A D/s Fairy Tale 10"( MF FF F-dom fant )[6/7] Chapter 10 - The Sub Who Loved Me Someone was screaming - shattering the peace of the still, predawn darkness! Christiana came out of a troubled sleep with the sounds of a soul keening in torment ringing in her ears. And then she realized. . . She was the one who was screaming. All lingering remnants of sleep disappeared from her brain as she came bolt upright. She was no longer bound to the cross - her arms and legs were free. The gag was gone and she had been laid down somewhere. Completely disoriented, Chris scanned her surroundings and was amazed to find that she was in her own room and in her own bed. She was dressed in her favorite nightgown. How had she gotten here? How had she gotten dressed? How had Kayla and Lillian gotten her past security in her unconscious state? Kayla. Lillian. The mind pictures of her ordeal in Lillian's dungeon came rushing back to her and her stomach roiled queasily. Her hands came up to grip the one inch silver rings Lillian had soldered into her still bleeding nipples only to find. . . Nothing. No rings anywhere. She pulled the nightgown down over her breasts for a closer look. No blood or scabs. Not even a hole where she had seen, where she had *felt* the needle slide slowly through her crinkled nubs. Not sure what to believe, Chris moved her hands lower, one to her belly, one to her mons. They found the same nothing in those places as she had on her breasts. Thoroughly confused, Chris scrambled out of bed, fighting her way out of the tangled and knotted bedding and rushed over to her mirrors. Stripping the nightshirt the rest of the way off, she carefully examined her body for any signs of what had been done to her. Nothing. She found nothing. Well, not quite nothing. Amazingly, she found her little, lovingly groomed thatch of red pubic hair. It was still there, intact. How was that possible? Hell, just about every one of her former subs had in one way or another stripped her of that little emblem of personal pride. But, as her hands had told her instants before in her bed, there was no evidence at all of yesterday's piercing. Her body was unmarked by needle, and thank God, unmarked by tattoo. Relief made her shiver uncontrollably and her knees weak. Slowly, Chris stumbled her way across the room to the chairs in front of the french doors to await the sunrise, and to think. Why was she still unmarked? What had happened after she had blacked out? Chris believed that Lillian would stop the tattooing if a subject blacked before she had really even marked her so that would explain what she was not tattooed, but what about the piercings - they had been done and her hair - it had been gone. The only explanation that made any sense to her was that, somehow, Adrian Luthor was behind all of it. Maybe he simply wanted her to face each new test with a clear slate, so that each of her owners would be able to do anything with her. It was hard to scalp a hairless pussy, she mused. As for the piercings, well, they might inhibit other types of play. Several of her playmates liked nipple clamps and those were not a good idea on still-healing nipples. Chris sighed. What ever Luthor's reasoning, the facts were clear. Nothing of the previous day's indignities were in evidence on her body. Come to think of it, each morning since Luthor cast his spell had been as if the previous day had not happened. Hell, she'd woke up alone both mornings after going to bed with Molly or Leon, and now this. She'd assumed that her bed mates had been taken away magically so that they could not, by their continued presence, upset the next day's new trials. Maybe that had not been such a good assumption, but she did not have any better idea what was going on. God, but she was so tired. She was definitely *not* bored, but she was really worn out physically. What would the sunrise bring, she wondered. The last three dawns had not been very auspicious and look how those days had gone. Looking out her window, she could see in the half light before the dawn that the sky was mostly cloudy. She sighed - another day without a real sunrise - and put her head back against the chair to wait. She must have dozed off in her chair. Dawn was peaking over the skyline in the distance when she came back to consciousness. Stiff from her impromptu nap in the chair, she stretched. She still felt completely drained. How in God's name was she going to hold up through another day of atonement overseen by a submissive with an axe to grind with her? How could she face yet another human who had given his or her self over to Chris and to whom she had not fulfilled her responsibilities? Chris had no answer. She simply knew she had no other choice. The clouds she had seen before dozing off were still up there, blunting and defusing the sun's rays. Chris had so hoped for sunlight. In her mind, she had somehow formed the notion that a real sunrise might be the harbinger of her liberation. Clouds did not seem to be a particularly positive omen. Sadly, she started to stand. If she was going to face . . . whatever, she would do it on a full stomach. She was starving. Just before she could turn away, something flashed at the very edge of her field of vision, pulling her attention back to the large windows. It took her a moment to figure out exactly what had caught her eye. There, in the distance, gleaming down on to the Prudential Tower was a single, radiant shaft of sunlight. Chris followed the beam up to the hole in the cloud layer that had let the sun's rays shine through and then, she saw it. On the fringes of the hole in the clouds, a faint burst of color - so faint and so short lived, Chris almost missed it. But she did not miss it, and she hugged the memory to her tightly. A rainbow wasn't a glorious fiery sunrise, but it was something. A rainbow brought with it the chance for a pot of gold, didn't it? If you worked hard enough, surely