The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Shadow Doctor Ch. 1

“You have a visitor, Doctor.”

Hsien Tam looked up from the scroll he was reading at the knock on his door. His apprentice Ho Tien knelt in the open doorway leading from the parlor to the darkness of the garden. The young man looked nervous, probably due to the tall muscular man standing behind him. The visitor’s sleeveless robe showing off the intricate dragon tattoos winding around his arms; Tam knew similar tattoos would be covering the Tong enforcer’s chest and back. The man’s nose had been broken at some point and healed poorly, which only added to his intimidating presence.

Tam closed his scroll and set it on the small table next to his chair, addressing the Tong.

“It is time, then?”

“Yes Doctor. The Lady requires your services, as discussed.”

“I’ll need a moment to collect my tools and instruct my household. Would you like some tea?” After the enforcer shook his head, Tam stood and addressed his apprentice. “Tien, find Lin Song and bring her to meet me in the clinic. Huu Shen, if you would follow me?”

The Tong stayed quiet as he followed Tam across the garden and into the wing of the manor that served as his clinic. He lounged against the wall of Tam’s laboratory as Tam pulled out a teak case and began double checking the contents. He’d had it packed since he got the letter two days ago, but it never hurt to make sure.

“I think I frightened your doorman.” The big enforcer sounded amused.

“He’s not my doorman, he’s my assistant. The boy’s a journeyman healer, only nineteen years old, probably never been around violence. It’s only natural that he’d be nervous around you.”

“But I don’t make you nervous, do I? You’ve been around violence before?”

“No, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid that. But I’ve worked with you before, and I’m fairly confident that you have no intention of harming me while I’m useful to your Lady. You don’t make me nervous. Your Lady, on the other hand . . .” Tam let the silence finish his sentence for him.

Huu Shen laughed. “Yes, she makes me nervous too. I’m a tough fighter, I’m loyal to her, and I have my pride, but I’m perfectly willing to admit that the Honored Lady terrifies me just a bit.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “If it’s any reassurance, Doctor, I think she likes you. Well, as much as she likes anybody. She’s mentioned that you have good manners.”

“Thank you. If I may say so, in our brief acquaintance you have also displayed good manners. I know you don’t have the polished speech of a courtier, but you are polite in your own blunt way. I believe intent matters more than display, and you understand the heart of etiquette better than many who wear the mask of manners more comfortably than you do.”

The big enforcer only grunted in response, but Tam thought he was pleased at the compliment. They passed the next minute in silence as Tam finished checking over his tools then closed and latched the case. As they stepped into the hallway, they met Ho Tien and Tam’s steward, Lin Song. The old woman was wearing her bed robe, but she still radiated dignity. Huu Shen unconsciously straightened his stance as she approached. Lin Song had that effect on everyone; even though she worked for him, Tam often felt like a child whose grandmother had just caught him stealing treats when she approached.

Ignoring Huu Shen for a moment, Tam conferred with Lin Song and made sure the household and clinic would function without him the next day. Ho Tien could handle most of the patients they were expecting; three would have to be rescheduled, and Lin Song would need to send them apologies. Minor household decisions would either be left to Lin Song or delayed until his return.

Tam kept the conversation brief then followed Huu Shen out to a waiting rickshaw; he had no desire to keep Huu Shen’s mistress waiting. Su Wen was one of the Silver Tigers, which meant she reported directly to the Master of the Silver Tong. No one climbed those ranks without having hands drenched in blood. Tam was reasonably sure that she valued his services highly, but he had no desire to make her impatient.

As they rode through the dark night, Tam felt his pulse quicken with excitement. There was a slight sense of fear of course; any reasonable citizen would be nervous visiting a den of the Tong and working on a difficult and sensitive task for one of the Silver Tigers. Tam felt that fear, but it was a small thing compared to the thrill he felt at the chance to practice his art. He turned to Huu Shen.

“Can you tell me anything about tonight’s subject?”

“You’ll have to wait and see, Doctor.” Huu Shen inclined his head in the direction of the man pulling the rickshaw.

Tam nodded and settled in to wait patiently for the rest of the ride. Huu Shen had the rickshaw stop in the slums then led Tam on foot through several winding alleys. Tam found himself quite lost; he wasn’t sure if that was Huu Shen’s intention, or if the thug had only meant to keep the rickshaw driver ignorant.

Nevertheless, when he followed Huu Shen into a two story building, he had to admit to himself he wasn’t sure he could find his way home without an escort. They passed through a large room with a pair of Tong playing dice, then down a hallway. Huu Shen led him through a door and down a staircase into the basement. He knocked at the door at the foot of the stairs in a particular rhythm. Tam heard a muffled curse on the other side of the door. Just as Huu Shen raised his hand to knock again, the door opened.

The man on the other side of the door reminded Tam of a rat. He had close-set, shifty eyes and a long nose, and he scowled at them as he opened the door. He nodded his head to Huu Shen then gave Tam a searching look.

“This is the wizard?”

“Doctor Hsien is the chi-worker the Lady has hired. Doctor Hsien, meet Chiang Lu. He will show you the patient and assist you in your preparation. I will inform the Lady that we have arrived.” Huu Shen bowed to Tam and then headed back up the stairs.

Tam bowed slightly to the shifty looking Tong. “Honored to meet you; please show me who I will be working on tonight.”

Chiang Lu grunted and stepped back, opening the door further. The basement was one large room with a dirt floor, brightly lit by four lanterns. The most prominent feature was a large wooden table with a naked woman on it. Tam walked over to the table and inspected the woman he would work on tonight.

The obvious thing to notice first was that the woman was one of the northern devils. Her skin was a pale white like fine porcelain, except for her nipples and lower lips, which were a delicate pink. Her hair was a pale corn-silk yellow, splaying out below her head like a halo on the rough dark wood of the table. The Tong had tied her spread eagle on the table, her wrists and ankles secured with ropes that ran to each of the table’s legs. They’d also gagged her, presumably for their own piece of mind, as the woman looked furious, her pale green eyes staring at him with hate.

He supposed she had reason to be angry; none of the subjects he’d cast this spell on for the Tong had been there by choice. There was an ugly purple bruise on her forehead and her lower lip was split and scabbed with dried blood below the cloth gag. Her pussy was reddened and gaping open, giving Tam an idea what Chiang Lu had been doing when they knocked. Based on the spatters of dried cum on her thighs, it wasn’t the first time the woman had been raped tonight. No real concern of his; as long as the specimen was physically whole and not seriously damaged, he could do the work he’d been hired for.

Tam glanced at Chiang Lu. “Should I wait outside until you are finished?”

The man looked tempted, but he shook his head. “I can fuck the bitch more another time. Better to not keep the boss waiting now that you’re here.”

“I agree.”

Turning away from the woman, Tam set his case on a shelf close the table. Opening it, he carefully examined his tools. The long rows of needles were there, set in a red silk backing. The small clay jar full of alchemical solution was still sealed and nestled in its compartment, next to the glazed bowl, set of calligraphy brushes and sealed jar of ink. Satisfied that everything was in readiness, he took out the ink and a medium brush.

“There are usually some supplies prepared for my visits?”

“Right, Shen told me. I’ve got them behind those boxes over there.”

“Please wash and dry the stomach.”

Chiang Lu brought over a bucket of water and some rags and quickly cleaned the woman’s stomach. Once he’d passed a dry rag over her, Tam stepped closer and painted a short spell between the woman’s navel and pelvis. He wiped the brush clean on a cloth and meticulously replaced his tools in their place then turned to study the woman.

Closing his eyes, he called up his own chi with a thought and opened his inner sight. Opening his eyes, he looked at the woman. The wet ink now glowed in his chi-enhanced vision, as did the chi lines beneath her pale skin. He studied her network carefully, reading the subtle ways her chi signature made her unique.

Carefully circling the table, he studied the way her interior map of chi matched her exterior. He placed his hands on either side of her head, lifting it from the table and tilting it, first to one side then to the other. Ignoring the curses she was spitting into the gag, he studied the fine tracery of chi that made up her mind, while also studying her face.

She was obviously not a classic beauty, but there was something fascinating in her exoticness. The strange rounded structure of her eyelids made those angry green eyes prominent and striking. The pale gold of her brows and lashes provided a soft, ethereal accent. Beneath high, sharp cheekbones her cheeks were flushed a bright red in a combination of humiliation and anger.

Moving down her body and studying her both within and without, Tam took in the details of her lean arms, her hands with long delicate artist’s fingers. Her torso was thin, her ribs coming into clear view as with each of her labored breaths. Her modest breasts were set high on her chest, capped with small pink areolae.

He slid his hand down the taut surface of her stomach, and traced the upper ridges of her pelvis where it pressed against the skin. Passing lower, he put his hand under her hip, cupping the firm muscle in her ass, tugging her up as he bent down to examine the central line of her chi in her spine. His inspection speeding, he covered first one leanly muscled leg, then the other, returning to pause and study the gap between her legs. The fine golden hairs rose in a light triangle above her abused pussy, matted down with sweat and spatters of dried cum.

The pool of chi between her hips indicated a strong natural reserve, but it eddied loosely, meaning she was not trained to control her own chi. His examination was finished, but for his own amusement he parted her outer lips, pulling them well apart with his fingers so that she was completely exposed. A slight smile touched his lips as she attempted to curse him through the gag.

At the sound of the door opening, he straightened and turned. Seeing Su Wen, he quickly bowed from the waist.

“Good evening, Doctor. I hope we haven’t brought you out here for nothing. If your spell won’t work on a foreign devil, we’ll take our risks questioning her the old fashioned way.”

Unlike the naked woman tied to the table, Su Wen was a classic beauty. Her face was highlighted with tasteful make-up, her ankle-length red cheongsam embroidered with golden dragons. If you met her on the street, you would think she was a rich official’s wife and be jealous of the man. Tam knew better, and carefully swallowed before replying.

“There will be no problem, Honored Lady. Beneath the skin, the foreign devils are the same as we are. I will have to make a few adjustments to the process you are familiar with because she is a woman, but I have already made the adjustments in my theories, and it will present no issues. Breaking her through torture presents the eternal problem of torture: the subject will say whatever stops the torture, which is not always the truth. My method leaves the subject unable to lie, as you know.”

“Yes, yes, Doctor, you do not need to persuade me of your worth again. Shen and Lu will assist you. Send one of them for me when you are done.”

As Su Wen turned and left the room Tam faced the two men. “Huu Shen, you have assisted me before; please make sure your compatriot knows what to expect. I will begin by immobilizing the subject. After that we will clean and shave her. We have a long night ahead of us; if there is tea available I would appreciate it.”

The two men left up the stairs to find tea, Huu Shen’s deep voice echoing down the stairs as he told the smaller thug what to expect. As the Tong vanished to their errand, Tam returned to his case and selected the acupuncture needles.

Returning to the woman, he began the process of immobilizing her by disrupting her chi. Needles were carefully inserted in the restrained woman – a pair inserted under the corners of her jaw, one in the back of her neck directly into the spine, a pair in her shoulders, a pair in the juncture where her thighs joined her torso. As he pushed each of the long needles fully into her body until only the amber head remained outside, he charged them with a fraction of his own chi gathered in his fingertips, the needles serving as mechanisms to deliver his chi into the woman’s network and break it at the key junctures.

The woman had been vainly struggling against her bonds as he began, but as her chi was disrupted she lost control of her body piece by piece. When Tam finished and stepped back to survey the results, the only part of her body she had control of was her eyes, which flickered back and forth in panic. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she began to hyperventilate. Tam quickly removed the gag and tilted her head back to broaden her airway. It was important that the specimen maintain consciousness so that he could monitor her mind.

“I assume you can speak Han. I will explain what has happened so that you can remain calm. You have been captured by the Tong. I am a humble scholar who has been brought in to acquire information from you. Blink if you understand what I have told you so far.”

The woman blinked. Amazing how cooperative someone became when they were terrified by the fact that they had no control over their own body.

“I am going to cast a spell on you which will compel you to give information. The spell will take some time to cast. You may attempt to resist it, but you cannot, so I advise you to not waste your energy. I would like to tell you it would not hurt, but that would be a lie. I can tell you that it will not cause you permanent harm, which is not a guarantee under the Tong’s usual methods of questioning. Blink if you understand.”

The truth of that depended on what you considered permanent harm. Tam had to admit to himself that any reasonable person would consider his spell permanent harm if they knew what it did. Still, his lie seemed to have served its purpose, as the woman’s breathing stabilized as she blinked. While she had no conscious ability to control anything beyond her eyes, the automatic processes of her body were handling themselves better as she calmed. Her pulse had steadied with her breathing, and after Tam closed her jaw she instinctively swallowed.

Satisfied, Tam dipped a rag in the bucket and began cleaning the woman. When the two Tong returned, he took a seat and sipped a cup of tea while they took over. Huu Shen cut the ropes off the paralyzed woman, then gathered a handful of hair in his hand and began chopping it off while Chiang Lu finished cleaning the woman and began shaving her arms with a razor.

Satisfied that they knew what to do, Tam settled back in his chair and began to lightly meditate as he sipped the tea, going over the intricate steps of his spell to make sure he held the entire work clearly in his mind.

