds.
Taria stood back and smiled at her handiwork. Aldien backed up, unsure. Elana stood behind the two, hands over her mouth.
David was far too aware of how his balls dangled underneath him.
“Tickling’s well and all, darling,” Taria endeared, “but you have to know how to break him.”
“I’ve told you, Taria, he doesn’t respond to pain.”
“Not to speak out of turn, but Dalle isn’t as creative as I am.” Taria grabbed David’s scrotum. He set his jaw, but couldn’t hide a jump of surprise. “See? There we are. Now let’s get to work. Aldien?”
The guard had frozen stiff. He looked down at the box in his hands, then set it by the queen and backed off. “If your Highnesses don’t mind, I’ll see myself out.”
Taria turned, but Elana cut her off. “Very well, Aldien. I’ll call if we need you.”
The guard edged outside, pale. David swallowed. He knew that look.
“Now, if you insist on not hurting him, we’ll start simple.” Taria set aside a bowl of ice chips, alongside a rag. “David of Cerces, do you submit your reign to the kingdom of Astal?”
“Fuck no.” David glared at her.
“Oh, so today will be fun!” She dunked the rag in the bowl and wrapped the sopping thing around his crotch.
David lurched. Out of the corner of his teary eyes he saw Elana’s hands shaking. Should he give Taria her show and put his princess through this? Or play the brick wall and deal with it longer?
“We have lots of toys in here for us to have fun with, David.” She upended the box to reveal a horrible arrangement of tools. Clips, a weight, feathers, a curious tube; everything that would live in his nightmares for months to come.
Taria unwrapped the chilled rag, instead dropping a handful of steel clamps in the ice slurry. “Don’t just stand there, Elana. Pick something.”
Elana stepped forward and knelt by her stepmother, snatching up a thin feather. She traced the inside of his ankle. His leg twitched.
“Come on, girl, this is why I have to do this. You’re too soft. You’ll make an awful queen.”
Elana’s fingers turned white on the feather’s quill. She met David’s eyes, which he held. She should do whatever she had to to keep sight of that throne.
Her feather lashed across the top of David’s rod before whipping across his scarred stomach.
David shook, yanking at the chains. His cold-shrunken member was slowly reawakening.
“You have the right idea,” Taria muttered. “Go a bit harder.” She squeezed his balls. He flinched, his gut coiling, but he kept his face steady. “Oh, poor David. You’re freezing.”
He glared at her.
“Let me warm these up for you.”
He tightened his fists as she scrubbed his balls with one hand. Elana, fuck, do something!
“Taria, what’s this?” Elana raised the strange tube the queen had set out.
“Oh, nice choice, darling!” The queen beamed and held out a rag. “It’s a lotion. Put it on this rag and give him a good rub.”
Elana glanced between the queen, the tube, and David’s irritated crotch. She popped open the tube, poured half of it into the rag, and spread it across David’s shaft.
“That’s it! Don’t forget to go further!”
Elana dropped the rag. David’s shaft was painted white with lotion, but Taria snatched it up, careful not to touch the lotion herself. She rubbed it into David as much as she could, completely across his crotch, between his legs and deep into his rear.
David stared, confused, as Taria sat back. “Now why don’t you show me what you do to him, Elana?”
Elana seemed no less concerned, but stood and crawled onto the mattress behind David. She traced her fingers along his ribs, making him flinch before she clawed his underarms.
The bed creaked as David pulled on the chains with everything he had.
<i>“AAAAAAAAhahaha haha PRINCEHESS haha haha PLEHEASE!”</i>
“No, sweetheart,” she chimed, “not this time.”
It wasn’t her. It was an act for the bitch. But it sent a chill down his spine as he ripped at the chains with strength he didn’t know he had.
Her fingers had grown tired of dancing in his fuzzy armpits, instead pinching up and down his ribs. He shook himself but couldn’t pull away. He never could.
But the movement had awakened a curious tingling between his ass cheeks. David bounced on the balls of his feet, then shifted his weight from one leg to another. It was just getting worse, something between burning and itching. Both? Neither. And it was getting worse.
He let out a scream that definitely wasn’t laughter. Elana stopped, horrified.
Taria clapped. “There we go!”
Elana stared at her over David’s shoulder. “What did we just do?”
