his actions were correct. Though he didn’t say so, the strange tutanis seemed to have garnered a small measure of affection from Nikol. He stiffened. Failure wasn’t an option and he didn’t want Nikol to take his anger out on him again. This was the correct thing to do.
Nikol made it clear when he spanked her for all to see that she was not excluded from the rules he’d imposed. Rules were to be followed for the safety of the tutanis and the Earth woman had broken them.
He eyed the implements of punishment then glanced at the tutanis. He had not taken her size into account. Marenian females were of a larger stature. The Earth woman was fragile in comparison. He still didn’t know how Nikol sex shared without breaking her.
“Ten with that one.” He pointed to what looked like the smallest whip. Surely she could withstand that. It was a simple common punishment, after all.
“Ten?!” Serasin was shocked.
Tseju stood by his decision. “She’s not built along the lines of our women.”
“Fine,” Serasin muttered under his breath and grabbed the woman from Tseju to lead her to a hook suspended from the ceiling. Darcy twisted about, her gaze seeking Tseju in desperation.
“Don’t do this. You’re making a mistake.”
He remained stoic through her pleas though doubt began to niggle at his gut. Serasin restrained her arms above her head on the hook and ripped the shellam covering her lower half away. Tseju flinched but held his silence.
Serasin hummed in pleasure. “Her coloring holds true throughout.”
A red flush stained the whip master’s cheeks and the front of his pants tented with arousal. Tseju clenched his fingers, missing whatever he whispered in the Earth woman’s ears. She cringed and cried out in denial. Whatever it was caused her to pale and resume her frantic struggle.
“Stop! Please don’t do this,” she sobbed.
With a dark laugh, Serasin crudely cupped her mound.
“Stop.” Tseju straightened from his pose against the wall. “She is not yours. She may be a tutanis but she is in a kitse and belongs to another. You can’t touch without permission.”
There were rules to be followed. The woman was not available for Serasin to touch her so freely without first receiving approval from Nikol. Serasin stepped away with an annoyed snarl. Tseju didn’t care. He relaxed back along the wall. “I’ll observe the punishment and take her back when its done.”
Serasin glowered and Tseju realized the whip master had hoped he’d leave to take advantage. His lips firmed. Nikol entrusted him and he would do his role well despite being unsure and new to this aspect of it.
Serasin spun her around, so her back was to Tseju. The whipping started slow and Tseju immediately regretted his decision to stay. The whip master didn’t appear to use more force than necessary, but the woman was screaming by the fifth strike, her voice hoarse and her body soaked in sweat.
Neat strips of red lined her back as Serasin continued at a steady pace. By ten she wasn’t screaming anymore. She wasn’t making any noise at all as she hung limply from the hook.
“Done.” Serasin spat on the floor stained with splatters of the Earth woman’s blood and lowered the whip. He’d barely worked up a sweat. “Take her. I have to clean down the room and prepare it for another.”
Swallowing past the tightness in his throat, Tseju approached from the back. Her body shivered and twitched as if in residual effect but when he shifted to her front, her eyes were closed.
Red hair clung to her cheeks in clumps and her chest rose and fell with each jagged breath through her parted lips. Something pierced Tseju’s chest. An unaccustomed feeling. Remorse?
He undid the restraints, waving Serasin off when he offered to help. Tseju gathered her carefully in his arms. Even unconscious, she moaned and whimpered. What had he done?
Tseju managed to toss her shellam over her bottom half and carried her out. He returned to Nikol’s section of the house. No one he passed gave him a second thought. Punishing a misbehaving tutanis was common. How many times had he watched something similar except the Marenian female usually walked under own steam?
Another twinge of regret seared his gut. Despite knowing he’d followed protocol why did he have this sense he’d done something drastically wrong? Dread coiled inside of him. Tseju traced his steps back to the kitse and stopped at the locked door. Garmon glanced down at the woman in Tseju’s arms dispassionately.
Garmon turned his