When he finished his cup of tea and his meditation he returned his attention to the woman. She was currently positioned on her stomach, with her arms by her sides. Chiang Lu was running a razor down the back of her legs, removing a light coating of soap lather as he went. Huu Shen was on the final steps of shaving her scalp; there was a loose pile of golden hair in the dirt at his feet.

The woman’s head had been positioned on its side, facing towards him. Tam noted with interest that her eyes were shut and tears were slowly leaking from them. He wondered what had happened to turn the fiery hate that had survived her capture and rape into despair. The men he had cast this spell on before had not reacted to this stage in the same way. Perhaps it was losing her hair? A woman’s hair was considered one of her greatest points of pride. He filed the theory away to consider later.

Tam poured himself a second cup of tea and carried it with him to the shelf where his case rested. He took the ceramic bowl out and touched the metal character set into its base. The enchanted metal began to generate heat, and he carefully mixed ink and an alchemical solution together into the bowl, letting the mixture come to a light simmer.

When the Tong reported that the woman was fully prepared, Tam set down his tea and examined her one final time. She’d stopped crying, and her eyes were firmly shut. The Tong had been thorough; no hair remained on the woman’s body beyond her eyebrows and eyelashes. It was time to truly exercise his craft.

Tam’s profession was healing, and he ran a small practice. He also occasionally sold his calligraphy, or penned a particular piece on commission. He was not truly wealthy, but his work gave him a comfortable life, enough to support his manor, clinic, and servants. He considered his true calling to be scholarship. Since his apprenticeship he had studied the art of enchanting objects with chi. He was particularly fascinated by the chi connection between mind and body, and a year ago his research and experimentation had led to a breakthrough. Through a combination of acupuncture, alchemy, and chi manipulation, he had discovered how to manipulate the chi network of another living being and bend it to his own will, testing it on several different animals.

A careful man by nature, he realized that his technique had revolutionary possibilities, but the powerful would surely covet it. As a mere scholar and doctor, he had few resources that would protect him from a noble or some other powerful person deciding that his spell should belong to them. There was also the issue that the spell required several hours to cast on an immobile subject. If he was to extend his technique to human subjects, he would need someone who would not be missed if there were complications.

His first idea had involved drugging one of his patients, but he was still trying to plan for the possible difficulties of their families or friends becoming suspicious when the gods presented him with Su Wen. She had arrived at his clinic in the dead of night with a pair of enforcers and informed him that his services were required. He’d barely been given time to dress and collect his tools before he’d been hustled across town and taken into the back room of a brothel to save the life of a Silver Tong member critically injured in a battle with their rival Tong sect.

Fortunately, he’d been able to save the man’s life through a combination of medicine and spells, and Su Wen had been pleased. She had used his services again for lesser injuries to her men, paying a fair price each time, and while Tam wasn’t foolish enough to trust her, he came to believe that she would deal fairly with him if he dealt fairly with her.

Tam was sure the Tong would have no ethical issues with procuring a human test subject and disposing of it if necessary, but he had no wish for them to know what his spell was capable of. He decided to present the technique as a mere interrogation tool. Once the subject was bound to his will, commanding them to tell the truth was a trivial extension of the technique.

Su Wen had been interested enough to have her men secure a beggar for the first trial. The technique translated flawlessly from lesser animals to the wretched man. After completing it, Tam simply mentally ordered the man to give the true answer to any question posed to him. Su Wen had given the man a series of questions, and then surprised Tam by demonstrating her own brand of scholarly inquiry. She had the beggar tortured, telling him that the torture would end when he was able to tell her that her red dress was blue. The man died horribly, unable to lie despite the horrific damage the Tong’s interrogators inflicted on him.

Tam considered himself to be fairly ruthless, but he still had the occasional nightmare about that night.

Days later, Su Wen had hired Tam for an interrogation of a member of the rival Tong sect they’d captured. A few weeks later, she had hired him again to interrogate a suspected traitor. Both times, Su Wen had killed the subject as soon as she was done asking questions. The information from the first interrogation had been the crucial break that allowed the Silver Tong to wipe out the rival sect, and they now controlled the criminal underworld of three quarters of Nihai. After a month spent securing their power and weeding out the rest of the traitors the second interrogation had exposed they were hiring him again. Based on the woman before him, Tam guessed they had set their sights on the foreign quarter, where the northerners had their enclave and traded their exotic foreign goods for silk.

This was the situation that led to Tam standing next to a paralyzed and hairless foreign woman six weeks after he had first proved to himself that he could control another person.

Dipping one of his calligraphy brushes into the heated mixture, Tam began to paint lines of spells on the woman’s skin. The alchemically treated ink dried almost instantly as it was applied.

Tam painted small circles on the palms of her hands, the soles of her feet, over her heart, on top of her head, and in between her shoulder blades. The last, largest circle went on her stomach, around the spell that let him see her chi network. Once the circles were finished, he began to connect them with long lines of characters, each character the width of a finger.

Whenever Tam finished a section, he checked it for errors then infused the ink with his chi; this caused the ink to sink into the woman’s skin like a tattoo, with a burning sensation that caused her to whimper and moan in pain. Tam honestly wasn’t sure if his method hurt more or less than traditional tattooing.

As the hours passed, the ink spread across her body, long lines of characters following the path of her chi network, snaking and intersecting along the lines and contours of her body. Tam never stopped working throughout the process; brief pauses to clean sweat from the next piece of his canvas were the only time his brush stopped moving. Once all of the lines were finished, he cleaned the brush and bowl and then retrieved his needles again.

He had begun in the middle of the night with seven needles that immobilized her. Another eight needles went into the circles; each perfectly set at the center and infused with his chi. After that, twenty-five needles went into her body at all of the points where two lines of characters intersected, for a total of forty spikes of his own chi embedded in key points of her body. He finished by erasing the first spell he had painted on her, the one in normal ink that let him see her chi through her skin, leaving the large circle on her stomach over her chi reservoir empty. Now there was only one more step.

By this point, Tam was wracked with fatigue. The constant use of chi to enhance his vision and infuse the ink, the exacting care he had needed to use painting the characters had taxed his reserves. Permitting himself a long sigh, he nudged awake his Tong assistants, who had drifted off to sleep at some point while he worked.

“Sirs, I will need you to hold her down now. The final step of the spell will cause her to thrash violently with the pain. If she is not restrained, she might damage herself before the Honored Lady can question her. One of you must cradle her head while the other holds her arms down. Oh, and put something in her mouth so she doesn’t bite through her tongue.”

Rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, the Tong straightened and moved to hold the woman as instructed. Tam himself climbed on the table and knelt over her thighs, pinning her legs with the weight of his body. The woman had slipped into a trance sometime in the past few hours, her mind numbed by the constant pain of the characters burning into her skin.

Picking up one of the razors, Tam rolled up the sleeve of his robe and cut himself shallowly across the meaty part of his forearm. He tensed his arm a few times to encourage the blood to flow, and then wet a new brush in the blood. With his blood he painted his chop, his personal seal, in the center of the large circle on her stomach over her chi reservoir.

Blinking sweat out of his eyes, he took a deep breath and slammed his palm onto the bloody seal, pouring as much of his chi as he could into the seal. The wet blood under his hand crisped into ash and his chi roared into the intricate framework he had built, coursing through the woman’s body like tongues of lightning.

She came out of her trance screaming. Her spine bent, arching off the table. All of her muscles seized and spasmed, thrashing with panicked strength that tested the three full grown men pinning her down. Her jaw locked against the stick shoved into her mouth, the tendons in her neck standing out like cords, a high pitched keening wail penetrating through the cloth.

The power danced up and down the lines of characters, which slowly sank deeper into her skin until they disappeared. The circles were the last to go, slowing shrinking to smaller sizes as they were tugged inside her. After she finally passed out from the pain, the only external signs of Tam’s labor were the amber heads of the forty needles still embedded in her flesh. Tam collapsed forward, barely holding onto consciousness himself as he slumped limply over the woman.

After a few moments, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Doctor Hsien, was the spell successful? Should we summon the Honored Lady?”

Tam struggled off the table and leaned against it catching his breath. Huu Shen was waiting patiently by the woman’s head for his response; Chiang Lu had retreated to the wall and was quietly making the sign against evil. Tam guessed the man had never seen magic quite like this.

Taking a deep breath, he straightened up and felt within himself for his chi. His reservoir was almost completely empty, but he had just barely enough to enhance his vision again. Her chi illuminated for him, no need for the spell now. Hidden under her skin, he could see eight copies of his chop tangled into her network, softly glowing where the circles had been. A light mental touch caused them to brighten, and he quickly confirmed success.

He opened his eyes and bowed slightly. “You may send your friend to inform the Honored Lady that the spell was a success. If you would be so kind, please remove the needles and replace them in my case. There are forty of them this time, as the subject was a woman. I will bandage my arm and take a few moments to recover.”

Turning away from the Tong men, he stumbled to one of the cushioned chairs and collapsed into it. A few moments later, Huu Shen quietly handed him a clean cloth, which he gratefully accepted and knotted around the shallow cut in his arm.

By the time Chiang Lu returned with Su Wen, Tam had recovered enough to rise to his feet and assist with the clean-up, neatly packing his tools away and latching the teak case closed. The woman was still sprawled senseless on the table.

Tam straightened up and bowed to Su Wen. “Honored Lady, the spell is successful. The foreign devil will answer every question you put to her truthfully. As before, I recommend letting her drink some water before you question her.”

As he said the words, he made them true. It was simple enough to reach out to implant commands in her mind, the same ones he had used on the first three subjects. First, he made it impossible for her to lie. Then he compelled her to answer any question put to her fully and completely. As a last minute inspiration, he also commanded that she answer the questions in the same language in which they were asked. Su Wen would not want to bring in a translator if the woman answered in her own devil language.

As Tam poured himself a cup of cold tea, Su Wen had her men drag the woman’s limp body off the table and bind her to one of the chairs. Tam could have made the restraints unnecessary with a thought, but that would have revealed the true power of his spell.

In time he would determine a way to use his spell to give him control of influential people, but for now it was enough to see his success once more, even if his subject would have her throat slit within a few hours. Taking control of another mind was reward enough, even if he would not exercise that control beyond these commands. Not that he would complain about the five gold bars Su Wen would pay him after she questioned the woman. Perhaps he could have a small pool built in his garden? Nothing ostentatious, but it would be pleasant to gaze upon in the evenings. Of course rare herbs for his business and a trip to the scroll merchants would be necessary.

Tam was distracted from his daydream of idle spending when Chiang Lu dumped a bucket of water over the devil woman’s bald head. She came awake gasping and spluttering. Huu Shen gave her a brisk slap in the face to get her attention and offered her a cup of water. She was so desperately thirsty that she didn’t realize until she had finished the cup that she could move again. Tam watched as she experimented with her limbs, tugging against the ropes, wiggling her fingers and toes, glad to be able to control them again.

Su Wen began asking some basic questions. Tam ignored her; he was much more focused on reading the reaction of his captive. It was delightful to watch her prepare to be defiant, then see the shock in her eyes as her mouth opened and she poured forth information. From her wild stares and the way she tensed her limbs, it looked like she was fighting to hold back with everything she had, but it was useless, her voice kept disobeying her. Eventually she noticed him sitting in the corner, and he saw the flash of horror in her eyes as she realized that his spell was to blame. Tam could not repress a smile then. He was the only one in the room, no, the only one in the entire world, who knew what he had truly done.

Satisfied, Su Wen sent Tam and the two Tong thugs to wait elsewhere. Tam was quite interested in learning why Su Wen had chosen this particular foreigner to question. Unfortunately, ever since he had watched her torture the beggar to death, he had one primary rule for all of his dealings with the Tong: “Do not displease Su Wen.” He quickly followed the two men out of the interrogation room.

Looking out a window once he reached the main floor, Tam saw that the sky was beginning to brighten with dawn. A quick question led Tam to a spare cot, and he settled down for a nap. Su Wen would pay him once she had extracted all of the information she wished for; until then, one of the terms of their agreement was that he remain nearby and available in case there were any complications with the spell. As he made himself comfortable, he reached out with his mind to touch the presence of the woman in the basement; he sensed her as a faint glow through the floor, the seals embedded in her chi a comforting presence.

Tam sighed in satisfaction as he drifted off to sleep. It was a shame the foreign girl was going to die so soon; he needed to think of a way to get subjects that didn’t involve the Tong murdering them before he could do anything with them.

Tam woke a few hours later to a summons from Su Wen. His sleep had restored enough of his chi that he could heal the cut on his arm and remove the bandage. As he did so, he reflexively reached out with his mind and was surprised to still sense the woman’s presence in the basement. Based on the light outside, it was probably mid-afternoon. Su Wen’s interrogations didn’t usually last so long.

He followed the messenger to a private room where Su Wen waited. He greeted her politely and took a seat at the table with her. A meal had been provided, and they exchanged polite but meaningless conversation while they ate. Tam hadn’t eaten since the evening before, so he was grateful for the chance to ease his hunger.

When they had finished eating and the table was cleared, a servant prepared tea. After they had each had their first sip and Tam had complimented her on the selection, Su Wen reached into her sleeve and brought out a small bundle of silk. She unfolded it and placed it on the table. As agreed, there were five gleaming bars of gold, stamped with the chop of governor of Nihai.

“As I have come to expect, your services were extremely effective, Doctor Hsien. As agreed, here is your payment.”

