Perdita's Pleasures Bk. 01 Ch. 05

Chapter Five: The Master's Study

Floor-to-ceiling mahogany bookshelves lined one wall of Master Aries' study. Opposite the shelves, an elegant writing desk was overlooked by an oil painting, in the pre-Raphaelite style, of a naked woman, bound and ecstatic. A small hearth crackled in one corner, its orange glow against the burgundy damasked walls evoking a cozily masculine atmosphere.

I sat in an antique upholstered chair by the fire, beads of sweat forming along my hairline and trickling between my breasts in the over-warm room. Master Aries stood before me, dressed as I imagined a nineteenth century gentleman might when he was at his leisure. Behind him, bolted to the wall, a handsome St. Andrew's cross gleamed darkly in the firelight.

"Perdita," Aries said. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

It was the first time I had been alone with him since those brief moments the night before. I blushed as I remembered how, soon afterward, he had casually ordered his friends to fuck me and my fellow sub, Olive. I coughed nervously.

"I'd love a glass of wine, if you have it?"

Aries nodded and strolled over to a cabinet near his desk.

"So," he said, conversationally, as he uncorked a bottle of red wine with a practiced flourish. "How has your day gone since I saw you this morning?"

He returned with a glass for us each and took a seat across from me, crossing his legs comfortably.

"Pretty well," I said, and then hesitated before adding, "...Sir."

Aries grinned and waggled his eyebrows mischievously at the title. I couldn't stop myself from smiling in response, and felt myself relax a little.

"Tell me about it," he continued. "Did you walk in the gardens?"

"No. I should have, I guess, but I—to be honest, I was tired. I spent most of the afternoon in my room."

"Hm. And how did you find your task this morning?"

I found I couldn't meet his gaze as I recalled how, under his instruction, I'd knelt in the breakfast room that morning, providing oral sex to a lineup of men.

"Ah, I found it... pleasant, Sir."

"I'm happy to hear it. I want you to continue that routine each morning for the remainder of the week."

Every morning! I thought of the small handful of men I had been intimate with before I married Oscar, and how quickly that number would become negligible if my time at Eros House continued the way it was going. A strange bubble of laughter rose in my throat.

"Am I amusing you, Perdita?" Aries asked.

"I'm just happy," I said, shyly.

He took a measured sip of his wine, set it down, and interlaced his fingers.

"Tell me," he said, "why did you come to Eros House?"

I hesitated. He'd read my application, hadn't he? Tongue-tied, I searched for an answer that didn't sound ridiculous.

"To, uh, learn to be a better submissive?"

Aries nodded slightly.

"Right, but what does that mean to you?"

A sheen of sweat covered my skin as I thought of what to say. There was—has always been—a hard, protective shell around the part of me that Aries was asking about: personal things, personal, sexual things. I'd been building it since my early days, and I was very practiced at letting no one in. Hardly Oscar, even; hardly myself.

With a reckless trust I took a deep breath.

"Well, for as long as I can remember, I've had these... desires. Sometimes a specific fantasy, sometimes just a feeling of wanting to be... um, dominated. Taken. Used. Of being allowed to be overtly sexual, you know? Ridiculously so. In a way that I just never felt I had permission to be, I guess."

I felt faint, dizzy from the rush of saying things I'd spent my whole life trying to keep hidden. My heart hammered in my chest. But Aries still was looking at me with the same quiet interest, and when I dared to looked into his deep brown eyes, my fears—that I'd be laughed at, that he'd recoil—dissolved enough that I found the bravery to continue. For if not here, then when?

"Go on," said Aries gently.

"And I guess I feel conflicted, having these desires, because there are people out there who would say that wanting these kinds of things, as a woman, is proof that... you know. Proof of some kind of fucking 'natural order' between men and women."

I finished, my chin quivering with suppressed anger as I spat out the final sentence.

Aries said nothing, and waited.

"And it's like, I know that's not true. I know that bullshit breaks down when you consider any other dynamic than a submissive woman and a dominant man, I know kink is not un-feminist, but it's like, I know these things on an intellectual level. But I can still feel those shitty opinions, and it makes me feel angry. Or maybe afraid. I don't know."

