Shadow Doctor — Chapter 2
Su Wen crouched on a rooftop in the foreign quarter, watching the sunset. Anyone used to the reserved, well-dressed Honored Lady would not have recognized the figure in black. Instead of one of her usual embroidered, tightly fitted cheongsams, she was clad head to toe in black silk, trousers and tunic loosely fitted for maximum range of movement. Her breasts were bound tightly to her chest, her face and hair hidden by a black hood and a horned demon mask, the blades of her weapons painted black to keep them from reflecting the light.
She waited patiently. The warehouse across the street had been identified as a base for the foreign crime syndicate by the woman Doctor Hsien had enchanted, and several of the foreigners had been seen entering it earlier. She had a dozen men scattered around the block, watching the exits, but they were only there to keep her victims from escaping once she attacked.
She and the other five Silver Tigers were each leading simultaneous assaults. While the foot soldiers were all well and good for intimidating merchants and brawling in the street, true battle would be led by those rare talents who could manipulate chi. Su Wen had no gift for infusing chi into objects or healing; for that she relied on hired assistants like her charming doctor. Her own talents tended towards more violent uses.
Most of the time, she preferred to use blackmail and manipulation to achieve her goals. Sometimes though, the best method was drenched in blood. Even if the Tong Master had not demanded all of the Six Silver Tigers wet their claws tonight, she would have been hunting. Some of the men she commanded occasionally bridled at obeying a woman; tonight she would remind them that their Honored Lady Su Wen was also Flying Darkness, Third Silver Tiger of Nihai.
As she waited, she allowed herself to ponder Doctor Hsien. He was on her mind since his most recent visit, and she was thinking about him more than she should. He had admirable nerve, concealing his fear even when she had first hired him at knife point to treat an injury to one of her men that only a doctor who manipulated chi could cure.
He worked so hard to present himself as emotionless, burning his art into her selected victims for gold. But that afternoon he had shown her a new side, his desire for the soft flesh of the pale little devil girl breaking his reserve for the first time. He had been so cute, grinding his teeth in jealousy while Lu fucked the too-tall foreign bitch into the floor. He had also been very well behaved when she let Wen play with his cock.
Perhaps she would add him to Wen’s roster of playmates. She would have to be careful with him; he was a valuable tool, and it would be a shame to destroy him if he couldn’t handle Wen’s games or if he was indiscreet. A careful touch would be needed.
Su Wen was distracted from these musings by a pillar of smoke rising from a burning building deeper in the foreign quarter. That was the signal for the attack to begin. A few pebbles thrown from the roof alerted her men on the street below, and they drew their weapons and moved to encircle the doors. Su Wen gathered her chi with a breath, darkness wrapping around her. She made herself light as a feather and launched into the air. As she floated over the target building, she increased her weight, centering her chi in her heel to smash through the shutter of a skylight.
She dropped into the building, her chi-heightened senses slowing time for her as she counted targets. A dozen pale northerners looked up in shock as she fell towards them, a corona of splintered wood and darkness swirling around her. Throwing knives flowered from her fingers, and three men were dead before she touched the ground. A push of chi and the darkness of her aura pulsed out around her in a cloud. Their panicked shouts guided her to them, and the blade of her kusarigama opened throats, blood sprays in the darkness streaking her mask and clothes.
She danced through them, a silent death trailed by screams. When it became too taxing to maintain the cloud of darkness, she leapt onto a bale of cotton and turned to survey the field of battle. Four enemies left, weapons out and shouting in rage in their foreign babble. Brave men, or perhaps foolish, they moved to circle her instead of fleeing, stepping around the bodies of their comrades.
She flipped backwards off her perch and landed between two of them. The chain of her kusarigama spun in her left hand and snared the leg of the larger one. He was two feet taller than her and more than a hundred pounds heavier, but her chi-enhanced strength yanked his leg out from under him and sent him crashing into his comrade. Her blade took the throat of the second as they fell and she dropped flat to the floor as the other two closed with a roar.
Abandoning her entangled weapon, she planted her hands on the ground and launched into the air from a handstand, her legs wrapping around the neck of one of the charging attackers. She flipped up and over him, her legs twisting with her momentum. His neck snapped as she somersaulted off and she dropped into a crouch facing the last standing foreigner, empty handed against his sword.
He looked around at the ruined bodies of his comrades, dead or dying at the hands of the small masked figure before him. She could see in his eyes that he knew his death crouched before him, but he had no fear. He roared a battle cry and came forward, blade swinging in broad arcs. She slid around his strikes with inhuman speed and struck with both hands as she closed, his wrist and windpipe shattering as her blows landed. He collapsed, unable to breathe through his ruined throat.
She picked up his sword and strolled across the room to the man she had tripped with the chain of her kusarigama. He had made it to his knees, and extended his open hands toward her, begging for mercy in broken Han. A flick of the sword sent his head bouncing across the room. She stepped daintily around the pools of blood and ruined bodies, collecting her weapons and cleaning them. Her men filed in, staring in awe at the carnage. They dropped to their knees in respect, bowing their heads before their blood-soaked mistress.
Su Wen felt drunk. The rush of battle always left her like this. Her silks were plastered to her skin with blood, her body burning with energy. She could remain in control until her men had swept the building and begun the cleanup process, and her report had been sent to the Tong Master. After that, she would have to let Wen out to play.
Wen wanted to play with her friend Tam, but in her current state anyone she let Wen play with might not survive the night. There was a woman in one of the Red Houses she ran that she had played with before who had enough scars now that she was having trouble finding clients. It would be a shame to lose a trained playmate if things went too far, but it would keep Wen sated and preserve Doctor Hsien, who had other uses; an acceptable trade. Wen giggled thinking of what she would do to the scarred woman, and Su Wen’s underlings shifted slightly farther away from her.
Across the city, Tam woke to the sound of his household already stirring. He had curled around Yelena’s back in his sleep, and his morning erection rubbed pleasantly against her rear. He leisurely pushed against her, sliding his cock through the cleft of her ass, but in the end the call of nature took him from bed. He released the silk from his wrist and climbed over her, stumbling to the chamber pot.
He considered waking her to take care of his erection, but a glance out the window informed him he didn’t have time. The night spent casting the spell on Yelena had left him more tired than he had realized. Even with his nap at the Tong den, he had overslept. Yelena was still sound asleep, completely exhausted. He thought for a moment then commanded her to remain asleep until he woke her. As long as he woke her sometime before nightfall, she should attribute it to her own need for rest. With an odd sense of fondness he concluded that the rest would be good for her.
As a final precaution, he activated the chi seals on the shutters and doors of his bedroom as he left; she would sleep undisturbed by his servants as he went about his business.
He hurried through bathing himself and braiding his hair, dressing in the sober robes he wore when treating his patients. As was his custom he shared his breakfast with Lin Song, reviewing the plan for the day with his steward. He told her to have one of the maids take the message pouches to a messenger service a reasonable distance from his home, and instructed her to procure some basic clothes for Yelena. He had plans for some delectable things to dress his slave in, but that would require her to be properly measured. He could hardly walk her naked through the streets to a tailor.
