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"Oh, Mar, no doubt I told him I'd not divorce on his account, and he is wroth with row bored" She laid the tips of her fingers on my arm and smiled at me "Do you know there is a ter hyacinths, they call it, those peers who have enjoyed your favors"

"No" With an effort of will, I kept my voice steady "I did not know there was a term for it" I did not need it explained Every patron knew nale

"Oh, yes" She serous "And no one has plucked one yet, I am told Tell me, if I made you a proposal, would you accept it?"

Soood-natured cheer arose Fortun had won I stared at Nicola's violet eyes-so like her cousins', Duc and Queen-and weighed the risks,What was it worth, to Barquiel L'Envers? "If it was fitting"

The proposal came the next day by courier

TWENTY

Along white cord sturdily-wrought of silken threads hung around my neck

"I knew athe ends of the cord beneaththem at my back, "who had travelled the spice routes to the uttermost east; the Empire of the Sun, they call it They have arts of the bed-chamber as would interest even Naamah, he said" She wrapped the cord about ether "Of course, I'd not ti Ah, yes, that's nice"

Stepping back, she regarded her handiwork I stood, docile, half-bound and naked as she took up another length of cord and set about securing it, fro it tothe friction of the cord between s

"I' hold of the back of my neck "On your knees, if you please"

I knelt, bowing my head autoth working its way between asp I raised my head, forced to kneel with back arched and breasts out-thrust

"Now," she said, satisfied, "you begin to understand"

And then she set about finishing her work, bindingthe cord to knot it at rew taut betweenback and forth Lest I ly tied a knot there, a small, hard protuberance in the soft cord that taunted ainst Naa me to bite my lip

It pleased her; it pleased her a great deal I could not help but gaze at her, on my knees, my chin upraised by virtue of the cord's necessity Nicola prowled around , violet eyes alit with pleasure, a finely-er in her hand There were steel tips at the ends of it

"Do you like this?" she asked, almost tenderly "Hmm?"

"No"

Her aresture, and streaks of pain burst across my buttocks, ainstragged

"You lie, don't you?" Nicola brought the flogger acrossacross my breasts; the pain was so vivid I saw stars, and Kushiel's red haze "Don't you!" She struck ain I tossed my head involuntarily to avoid the blow, and the cord tautened against hs riding up and down against the sensitive node of flesh there Nicola laughed, and trailed the flogger over hter each time I writhed The cords bit intotide of pleasure rose in ht it, then, and see if you ht it!"

Half-obedient, half-defiant, I did, until the cord drew so tight my hands were numb, and that knot, that little knot, rode up and down, up and down against Naaainst led against it, until I surrendered and cried out at the waves of pleasure that overwhelmed me

When I opened my eyes-for I had closed them involuntarily-I saw the rich weave of Nicola's woolen carpet inches froainst my cheek I'd not known, till then, that I'd fallen on my side

"You e," Nicola's voice said far above me, rich with aive for your release, Phèdre nó Delaunay?"

"Anything you want," I whispered, trying not to iving me further into her hand

Nicola crouched down, flogger in hand, her lovely, amused face close to nale You have only given it once, I am told To Melisande Shahrizai Or was that only because you loved her?"

Before theof it at all-politics, betrayal, the gaon's part in it all These things I relegate to a small part of my mind, the only part I hold back from a patron, and think on afterward But when she spoke, a connection for I had never done before with a patron I could not help it I did not , lest the very act of it trigger further arousal Nicola regarded me with startled displeasure

"Do you find it such a hter, Phèdre nó Delaunay?" she asked irritably, sitting back on her heels and giving er "Do I amuse you so?"

"No" I sobered, lying quiescent inmy eyes to look up at her beneath my lashes "My lady, you tie a very skillful knot, and I a myself if you do not release me from these bonds If it please you to watch it, then you nale" Power is a relative thing; she had been unwise, in letting s and winced, as the knot shifted against me "Was it Lord Marmion bid you ask that, or the Duc?"

With a disgusted sound, Nicola L'Envers y Aragon threw her flogger to the floor "I told hi to her feet and pacing in annoyance

Cautious to the ut position, legs doubled beneath ers, I plucked at the knots that bound ether "The Duc," I said, as if I were certain; I was, fairly

Nicola paused to cast a wry glance in my direction "You could do ht you said I tied a skillful knot," she added, watching me kick off the cords that had bound my ankles