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madame_dennaRating: NC-17
Words: 7095
Warnings for the whole story: Mord'Sith Content, Dubious Content, Violence, Discipline
Summary: The sequel and directly following the events in 'A bond of trust that even time can't sever'. You could read this story as stand-alone, but it would make more sense to read the other first.. It explores Denna's and Cara's backstory at the People's Palace pre-show, until the events in the episode "Denna" up to the events in the episode "Bloodline".
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. They are not mine and - of course no money is made. I don't any of the characters mentioned in this story. (Even though Mistress Denna might own me.
A/N: Written for
endgirl who gave me the prompt/idea for this story (in 2012).A/N²: I shelved this in 2012 when I lost 10k of this fic in a technical mishap. I didn't feel like writing it again until now. Even though I think it might even better now... I'm glad it got it's ending after all.
Part II
Denna doesn't bring her to the dungeons this time either. For the most part, it doesn't come as a revelation as Mistress Constance could have taken Dahlia and her there. But that does not keep her from chewing on the cut in her lip all the while she trudges after Denna through the temple. When they reach the Mistress' chambers, Cara feels already a little more at ease since she now has a reasonably good idea what to expect. She doesn't in particular look forward to the whip a second time, but it is something she can deal with.
As they enter Denna's chambers however, Cara can't fail to note the rather prominent addition to the space rather swiftly. Her heart rate picks up at once as she takes in the chains that presently dangle from the high ceiling, and a rug has been moved to reveal a dark pit underneath them. The wooden wheel on the far side, to assist lift weight off the ground and into the air is a recent extension too. Cara is sure it would not have slipped her notice the first time she was there.
Denna turns to her then, hands clasped in the front, looking at her as if she handed Cara a precious gift and currently waiting for a thank you.
When Cara falls flat to deliver any kind of announcement, Denna finally speaks. "You better slip into those before we can commence." And then points to a pile of leather on the chaise, Cara hasn't spotted until now. She bows and walks over and begins to open the laces and buckles of her leathers, then secures the leather strips provided by Denna around her waist and chest. She has worn those before during her training period and it evokes a sense of normality she welcomes. When she is done, she moves over to Denna who is already awaiting her at the pit.
The shackles are rapidly bolted around her wrists, and Denna seems to delight in placing them on a little more than Cara feels thoroughly comfortable with. But once the second metal clasp clinks shut, Denna wastes no time and proceeds to suspend her into the air with the aid of the wheel. Customarily it's two of her sisters to rotate it, but with Denna alone — which is by her design no doubt — it takes moderately longer than usual. But the strain on her wrists and shoulders as her body weight is placed upon them or how the shackles dig into her skin remain the same.
Once she sways back and forth over the ground Denna comes back around to face her and looks altogether satisfied with her handiwork. Cara reckons Denna is going to make her suffer, paint her leathers red with Cara's blood until she howls and pleads for it to be over. What she doesn't predict is Denna turning on her heel and heading out.
An hour later, Cara begins to wonder for how long she is going to be waiting for the First Mistress to reappear, but then she doesn't imagine it to take much longer, since evening devotions are mandatory for everyone, so the blonde must return before then if she actually wants to train her.
She doesn't. The chime for the evening devotions comes and goes, but Denna stays disturbingly absent. Her eyes stay trained on the hourglass on the desk, but the sand hardly seems to run at all the longer she looks at it. The illumination in Denna's chambers dims with the passing of time. Eventually it's completely dark but for the faint shimmer of stars not quite bright enough for Cara to make out the hourglass any longer. Denna still doesn't come back.
Sometime later she awakes with a start, swinging in the air from her sudden movement - for an instant fully unaware of her surroundings and her psychical predicament. Only as the memories of the day return to her, Cara becomes aware of where she is and what she is doing there. She must have been asleep for a few hours, she muses, but she can't tell for sure. But as her mind regains full alertness she registers the change to the previous situation. A few candles have been lightened, that are strategically arranged in a circle, illuminating barely enough space around her that she could walk three steps in either direction - if she could walk that is. The chamber is still as peaceful as it was before and Cara chides herself for failing to notice Denna's brief reappearance to light the candles.