After Tam finished his breakfast, he met Ho Tien, who had breakfasted with the rest of the staff, and they opened the clinic. He worked steadily through the morning, dispensing herbal remedies and working with acupuncture and simple chi manipulation to treat his patients. His clientele was primarily others of his class, well off merchants and tradesmen of various sorts.
All of the gossip from his patients was over the fires and violence in the foreign quarter the night before. Tam realized Yelena’s message had likely been too late. He concluded that it was probably for the best—an angry father hunting for his missing daughter would be an unpleasant complication. Not that he planned to tell Yelena the news.
Ho Tien assisted him by preparing the draughts and pills he prescribed. During occasional breaks, Tam quizzed his apprentice on the patients he had treated by himself the day before.
At midday, Tam took his customary meal break. He instructed Ho Tien to prepare a cup of Whore’s Milk and a healing draught and deliver them to his room, then collected the tray he had ordered from the cook and returned to his bedroom.
Yelena still slept, but she was moving restlessly in her sleep, which Tam took to suggest that she would have awoken by this point without his command to sleep. He set the tray on his bedside table then sat on the bed beside her.
He released her from the command to sleep and gently shook her shoulder. She blinked in confusion and tugged at her bound hands, then let out a sigh as she took in her surroundings.
“Welcome back Yelena. It is midday; you needed your sleep to heal. Since I know you are wondering, I will confirm that your message was sent early this morning.”
“Thank you for at least keeping your word.”
“Well, you did fulfill your end of the bargain exquisitely; I am sure your foolish former lover would not recognize the woman moaning in my bed last night.” Tam smiled and reached out to gently fondle her naked breast. She blushed in shame and looked away.
Tam enjoyed stroking her for a few moments then tugged at her shoulders. “Sit up. I have brought lunch for us to share, and you need to eat.”
He helped her sit, her hands still awkwardly bound behind her. He held a cup to her lips and let her drink, then picked up some food on the chopsticks and held it to her mouth.
“I take it you’re not going to free my hands for this meal.”
“Last night you had a favor you wanted to earn. Today you may wish to fight me again. It is simpler to take away the option. Besides, this pleases me. I enjoy watching you eat from my hand.”
“So I’m a pet today. Fantastic.” Despite her complaints, she bent her head and took the bite he offered her. He alternated bites between himself and her. As he fed her, he let his gaze linger on her nude body, which served to keep her alternatingly blushing and scowling.
Partway through their meal, a knock at the door announced Ho Tien’s arrival. Tam called for him to enter, and the teenager stepped in, the requested draughts in hand. He stopped to stare at the naked woman, his jaw hanging open. Yelena yelped and scrambled to put Tam between herself and the boy.
Tam smiled but was careful to not laugh aloud. “Thank you Tien. Please meet Alexovna Yelena, whom I told you about yesterday. Yelena, this is Ho Tien, my apprentice. He has been kind enough to prepare some medicine for you at my request. Stop embarrassing me and thank him.”
“Um, thank you Ho Tien.”
Tam clucked at her. “That is not a proper thank you, slave. Walk over, kneel before him, and tell him you are grateful that he has prepared medications for you.”
Yelena stared daggers at him, but eventually wilted. She bowed her head and slid off the bed, walking over to Ho Tien and sullenly kneeling naked before him. “Ho Tien, I am very grateful that you have prepared medicine for me.”
Tam nodded to the teenager, who was now sporting an obvious erection. “Go ahead and feed her the draughts. She won’t bite you, unless she is much more foolish than I imagine.”
Tien hesitantly held the cup of Whore’s Milk to Yelena’s lips and tilted it. She looked ready to murder them both, but swallowed it down. When she had emptied the first cup, Tien quickly pocketed it so that he could steady her head with an empty hand while he held the other draught to her lips. It was completely unnecessary, but Tam was amused by his small ploy to touch female flesh and allowed it. Yelena also saw through the ploy, but did not share Tam’s amusement.
“Thank you Tien. That will be all. The cook will have kept your lunch warm for you.”
The boy blushed and bowed, then hurriedly backed out of the room, still staring until the closing door blocked his view. Once the door firmly closed, Tam broke out laughing.
“I think the poor boy will be skipping his lunch in order to masturbate in the closest closet. You are going to feature in his dreams for many nights.”
“And thank you very much for finding a new way to humiliate me, oh gracious master. Will the cook be coming by to collect the tray and enjoy an eyeful as well?”
Tam continued to chuckle. “No, no. No one else will disturb our meal. I can see it will take you quite a while to learn that a slave has no modesty beyond what her owner grants her. I should be angrier, but I cannot help enjoying your blushes.”
“I suppose I should also thank the boy for angering you enough to forget your care for wording, as you now must wait through six questions from me before you can require me to answer again. Now come back here and finish your meal.”
Muttering curses under her breath in her native tongue, Yelena rose and walked back to him. Tam decided the effect was better with her on the floor than seated on the bed, and had her kneel at his feet for the second half of the meal. This did not improve her mood.
Once they had eaten, Tam studied her thoughtfully for a moment. “Tomorrow I customarily have my clinic closed, which means I will have time to start properly training you. This afternoon I need to work, and will not be able to mind you. As your attitude is still terrible, I will not leave you to wander or inflict you on my servants yet. This means I must put you back in the cage for a few hours while I see the rest of my patients.”
Yelena frowned but said nothing. Tam slid a hand under his robe and began to slowly stroke his cock to hardness.
“Now, you have a chance to make another small bargain. I have a little time left before I must cage you and return to my work. If you would like, you may spend that time filling your insubordinate mouth with my cock, and I will let you put on the robe again before I take you to your cage. If not, I will stroke myself and cover your face again, then force you to parade naked past my household with cum dripping off your face. Knowing those are your only options, my first question for you today is this: Yelena, do you want to suck my cock?”
“Yes, you bastard, given those options I want to suck your cock. Take the damn thing out and let me do it.”
Tam opened his robe and pulled his hardening cock out, shifting so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed. Yelena shuffled over until she was kneeling between his legs then grudgingly bent to take him into her mouth. At first, she simply sucked unenthusiastically on the head of his cock, but then the effect of having his cock inside her began to take over. The rule Tam had implanted in her mind the night before meant that simply having his cock inside her body gave her sexual pleasure.
She grew more enthusiastic as her pleasure increased, taking him as far in as she could until he hit her throat. She quickly realized she could breathe through her nose when she pulled back, so that she didn’t need to interrupt her building feeling of pleasure by releasing him from her mouth. Tam didn’t feel the need to force his way into her throat this time; he leaned back on his elbows and enjoyed the sensation while he watched her bald head bob up and down on his cock.
Yelena was beginning to moan around him but had not yet reached her own peak when he came in her mouth. A quick mental command made her swallow his cum instead of coughing or spitting it onto his floor. She let out a small whine of frustration as he pushed her off his sensitive cock.
Once Tam caught his breath, he stood and made her lick him clean, holding her head back so that she couldn’t get his cock into her mouth again. He pulled his clothes back into place then helped her stand and retrieved the short green robe she’d briefly worn the previous night. He untied her arms long enough to let her pull the robe on, then bound her wrists behind her again with the enchanted silk.
