Chapter Seventeen

All night something had gripped Ronnie’s heart and squeezed it so tight it ached. The hand of jealousy. Eating her morn meal she sighed as a sadness welled up inside her, followed by a surge of anger, which she couldn’t hold back.

‘Why have I not heard of this woman called Liavara before?’ she demanded.

‘This is not just any woman. Liavara is one of the true daughters of King Harsis Das, and Queen Perranda Ras.’ Artemis smiled, looking as smitten as she sounded. Then she frowned and folded her arms. ‘She is a beautiful Royal Princess and you do not speak of her, or any royals for that matter, in that tone. Am I understood?’

Ronnie pouted, determined not to be shut up this time. If this woman, Princess or not, was another threat she would tell her all she knew. Nothing was going to stand in her way. Nothing! Not now she’d just started to see sense and accept her role, even if it was a means to getting out quicker; a get out of jail free card. At least she was trying for once.

She placed her bowl on the floor and went to where Artemis was standing, and looked at her through the cage bars. With each step she felt the uncomfortable presence of Theo’s plug. It acted as a constant reminder of his control over her, which she was rapidly liking, since he wasn’t around in person that much.

‘But what does she want... with Theo?’

He’s mine!

‘That’s hardly a matter for your concern, child. The Learned may own you, but you have no say in what he does, where he goes, and especially not whom he sees.’ She stepped forward and leaned closer to Ronnie’s face. Through the bars their noses almost touched. ‘You seem to have trouble remembering that you are only a Child of Destiny. Yes, you do play an important role as the spirit of Hope’s body host, but you are not so special you can’t be replaced and it’s time you faced that fact.’

‘And you are not my Personal Destaurian Body Guard. You cannot tell me what to do!’

‘No? Well my orders come directly from Theo so we’ll see about that. If you refuse to do as I say you are effectively disobeying your Learned.’ She straightened up and pointed to the floor at her feet. ‘Get out of the cage this instant. It’s unlocked. Knaala, right there!’

Ronnie frowned, pretending she didn’t understand.

‘Oh, don’t you know anything?’ asked Artemis, getting frustrated. ‘Knaala, that’s kneel. If you refuse me I’ll go back to Theo and tell him how jealous you are of Princess Liavara and he will surely be displeased and punish you. Much more severely than I would. Now do it!’

At the thought of pissing off Theo at such a crucial stage, Ronnie went to the cage door and pushed it open.

‘Come on, Ronnie, you can humiliate yourself better than that. Heavens above, it’s not far. Get on your knees and crawl. That’s what Theo likes, and so do I.’

Ronnie shuffled to Artemis’ feet, purposely trying not to be seductive with her crawl. She looked up defiantly. ‘For your information I am not jealous.’

‘Next time I say knaala you’d better do it with some enthusiasm or you’ll be in big trouble. Now, kneel. Knees apart and hands behind your back. Obey me, girl, or do you want me to send for Hermes to message Theo? After I’ve punished you first, of course.’

‘But I’m not jealous!’ Ronnie argued.

‘Look. You seem to be forgetting a lot of things. But you’re not going to get anywhere if you forget this.’ She sighed. ‘We’re immortal, Ronnie. We each have a special gift. I have the ability to look inside human hearts and see things you cannot. It’s what I do. Right now your heart is hurting. You are jealous of the thought of your Learned being with another, but Princess Liavara is only the tip of the iceberg. You’re not keen on his participation in the sex rota and to cap it all, my relationship with your Learned scares you, too. But jealousy has no place in a Child of Destiny’s heart.’ Ronnie turned her head away, but Artemis pulled it back. ‘Look, I know we don’t see eye to eye, but it’s the truth. As is the fact that your Learned can choose whether to share you with others or keep you for himself, as you have already found out.’ She placed a finger under Ronnie’s chin and lifted her head up, so they were facing each other again. ‘He’s free to fuck anyone he pleases, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it but obey. Now, knaala properly.’

Ronnie shifted back onto her heels, feeling her buttocks press tightly against the plug in her rectum. She spread her naked thighs apart and clasped her hands behind her back. Not once did she remove her eyes from Artemis’.

