“Slaves are required to be obedient and pleasing at all times,” Himlin said as Jake fought not to move around at the urging of the insertion. “My two newest slaves have been very disobedient and not at all pleasing, so now they’re going to be punished. Slaves need to know what being bad slaves will bring them.”

Jake’s stomach had already clenched at the sight of what the man behind Tandro held because he knew there was another man behind him also holding a switch. If Himlin had decided to have them whipped, Tandro would probably be as happy as Jake; there are times when intense pain is much preferable to less pain and intense humiliation. But they weren’t being given the choice, especially not when Himlin wanted to send them to withdraw their complaint—A sound hissed out of Jake’s throat at the feel of the first stroke across his backside, a painful stroke that made him move in a way he’d been trying to avoid. The movement combined with the sight and sound of Tandro being given a first stroke, and then Jake felt the second stroke land. He and Tandro weren’t being switched at exactly the same time, an oddity Jake didn’t understand.

It took half a dozen very painful strokes of the switch before Jake did understand what was being done. He was being made to watch Tandro’s switching just as Tandro was watching his own, and after half a dozen strokes Jake was flinching and moving even when only Tandro was being struck. It was like doubling the punishment, and that insertion made the time pure hell. Not moving had become impossible, and Jake was horribly aware of how aroused he had become.

It came to Jake that if he’d been asked before now just how bad he considered a switching to be, he would not have hesitated in saying that it couldn’t be thought of as fun but certainly wasn’t all that bad. That conclusion came, of course, before he was made to stand bent over and do nothing but writhe as the thin branch was brought down hard on his backside again and again. He could feel his flesh quivering even when the switch wasn’t hitting him, and anticipating the next stroke made the stroke worse when it came.

After a very short while Jake wanted to howl every time another stroke landed, and it was all he could do not to let the howl become audible.

Tandro had begun to grunt very low when he was struck, and then he began to grunt even when Jake was struck. Tandro was being made to watch—and share—Jake’s punishment even as Jake was watching and sharing his, and the humiliation rose so high that Jake was amazed it was possible for him to breathe around it.

The time of the switching seemed absolutely endless, but it couldn’t have gone on for more than fifteen or twenty minutes before Himlin unexpectedly called a halt.

“All right, that’s enough for now,” Himlin said, clearly speaking to the men with the switches. “If their behavior isn’t absolutely perfect for the rest of the day we’ll give them the same again later, and maybe I’ll have them switched even if their behavior is perfect. Since I’m the one who owns these slaves, I can do anything I like with them. That should prove how much better it is to own a slave rather than be one.”

The laughter coming from all the men who had watched Jake’s humiliation made that humiliation even worse, but there was still nothing Jake could do to change things. The slaver wanted him and Tandro to wish they were masters again instead of slaves, but the tactic wasn’t working the way the fool expected. Jake was now even more opposed to slavery, not to mention silently promising himself Himlin’s blood as soon as it became possible to take it…

“All right, slaves, you can straighten up now but don’t try to touch or take out what was put inside you,” Himlin said after the laughter died down. “Come over here, and then kneel at my feet to either side of my chair. I like having slaves around me when I relax.”

Again Jake had no choice but to obey, and walking proved to be even more painful than he’d expected. But painful wasn’t the only thing walking turned out to be, and by the time he reached Himlin’s chair it was all he could do not to groan. The insertion had made him aroused during the switching, and walking had increased the arousal. The men seated in the chairs grinned wide as they watched him and Tandro, some of them chuckling as others laughed outright. They could all see how Jake and Tandro felt, the two men’s condition being more than a little obvious.

“Yes, I enjoy having obedience from my slaves,” Himlin said once Jake and

Tandro had knelt painfully to either side of his feet. “And I also enjoy having slaves around me. Bring in the first one.”

One of the men was near a door in the far side of the room, and when

Himlin gave his order the man near the door turned and opened it. The way the man grinned was a hint Jake didn’t want to believe, but the next moment the hint was reality that couldn’t be denied. A really beautiful woman came in, moving with all the grace of a born and trained dancer, her naked body covered only with lengths of sheer lavender silk that were worse for Jake than complete nudity would have been.

The woman’s dark hair hung down to her slender waist in bouncing waves, moving beyond her arms as she moved toward them. Most of her body was slender, but her breasts jutted against the silk to emphasize her small waist and rounded hips. Her lovely face wore a smile of welcome and encouragement, and actual amusement danced in her gorgeous blue eyes.

Jake’s arousal was so intense and painful that he wanted to jump to his feet and use the woman no matter how many others were watching, but he’d been ordered to kneel and that order hadn’t been rescinded. When Tandro groaned aloud, it took all of Jake’s will not to do the same.

The music of a flute sounded suddenly, and the woman began to dance to the music. The flute-player had apparently followed the woman into the room, but Jake hadn’t noticed the small man until he began to play. The way the woman swayed and turned and stepped and posed was sheer hell for Jake, and even closing his eyes didn’t help much.

“I expect you slaves to watch this other slave’s every move,” Himlin’s voice came, instantly ruining Jake’s feeble escape attempt. “She’s been trained for a specific purpose, and I want to know if that purpose has been achieved.”

So Jake was forced to watch the dancer as she moved in a very small amount of space in front of Himlin. Jake’s hands had turned to fists where they rested on his thighs, an outward admission that the ache in his backside wasn’t enough of a distraction. His body flared with the demand of his need, but he wasn’t being allowed to see to that need. He was just being allowed to have the need increase, higher and higher without the least hope of getting it taken care of.

And then an odd thought came to Jake in spite of his barely being able to think. Himlin had said that the slave had been trained for a specific purpose, but he hadn’t said exactly what that purpose was. It was just possible that Himlin meant to question him and Tandro after the girl finished dancing, and if they came up with the proper purpose of the girl’s training they might be allowed to use her. Part of Jake was very ashamed that he would even consider taking advantage of a slave like that, but the rest of him needed release too badly to worry about the niceties. If he ever got away he could find the girl and apologize, but right now…

Right now Jake knew he had to figure out the answer to the question he’d be asked, so he watched the girl’s dance carefully. Her movements were graceful but they were also slow and deliberate, the way she held to the silk and occasionally moved it emphasizing all the rest. Her gaze slid from one of the men watching her to the next, the smile on her face provocative, the look in her eyes the least bit challenging. Her hips moved in a way that turned Jake’s mouth even drier, and—That’s it, Jake thought when the realization forced its way through to his conscious mind. She’s been trained to entice men into wanting to rape her, and the training has been very effective. If she would just come close enough for me to grab her…