As he tugged the robe into place over her breasts, he paused and pretended to be surprised as he saw her glistening slit. He slid his hand between her legs then smiled at her. “Yelena, did you get this wet just from sucking my cock?”
“Yes. I don’t know why, it’s terrible. I can’t help it, even just holding your cock in my mouth feels amazing and I hate that I feel that way.” Yelena shrunk in on herself in shame as she was compelled to answer.
“Hush now; it’s nothing to worry about.” Tam gently gathered her in his arms. “It feels good because it’s where you belong. You’re still fighting it, but part of you knows that you were meant for this.”
“No, you’re wrong. I’m not meant to be your slave or your whore, I’m my own person and somehow someday I’ll get free of you.” Yelena blinked and pulled out his embrace as she heard herself. “And you have to know that you’re wrong because if I’m saying it, it has to be true, because of your own spell that means I can’t lie.” Her chin rose as she faced him, the fire returning to her eyes.
Tam gently took her chin in his hand and gazed into those defiant green eyes.
“It doesn’t work that way Yelena. You can’t lie, but you can still be wrong. You still think you can fight against your destiny, but with time you’ll come to accept it. Now come along; as much as I’d like to spend the rest of the day in bed with you, I have patients I must tend to.” Tam adjusted the robe so that it covered her and led her back to the stable.
After he had locked her in her cage, Tam thought of an amusing experiment to keep her occupied while he worked. He commanded that whenever she thought about him, she would vividly remember one of the orgasms she had experienced the night before. For a bit of extra spice, he added a second command to make her unable to orgasm. Not that she would really be able to masturbate with her hands tied behind her back, but it would be a nice source of torment. He told her to reflect on her destiny while she waited and returned to his work, a smile on his face.
Tam’s mood was excellent as the afternoon passed. A relaxing blowjob after lunch, his pretty slave torturing herself with thoughts of sex while she waited for him; his quality of life was greatly improved by his purchase of Yelena. Even Ho Tien’s inability to concentrate on his duties could not ruin Tam’s mood. He eventually took pity on his apprentice and told him to take a jar of healing cream to the stable and rub it into Yelena’s bruises and scrapes.
When Tien eventually returned, the boy drifted through the remainder of the afternoon with an idiotic smile on his face. The only difficulty in the day was Tam’s final patient. An elderly man, the patient had an infection of the lungs which he had stubbornly refused to have treated in the beginning stages. When his daughter finally had him carried to Tam’s clinic in a palanquin the infection was well beyond conventional treatment.
Tam had to resort to painting spells onto the man’s chest and back and then spent two laborious hours cycling his chi through the man, drawing the phlegm out of his lungs and rebalancing his humors. By the time he finished, Tam had missed his evening meal and had spent most of his chi, but he had saved the man’s life.
The man’s daughter wept in joy as she thanked Tam, happy to pay the high fee he demanded. Feeling drained, Tam left Ho Tien to close the clinic and went to lie down on a couch.
Lin Song, having seen him in that state before, brought him a small bowl of soup and a pot of tea. As he ate she reported on the state of the household. After she went through the usual details, she paused for a moment then continued.
“Sir, may I inquire what your plans are for your new slave? Am I expected to work the foreigner into the household staff? Does she even speak a proper language?”
“I admit I did not think everything through completely when I bought her, though I can assure you speaks our language quite well. She is still very willful and is capable of violence. I have been able to keep her docile when I am handling her directly, but for the moment I remain uncertain of the best way to keep her obedient when I am not present.”
Lin Song sniffed. “I am sure you had good reasons for your decision, but in the future I would recommend only purchasing slaves that are already fully trained. Since we must deal with her as she is, I would recommend a free hand with discipline. If you do not wish to constantly beat her, another suggestion would be a set of wrist and ankle shackles for her; I believe the common term for such a thing is a sirik. Hampered this way, she can move about and assist as you wish, but there will be little risk of her attempting to strike anyone or run away.”
“Thank you Lin Song; that is excellent advice. I will investigate the shackles in the morning. Were you able to find some suitable clothes for the girl?”
“Yes. As you instructed, I only purchased the bare minimum. I have two dresses and a pair of sandals for her. The dresses are suitable to wear on the street, and a bit of needlework can be used to adjust the fit to flatter her figure once we try them on her. They are waiting in your bedroom.”
“Excellent. What would I do without you?”
“Probably forget to eat while you are lost in your studies. Will that be all for today, sir?” Lin Song’s wrinkled face lit with a small smile. She might think he was foolish for buying an untrained pleasure slave, but she was still fond of her employer.
After dismissing Lin Song to collect her husband and retire for the night, Tam took the last of his tea out to a bench in the garden and enjoyed the cool of the early evening. He was looking forward to enjoying his slave, but a bit of anticipation would make the evening sweeter. The high walls of his manor blocked the descending sun, but he could still enjoy the gradually deepening colors of the clouds scattered across the western sky. He regretfully admitted to himself that he would probably only have the endurance to fuck Yelena once, given the amount of energy he had used healing his final patient.
By the time he finished his tea, the first stars were becoming visible in the darkening sky. He lit a lantern and went to the stable to collect his slave girl. He found her curled in a tight ball on her blanket. Her robe had slipped off her shoulders, and the blanket he had allowed her was tangled beneath her. She was shivering, and the scent of her arousal hung in the air.
He crouched quietly beside her cage. She heard him and opened her eyes, staring listlessly at his feet. She looked lost, her eyes a dark jade above the tracks of dried tears on her cheeks.
Tam spoke quietly. “Hello Yelena. How was your afternoon?”
“I think I’m going crazy.” She spoke in a low voice and he had to lean closer to hear her. “I couldn’t stop thinking about what you made me feel last night. I can’t think about anything else. When that boy came in and rubbed me down with the cream, I was moaning as he touched me. I felt like I was going to die of embarrassment. His hands were all over me and they felt so good, then when he left I could actually hear him leaning against the wall while he masturbated.”
Tam was more than pleased with the result of his command. He hadn’t meant to leave her in this state for quite so long, but the result was impressive.
She hiccupped softly before she continued. “What the hell did you do to me? I never used to be like this.”
Tam brought his attention back to Yelena. “It’s not your turn to ask questions yet. How did it make you feel, listening to him masturbate?”
“I felt humiliated and that made me feel really hot. I imagined him standing over my cage and covering me with his cum when he came, and I got so hot that I tried rubbing myself against the cage bars. But I still couldn’t get off. I almost begged him to come back inside and fuck me.” A tear slid down her pale cheek as she whispered her answer.
Tam was surprised; he had not explicitly commanded her to be aroused by being watched or humiliated. Perhaps the hours of sexual frustration had brought out hidden depths within her. Still, he would have to be more careful; she was starting to realize something was changing her, though she didn’t seem to suspect that it was the result of his spell yet.
“Do you still want to get fucked?”
“Yes. I need you to fuck me so badly. I hate myself for saying it and you for making me say it, but I’ve been rubbing my breasts and pussy against the cage and the ground for hours and I can’t come no matter what I do. I need to come so much it hurts.”