‘Now, I have the power to allow you to repent for your jealousy. Do you want that?’

‘Yes, Artemis, I do.’

‘Good girl.’ She pushed the wall-divider to one side, and Ronnie gawped at the high-backed gothic-style armchair Artemis perched herself upon. Elaborately gilded with gold it occupied a fancy embrasure and looked like a royal throne.

‘Come lay yourself over my lap. You need to be punished.’

‘What? Are you going to spank me now?’ Ronnie said somewhat dismissively, her voice full of sarcasm, but before she had a chance to defend herself Artemis quickly reached out, grabbed her and flipped her over her bare thighs in one swift motion, and gave her succulent heart-shaped bottom one hard smack she’d never forget.

‘How’s that for a taster?’ Artemis smirked.

Ronnie squealed indignantly and tried to get back up, but Artemis held her down and admired the instant red handprint that appeared on her exposed bottom. ‘Do you not want to repent, girl?’

‘Well yes, but like this?’ she panted. ‘With a spanking? There must be some other way. I’m not a child - ’ another smack, another squeal.

Artemis grinned, relishing the site of a grown female struggling to cope with being treated like a naughty child. Especially a human girl, of which she was particularly partial.

‘Not a child in the Otherworld sense, no, but you are a Child of Destiny and that means offering yourself fully, without reservation and vacating all limits.’

‘To Theo, yes,’ Ronnie protested. ‘But not to you.’

Artemis pursed her lips. That much was true, but Tartarus, if she was doing all the groundwork, laying the foundations for the girl’s training on Theo’s behalf, she figured she at least earned the right to take a bit of the fun too. It’s all training, she reasoned, in case she was being watched. Walls had eyes as well as ears, although they hardly bothered to open these days. She raised her hand high in the air and brought it down so hard both females were stung - one’s palm, the other’s buttock.

‘Stop struggling, and rest your hands on the floor; it’s better that way,’ Artemis ordered, unable to stop herself from squirming on her seat as tender flesh lay across her bare thighs.

‘For you, maybe,’ Ronnie snorted.

Spank! Spank! Spank! Spank!

Human girls were, after all, her preferred taste, and she adored the power of having one whimpering at her mercy. ‘Repent, girl!’

‘No!’

The Dryads were always so partial to a good bottom warming but nothing could replace the feel of a human girl against her skin. Nor could it beat the way even the most obedient of Destiny’s Children fought against a good spanking.

‘You will repent!’

‘No I fucking won’t! Not like this!’

Fortunate to be bestowed the special gift of reading hearts, Artemis connected so much better to human girls; such complex creatures who under a firm hand threw out so many mixed emotions; shame, guilt, regret, remorse and best of all, Mindlust. Pure bliss. Senses overload, and it could make her come without being touched, which she loved - loved almost as much as watching them squirm under her harsh hand. Not that she couldn’t be gentle when she wanted to be, when it mattered.

Relentless, Artemis spanked her again. ‘What do you think the word repent means?’

‘Why, don’t you know?’ Ronnie retorted cheekily, but Artemis responded with another slap to her burning bottom.

‘Don’t answer my question with another question in the middle of me enforcing your discipline,’ she scolded, aghast at the girl’s nerve. ‘What. Does. Repent. Mean?’ Artemis asked again, spanking the words out rhythmically.

Why should I care? She’s not my Child.

‘T-to request forgiveness for one’s actions,’ Ronnie stammered, conceding to the question.

But I do. Perhaps too much.

‘Well, repent then,’ Artemis insisted, giving her another spank.

Is that why I’ve given her such a hard time lately? Have I yearned so long for a Child of Destiny of my own to train and play with, that when I get one I like it’s not mine to keep and therefore so annoying?

‘You think a spanking is the answer?’ Ronnie protested. ‘I’m not a child. You can’t treat me this way.’

‘So say you’re sorry!’

Smack!

‘No!’

Smack!

‘Say it!’

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

‘No, I won’t!’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I’m not,’ Ronnie stated adamantly through her tears. ‘Princess Liavara gets more attention from my Learned than I do. It’s not fair! I’m his Child of Destiny.’

