Chained To Him [Editing]

Chapter Sixteen

When Aylah led her into the training room in early morning, Jayde had to force her muscles to keep moving even as her her mind seemed to cease all function. All three trainers were present, hands clasped in front of them in a respectful stance that was directed not at her, but at Maigi, who stood motionless and erect across from the trainers. She looked severely at Jayde before nodding to Aylah, who shut the door tightly behind them. Aylah stepped away from Jayde and came to stand near Maigi, but Jayde's heart didn't begin to beat regularly again until Aylah offered her a subtle, reassuring smile.

"Jayde," Maigi addressed her, and Jayde folded her arms behind her and kept her chin respectfully low as the other woman spoke. "Chev has given his vote of confidence that you have completed your training, and Blane and John agree. If you perform sufficiently now, then I will second their decision and you will finish your training."

"Thank you, Madam," Jayde said softly.

"Chev, since you have vouched for her, please lead her today."

Chev nodded and stepped forward, and Jayde turned to meet him. For a moment, their eyes met, and Jayde searched for any sign of good will there, but Chev kept his gaze cold, distant, as would be expected of him. As she undressed and performed her practiced routine for the room, Jayde reminded herself that her allies once again outweighed those who stood in her way. Even Maigi would find it advantageous for her to be ready to end training sooner – it would mean that she was fully prepared to meet Greywood and make a decent impression, and increased time dancing would only help with that. In this respect, Jayde and Maigi's ambitions aligned, although Maigi couldn't know Jayde's true motives for seeking to impress the lord of Aésadel.

And so, Jayde made sure that her posture and form were impeccable, that her body arched just right as Chev's hand swept over her back, across the insides of her thighs. She leaned into his fingers to show her willingness to please even as he molested her in a room full of onlookers, and she displayed only docile malleability when he sparked pain or discomfort. When Chev showed Maigi how Jayde behaved during punishment, she kept herself eagerly exposed, never shrinking away from a strike of the flogger, barely letting a noise escape her mouth when the leather stung her breasts and belly.

In some distant part of her mind, she was suffering, but she had slipped into the only headspace that allowed her to exist in the training room, the frame of mind where every motion to comply with her trainers, every stifled gasp and every practiced whimper of pleasure, were signs to herself that she was resisting, that she was still stronger than they thought. As Chev led her to her knees before Maigi, Jayde looked up at her keeper with a low chin and soft eyes as she'd been taught, and she realized that her greatest power here was that the people who used or abused her would never see it coming when she turned against them.

Maigi beckoned Jayde from her kneeling stance, and she rose to stand naked, obedient before her.

"When I accepted you as a favor to Lord Aragon, I had my doubts about you. Especially after you refused me the first time." Jayde said nothing, wondering if others in the room could hear her heartbeat as she waited for Maigi's verdict. "You've turned out to be a better asset than I expected." When Maigi turned toward the trainers, Jayde held her breath, glancing quickly at Aylah. The other woman caught her eye and gave her a knowing smile, which sent relief flooding through her. "Chev, Blane, John – you've done a commendable job given the tight timeframe. I agree that she's finished with her training. And Aylah, you've been invaluable in the process as well. I thank you all for your efforts."

Jayde tried not to think of Aylah as one of her trainers, but it was true that she had helped Jayde adjust here. Would she have become so obedient without her? But no, it wasn't obedience that Aylah had helped her gain, it was the understanding of what she had to do to survive here, to keep her mind in one piece in order to remain unbroken.