For You I Suffer Part 24
I was still attempting to accept my flash of insight when the Slaburry ambassador shot my master a glance that barely hid his ire.
"Fine," he said, his oily tone darkened by annoyance if not outright anger. "But I shall hold you to your word, Baron. See that you do not attempt to thwart me in this, or our trade agreement will disappear like a feather on the wind."
With the dire warning fully expressed, Kushrenada took his leave, causing me to stumble as he swept past where Quatre and I stood. I could feel the heat from the burning glance he ran over me as our paths crossed, and I was left with the most unnerving feeling of foreboding I'd yet known.
But when the last swish of the ambassador's cape had fluttered into silence, I found myself once again where I most wished to be - with my lord and love. Heero was staring intently at the doorway through which Kushrenada had disappeared, but I was not fazed that his attention was not fixed upon me. For at last I was with him as I longed for since waking up alone that morning. It had been an endless, trying day as I'd struggled against my wayward lust and my untenable attraction for the gamesman. Yet just being in my master's presence was enough to place my heart back upon the proper path.
I fell gratefully to my knees, my gaze shyly taking in the beauty of my baron's aspect. Eagerly my mind shunned the memories of loneliness at finding myself abandoned in my master's bed. Instead my thoughts clung stubbornly to the unspeakable pleasures of the night before. My body responded instantly to the suggestion, and in a moment I was again ready to experience the wondrous rapture of my master's possession. My body clenched wantonly around the dildo lodged within me, and I lowered my gaze, my cheeks flushed with shame as my trainer spoke.
"Well," Quatre began, clearly nonplussed by the Slaburry delegate's incivility. "As you see, my lord, I've returned Duo to you no worse for wear from his exertions. Apparently Master Trowa was quite pleased with him, so I'm certain he will request Duo's services again in the future." The blond favored me with a fond smile, his bright eyes shining with pride. "So, I will leave him with you and wish you both a good ni...."
"The hour is late," Heero interrupted, "but I still have some work to finish before I can retire. Take Duo to Helen."
That was the extent of his instruction. I gaped at him, my chest aching with disappointment that we were yet again to be separated and with the realization that my baron had not once looked at me since Kushrenada's departure. Was my offense - whatever it might be - yet so great that he wished to be rid of me? No! I would not allow my insecurities to dictate any conclusions. If I was to be entrusted to Helen's care, then clearly I would see him again, though perhaps not as quickly as I desired.
Quatre blinked at Heero for a moment before sketching a quick nod of compliance and gathering up my chain. I schooled myself to patience and smothered a disheartened sigh as he urged me to my feet. With bows - accompanied by a "good evening" on his part and silence on mine - we took our leave of the baron, who was already deeply involved in whatever tasks dared divert his attention from me.
~*~
When Helen led me from the bath chamber back into the main sitting room - my hair shining, my skin scrubbed a becoming pink, and my dildo removed for the evening as was to become commonplace - I was gratified to see that Heero had returned. I sank to my knees as gracefully as I might, and lowered my eyes properly to the thick carpet as Helen patted me on the head and bid us all a good night.
The baron and my trainer barely acknowledged her departure, so intent were they on their conversation. I did not attempt to eavesdrop, but with only the crackle of the fire to disturb the quiet it was rather impossible not to overhear. When I finally understood the import of their exchange I heartily wished my hearing was less acute.
"My lord, didn't you wish to delay this for a few more days?"
"Circumstances have bid me revise my schedule," my baron replied in response to Quatre's query. "Kushrenada knows that the country needs this accursed treaty and he's forcing my hand."
"So, you're going to grant his request?" My trainer's blond brow furrowed with confusion. "I thought you'd decided to refuse him? To allow this...."
Quatre must have become aware of my presence at that moment, for his blue eyes turned to me, full of concern.
To allow what? Whatever it was clearly concerned me and I silently begged him to explain, but his lips closed in a firm line. Instead, he stepped over to me to gather up my chain though his stiff shoulders decried his reluctance. I glanced up at him, surprised to see him look toward my baron with an almost resentful glare.
