Page 38 of Her Viking Lord
Horakovsky ambled over to look above me, a cruel smile on his face.
“Only about an hour to go, Fru Norquist,” he said. “Consider how you plan to behave once you’re there. Complete obedience would be a very good choice, but I won’t mind much if you decide you require further discipline to reach that conclusion.”
CHAPTER 20
Lorna
From the cage, I could see out the windshield all the way at the front of the transport. So when we finally reached Horakovsky’s base, I got to witness, as if on a distant cinema screen, the opening of the enormous, camouflaged gate, onto a ramp that angled sharply down.
The vehicle descended into darkness, and my stomach lurched with the steep incline. Industrial lighting flickered to life along concrete walls that seemed to press in from both sides. The ramp spiraled down and down, each turn taking us deeper beneath the permafrost. Through the bars of my cage, I caught glimpses of massive steel blast doors sliding open ahead of us, then sealing shut behind with a pneumatic hiss that made my ears pop.
The air grew colder despite the vehicle’s climate control, and I could see my breath misting in the cage. My naked skin developed goosebumps, making the welts across my bottom throb anew. The plug seemed to shift with each turn of thespiral descent, a constant reminder of my degradation that sent unwanted sparks through my core.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Horakovsky called back to Takken, though his eyes found mine through the cage bars. “We’re already sixty meters below ground level, and we’re not even halfway to the main complex.”
Through the windshield, I saw armed guards at checkpoints, their breath visible in the arctic air as they waved us through. Some wore what I thought must be old Russian military insignia, but others bore patches I didn’t recognize—private military contractors, perhaps. All of them carried assault rifles with the casual ease of men who used them regularly.
The ramp finally leveled out into a vast underground hangar. The space was enormous—large enough to house several vehicles like ours, plus what looked like modified drilling equipment and industrial machinery I couldn’t identify. I noticed that another, identical transport already stood at the far end. Everything was lit by harsh white LEDs that eliminated shadows, making the space feel clinical and merciless.
Dmitri brought the vehicle to a stop near a set of heavy steel doors marked with Cyrillic text and hazard symbols. Through my cage, I watched other vehicles disgorging their passengers—rough-looking men in military gear, technicians in coveralls, and to my horror, I glimpsed what looked like young women being herded from one of the transports, their heads down, wrists bound.
“Welcome to Berkut Station,” Horakovsky announced, standing and stretching. “Named after the golden eagle—a predator that rules the Arctic skies.” He glanced at me with that predatory smile. “Though down here, we’re the apex predators.”
Vassily unlocked my cage. I crawled out on legs that felt nearly numb from kneeling for so long. The plug seemed to have settled even deeper during the journey. Every movement made me bite my lip to stifle any sound, out of pride I wanted to believe I had some use for.
“Stand up properly,” Horakovsky commanded. “I want you walking on your own feet when we enter. My staff needs to see what kind of special guest we have.”
I forced myself upright on trembling legs, acutely aware of my nakedness in the frigid hangar. The cold bit into my skin like teeth, making my nipples harden painfully and sending shivers through my whole body.
The massive doors ahead of us opened with a mechanical groan, revealing an entrance that took my breath away despite my misery. Beyond the industrial horror of the hangar lay what looked like the lobby of a five-star hotel—marble floors polished to mirror brightness, crystal chandeliers casting warm light, wood paneling that belonged in a palace rather than an Arctic bunker. The contrast was so jarring I wondered if I was hallucinating from the cold.
But I hadn’t hallucinated the two figures waiting in that opulent space. Mila and Katya stood like matching dolls beside a massive fireplace, wearing nothing but black garter belts, sheer stockings, and towering heels. Their delicate beauty seemed even more pronounced against the masculine grandeur of the space, their near-nakedness a decoration as deliberate as the oil paintings on the walls.
“Ah, my special girls,” Horakovsky said with evident satisfaction. “They arrived yesterday to prepare everything for your stay.” His hand pressed against my lower back, forcing meforward on unsteady legs. Each step sent the plug shifting inside me, and I had to concentrate on not stumbling as we crossed from concrete to marble.
The warmth of the entrance hall hit me like a physical force after the hangar’s cold, but it did nothing to ease my shaking. Mila’s dark eyes met mine for a fraction of a second—I thought I saw something there, sympathy perhaps, or maybe just recognition of a fellow victim—before she dropped her gaze submissively.
I swallowed hard as I struggled to bring my vision back into focus. I had things I must say now, but they hovered just out of mental reach.
“I…” I started, hoping I would catch the thread of the words I’d foreseen.
Horakovsky turned to look at me with an annoyed expression, and for a terrified moment my mind stopped functioning. Then I caught in the arrogance of his eyes the weakness I had recognized when I had traveled so high in the branches of the world tree, and it all came back. I had to struggle to keep my voice meek, because I knew I had him, at least for the moment.
“Yes, whore?” he asked, as if trying to keep the strength of his need to dominate me out of his voice.
“I…” I repeated, but then I went on, “I think this place is extraordinary. Is it completely hidden from surveillance? I was an engineering student once upon a time, and this project… it’s beyond anything I’ve ever imagined.”
Horakovsky smiled, and looked over at Takken.
“You know, Prime Minister,” he said in a voice dripping with condescension, “perhaps if you’d gratified your wife’sintellectual interests a little, you might have gotten on better with her.” He turned to me, and the patronizing quality of his words increased fivefold.
“Yes, whore, it’s completely hidden. Come over here.” With a firm grip on my elbow he guided me to the area where Mila and Katya were standing, but he drew me off to the side to show me what was clearly a security panel. He touched it, entering a complex code that myvolva’s sense told me I would memorize unconsciously, effortlessly.
Horakovksy navigated through an impressive array of security features, clearly certain I would have no idea what I was seeing. He stopped on a diagram of an electronic device, the display pulsing as if to show it was fully operational. I knew it immediately as a dedicated encryption supercomputer.
“Don’t pretend you know what this is,” Horakovsky said. To my astonishment, despite everything I actually had to suppress a giggle.
I opened my eyes wide. “What is it, Master?” I asked, injecting wonder into my tone. Behind me, I heard Takken clear his throat. I could practically feel the discomfort and misery radiate off him.
