“I don’t dislike it,” he said. “It gets a little boring with the same thing night after night. Different girl. Same thing. No offense.”

“It’s okay. I’d probably get bored, too. You know, Xerxes,” I said, trying his name on for size. It fit my tongue well. “If you want, we can do something different than you usually do with the other girls.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You’re the king, so you can decide.”

“You aren’t afraid?”

“I was before, but I’m not now.”

“Are you sure you want to do something different than I do with the other girls?”

“I’ve met the other girls. Yes.”

My dress tied at the front with a single ribbon. I started to get nervous again when he untied the bow and my gown loosened. But I knew this would happen and I wasn’t afraid. I refused to be afraid.

He slid the dress off me. I lay naked on the bed now. He looked at me like I was some kind of prize he’d won. I never wanted him to stop looking at me like that.

He didn’t touch me, which made me more nervous. Instead he left me laying/lying on the bed while he walked over to a big brass box. The box had a lock on it and the king took out a key. He opened the lid, took something out of it, locked it back up and came back to the bed.

While he was at the box I pulled the covers on the bed down and slid underneath them.

“Are you cold?” the king asked. He held something behind his back.

“I’m naked.”

“Are you embarrassed about being naked?”

“I’m not embarrassed. I’m … disconcerted.”

“Do you want me to take my clothes off?”

“I hope yes is the right answer.”

“It’s the right answer. I’ll take my clothes off if you take the sheets off.”

I threw the covers off and the king sat next to me on the bed again.

“Now I’m going to tie you to the bed,” the king said.

“How come?”

“You said I could do anything I wanted.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I held up my hands and he held out a golden rope.

It didn’t take long for him to tie my wrists to the big sexy headboard of his bed. The ropes felt tight but not too tight on me. I could wiggle my fingers and move my hands. But I couldn’t touch him, which made me want to touch him even more.

He took another rope and tied my ankles down to the bed. Once he finished I realized I couldn’t close my legs. This king knew what he was doing.

Xerxes took off his jeans and I tried not to watch. Well, I didn’t try very hard not to watch.

“Oh, wow,” I said once he was naked. I looked back up at the ceiling.

“Just wow?”

“Holy wow?”

“Much better.”

I moaned a little when the king stretched out on top of me. His skin felt so warm next to mine. His body was strong and muscular, and I felt safe underneath him. Who could ever hurt me now with the king like a shield over me? Who could steal me now that I was tied to his bed? No one.

The king kissed my mouth again and my neck. He rubbed my br**sts, which felt better than I ever dreamed it would. He kissed them, which was embarrassing at first until I realized that it was the best thing anyone had ever done to me. He put his hand between my legs and pushed a finger inside me. I wanted to close my legs, but the ropes stopped me. But he moved his finger in and out of me and I tensed up and relaxed at the same time. He touched me for a long time until I thought I would die from wanting him so much. I couldn’t touch him because he’d tied my hands. I couldn’t close my legs because he’d tied my ankles. I couldn’t kiss him because I couldn’t rise up. All I could do was lie there and want him and want him and want him.

Then he was inside me.

“Xerxes,” I said as he pushed all the way into me.

“Good girl,” he said. He’d told me to say his name while he was inside me. I wanted to obey him. Obeying him was the most important thing.

He moved inside me and it hurt. I didn’t care that it hurt, though, and I didn’t want it to ever end even if it did hurt. The pain stopped but the pleasure stayed behind. I felt a storm in my stomach like lightning and thunder were throwing down inside me. My whole body crackled with electricity. I wasn’t sure if electricity had been invented yet but I didn’t care anymore. I only cared about Xerxes, about my king.

Xerxes lowered his head and bit my chest over my heart. I flinched from the pain.

“Why did you do that?”

“You’re beautiful, and if another man sees that bruise he’ll know you belong to me.”

“I belong to you,” I said. I loved those words. I loved belonging to the king. I loved it so much I said it again. “I belong to you.”

“You’re mine.”

The ceiling had lied to me. It wasn’t over soon. We slept a little bit, but then we woke up and he made me his again.

At dawn I woke up in his arms. Even while I was sleeping he’d kept one of my ankles tied to the bed. I liked that he wanted to keep me in his bed, in his arms.

Then morning came, and I was mad at it for coming so soon.

Xerxes untied my ankle from the bed and helped me put my dress back on.

“I’ll miss you, Xerxes.”

“I’ll miss you, too, Esther. Last night was better than any song or any poem.”