Page 51 of The Labyrinth

“Sit up.” I pulled on Rissa’s arms.

“Ten, no…” she complained, twisting in my grasp. “Let me sleep.”

“You’ve slept enough. And it’sMaster.”

That caught her attention. I hadn’t forced the title since before the Cage, and my use of it now was enough to shock her. Good. I wanted her to be shocked. I wanted her to feel something other than numb. I jerked her harder, until she was sitting up, leaning against the wooden headboard.

“What are we doing?” she asked quietly. There was hesitation in her voice, but if I wasn’t mistaken, there was also a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. It was dim. But it was there.

“I’m reminding you what it means to be alive,” I snapped. I grabbed one of her wrists, binding it in the rope, until it was snug around her. The other end of the rope, I secured against the headboard. I repeated the process on her other arm, until Rissa was stretched out, crucified on my bed before me. “If you’re good, and you listen, I won’t bind your ankles as well. Understood?”

With wide eyes, she nodded. I knew she wanted to ask what was coming next, but she was holding herself back. She wanted to begoodfor me. All this talk of good made me sick. We should justbe.

I knelt in front of Rissa, taking her in for a moment. She was dressed in one of my shirts that was massive on her, but for the life of me I couldn’t get her to change. Her hair was an absolute wreck, yet she was still the most stunning thing I had ever laid eyes on. I wanted to slowly strip my shirt off her and lick every inch of her skin. I wanted to bite the soft flesh on the inside of her thighs, kissing my mark her skin bore. I wanted to fuck her mouth, stuffing it so full of my cock she didn’t need to worry about talking. I wanted to use her for my benefit, and my benefit alone.

But this wasn’t about what I wanted. This was about bringing Rissa back to me. I collected my other things I had brought over, and set them in front of me, Rissa’s careful gaze watching me the entire time. I struck the match, lighting the candle. “Have you ever felt the heat of a flame, deliciae?” I murmured, running my hand backward and forward across the top of the flicking wick. “Have you ever wanted to reach your hand into the fire, just to see how much you could handle?”

I blinked up at her, and she stared back at me. Pieces of her danced in the flames reflected in her eyes, pieces she was trying to bring back together. I could just make out the hint of confidence, the flicker of defiance. She wanted to strike back. She wanted to fight. “Are you going to set me on fire?”

I smiled, shaking my head. “No. But I’m going to see how much you like playing with it.” I shuffled closer to Rissa’s outstretched arms, being careful not to drop my candle. “You need to remain completely still, Rissa. If you move at all, I could burn you more than I want to.”

Her arms tensed, and if she could’ve pulled away from me, she would’ve. But she was tied in place, completely stuck at my disposal. “So you aren’t going to burn me?”

“Oh, I’m going to burn you. Just not enough to leave a mark. Watch.” With a painful slowness, I lifted the candle higher, until the heat was barely brushing the skin of Rissa’s arm. “Don’t. Move.”

For what it was worth, she held as still as she could. I ran the flickering flame along the underside of her arm, against the soft, vulnerable flesh. I kept a safe distance away, moving slowly along her body. She would feel the heat creeping closer, but it wouldn’t be enough to scar her. The only scar I wanted her to ever wear was my initials on her thigh. I pushed the flame closer, and above me, Rissa moaned. “It’s hot, Master.”

“It’s supposed to be. Is it too much for you? Do you want me to stop?” Her skin was beautiful so close to the flame, golden and brown. I pushed the flame closer, slowly increasing the intensity of what she was feeling.

“No,” she whispered.

“No, what?”

“No, Master, it isn’t too much for me. I…oh…” Her words trailed off as the flame licked against her wrist. I looked up to see her eyes drifting shut, her body taking over as she felt everything I offered.

Pain. Pleasure. Freedom.

“Do you want more?” I asked. I dragged my free hand up her thigh, circling it around her leg and squeezing tightly.

“Yes, please, Master.” Her legs were trembling beneath my touch, but she kept her arms completely still against the flame.

I held the flame closer, the air in the room pushing until it tickled her arm. She moaned again, and I smiled. This was the closest I had come to the real Rissa since before the Cage. Maybe all along I had been trying the wrong things. “Do you feel that, Rissa?”

“The flame?” she asked.

With heavy eyes she met my gaze, and I shook my head. “No. Do you feel alive?” The flame was dangerously close now, and Rissa cried out from the heat. I pulled back, but only slightly, before moving my flame to another location. There was a lot of trust and vulnerability in this position, how she was bared to me. I was going to take advantage of it. “Does the pain make you feel alive, Rissa?”

“Yes, Master,” she gasped. “Oh, yes.”

I slipped my hand up her thigh, sliding her panties to the side, and stroking her slick pussy. She was wet, nearly dripping for me, for the flame, for thepain. “You’re such a dirty girl, deliciae. Such a dirty fucking girl, needing me to fuck her because she hurts.” I pushed the flame closer again before pulling back. “Do you remember what it feels like to be alive?”

“Yes!” she cried, as I slipped one finger into her tight little pussy. I slid it out again, before thrusting back into her once more. Her hips rocked against me, her eyes closing.

“Look at me,” I demanded. Her gaze shot to me once more. I held the flame against her skin, fucking her sweet cunt with my massive finger. “Being alive isn’t all pleasure. It’s pleasure wrapped in pain. It’s sweetness cloaked in sin. You can’t have one without the other. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master,” she whimpered, fucking herself on my finger.

“You will burn for me,” I commanded, staring into her eyes, letting her know I saw every piece of her. I saw the broken and the whole, the dark and the light. I wanted it all, and it all was mine. “You will burn for me, because that is how we know we are fucking alive.”

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