But somehow Cara supposes, there wouldn't have been much to be done to prevent the older Mord'Sith from leaving in her present situation. Her arms and shoulders are aching under the constant strain already and Cara releases an audible breath as she shifts, relieving one side for a brief moment, then the other. She can't recall the last time she spent such an extended period over a blood pit. It has been hours, but not as long as this. It must be something between eight to twelve hours by now, Cara muses.
It is about ten minutes in infinite silence, before she catches it. And she knows the noise of creaking leather well, as it is as familiar to her as the pain of the Agiel.
She is not alone. The sheer possibility that Denna might be in the room with her the entire time — watching her out of the bottomless shadows around her — sends her pulse rushing so deafeningly in her ears that she can't seem to make out any other sound any longer. But then she doesn't detect a thing for a lengthy period of time after - regardless of the fact that her pulse settles back down to leisurely pace. And Cara begins to wonder if she has merely imagined it.
But then there is a second sound, more creaking of leather, then heavy wood scraping against stone. In the semi-darkness right in front of her, she can now make out an armchair and a silhouette of a person who pushes the chair closer into the twilight, then sits down on it again. Cara can't make out a face, just a figure clad in dark red leather, arms outstretched across the armrests and one leg crossed on top of the other. The upper half still stays in the shadows, but Cara has seen Denna often enough that she is reasonably convinced it is her. It doesn't help the uneasiness she feels, though.
But she won't address Denna either, even though the other Mord'Sith is simply sitting there, utterly motionless and examines her. The apprehension still settles heavier in her belly the longer the silence unfolds, even if Cara knows it's the very reason why Denna is doing this in the first place. To agitate her.
But Cara chooses to wait her out. She might be in a position in which she has to obey Denna's demands, but until now she hasn't gotten any. And Cara is not that easy to rattle, not even by Denna. At least she is more competent at concealing it than Dahlia.
It requires another half a candle-mark for Denna to finally speak and it feels like an eternity to Cara. "Tell me about Dahlia."
It's most likely the last inquiry Cara anticipated and she has been through a few in the previous couple of hours, but she responds anyway. "Dahlia and I grew up together and then became Mord'Sith at the same time. We have been here ever since."
Denna states nothing in response, but Cara can hear her hum in what might be acknowledgment.
"And you are close companions, isn't that right?" Denna wants to know, now with a hint of ridicule in her tone Cara doesn't care for.
"We are Mord'Sith. We are sisters." She responds emphatically.
"I see." Denna comments, but Cara senses she doesn't. Both of Denna's gloved hands curl around the armrests and Cara can hear it rather than see, but then Denna rises from the chair. As she saunters into the light, Cara can finally make out her face, which seems nearly white as a sheet in the dim light - her painted lips and her leathers appear so much darker. It gives her an air of perilousness that Cara tries to pay no attention to.
"So... Dahlia trains you then?" Denna asks at last, unhurriedly walking around her, circling her like a hunter its prey.
"No."
"No?" Denna inquires, halting out of sight, which makes it worse.
"But you train her with your Agiel?" She inquires, moving again.
"I have." Cara answers truthfully. Those are all facts Denna could have obtained far easier than chaining her up and interrogating her. And they both know it.
"You like to be in control." Denna remarks, stepping back into her line of vision. "You want them to do your bidding." Denna nods, as if she comprehends but it seems insincere. "So you enjoy making them submit to you?"
"I do." Cara answers. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Mord'Sith do that all the time. Denna herself does it this very moment. At least Cara guesses she might.
For the first time this night, Denna invades her personal space and steps so close Cara can feel her exhalation wash over her face when Denna speaks next. The inquisition tone is substituted for something intimate, something sweet like poisoned honey. "Would you enjoy making me submit to you?" Her lips are so close now, that if Cara were to moisten her lips her tongue would graze Denna's. She looks up at Cara from beneath her eyelashes, all the while shifting, barely preventing the brush of their lips. "Would you?"
Denna's sudden proximity drives her to the brink of madness, but she understands she is being evaluated. Either she reveals the truth, or Denna will recognize she is telling a lie - so she doesn't. "I would take a lot of pleasure in it."
Denna's lips twist into a smile then, and it is the first genuine emotion Cara has seen all day. "Unfortunately for you, Sister Cara..." Denna's tone drops low and Cara straight away knows it only begins this instant. "... you're not in a position to make that call."