The queen pointed. “That lotion’s made of sayoro root.”
A bleat of fear flashed through David’s mind. He craned his head back, a hoarse yelp escaping him.
Behind him, Elana sucked in a breath. “Sayoro root.”
“Powder and a pinch of water.” Taria grinned. “Sweat just activates it faster.” She bent over and closed a weight over David’s balls, and as he screwed his eyes shut she dug a pair of clamps out of the ice and snapped them on his nipples. He arched with a shriek, then winced as it sent his balls swinging painfully below him. He slumped, but couldn’t help wiggling as the burning continued. It kept the weight swinging like a pendulum. David gasped, a hoarse yell escaping him every minute or two.
Taria’s grin only widened as she watched David collapse before hopping to his feet again with a wince. She pushed open the door. “A delicious predicament, eh, Prince of Cerces? The Sayoro root will last until nightfall. And this will be today… and tomorrow… and the next… until you renounce your crown.” She turned to Aldien. “There are another pair of clamps in that bowl of ice. Every twenty minutes, I want you to go in there, remove the ones he has on, rub his chest with the cold rag, and switch the clips in the bowl for the ones he had on his nipples. Understand?”
Aldien had gone sheet-white. “But Highness, E-Elana—”
“But nothing. The girl can’t be trusted with this. And if you fuck this up, you’ll spend a day exactly like him.” She gestured. “The same goes if she helps him.”
David glanced at Aldien in a haze. The man had somehow gone whiter. He nodded, clapping a fist to his chest as she walked away. The guard caught David’s gaze as the door swung closed, pity in his eyes.
Elana barreled around him, reaching for the clamps on his nipples. “Holy shit, David, I’m so sorry—”
“No,” he slurred. He squeezed his eyes shut as he let out another thick breath, the burning kicking up a notch. “Your guard out there is at risk.”
“Are you— are you serious?” Her face contorted, glancing at him as he twisted in the chains with a rattle and a pained grunt. “David, be realistic. You can’t do this to yourself.”
“I’ll black out at some point,” he wheezed.
“That’s not a solution!”
“It is.” He met her fiery gaze with teary eyes. “Because it’s not just that guard. It’s you, too.”
She tore at her hair. “Dammit, rebel.”
She lunged in and kissed him, but edged back as her chest nudged the clamps on his. He sighed against her. She was a cure-all.
Her kisses slid down to nibble across his neck and collarbone to just above where the demonic clamps bit into him, blowing hot air onto the chilled nubs before she climbed back up to his mouth. He rejoined her greedily, her tongue calming the gasps plaguing his throat.
She nudged him off, and as his breath picked up again she nipped his shoulder, breaking his focus on the pain.
She pressed her forehead to his. “Eyes on me, rebel.”
“Always.”
She drew him into a hug, and tugged on his hair before making her way down his cheek and against the corner of his lips. He turned and took her thumb into his mouth, holding it with his teeth. The other side of his mouth curved up into a smile.
“Little bastard.” She rubbed back his sweaty hair with her free hand.
“I wouldn’t know.”
She started, then shook her head. “Maybe I should leave you alone.”
“I don’t like that idea.” She fell back as he lunged for her lips, him swallowing the hiss that followed his weighted balls swinging between his legs. She met with him once more, and stepped closer so he could relax.
The door creaked open.
“Highness—” Aldien began, then cut himself off as he took in the display before him. Elana wiped her swollen lips and David slumped in his chains.
Aldien glanced between them. “Gods, it’s true.”
David’s breath hitched despite his gasping. Elana cursed. “Shit, is there a rumor going around?”
“Not around. I just suspected…” he glanced over David and the way he still shifted on his feet. “And you left him like that?”
“The moron insisted,” Elana seethed. David smiled helplessly. “Said it was for the better.”
“Son of a bitch,” Aldien muttered. “He’s doing it for me, isn’t he?”
“I’m right here,” David grumbled, “and yeah.”
Aldien turned. “You’re leading the rebellion? You’re too young!”
“I’m of age,” David snapped, “and more versed in war than you are! <i>Gah!” </i>He yelped as he lunged too far, the weight swinging under him.
“This is twisted,” Aldien muttered.
