Back to her bedroom, where she wants to question him first

Lyra strode confidently into one of the guest bedrooms, with Marcus padding at her heels. As much as the young prince wished he could hide from her, or even better just turn and run back to his lover's strong, protective embrace, he knew he didn't have a choice but to do everything she said. She'd promised Jack she wouldn't hurt him and he knew enough by now to trust that she meant it. Not to mention her offer of one thousand Crowns hanging in the balance. Marcus had never had to worry about money before, but now he knew he had to count every Crown and a huge sum like that brought him so much closer to freedom with Jack he could hardly refuse it. Still, the thought of what this scary, angry woman might want to do with him now they were alone together had his stomach twisting in nervous fear.

Just like Jack, Lyra had stripped out the ornate decorations that must once have covered the walls of the room she'd chosen, leaving the walls and floors nothing but bare, unforgiving stone. There was a fire burning in the grate to his right, next to a wooden desk covered in maps and papers, and then, against the far wall, a large double bed. Marcus swallowed anxiously as his gaze traced over the silky sheets, still all mussed up from where she must have slept in them. He didn't doubt that before the night ended they'd be together on that bed. That was why she'd paid for him, wasn't it?

"So, boy..." Lyra turned to face him, a thin smile on her scarred face. "I have a question for you before we get started tonight. I'd like to know exactly what you did with Juliet and Jack to make them so very fond of you."

"What?" Marcus gasped.

"Call it curiosity." The scarred woman continued, stepping over to her desk and leaning back against it, her palms spread on the wood. "Those two are my best and they hated your family, almost as much as me. Now Juliet treats you like her treasured toy, you know she wanted to stop me coming after you just now? Got between me and the door in that banquet, shaking her head and trying to get me to sit back down. As for Jack...well, he's utterly besotted. I'm pretty sure he'd die for you, as he once promised to do for me." She chuckled, but this time there was no mockery or anger in her laughter, just a hollow disbelief. "And there's one other reason." Her one good eye flickered back up to him, cool and determined, while the burned glassy one stared into nothing. The scar covering one side her face seemed to flush a little darker. "I want to make sure I get my money's worth out of you tonight. What you did for them, you'll do for me. You're not going to try shortchanging me, are you boy?"

"No..." The young prince shook his head hurriedly. "I'll do whatever you want." He wasn't sure right now if he'd regret saying that...but what choice did he have?

"Good." Lyra nodded, her lips curling. "Then first, strip for me. It'll set the mood properly, and give me something even prettier to look at than that girly face of yours."

Marcus paused for just a moment at that unexpected command, but her voice brooked no disagreement. Besides, he'd been naked in front of her before and that horrible angry mob she'd dragged him in front of too. It wasn't as hard as it would have been just a few days ago to reach for his shirt with trembling fingers and lift it over his head. His bare chest was pale as snow in the flickering firelight, the cold air making his pink nipples itch and stiffen. Folding the shirt neatly over his arm like the maids did, he put it down on the floor beside him and did his shoes next. Lyra's gaze was on him the whole time, still leaning back against the desk like she was watching some grand performance.

The young prince swallowed, then reached for his shorts. With a gasp, he pulled them down as well, baring his soft thighs. As he stepped out of the shorts and awkwardly folded them too, Lyra leant forward slightly, her one good eye seeming to drink in the sight of him naked. Her lips were parted, and in the firelight the unburned skin of her face was flushing pink. Marcus shivered at the sight. He'd had enough experience by now with people desiring his naked body to know what was happening here. Well, at least if she wanted him that way...she wasn't going to hurt him, right?

"Good." Lyra nodded, once he'd laid the folded shorts in a pile with his shirt. "Now stand there, naked and pretty as you are, and tell me exactly what happened. Let's start with Jack. I'll admit, he's the one I'm really interested in. What exactly did the pair of you do together?" Her voice was a low purr, trembling with anticipation. Marcus took in a sharp breath, struggling to even find the words. It felt...like a betrayal, telling her now about that beautiful night with Jack while she leered at him like he was a piece of meat. Only...he had to. His lover wouldn't mind, right?