Artemis was pleasantly surprised by Ronnie’s first true acceptance of her ultimate destiny. Perhaps some progress was being made.

‘Well then, start behaving like one and perhaps he’ll take more notice of you.’

Immediately the words slipped out Artemis knew she shouldn’t have said them. Yes, the girl did seem more difficult to manipulate than others; too feisty, too quick to argue, and just plain hard work at times, but Theo pulled her out of the car crash to save her life. Perhaps it was too early. Perhaps she wasn’t fully ready. It wasn’t her fault.

‘Okay! Okay!’ a runny-nosed Ronnie cried, tears dripping to the floor.

‘So submit fully and say you repent your jealousy.’ As she continued spanking the rosy buttocks before her, her fingers accidently slipped over Ronnie’s wet sex lips and she knew she wanted the girl, if only she was hers. But this was no sex rota orgy and making her orgasm now would be unacceptable and only incur Theo’s wrath and the sting of his whip.

‘I do, I’m sorry!’ sobbed the girl, bringing Artemis to her senses.

‘Not good enough,’ she said, punctuating each syllable with a smack. ‘You must beg forgiveness. Make us truly believe you mean it. Your Learned will expect no less.’

‘I’m sorry for being jealous, and for fighting against you all,’ Ronnie sobbed. ‘Really, please forgive me. I’ll do anything, just forgive me.’

‘And that’s all you have to do girl, anything. Do you promise?’ Finally Artemis sensed a true desperate need for forgiveness.

‘Yes,’ Ronnie sobbed, her face red with embarrassment, wet with tears of shame. Artemis clenched her pussy lips together. The sorry sight of the snivelling wreck begging forgiveness turned her on. She held back. A trip to the Otherworld later this nigh would sort her out. Right now this was all about Ronnie, and she needed to stay in control.

‘There, there,’ Artemis said, pulling Ronnie’s limp body up and sitting the girl on her lap, hugging her tightly. ‘It’s all right now. I’ve forgiven you. It’s all over,’ she cooed, gently stroking a loose strand of wet hair out of Ronnie’s eyes. She wanted to make the girl come. Give her a true release, but without Theo’s permission she could not. Not without dire consequences.

‘But I can’t stop crying,’ Ronnie sniffed, laying her head on Artemis’ chest.

‘It’s perfectly normal. Your inner Goddess is working you hard. Darker desires are driven by a need to resolve themselves and Children of Destiny do that through emotional release. It’s the way of our world, but you’ll feel better for it. Just as you would if you stopped fighting against us and make it your business to listen and learn to how you can better serve us, without jealously rearing its ugly head.’

Ronnie sniffed, nodded her head and looked up at Artemis. A stray tear trickled down her cheek. ‘Thank you, Artemis. I do feel better now. But may I ask you something about Theo, please?’

‘Of course, child. If I can help I will.’

She shuddered, her tears subsiding. ‘You mean that?’

‘It’s the least I can do,’ she sighed. ‘I think I’ve been a little unfair to you lately, but that’s all going to change now. So, what is it?’

‘If this is my training and Theo is my Learned, why do I get the feeling he’s avoiding me?’

‘Hmm....’ Artemis mused, pretending to be deep in thought. Right, that’s it! He’s not going to get away with his behaviour any more. It’s time he faced up to his responsibilities once and for all, or I’m going to the High Council and requesting to take her as my own, and when I give the reasons why, it will be the last we see of him.

Harsh? Maybe. But someone needs to help this poor girl. What use will she be to the mission if her own Guardian is too busy struggling to deal with his own issues?

‘It’s okay; this is how it always goes,’ she lied. ‘Now I can report back to your Learned with details of how I think you’re ready for the next step, and from thereon you will be working together much closer. Now, I’m going to the Sterile Forest to hunt. You stay and rest. Catch up on some reading. I’ll be back later to see how you are when I bring your eve nourishment meal before I go out. Okay?’

‘Yes, thanks, Artemis.’

And now I’ve built up her hopes I only hope I can convince him to do what’s right by her or this whole damn mission is going to shatter to pieces, which we may never be able to pick up. And we all have so much at stake here. Something’s got to budge.