“It is a pleasure that my art is useful to you, Honored Lady. Please accept my humble thanks for the compensation.”

Tam would usually be dismissed at this point, but instead Su Wen simply sat there, studying him. Of course, the subject would usually be dead by this point too, so clearly something was different today. He remained calm under her examination. They had a good relationship; there should be no need to worry that anything would change. It still took a mild effort of will to maintain his calm exterior as she watched him.

“It has never been necessary to ask before, but is it possible to reverse your process?”

A dozen possibilities flashed through Tam’s mind. The most worrisome was that Su Wen suspected the true nature of the technique. In the end he decided to temporize.

“I am not entirely sure. Theoretically it is possible, but it may result in damage to the subject’s mind. Since you are asking, am I correct in guessing you have not killed the woman and have some other plan for her?”

“Yes, she is still alive and I have plans for her. If it will help you give advice, I will tell you what I am considering. The other ones you cast your spell on had a sentence of death already before you began your work, for plotting against the Silver Tong. The little devil girl has never raised weapons against us, so I may consider whether another path will be more profitable than her death.”

Su Wen folded her hands on the table before she continued.

“I plan to have her broken and then trained as a whore. If she can be given the ability to lie again, once she is trained and her hair regrows, I believe she is attractive enough to be able to serve in a Gold House. If she cannot lie, she will not be able to persuade a rich man that she loves him, and her customers will be limited to men who only wish to wet their dicks, or the ones who enjoy hurting their girls. That would mean a long career in a Bronze House, or a short career in a Red House. Regardless, the opportunity to fuck an exotic devil will bring in at least some coin from the men who desire such things.”

Tam quickly processed the possibilities of this statement. It appeared that the woman he controlled would live; that had possibilities that deserved serious and rapid consideration.

“This is very interesting, Honored Lady. Allow me a few moments to consider the theoretical possibilities.”

While it was impossible to remove his spell without killing the woman, it would be trivial to reverse his commands and give the woman the ability to lie again. He could also use his control over the woman to implant commands making her an ideal courtesan, ensuring she would be placed in a Gold House and would have wealthy and influential customers. He would have to be subtle about it to disguise the truth, but it would be doable. After that, he could possibly arrange to visit the woman occasionally; he could afford a few visits if he budgeted carefully, and he could command the woman to inform him of any useful secrets she might pick up in pillow talk.

There was a martial serial he read, one of his small guilty pleasures, which featured the bandit maiden disguising herself as a courtesan in order to learn the secrets of corrupt officials. Pure fiction, but he was confident he could turn the woman into a similar tool in truth. There was little risk of disturbing his relationship with Su Wen, and he was sure that given enough time this plan would eventually return information he could use in some way or another.

Tam categorized that option as the safe plan. The possibility that truly intrigued him had fewer obvious material gains and more risks, but it was the one that tantalized him. If he could take the woman home with him, he could continue to enjoy the sensation of controlling her. He could also use her as the subject for further study and experiments, as no one would be looking for her and of course she would be unable to provide trouble. The difficulty was determining how to persuade Su Wen to go along with this plan. He saw a possible path and decided in an instant to pursue it.

“Honored Lady, I must first say that nothing is certain if I were to attempt to reverse the spell. The theory you aided me in testing six weeks ago was based on years of research. I can make some guesses of the results of a reversal attempt, but I have never tested it.”

“I understand. Give me your best guess, as the leading expert on your own work.”

“It is certain that there will be detrimental effects on the subject, though the severity is in question. The subject was necessarily traumatized by the casting of the spell. Reversing the process would add more trauma. The subject will be fragile emotionally, that is without question. I suppose you might consider that a positive, as you intend to break her will before training her.”

Here Tam glanced at Su Wen before lowering his eyes again. She nodded slightly.

“There is also the risk that there would be side effects that you would not consider positive. There is a chance the woman would lose the capacity for higher consciousness and be like one who is touched in the head, only able to perform simple tasks and relatively unaware of her surroundings. The worst possibility is that a blood vessel in her brain would burst, and she would die. Both of those options would make it difficult for you to earn much from her.”

“What are the chances of these two possibilities? Your best guess is fine.”

Tam swallowed and licked his lips. “I would say there is about a one in three chance that she loses her mind, and one in five that she dies.”

He gave her a moment to absorb the lie. Then as she opened her mouth he interrupted her.

“Ah, Honored Lady, there is another possibility. It would not involve reversing the spell. I, ah, assume there is an accepted price for an exotic Bronze or Red House woman with hair like gold who could not lie, if you happened to have such a specimen available for sale to a private citizen?”

He stared at the floor, his cheeks burning. He heard Su Wen lift her cup and take a sip of tea. Risking a glance up, he saw that she was smiling. He looked away again.

“Doctor Hsien, my interactions with you have always been in a professional capacity. I have forgotten that you are still a relatively young man, with all the consequent urges. And I have had you spend most of the night touching a naked young woman. Of course sex is on your mind, even if she is pale as a dead fish and balder than a newborn baby.”

His embarrassment had been a ploy, but he felt it become genuine at her words.

“Honored Lady, it was foolish to mention it. Please forgive me, forget this conversation ever occurred. If you would like me to attempt to reverse the process, I can return tomorrow morning when my energy is restored. I would be happy to do so at no charge to you, as long as it is understood that it would be an experiment similar to the one we conducted at the beginning of this, and you understand and accept the risks. Please never speak of this again.”

“Please, Doctor, accept my apologies instead. I had no intention of causing you to lose face.”

Tam looked up in surprise. Su Wen was looking at him with an expression that he might consider fond on a less intimidating woman.

“Yours was not a shameful request, my young friend. Many respectable men keep a bed slave in their home for their pleasure. I do not see the appeal of the devil woman, but I do not judge you for it. If I were to sell her to a noble, I would bill her as an exotic Red or Gold House woman depending on the noble, a rare piece worth fifteen gold bars.”

Seeing his expression, she laughed and continued. “Of course, I always charge nobles a ridiculous rate. It flatters their vanity to pay high prices. If I were selling her to a merchant or, say, a doctor, I would charge six gold bars.”

“But that would be the price for a fully trained girl, would it not? We are discussing raw material, not a finished product. Two seems more reasonable.”

“Two gold bars would buy you an old woman missing all her teeth, with dry leather between her legs. This woman is young and in her prime. While you would have to train her yourself, you could train her to your tastes exclusively. Many men pay a premium for a young virgin they can train themselves. Five bars.”

“Honored Lady, I examined the woman thoroughly for hours. Even if you wished me to believe the devil girl was a virgin yesterday, she is certainly not one now. While she is underfed, I will concede she is basically healthy and will be attractive when she grows that exotic hair again. I would pay three bars for her.”

“Hmmph. I will tell Lu and the rest that they have cost me money by failing to tidy up after themselves. I will sell you the girl for four gold bars. This is an excellent price, which I extend to you only because I value the services you have done for the Tong.”

“Did our discussion not begin with how it was necessary to risk the girl’s life by reversing the spell in order for her to be a proper bed mate? I think three and a half bars is the best price.”

“A woman lying is only effective on a man who does not already know she is lying. Do not pretend you are that man. Four bars is the final offer. If that is not acceptable, I will be happy to let you fuck her for free this afternoon before you leave to show there are no hard feelings.”

“I apologize for pressing too far. I am very grateful to you for your patronage. If you had not sponsored me, I would have never had the opportunity to turn this spell from theory into reality. Please, accept four and a half bars for the girl as a sign of how much I value our relationship.”

Su Wen gave Tam what he thought was an actual genuine smile.

“Ah, Doctor, it is a pleasure working with a man with manners. I accept. Let us go collect the girl and prepare her for transport, and then I will be happy to divide that fifth bar in half for you.”

They rose from the table and bowed to each other. Tam’s bow was of course much deeper than Su Wen’s. He scooped up the gold bars he would shortly be returning to her and followed her down the stairwell into the basement. She paused for a moment after opening the door to the interrogation room, then shrugged and walked in. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh filtered into the hallway, along with pained whimpering. Tam followed her in and stopped in the doorway in shock.

Chiang Lu was fucking Tam’s woman on the floor like a dog rutting in an alley. The horrible man was kneeling on the floor, his legs keeping the woman’s knees spread wide. He had her bent at the waist, using his right hand to pin her neck to the floor, while his other hand held her hip steady as he slammed into her with a relentless rhythm. Her hands were tied together at the wrists beneath her. New bruises blossomed on the girl’s ribs, and someone had locked an iron slave collar around her neck. She was still struggling, pushing against the floor, but could not break free of the stronger man.

Tam began moving without realizing he had decided to do so. His teeth were grinding and his hands clenching into fists as he took a step forward. He also noticed with a small piece of his mind that his cock was rock hard, pressing against his robes.

“Lu, I must inform you that the training of this whore will not be proceeding as I had originally instructed you.” Su Wen’s calm voice brought Tam back to his senses. He felt that he had been on the verge of doing something monumentally foolish.

“Doctor Hsien expressed interest in the devil girl, and I have agreed to sell her to him as a bed slave. Please finish what you are doing, but do not cause any further damage that would reduce the value of the property.”

“As you wish, Honored Lady. Would you and the Doctor like to observe? I would be happy to give the Doctor advice on the best way to train his new possession.” Lu stared directly into Tam’s eyes with a smug smile. Tam realized in a flash of insight that the rat-faced criminal still resented being interrupted when Tam and Huu Shen had arrived. He felt a flash of fury at the thug, daring to fuck his property but restrained himself with an effort.

“I have my own thoughts on the matter, but it is always informative to consult an expert. I would be happy to observe, unless of course it inconvenienced the Honored Lady in any way.” Tam was damned if he was going to back down from the man.

“It would not be an inconvenience. Doctor, perhaps we should take a seat?”

As Tam and Su Wen seated themselves, Tam pulling a chair around for her before he sat, the woman twisted her head to stare at them with fury. “Oh, yes, please make yourselves comfortable and politely enjoy watching this bastard rape m– aaah!”

Lu had interrupted her by using the hand on her neck to pull her head up about a foot before he slammed her face into the dirt floor. He then shifted his grip on her neck so that he could choke her. He waited through her struggles until her face began to turn purple.

“If you want to keep breathing, bitch, you will speak to your betters only when spoken to. Do you understand?”

The woman nodded desperately. Lu shifted his hand to the back of her neck and she gasped for air like a drowned fish. Tam noted with mild amazement that throughout the process, the man had not bothered to move his other hand from her waist, and his cock was still fully sheathed in the woman.

Lu studied the woman’s face for a moment. “Yes, I think you are capable of learning this simple lesson. Do you still want to smart talk? You can speak to answer questions.”

“Yes, I still want to smart talk.” The woman’s eyes opened wide in horror as she spoke. “Wait, no please! Agh!” Lu slammed her face into the floor again, but she kept babbling. “Please don’t choke me again, it’s not my fault! You asked the wrong question! You asked me if I wanted to!”

Lu’s thumb closed over her windpipe again, silencing her, but he paused before he completely cut off her air. He turned a questioning look at his audience. The woman shut her mouth, but stared pleadingly at them.

Su Wen raised an eyebrow. “I believe she is claiming the spell is responsible, if I understand correctly. I defer judgment to the expert on this topic. Doctor?”

“It is possible. The spell is structured so that the subject must give an honest answer to every question they are asked. If her mind interpreted the question literally, she would be compelled to answer so. Woman, are you going to speak insultingly to us again? Please allow her to answer.”

The woman took a quick desperate breath and spoke as soon as Lu relaxed his grip. “Not while this rapist has his hand around my throat. I can’t make any promises beyond that. Ah, shit, is calling him a rapist insulting? Ok, I absolutely promise completely respectful speech as long as this man has his hand around my throat from this moment forward. Please tell me that’s enough of a promise, I really do want to keep breathing.”

Su Wen let out a long laugh. “Ah, Doctor Hsien, you have picked a spirited one. I am almost sad you will be taking her off our hands. I believe I would have enjoyed taking a personal hand in breaking this one’s will. My dear, your promise is good enough to keep you breathing for now, as long as you keep it. And Lu, don’t look so angry. You are a rapist, a very good one. It’s why you’re useful to me. Please proceed as you were before she interrupted you.”

From the look in Lu’s eyes, Tam guessed the man felt that Su Wen had been laughing at him. The man’s fear of his superior won out over his pride though, and he obeyed.

As Lu spoke, he began to slowly stroke his cock in and out of the woman.

“Doctor, there are three basic types of whores, each of which must be trained differently. Some rare whores understand from the beginning that they are whores. Their slits drip at the mere thought of a cock. They only need to be trained to understand that the man’s pleasure is the primary goal, and be taught the various ways to best achieve that goal. If they are attractive enough, almost all of this type will end in Gold Houses.”

Ever since Lu had choked her, the woman kept very still, no longer attempting to struggle. Lu casually removed his hand from her neck and reached down to begin playing with her tits as he continued to fuck her and deliver his speech.

“The second type of whore begins by desiring coin, food, or shelter. Their fathers or husbands are dead, useless, or do not want them. They understand that the only things they have worth selling are three warm holes that can hold a cock. You have to fuck them hard a bit at first to get through the stage where they are crying and ashamed, but they soon get past that. The vast majority of Silver and Bronze House whores come from this group, though those with natural beauty and good training can aspire to Gold.”