“Taria’s twisted,” Elana asserted, “and the bitch should not be on the throne.”
“Not to speak ill of the queen, Highness, but I agree.” Aldien tried and failed to regain his composure. “And I’m sorry, Highness,” David started when the guard regarded him with the title, “but I need to do this.”
Aldien knelt, took the clamps from the ice, and kept them in his palm as he plucked the ones off David. He took his sweet time rubbing off David’s chest, even long after he stopped grunting in pain. Aldien pressed the new clamps onto David’s nipples, first letting rivulets of water drip off. David still arched his back, but didn’t feel the same sharp cold as when Taria had first put them on him.
The son of a bitch had let them warm up in his hand.
Aldien stepped back, glancing between the two. “Taria said you’re not allowed to help him, Highness. She didn’t say anything about making it worse.”
Horror streaked across Elana’s face. “What? Why would I—”
“Sayoro root gets worse before it gets better.”
“Yeah.”
“Make it worse.” He slipped out the door.
Elana grimaced. “What the fuck?”
David raised bleary eyes. “Didn’t Taria say sweat makes it worse?”
“So if we get you sweaty…”
“This hell will be over with faster,” David finished.
“But how do I—”
“Tickle me, Princess.”
Her face fell. “You’re kidding me. David, I’m not going to hurt you like that. You have that thing hanging from you.”
“Listen. We can either get it all over with now,” he winced as he teetered too far on one foot, “or you can watch me do this all day.”
“I… I’m sorry, David.” She stepped out of his sight, and he felt the mattress give behind him. She pressed her chin to the crown of his head, her breath ruffling his hair. “I really am.”
She pulled back and dug her hands into his armpits. David squealed, lurched, and flinched as the weight swung. Elana curled her face into his neck, letting her hands drift down his ribs. The feelings would shock him, he’d lunge, then flinch back as the weight on his balls swung and landed right into her waiting hands. Still, the burning between his thighs kicked up. He cried out through his miserable laughter.
“I’m sorry, rebel.” Her hands snaked around his torso, a futile attempt to keep him from bucking.
It tickled. His balls ached. His crotch burned. Why had he done this to himself?
Elana kissed his ear, then dusted her fingers over it, chasing invisible ants down his neck to his ribs.
He’d done it for his princess.
It was getting hotter. Elana slowed, realizing he couldn’t laugh through his gasping. She ran her hands down his back, slick with sweat, then attacked the spot she’d spared: the sensitive scar across the back of his shoulders. He twisted uselessly, laughter mixed with cries of anguish.
<i>“AAAAAAAHHH!”</i>
Elana pulled back. David slumped.
It was over.
She swung in front of him, her cheeks streaked with tears. “You’re okay?”
He nodded again. His throat hurt too much to speak.
“You did so well, rebel.” She leaned up to kiss him again, but stepped back before he could draw her in further. Instead she pulled a rag from under the bed and grabbed a pitcher that had been set aside. David flinched, too aware of the bowl of ice below him, but Elana touched his knee. “I’m not going to do that. She said not to help you.” The pitcher was filled with rosewater. David let her rub the sweat off his legs. “I made it worse, which made it better, like Aldien said. Not helping you, right? It’s the form of torture I’ve been using from the beginning.”
David nodded again as she rubbed the rosewater along his scarred sides. He snickered under his breath.
“So I leave you here like this for the rest of the day. You don’t have to move and hurt yourself anymore. Aldien comes and botches that clamp order as much as he can. Then when Taria comes in you act like you didn’t give two shits. Got it?”
“Yeah,” he croaked. “I don’t have to act like I didn’t give two shits. I’m a brick wall, remember? I don’t care about pain. She’ll realize your way is better, Princess.”
“Rebel bastard.” She kissed him once more. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you,” he murmured into her neck. “How ridiculous does she have to look before your father picks you for the throne over her?”
“She’s getting close. She forced the army into a suicidal charge against Cerces’ northern border. The general argued against it. She ordered it anyway. I’m sure the news reached my father.” Her lips twitched into a smirk. “Thanks for misleading her.”
“You don’t have to ask.” He glanced down at himself. “I’ll be okay, Elana.”
“Are you sure?”