“Then I have good news for you; you’re going to get fucked tonight. Come over to the door of the cage.”
Yelena slowly pushed herself up and worked her way to the front of the cage on her knees, her robe hanging off her shoulders. Tam unlocked the cage and tugged her out.
When he helped her to her feet she immediately pressed herself against him, rubbing her naked breasts against his robe. She humped her slick sex against his thigh, her fluids leaving a wet stain on his robes.
“Please, Master, please fuck me. I need your cock, Master.”
Tam pushed her off him; he was glad that she was so horny, but the slut needed to wait till they were in his bedroom. Yelena misinterpreted his hands pushing her shoulders. She dropped to her knees and began tugging at the catches of his robe with her teeth.
Tam slapped her lightly on the cheek. “Not yet, slut. Wait until we’re in my bedroom. Stand up and let me fix your robe.”
Yelena sobbed in frustration and humiliation but obeyed. Tam adjusted the robe to cover her then led her to his bedroom. Her eyes were glazed and her steps stumbling as she followed him.
Tam found her needy state incredibly arousing. His cock was painfully hard in his trousers. As soon as the door of his bedroom was closed and locked he shed his clothes. Not bothering to untie her, he shoved the robe off her shoulders to trail from her bound wrists. He grabbed Yelena and pulled her against him for a bruising kiss. She moaned and rubbed the length of her body against him. Her hard nipples dragged across his chest as she pushed her wet sex against his thigh, his erection jutting into her stomach.
Keeping his lips locked with hers, Tam stumbled towards the bed. His hands roamed over her back, fingers clasping the round flesh of her ass. She moaned into his mouth, humping herself against his leg as he pushed her backward. When the back of her legs hit the edge of the bed she lost her balance and fell backwards across the sheets. Scrambling after her, he knelt on her chest and fisted his cock, holding it just out of the reach of her straining lips.
“Tell me what you want, bitch.”
“I want you to fuck me! Stick it in me already, bastard!”
Tam slapped his cock against her face, first one side, then the other.
“If you want this, you’ll have to beg for it.”
“Go to hell!”
Tam reached behind him and grabbed one of her nipples, twisting it. He dragged his balls across her face, taunting her. “If you want to get fucked, you’ll have to beg like the hot little slut you are. Tell me what a dirty slave you are and how bad you need this cock.”
“Ah, god! I hate you! I need your cock you son of a whore; please, I’ve been aching for it all afternoon. Please, please, fuck your slave; your slave needs to feel you inside her master. Her hot slutty little cunt is dripping for you. She’s going crazy. Please fuck her, master, please! She’s a dirty little slave who needs cock!”
Tam growled and slapped her in the face with his cock. “Alright, if you want cock that badly you can have it, but I’m not going to do the work for you. If you want to fill that greedy cunt, you’ll have to climb on and spit yourself like a pig.” He climbed off her and lay down on his back.
Yelena scrambled up and hurriedly crouched over him. Unable to guide him in with her hands bound, she couldn’t find the angle at first. She whimpered in need, her prize so close but still out of reach. It took her four tries, and by the time she finally got it she sobbed in relief as she slid herself onto his thick cock. She paused halfway down, trying to adjust to his width. Tam impatiently grabbed her hips and forced her down until she had taken him to the hilt. She cried out as he split her the rest of the way open.
Tam folded his hands behind his head and waited to see what she would do next. She held herself very still at first until she began to adjust, her knees planted to either side of hips. Eventually she began to experiment, rocking back and forth then using her thighs to slide herself up and down his cock. She found a rhythm and began to fuck him, rising up until just the head of his cock was inside her and then dropping back down.
Tam watched her, enraptured. She looked almost inhuman, her pale hairless skin glowing in the lamplight, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she sought her pleasure. The bruises on her face and sides still marred her beauty, but they were beginning to heal, fading to a mottled yellow and grey instead of the dark purple they had been when fresh.
As she increased her speed, Tam found himself captivated by the way her breasts bounced she fucked herself on his cock. He reached up and took them in his hands, squeezing the soft flesh.
“Tell me what you’re feeling, slave. Describe how it feels to fuck your master.” He turned it into a command as he spoke, assuming she was in no state to realize why she was obeying.
“Ah, I feel so full. Your thick cock is stretching my poor little pussy so wide. It hurts, but it feels so good. Oh god, I can’t believe I’m actually doing the fucking this time. I feel like a dirty little whore bouncing on your cock but I don’t care. Nothing . . . nothing matters compared to how much I need to come. Oh god, I can feel it building, please. Please god let me come. So full, master’s cock, it feels so good. Ah, ah, ah. I’m burning up. Oh god, you’re pinching my nipples. I feel like I’m going to explode. I need to come, I need to come.”
Yelena’s pace increased until she was frenziedly slamming herself onto his cock. Beads of sweat stood out on her flushed skin. Tam released her from the command to describe her feelings, wanting to focus on the physical sensation, but she continued to chant.
“Please, master, rub your slave’s clit. Her hands are tied, she can’t do it herself. Please, doesn’t it feel good to have your slave’s hot little cunt bouncing on your thick cock? She never knew anything could feel as good as master’s cock feels. Please help your slave come; she can’t do it on her own. She’s so desperate; master’s cock feels so good, please master she’s begging you, just a touch, just one little touch for your needy slave.”
Tam moved his hands back to her hips and began to thrust up to meet her, her words pushing him towards his own peak. He began to lightly brush her clit as he erased the command from earlier in the day, giving her back the ability to orgasm.
“Yes, master, yes! Your slave loves feeling your hands on her. She’s such a filthy slut! Help her fuck her greedy little cunt on you! Shove master’s cock all the way into her! She’s going to come, she’s going to come, she’s—aaaaagh!”
Yelena cried out wordlessly above him, her head thrown back. Her inner muscles clamped around him like a vise, her fluids flooding out around his cock.
After she crested the initial wave, Yelena slumped forward onto Tam’s chest, still shaking with sensation. He still hadn’t quite reached his own release, so he flipped her onto her back, keeping himself planted in her as he mounted her.
Yelena lay under him gasping, her mind wiped blank after finally receiving the orgasm she had been denied for hours. He gave her no time to adjust, hammering into her slick channel, propping himself above her on braced elbows. Her torso shook with each thrust, pushed up against his body by her bound arms trapped beneath her. She let out a small grunt with each impact.
He was very close, and as he felt himself nearing his orgasm he lowered his head, biting her shoulder. He sucked her skin, tasting salt from her sweat, and came with a growl, spurting into her depths. He barely managed to roll off her before he passed out.
Tam woke a few hours after midnight with the feeling that something was wrong. He cursed when he realized that he was alone in his bed. He was a fool to have not secured Yelena before he slept. Exhaustion was no excuse.
He threw off the sheets that had tangled around his legs and quickly lit the lamp. As light filled the room, he let out a sigh of relief. Yelena was sitting with her legs folded under her against the far wall. Her hands were still bound, so she sat at a slight angle, one shoulder against the wall. He could still see a faint red mark on her shoulder where he had bit her when he came, though he didn’t appear to have broken the skin. She looked over at him, blinking in the sudden light.
“Yelena, what are you doing over there?”