“This piece of pale meat kneeling before you is the third type of whore. She does not realize yet that she is a whore. She thinks her mouth is for talking, her cunt a treasure reserved only for a lover, and her ass inviolable. She needs to be taught the truth. Just a few moments ago, she learned her first lesson, which is that when a man fucks her, she should be compliant and accept it no matter what he does.”

He illustrated his point by taking one of her nipples between his fingers and cruelly twisting it. The woman flinched and whimpered but did not otherwise struggle.

“From here, normally, we would teach the whore who she is through practice. Men will take turns fucking her pussy and her ass, sometimes one after another, sometimes at irregular intervals, sometimes two at once. In order to teach her the true purpose of her mouth, she will not be allowed to eat without first swallowing a cock each time she is fed. She will not be allowed to sleep more than a few hours at a time without being awoken by a cock in one of her holes. If she performs well, she will be given small rewards, as one does when training a dog.”

Lu paused for a moment to wet a finger with saliva then pushed it into the woman’s asshole. She squealed and tried to struggle, but froze instantly when Lu’s other hand closed around her neck. Instead of choking her, Lu released her neck and patted her on the head in praise. The woman squeezed her eyes shut, her face contorting in discomfort as Lu continued to fuck her and finger her ass.

“She almost forgot the first lesson that quickly. With the third type of whore, they invariably forget during their training. Whenever they need to learn it again, pain is the best teacher. You can never tell how many times the third type of whore will need to relearn the first lesson, but I’ve never seen one who didn’t need to learn it at least three times. I think this little bitch will be a very slow learner. The slowest learner I ever saw ended up losing most of her teeth and she still walks with a limp, but she learned eventually and she’s been happily getting fucked in a Bronze House for four years now.”

Warming to his subject, Lu took a firm grip on the woman’s collar and began to use it to slam her torso back to meet his increasingly faster thrusts, her hips slapping against him.

“Eventually, the whore becomes grateful to her teachers for constantly fucking and beating her. She realizes that in their cruelty, they reveal to her a great truth which allows happiness. When she thought she was a person, she had so many conflicting emotions. Through her training, she is taught that all of that is meaningless.”

“She has only one desire: to please her master. She has only one hunger: more cocks to fill her empty, yearning holes. She finds true peace and inner happiness once she finally realizes she is not a person but is simply. A. Place. To. Store. Cum!”

During his final thrusts, Lu had been yanking the woman back so strongly that her shoulders and face left the floor before his cock slammed her once more into the ground. He ended with a wordless roar as he ejaculated into the defeated woman. He panted wordlessly for a moment, then pulled out his cock, wiped it off on her ass, and stood and bowed to his audience. The woman collapsed prone, weeping and gasping for breath, wet cum leaking out of her abused cunt.

Tam simply stared in shock. He had never seen anything like that display of raw sexuality. His own experiences had been limited to a handful of visits to Silver Houses, the women blushing behind their fans before escorting him to a dimly lit room where they stripped and gently took his cock pretending they were his lovers. Even buried in their pussies, his cock had never felt as hard as it did at that moment.

Seated beside him, Su Wen broke into a small round of applause. “My dear boy, that was splendid! I never realized you had the soul of a philosopher. And such a display of stamina! Your excellent service is noticed and will be remembered. At the present time, I must conclude my business with Doctor Hsien. Please inform Huu Shen that I require he and his apprentice attend us here. They are to wait outside the door; the Doctor and I are not be disturbed until I open the door.”

Lu bowed again, then quickly pulled on his clothes and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Su Wen looked over the limp body of the woman, then turned and studied Tam.

“Doctor, please understand that if I had known Lu had already started, I would not have brought you down here. I would have simply had you wait upstairs, then cleaned and prepared her for you. Once I saw the situation, I was not willing to punish him by sending him off to use his hand after he had already begun. Lu is a brute, but very skilled at what he does and valuable to me.”

“I do not apologize, but I acknowledge that many men would be unhappy watching a slave they already thought of as theirs fucked by another man. As the sale has not been officially completed, if you would like to change your mind I will not be offended.” Su Wen waited for Tam’s reply.

“Ah, no, that will not be necessary. I am willing to proceed as we had discussed.”

“I am glad to hear that. I will however insist that the price be finalized at four bars, not four and a half, as my apology for the rudeness. Please pay me now.”

Tam fumbled in his belt pouch and retrieved four of the five gold bars Su Wen had given him less than an hour before and handed them to her. She tucked them into her sleeve, her eyes locked on his.

“Doctor Hsien, the sale of the woman and the contract for your spell are both concluded. When Huu Shen and his apprentice arrive, they will prepare her for transportation, and you and I will go over the details that will make this acceptable in the eyes of the law. I will also request that you make sure she is not seen in public for the immediate future.”

“That is completely acceptable.”

“In that case, Honored Lady Su and Doctor Hsien have nothing further to discuss.” Su Wen switched from Han to the Scholar’s Tongue. “However, it is possible Wen might have a suggestion for her friend Tam.”

Tam had literally no idea how to respond to this change of subject. Flailing desperately, all he could come up with was the rule: “Do not displease Su Wen”.

“Ah, Tam has always greatly respected Wen’s wisdom and perception. He would gladly follow her suggestion in complex matters.” He replied in the same language.

With a smile, Su Wen stood and beckoned him to follow her over to the woman, who had not moved, but seemed to have recovered enough to pay attention to the conversation which finalized her sale into slavery.

Speaking Han again, Su Wen asked the woman “Do you feel the need to relearn what Lu so charmingly called the first lesson any time in the near future?”

“Are you asking if I’m going to fight back if my ‘new owner’ wants to fuck me next? No. Not much upside in trying to fight when you’ve got a roomful of thugs just a shout away.”

“I am pleased to hear that you have some sense. Roll onto your back and spread your legs.”

The woman rolled her eyes at Su Wen, but did as instructed. Su Wen stepped over to the work table and came back with one of the cloths the men had used while washing and shaving the woman. Kneeling delicately, Su Wen quickly and efficiently scrubbed Lu’s cum off the woman, sticking the cloth inside her pussy to drag out more wet gobs.

She beckoned Tam over and guided him down to kneel with his legs on either side of the woman’s shoulders, then sit back onto her collarbone, facing the woman’s angry stare. Su Wen lowered herself over Tam’s back and began whispering into his ear in the Scholar’s Tongue while her hands encircled him and began to unfasten the catches on his robe.

“So, Lu fucked the bald little devil girl. But when he did that, she was the captive of the Tong. Now, she is the personal slave of Tam. No other man will ever touch her pale skin unless Tam wishes it. Lu fucked her once, but Tam can fuck her as many times as he wants for the rest of her life.”

Tam kept very, very still as she pulled the front of his robe open and dragged her lacquered nails slowly down his tunic. He barely managed to keep breathing as she fished his throbbing cock out and pointed it at the woman’s face.

“Lu wanted to leave the little devil girl full of his cum, but she doesn’t belong to him. She never did. Wen let Lu use the little devil girl, and then she sold the little devil girl to Tam. In just a little bit, Tam’s cum is going to cover the little devil girl’s face, and it’s going to stay right there all the way back to Tam’s house, because he owns the little devil girl now, and everyone knows it.”

Her tiny, delicate hand was stroking his cock with exquisite skill. Her hot breath was in his ear. Tam moaned deep in his throat and desperately tried to hold back his release. His eyes were locked on his own engorged cock, the tiny hand stroking it, and the pale face below it. The woman had her eyes scrunched tightly shut in anticipation of what was coming.

“Do you know what Lu would hate the most about this though? It’s that Tam isn’t going to spray his cum on the little devil girl’s face alone. Tam has someone else’s hand on his cock right now helping. Wen’s clever little fingers are touching Tam just … so …” Tam grunted and came.

Su Wen expertly aimed him with each spurt, leaving two long lines across the woman’s face from cheek to eyebrow, one across each tightly closed eye. The following, smaller spurts fell on the woman’s nose and lips, with a final few droplets on her neck.

Tam gasped and shuddered for breath. He wasn’t sure if he had ever had an orgasm that powerful. Su Wen held his wilting cock until he recovered. Then two small fingers carefully wiped the sensitive head of his cock clean before she tucked him back into his trousers. Slowly and deliberately, she brought the two fingers, the tips smeared with cum, in front of his face. Her other hand came up and lightly held his chin, keeping him facing forward. She slowly pulled the cum-smeared fingers out of sight. In the stillness, he could clearly hear her lips close wetly next to his ear, then a moment later the liquid sound of swallowing. Then two small hands, both with perfectly clean fingers, tugged his robe back into place and re-fastened it. A frozen moment, one last breath in his ear, then Su Wen stood up smoothly and stepped back.

Tam carefully stood and adjusted his robe, fixing his rumpled appearance. Su Wen, of course, was still perfectly composed.

“Shen and his apprentice should be outside by now.” Su Wen switched smoothly back to Han.

With a small, perfectly professional smile to Tam, Su Wen suddenly stepped forward and placed one slipper-clad foot on the woman’s throat just above the collar. “You let that dry right where it is, bitch. I want you to smell it all day. Get your eyelids nice and stuck. Don’t even think about touching that cum unless your new owner tells you it’s allowed.”

Tam hadn’t even noticed the woman beginning to lift her bound hands toward her face. Very carefully she lowered her hands and placed them over her crotch, as far from her face as possible.

“Good girl.” The voice was iron. Tam had no idea who “Wen” was or what game she had just played with him, but he definitely recognized Honored Lady Su Wen standing before him. He recommitted himself to his one rule for dealing with her.

Su Wen removed her foot from the woman’s throat and turned to let her men into the room. Tam shivered and wondered what exactly had just happened.

It was early evening when Tam stepped out of his manor into the rear garden. After he had returned home with his Tong escort and the girl, he had taken over from Ho Tien for the last few patients of the day. After that, he had gathered the household and informed them of the new addition. He had chosen to address them all together to ensure he wouldn’t have to endure a scolding from Lin Song. She would never do anything disrespectful while the other servants were around, though he could tell she would corner him at some point. He would deal with that later. That taken care of, Tam was currently accompanied only by the senior maid, Luong Fai, who was carrying a tray piled high with various things he had gathered for his first private meeting with his new slave.

The maid followed Tam as he entered the outbuilding behind his manor. It had been outfitted as a small stable when he bought the property; as he did feel any need to own horses, Tam had it remodeled into space for his experiments. The stalls had been removed and replaced with a row of four metal cages, within which he occasionally kept dogs, cats, pigs and monkeys that he used in his experiments. Three of the cages were currently empty. The fourth held the foreign woman he had acquired.

Luong Fai placed the tray on a worktable, then bowed and exited, closing the door behind her. Tam brought a low stool over to the cage and sat to examine the woman.

He admired the craftsmanship Huu Shen had used in restraining the woman. Leaving her wrists bound together as they had been, Huu Shen had pulled the woman’s knees up to her chest and forced her feet through the loop of her bound arms. Her ankles had been tied together, and her wrists pulled up again to her chin. A new rope was attached to the one at her wrists and looped around her neck before going down her back and between her buttocks where it was pulled taut and tied to the rope at her ankles. Any attempt to tug at the rope with her hands or feet caused the loop around her neck to tighten, choking her. A final rope simply went around the middle of the pretzel her body now formed, pulled tight and serving the same function as a stave on a barrel.

A thick gag had been the final step, then the woman, folded into half her size and completely immobile below the neck, had simply been picked up by Shen and the young man he called his apprentice and dropped into a large basket. They put the lid on, picked up the carrying poles, and you never would have known they were carrying a human being through the busy streets. Tam wondered how many times in his life he had walked unknowing by a similar operation. Two men carrying a heavy basket was such a common sight that they were practically invisible.

They had put her in the cage upright at Tam’s request, leaning her against the bars. Both of the Tong had been perfectly respectful, but he had caught Shen giving him a broad wink as the thug left.

She was passed out where they had left her. It couldn’t be a comfortable position for resting, but he supposed she had been through a lot recently. Total exhaustion was understandable. It was fine; he wanted to review his plan before proceeding anyway.

Purchasing the woman from the Tong had been an excellent decision, and he was reasonably sure they believed his decision entirely motivated by a desire for sex. Especially after that insane scene with Lu fucking the woman’s brains out, then Su Wen masturbating Tam as he spewed cum across the woman’s face. That had been both exhilarating and terrifying. Tam still didn’t know what to make of that. “Wen” had seemed like a different person, living in the same body as the Silver Tiger but separate from her. Still, that was an issue for a later time, and the sexually charged nature of the interaction had only helped disguise his true aims.

Tam did plan to use the woman for sex, of course. A man had needs, and a warm cunt was better than a hand, especially since he had already paid for it. He also admitted to himself that he was developing a bit of an attraction to the woman. He imagined her fed better, the bruises gone from her pale skin, that golden hair grown out enough to fall into her green eyes as she gazed up at him, her lips wrapped around his cock … yes, he was looking forward to that. Still, sex was not the reason he had purchased her.

The woman was the fourth person he had successfully completed his mind control technique on. That Su Wen had let her live and agreed to sell her to him was a fantastic boon.

