"Take off your rags", he said.
The fireplace sent shadows raging across his black beard, and his green eyes glowered.
She shivered as she crawled out of the grey, her eyes scanning the mat that lay by the floor.
"Is this how you thought I would repay you? Do I not mete out mercy for mercy, kindness for kindness?"
She placed her palms between her legs, and blushed.
"Will you not face me?"
"And show you things I'd rather you not see?"
"Yet nothing I haven't seen before."
His voice grew gentle. "Come here."
She stepped away from the warmth. She could feel the chill of his fingers upon her cheeks.
"You're cold", she said.
"Shall I ring the butler for a cup of coffee?"
She shook her head.
"Now let's discuss your punishment."
He ran his fingers over her shoulders.
"You loved me once."
"And I still do."
She wanted to laugh, but the sound got stuck in her throat.
He smiled.
"I know that sound", he said.
She tried not to cry.
"Now take your medicine".
She felt his palm against her tears, the black silk against her lips. She stood still as he let the leather roam the length and breadth of her back and thighs. He kissed her shoulders, working his way up to her neck. "I forgive you", he whispered. She felt the black silk being unbound from her mouth, and the blood dripping down her body.
He kissed each wound as he cleansed it. She felt the sting of peroxyde, followed by the dryness of cotton gauze. She curled up on the mat by the fireplace as he drew her a bath. Then he soaped each part of her body. "You've been purified", he said, before drying her with a white towel, and clothing her in garments of royal purple that matched his own robes. First he helped her into cotton underwear, then into a silk dress that hugged her body.
"Now you have truly earned these", he said, planting a kiss on her cheek.
She turned his face towards her and drank in his lips. "Now that I've gotten you dressed in these clothes, what do you say I take you to my bedroom and get you out of them?", he asked.
Her laughter signalled her assent as he took her hand, and marvelled at the beautiful woman who stood beside him.
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