“I had to use the chamber pot. After that I didn’t want to go back to bed. That’s your sixth question, I get one now.” Her voice was dull and empty.
“Well, I want you in bed. And it’s the middle of the night; it’s too late for questions. Come back over here.”
Yelena stumbled to her feet and walked back, her robe dragging on the floor behind her bound wrists like a ridiculous, sad peacock’s tail. She climbed past him onto the bed and lay on her side, facing the wall.
Tam sighed and settled back onto the bed, staring at her back. The hot little slut who had been bouncing on his cock was a completely different woman from this sullen slave. He much preferred the version of Yelena that talked about how badly she needed her master to fuck his slave’s greedy little cunt. It was still amazing, the filth that had spewed from her mouth even after he stopped commanding her to describe her sensations.
It was too much to expect her maintain the transformation. After all, a few days ago she had been a free woman; that she had progressed so much was clearly a testament to his control. Once the secret of his power was revealed, perhaps he could amuse himself by turning her into a needy slut at will. He wondered what the best way to phrase that command would be. He smiled as he thought about possibilities; that would be a very rewarding set of experiments.
Still, patience was best. He could indulge himself in the future as much as he wished once the secret was out. For now, it was still important to see how much he could influence Yelena before she realized the truth. She had already begun to suspect something was wrong after his mistake with her hours of sexual frustration in the cage; he would have to be more circumspect going forward.
As he planned, he studied her. She looked tense; her arms must be quite uncomfortable, still bound behind her back. He reached out and commanded the enchanted silk to free her hands then knot itself around one of her wrists for safekeeping.
She gave a hesitant tug, then when she found her hands free she made a small sound of relief and pulled her arms loose from the robe and moved them in front of her to rub her chafed wrists. Tam reached forward and gently massaged her tight shoulders.
Tam spent several minutes rubbing her shoulders then moved his hands down her back, working the knots out of her muscles. She let out the occasional soft sigh as he worked, but made no other response.
It felt good to work his hands over her. The qing from her orgasm had refreshed his chi reserves while he slept, but his cock wasn’t ready to go again yet. Fortunately there were things he could do without using his cock. He shifted to fit himself against her back, sliding his arms around her to cup one of her breasts and explore between her legs.
He gently fondled her, his fingers softly playing with her sensitive regions. As he felt her respond, her nipple stiffening between his fingers and moisture coating his fingers, he realized she had begun crying. When he slipped a finger inside her, she began to beg.
“Please Sir, don’t. I don’t want you to. I know I can’t stop you from doing whatever you want, but please, no more. I can’t take any more tonight, please.”
Tam paused, frowning. He tightened his grip on her breast and pushed a second finger into her. “I can tell your body still enjoys this. You should be grateful I want you to feel pleasure and enjoy giving you orgasms. Think about what your life would be like if I hadn’t bought you. Isn’t this better than being raped and beaten by Lu?”
“No, it was better with Lu.” Yelena’s voice was flat.
Tam froze. He felt like he was standing at the edge of a vast cliff, something dark and terrible in the depths below him. Yelena was still talking, but he couldn’t hear her over the roaring in his ears. The stupid bitch preferred that animal to him? Well, if she liked being treated like that, he could oblige her. Tam rose and stalked over to where his clothes were lying on the floor. Ignoring the rest of his clothes, he grabbed his robe and belted it in place.
He turned and stalked back towards the bed. Yelena was sitting up, her back to the wall. She had her hands raised in front of her, and her mouth was moving, but the noise meant nothing. It was distant, meaningless babble. He slapped her hands out of the way and grabbed her slave collar, yanking her off the bed. She choked and flailed, one hand going to her neck, the other attempting to strike him. Her blows fell uselessly, going wide or hitting without force. He grabbed the lantern in his free hand and dragged her into the hall.
She stumbled naked behind him, desperately scrambling to keep the collar from choking her; down the hall, out the door, across the dark garden and into the stable with the rows of cages.
He dropped the lantern on the ground and slammed her onto the row of cages, her chest pressed into the bars, her ass in the air. One hand still gripping the collar, he grabbed at her flailing wrists with the other. Catching her left wrist, he stretched her arm out above her head and pinned it to the cold metal, commanding the silk still wrapped around her wrist to bind it to the bars. He caught her other wrist and pinned it with his hand. Releasing the collar, he used his left hand to bend her arm back, pinning her unbound wrist between her shoulder blades and leaning his weight on it to keep her torso pressed into the top of the cage.
He reached between her legs and fumbled at her with his right hand. She wasn’t ready, but she was still slightly damp from when he had been fingering her, and he was able to force his thumb into her, rubbing cruelly at her clit with his fingers.
He needed to fuck the bitch, remind her who her true master was. He reached out with his mind, guided by blind instinct. He grasped the chi in his center, pushing it down and through the channels in his balls. His cock sprang to life with a jolt, instantly hard. He ripped his robe open with one hand, the sash falling to the floor, letting his cock swing free, a hard steel rod he could use to punish the bitch.
He kicked her legs apart and stepped between them. She was still babbling meaningless words, but it turned into a scream as he forced himself into her barely lubricated cunt. She was so tight he could hardly move. He didn’t care. She sobbed as he sawed into her.
This was true control: seeing his cock push into her, her hips slamming into the front of the cage with each thrust. Her cries of pain were like music, his strokes gaining speed as her cunt began to weep lubrication. He settled into a steady rhythm. The rage was driving him, and all the rage wanted was to rut, to make the woman know she was his, burn it into her mind so that she would never forget.
As he kept pounding her, he gradually became aware that her sobs of pain had turned into moans of pleasure. That wasn’t right. The bitch wasn’t supposed to enjoy being punished.
A small, clinical part of his mind noted that he had commanded her to feel pleasure any time his cock was inside her. That part was interested in how the command interplayed with the brutal fucking he was giving her. That part was not in control; the rage was in control, and the rage wanted the bitch to hurt.
Tam stepped back, his dick sliding free, and brought his palm down on her ass as hard as he could. Yelena howled, and the rage was happy. He spanked her again and again, his palm stinging from the force of the blows, the white skin of her ass darkening to red. When his hand began to hurt, he switched hands, pinning her wrist to her back with his right hand and continuing to tan her hide with his left. Her screams and sobs were like cool water pouring over him. When both pale cheeks of her ass were a dark red, he stepped forward and began to fuck her again.
The bitch was no longer trying to struggle. She had forgotten what Lu called the first lesson in her earlier panic, but Tam had taught it to her again. That pleased the rage. She was limp and submissive; her body wore the marks of his discipline. Now it was time to fill her with his cum. Releasing her wrist, Tam grasped her waist and bent her hips up, tugging her up so that she had to balance on the balls of her feet. The new angle gave him the deepest penetration yet, and he could feel her stretching around him with each stroke. With a final burst of energy he slammed into her a dozen more times, then planted himself completely within her and unleashed a river of cum into her deepest reaches.
Panting, he staggered off her, her heels hitting the ground again as he let her drop. Tam took a step back and bent over to catch his breath, his hands on his knees. Her cunt gaped between her trembling legs, cum slowly dribbling out to slide down her shaking thighs. The light from the lantern on the ground cast her shadow up towards the ceiling; in its glow, the red marks on her ass stood out luridly.