She hears the Agiel before she sees it, but then it is already touching her skin.
And for the remainder of their time together, Denna makes sure it doesn't depart from there for very long.
---
When Cara encounters Dahlia the following morning in the dining hall, her dark-haired sister is equally unresponsive as she is. The meal goes by in silence, and Cara eats with ravenous appetite since she hasn't consumed anything since breakfast the day before.
"Didn't see you at dinner or the evening devotions yesterday." Dahlia murmurs at last, quiet enough so no one else will be able to overhear.
"I was still at my training session then." She mumbles, feeling slightly bitter that Dahlia got not more than a few hours with Constance. Dahlia's eyes widen comically. "Until when?"
"I don't know, maybe three or four?" She sighs. "Did not spend much time noting anything at the end of that. What is it now, a quarter past six?" It is a rhetorical question, and Cara knows that Dahlia knows it is.
"Hm.. I can't say I envy you for that." Dahlia says, and Cara detects the compassion in her tone - knows she cares. It's perfectly enough.
She suppresses a yawn and glances over to the table where the group of maturer Mord'Sith usually take a seat and somehow she hasn't assumed to catch a glimpse of Denna there as well. But she does. While Cara's entire body stings everywhere, Denna still worked her Agiel on her for hours and got just as little rest as she did. Although she doesn't look like it, Cara recognizes with clenched teeth.
When Denna glimpses over some time later and winks at her, it makes her blood boil but she smiles through it up till Denna looks elsewhere and doesn't look back for the remainder of the meal. Cara is aware she should just leave it be, but something about her causes Cara to make impulsive decisions.
---
Days turn into weeks while Cara tries hard to return back to the routine as it was in the past.
A lot of time is spent down in the dungeons where she trains the recruits with eagerness and a brutality that even her sisters give her a wide berth when she encounters them in the corridors.
---
"Are you joining me in the baths tonight?" Cara asks Dahlia on their way to the dining hall one evening, looking forwards to the hot water and the recreation it provides.
"I wish." Dahlia grumbles. At Cara's asking stare she adds, "Mistress Denna volunteered me to scrub the dungeon cells this evening. Again."
This is the first Cara hears about the matter, but then she hasn't seen Dahlia for a while, with her own preoccupation with the recruits training.
"Oh?"
"Yeah..." Dahlia says imploringly. "It's like the fifth or so time in the previous couple of weeks. I just don't fathom why she despises me so much."
They don't talk about it again, but Cara can't stop but wonder. Why indeed.
---
"Sister Cara?"
It's her master's voice sounding out behind her and Cara is bowing low before she has even completely turned around. "Yes, my Lord?"
"I was wondering..." He says as he steps closer, raising a hand to her face and brushes with the back of his forefinger over her cheek. "... if you would care to join me in my chambers after sunset?"
"Of course, my Lord." She rushes out, but he must catch the flicker of hesitation in her eyes. "You're not still untouched, are you?"
"No, my Lord. I... Mistress Denna took care of that..."
"One of Denna’s girls..." Lord Rahl drawls languidly. "I see. No matter then... Hurry along."
With a wave of his hand, he dismisses her, and Cara continues on her way - not entirely sure what has happened to the conversation. And why he changed his mind after she mentioned the older Mord'Sith.
---
It is late as she vacates the dungeons in the hours of darkness and Cara feels rather satisfied with herself. Even if it was a tiring session, it was a successful one at last. After weeks of training her pet had finally broken under the sting of her Agiel, unable to withstand her ruthless training any longer. For a short time Cara considers retreating to her chambers, but then there is blood all over her leathers and in her hair so she decides to make for the temple baths instead.
As she enters though, she is instantly aware of the presence of her sisters in the pool and stops short, still in the shadows. She can't make out who it is, but there is undoubtedly pleasure involved.
It's not like that Cara is supposed to leave, she could nevertheless use the pool, despite her fellow sisters and they would presumably leave or stop doing whatever they are doing once they detect her. But then Cara doesn't particular care for spoiling her sisters satisfaction tonight either.
She has already turned around and cracked open the door as the whimper flutters over to her, "oh Mistress Denna, please don't stop."
