“Oh my god, you’re serious,” Edna said, sitting down on the red couch with an absolutely horrified look.
Good, she
should
be horrified by the thought of any man but me wanting to touch her.
The thought flew through Frank’s mind before he had the chance to consider what little right he had to stake claim to Edna’s body or heart. Still, the king certainly had no right either, and if what Cynthia was saying was the truth, their entire kingdom was getting ready to be turned upside-down. Not even a monarch could get away with terrorizing dozens of sex workers. They were his subjects, and Parliament wouldn’t stand for it.
“Is there anything else we should know, Cynthia? Quickly, we’re almost out of time,” Frank urged, his tone gentling slightly. She was talking, no need to scare her into another round of tears.
“I searched his room and found his journal. He did the red light stalker thing to cover his tracks. He’s going to kidnap Edna and make it look like she was murdered. Then he’s going to take her back to the castle and keep her there. He has a secret room in the west wing all ready for her. I found the key. He’s going to keep her there and have sex with her! In my own house! My
stepmother
!” Cindy finished with a horrified gasp. Then she started crying again, obviously feeling as sorry for herself as Edna, the woman who would have become the prince’s unwilling sex slave. The girl was a piece of work, no doubt about it.
“Do you still have the journal?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, it’s in my coat in the dressing room.” Cindy sniffed mightily and tried to look helpful. “I can go get it if you want.”
“Captain?” Nate whispered urgently, sticking his head out from the door of the dressing room.
“We’ll get it later. Take her,” Frank whispered, shoving Cynthia toward the door. “The queen?” Nate asked, looking uncertainly from Frank to Cynthia and back
again, clearly torn about where his duty now lay.
“Keep her in there and don’t take your eyes off her. Don’t let her scream or talk or cry. Gag her if you have to. She’s in the custody of the state until Parliament decides her guilt or innocence in this matter,” Frank ordered, his eyes holding those of his subordinate until he knew that Nate would obey him.
“Where will you be?” Nate asked, gently but firmly taking Cynthia by the upper arm.
“I’ll be right here,” Frank said, crossing to Edna. “If what Cynthia is saying is the truth, we have enough evidence. We’ll let him walk in here and I’ll take care of him myself. Edna, you go with Nate.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” “Yes, you are. I’m telling you—”
“Frank, we don’t know if Cindy is telling the truth, if there really is a journal or what exactly it says. I don’t want to take the risk that one or both of them might get away with this,” she said, her eyes pleading with him to understand.
“I don’t want you getting hurt,” Frank protested, even though he knew she was right. It was exactly what he would have said himself if he were thinking with his mind.
But he wasn’t, he was acting on raw emotion, wondering how he could allow Edna to be in danger a second time tonight when he was still so shaken by seeing a gun trained at her heart. He didn’t want to risk her safety, even to put away a man who
obviously couldn’t be allowed to remain in power if the accusations against him were true.
“I won’t get hurt, and you’ll be just a few feet away, right?”
“Right,” he said, the trust in her eyes making his stomach knot. She had faith that he would keep her safe. Now he had to make damn sure he earned it.
“Then I’ll be fine,” she said with a smile. “Now get out of here before I get nervous and change my mind.”
“You can still change your mind, you—”
“I won’t. I trust you. Otherwise I would have run when Cindy first pulled out that gun. But I just…knew that you wouldn’t let her hurt me. Is that crazy?”
“No, it’s not. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
Not even myself.
He turned and disappeared into the east dressing room without another word, forcing himself to think about keeping Edna safe and nothing else. There would be time to mourn the loss of what could have been between them at a later date. But he knew now that he couldn’t allow his fantasies involving the woman to become a reality.
If they took care of business tonight, Edna would finally have the chance at a real life again. She’d made it clear she didn’t relish working on the wrong side of the tracks. She certainly wouldn’t want to start a relationship with a man who felt that a “kinky” lifestyle was the only one that worked for him.
