we worry for your safety because of the ambush. I don’t think they’ll defy His Majesty and come after you, but I don’t know that for a fact. Later, it might be because our enemies are looking for a soft-spot to hit.”
He rubbed his face. “Off topic, but I forgot to tell you. We’re having lunch with His Majesty and Kirsten in two days. Backroom at the Rolling Thunder Restaurant. Back on topic, there are three important things to note. One, you’ll have a bodyguard when you’re out, either me or Freckles. If you have a problem with this, talk to me about it, but under no circumstances do you ditch your bodyguard and take off on your own. Two, you’ll immediately follow my orders, or those of my brothers, during a crisis situation, or whenever your personal or emotional safety is at stake. Three, punishment for safety-related issues will involve kneeling on rice. I can tell this doesn’t impress you, so you’re about to spend ten minutes doing so, as an object lesson. Punishments will likely start at two or three times that, but this should give you a rough idea of what you’re in for. Remain where you are.”
He stood, lifted the seat, and swung it forward until it rested on the front of the base. He reached into the storage area, lifted a full zipper-bag of rice, and poured it on the floor in the corner.
“Stand.”
I released my hands from behind my back and stood without walking to him.
“I didn’t tell you to move your hands.”
I put them back, but he shook his head and reached into the storage area again. My heart stuttered when I saw the zip-ties.
“Turn around.”
I did, and he put one around my wrist and forearm, near the opposite elbow, and he tightened it until my wrist bent inward.
He talked while he secured the other wrist in the same manner. “Yes, it’s tighter than it should be, but it’s only for ten minutes. You’ll survive, and maybe next time you’ll follow instructions better.”
He grasped my upper arm, walked me the five steps to the corner, and pushed down. I went to my knees and moved to sit my butt on my feet, but he held me up.
I was facing the wall instead of the corner, and I understood why when he took a quarter from his pocket and held it to the wall. “Put your forehead on it.”
He moved it down a little as I leaned forward, so it was in the right place. I had to lean forward to hold it in place, and the rice started digging into my knees like a million tiny little knives. Fuck. The pain was bearable, but I wasn’t sure I’d last ten minutes.
“Lift your feet off the floor. I’ll add five minutes every damned time they touch the floor. If the quarter drops, your time starts from zero.” He stepped back and I could feel him pulling himself together.
“I’m sorry. Anger has no place in this corner. Ever. My anger isn’t at you, but at the people who might want to take you from me.” He walked across the room and sat in a chair directly behind me.
“If you don’t agree to this punishment, you’ll be bound into it, and you’ll be there longer. Just so you know, a butt plug coated in pepper oil can add to your misery, as can clamps on your nipples and tongue. Or needles. Like this, the sexual component is removed, and that feels important for safety-related consequences.”
Tears pushed into my eyes and I swallowed them down. No way was I going to cry because I was having to kneel and face a fucking wall.
But the rice dug into my knees. Dug into the very bones. Nerves I didn’t know existed screamed at me. I tried to arch my back, but I almost lost the quarter so I quickly moved back into the position he’d put me in. There would be no adjustments to try to deal with this pain.
When he finally lifted me from the corner, tears streamed down my face. I’d held it together while in position, but the relief of being lifted off the rice was too much, and I couldn’t hold it in. He brushed the rice from my knees and I gave several staccato screams. Fuck, that hurt.
“If this had been an actual punishment, you’d put every grain of rice back into the bag, along with the quarter, and then you’d put the bag