Her hand curls around the door handle so fiercely, she has to compel herself to let it go as the muscles shudder under the strain. Another heedless moan reaches her ears, then a grunt. Cara's heart begins to race as she listens to the sighs and mewls coming from the pool.
At the sound of Denna's voice, whispering to her companion in that low tone followed closely by an additional noise of pleasure. Cara turns around. The sight before her causes her to feel ill all of the sudden and she fights down the vehement urge to retch right there all over the damp stone. Her heart hammers in her chest, pounding against her rib cage painfully. She feels disgusted with herself for suffering such a radical reaction to stumbling upon Denna with another of their sisters and tries to clamp down on it, but it's to no use at all.
When she hears Denna purr, "Good girl," she flees the bathing chambers and heads straight for the sanctuary of her chambers. Her heart wraps around her lungs and strangles her.
---
The next day, dinner is practically over, and Cara gets away with glaring at Denna ever so often. She eyes the pieces of apple left on her plate with disdain before she looks up again. When she turns to Denna this time though, the blonde Mord'Sith is staring right at her. Cara doesn't turn away and for a long while they merely observe one another until after some time Denna arches a brow in question — or challenge — Cara isn't sure.
She knows, she shouldn't provoke Denna further than she at present is. But then there is this reckless fire burning inside her that wants to know how far she can take it. Probably as far as the next blood pit, but still.
Denna narrows her eyes at her, and Cara can witness how her mood shifts - and not for the better. A moment later Denna is suddenly standing, her chair scrapping loudly over the floor as it flies backwards and all eyes in the dining hall turn to the First Mistress. Only she - still just stares at Cara, eyes blazing and about to come over and rip her throat out.
Finally Cara breaks eye-contact. Her heart racing.
She doesn't look back at Denna for the remainder of the meal and feigns ignorance as Dahlia questions her later if she has noted something that might brought this on. At least she didn't notice, so probably no one has.
Cara doesn't need the entire temple gossiping about her - or the rather perplexing relationship Cara has with the First Mistress all of the sudden.
---
A few days later, Cara finds herself back in the temple baths, relaxing her aching muscles she can finally emerge in hot water again without dying of agony. By the time she wades out and up the stairs Cara is the last one left in the pool. She may or may not enjoyed a brief nap and managed to do so without drowning. She takes that as a good sign.
A few of the other sisters are still lingering about when she ventures into the changing room, deciding against donning her leathers and use her towel for the short walk down the corridor to her chambers. When she steps out into the pool area, the rest of her sisters have already gone and she is about to do the same when a hand clutches her neck and slams her body forcefully into the next wall. She reacts swiftly enough to jerk her head to the side, so she doesn't leave with a fractured nose, but not quick enough to prevent it altogether. She is about to defend herself, push back from the wall when a familiar scent reaches her nostrils and she instantly identifies who her attacker is. One, she can't punch in the face, however much she might want to.
A body presses up behind her a moment later, forcing her snugly against the stone.
"What am I going to do about you, Cara?" Denna whispers in her ear and Cara shivers despite herself as Denna's lips graze her wet skin. It is not a question Denna wants to be answered, so she waits.
"What is it that you want, hm?" The older Mord'Sith has her still pinioned firmly against the wall and if it were any other of her sisters they wouldn't be. Denna remains the only one she doesn't yet dare to defy. Even though she is not altogether satisfied about the reasons behind it.
The hand on her neck twists her head painfully, exposing more of her throat to Denna's exploration. She is not kissing her, but merely brushes her lips from her exposed shoulder up to the shell of her ear. A part of her wants to tell Denna to fuck off; another wants her even closer. And while she is trying to decide which direction to follow, her heart gradually picks up its pace. Denna, whispering in her ear, isn't helping either.
"Do you desire me to hurt you?" Denna purrs, tightening the grip she has on her neck and Cara escapes a strangled sound from her throat. One she hopes Denna won't take as confirmation either way. "You must." Denna growls and Cara can feel the words reverberate in her chest. "Defying me like that." Denna rams her more firmly against the wall, forcing the air from her lungs in a hiss, before she pulls slightly back again. "Is it that what you want, Cara?"
