Leora—his glorious, naked slave—lay in her cage, not eating, but with one perfect, delicate hand between her legs.
Oh, one true star of Zandia.
Holy veck.
He wanted to return immediately to his chamber to watch—no, to tell her she was never, ever allowed to orgasm without him. The urge to be with her for every second of her pleasure made his body flush with heat, sweat to break out around his horns.
But Prince Zander arrived behind him. “Everything all right, Master Seke?”
He gulped a breath and struggled to regain his sanity. He would chastise Leora for giving herself a release when he returned, and he’d make it an enjoyable punishment for both of them. Cheered by that thought, he gave Zander a curt nod and motioned to the battle arts studio.
Zander preceded him into the studio and took his position, bowing to Seke, his master in this chamber.
Seke bowed and then swept a foot out to drop Zander to his back on the floor before the prince registered he’d begun. He’d trained the boy well, though, and Zander sprang to his feet, at once on the offensive, coming for Seke.
He parried the kicks and blows, waiting for the right moment to again take Zander by surprise, this time flipping him to his back.
His pupil did a back handspring to rise. This time, his eyes narrowed, watching his master with the awareness Seke played a different game today. This wasn’t practice. It was punishment.
Zander proved his understanding with his next move. As he picked up a wooden staff and twirled it, swinging it in Seke’s direction, he asked casually, “How goes it with Leora?”
Seke grabbed his own staff and lunged, forcing Zander back into a corner with swing after swing of the staff, which met Zander’s with increasing force each time.
“That bad, eh?” Zander dodged the strike Seke aimed for his temple and dive-rolled away, out of the corner, his wooden staff c
lacking on the floor as he took it with him.
It probably would’ve ended normally—he would have exercised Zander harder than usual, but they would have bowed to each other and parted with reverence, except he saw the read-out of Leora flash on his cuff. How the feed activated again, he wasn’t sure. As a Master Warrior, he didn’t allow such things to distract him.
But—true Zandian star—Leora had one hand between her legs, one stretched behind her to grip the plug. She writhed between them, pleasuring both holes, her flushed face vecking gorgeous.
His cock sprang against his leggings, and he must have moved instinctively because, the next thing he knew, the crack of wood on bone rang out, and the young prince crumpled and went down flat on his belly, unconscious.
Oh vecking excrement. His heart surged into his throat.
What had he done? Had he really just struck Zander on the temple?
“Daneth to the studio,” he barked into his wrist cuff, kneeling beside his royal pupil.
Zander’s eyes blinked open, irises purple from the pain. “You’re more angry than I thought,” he mumbled, pushing himself up to sit with Seke’s assistance.
He wished he could laugh at Zander’s attempt to defuse the situation, but he found no levity. He’d lost control of his emotions, of the situation. He’d allowed a female—a human female—to distract him into striking the sole living Zandian of the royal bloodline. It was unforgivable. He could have killed him with that blow!
“Forgive me, my lord,” he choked.
Zander touched his fingertips to the bruise already swelling near his eye.
Daneth burst in the room, pale and determined. “What happened?”
Zander defied their concern by jumping lightly to his feet, causing both Daneth and Seke to stand close, ready to catch him if he fell. He pushed their hovering hands away. “Seke let me know what he thought of my latest order,” the prince said mildly, his lips twisting into a rueful grin.
“Staff blow to the temple,” Seke clipped to Daneth, impatient to see Zander treated.
“A mild painkiller, no more,” Zander ordered for himself as Daneth ran his scanner over his body.
“Single contusion. Due to the location, it may cause temporary dizziness, headache, loss of vision, nausea. Requires analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and bed rest until patient has recovered,” Daneth’s scanner read in a crisp, female voice.
“I don’t need bed rest,” Zander said. “Just the painkiller.”