The Blessings of Aphrodite -- The Binding by Request

When I got back, she was standing, running her hand over the black lace of the teddy. It was pulled half off and disheveled, but looked intact, which is a bit of a miracle, really. "I think… this will need some laundering before it will have its proper impact," she said. "May I take it off?"

"Of course," I said, offering her the drink.

She drank -- draining the glass before she handed it back to me. "Thank you," she said, and began sliding her hands up her body. She began to peel the black lace off, arching slightly as she did it.

"…you're using the blessings of Aphrodite again." I half-whispered.

"Yes," she said, turning back to me as she peeled the lace off her breasts, looking over her shoulder. "You're upset and you're unfocused. So I am focusing you and calming you." She smiled, very slightly. "We will have time to be angry and worried. For now… share this moment with me."

How Diana could be so… giving ten minutes after I'd brutalized her in the bathroom is beyond me -- but then, that was who she was. That was what she was.

Except in the bathroom she hadn't been any of that.

"Thomas," she said, bending at the waist and peeling the teddy down straight legs, one arm over her breasts as she turned profile, hair cascading like a waterfall -- it seemed to have recovered with the rest of her. "Would you do me a favor?"

"What?" I half-whispered. I admit to being entranced. But then, it was her power.

"…I mentioned kinbaku. The art of beautiful tying, the connection of being bound." She turned, sliding forward so that mane of hair hid her body from view even as she peeled off one stocking. "When I am done… please… bind me in it. Bind me in my lariat, and leave me so bound for the rest of the night. Bind me in the truth. Bind me to you. It is… disconcerting to discuss what happened. This would help. And I would like it very much." The lariat was still around her right bracer, so I know she was telling the truth.

"…all right," I said, softly.

"Thank you." She finished peeling off the second stocking, then rose, arching, arms sliding behind herself and her hair tossed back, revealing her glory like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. She was beautiful. She was beauty itself. And she was sensuality incarnate.

I stared, then walked over. I reached out for the rope, and she held her right bracer towards me. I unwound it, then slowly stepped around her, gathering the cords in my hands and snapping them together, which caused her to gasp the way they had those first few moments in my apartment, twenty four hours and a lifetime before.

I slowly began to wrap the cord around her waist, then up and around again, careful to meet the aesthetics. I bound it like a web over her stomach, then coiled beneath and above her breasts, a single strand between them. I wrapped it around her shoulders and down her arms, criss-crossing to restrict her movement, then around her hips again, and down her legs.

In the process, I had wrapped the lariat around her bracers, binding them together… I actually slid off the silk and bound around the metal of the bracers. She moaned again, but didn't seem to become any weaker.

Then back around her waist, and looping tightly from the top of her hips to her thighs, one side and the other, pulled tight, so that they didn't cover her vulva -- if anything, the tension drew the lips slightly apart.

But then, as swollen and damp as they were? They hardly needed the help.

Down her legs, and then around her legs, knotted so they could be spread at least somewhat, but restraining them. All the way to her ankles. And then I was done.

I stood, and I looked at Diana.

She was arched. Posed. Eyes half-closed, lips parted, head back. She was sweating very slightly -- glistening in the light… and I realized that the lariat itself was glowing. I could tell just by looking that she was fully Diana. Fully Wonder Woman. No weakness. No fear.

Just acceptance. And arousal. Her nipples proved that as much as the glisten of her mons did.

I looked her up and down, then walked back over, undressing as I went. I'd kept most of my clothes on during the bathroom ****. Stepping behind her, I reached down and picked up one of the discarded silk scarves.

She gasped as I wound it two or three times around her left bracer, then gasped again as I wound it around her right one. There was a reasonable amount of slack between them, but they were tight on the bracers themselves. Slowly I worked a knot, focusing on what was happening… on Diana… on my Diana… and then I pulled the knot tight-

Diana cried out, muscles going taut… then relaxing slowly. Her head dropped forward, eyes cast down…

I stepped in front of her, looking her up and down again….

The glow of the lariat was gone, and the woman in front of me was beautiful… but…

You could just tell. She was mortal.

I reached over, arms behind her, and she shivered. I found the knot and undid it-

The lariat's glow brightened instantly, and she breathed in -- she didn't physically change, but her presence seemed to swell.

"So," I said, softly. "Assuming it isn't specifically silk… it's intention. I have to intend to… unmake Wonder Woman and leave…"

"Me," Diana said softly. "Leave just… me." She took a breath. "I will need to do more experimentation, of course, but… I think it's more than just your intention."

"What else does it need?"

She took a long moment. "Acceptance," she said. "I have to accept being bound… being unmade, to use your word."

"You didn't accept it before," I said. "The oath-"

"Clearly the oath is… too subtle for this aspect of the Bracelets of Submission," she said, still speaking softly. "It can't tell the difference between **** cooperation and full acceptance. Which is dangerous. If the secret gets out… a man with a gun pressed to the head of an innocent can coerce me into accepting his chain, and that…"

"…would be a disaster," I answered. "And you'd love it while it happened."

"Yes," she said, simply. "Though… I think… not as much as with you. But that is a hunch."

I chuckled. "Yeah," I said. "Well. I won't tell anyone."

"Not willingly," she said. "But secrets… secrets have a way of becoming known, Thomas. Wisdom suggests preparing for when it is learned, not for hoping it won't be."

I paused. "Yeah," I said. "That… makes sense." I had been largely pulled out of my anger and shame and fear -- the blessings of Aphrodite and Diana's own spirit and compassion were both strong -- but I still felt a clutch around my heart. I had the terrible feeling this secret would eventually be the **** of Wonder Woman.

And if it was? The responsibility would be entirely mine.