Taxing Beauty

"Taxing Beauty"

by Sally J

Chapter Five

Julia waited. What else could she do? She waited and she had no idea how long she waited. The stone walls and impenetrable door didn't let any sound pass through. She pulled at the chains that held her so solidly. She couldn't believe she was in this situation. How could she go from being free, laughing with her friends, sleeping under her parent's roof, to this? Chained, humiliated, a slave in her king's castle.

As she whimpered in self-pity, she made the links of her chains clink the only sound in the dead silent room. She tried to turn over to make herself more comfortable, but instead her limbs only twisted uncomfortably in their steel prisons. She vocalized a long, steady, tortured cry as she tried with all her might to pull her body free and rise from the bed.

She knew she was being irrational - flesh against steel, steel always wins. The instinct to try and release herself was just too strong. Wishing she could rub her aching wrists and ankles, she finally laughed to herself, remembering the old lady's words, "…of course they'll hurt if you do that! Just relax."

She tried. Julia cuddled her exposed skin into the fine silk sheet and rubbed her breasts against the scratchy lace nightgown. She rubbed her stiff legs together, sending sparks of heat through her sex and up to her nipples. Smiling, she remembered dreaming for this captivity all those lonely nights in her bed. She had dreamed of being the prince's prisoner, to be treated like an object for his pleasure. She remembered wanting to feel used, without any thought given to her feelings, or pleasure.

Now she rubbed her thighs together faster and let the manacles around her wrists be the strong hands of the prince. Now she moaned in pleasure and felt a small smile stretch her lips…

Suddenly, a jangle of keys, metal against metal. She froze. The door creaked open. She lay still wondering if she should pretend to be asleep.

"Hello there? Anyone home?" She heard the prince chuckle, as he slammed the door behind him and lit the torch by the bed. Bright now behind her blindfold, she could feel warm air brush her left cheek.

"Ah someone is home indeed," Julia stirred awkwardly. She sensed eyes bearing down on her helpless figure. There were faint footfalls and suddenly she felt a heavy hand on her breast, "Hmmm. Enjoying your stay, thus far? I am."

Julia wiggled under his probing hands. He squeezed her soft breasts under the bedding making her legs squirm. Instinctively she tried to reach him with her chained hands.

"It seems you are! You're very quiet about it though, my little mouse. Did Nurse tell you you shouldn't speak to your master?"

"No, Sir," she replied. The word 'master' sent a deep, sexual note ringing inside her.

"Good, because unless I gag you, I expect you to respond to me immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Enough with the 'Sir'! I am not a common nobleman?" He squeezed her breast for emphasis. "Now you will call me Your Highness! Do you understand?"

"Yes, S - Your Highness," Julia breathed, yearning to see her master's face.

Julia felt the blanket peeled away from her chest, the cool air piquing her nipples. "Lovely. Lovely. Now, Julia - it's Julia, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Good. Now, Julia, we're going to have some fun while you're here. I can tell you want it as much as I do. Your pert little nips give you away."

Julia blushed and tried to move away from the prince's fingertips. She was very excited, despite herself. Her mind told her to fight his rough treatment, but her body enjoyed giving in. Her vagina had been sending its message of arousal to her entire system, making her feel dizzy and powerless.

"Have you ever been fully naked before a man, Julia?"

"No, Your Highness," she said, her voice quivering.

"Well, I think your fair, young body would add life to my drab, dungeon walls." Julia couldn't believe she was hearing this. This is exactly what she always wanted and always feared, "You look a little too comfortable here. No slave lays idle under my care!"

Expertly, the prince had Julia unchained and removed her blindfold. Then, he was on top of her prostrate form and hissed into her eyes, "If you so much as make a sound, or attempt to run from me, you will be severely punished. Do you understand?"

Julia shook her head yes, drawn to the cool fire of his eyes.

"Come now." He helped her out of the bed onto her shaky legs, limp and lifeless after being held straight for so long. Pulling her arm up over his neck, he walked her out of the room and into a deserted the hallway.

From the stillness of the corridor, it seemed to be mid-evening. The prince led his barefoot charge down a flight of stairs, at the north end of the hallway.