As long as he was close enough to affect the structure he had woven into her chi network, he could give her any command, mentally or verbally. The question was how she would follow the commands; would she interpret them literally, like when she told Lu she wanted to keep taunting them, or would her mind understand the intent of the command? How would the commands interact with her physical limits, her sense of self-preservation? Tam had made one of the monkeys he had tested the spell on slit its own throat with a knife, so he knew he could make the woman kill herself if he wanted to, but he was more interested in the subtler aspects of control.

He was mainly curious to discover what mental uses of his control were possible. Having a human puppet was a useful thing, and the pure thrill of control was the greatest pleasure he could imagine, but there were limits to the usefulness of an automaton. The things he could test with a human subject were far beyond what he could test with animals. Could he change her emotions and behavior? Rewrite her memories and personality?

Tam had a long list of tests he had daydreamed about performing on a human subject. But before he began working through the list, there were other possibilities to explore. Most of his tests had been imagined with a subject vaguely modeled on the beggar he and Su Wen had first tested his technique on – a human doll terrified by the loss of control.

However, since he had kept the Tong ignorant of everything but the truth compulsion, as far as the woman knew, that was all he had done. She did not know that her mind was no longer her own. Tam had decided that he would conceal that from her for as long as possible; once she realized her helplessness, all the rest of his tests would still be waiting. Until then, he would experiment by seeing what he could do without her realizing what had happened.

First though, there were a few things he should guarantee before beginning this experiment. It was all very well to play with the woman, but it would not do to have her manage to brain him with a chair while his back was turned or somehow escape and flee beyond the range of his commands. Tam had considered the safeguards over the course of the afternoon, and decided on a prudent minimum. Before awakening the woman, he reached into her mind and placed a second set of commands to join the honesty ones.

First, she was not permitted to physically harm Tam himself or any of his servants, guests, or patients. Second, she could not leave his manor. Finally, she could not take her own life or mutilate herself. If the worst happened and she escaped his more subtle attempts at control, she would hit these locks and be stopped. The illusion of free will would be destroyed as she found herself unable to break the commands, but at least she would still be available for the rest of his tests.

Satisfied with his precautions, Tam reached into the cage and removed the gag from the woman’s mouth. He gently cleaned the dried cum off the woman’s eyelashes with the portion of the gag left damp by her drool. He considered cleaning the rest of her face, but decided he liked the look. Then he reached over and flicked his finger against the edge of the woman’s ear. She flinched and muttered something in her devil tongue. He flicked again, harder. Her head jerked back, her eyes snapping open. She stared at him, looked around the room, and dropped her head forward onto her knees saying something to herself in her own language.

“What did you just say?”

“Roughly translated, I said ‘Oh god, it’s not the sort of nightmare you wake up from.’”

“Ah. No, you are not dreaming. You are awake and presumably lucid. You were abducted by the Tong just before sunset yesterday night. It is currently early evening. You were sold to me by the Tong and are now in my manor. My name is Hsien Tam, and you are my property now. I do not know how slavery works among your people, so please let me know if you require clarification on your current status.”

She stared at him for a moment, and then her eyes narrowed to slits. “Weren’t you listening to the lecture? I thought the way to train me was to alternate beating and raping me, not talk to me. Come on, you’ve only gotten your cum on my face, don’t you want to get some inside me? All the rest of your asshole friends did.”

“If that is truly your desire, we can try it. I thought you might find that method unpleasant. We can discuss alternatives, if you would like that.”

“Yes, I’m willing to discuss not being raped and tortured. Here’s my proposal: my family won’t kill you if you free me immediately and return me to them.”

“Freedom, I’m afraid, is not an option. Let us discuss something more immediate. I believe the position you are bound in is likely quite uncomfortable. I can remove the ropes if you promise to be cooperative while I do so.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

Tam nodded. He retrieved a knife from the work table and came back to the cage.

“Please hold very still. You are bound quite tightly, and I do not wish to accidentally cut you.”

The woman nodded agreement. Tam carefully cut the ropes off her, leaving the one holding her wrists for last. As each rope came loose he tugged it out of the cage and set it down beyond her reach.

“Move slowly and carefully. Your muscles are likely to be badly cramped from that position. Try rubbing your arms and legs for a bit if you can.”

The woman grimaced and complied. A few pained gasps escaped her, but she was able to move her limbs gingerly after a few minutes.

“Good. I would like you to give me your best assessment of your physical condition.”

“What the hell kind of question is that?”

“As your owner, I wish to judge the condition of the merchandise I have purchased. I am also a doctor, and you are clearly in need of medical attention. I can diagnose the external damage easily, but it is best if the patient provides their own assessment, particularly of their general state and any internal pains.”

The woman stared at him. “Why should I tell you anything? And why didn’t you phrase that as a question? If you had, I’d still be listing all the places that hurt.”

Tam smiled. It was good to see how quickly the woman had grasped the reason the spell had not forced to answer.

“I am attempting to encourage an actual conversation between us. You understand that you cannot lie, and that you must fully answer any question put to you. I cannot reverse the spell, but I understand that it creates an imbalance in conversation. I thought it would be polite to allow you to frame your response as you wish. If you do not wish to answer on your own, I will compel you, as I need the information to properly treat you, but the choice is yours.”

“The man wants to be polite. He has me locked in an animal cage, his cum is dried on my face, I’m wearing nothing but a fucking slave collar, and the imbalance of power that’s bothering him is the one in our conversation? If this isn’t a nightmare, maybe I’m going insane.”

“You seem perfectly sane to me, if a bit traumatized. We will return to the discussion of the conversation balance later. For now, let us focus on your physical health. I can treat your injuries. My healing will be more effective if you help me diagnose any hidden pains. It is in your own best interest to give me full information here.”

Tam sat back and let her think about it. The woman was clearly intelligent, but also defiant. Which aspect would take precedence here? Which was more important to her: preserving her physical health, or maintaining her pride by refusing to cooperate with her captor? He watched her closely as she thought. Eventually she sighed and lowered her head.

“Fine, I’ll play along. Let’s see, I’m exhausted, I haven’t eaten since last night, the whole right side of my face is sore and bruised, my lip hurts, I’ve got bruises on my side and maybe a cracked rib from when Mr. ‘Three Types of Whores’ was beating me to my knees before you came back in to watch, my knees are skinned, I have half a dozen welts from the ropes, my throat is bruised and raw, my vagina hurts because I’ve been raped by multiple assholes who barely bothered to spit on their cocks before shoving them in. Is there anything else?”

She raised her head to face him again, her eyes flashing. “Oh, that’s right, every muscle in my body is still sore and my skin feels like it’s burnt from whatever it was your spell did to me. I’ve never felt pain anything like that. Oh, and I’ve got a nasty headache. I think that’s all the major things.”

“Hmm; I will need to examine your vaginal walls to see if there are any tears. That can wait. The most immediate thing is to confirm if your ribs are indeed broken. Place your back against the edge of the cage towards me. I promise I will only touch your ribs while you breathe, you will be perfectly safe.”

The woman stared at him skeptically, then muttered under her breath and turned around. Tam spread his hands lightly over the lower part of her rib cage on each side.

“Lift your hands above your head. Take in a long breath and hold it. Now exhale. Tell me if it is a general pain, or a sharp stabbing sort.”

He repeated the process several times, moving his hands up her sides as he went. He saw that she was blushing slightly from being handled.

“Good, nothing is broken. The muscle is badly bruised, but that is all. You may make yourself comfortable.”

The woman moved to place her back to the far side of the cage, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them, using her limbs as a shield. Tam saw that she had positioned herself so that he could no longer see her breasts or genitals. Was she attempting to regain some modesty at this late stage?

“From your description and my examination of your ribs, it seems you have no major internal injuries apart from possible vaginal tearing. This is good. I have a few things prepared that will ease the pain and accelerate healing for your external injuries.”

Tam stepped to the table and picked up two cups and small jar. He set them down where the woman could see them but not reach them.

“The cup of green liquid is an herbal tea. It is a stimulant for your exhaustion, combined with a generic pain reliever. The two are common medicinal herbs, but I have combined them so that the narcotic effect of the pain reliever will not put you to sleep before we accomplish my goals for the evening.”

“The cup of white liquid is a contraceptive. It is usually called Whore’s Milk, though it is given various different names when discretely sold to ladies of a higher social class. Taken within a day of any sexual activity, it will ensure that there is no pregnancy. When taken regularly, it also minimizes the effects of your monthly cycle. Brothels serve it to all their women with the first meal of the day. If you do not want to risk bearing the child of one of the Tong you should drink it soon.”

“Finally, the jar of brown cream will help the bruises heal and prevent infection from developing in your cuts and scrapes. The cream will sting slightly in the cuts, and will produce a feeling of warmth at first that will fade to a slight numbness. You must rub it in thoroughly to maximize effectiveness. Tell me which one you would like first.”

“Why should I take anything you give me? How can I tell it’s not drugged?”

Tam sighed. “Of course it’s drugged. It’s medicine. That is what medicine is, drugs. If you’re asking me how you can tell if there’s anything in them beyond what I described, the answer is that you can’t tell, unless you’re trained in medicine or alchemy. If I wanted to knock you out or pump you full of aphrodisiacs, I could have just force fed them to you while you were tied up. I promise you that there’s nothing in these beyond what I described. It’s up to you if you’re willing to risk it. The only one I will force you to take is the contraceptive; if you would rather suffer in pain and heal slower, I’ll allow it if you insist.”

The woman studied him carefully, looking for signs of deception. Finally she sighed and gave in again.

“I guess I’ll risk it. Contraceptive first; me not bearing those men’s children is a priority we both agree on.”

Tam nodded and moved the cup of white liquid to where she could reach it. The woman awkwardly crawled to the front of the cage, quickly covering her breasts again with one arm as she knelt and reached out to pick up the cup. She downed the syrupy liquid in one gulp and set the cup just outside the bars, making a face at the taste.

“Gah, it’s so thick. And sickly-sweet.”

“I agree, it’s unpleasant. Place the cup as far out as you can reach, please.”

She rolled her eyes but did as requested. Once she retracted her arm back into the cage, Tam moved the empty cup to the work table then returned. She requested the pain-killer next, and they repeated the same ritual. After that he gave her the healing cream, and she shifted back slightly in the cage and began awkwardly applying it while trying to keep herself covered.

Tam shifted the stool over slightly so that he was facing her again. “While you are applying the cream, let’s discuss the conversation imbalance again.”

“Right back to the same topic. This is clearly worth something to you, having a civilized conversation?”

Tam nodded.

“Okay, I’m willing to play along and chat, but I’m going to want something of equal value in return. Since I can’t lie, I want you to promise not to lie either. And since I have to answer your questions, I want you to have to answer my questions. Just pretend that you cast your spell on yourself whenever you talk to me. Do that and our conversation will be balanced.”

“I have no intention of lying to you, so I am perfectly willing to agree to be truthful. On the topic of trading questions, what you propose would be balanced, but it would not be properly balanced. We are not equals; I am the master and you are the slave. I think a proper balance would be that I will allow you to ask me one question for every three times I compel you with a question. I reserve the right to refuse to answer, but if I do so or if I answer incompletely I will tell you why and allow you to ask a different question. I believe that to be a proper concession. Do you accept?”

“Yes. Not ideal, but I’ll take it. That counts as one question for you. What are your next two?”

“I’m not sure something as simple as asking if you accepted should count as a question.” Tam grinned as he said it.

“I was compelled to answer, I could feel it. It’s not my fault you phrased it as a question. Two more for you, then one for me.”

“I’m curious about your current concern over modesty. I’ve worked on your naked body for hours and watched you being fucked. Your modesty didn’t seem to be a concern for you then. Why are you now trying to cover yourself?”

“I’m not completely sure. Um, thinking about it, I think it’s because when they were treating me like an animal, I was reacting and fighting back like an animal. Now, you still have me locked in a cage, but you’re treating me a little bit like a person. If I feel like I’m a person again, then I’m embarrassed about being naked.” The woman blushed furiously. “I still can’t believe I just told you that. This spell is a real mind-fuck.”

Tam laughed. “Third question: Do you know that you look very pretty when you blush?”

“I don’t know that, but I’ve had men tell me that before. Are you . . . wait, I almost wasted a question on whether you were trying to make me feel embarrassed.”

“It is your turn, and no, I was not trying to embarrass you, though if produces those blushes I may try in the future. Go ahead and pick your first question.”

“Lots of questions, but I want to start by trying to understand you. Why are you willing to make concessions and bargain with me? I’m supposed to be your slave, and you’ve got this spell on me too. I thought you would just be compelling me to answer and beating me into obedience, trying to break me.”

“Not a simple question. Part of it is simply that I believe in the importance of manners. Society functions better with respect and politeness, and I always strive for that. I’m also a scholar, and I’m curious to see if I can train you to be a good slave without beating you to a pulp. In the end though, it’s because I want you to be happy. I bought you to share my bed, and I’d rather have an enthusiastic partner than a cowering wretch. I do not know you well, but I enjoy the intelligence and determination I can already see in you. If I were to follow Chiang Lu’s method in training you, I fear that would be lost. I think treating you with respect and giving you some indulgences will help achieve that goal.”

“I was wrong before; I’m not the one going mad. I’m being held captive by an insane person. You think I can be happy being what, your little pet? You honestly think I’ll wake up some day and think ‘Oh boy, I hope I get to suck Master’s cock today! And then maybe he’ll let me brush his shoes, or mop the floors! Maybe he’ll have me whipped if I’m lucky! What a wonderful day!’” Her green eyes flashed in fury.