Quietly, he said,

"Afraid of what?"

"That my body is betraying my principles, I guess. That maybe I only want these things because they've won. Or, worse—that they're right."

I felt emotion beginning to clamp my throat tight, and paused to take a shaky sip of wine.

"And I fucking know they're not right. When I met Oscar, I finally found someone I could see sharing these parts of me with, who doesn't make me feel like I'd be admitting defeat to reveal my submissive fantasies. But even though I believe it's ok to want the things I want, to have that kind of vulnerability, it's hard to get out of my own way. It's like I don't know how to access the kind of power dynamic I'm looking for, now that I've found someone I want to explore it with. I still keep battling myself. I have this sense of pride that stops me from really letting go, like I have to keep guarding myself.

"So I guess I wanted to come here to gain some perspective. To see if I can get out of my head and learn through experience what until now I've largely only had an intellectual stance on. And I guess I thought it might be easier to do that with someone with whom I didn't have all the other complications of marriage and friendship and history and a life together."

When I was done, Master Aries uncrossed his legs and leaned forward candidly.

"Thank you for sharing that with me," he said. "I'm honoured that you did."

I nodded. It was alarming to have told this man so much—some of which I had not yet fully articulated even to myself—but there was a sense of relief to it that was almost palpable.

Aries carefully set his drink on an end table and reached out for my hands. His were warm and dry, and I could feel the strength in them. Tears pricked my eyes.

"I sincerely hope," he said, "that you find everything you're looking for here, and more besides. You're not the first person to be plagued with those doubts, Perdita. But I think your instincts are good, and you should trust that. And I am certainly looking forward to seeing what kind of perspective you may gain here."

He stood, and walked around behind my chair. I felt the light touch of his hands on my shoulders, and he leaned down close to my ear.

"And know this: in my house," he said, his voice low and clear, "we love women quite a lot. We love them when they're the ones deftly wielding control, like my wife, Mistress Agrippa. And we love them quivering on the floor, helpless, begging to be fucked."

My body, already aroused from the thrill of vulnerability, caught like kindling at his words. I tilted my head to feel his breath on the skin of my neck.

Did he just say he was married to Agrippa?

I closed my eyes and let the thought go.

"Will you stand up for me, Perdita?" Aries said, straightening. I did, and heard the scrape of my chair against the floor as he nudged it out of the way with his foot. My palms were sweating, and I clenched and released them.

"Now, I had planned this afternoon to introduce you to that very lovely St. Andrews cross you see on the wall behind me."

He traced a finger along my exposed neck, and my breath shuddered and caught in my throat as I struggled not to lose my balance and swoon into him.

"What do you think, Perdita? Shall I broaden your perspective a little?"

I nodded my head.

"Yes, please, Sir," I breathed.

He drew back, and I hung aching in the silence.

"Remove your dress for me," he said.

I reached up and unfastened the clasps that held my dress together at the shoulders, and it fluttered to the floor. Underneath, I wore only a pair of plain white cotton panties and summer heels.

"The shoes, too."

I stepped out of them, one at a time, and placed my bare feet on the fine hearth rug.

Aries walked around to face me, slowly, and I shivered for his touch.

"Lovely," he murmured.

For a moment I wondered if he was going to kiss me.

Instead, Master Aries reached into his pocket and produced a small black square of silk.

He let it unfold into a long strip, dangling it before my eyes.

"This is a blindfold," he said, and I nodded, willing him to put it on me.

As he reached his hands around to fasten the tie around the back of my head, I could feel his body heat, smell his skin and the faint scent of laundry soap on the sleeves of his crisp white shirt. The soft fabric of the blindfold covered my eyes, obscuring my vision, and I gasped as I felt the smart tug of the knot being secured.

"I'm pleased with how well you've taken my instruction so far, and we're only just getting started, my little whore. You remember the safe words, yes?"

Hot arousal bloomed between my thighs as I answered,

"Yes, Sir. I remember."

"Good," he said, withdrawing his hands. I wanted to turn my face into his palm, to take his thumb into my mouth, but instead he clasped me by the wrist and led me, blind and naked, toward the far side of the room.