Frank had had relationships that didn’t play by the Dom or sub rules, but they hadn’t fulfilled him in the same way. He craved that sexual charge too much to give it up, and he already cared for Edna too greatly to ask her to spend any more time engaging in a lifestyle that she resented. He would help her regain her life, and then he would remove himself from it. It was the best way he could show his regard for her, even if the thought of never seeing her again tore him up more than he would have believed possible.
Edna gripped the whip in her hand and turned to face the door of the dressing room where the king would supposedly be making his appearance at any moment. She knew she should be scared out of her mind, but for some reason she wasn’t. Maybe it was simply that she trusted Frank to keep her safe, or maybe it was because she was still having a hard time believing that Robert planned to kidnap her and make her his love slave.
It was ludicrous. The guy who’d fought tooth and nail to be able to date and eventually marry her underage stepdaughter was actually in love with
her
and wanted to lock her up in a room and go at it? It was just plain weird, and she wouldn’t have bought it at all if Cindy hadn’t been so hysterical.
Her stepdaughter was good at many things, but acting certainly wasn’t one of them. Despite the fact that the entire kingdom bought her story of horrible abuse at her stepmother’s hands, Edna had always been able to see through her attempts at deception. No, Cindy genuinely believed what she was saying was the truth. Of course, she could be mistaken. She wasn’t the most stable kid and tended to jump to conclusions. But if Robert’s secret journal really existed, there wasn’t much chance of that.
God, she could go crazy thinking in circles! She just had to relax, sit tight for a few more minutes, and then she’d know who was really crazy, King Robert or his paranoid new queen.
“Shit,” she muttered, jumping at the quiet scrape of the outer door of the dressing room swinging open.
So much for relaxing.
She held her breath and tried to pretend that this was any other client, even as she struggled to catch the sound of a key in a locker or clothes being removed. Would the king risk getting dressed in the regulation loincloth or would he just walk in? On the one hand it made no sense for him to make himself vulnerable, but then maybe he had a sincere desire to wear a diaper in front of a woman in six-inch heels. You never could tell with men, especially men who frequented S&M parlors.
Which brought an entirely different idea to mind. What if the prince were simply here for a routine session? Would she be able to provide her customary fare, knowing that Cindy and Frank and a dozen men were watching? After what had happened between her and Frank tonight, she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to go back to playing the Domme with any conviction. It felt too perfect and too oddly powerful to be the one
not
in control.
Or maybe it was just that it felt so good to be that person with Frank, to be with Frank, period. She’d never felt such an instant, powerful attraction to a man, and she had to admit she was more than happy that he had proved himself to be one of the good guys. And it wasn’t only the fact that he’d saved her life that made her heart feel strangely light, it was something else, a secret hope that she wasn’t quite ready to name.
“Hello, my dearest.”
She jumped at the sound of the oddly familiar voice and felt something in her throat take a dive into her stomach. King Robert was really here, and seeing him in the flesh, calling her “dearest”, was doing wonders for her ability to believe Cindy was correct in her judgments about him.
First of all, there was the fact that he’d decided against the diaper as a fashion statement. If he were here for a routine session, he wouldn’t have dared stay dressed in his dark jeans and white button-down shirt. And he certainly wouldn’t be carrying his long duster coat hung over his arm, would he? But maybe he was just concerned about the way he would look in the loincloth. He wasn’t the most manly specimen and
probably would have looked almost as ridiculous as Cindy had in the “one size fits all” swaddling.
Blast it, she just wished he’d hurry up and incriminate himself and put an end to her endless second-guessing. But instead, he just stood there, calmly surveying the room while she did her best not to look as nervous as she felt. Finally she couldn’t take it any more.
“Robert, what are you doing here?”
“It’s good to see you again too,” he said, the edges of his eyes crinkling in a smile that would have seemed friendly if she didn’t know him so well. “Though I would prefer the use of my title, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Fine.
Prince
Robert, what are you doing here?” “I’m the king now, my sweet.”
My sweet?