“It seems unlikely to you at the moment, I’m sure. Still, there are thousands of slaves in this city. Many of them are well treated, have positions of responsibility in the household, and are quite happy. It is a better life than the poor have in the slums; I do not know the exact numbers, but from my understanding more than half of the slaves in the city entered the condition voluntarily to earn money for their families or pay their debts. Still, I am realistic enough to know it will not happen overnight. You asked your question, and I answered as honestly as I could.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very enthusiastic about the part of your plan where you don’t beat me senseless. I’m a big fan of only having half of my face covered in bruises.”

As they spoke, the woman continued applying the cream. Despite her best efforts, her movements gave Tam the occasional glance at her breasts, and a brief glimpse between her legs as she shifted her weight. He felt his cock twitch in interest. Strange that the clinical mindset he had when viewing her nude body earlier transformed into arousal now that she was trying to conceal herself.

On a whim, he took advantage of the lull in conversation to purposely let her catch him looking at her breasts as she rubbed ointment into one of the bruises on her ribs, then sent a mental command that she should feel a mild burst of arousal. She blushed furiously and shifted to cover herself again.

“A few more questions while you apply the ointment. What is your name?”

“My name is Moonlight, daughter of the Defender.” The woman blinked in confusion. “That’s not my name. My name is Yelena Alexovna. Why did I answer that way?”

“Ah, I suspect it is another small detail of the spell. The spell compels you to provide an answer in the language the question was asked, if you can. I assume that is a translation of your name from your own language. You have five more of my questions to answer before I must answer you again.”

“That’s not fair! I was wondering out loud to myself!”

Tam raised an eyebrow. “You started this by counting my request for assent as a question. I will give you an easy one though – am I correct in my guess that you were compelled to give me the translation of your name?”

“Yes, that seems to be the case. Though it’s very odd – there is no direct translation of Yelena Alexovna into Han beyond Yelena daughter of Alex; in Russian, they are traditional names taken from history. Moonlight and Defender are rough translations from the original languages into Han. If I didn’t know the original languages, I’m not sure I would have been able to give you that answer.”

“Exactly how many languages do you know?”

“I am fluent in eight languages, can carry on basic conversations in four more, and can read and write an additional three dead languages. So, not counting minor dialect variations, I know fifteen languages.”

“I am impressed. I would be tempted to think you were lying if I didn’t know it was impossible. Are you older than you look? How have you learned so many languages?”

“I’ll be twenty-three years old in a month. I’ve always had a natural gift for languages. I grew up knowing three languages and picked up words from others easily. It was the talent that led to my father Alex adopting me. He hired tutors for me from a young age to teach me all the languages he thought would be useful for me to know, and trained me to work as a translator for the family, allowing me to continue to learn as I worked.”

“It helps to know the original languages that modern languages are descended from. Many languages have common structures and similarities which make them easier to learn once you know one of them. Han was one of the most difficult to learn, since it shares few similarities with the ones I knew before I was sent here. Also, that was two questions at once, so you only have one more before I get to ask one.”

“I suppose we will continue with names. How do you spell Yelena Alexovna in Han? Say, for instance, you were signing a contract or some other legal document.”

“I combine a pair of characters that have a similar sound to Yelena, then follow it with the sign my family has adopted for our business dealings in Nihai. Here, I’ll draw them for you. Also, your pronunciation is atrocious, it’s Yelena Alexovna.” She uttered each syllable clearly and distinctly while she reached out of the cage to trace a pair of characters in the dirt with her finger.

Tam studied the characters, then stood and walked to the table where he copied them in ink on a scrap of paper. He compared his copy to the original on the floor then replaced it on the table. Taking a set of formal documents, he began to carefully ink the characters into the space left blank for that purpose. He glanced over at the woman as he did so. She was rubbing the cream into the bruises on her neck, working around her iron collar, but watching him.

“I believe it is your turn to ask a question.”

“I think you want me to ask why you’re writing my name down on those papers. I have a better question though. What’s the best way for me to get you to release me?”

Tam laughed in genuine amusement. “I admire your determination. I will refuse to answer; I do not want to release you, so I will not tell you how to influence me to do so. However, since I have refused to answer, you are permitted another question, but you will have to wait to ask it. I see you are hesitating to apply the cream to the bruises on your face.”

Yelena flushed. “I’m . . . not sure if I can rub it in without removing your cum. I was told I wasn’t allowed to remove it your permission.”

“Ah, yes, Su Wen is very intimidating. I will propose another bargain, like our arrangement with the questions. I will allow you to clean your face, if you display your body for me to admire.”

“What?”

“I simply want you to drop your new modesty and willingly present your naked body for my eyes. I have already seen you naked for hours; you’re not really sacrificing anything, and in return you will have my permission to clean my semen off your face without fear of punishment.”

Yelena scowled at him, looking for the trap in his offer. Tam simply sat and waited patiently. Eventually she sighed and lowered her hands to her sides. “Like this?”

“No, I said display yourself. Kneel, knees spread wide so your pussy is open. Hands behind your head. Push your breasts forward.”

Yelena glared at him but complied, her eyes fixed on his. Tam let his eyes drink in her form in the submissive posture. He reached into her mind and pushed her to become aroused.

Yelena’s breath caught and she lowered her head blushing as her nipples hardened. “How . . . how much longer?”

“Just a bit more. Look at me, Yelena, not at the floor.”

Yelena forced her head back up and met his gaze. Her face was flushed, her eyes beginning to dilate and darken from their normal grass-green to a dark jade. Her lips parted and her breathing grew more labored as Tam mentally pushed her arousal higher. Finally he took mercy on her, tossing a rag through the bars of the cage.

“Thank you, Yelena, I’m very pleased. You can clean your face off now and finish applying the cream.”

She scooted to the back of the cage, covering herself as best she could again, before she began cleaning her face. She was clearly confused and embarrassed by her arousal.

“You’re due another question, Yelena, since I refused to answer the last one.”

“Um . . . do you know what the Tong are planning to do to my family?”

“No, I do not. I have a simple contract with them. I show up, I cast my spell on a subject, I remain available while the subject is questioned in case there are complications, and then I leave. I can make a guess. Are your family criminals?”

“Yes. They’re not really my family; it’s just what we call the group. My adoptive father and I are both members. In structure and daily activities it’s similar to the Tong, but instead of many independent groups, we all work together across several countries under a central authority. Smuggling is our main line of work but we cover everything in the underworld.”

“And what do you do for them?”

“I’m a translator. International smuggling involves a lot of different languages, and it’s important to be very clear about agreements when both sides are prone to violence if they feel they’ve been short-changed.”

“What did Su Wen ask about? General highlights only please, don’t let the compulsion make you recount all of the hours of questioning.”

“Daily patterns, safe houses, stockpiles of goods and weapons, locations of gambling dens and brothels. Who our best fighters are, their tactics and capabilities.”

“Then I assume she was gathering intelligence for an attempt by the Tong to take over your operations and assume complete control of all underworld activity in the city.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. How quickly do you think they’ll act?”

“I can’t say for sure. It takes time to mobilize troops, but they’ll want to act quickly before your people change their patterns in response to your disappearance.”

Yelena sighed and slumped slightly. She looked down at her hand and realized she was done with the cream. She crawled back to the front of the cage and set the jar and rag outside the cage without being told to do so.

“Yelena, there’s one more thing we need to do for your treatment. I need to inspect your vaginal walls for tears.”

“If you think I’m letting you inside me without a fight, you’re crazy.”

Tam sighed. “I know you find it embarrassing, but please remember that I am a doctor. I will use a speculum to widen your passage so I can examine it visually. I won’t touch you with anything but my fingers. It’s something I do on a routine basis for female patients. The embarrassment is surely preferable to acquiring a painful infection or long term injury which could be avoided with treatment.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it. But alright, it makes sense. Are you . . . ah, hang on, let me think how to phrase it so it’s not a question. I assume you’re going to take me out of the cage to do this.”

“No, I do not think I trust you that much yet. I think there is a way to do this which will not put us in a position where you are tempted to violence. Come over here.”

Yelena frowned but reluctantly crawled to the front of the cage where Tam had set the stool and the tools he required for the examination.

“Lie on your back with your shoulders braced against the ground. Then lift your legs and put them through the bars here and here, resting on the crossbar, so that your pelvis is spread open and elevated to a height where I can examine it.”

“I’m tempted to risk the infection” she muttered, but awkwardly complied. Tam helped position her once her legs were through the bars, pulling her forward so that her sex was framed by two of the bars. An additional benefit of the position was that she was supporting her weight on her shoulders and elbows, making it impossible for her to strike him unexpectedly.

Tam strapped his surgical light to his forehead; the enchanted crystal glowed as he activated it with a touch of chi, leaving his hands free. He examined the smooth shaven exterior of her genitals first, running his fingers over her skin. As he lightly touched her, he found her lingering arousal from earlier and began to gradually ramp it up again. “The process will be uncomfortable for you at several points. This is normal, simply try to relax as much as possible. You must inform me if you feel actual pain at any point.”

He gently parted her outer lips and spread them, then carefully examined her inner lips. His slowly probing fingers quickly began to pick up traces of moisture. When he saw her clitoris protrude from its hood, he made sure to stroke it as well. Yelena’s breathing became slightly ragged.

Opening her inner lips with his left hand, Tam slid his finger into her. Satisfied with her level of lubrication, he picked up his speculum with his right hand and slowly inserted it. Once it was fully embedded, he turned the screw to open it and bent to peer inside. He positioned his left hand so that his palm brushed against her clit as he slowly withdrew the open speculum.

His main attention was focused on each section of her vaginal walls as the retreating speculum released them to view. He was after all seriously inspecting her for damage. However, a significant portion of his attention was on the entirely unprofessional level of arousal his command was inducing in her. She had given up watching him, her head back against the floor, her eyes tightly shut. As her breathing got heavier, her chest rose and fell in a pleasing manner. He could see her nipples had hardened into pebbled nubs, and the lubrication under his fingers was thickening and beginning to trickle down towards her anus.

He was relieved when the examination revealed no tearing. He set down the speculum and picked up another jar of cream, dipping his fingers into it.

“Stay where you are, Yelena. I’m going to rub a different cream into you to help you heal here.”

Tam slid two cream-laden fingers into her pussy. He placed his left hand on her lower stomach, pressing down gently until he could feel the motion of his fingers inside her. He slid his fingers in and out while stroking her clit with his thumb. She quickly began panting and whimpering, her face and the upper portion of her chest flushed red. Her hands were clenched, her fingers digging into the dirt of the floor. The compelled arousal was now mixing with her body’s natural response to touch, pushing her closer to the brink. Tam pressed his thumb down hard on her clitoris while giving a mental command to her to orgasm.

Yelena cried out and stiffened, her muscles locking. Tam continued to finger her through her orgasm, then for a few moments after before he pulled back, wiping his fingers off and putting his things away. Yelena was slumped on the floor of the cage; her legs still half-way through the bars, trying to recover. Tam studied the view with satisfaction.

“I . . . ah . . . what . . .” She slowly came back to her senses. When she realized the position she was in, she hastily pulled her legs back and retreated into a ball in the back corner, hiding behind her knees. She peeked out at him, and after seeing him calmly sitting on the stool with a neutral expression, faced him, still blushing.

“The examination was successful. You have no internal damage. The muscles are sore from being stretched without proper lubrication, but nothing was torn and the cream will make them feel better. Your sexual organs respond to stimulus correctly. Did you enjoy the orgasm?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

Tam raised an eyebrow. “The overwhelming sense of pleasure you felt when you came. Do you not know the word orgasm in Han?”

“No, I know the word, I just didn’t know that was what just happened.”

“Really? Have you never had an orgasm before?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“That’s fascinating. Were you actually a virgin before yesterday?”

Yelena blushed even harder. “No, I wasn’t. I’ve had sex before. That was four questions, you skipped my turn.”

“Very well, you can ask your question, but as soon as you’re done I’m very curious to return to this line of questioning.”

“I’m not. Let’s talk about something else. My question is: what are your plans for me?”

“I am still trying to decide my long term plans for you. You were an impulsive purchase on my part. I bought you as a bed slave, so I imagine your primary duties will eventually revolve around warming my bed, and also include bathing and dressing me and the other usual tasks of a body servant. That’s a long ways off though, and depends on whether you can be properly trained. Don’t worry about any of that for now.”

“For tonight, I have a few things planned. I plan to continue our conversation, to learn about you and help me decide the best way to treat you in the immediate future. In a little while, I will bring dinner for both of us. After that, I am going to have sex with you. That is not up for debate. The nature of the sex, whether it tends towards pleasure or pain for you, will depend on our conversation and how cooperative you are willing to be. After that, I will likely go to bed, as it has been a long day. If I feel I can trust you, you will join me. If not you will sleep here.”

Yelena looked steadily at him for a long moment, then deliberately turned around and faced the wall. “Burn in hell, you goddamn prick.”

Tam waited, but she didn’t seem to have anything else to say. He tidied up the room, putting things away, then leaned against the wall opposite Yelena’s cage and watched her. Her shoulders were shaking very slightly.

“Yelena, are you crying?”

“Yes, I’m crying.”