"He was kind to me." Marcus explained, voice trembling with the sharp ache in his heart. "He didn't want to...do anything at first, said we could just pretend we had. But I'd guessed you'd make me go with someone else, and I wanted my first time to be with him, because I knew by then he at least wouldn't hurt me." He raised his head, finding the strength to meet Lyra's heated stare. His lips were trembling, but he stood as straight as he could manage all the same. With the memory of Jack's kindness filling him up with warmth, he didn't have to cower in fear anymore.

"You were a virgin?" Lyra gasped, something hungry in that sound that made his skin tingle.

"I was." The young prince explained, his cheeks glowing hotter, but his level stare never wavering. "Jack was my first. He knew that, and he was gentle. First...we took a bath together, and washed each other. He said it was to get used to each other's bodies and he touched me a lot, and I touched him." It was getting easier to talk now, and Marcus felt something like trembling defiance slip into his voice. Let this awful, scary woman know how kind and gentle Jack had been! Maybe she'd realize how wrong it was to hurt people! "Then we went back to the bedroom together, and...we stroked each other until we were both satisfied." Lyra made a sharp, sighing noise, her legs trembling. There was a glassy look in her one good eye as it drifted over the young prince's bare chest, burning like a coal.

"I can...imagine." She breathed hotly. "How big his hands must have seemed on you... and how small yours must have seemed on him." Her hands twitched, digging into the desk. Her lips were wet and parted, her chest heaving underneath her shirt. "That can't be all though...no, he would have wanted you badly after that. So badly he wouldn't be able to stand it. And you wanted him too, didn't you, little prince? You wanted him to take you..."

"I did." Marcus admitted, suddenly shy. Now he'd gone this far, what point was there in stopping now? The words spilled forth from his lips, and as he spoke them he felt a tingling heat inside his belly at the pleasure of those sweet memories. "He said I could be on top if I wanted, but I wanted him...inside me instead." His soft dick twitched, his mind swimming with warm visions of Jack kneeling there naked on the bed, rubbing oil into that thick, marvelous cock, getting ready to claim him.

"Of course." Lyra moaned, a shiver passing through her body. "How else could it be? Of fuck...a pretty boy like you writhing in pleasure underneath his big, muscled body." One of her hands darted suddenly between her legs, gripping at her pelvis through her trousers. Her fingers twitched, and the young prince blushed as he realized she must be rubbing her pussy through the fabric.

"He took my first time." Marcus gasped, his head all hot and fuzzy now. No matter who he was telling this too and why, he felt like he couldn't stop now. Not with his dick stiffening up between his legs, and his butt tingling eagerly at the memory of how it had felt to be filled by Jack's thick cock. His anxiousness faded into the background. Lyra wasn't nearly so scary when she was moaning and rubbing herself like this. If he kept talking...maybe she wouldn't hurt him after all. "I enjoyed it...so much. And he did too, I hope. We both...finished together." He shivered, a pulse of pleasure blooming in his belly. "And then we lay in bed, and he cuddled me into I fell asleep against his chest."

"Fuck..." Lyra gasped out. She yanked her hand from between her legs. For a moment she stood there, staring at her own trembling fingers with something like disbelief. Then she breathed, a long, shuddering sigh, and when she lowered her head to stare at him she seemed much more composed. Although, Marcus noticed, her unscarred cheek was still rather flushed. "The former prince and the peasant woodsman nearly twice his age. A story for the ages, isn't it?" She chuckled darkly. "Maybe it's one I can use once we have things settled, just hint at the saucy details, show how even a humbled royal can find love and companionship in the new world I'm trying to make. Now I have a story for you, boy. Only I don't think it's one you'll enjoy as much as I did that delightful little tale." She reached for her own shirt, and Marcus stiffened in shock as he realized she was going to take it off. "That's right." Her lips curled back into that cold, contemptuous sneer, the gleam of desire joining with a cold, bitter anger in her good eye. "Before we lay together, you're going to hear how I got burned."