With no answer forthcoming, Denna goes on. "Or is it something else entirely?" Cara wonders for a brief moment why all of her other sisters have vanished from the baths all of the sudden, but then realizes it's likely the same reason that has her up against a wall. Cara can practically see her fellows sisters scatter with nothing but a terse incline of the First Mistress' head.
"Do you want me to touch you?" Denna husks, scarcely audible and Cara needs to strain to discern it. Denna's lips graze over that sensitive spot on her neck and she shudders involuntary. Her heart is beating up to her throat by now, and she finds herself unable to say even no. Smooth lips brush over that spot once more and Cara groans, her palms seek leverage against the flat stone.
"Is it that what you want from me?" Denna asks again and Cara feels the answer settle as a vibrant throb between her thighs. And it is too much - all of it, the other woman's closeness, the firm fingers around her neck and the First Mistress whispering in her ear and Cara pushes herself backward, but Denna slams her right back with vigor.
"Tell me, Cara." Denna purrs, as if nothing has happened. She becomes suddenly acutely aware of the hand on her left thigh, bare beneath gloved fingers. And it is just as feathery as the lips against her neck, barely touching, but enough to send the throb between her legs into a vigorous frenzy. "Do you want me to touch you like I did before?" Denna continues, her hand now trailing upward. As it slips beneath the hem of Cara's towel, she asks again. "Do you, Cara?"
The gloved fingers are almost where Cara wants them most, each breath she takes has her pressing more firmly against Denna's front. But she can't admit to any of the things Denna wants her to say, can she? But then Denna's tongue trails up her neck to her ear, sucking the lobe into her mouth and she quivers when the older Mord'Sith bites down.
"I need you to tell me - now." Denna rasps into her ear once she releases the soft flesh from between her teeth, her stilled hand burning hot against the skin at the juncture of Cara's legs.
She says "please" even before she can make a conscious choice about it and two fingers slip inside her with one quick thrust. Cara hears a moan and for the love of the creator can't tell for sure if it came from Denna or from herself. But then Denna thrusts inside her again and she groans as the fingers sink deeper and knows the one before must have been Denna's.
"Oh Cara," Denna murmurs against her skin, and Cara feels her everywhere. The hand around her neck, the lips against her skin and the buckles of her leather scrapping over her back each time Denna forces her against the wall. "...you are so wet for me."
And it sounds so indecent and dirty, spoken like that and Cara whimpers as the older Mord'Sith drives inside her again. A gloved slick thumb finds her clit and Denna shifts, her holstered Agiel pressing against Cara's exposed skin and the combination of pleasure and pain sends her tumbling over the brink in no time at all.
By the time Denna pulls out, the skin on her upper thighs and chest not covered by the towel, leave a distinct red smear against the wall. Something Cara will come to regret by tomorrow. Denna still stands behind her, equally out of breath and Cara is grateful the other Mord'Sith hasn't stepped away yet, for she is unsure if her legs will hold her upright.
"That certainly answers a few questions." Denna says and Cara can hear the smirk in her tone. She makes to turn around and this time, Denna lets her. The blonde purrs as she takes in the abraded skin on her chest, trailing a finger over it, coating the tip with fresh blood. Cara watches her, leaning against the stone as Denna sucks it into her mouth, lips quirking upwards as she tastes it.
A moment later she leans in, slow and deliberate, blue eyes open as she presses her lips to Cara's. Only as her tongue slips past her lips her eyes flutter closed, forcing Cara against the stone once more.
When she pulls back at last, Denna lingers close, her cheek brushing softly against Cara's. "Don't ever challenge me like that again." Denna whispers and there is a dark and cold quality to her voice that has the hairs on the back of Cara's neck stand up. "There will be no opportunity for you to be sorry later."
Cara swallows hard against the lump forming in her throat. "Yes, Mistress."
"Very good." Denna murmurs as she pulls back. She leaves without another word.
Cara closes her eyes, breathing in and out, before she pushes herself off the wall to gather her leathers.
---
Cara is still breathing hard, bend over Denna's desk when she feels her Mistress' body pressing against the length of her own, bucking her hips teasingly forward. "What do we say?" She purrs against Cara's ear, and Cara can't fathom how a sound is able to send liquid fire to her loins, even after a mind-shattering orgasm that just teared through her.