Tam felt his sanity slowly returning. He was still furious, but the shell of ice was gone. He could think and make decisions for himself. When Yelena broke the silence, he heard words, not just formless noise.
“So, I guess you’re not playing the loving, respectful master game anymore. It’s nice to have the truth come out at last. You can pretend at being the nice doctor, with your tastefully decorated manor and your pretty manners, but in the end you’re just another thug rapist.”
“Woman, if you don’t want to make me angry again, you might want to consider shutting up.”
“What do I care? If you get angry, you’ll beat me and rape me? It’s what you were going to do anyway. Hey, you owe me a question, if we’re still playing that game. You couldn’t even kidnap me yourself; you had to buy me from the Tong. Tell me, have you ever had sex without paying for it first?”
Tam growled and stalked over to her. His chi was gone and she hadn’t climaxed so there was no qing to restore the balance. But the rage found a pool of chi somewhere; it wasn’t his, and yet it was. That didn’t make sense, but he could draw on it and feed it into another erection. Her cunt was still full of his cum and he felt it squelch around him as he entered her. His hands settled on her hips. “I thought you’d had enough cock for the night, but it sounds like you need more. I hope your cunt isn’t too sore already, bitch, I’m going to fuck it until it’s raw.”
Yelena grunted as he began to thrust, but used her free arm to support herself as she twisted her torso up so that she could face him. Her face was streaked with tears, but she was smiling, her eyes burning with a mad green fire in the lamplight.
“No more questions game either I see. It’s nice to know that your promises are as worthless as everything else about you. For some reason I thought I could at least trust you to keep your word, but I see I was wrong about that.”
Tam growled and slammed into her, yanking her back to meet his thrusts, fucking like he was trying to drive his dick straight through her body.
“Ah, oh god, fuck. Ah, shit.” Yelena lost her grip as he pounded her and she collapsed back facedown. After a moment she rallied and continued; her breath short from the merciless fucking.
“Ah, I hope you remember that even though your word is trash, I can’t lie. Fuck, ah, shit. I, I want you to know that what you’re about to hear is the truth. Think about this while you’re raping me.”
Yelena couldn’t hold herself up, but she looked over her shoulder and met his eyes. “That fucking bastard who raped me while you, ah, watched? Lu? He, he has a bigger cock than you do, just so you know.”
“STOP. FUCKING. TALKING!” Tam’s fist cracked into her face. The bitch cried out from the impact, but it seemed to have finally shut her up.
“So, you liked his big cock better than mine, bitch? You need something real big stretching out your holes? I’ve got an idea for something you’ll like.” Tam pulled his dick out and jammed his fingers into her cunt, scooping out a mix of his cum and her juices. He spread the cheeks of her ass with his other hand and began to rub the slick mixture into the tight ring of her asshole.
Yelena squealed and bucked under him, trying to twist away. He pressed his left hand into the small of her back, pinning her in place while he scooped another load out of her cunt, using it to force a finger into her.
“I don’t think you mentioned taking a cock in this hole before when you told me about your lover. I’ve never reamed out a whore’s ass before either, so we’ll get to have our first time together. I hear it’s a lot tighter back here; if you thought losing your virginity to your little lover back home hurt, just imagine what this is going to feel like.”
Yelena made a high, wordless keening sound then began to gasp as he worked another finger in.
“That’s two fingers. Feel how stretched your virgin little asshole is from two fingers. Someone told me once that it hurts less if you relax. You’re welcome to try that, but I think you should be worrying about how much wider this little hole is going to have to stretch when it takes my dick.”
Tam slid his dick back into her cunt as he continued work his fingers in and out of her ass. “Ah, that’s tight. I can actually feel myself moving inside you. Don’t worry, I’m just getting my dick nice and wet for you. You’ll get to take it in your ass soon.”
He slid out of her and moved to rest the head of his cock against her rear entrance. Yelena sobbed in pain as he pushed through her sphincter. She shoved her free hand into her mouth and bit down on it. Her bound hand was clenched in a white-knuckled grip around one of the bars of the cage. Tam gasped as he got the head of his cock through her tight ring; sliding another inch into her once he passed the initial barrier.
“It seems you ran out of smart things to say. I thought you’d at least want to beg for mercy. I guess you really want to get ass-fucked.”
He continued to narrate his actions as he worked himself the rest of the way in, mirroring what she had done in his bedroom. “Ah, gods above and below, that’s tight. Ah, Yelena, your asshole feels fantastic. This is an amazing sensation. You can’t see it, but I’m about halfway in. Feel that, feel my cock splitting open your virgin ass. It’s okay to cry. There, feel that, yes. You’ve got all of master’s cock buried inside your tight little virgin ass.”
He stood there for a long moment, reveling in how fantastically tight she felt. After a long moment, he pulled out until just the head was inside her and pushed back into her. He slid his hands along her sides as he began to slowly fuck her ass.
“Remember yesterday night, Yelena, when you took a cock in your slave mouth for the very first time? Remember how it felt to swallow my cock down your virgin throat. This was your last virginity, and now it’s mine too. You’re a good girl for saving it for me. Your worthless lover didn’t deserve this tight heat and you knew it, you knew you wanted to save your ass for your master.”
Tam smiled as she squirmed under him. He fucked her slowly, luxuriating in the sensation, his hands kneading the bruised globes of her ass. She was still sobbing in pain, but after a few minutes her hips began to move back to meet his thrusts and she squirmed under him, involuntarily trying to find something that would stimulate her clit. Earlier he had been angry at her for feeling pleasure, but now he was pleased. He could do anything he wanted to her, and the bitch would like it.
“Yes, go ahead Yelena, get off on this. You can stick a hand down there and rub your clit if you want. I’m surprised you can try and get off while you’re still sobbing in pain, but I won’t stop you. You’re such a hot little slut. I think you actually like getting ass-raped.”
Yelena made a strangled, hate-filled noise. She moved her free hand as far away from him as she could, grabbing onto the bars of the cage, and tried to still her hips, but she couldn’t stop herself.
Tam kept his strokes slow. He loved watching her body betray her, reaching for humiliating pleasure while he fucked her ass. He reached under her and fondled her breasts. “That’s right, slave, you love being fucked. You’ve taken master’s cock in your mouth, in your pussy, and in your ass. You love them all. Do you have a favorite yet? I think your ass might be my new favorite, but don’t worry, I’ll keep using all your holes.”
Yelena began to moan through her sobs. She was being flooded with sensation—his cock stretching her ass, his hands on her breasts, the implanted command flooding her body with pleasure to mix with the pain. Tam thought of another addition.
“Yelena, I want you to imagine we’re being watched. Imagine one of your friends from the foreign quarter walked in here by accident. Think about what they’d see—Yelena Alexovna, the gifted translator, face down naked on a dog’s cage, shaking and moaning while she takes it in the ass.”
Yelena gasped and shuddered. She could clearly picture it, and as Tam hoped, the latent taste for exhibitionism and humiliation he had observed in her was flowering. He increased the speed of his strokes, feeling himself building towards his own climax.
