Master took her hands in his and kissed them each lovingly. As he turned to go, Dacia pulled her right hand from his and circled it up to her cheek, thumb extended. “Master?”

“Yes, pet?”

As if her hands had been taken over by the goddess herself they flashed impossibly fast. Before she knew it, the message was out. “May I play…” she paused for a moment as if she had finally reigned in the thoughts rampaging through her head like wild beasts. But her control was short lived. “…with someone else?”

Master paused. Dacia had only ever seen that particular look on Master’s face right before something very bad happened to someone. His hard, dark eyes flashed and settled directly on hers, piercing so uncomfortably deep inside her. Dacia could feel Master’s gaze probing into her very core. What had she done? Her lip trembled. She could bear his gaze no longer. She lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

She trembled as she felt him close the distance between them and place his hands on her bare shoulders.

“The idea isn’t that unheard of,” he mused, brushing away a wisp of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. Dacia stopped trembling and cocked her head slightly in confusion. She straightened to listen closer. Had she heard what she thought she heard? “It was true,” Dacia thought. Master had shared her many times, but she had never been so brazen as to suggest it herself. She knew she needed to stop being disrespectful and acknowledge him.

His look had softened somehow. His eyes were still intensely fixed on her, but they’re weren’t so narrow. His jaw wasn’t clenched so tightly and his mouth wasn’t the grim line it was before. Was it curling ever so slightly at the edges? She knew Master well enough to know that he always had some plan or scheme churning in his mind.

“Does pet have anyone in particular in mind?”

“What? Oh no!” She never thought in a million years Master wouldn’t just put her in the corner for the rest of the night, then take her home and punish her mercilessly. She looked at Master and as she again circled her right hand in front of her chest, she put on the most pleading look she could muster and shook her head. “No, please.”