"Thank you, Mistress." Cara says, reveling in the continued skin to skin contact, as she regains her breath. Cara has certainly explored the pleasures of the flesh, but what Denna does to her body is something else, something none of her fellow sisters come close to achieving. And she finds herself wanting for Denna more often than any of the others recently. So much so that even Dahlia gives her weird looks when she turns down her offer to relieve some of her tension.
"Lord Rahl has inquired, if you were available to service him in his bedchambers." Denna mentions rather conversationally. She doesn't move from her position above, and Cara can feel her lips trail over the plain of her back, licking and nibbling at the skin in her path. Cara waits for her to continue, utterly confused once more about the subject - and as to why Denna of all people is broaching it to her. "You should think about it. If you were so inclined, it could improve your standing among your sisters, if Lord Rahl takes a liking to you."
She pauses, then adds like an afterthought barely worth mentioning. "Not above me, of course."
Denna sucks her skin into her mouth, then bites down harshly and Cara groans, straining against the pain Denna's mouth inflicts upon her. But then she lets go, soothing the mark she has undoubtedly left on Cara's back with her tongue.
"But if you decide, you would rather not join him; it will stay the way it is now. You wouldn't need fearing his acrimony over the matter either." Denna continues, slowly disentangling from Cara, her hand sliding over her behind as she stands.
Cara grasps all of what Denna is telling her and wonders anew why Denna is the one speaking to her about it now, instead of Darken Rahl when he initially approached her. It sounds to her as if Denna has a say in the matter and she doesn't know how to feel about that - or if it is even the logical conclusion she draws from all this.
"How would you know he wouldn't still command me to, if I should decline?" She asks, slowly rising from Denna's hard wood desk and sits back on the edge, facing the other Mord'Sith.
"Because..." Denna says slowly as she steps forward once more, pressing herself between Cara's legs until they are fused together again. Cara elevates her legs to fold around her Mistress without thinking about it, it is a reflex which Denna endorses with a low humming.
"The Lord Rahl and I have an arrangement." Denna discloses, her voice already a shade lower than a moment ago as she rocks her hips, making Cara gasp when she hits her right there. Then she leans forwards, seizing Cara's lower lip between her teeth and bites down, not nearly enough to the break the skin but hard enough to make Cara pull Denna's hips once more against her as her arousal flares gradually back to life. "As First Mistress I have been granted certain privileges, and one of those is the liberty to choose a few of my fellow sisters or pets for my pleasure. Within reason of course."
Denna kisses her then, slow and languid, but Cara is keenly aware of the hand sliding down between their bodies. "And the ones I choose, belong to me and only me for however long I see fit." Denna whispers against her lips, as two of her fingers slide through her wetness. "And you, Cara..." She husks, sliding those fingers inside Cara with one slick thrust. "...are mine."
A strangled moan stays Cara's sole response.
"Or have you forgotten how I claimed you?" Denna asks, placing the force of her thigh behind her next thrust. "How I took you for the first time?" She pulls back out, and drives inside again, slow but deep and Cara feels her legs beginning to quiver.
"Have you, Cara?" Her tone low and dark, as she pushes long fingers even deeper.
"I haven't forgotten." Cara gasps out, her breath hitching when Denna's thumb finds her clit.
"Do you think about that night often?" Denna wonders, her tongue trailing up the side of her neck as she urges her hips forward again, making Cara whimper with the force behind it. "When you're alone in your chambers at night?"
"Yes." Cara bites out. Because she does, and she can't lie to Denna, at least not now while her mind is otherwise occupied.
She picks up a steady rhythm then, and Cara can barely comprehend anymore what the older woman is asking her, with the pleasure steadily rising inside her. She's almost there again. "Do you touch yourself when you think about my fingers knuckle deep inside you?" Denna whispers into her ear, thrusting faster up inside her, their skin now meeting each time with an obscene wet slap. "Do you, Cara?"
"I do." Cara moans out, barely holding on. Denna is panting now too, her other hand hard against the small of Cara's back, holding her steady as she continues to fuck her senseless.
"Please, Mistress." Cara whispers, before Denna claims her lips in a short brutal kiss, barely pulling back. "Come for me then."