“Think about how ashamed they’d be. Feel their eyes on you, judging you, seeing how hot you get when you’re treated like an animal; a pale, bald little bitch in heat, moaning with a Han cock in your ass. They’d know what a dirty slut you really are, that you love taking cock in all your tight wet holes. They know you’ve begged for cock, you filthy little whore.”
Yelena came screaming underneath him. Tam fucked her straight through her climax, and when she stopped shuddering he moved his hand to rub at her clit, forcing her into another orgasm. He mentally commanded her to feel two more fast peaks before he finally came, collapsing over her back as he shot his load into her ass.
He lay there for a moment, shuddering. His rage had burned out of him with the orgasm, along the strange chi, wherever it had come from. The rage flickered in the back of his mind when he thought of Yelena fucking Lu, reminding him it could return, but for now it was gone. He pulled himself off her and wiped his cock off on her ass, leaving smudges on her bruised cheeks.
The way she was lying motionless worried him, and he leaned over to check her pulse and peel back an eyelid. She was alive, just passed out senseless. It was the second day in a row he’d fucked her unconscious.
Tam looked at the girl’s stained body with a faint sense of guilt. She was draped limply over the cage, her hips hanging off the edge, still tethered by one bound wrist. Her ass was a wreck: both cheeks blossoming with bruises, wet cum dripping from her distended asshole to make tracks down her legs where it mixed with the older traces descending from her cunt.
He left her lying there while he probed at the feeling of guilt, wondering why he was bothered by it. It wasn’t as if he’d done anything actually wrong; he’d punished his slave for being insolent, and fucked her. Fucked her rather brutally, it must be admitted, but he was sure many men who had the opportunity fucked their slaves or even their wives in similar fashion occasionally.
Even if it had been wrong, it was far from the worst thing he had done to her. He had literally broken her mind and stolen her free will, and he felt no guilt over that. In fact, he would not have raised an eyebrow if Su Wen had done as he expected and slit Yelena’s throat instead of selling the girl to him.
Perhaps, he decided, it was the fact that he owned her that made him feel guilt. He had been taught to take good care of his possessions, to maintain his tools, treat his servants with respect. Ownership and power required responsibility. He had been careless and damaged her in anger. It had been . . . improper. Yes, that was what was bothering him. While he had been perfectly within his rights, he had failed to control himself and maintain proper behavior.
She had deserved to be punished for insulting him with the horrible things she said about Lu (the anger flared again, but he forced it back down), but he had not been measured in his response. He had called her an animal in heat, but he was the one who had behaved like an animal tonight.
Tam resolved to control himself more strictly in the future. For the moment, the best thing he could do was clean her up and treat the fresh injuries he had inflicted on her.
A course of action clear before him, he settled to work. The first thing to do was get the girl’s unconscious body off the cage. Releasing her wrist from the cage, he carefully lifted her into his arms. The dirt floor of the stable was clearly no place to treat her. He had to set her down on the cage to retrieve the lantern. It took him a moment to work out the logistics, but he managed to get her into his arms while still holding the lantern and carried her to his clinic. She was heavier than he had thought, a tall full-grown woman despite how thin she was. Thinking about that, he ruefully promised himself that he would remember to feed her more than once a day going forward.
Tam gently set Yelena on the examination table and brought over a bowl of water and some clean strips of cloth. He bathed her by hand, examining her as he cleaned dirt, sweat, and fluids from her body. Once she was clean, he rubbed healing cream into her bruises again, old and new, almost emptying the jar. The tanning he had given her ass was bad, and there were some already fading marks from the cage bars on her torso and hips.
The worst by far though was the black eye he had given her. Tam had a vague memory of hitting her so that she would stop talking, but he didn’t realize he had struck her that hard while consumed in rage.
He used acupuncture to reduce the swelling; her eye socket would still be tender and bruised, but she would be able to see through the eye normally. He got out the cream he’d used when he fingered her the first evening, and gently worked it into her reddened labia and vagina to reduce the soreness. After consideration, he decided it was safe to use it on her anus as well.
After that, there was nothing more he could do. She had been given the best treatment he could offer, which in his private opinion meant the best treatment in Nihai; there was nothing else that would help except rest and the body’s natural healing. He went and got one of the dresses Lin Song had purchased and carefully tugged it into place on Yelena’s slumbering form. He then picked her up again and carried her into his study and positioned her on her side on a low couch he kept there.
When he looked out the eastern-facing window of the study, the sky had already begun to brighten. He sighed; Bin Hsui was probably already waking, preparing to let the cook in to start her day. In another hour, Lin Song would be up, and then the maids would arrive, along with the specialist who came once a week to help Bin Hsui with the gardening. No point in trying to catch a bit of extra slumber.
Before he had bought Yelena, today would have been one of his studying days. Now he had considered going shopping for Yelena; some slutty little bed slave outfits, shackles so that Lin Song could have the girl help around the house, some treats for her when she was well behaved, some treats for him when she needed to be punished . . . yes, it would be a worthwhile diversion from his studies. After all, poring over old scrolls of magic was nothing compared to experimenting with the living, breathing magic he’d bound into the battered girl on the couch.
Now the shopping trip would have to be delayed; he had promised himself to take better care of the girl, and the first step in keeping that promise was to let her sleep as long as she needed to, and be there to check on her when she woke. She would probably be frightened and resentful too, just like when he had first brought her home. He had just begun to tame her, and now she would be wild again, fighting until he broke her, then fighting him again; it would be preferable to erase the night, but he wasn’t sure if he could tamper with her mind to that extent without her putting the pieces together.
So much progress lost because he could not control his temper. Still, a scholar did not give up when presented with setbacks—he would try something else, and see how that went. That was the method that had led to his breakthrough in controlling minds, and he remained confident in the path.
Tam decided that when she woke he would let her curse at him if she needed to. Then he would tell her he had made a mistake in training her, giving her too much leniency. Because of that, she had felt free to say foolish things and he had lost his temper. He would blame himself, though not to the extent of apologizing directly.
Then he would tell her that they would have stricter rules going forward, and if punishments were required, they would be measured. No more beating her and fucking her in rage, but also no more insolence or friendly conversation. She would learn to serve, both in bed and out of it, and she could expect good or bad treatment depending on how well she served, like any normal slave. Then, depending on her reaction to his new plan, he would either punish or reward her, but he would maintain control of himself.
She was probably going to sleep for hours before that talk though, so he needed to busy himself, but also make sure he kept an eye on her. Waking in the middle of the night and not knowing where she was had been a bad experience.
He decided that now was the best time to risk leaving her alone so that he could bathe, but he should still secure her in some way. He could command her to sleep again, but he wanted her sleep to be natural to aid her recovery. Restraining her was probably the best option, but he should do it in a way that would not make her uncomfortable. In the end, he pulled her wrists up near her face, gently bound them together with one end of the green silk and secured the other end to the frame of the couch. If she woke in the brief time he was gone, the worst she could do was drag the couch across the floor.