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I’ve had a horrible day. Ever since I was kidnapped, it’s been one terrifying thing after another. Then you were kind to me, and treated my injuries, and told me you wanted me to be happy, even if it was in a fucked up way. And that orgasm or whatever it was you just did to me with your fingers actually felt really good for some reason; it was the first nice sensation I’ve had in this whole nightmare of a day. And right away you follow that up by reminding me that none of that matters because you’re just going to rape me again like the others.”

As the compulsion to answer released her, she pulled herself into a tighter ball and began sobbing openly. Tam waited patiently and eventually her sobbing slowed to the occasional sniffle.

“Yelena, it’s up to you if tonight is a rape. I am hoping our discussion will lead to a place where you are willing to cooperate, and you can receive as much pleasure from the act as I do.”

“You idiot, of course it’s rape. Having sex with a woman who doesn’t want to have sex with you is the definition of rape; it doesn’t matter if you’re gentle or violent.”

“Legally, rape is forcing a free woman who is not your wife into sex. As you are my slave, by definition it cannot be rape. Also from the ethical standpoint, I was hoping to work out a negotiation, where I offer you something you want in return for sharing my bed. I do not think an exchange of that sort would constitute rape, even if we remove the legal definition from the discussion. But it is your turn to ask a question.”

Tam sat back on the stool and waited. He was beginning to think she wasn’t going to talk anymore when she finally spoke, still facing the wall instead of him.

“You just tried to claim that the law was on your side. Earlier you said that I was legally your slave. I may be a foreigner, but I’ve lived here long enough to know that kidnapping someone off the street is not a legal method of enslavement here. Why do you think the law is on your side?”

“I think that the law is on my side because it is. Earlier, you passed on an opportunity to ask about the documents I was writing your name on. They are a formal judgment by the Third Magistrate of Nihai, in which you are found guilty of spying for a foreign power and sentenced to slavery for life. The Tong purchased the judgment from the magistrate a few hours before they kidnapped you. The man is corrupt, but his decree is legal and can only be overturned by an imperial emissary. There is also a bill of sale, in which the legal process of your sale by the court to me is recorded. If you would like, I can hold the documents where you can read them.”

Yelena sat facing the wall for several moments longer. She took a long breath, composing herself, and extended her hand behind her.

“Give me something to wipe my face off with first. I’m covered in snot.”

Tam rinsed the rag he had given her earlier and wrung it out then stepped over and dropped it through the cage into her hand. She blew her nose twice, then folded the cloth and used a clean portion to wipe her face. She also took the opportunity to clean some of the dirt off her hands and knees and wipe quickly between her legs. Another deep breath, then her shoulders squared and she turned around and crawled to the front of the cage where she sat back on her heels, one hand over her breasts and the other covering her crotch. “I’m ready to read them.”

Tam brought over the judgement and held it where she could read it but not reach it. She read it over twice, noting the magistrate’s official seal then nodded. He replaced it with the bill of sale. She read it over just as carefully then nodded again. “Alright, it’s all there like you said and it looks genuine. Your turn to ask questions again.”

“As curious as I am about your sexual history I think it would be best to postpone discussion of sex for a short while. Instead, tell me this: how do you plan to escape?”

“I’ll play along with talking to you and being polite until you let me out of the cage. Once that’s done, I’ll wait for you to turn around then hit you in the head with something heavy like that stool. Once you’re down I’ll make sure you’re unconscious or dead then steal your robe. After that I’ll run for it. Once I’m back in the foreign quarter I’ll find my family and warn them about the information the Tong got from me. We’ll change our patterns, and hopefully the family will remove this collar and help hide me from the guards until they can either smuggle me home or find another corrupt magistrate to overturn the sentence.” As she continued to speak, her eyes widened. Clearly she had not anticipated this use of the spell.

“Let us examine your plan point by point. Now that I am aware of your intentions, I am not likely to lower my guard while you are free from restraints. Even if you were to succeed in disabling me, you would still need to evade my servants while escaping the manor, as they all know who you are. Any one of them seeing you alone and out of restraints would instantly raise the alarm. The walls of the manor are high and the gate is locked.”

“My manor is on a side street, but the streets in this neighborhood are reasonably busy during the day and well-lit at night. If you made it to the street, you would find there are no alleys to hide in and the guards patrol regularly. If anyone on the street sees a bald foreign woman, barefoot in men’s clothes, with a slave collar around her neck, they will naturally be suspicious. If they question you, the spell will force you to tell them that you are an escaped slave. Once you are arrested, the minimum penalty for attempting to escape is 20 lashes in the nearest public square. If it was discovered you had physically struck me, the law would require the amputation of the offending hand. If you had been unfortunate enough to kill me or one of my servants in your escape, you would be sentenced to death by impalement, which is a very slow and agonizing death.”

Tam had watched her closely as he went through the problems with her plan. Yelena’s posture gradually slumped as he explained each barrier between her and freedom. “Now, do not respond to this next question immediately. Take your time and think carefully before answering. Do you believe you have a successful chance of escaping tonight?”

Yelena sat for a long moment, her head lowered; then she answered, barely above a whisper. “No, I don’t think I have a chance to escape right now. The odds are too bad and the risks too great.”

“I am glad you are intelligent enough to realize that. Since you have spoken it aloud you know that it is true. Now that you know this, what is your new plan?”

Still looking at the floor, Yelena sighed. “My new plan is to obey you and be a good slave. I’ll try to bargain with you for whatever concessions I can get. I don’t have the resources to escape at the moment, so I need to try and learn more about my environment and find something that I can use to help me. I don’t know what that might be, but I know that I have better odds of finding it outside this cage. It’s my turn to ask a question, but I can’t think of a good one right now, so I’m going to save it.”

“That is a much better plan. I think it will be good to pause here anyway and eat. Do you feel like you could hold down a meal?”

“Yes, I’m starving. And, um, related to the topic, I need to, ah, take care of the other end.”

“Ah yes. I was wondering if you might need that earlier, but I had forgotten. I will bring you a chamber pot before I check the readiness of the food. Is there anything else you’d like to request while I’m out? Please restrict your answers to reasonable requests that you think I might be willing to grant.”

Yelena thought for a moment. “Um, something to wear would be really nice, and maybe something to sit on besides bare dirt. And that tea you gave me earlier helped with the pain, but I think it’s starting to wear off, or maybe just wasn’t a strong enough dose, so some more of that would be good.”

“Those are good choices for requests, and presented with something close to proper humility. I am pleased with you. I will be back shortly.”

Some of the fire returned to Yelena’s eyes at being praised for obedience, but she bit her lip and stayed silent instead of cursing at him.

Tam made sure there was nothing within arm’s reach of her cage, then left. He spoke with the cook and told her to prepare a meal for two, then went looking for the other things Yelena had asked for. After delivering a chamber pot to Yelena he returned to the main building and began looking through the options available for clothing her.

As he considered various options, he reflected on the work so far. He had meant to experiment more with mental commands, but he had found himself too caught up in the game of questions she had invented. He was pleased with her performance so far. Yelena was much more intelligent than he would have guessed, and her gift for languages was amazing. He also admired her resiliency; most in her situation would have fallen into despair, but she rallied her forces and prepared for the next battle after each defeat.

As far as the actual commands he had given her, she didn’t seem to realize he was controlling her arousal. Still, he should actually try more commands; she was just so fascinating he found it hard to focus on the science.

The clothing problem was a bit frustrating. Tam’s cook and maids did not live in his manor, arriving in the morning to do what was needed and returning to their own homes at night. His only live in staff were Ho Tien, Lin Song, and her husband Bin Hsiu who handled the gardens and grounds and doubled as doorkeeper during the day. Tam himself owned no women’s clothes, and even if Yelena and Lin Song had been the same size, he couldn’t imagine asking to borrow her clothes for his new bed slave.

In the end, Tam settled on a short silk bathing robe from his own wardrobe. By the time he had finished, the cook informed him that the meal he had requested was ready. Tam thanked her and collected the tray, wishing her a good night.

Halfway to the stable he realized he had forgotten something for Yelena to sit on. When he attempted to add a silk cushion to his load, Lin Song caught him. After he confessed his errand she informed him that he was not allowed to ruin good silk cushions by putting them in the dirt. She gave him a worn out blanket that she produced out of a closet instead.

Everything properly assembled, Tam returned to the stable. Yelena had put the chamber pot in the cage next to hers, as far away as she could reach, and was in the middle of prodding at the lock on her cage when he returned. She blushed when he walked in and sat back on her heels again. “You can’t blame me for checking.”

“I suppose I expected something of the sort.” Tam laughed as he set his armload on the narrow worktable. He handed the blanket through the bars of the cage and gestured that she should sit on it. “Which would you like first, clothes or food?”

Yelena blushed. “Clothes, please. Also, that’s six questions so I have two now. I’ve thought of a couple while you were out.”

Tam nodded as he handed her the robe. She pulled on the sleeveless robe as quickly as she could, turning away from him as she tugged it around her and belted the sash tightly around her waist. “My first question is: are you a member of the Tong, or otherwise loyal to them?”

Before Tam gave an answer, he set two plain bowls down for her, one full of water, the second sticky rice and steamed vegetables; bland but healthy. He also poured her another cup of the green herbal remedy. Curious if he could affect her sense of taste, he commanded her to think it was the best meal she had ever had. She was hungry enough that she didn’t complain about the lack of utensils, eagerly scooping up the food with her fingers and gulping it down.

Tam’s own meal had the same rice and vegetables, but included thin strips of meat, an excellent sauce, utensils, and a small bottle of wine. He answered her as he ate.

“I am not a member of the Tong. As far as loyalty, that depends on the situation. I have a good working relationship with Su Wen, and I do not wish to jeopardize it. In the end though, my own self-interest is the ultimate guide in my decisions. If you wish me to act against the Tong’s interests, I will decide based on a judgement of risk and reward.”

“That’s good then. Second question: what would persuade you to send a warning to my adopted father that the Tong is coming for him?” Yelena absentmindedly scraped her empty bowl for the last grains of rice and sucked them off her fingers.

“That would be a very dangerous thing for me if the Tong discovered it. I promise you I will answer the question, but I will have to think about it. In the meantime, did you enjoy your dinner?”

“Yes, it was amazing. I usually like noodle dishes more than rice when it comes to Han cooking, but I suppose there’s truth to the old saying that hunger is the best sauce because I can’t remember ever tasting anything so good.”

“I am glad you enjoyed it.” As he spoke, Tam implanted a command that she should be pleased whenever he praised her. “The robe flatters you as well. The green compliments your exotic eyes.”

Yelena blushed furiously and looked away; clearly uncomfortable with her unwanted reaction to his words. Her hands clenched together impotently. “Thank you. I know you are still thinking about your answer to my last question and it is not my right to rush you.”

“So demure; you want this very badly, I see. I have something in mind that would incentivize me to act, but I would have to be sure my risk was minimal. Convince me that sending the warning would not expose me to reprisal from the Tong.”

“You could use a public messenger service to send a letter to a restaurant. My father is friends with the owner, and because the owner isn’t a member of the family, it didn’t come up when the Tong questioned me. The outside of the message would just say that it was for my father and not who it was from. I could write the actual message in Russian so that if the message was intercepted it couldn’t be read.”

“We will need to discuss the content of the letter, but that plan seems acceptable. As to what you can do for me, I think you have guessed. Whether I actually take the risk will depend on your performance in my bed. If you are very obedient and honestly do your best to please me, I will send your message first thing in the morning.”

Yelena sighed and bit her lip. “I assumed that would be the price. I had some time to think about it while you fetched dinner and decided I’m willing to pay it. Um, I should warn you, I’m not very skilled. I’ll try my best because my father’s life is in danger, but please don’t blame me if my best isn’t very good.”

Tam frowned. “Yes, our earlier discussion about your sexual experience to date not including orgasms. What is your sexual history?”

Yelena kept her eyes fixed on the floor, blushing furiously. She wrung her hands together in her lap as she answered. “I had a lover back home. He was an apprentice to one of the scribes who taught me languages. We used to kiss, and then he finally talked me into spreading my legs for him. I liked the kissing and the petting, but once he got inside me it was just uncomfortable and a little painful and then he was done. We kept doing it whenever he could get away from his teacher, and it didn’t hurt anymore, but all he did was kiss me and grope my breasts until I was wet, then get on top and thrust until he was done.”

“I kept doing it because I thought we were in love, but when my father summoned me to serve him here, I asked Boris to come with me and he just laughed at me. He told me I was an idiot if I thought he’d leave a good apprenticeship for a dead fish in bed like me, even if I was easy. I’ve been too embarrassed to ever tell that to anyone, so thank you and your stupid spell for making me tell you. That and being raped by your Tong friends are the sum total of my sexual experience. You spent four gold bars for a dead fish in bed.” Yelena faced away from him and rubbed moisture from the corners of her eyes.

Tam crouched outside the cage and carefully reached in to put his hand on her shoulder. Yelena flinched but with an effort of will she held herself very still under his hand instead of pulling away.

“Your lover was a very great fool who did not know the treasure he had. I assure you, no man would call you a dead fish if he saw how splendidly you orgasmed on my fingers when I examined you.”

“I’m . . . I still don’t understand what happened there.”

“I do. Your body reacted to a skilled touch. I still can’t believe you’ve never had one at the age of twenty-two, even if only through masturbation.”