"It is not my place to second guess you, my lord, but Duo is not chattel to be bartered. He is a gift to be bestowed upon those who are deserving of him. The ambassador is most unworthy of such a gift."
I froze as his meaning became clear. I thought back to what I'd learned earlier in the baron's study, that I was to prepare to endure some ordeal. It seemed that my nights spent exclusively for the baron's pleasure were coming to an end. Was I to be given away so easily? My heart railed at the very notion and I glanced upward through my lashes at my master hoping for some refutation of my alarming suspicions. But my baron's notice was solely for Quatre as for a long moment Heero met my trainer's gaze with a glare of his own. Then he turned toward the fire, his attention fixed upon the dancing flames.
"I've said all I will on the subject," he said dismissively. "I have more to think about in this matter than my own wishes."
"My lord, that's your aunt talking." Quatre's ill-advised interjection earned him a dark scowl that frightened me nearly as much as it stirred my wayward blood. My baron was magnificent in his ire, and my quickening pulse betrayed its affect upon me, penetrating even through my foreboding.
"You've said quite enough." Though clearly still upset, my trainer wisely held his tongue. He bowed sharply in Heero's direction and looked down at me. He visibly made an effort to shed his pique and the result was fairly successful as only a shadow of it remained in the bright smile with which he favored me.
"You are in for a special treat tonight, pretty one. Now now," he said, holding up a hand to stall the questions gathering impatiently upon my tongue, "I will not spoil the baron's surprise. In fact...."
He pulled a length of silk from the pocket of his jacket and as I identified it as his handkerchief. The last sight I enjoyed before my vision was suddenly obscured was of my baron. His glower once again favored the hapless flames flickering innocently in his hearth. His jaw was clenched with some nameless emotion, and I longed to go to him and offer him what comfort I might. But the silk dropped over my eyes, and though I tried to keep them open, as Quatre tied the cloth behind my head, he pulled it tightly so that, while it was comfortable enough, my eyelashes were crushed. I found it easier just to shut them in the end. He bade me stand with a gentle tug on my leash.
"Come, Duo."
I rose from my kneel hastily with none of the ease with which I'd fallen into it. The plush fibers beneath my feet were soon replaced by cold stone as we stepped into the hall, and the sound of the closing door to the baron's chamber announced our cruel separation with finality.
Was I to be given to the ambassador that very night? Was that Quatre was taking me? My anxiety demanded to be appeased, and though I was scared, I wanted to know the truth. Furthermore, I wanted desperately to enquire of my trainer the cause behind his and my master's conflict. I had never before heard a harsh word pass between them, and the fact that their mutual ire seemed to be on my account filled me with no little guilt. If, indeed, the blame rested upon my head, I thought I should at the very least know the reason why.
"My lord," I began, the waver in my voice not at all feigned, "might I ask where we are going?" I deemed the question a safe way to lead to my ultimate goal, but Quatre's answer put paid to my nascent plans.
A tug on my leash impelled me to continue forward, but I did so hesitantly as would any seeing man suddenly deprived of sight. My trainer remained silent, but a hand on my arm offered assurances that I wouldn't run into any obstacles. But my continued ignorance of our destination did nothing to calm the nerves coiling in my belly.
Another tentative "My lord?" again brought no explanation, and my anxiety built ever higher as my trainer lead me through the maze of Windshire's corridors. After many long minutes had passed, and my attempt at keeping my bearings had become hopelessly befuddled, we finally came to a halt. I blinked rapidly as my blindfold was removed, the sudden brightness bringing tears to my eyes, which took a moment to clear. When they did, I saw that we had stopped before a well-appointed set of doors. Was this the ambassador's chamber? The door designs were strange to me and did nothing to further my knowledge of my location or what ordeal lay beyond them.
At a nod from my trainer, the attendant guard opened the door. I glanced beseechingly at the small blond, hoping for some last minute instruction. But as usual, my normally garrulous companion was utterly mute when I most required encouragement. He smiled gently and bid me forward with a gallant wave of his hand. My face fell in disappointment and distress. Then the same hand which had so blithely urged me toward whatever unknown travails awaited shifted to rest warmly on my tense shoulder.