And Cara's body heeds the command without her having a say, strains and trembles as the orgasm rolls over her in waves. She can feel herself clenching around Denna's fingers and then the pleasure ebbs away as she comes down from the high, but the thumb on her clit flickers hard across the slick flesh and forces her right back at - and then over the edge for a second time.
When she opens her eyes at last, Denna regards her - looking way too smug while doing so.
"How many are there?" Cara asks in lieu of nothing, her center still pulsing heavily with the aftershocks. She doesn't even comprehend why she asks it. It doesn't really matter to her... It does not matter at all. She would just like to know... She hasn't forgotten about the girl in the pool either. But she won't mention that incident.
"Hm?" Denna inquires, but Cara can't answer right away, as Denna's tongue flickers over the fingers that were not so long ago buried inside her. Cara swallows hard at the forcible tug that comes at the sight of it.
But then Denna arches a brow in reference to her question and she remembers the matter of the previous conversation. "How many have you claimed for yourself?"
Denna studies her curiously for a moment or two, before she touches her still sticky fingers to Cara's lips.
"A few." She husks, before sliding her fingers into Cara's mouth. It is not the answer she was looking for but it's not like twenty either. Cara can live with a few. It might even be a few over the course of several years. But then Denna possesses the right to claim a few. And the answer truly divulges nothing at all.
Denna's breath hitches when her tongue slides around the digits, licking and sucking the taste of her own arousal off of them. The fingers of Denna's other hand sink into the pliant flesh on her waist as she watches, and Cara is sure Denna is not even aware she is doing it. Her gaze is trained on Cara's lips, watching as her fingers appear and sink into her mouth, her eyes more black than blue. A low-pitched sound escapes her throat as Cara sucks hard, and Denna pushes them a bit farther inside. The fingers at her side are clutching her so hard by now that Cara is absolutely certain she will find five finger-shaped bruises adorn her skin there come tomorrow.
Her tongue swirls in between the fingers and Denna groans, wrenches them out of Cara's mouth and replaces them with her tongue an instant later.
Cara doesn't know where exactly it is coming from, but she experiences this undeniable need to mark Denna. And it is hardly about a mark here or a bruise there. But she wants Denna to want her. To crave her like she craves Denna. Wants Denna to think about her when she touches herself, longs for her Mistress to want no one else but her.
Her fingers are trailing up the inside of Denna's thighs before she scarcely makes a choice about it. This is nothing Denna typically allows her to do, not without giving permission first. But this desperate need inside her makes her reckless and she travels very slow, so Denna has ample opportunity to call it off, but to her rising excitement - she doesn't. And Cara trails her fingers over the length of her sex, not probing deeper merely strokes her. Denna's breathing is ragged now, her kisses wet and open mouthed, her lips distinctively swollen and without their usual coat of crimson due to all their previous activity. And while she continues to stroke her, Cara watches her in fascination. She has this lascivious look about her, only enhanced by her state of disarray and Cara finds herself unable to close her eyes.
As she finally slips one of her fingers deeper, Denna moans into her mouth, as she finds her Mistress wet and evidently wanting. Without further delay she spreads the wetness, circling the swollen numb she finds at the apex of her thighs. Another sound escapes Denna's mouth and with her still standing in front of the table and in between Cara's parted legs, she can feel how Denna's legs begin to tremble under her ministrations.
By now Denna is hardly kissing her back any longer, eyes closed and thoroughly engrossed in her pleasure. Cara works her harder and Denna's breathing picks up almost immediately. Her fingers curl around Cara's thighs and leave another set of marks to admire later. She bites Denna's lip in turn as the pain surges through her like a peal of thunder and settles as a dull throb between her legs. She releases Denna's lip from her mouth then, kisses her way up the pale neck to a point she knows Denna fancies and is a rewarded with a low whimper, that has her own core throbbing in no time.
She flickers a little faster over the slick flesh beneath her fingers, trailing kisses back across Denna's jaw when she notices Denna is looking at her, eyes only half open, but nonetheless regarding her closely. There has blood gathered on Denna's lower lip, and Cara realizes it must be from were she has bitten down earlier, a single drop already spilled over, leaving a glaring trail of red against fair skin. That Denna hasn't backhanded her for it yet, surprises her to say at least, but not enough to stop touching her now.