there were possibilities. For the first time that morning, Christiana's spirits brightened. All she needed now was breakfast. Bring on your test, Mr. Luthor, she thought. Breakfast had not tasted so good in months. Chris had been unable to find any of the pastries that Kayla had with her the day before, but she found some bagels that she had bought days earlier; even before her fateful meeting with Adrian Luthor. They had still been surprisingly fresh, and she had wolfed down two of them slathered in cream cheese and strawberry jam. As she ate, her mind replayed the past few days. Chris was surprised by the realization that not all her memories were negative. Certainly, the helpless acquiescence to Molly's desires had not been much fun. Maybe Leon had gone a little far when he had explored those hidden, submissive urges Chris had not ever before admitted she possessed. Kayla's scene at Lillian's place had been horrible, but still, in each case she had learned something positive, had done something she was going to want to do again. With Molly, Chris had learned to be a little more understanding of her submissives needs in the scene. Leon had taken her into a world where she could submit and she had tasted pleasure and joy in that. Maybe it was not the high that owning the power was, but it was still special and something she would have to explore further. He had also taken away her fear of anal sex. Her only regret was that first time had not been with Eric. She could have gifted him with that virginity and it would have been so very special between them. As for Kayla, that mirror image hung fast in her mind, that picture of her going down on Kayla, orally worshiping her ebony ass. She sighed quietly. That was one of the most erotic things Chris had ever experienced. "Well," Chris thought, "some things are going to change". A lot of things, actually. She would see to it just as soon as she had her life back, so she could count on having the continued freedom of action she would need to make things right, again. Her doorbell rang. Chris was no longer surprised that someone could get past security without her knowing it. She accepted that as easily and as completely as she now accepted that whoever was ringing that bell was going to be her next owner. With only a little anxiety for what would come next, Chris rose and started toward the door, only to suddenly trip and nearly fall in her haste to get to the door. "Strange," she mused. "I am usually more coordinated than that." She looked down at the floor and shook her head in amusement. "There isn't even anything down there for me to trip over except my own feet." She took a deep, cleansing breath as she undid the locks and gripped the door handle. She would not look out the peephole this time. Come what may. Come who may, she decided. She swung the door open and simply stared in wonder at the man who filled the door. Angels probably looked like that, Chris reflected, so tall and strong, and so beautifully golden. And she loved him. Eric Bjornson stood quietly in the doorway, an expectant look on his almost too handsome face. Chris stepped aside and invited "Won't you please come in?" He followed her in and turned to her. Chris closed the door behind her back and watched him, waiting for the cold sensation that signaled the loss of her will to him as her new owner. For a long space of time, they simply stared at one another, neither speaking. Chris wondered if, in the shock of seeing him, she had missed feeling the enchantment's chilly arrival. Well, she certainly knew what came next in any case. Might as well get on with it, she mused. "Hello, Eric," she said in a calm, controlled voice that belied the turmoil inside that threatened her just finished breakfast. God, but he was so fine to look at - hell, he simply *was* fine, in every sense of the word, and he had been hers. Let him be hers again. Somehow. "Eric, I am yours to command. Please tell me what you wish me to do." The words she had said four previous times to four other people came out once more by rote, only this time seemed different, somehow. Then she realized. This time, with this man - even if it was Luthor's magic prompting her - Chris meant the words. She meant each and every syllable, because this was the way she would make amends to the man she loved the most, to the man she had hurt the worst. The smile she wore on her face was real, too. Eric still said nothing, showed nothing of what he had felt when she had offered herself to him. Finally, he shook his head. "He said you would say that. I don't know why you would say them, or how he knew, but you did as he said you would." A cold chill went down Christiana's back. The feeling was not the same as what she felt when Luthor's spell kicked in; this tasted of real fear. "Who told you that? Who said I would say that." A grim smile creased his features. "Adrian Luthor. He is a counselor I have been seeing since the last time I was here." He hesitated and then moved on. "I was. . . pretty messed up when I left here. I. . . ahhhh, well, I almost did something really stupid." He means he nearly committed suicide over me, Chris realized, and he does not want to tell me that. All right, she thought, if he does not want me to know about that, I won't press until he needs to tell me it all. Her self pleased mood evaporated with his next words. "I was thinking about jumping off the Charles River Bridge, down by Massachusetts General." He referred to the large hospital in the eastern part of Boston along the river. "Adrian found me and stopped me. He is an amazing man with the most incredible capacity for helping you clean up your thinking." I'll drink to that, Chris thought sardonically. "It was stupid of me. I knew, or at least I should have known, you did not mean it. You get into that "I am Domina, Hear Me Snarl" mode of yours, and you will do almost anything to get a reaction." His voice broke and he sat down heavily on the nearest chair. Chris wanted to run to him, wanted to comfort him, but some force beyond her understanding held her back. Somehow, she knew, simply *knew* that Eric *needed* to finish speaking his piece. And she needed to let him. "It was the emotion of the moment, Chris. You are good at ripping those out of me. I never thought of myself as a submissive personality before I met you. For the most part, I still don't, but with you, there is just some part of me that opens up to that facet of you. Right then, I was open, vulnerable, and you hit me with not loving me, not ever being able to love me. My defenses were down and I shattered. All I wanted was to end the pain." He gave her a wan grin, "Pretty stupid. What is they say? Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem?" Chris nodded weakly. She did not want to be temporary with this man. How could she have been so blind about her own feelings. Eric seemed to steel himself against the emotional upheaval and looked back at Chris. "Now, do you mind telling me what the hell that "I am at your command" crap was all about? You don't switch. You absolutely refused to switch with me or anyone else. You would not even let me tease you into getting across my knees for a mock spanking on your last birthday. I want the truth, Christiana." His tone was stern. This was the strong, confident executive she had first been fascinated with. A man who, shortly after they had met, had left her company rather than have professional image and conflict of interest allegations come between them. Slowly, she told him the full story. Of Luthor and his power, and of her experiences with Molly and Leon and Kayla. "So, there it is. His power makes me yours, but there is one thing I am sure of, Eric." her eyes took on an appeal. "You have not given me any real orders yet, but you are wrong. I have learned much in the past few days. I would switch with you now - sometimes" she hastened to amend, "because parts of what I did with my other owners felt good, felt right. And I trust you to make what we do together right and good, as well." Awe showed from his face at her words. "And I can order you to do anything? Order you to *be* anything?" she nodded happily, and realized that she *was* happy. It was not looking like she was and being unhappy, as it had often been with the other three. This was Eric and he would be good to her. He looked at her with stark longing in his eyes, and then, very softly asked "And if I ordered you to start loving me?" The wistful plea in his voice gave her hope. She hesitated, not knowing what to say. That momentarily stunned her, because oddly, she felt no compulsion to answer him, and no compulsion to give him the answer he seemed to want. With Molly and with Leon, she had answered even unspoken orders, responding to their mental commands as quickly and as completely as if they had been shouted at her. A smile bloomed on her face as an idea glimmered into focus. Maybe that was it. "I don't think you can order me to do that, Eric." She was delighted to see his face fall - he *did* love her. "Because I can't start what I already do, and I do love you. Quite hopelessly, in fact." She had never seen him move so quickly. One moment he was staring at her from across the room and the next, she was in his arms being devoured. "Jesus," he breathed against her mouth, "What the hell took you so long?" Gently, she pushed herself back. "Stupidity. Pride. Just plain dumb, mostly. No really good answer, my love, but I am so glad to be able to say it now. I love you." "God, and I do love you, too." Chris went still in his arms. "Can you ever forgive me, my love?" she asked in a very small voice. "I already have, and even if I hadn't, knowing you love me and that you are willing to admit it would have been enough for me to forgive you anything." Then, I can begin to forgive myself, Chris thought with relief. The cold, tingling burn washed over her body again. What was happening, her mind screamed. Was Eric changing her, transforming her? Frightened of who or what she might see, she still turned to look in the mirror. She saw herself, being thoroughly cuddled and kissed by the man she had fallen in love with. A hint of memory, a flash of deja vu tickled at her, and then suddenly became clear. Adrian's words when he had woven his enchantment about her.... "You will be free of this curse when you have fallen irrevocably in love with your current owner and you have forgiven yourself." And she was in love. And she had forgiven herself because Eric had forgiven her. She was free of the spell, but not of the man. She was his, and just as importantly, he was hers. "You are going to marry me, you know." he whispered into the ear he was gently nibbling. "Oh. Am I?" she arched into him, pressed herself tighter to him. "Yep." his smile was in his voice. "I can almost guarantee it." he scooped her up into his arms and headed for her bedroom. "But if you want to negotiate terms, I am ready, willing and able." She nipped at the cleft of his chin, enjoying the ride. "I'll have you know that I am an *excellent* negotiator, sir. Don't think you are going to get everything your own way. I am still the domina in this pairing, too." "As long as I have you, everything else will work out, and the domina is just fine with me, too. As long as I get to play the top once in awhile. I have some really great ideas I have always wanted to do with you." She shivered and then kissed him. "Sounds like a deal to me, Bjornson. Sounds like a deal. When?" He dropped her onto the bed and followed her down. "Soon." he said, "really soon, but not until after you and I finish these ... Ahhh .." he momentarily lost his train of thought when Chris reached up to grip the bulge in his trousers. "More delicate and personal negotiations." He pulled off her nightgown and began his very unique and thrilling negotiation.