“We have that guard out there, right? You can go do your job. Talk to your general. Listen to them. Figure out how to keep Cerces from hurting crops, but still expanding into villages.”
She stepped back. “I have your blessing on this?”
What was he doing? He tightened his lips as he nodded. “If your only problem with us is the destruction, then stop that. But if you need to take the throne, you’ll need us. All of us.”
“But I won’t—”
“Do you really think that bitch will honor your father’s choice, even if he picks you in the end?”
Elana stepped back. She had never considered that. “She’s the only one who talks to Father.”
“How do you know what she’s relaying is true?”
She hadn’t considered that, either.
The door creaked open.
Aldien stepped inside, his head bowed, and stalked toward the bowl of melting ice to replace the clamps on David’s nipples. David didn’t react much more than a wince. Aldien pat his chest. “You’re doing well.” He turned to Elana. “Great job. You’re wanted in the war room.”
Elana met David’s eyes.
He gave her a shaky smile. “Go. Be a princess. I’ll be right here when you come back,” he joked.
She shook her head, ducking past Aldien and out the door.
David met the guard’s eyes. “Thank you.”
“Not necessary.” He bobbed his head. “Listen. If you need a sword to stand behind you, I’m right here.” He slipped outside.
So much for puppy-eyes not being a way of escape. David stumbled back as far as his chains allowed. Like this, he could rest his weight on the edge of the bed. Particularly, the weight between his legs. He adjusted himself, then sat down.
***
“Wake up, idiot,” someone hissed in David’s ear. He was lifted off the bed and dropped back onto his feet, his weight landing unexpectedly on his arms. He groaned as his bad shoulder took the brunt of it, and the sound escalated to a yelp when icy clamps landed on his nipples. His balls bounced under him. David ripped his eyes open to find Aldien.
The guard tapped his bruised cheek. “The queen is on her way. You are not asleep, dimwit. You are confident and don’t give a fuck about this.”
Right. Right. David straightened, rolling his neck. “Thank you, Aldien.”
Aldien smiled. “No worries, Highness.”
The guard left. Not a moment later, chatter sounded outside the room. The door burst open. The queen waltzed in, trailed by Elana. David held a deadpan glare.
Taria stepped back. “No.” She whirled to Elana. “You helped him.”
She raised her hands. “I did not. I was with you.”
“Aldien, on my life, you will have many long days like this—”
“Your stupid lotion wore off after an hour,” David blurted, then steadied his voice. “Maybe you should try using it on yourself before making claims like that. And after that shit burned out Elana tickled me.”
“That’s true,” Aldien interjected. “The son of a bitch was screaming for his life.”
“Tickling. Again with the damned tickling.” Taria spun back. “Tell me, David. Do you renounce your throne?”
“Fuck you.”
“Okay.” Taria drew the key for the weight around his balls and released it. David held himself steady, only his cheek twitching in response. “Cut him down, Aldien.”
“Yes, Highness.” Aldien made his way forward and unbound the chains holding David to the bedposts. David staggered as he dropped free, then his feet skidded on the hardwood and he collapsed.
“So much for being strong.” Taria scoffed. “But maybe you’re right, Elana. Tickling, as stupid as it sounds, is the route to go.” She swept out the door. “Just get him dressed.”
Aldien hauled David off the floor and set him on the mattress. “I’m sorry, Highnesses.” He glanced at the chain still binding David’s left leg to the bedpost. “Do you need that—”
Elana fished her copy of the key from her pocket. “We’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, glancing between them as he left.
Elana lunged for the rosewater, rubbing down David’s crotch as best she could. David groaned and watched her through heavy eyelids. She kissed his forehead and swung a leg over him.
David opened his eyes. He found the hem of her shirt and tugged it over her head, letting her chest fall free. His hands dropped to her waistband. She guided them, and slid off her pants. She let herself roll back to straddle him, kissing him gently before trailing down his neck and sore nipples.
He gasped as she slid onto him.
She rolled her hips, him too weak to move against her weight. Her lips captured his once more, his gasps in time with hers. Elana shrieked, and as she squeezed David, he did too, giving one last lurch before truly passing out.
Elana slid free, padded across the room, and drew a tin from her vanity. She bit into one of its leaves, winced at its bitter taste, then returned to the bed and dropped next to her unfortunate rebel.