“No. I tried touching myself there once when I was young, and the woman who was taking care of me caught me. She gave me a beating and told me it was filthy and I should never do it. After Boris I tried a couple of times but I couldn’t figure out what to do.”

“That’s a great shame. I’ll teach you how to please your body. But come now: let us compose your letter. Once we begin, I do not want to be distracted by anything else.”

Tam kept Yelena in the cage while she wrote, reaching through the bars to brush the strange characters of her language across the paper. He had her translate what she had written and asked clarified a few points. When he was satisfied, he asked one more question.

“Are there any hidden messages? Code words or something similar; anything that reveals your current situation or anything else beyond the obvious warning?”

“No. I thought of some, but I also thought that if I was in your position, I would ask the question you just asked, so I left them out.”

Tam nodded. “I continue to be impressed by your intelligence. Now, I think we have had enough conversation and bargaining for one evening. It is time for you to fulfil your end of this bargain.”

“I have one more question first please; it’s my turn. Don’t worry, I’m not backing out. I’ll do my best to be your bed slave for tonight, the bargain is made. I just want to know, why? Why is it so important for you to sleep with me tonight? Why, after shaving me and painting me and wracking my body with pain? Why not let me sleep alone if you want to treat me with respect? Especially after I’ve already been raped today; why would you put me through that again?”

Yelena had sat back on her heels, hands clenched at her sides while she spoke. She was staring him directly in the eyes for the first time since before they ate, studying his face while she waited for a response.

Tam stood back and thought. He met her green gaze steadily as he answered. “Because I want to; because I find you desirable. You are too tall and too pale and too disrespectful, but somehow I still find you attractive. Because I can; you are my slave, and it is my right. I paid for you and I will have all of you. I talk with you and allow you to ask me questions because I enjoy it, but it is a privilege I give you, not a right you have. And finally, though I am embarrassed to admit it, whenever I think to myself that the last man to have his cock inside you was someone besides me, I feel angry. I will not allow you to sleep tonight until I have seen you screaming in passion on my cock.”

Tam realized his normal calm, cultured tone had degenerated into a growl at the end there. Yelena stared back at him and swallowed nervously.

“No more game of questions for you tonight. Turn around and put your wrists together behind your back then push them through the cage. I believe you mean to keep your bargain, but I will make it easier for you to resist the temptation to do anything rash.”

Yelena’s hands shook very slightly as she obeyed. Tam looked at the welts on her wrist from the ropes and frowned. “I’m not going to use rope again, it will just make your injuries worse. Take the belt sash off that robe and hand it to me.”

Yelena obeyed and watched as Tam took the length of silk over to the work table and painted a spell onto it. He walked back to the cage.

“Hands.”

Yelena quickly obeyed. Tam gently wrapped the silk sash around her wrists. He activated the spell and the silk tightened and knotted itself. He unlocked her cage with the key then helped her out and to her feet.

Yelena stood shivering before him. The robe, no longer belted, fell open in front of her, a narrow stretch of milk pale white skin revealed between the curtains of green silk. Standing bare foot, she was only a few inches shorter than him, most of her height in her long legs. The robe fell just past the curve of her hips. The opening between her legs beckoned to him. She kept her chin up as he drank her in with his eyes, holding back her urge to fight or flee.

Tam stepped close to her until he could feel her breath on his face. Keeping himself slow and controlled, he caressed the unbruised side of her face with his hand. He ran his thumb along the golden curve of her eyebrow, the only hair left on her body. He brushed the back of his fingers down her cheek, watching as her breathing caught and her eyelids fluttered. Fear, arousal, or a heady mix of the two he wondered?

He slid his left hand behind her head, gently holding her in place as his right hand slid down to caress her throat. Her pulse fluttered under his touch. He ran a finger along the collar they had placed around her neck: a simple ring of iron, as thick as his thumb and loose enough that he could hook his finger under it on one side, pulling the other side tight against the slender column of her neck. At the front, above her collarbone it broadened into a flat section on which was stamped the character for slave. Sliding his finger to the back, he brushed the rough metal where the pin had been knocked out of the locking mechanism.

Leaning forward, he gently kissed her forehead then dropped kisses over her eyes and cheeks. When he tilted her face up and kissed her lips, she shuddered and kept her own lips closed.

“Remember, your message only goes out if you please me” he whispered.

Yelena made a small sound in her throat and surrendered, her lips parting. One hand behind her head, the other grasping her bound hands behind her back, he pressed the length of his body against hers as he plundered her open mouth, feeling his erection trapped between them. She yielded gently into his embrace.

After kissing her until she was short of breath and her lips were swollen, Tam stepped around her and pressed himself to her back. He pulled the robe back on her shoulders so that he could look down her naked front. As he bent to place kisses down her neck and shoulder, his hands played across her helpless body. He cupped her breasts; ran his hands along her sides; traced his fingers through her slick folds.

He fed her arousal with soft touches and mental commands, and whispered in her ear, describing how beautiful she was as she writhed in heat. He slid his fingers inside her, then held them to her face and made her smell herself and suck her juices off his finger. He made her whimper in his arms; held the fingers of her bound hands around his cock through the thin silk of his trousers, making her feel how she affected him. When she was right on the edge of orgasm, panting and breathless, he stepped away and tugged the robe back up onto her shoulders.

She whimpered in need, her pale green eyes darkened to jade, but he just turned and picked up the documents that made her his property, along with her letter of warning. Holding them under one arm, he put his other hand on the back of her neck and guided her out of the stable to his bed.

A mental command kept her on the edge while he quickly put her letter into a messenger pouch and the court’s copies of the documents which made her his property into another. Both pouches were addressed and placed on a table in the foyer to be given to hired messengers in the morning.

All business taken care of, his full attention could now be given to his slave. He led her to his bedroom and pushed her to her knees in the center of it, sliding the silk robe off to puddle on the floor around her. The only adornment on her pale flesh was the iron collar around her neck. Her skin was flushed and the space between her spread legs glistened in the lamplight. He leaned down and released the enchanted silk from her wrists, wrapping it around his hand.

“Undress me, slave. Use your mouth. Your hands are only for what your lips and teeth cannot do.”

She moved forward hesitantly, instinct keeping her on her knees. Her hands held nervously at her sides, she rose into a low crouch at his feet and tentatively began to fumble at the catches of his robe with her mouth. She froze when she reached the fastening over his erection, but he pressed a hand against her head and she bent to the task, her nose and lips pushing against his cock through the cloth as her teeth and tongue worked at the catch.

When his robe hung open, he allowed her to stand and use her hands to pull it from his shoulders and fold it neatly. Next he had her crouch on the floor to tug his sandals loose with her mouth, her lips and tongue leaving traces of saliva on his feet. He made her crawl to the door to deposit them, sandals in her teeth, then back to kneel at his feet again.

Then his silk trousers, little white teeth tugging at the drawstrings while his straining erection pressed into her face. The knot loosened, she gently bit into the waistband and tugged back and down until his trousers slid to the floor; a small sound of surprise escaped her as his erection sprang free. He stepped free of his trousers and let her fold them and place them with his robe. He pulled off his tunic and handed it to her to fold as well. She returned and knelt at his feet, her eyes lowered to avoid the cock in front of her face.

Tam looped one end of the silk in his hand around her neck and willed it to knot into a leash. A tug forced her to look up. Tam had not allowed her arousal to fade while she undressed him, and her face showed it.

“Have you ever sucked a cock before, Yelena?”

“No. One of the Tong wanted me to do it, but I told him that I’d bite it off, so he just fucked me instead once his friend was done.”

“You’re not going to bite this time, are you slave?”

“No master. But, um, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“That’s alright; I’ll tell you what to do. Just do everything I tell you and you’ll please me.”

Yelena nodded and nervously licked her lips. Tam had her start by kissing and licking her away along his length. Once he was slick with her saliva, he had her fondle him with her hand while she licked his balls. When he had her take him into her mouth she moaned; while she was undressing him, he had implanted a command that anytime his dick was inside her she would feel intense pleasure. He grabbed her head and pushed her to take more of him into her mouth. He considered his cock to be merely average in length, but he was proud of his girth. When he hit the entrance of her throat, Yelena’s jaw was stretched wide and there was a little less than two inches of bare cock beyond her lips.

Her eyes watered as he held himself at the entrance to her throat, and she broke out coughing when he pulled out. He pulled her back up and pressed into her mouth again; as soon as her lips closed around him she got her reward, and she sucked energetically at him, intent on the pleasure it gave her.

Wanting to feel all of her, Tam pushed into the entrance of her throat again, but this time he commanded her throat to relax and pushed into the tight passage until her lips were wrapped around his base. She stared up at him, tears spilling down her cheeks. Her body was in chaos; she was choking, but holding him in her throat sent waves of passion rolling through her core. One of her hands was rubbing blindly between her legs, the other braced against his leg.

He pulled out and let her gasp for breath, strings of spittle stretching from her lips to his cock, and then planted himself in her throat again. The fourth time he repeated this process, she came violently as soon as he was fully seated in her. The feeling of her throat convulsing around him prompted his own orgasm and he shot streams of cum down her throat. His chi pulsed within him, life force spurting out with his ejaculation in a futile attempt to create new life. When he finished and stepped back, she collapsed to the ground coughing, her body shaking. Tam felt the qing released by her orgasm flowing back into him, the female balance to compensate for his spent chi.

Tam stepped back and caught his own breath for a moment. He poured himself a glass of water and drank it, then poured another and knelt next to Yelena. He held her up and helped her drink it, gently stroking her and praising her. Once she stopped shaking, he picked up the silk leash and led her on her hands and knees to his bed.

He pulled down the sheets and laid her down on her back, using one hand to loosely pin her wrists over her head.

He kissed her again, deep kisses that left her panting, tasting traces of himself in her mouth. He slipped his free hand into the sopping heat between her legs and tormented her clit as he moved to attack her breasts with his mouth. He focused on first one breast then the other, sucking brutally on the hard beads of her nipples.

Yelena whimpered helplessly under his touch, her body reacting beyond her control. Despite that, when he forced her legs apart and placed himself against her entrance, she fought back instinctively. She was still sore from the painful rapes she had suffered over the course of the day, and she was panicking at the thought of enduring it again.

Tam ignored her and pushed in; she was very tight, and despite her slickness it took some time before he could work himself fully into her, teasing her clit with his thumb to ease her through it. As he bottomed out, Yelena shuddered with a small orgasm, the implanted command and his ministrations combining to overwhelm the pain with pleasure.

Tam held still through her orgasm, buried deep inside her, feeling her muscles clench around his cock, gathering the qing and feeding it into his chi. Once she crested the wave, he began to slowly move in and out, reveling in the feeling of her wet heat clenching at him. He had spent himself on her face when he purchased her that afternoon, and again down her throat minutes before, and felt no need to release soon. He had one last good fuck left in him, and intended to make it count.

He kept his thrusts slow and gentle until she began to respond. Despite everything she had been through, her body recognized the ancient rhythm and her hips began to rise instinctively to meet his thrusts. Her spread legs gradually wrapped around his hips; her heels digging into the backs of his thighs. He still had her hands pinned above her head, but when he lowered his lips to hers she met his kiss with hunger.

He kept up his slow rhythm as he broke the kiss. She growled as his lips left hers.

“What do you want, Yelena?”

“Ah . . . more . . . I want more . . .”

“More of what?”

“More . . . of you . . . inside me. So full . . . I need to feel more . . . harder . . . please . . .”

Tam smiled and complied. She pushed back to meet each thrust as he began to pound her at a faster pace, stretching her tight channel with each punishing stroke. They were both glistening with sweat, her white body arcing under his tan one. Her pleas devolved into wordless cries, and as he had promised, she soon came screaming on his cock.

Yelena had nothing left after her orgasm. She sprawled limply under Tam as he continued to thrust into her. Ignoring her, Tam focused on his own completion. Leaving her hands sprawled loosely above her head he reached down and hooked his arms through her legs, pushing them up until her knees pressed against her chest.

She was spread even farther open for him in this position, and he groaned in pleasure as he bottomed out with each thrust. Sweat dripped from his brow as he pushed into her. Despite her exhaustion, the implanted command continued to force Yelena up the heights of pleasure again as long as he was inside her.

When he felt himself on the edge of release, Tam mentally commanded her to come again. Helpless, Yelena shuddered in orgasm once more as he thrust into her. Feeling her final spasms pushed Tam over the edge, and he came with a roar, painting her depths with his cum as he collapsed over her.

Eventually Tam’s wits came back to him. He was covered in sweat and tangled with Yelena’s own unmoving slick body. After a bit, he rose on one elbow and studied his conquest. Yelena was still sprawled where he had left her. She had passed out, overwhelmed by sensation and exhausted from her terrifying day. One of her legs was still folded up against her side, while the other hung off the edge of the bed. A slow trickle of cum leaked from her red, swollen pussy. The green silk leash above her collar was tangled around one of her arms, her lips slightly parted as she slept.

With a sigh, Tam staggered to his feet and wiped the sweat off his body with a damp cloth. Wetting it again, he wiped Yelena’s unconscious body off as best he could and laid her on her side. He turned down the lamp and climbed over her to the side of the bed that was still dry. After consideration, he tugged the enchanted silk from her neck and used it to first bind her wrists again behind her back then attach them to his left wrist. That done, he drifted off to sleep himself.