His Human Prisoner (Zandian Masters 2)

He didn’t mind—what he had in store was far better.

He fingered the aromatic root he’d cut into perfect form and wrapped for her punishment. “Come, Lily.” He picked up her hand.

She glanced up at him through her thick lashes, lips parted, the copper sheet of her hair falling over one shoulder. By the Zandian moons, she was lovely. So vecking lovely. Maybe he wouldn’t return her to Zander. The prince didn’t deserve two females this beautiful. He could make it part of his price for leading an army of airships on the Finn. One hundred thousand steins and your mate’s sister as my...what? Slave? No, he’d been thinking mate.

Vecking excrement.

He ushered his slave into his chamber and locked the door. “Since your bottom is too tender for more punishment, I had to devise another means to exact retribution on you today.”

She didn’t flinch, but her pupils narrowed, and she tensed. She was a little warrior of sorts, too. The kind who remained alert to all dangers, bending but neve

r breaking.

He shifted the sitting platform to the middle of the room and sank into it. “Take off the shirt.”

She pulled it over her head in one fluid motion and tossed it on the floor in a small show of defiance.

His lips twitched. “Pick that up and fold it neatly, pet. You know I won’t tolerate insolence.”

Something deadened behind her eyes, and he regretted whatever he’d said that had triggered her emotional shutdown. He definitely didn’t want her disengaged.

“Or, rather,” he tried to fix it, “I’ll punish you for insolence. That doesn’t mean I don’t expect it now and then.”

It worked. She returned, curiosity flickering behind her eyes. “What made you like this? How did you learn you liked…” she swallowed, seeming unable to finish.

“To punish?” He smiled. “I had a lover—Depri’s sister, actually. She loved pain. Loved to have control forced away from her, to be held down and hurt in a way that didn’t cause lasting harm.”

“What happened to her?”

He’d known she’d ask the question, and braced himself for the sharp jab that always lanced through him when he thought of it. This time, though, it seemed less painful than usual. “She was killed during a transaction.” To the day he died, he would regret not going instead of her. It should have been him who had fallen that day.

Lily paled. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

He shrugged. “It’s been a long time. Almost four solar cycles now.” He needed to redirect this conversation before his mood went south. “But I learned many things with her. How to torture a female in the ways that fulfill the most.” He flashed a wicked, promising smile. “Now, lie over my lap.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “I thought you weren’t going to spank me.”

He grinned. “That doesn’t mean I don’t still own your ass. So when I say bend over, you’d better obey quickly, pet, or I’ll make the punishment more challenging than I already planned it to be.”

A shiver visibly ran through her, but she did as he commanded, gingerly folding herself over his thighs and presenting her perfect little ass.

“Reach back and pull open your cheeks.”

“What?” He sensed more confusion than disobedience in her tone.

“You heard me.”

She shot him a questioning look, but reached her hands back and prized her cheeks apart.

He unwrapped the root and worked the freshly peeled end, which he’d carved in the shape of a finger, against her anus.

She clenched her back pucker, tightening her ass.

He slapped the back of her thigh. “Do you need a spanking, too?”

“No.” He loved the sullenness in her tone.

He popped each cheek once, anyway. “Open up.” Wiggling the end of the root against her back entrance, he applied steady pressure.