Bound By Fate: A Novel of the Strong by Amy Knickerbocker Page B

don’t know?” Anara asked with a sad little smile. “The Tenn pays for everything. Toran’s our biggest benefactor… despite not yet being king.”
    As Liv quietly contemplated Anara’s answer, the doctor prodded her forward.  
    “Here, come this way. I’d like to show you something.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

    “Excuse me, Master, but someone is here to see you.”
    Merus looked up from his work to see the barely-dressed slave standing before him, her chin tucked deep in submission.
    His eyes flashed a darker blue.
    “Send them away.” Pleased, he watched as her body trembled beneath the weight of his command. But instead of obeying, she kept her eyes low and stammered to say, “It’s the Tenn, Master. He’s waiting for you outside.” She dropped her head lower. “He refuses to come in.”
    Running his fingers down the torso of the female he had splayed out upon his rack, Merus squinted into the distance and said to no one in particular, “Well, fuck me.”
    The female whimpered and strained against her bonds.
    “Shh,” he leaned down to croon in her ear. Without lifting his head, Merus dismissed the slave with orders to tell his cousin he’d join him shortly.
    Before he released his ward, Merus allowed his gaze to trace the contours of her long ebony frame, self-satisfied with her state of utter submission.  
    Unbidden, his eyelids slid closed.
    A vision of the flame-haired witch flashed in his mind, her yellow eyes dazed with desire, the sinuous strength of her alabaster body straining beneath his own.  
    A sizzling burn flared hard at the base of his gut.
    Merus pulled away to face the window, the smoky darkness of the morning pressing against the panes. Lacing his fingers atop his head, he grimaced at the unwelcome need.
    He simply did not allow himself to become excited––certainly not here in his workshop. And most certainly not in the presence of the females–and occasional males––who found themselves begging for his talents on his rack.
    Yet here he was, pretty damn close to a full-blown erection.
    That witch had better fucking show up tomorrow, he thought as he wrestled his wayward urges back under control. When he was certain he had everything locked down tight, Merus turned and stepped closer to the female, the beads of sweat adorning her skin glinting in the candlelight. He placed a calming hand on her forehead just above the blindfold.  
    “I’m going to let go of you now,” he said at her ear.
    She licked her lips.  
    “But you’re not done. Not yet.” Merus could still feel her need for more, her soul crying out to be soothed by the blissful diversion only sweet pain could deliver. “You will lie here like a good girl and take the rest,” he murmured. She’d get her orgasm soon enough, though not by his hand. Never by his hand. “You’ll do that for me, yeah?”
    The female nodded as she let out a long, agonized moan.
    Releasing the mystical bonds he held tightly with his mind, Merus watched as her limbs sagged against the wood.
    He jerked his chin at the male who was watching from off in the corner. “You got this, Rhed?” he called. Nodding, the rock daemon stepped forward to take the crop Merus wielded in his hand.
    “When she’s done, bring her down easier this time,” Merus growled, “or I’ll have your hide next.”  
    Pulling on a shirt, Merus walked away to meet his cousin.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    Outside the village of Vimora, Liv followed Anara around the orphanage’s main building where they climbed a metal stairway to a platform that overlooked a large grassy field. It was surrounded by a twenty-foot-tall fence. Though the fence was topped with razor wire, it was also alive with magic.
    “What is this?” she asked.
    “Take a look,” Anara answered.
    Peering over the railing, Liv was shocked to find fifteen or so young daemon boys milling about in wary aggression, each caged in individual invisible pens, separated by magic.  
    They looked to be between