I could feel the plush fibres of the rug beneath my bare feet, and the heat from the fireplace as I walked toward and then past the source of its warmth.

We came to a stop.

I couldn't tell whether I could feel the presence of the cross near before me or was only imagining so, but my breathing quickened as I waited for the next sensation, the next clue.

"Are you nervous?" He whispered the words in my ear.

"No," I whispered back, not entirely sure how true this was.

Aries placed my hand upon the hard, smooth surface of the cross, letting me feel it.

My world narrowed to the simplicity of sensation and anticipation as he held my hand, turned it palm-up; I heard the faint rasp and clink of a metal object being picked up, brought near; felt the binding softness of leather as Aries fastened a wide cuff around first one wrist, then the other.

"Legs apart," he commanded. I heard him bend down, and felt his touch lightly around my ankles as he bound those too in padded leather restraints.

With the tightening of each cuff around my limbs I felt myself begin to fall, to float, to drift somewhere more safe and free with each bond placed on me. Willingly, willingly I let him position me and attach the restraints to the wooden cross, until I stood bound, blind, and spread-eagled with my back to the wall.

For a moment there was nothing, and I listened, waiting.

"I like you like this," came his voice. "Do you?"

"Yes, Sir," I answered.

The sudden touch of his hand on my hip surprised me, and I flinched.

"Are you afraid of me?"

"No, Sir."

I felt his fingers lightly trace the borders of my panties, the only thing he hadn't told me to remove.

"These are nice," Aries continued, slipping a finger just underneath the waistband.

"Sometimes simplicity is just the thing."

I began to squirm and I felt the hard hold of the cross behind me, no matter how I tried to bring my hands down or my legs together. A small whimper escaped my throat. In helpless agony I felt his knuckles trailing down the front of the panties, over the mound of my cunt.

"You want me to touch you here?"

"Yes, yes!" I gasped, sick for it, sliding my cheek against my upraised arm.

Instead, he reached around and pushed first one side, then the other of the fabric into the cleft of my ass.

"Well, unfortunately for you," he said, conversationally, as he continued in the front, sliding the fabric of the panties between my labia, "You are entirely at my mercy at the moment, I'm afraid."

When he was done, he tugged both sides upward sharply, riding the fabric up between the lips of my cunt until I felt the pressure against my clitoris and I bit my lip, sinking into the sensation.

"Ah, you are a slut, aren't you," he breathed, tugging harder. "That's right. I want to feel you squirm for me."

Instinctively, I ground my hips against the hammock of of my underwear, rubbing back and forth against the almost uncomfortable sensation that cleaved me until I felt the fabric grow wet with my arousal.

I bucked against the surface of the cross, wanting him to pull up harder, wanting it... wanting it to hurt, just a little. Just a little more.

My breath came in ragged bursts as I squirmed against his firm hold on my bunched-up panties. I could feel my climax within reach, on the horizon.

Just then, he released me, and withdrew.

No!

My lip curled angrily at the sudden deprivation. I strained against the cross, and would have stamped my feet against the ground if they only hadn't been tied in place.

"Impatient, are we, little slut?" Aries asked, amused. "Well, I have to tell you something."

I heard him walk a few steps away, and the sound of a cabinet door opening. I wished for the freedom of movement to push the blindfold from my eyes, and revelled in the fact that I did not have it.

Moments later, he returned. I heard his breathing, calm and even next to my own laboured panting.

Cool leather touched my sternum, trailed down to my navel. I whimpered expectantly.

What did he have? Another restraint? Or... something else?

"When I saw Olive this afternoon, she had a tale to tell on you," Aries said.

Ever so lightly, he tapped the leather tip of the implement—a crop?—against the skin of my belly as he continued speaking.

"She tells me you disregarded my instructions this morning, and saw fit to wander the room between your customers."

"What? No! I—" I reached for words to defend myself, but Aries hushed me.

"I don't need to hear your side of it. I reprimanded Olive for telling me what she did: as I've said, my hope is that the two of you become friends, and not each other's spies."

I silently and fervently revoked the good will I'd felt toward the other girl this morning, as Aries continued to speak.

"The upside is, now I get to punish you too, now. To keep things even between you."