The feeling was starting to come back into her limbs, but Julia was still afraid her knees would buckle on the steep staircase. Their path was lit by torchlight, but she still couldn't see beyond the step ahead of her. The prince held her tightly by the waist, until they descended to the ground.

Torches lined the walls, insufficient to cast out the shadow of the dark, windowless room. Brighter light burned in clusters, illuminating specific stations. Julia suddenly missed her mother terribly and choked back a sob.

Her eyes traveled along the wall, to the nearest display. Long, thick chains emerged from high on the wall, which ended in the type manacles she'd recently had locked to her wrists. Underneath, a chain with two more cuffs rested on the stone floor.

Drinking in the sight, Julia's throat felt parched. She made to turn and face the prince, telling him everything. She was going to tell him that she thought she wanted this, but she was wrong, fool-headed, impulsive. She was going to demand to be returned home immediately. Sebastian was faster though and grabbed quickly at her right wrist, locking it to the wall, "Wait! What are you doing!?"

The prince laughs at Julia and using her confusion to his advantage, easily raises her left wrist into place, locking it as well. "Wait? For what?" he mocks. Julia pulls at the chains, making a useless clanking sound and watches the prince bend down and lock her feet into the other pair of cuffs, "Now, that's better. No silly bedcovers to hide your figure from me. Comfortable?"

"No, I'm not!" Julia protests, "I have no shoes on and the floor is ice! Please release me, Sir?"

"Sir? Have you forgotten your manners so quickly?" The prince looks around theatrically, "I know we're all alone down here, Young Lady, but you're still to address me properly. Do you understand?" With that he pivots to face her, his eyes mere inches from hers.

"Yes. Yes, Your Highness. But, please, Your Highness, what are you going to do to me?"

"Oh, I don't know…" he answers thoughtfully. Slowly, the handsome prince traces the girl's outline. Two hands brush sides of her jaw, pause at the beating pulse in her neck, then cup the sides of her breasts,. They linger there a moment, then continue, running down to her waist, out over her hips, and thighs. She looks as he kneels before her now, stroking the sides of her bare knees, their sensitive backs, then fondling the top of her feet gently. Teasingly, he runs his fingernails across her arches, then tickles the tops of her toes.

"Collecting taxes," he sighs, breaking the cold silence with false lament. "All my friends said it would be dull work. Counting coins, keeping ledgers all that sort of thing. They sincerely underestimated the spirit of creative enterprise, didn't they?" he laughs. "Credit, debts, money – these are such fluid terms. What price can be put on your young body? What silver are your parents paying me, what gold!" His hands run quickly now, up and down her figure, lulling her into an almost hypnotic state. She feels like a stray cat, found and stroked into submission. Despite herself, she starts to relax and through the chill, feels prickles of perspiration itching her underarms, warming her chest. His touch seems soothing and predictable, as if she'd been here, in this place, forever.

She jumps in her chains then, as after he strokes her inner thighs with feathery fingertips, he swiftly hooks his middle finger into the slit of her vagina, pressing his palm firmly onto her most sensitive spot. She gasps and tries to twist away. Tears roll from her eyes from surprise, and the fact that only her hand has ever been in that secret place. Her breath in coming in shallow starts and stops. Her eyes, slightly unfocused, watch Sebastian smiling calmly up at her. He continues to move his finger, then fingers, in deeper, rotating his iron palm around and around her clitoris.

"This isn't so bad, is it? I'm not so horrible either and can prove it. Or, if you'd like, I can be wicked!" Tightly, he pinches her clitoris and holds it, pulling, hard and slaps her inner thigh. Laughing, he watches her dance against the wall, futilely trying to run from his control, screaming useless pleas.

"Shhh, shhh…come now," he strokes her belly softly. "Just consider that a warning, my dear. You've done nothing to displease me, yet, so there's no reason for you to fear my wrath. We're still getting to know each other and so far, I am enjoying our friendship. You?" He massages a breast with one hand, as he caresses her sore clitoris with the other.

Julia is conflicted as to how to answer. She desperately wants to scream something noble, like, 'Never! I will never give in to you!' However, she knows already, by the way this man's knowing fingers glide so easily into her moist hollow, that she already his. Worse, she knows from the prince's low hum of approval, that he already heard her answer.