“I don’t see how you could have missed the ten-day funeral festivities that were held in honor of my dear mother’s passing.” His tone was light and the steps he took toward the window casual, but the tension in his words was clear. Something was bothering Robert, something more than her usual lack of respect for his title or position.
“She was a wonderful woman, I was sorry to hear of your loss,” she said sincerely. The former queen had been wonderful, though a bit too ready to think the best of her louse of a son.
“It was far past time for her to step aside and allow me to ascend to my rightful place on the throne. Her death was as much a celebration as a time of mourning.”
“I thought Cindy was ungrateful, but even
she
had the decency to grieve her father’s death,” Edna said, her limited patience with the man already exhausted. “You disgust me, Robert. Now tell me why you’re here or get out.”
“Watch your mouth,” he said, the muscle in his jaw jumping though he didn’t turn to face her. Instead he took another step toward the window, eyes fixed on the city
lights, hands gripping his coat like a lifeline. He was definitely on edge, and Edna doubted it would take much more pushing to topple him over.
“This is my place of business, Robert. I don’t have to watch anything except my whip descending on your ass. If you’re here for a session, get back in the dressing room and get dressed appropriately. Otherwise, I’ll ask you one more time to leave before I call security.”
“If you’re talking about the men at the front, they’re gone. I gave them the night off.”
“You
what
?”
“I thought we would enjoy this time more if we were alone.”
“Those are
my
employees, you had no right to give them orders.” Edna did her best to ignore the small frightened voice inside her that said the men really were gone, that they had fled upon the order of their king and left her there to suffer alone. She didn’t know the men, didn’t know if she could trust them, but she trusted Frank. He wouldn’t abandon her, she knew he wouldn’t.
How do you know? You’ve only known him for a few hours. You don’t know anything about him, not even his last name.
“You’re going to be punished, Robert. No man who comes here as a slave takes liberties with my staff, no matter his position in the outside world.” Edna forced away the fear that threatened to consume her. She had to trust Frank, she’d already made the choice. It was too late for second thoughts now.
“The only person who will be receiving a punishment here today is you,
Emily
,” Robert said, his face oddly empty of expression as he turned from the window. Slowly, he pulled out a revolver almost identical to the one Cindy had whipped out a few minutes before. Maybe they had been a wedding present—his and hers weapons of destruction.
“It’s you. You’re the one who’s been writing the letters,” Edna said, trying to look as if she were realizing the truth for the first time.
“I always thought you were much too attractive to have a name like Edna. Once we get you settled in your new home, I will always call you Emily. It’s a soft, pretty name, and you will learn to be a soft and pleasing lover to me, won’t you, Emily?”
“Robert, you’ve been threatening to kill me. I’m not going anywhere with you, and I’m certainly not going to—”
“Those threats were only to lead the authorities to assume your death when you disappear. I won’t hurt you unless you give me no other choice. If you come quietly and do your best to please me, I will reward you as I reward my other mistresses.”
So he had other mistresses. Edna wondered if Cindy knew about that, and was half surprised not to hear a scream of outrage from the other room. Her stepdaughter had to be watching, didn’t she? Unless, of course, everyone had left and she was alone here with Robert, foolishly thinking that the cavalry would come riding in at any moment.
“You’ve always hated me, Robert, I can’t believe you really want—”
“I’ve never hated you. I find you a delightful contradiction, Emily. On one level you’re such a strong woman, but on another so vulnerable. I’ve seen the way you look at me. The invitation has always been clear.”
“I’m not sure what type of invitation you’re talking about.”
“You were jealous of Cynthia, weren’t you? You wanted to be the object of my interest and did your best to stand in the way of our marriage because you were denied my affection.”
“You’re crazy.” Edna laughed. Even with the anxiety that accompanied having a gun held to her heart, it was impossible not to. She would rather spend a few years in the dungeon than sleep with Robert.
“Laugh all you like, Emily, but haven’t you secretly wanted to know what it would feel like to be taken by the ruler of the realm? Aren’t you, even now, aching to spread your legs, to beg me to fuck you?”