I glanced toward Quatre and his expression, which had lost all remnants of his disagreement with the baron, was kindness itself. The openness of his regard told me that I had nothing to fear, but I was in no state to appreciate his assurances. Would I be forced to succumb to the Slaburry delegate's base desires? Given the import of Heero and Quatre's exchange it seemed that I was the price of his signature upon the treaty. Surrendering myself to my baron, my master, was one thing, but could I really be expected to meekly submit to another, to a stranger? The very concept was foreign and forbidding. I had been warned time and again that I was the baron's property which he might give away at his pleasure to whomever he chose, and it seemed that I was finally to understand fully what that meant.
Yet it was true that nothing I had yet faced since coming to Windshire had caused me any real harm. At most, I had been forced to abandon the narrow, though comfortable, view of the world that my plebian upbringing had granted me. Surely this would be no different. I remember clearly the gnawing in my gut as my crops died and my lands went to dust because of the accursed drought that had laid waste to much of Calderash. If securing the ambassador's approval meant that others of my fellow countrymen would not have to suffer as I had, then was it really such a great thing the baron asked of me? Though I might tremble at the thought of another's hands touching me, indeed the sacrifice was not so great. The only thing that mattered was that my master did not come to regret his choice of manzoku. I would die before I brought any shame upon my baron's name.
Squaring my shoulders, my mind filled with lofty notions of duty and turned firmly away from thoughts of my ravaged heart, I moved forward until Quatre's hand slid away. I entered the opened chamber quite alone, and my gaze swiftly took in the tasteful furniture and settings, the thickness of the burgundy carpet beneath my bare feet, and the merriness of the fire providing light and warmth to the room. My attention, however, was quickly and most decided drawn by the figures - not one but two - seated upon the richly upholstered settee placed conveniently before the hearth. The couple was clearly preparing for dinner and only the manners my saintly mother had drilled into me prompted me to speak though their identity numbed my brain with shock.
"Please excuse me, my lord and lady. I did not mean to disturb...."
Lady Noin and Lord Zechs looked up from their repast at the sound of my tremulous apology and the lady, attired in clothing that could only be meant for the bedchamber, stood and came toward me with her hands outstretched. She grabbed up my cold hands in hers, chasing away the chill as surely as did the blush which burned my cheeks. I'd noted upon our first meeting that she was a tall, dignified woman who commanded respect, and somehow, even in her lacy gown and robe that was at once elegant and indecent, the effect of her bearing was in no way diminished. I heard the door close behind us and knew that my trainer had not entered the chamber behind me.
"Duo, we are delighted you could join us." She greeted me as she would have an old friend sorely missed, and the unexpected familiarity only worsened the condition of my face.
I was sure I matched the hue of the carpet as she drew me to the couch where Lord Zechs sat watching us approach. His icy blue gaze was sharp and betrayed the strength of his intelligence, and it burned me as much as it had done on the night of my presentation to the court. Like his wife, he was dressed for an evening of either slumber or more illicit pursuits. His bared shoulders and chest were imposing in their breadth and his physique suggested a life spent in more active labor than might be assumed by his position as the baron's Minister of Trade. The fabric of his sleeping pants clung lovingly to his strong legs, revealing every detail of the muscles that corded along them, and the prodigious dimensions of his manhood where it lay between his carelessly parted thighs were only nominally hidden from view.
It was his regard that decided the question of their intent for the evening. I could almost feel the weight of his gaze as it took in the accoutrement interrupting my nakedness. The clamps on my nipples seemed to grip even tighter, the collar closed about my neck as I swallowed in nervous anticipation, and the ring encircling my cock pressed ever more firmly into my flesh as the wayward appendance increased in response to the minister's thorough examination.
"Oh Zechs, do stop staring at him. You're going to frighten him away." Lady Noin's laugh was earthy and pleasant, caressing my ears as she sat next to her handsome spouse and pulled on my hands until I had knelt on the carpet before her. Her hands rifled familiarly through my hair yet even the thought of resentment for her presumption was beyond me as I wondered at the purpose of my being here. An inkling of an idea had begun to burrow tortured paths in the back of my mind, yet I was afraid to give it room to grow lest I was merely setting myself up for disappointment.