You haven't kept things even so far, I thought, remembering the night before, when I'd been made to sit on the floor while Olive was enthroned on Master Aries' knee.

A sharp, sudden smack! on the soft flesh of my breast interrupted my evil thoughts and brought me keenly back into the present moment. Another followed, short and sharp, and a small, tortured sound escaped my throat.

"What's that? Those almost sound like happy noises. Could it be, the slut likes to have her tits beaten? My, perhaps this isn't such an effective punishment, after all."

As Aries spoke, he continued tapping the crop on the meat of my breasts.

My toes and fingers clenched and unclenched helplessly and I sagged against my restraints as the intensity of the tapping slowly grew, and a stinging edge crept into the relentless sensation.

"My initial design was to turn you around, so that I could whip your ass," he whispered. "But now I think I'll save that for another time. I'm having fun right—here."

The last word was punctuated by a whistling smack of the crop on my left breast, harder than before, followed by another, and another. It landed directly on my nipples and I shrieked and leaned forward, hungry to feel it again.

"Really?" came the voice. "You surprise me. I wasn't sure whether you'd be a slut for pain, but here your nipples are crying out for me to hurt them. Aren't they, Perdita," he said, closing a palm around my breast and squeezing until it began to hurt.

"Yes, yes," I panted, delirious.

"Yes, what?" he growled.

"Yes, Sir! Please!"

He pinched my nipple, hard, then harder. Sparks of pain shimmered though my flesh, deliciously, and I thrust my chest toward his touch.

"There's a good whore," he said, cruelly squeezing my tits and pinching the engorged nipples.

I took it all.

Aries began flogging me again with the crop and I twisted my body against my restraints, enjoying the feeling of not being able to get away from its cruelly sweet bite. I wanted him to take me down and fuck me; I wanted him to never stop.

Just as it began to be unbearable, he yanked aside the crotch of my panties from where they were embedded between my cunt lips and shoved two fingers inside, roughly massaging the inner walls of my pussy as he continued to torture my breasts with the crop. He pushed his leg against my inner thigh, bracing himself as he fucked me with his fingers.

Unnnnhh.

I felt very light and high, my eyes rolled back in my head and I sagged against the cross as submissive freedom radiated through me. I felt as if my cunt were the centre of my being and I was expanding, in touch with the source of my power.

"That's right, yes, come on my fingers like a good slut, now," Aries said, as waves of ecstasy rolled through me like thunder. I screamed out sobbing gasps as I came, senseless to anything but the overwhelming pleasure of Aries' hold on my cunt and the piercing pain he wielded in my nipples. I wanted him to have me, whatever he wanted of me, and I gave it up to him until I had nothing left.

At long last, all was quiet.

I breathed out a shuddering, sated breath as he slowly withdrew his fingers and brought them up to my mouth, pushing them inside for me to suck clean.

"Good girl, good girl," he crooned, stroking the side of my face. I leaned into his touch.

Aries unbuckled first my ankles and then my wrists, gathering me as I fell forward. He held me, stroking my hair, before stepping back and pulling the blindfold from my eyes. I blinked, disoriented, in the soft light of the room.

"You did well," he said.

"Hi," I answered giddily.

He led me back toward the fire, now burning low, and sat me on a love seat upholstered in dark orange velvet. I watched him hazily as he picked up the mouthpiece of a rotary phone, began to dial, and paused.

"Tea or hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate, please."

Aries ordered my drink and pulled up one of the chairs to sit near me.

"So," he said.

"So." I giggled, still surfing an endorphin high.

Master Aries looked at me, considering, and sat back in his chair.

"I like you, Perdita," he said finally.

I felt a girlish thrill as he said the words.

"There are a few of my colleagues I'd like you to spend some time with," he said, stroking his chin. "I'm not sure if I'll be seeing you tomorrow but I'll make arrangements for you. Please continue with the morning routine we began today. It pleases me to think of guests of mine fucking your mouth all morning, and reports from today suggest you have a talent for it."

"Thank you, Sir," I said, basking in the salacious praise.

A serving girl entered with the hot chocolate, seeming neither to notice nor care that I was naked still.

I took a sip; it was the perfect drinking temperature, and delicious.