Denna trembles hard, and Cara can see how much restraint it costs her to stay upright. Her mouth finds the spot of blood on Denna's chin and she trails her tongue up its path until she finds the blonde's mouth, kissing her once before pulling back to be able to look at her again. Flickering her fingers just so while Denna holds her gaze, her eyelids flutter but never close, until at last release seizes her entirely. Cara reaches out to hold her upright as she shivers through her pleasure, a strangled sound escaping her lips as she leans heavily against Cara, her breath warm and fast against her neck.
It virtually takes a minute before she straightens back up, her face unreadable but for the flicker of something that could almost be... worry.
It is gone before Cara can analyze it further, but it makes her wonder about the reasons.
"So, are you willing to serve Lord Rahl in his bedchambers?" Denna asks subsequently, bending down to retrieve the cream-colored robe she has discarded there earlier. "You don't have to decide promptly, you can think about it. But not for too long." Denna adds, as she pulls the robe over her skin and secures the belt before she sits down on the desk's chair, legs crossed. Even like this, as a total contradiction to what all of the others see of the First Mistress, bare under a robe of silk, her braid in disarray and partly untangled — she still looks fearsome and ravishing at once, Cara muses — then startles at the thought. Her cheeks flare with sudden heat and she sends prayers to the creator it won't show on her skin.
She looks elsewhere while she considers Denna's question, who is once more observing her in that irritating fashion of hers. It makes her skin crawl. But then Cara would never admit it and provide her the pleasure of doing so. But she has to remind herself to be thoughtful, that even if Denna has taken some kind of interest in her nowadays, it likely won't last. Not even for very long. And those notions about thirsting to be someone significant to the First Mistress are treacherous as they are foolish. Could add up to her downfall. Sentiments she cannot harbour in the time to come. It is an infatuation with Denna's predominance, her prestige - nothing more. Cara needs to keep that in mind and under critical scrutiny. And even if she would rather not invest personal time with the Lord Rahl, she won't be weak. She doesn't want to be solely one among many. Even if she has to wait until Denna is no more, Cara wants to be the one waiting in her shadow and step up once the window of opportunity arises.
"I wouldn't mind it." She says, trying hard to give no infliction whatsoever. Denna scrutinizes her still, but offers no indication as to if the answer pleases her- or not, either. Cara clamps down on the disappointment rising at the non-reaction, clamps down on her growing need for Denna to be proud of her.
"Very well." Denna says after all, her tone even and she could be talking about how often she has her leathers cleaned instead of the fact the woman she is sleeping with, engages in another intimate relationship with their lord and master. But then - it is never that easy or simple. With Denna even less. Cara bites the insides of her cheeks, revels in the instant gratification the pain offers, distracting herself from the overwhelming urge to bolt from Denna's presence.
It is only making matters worse. Once upon a time she felt miserable because she didn't see Denna enough, now that she does it makes her feel even worse. But it's not Denna's fault, but her own, because she has all those confusing emotions bubbling up inside her. And she doesn't want them anymore - she wants for Denna to take them back. Loathes her for invoking them in the first place.
Maybe she should seek someone to train her - to compel them to go away. But Denna would find out, she always does. And Cara can't tell her either. She would mock her for it until the end of time and Cara would never ascend the ranks.
"But if you’re going to do this - you'll have to learn a few things first." Denna's eyes trail up her body and Cara can see that Denna likes what she sees. And she discovers herself inhaling deeper when she feels her Mistress' gaze on her chest almost like a physical touch.
"And I am going to show you. Jus primae noctis, and all that." Denna winks at her, her lips tugging upwards.
"I believe you already cashed that in, Mistress." Cara adds, not entirely immune to the smile she sees forming.
"But there are so many first times for many remarkable things." Denna says, her smile now real and fully there as she gives up on the pretense that it isn't.
"What kind of things." Cara inquires, then she can genuinely solely think of one. Which Denna is unable to provide, for missing certain physical attributes alone.
"Oh, allow me to show you instead..." Denna drawls, as she reaches for one of the drawers in her desk.
Denna proves her wrong. And really, Cara shouldn't even be surprised about it at this point.
Part IV