"We're so glad that Heero finally granted our request and is sharing you with us for the evening. Though I dare say he might not have been so accommodating had you not secured that treaty for him, my love." Her laughter was met with a fond smile.
"Indeed, we are grateful," Zechs replied in a low tone that caused an untoward reaction in my lower regions, his gaze never wavered from his meticulous perusal of my reddened face.
Though I remained most aggrieved to know that I had indeed been gifted away, I could not say that the recipients of the baron's largess were disagreeable to me. The sight of Lord Zechs and Lady Noin was a most welcome substitute for the person I'd been expecting to find. After witnessing the scene in Heero's study and hearing the argument in his chamber, I'd been certain that my fate lie with a certain delegate from the neighboring kingdom. But I was apparently mistaken and had never been so glad to be wrong about anything in my life. Clearly I had somehow misunderstood the import of their discussion and I resolved to retire my brain in the future from any similarly harmful and ostensibly baseless speculation.
But the incident in the baron's chamber suddenly made even less sense than before. Was this the source of the disagreement between my master and my trainer? I wondered at Quatre's distress. Surely he wouldn't find Lord and Lady Marquise objectionable.
As Lady Noin brushed the backs of her fingers over my burning cheek, I found myself leaning eagerly into her touch. She was a very attractive woman and everything in her manner was kindness itself. Now that I'd settled myself to being here, I realized that her presence was completely non-threatening and calmed me in a way I'd only felt with Helen and my trainer. I smiled shyly at her and was rewarded with a brilliant grin in return.
Not so her husband, and I tried as I might to ignore the heat I could still feel as he looked at me. My greedy gaze, however, was not so easily dissuaded, and I continued to steal glances at him, unable to deny myself of his blond magnificence.
The couple returned to their dinner and, as I had not eaten in quite some time, I eagerly joined them in their meal. Lady Noin fed me from her hand like a cherished pet, an experience to which I had become rather accustomed, and explained to me fully how I came to be with them. She told me that the baron had promised me to them if the trade agreement came to fruition, and since it had they were granted the pleasure of my company for one night entire.
The pleasure of my company? The lady's gentle touch strayed from hair to my back and shoulders, measuring the firmness of muscle earned in a lifetime of honest labor. The minister continued to devour me with his gaze, his attention seeming to linger on the parts he wanted to explore more thoroughly. In short I was left with no illusions as to what was to become of me that night, and my body, trained by my baron's own hand, rallied shamelessly at the very thought.
The minister's heated gaze aroused me just as surely as did the lady's insistent little affections. Slender fingers playfully slipped a grape between my lips and the sweet fruit was followed by an equally sweet tongue. Until that moment, I had kissed no one except my darling Hilde and beloved master. But Lady Noin pressed her lips again mine with a request rather than a demand and I fell easily into the kiss, my eyes closing as she bent over me and enjoin my tongue to join hers in a merry dance. I kept my hands politely at my side, denying them their wish to bury themselves in her short, dark hair.
I would have been content to remain thus with our lips joined and her roaming hand, which had now found teasing dangle of my clasps, sending pleasant shivers from the captured nubs, down my spine, and to the swell of my manhood. But her husband was not content to let her have the sole enjoyment of me. A needy groan broke from my throat with embarrassing volume as a large, sure hand took hold of my arousal and began to caress it with slow, knowing stroke guaranteed to rob me of all reason.
My fingers curled into the carpet, clenching desperately at the thick material. My chest heaved with a shameless gasp as the kiss ended and the lady trailed her full lips downward in soft nips over my chin until they were in place to nibble and suck at the skin of my arched neck. My head was resting on the cushion of the settee next to her leg as her fingers lost interest in my nipple clasps and shifted to pinch and rub at the sensitive nubs themselves. Arching my neck until the top of my head was pressed against her leg, my mind began to drown in the now familiar ocean of pleasure and lust, my doom inevitable as the masculine hand upon my flesh was replaced with a hot mouth that offered neither respite nor quarter.
TBC...
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