He hurried out, nodding to Bin Hsui as he passed him in the hall. The old man was stifling a yawn, but gave Tam a friendly wink as he passed. Tam blushed as he realized the man must have heard Yelena screaming at one time or another in the night. Hopefully Lin Song had not also been awakened, or at least would be proper enough to pretend ignorance. He did not need his matronly steward winking at him or, heavens forbid, giving him advice on the best way to fuck his slave. He shuddered as he imagined Lin Song giving suggestions on esoteric sexual positions.
Forcing his mind onto other matters, he picked out some clean clothes then hurried into the bathing chamber attached to his bedroom and quickly drew himself a warm bath. By the time he exited, the cook had arrived and was building a fire in the stove. He told her to prepare a nourishing broth and keep it warm as long as possible for whenever Yelena woke, and to send his own breakfast to his study when it was ready.
Yelena was still unconscious when he returned. He studied her face; it looked very different in peaceful repose. He realized he had never seen her relaxed, or happy. Wary, furious, terrified, defiant, curious, sorrowing, overwhelmed by passion—those were the expressions he was used to seeing on his slave in the short time he had known her. She looked younger now, more innocent. As he studied her, she shifted slightly in her sleep, and a frown crossed her face as her tender bottom brushed the back of the couch before she shifted again.
The dress also made her look different; a simple cotton dress with a loose fit, dark red, all one piece with no buttons or sashes. It had short sleeves and only fell to mid-calf, showing more skin than a proper woman would show, but it was much more demure than his old green bathrobe. From the neck down, she could almost pass as a servant or peasant. Above the neck, of course, her slave collar stood out starkly against her pale skin; her bruised face and hairless scalp would draw stares on the street.
Tam was suddenly reminded that he had promised Su Wen the girl would not be seen on the streets until the Tong’s war with the foreign criminals concluded. His neighborhood was far from the foreign quarter, and the shaved scalp and bruises altered Yelena’s appearance considerably, but he regretfully concluded he could not take her out in her current state. He decided to seek Su Wen’s guidance—perhaps it would be acceptable to take Yelena out if her face was disguised in some fashion, or if he hired a covered palanquin. If not, he would have to pay a premium to have a merchant come to his manor to fit her for shackles and clothing.
The decorative pool in the garden was looking less and less affordable; still, a decorative slave girl was proving to be quite a bit more rewarding than he’d imagined. He felt himself harden slightly as he remembered the way Yelena’s ass had reddened as he spanked her. Her pale skin marked beautifully; he had never previously thought of himself as the sort of man who would patronize a Red House, but now he was becoming aroused thinking about the way welts from a whip or cane would look on her long legs.
Before he purchased Yelena, he had not been overly focused on sexual release—his scholarship was what drove him, and the occasional masturbation session and his rare visits to Silver Houses had been enough to satisfy his physical urges. In the brief time he had owned the girl, he had spent himself in and on her multiple times a day. It seemed that as soon as his chi recovered he found himself wanting her again. That was something else to think about—where had he found that strange extra reserve of chi he had used to drive his rage fueled use of her earlier?
The details of the experience were indistinct, the rage clouding his perception, but he was sure the chi had not been from his natural reserves. If he could find a way to call that extra chi at will, the possible uses in enchantment were staggering. Had anything similar been recorded by other practitioners? Perhaps in some of the historical legend scrolls—they should be stored on the far shelf.
A knock at the door disturbed Tam from his research. He looked up from the ancient scroll spread across his desk and gave permission to enter. The new maid, Tan Jiao, came in with his breakfast.
Lin Song had persuaded him to hire her a few weeks ago, claiming that a second maid was needed as her arthritis was limiting what she could do directly and Luong Fai, the main maid, could not do everything. Tam suspected that it was actually because the girl was Lin Song’s great-niece, but he could afford it and it kept Lin Song happy.
Tam told the girl to wait after she delivered the tray—he needed to compose a message to Su Wen inquiring about taking Yelena out of his manor, and the girl would be as good a person as any to deliver it. As Tam wrote the message, he saw Tan Jiao studying Yelena with an ugly look.
It was easy enough to read that look. Within her first week of service, it had become apparent that Tan Jiao aspired above her station. She seemed to think that she would be better suited as Tam’s wife than his maid. Her flirting had been quite brazen at first, until Lin Song gave her a blistering lecture on propriety.
The thought was ridiculous, of course. The girl was certainly attractive enough; she had a cute heart shaped face, and her large breasts were stunning on her youthful figure. But she was entirely unsuitable as a wife; she had no dowry, no connections to bring with her, and didn’t have the temperament to properly manage a household. She featured in an occasional masturbation fantasy of Tam’s, but he wasn’t stupid enough to fuck her. It would only encourage her foolish dreams and make her take on airs and neglect her duties.
The girl was either too stupid or too ambitious to realize this though, and she had continued to try and catch his eye in more subtle ways even after Lin Song’s lecture. She clearly viewed Yelena as an obstacle to her goals.
Tam sighed; either Tan Jiao would learn her place, or he would eventually be forced to dismiss her. Either way, it was Lin Song’s problem, not his. Sealing the message, he gave her the address of a restaurant Su Wen owned and sent the girl off.
Returning to his studies, he ate his breakfast quickly, finding himself surprisingly hungry.
His studies were interrupted again a few hours later by Tan Jiao, telling him that Bin Hsui required his assistance in making some decision about the garden.
It was annoying; most of the references to unnatural chi in the histories were clear fables, claiming divine intervention in mortal affairs, but he had found a legend in the Stone Mountain scrolls about a dying monk giving his chi to his brother that caught his interest. There was something in the legend that was resonating; he didn’t have a clear understanding yet, but he could feel the traces of an idea forming before he was interrupted.
Still, it was gone now. He knew there was no point in trying to recapture it now; inspiration would come when it came, and for the moment his household required his attention. He told the maid to wait in his study and summon him if Yelena woke.
The garden problem proved to be annoying when he arrived to consult. The specialist wanted to completely transplant a bed of flowers to provide a better contrast with the shade trees as summer transitioned to fall. Bin Hsui felt it was unnecessary and clearly did not want to take on the additional labor. Tam did not want to undermine Bin Hsui’s authority, but he thought the specialist was right; he paid the man because of his eye for such things, after all. He eventually resolved the problem by spending money; the specialist would come in additional days over the next two weeks to perform the transplant. They were haggling over how much the specialist should be paid to work overtime when Tan Jiao hurried up to tell him Yelena had woken and was making a scene.
Ordering Bin Hsui to handle the rest of the matter, Tam hurried back to his study, demanding details from Tan Jiao. She told him Yelena had begun thrashing in her sleep, apparently having a nightmare. When Jiao tried to soothe her, Yelena had woken violently, attempting to strike her and growling at her so fiercely the maid had been frightened. Tam assured her she was not at fault and dismissed her outside his study. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in and closed the door behind him.
“Good afternoon, Yelena. We clearly have matters to discuss. If you wish to yell at me, you may do so, but after you are done I will . . .” The words died in his throat as he took in the situation.
Yelena had dragged the couch over to his desk. She was staring at him with a terror he had never seen in her eyes despite all she had been through. Her bound hands were holding a loose piece of paper before her, on which she had clearly inked four words: “Why Can’t I talk?”