Burning for Love (Kindred Tales)

He had announced that Lady Mildew would resume her post as Rissa’s Constant Companion and chaperone and that James would only be a personal guard, relegated to standing outside Rissa’s rooms and keeping her safe from afar. Once more, Lady Mildew was sleeping in the small bedroom at the front of Rissa’s apartments, which meant that there was no way she and James could spend any time alone together at all.

To make matters worse, the very first night of the new arrangement, Lady Mildew had realized that Rissa’s Chastity wire was broken.

“I knew it wasn’t working!” she had exclaimed, grasping the wire in one hand and tugging it fiercely when it didn’t so much as shock her. “Why didn’t you tell me, girl?”

“I…I don’t know,” Rissa had faltered.

Lady Mildew had glared at her.

“Have you been touching yourself, you dirty girl? Or letting that horrid robot touch you? Is that why you didn’t tell anyone? Disgusting!”

Rissa had felt her cheeks heating. No matter how often she reminded herself what James had taught her—that her body was her own and she should be allowed to touch it as she chose—the accusation still made her feel guilty and awful.

“I shouldn’t have to wear it anymore,” she’d said, trying to defend herself. “I own my body—I shouldn’t be forced to wear a wire that shocks me!”

Lady Mildew snorted.

“What ridiculous fol-de-rol! You do not own yourself, girl! You’re only waiting until you find a husband—he will own you. In the meantime, having a non-functioning wire is completely unacceptable. It would be ruinous to your reputation if it got out!” She glared at Rissa. “As would that kiss I saw you sharing with that nasty Kindred robot!”

For it was Lady Mildew who had caught them kissing under the trees after the duel. She, along with many other palace people, had come out to the duel grounds to see what all the commotion was about. Rissa didn’t know if she had told the Steward about the kiss or if it was just the scandal surrounding the duel, but either way, the effect was the same—James had been demoted and Lady Mildew had been restored to her former post as Rissa’s Companion.

She had watched Rissa like a hawk that night and the very next day, she’d had her fitted for a new kind of Chastity Device—one which was infinitely worse than the old silver wire she’d been wearing since the age of ten.

This new device fit around her waist like a thick, metal belt and had a silver plate which covered her pussy with only a thin slit in it. But the worst thing about it was the “plug and shield,” as Rissa had heard the two interior parts of the new device called.

The shield was a small metal triangle that fit inside the larger plate. It had stubby spikes on the inside of it that pressed right against her pussy mound and rubbed painfully against her outer lips if she moved the wrong way.

The plug was even worse. It was shaped like a long spear point that fit inside her inner channel. The blades of it—there were four of them—were dull and the tip was blunted, so that it couldn’t actually cut her, but the horrid device made sitting excruciatingly painful and Rissa had to be extremely careful of how she carried herself when she walked or moved in any way. Dancing, of course, was completely out of the question but that didn’t matter as she was currently confined to her rooms.

She had been thus confined for a week, wearing the wretched device, and her tender insides felt bruised and hurt. She cried and begged not to wear the new device, but every night after her bath, Lady Mildew forced it back inside her, saying,

“This is what dirty, disgusting girls who let their guards kiss them get. Stop your whining and take your punishment! Or do you want me to tell the whole Court what I saw?”

Of course, being unable to help herself sexually had a bad effect on Rissa’s Heat Cycle. It was ramping up again and she was once more waking up drenched in sweat and completely miserable. Not that she would have wanted to touch herself while she was in pain, she thought wretchedly. Even if she had been able to squeeze her fingers under the rigid metal of the belt, she couldn’t have reached an orgasm with the cruel plug cutting into her from within.

But worse even than the new Chastity Device was the fact that she hadn’t been allowed to see James for the entire week. She knew—from talking to her maid, Liza—that the big Kindred was always pacing just outside her door. But as he had been demoted to a mere guard, there was no reason or pretext for him to see her—especially since she was being confined, “for her own good,” until a new suitor could be found.