The Dark Forest: A Collection Of Erotic Fairytales(4)
Luckily, my plan seemed to work as a large caravan of men, both marching and on horseback, approached me. A large, covered, wooden wagon with bars on the windows was being dragged by mules. It slowly made its way behind the soldiers. At a glance, I assumed it was a prison transport of some kind.
Saving Ella
by Tabitha Black
A Cinderella Tale
Trapped in a life of endless drudgery and servitude for her stepmother andsiblings, Ella has just one joy; her poster of the rock god Zainon Matthews. Every night before falling into an exhausted sleep, she gazes at his handsome face and wishes he would magically appear and whisk her away to a happily ever after. She has no idea how close she is to getting that wish... or the dark, sadistic desires Zainon will expose her to. As the saying goes: be careful what you wish for.
Saving Ella Warning:
Seduced by his music and drawn to his gaze, she will kneel before him; his to obey. If you tremble and wince at the thought of such blind obedience then this may not be the tale for you. But if the thought of absolute control makes your heart flutter, then turn the page!
Love,
Tabitha Black
Excerpt from Saving Ella
“Brace yourself, Ella. You know you deserve this.”
Placing her palms flat on the polished oak desk, Ella blew a strand of blonde hair out of her face and bit her lower lip. She knew what would happen next. It was always the same.
“Are you ready?” Nathan continued.
“For God’s sake, just get on with it. As much as I know you enjoy dragging this out, I do have work to do,” she said—rather snippishly, considering she was bent over a desk with her bared and vulnerable backside pointed forlornly at the ceiling.
“I’m well aware of your chores.” Her stepbrother’s tone was just as dismissive. “Your failure to complete them all on time is why you’re here.”
“It’s absolutely impossible to complete all those chores on time, and you know that as well as I do,” she snapped. “The only reason why I’m given such a ridiculous list every damn day is because your mother,” she put extra emphasis on the word, “knows you get some kind of perverse kick out of punishing me this way. And how she loves to indulge her beloved son.”
“That’s a lie!” Nathan yelled, bringing the wooden paddle down with a resounding crack.
A blaze of pain seared across both Ella’s buttocks and she gasped, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the desk harder in order to hold her position. Taking a deep breath, she debated briefly whether or not to keep taunting him. Fuck it.
“Most of those stupid tasks are pointless anyway,” she went on. “Ever since we moved into this smaller house, the housework would be easily managed if we split it evenly between everyone. But oh, no… you and your darling sister get to lounge around all day while I have to do everything.”
She bit her lip as Nathan brought the paddle down again, the thick wood landing in precisely the same spot, reigniting the burn. Once she’d absorbed the initial sting, she glanced at him over her shoulder. “Tell me, darling brother,” she said mockingly, “are you hard now?”
“Shut up!” The third and fourth swats landed in quick succession.
Ella closed her eyes, trying hard to keep her temper in check. It was so unfair. Ever since her father had died, she had become like the household slave, having to do everything for her stepmother, not to mention her step-siblings, Nathan and Anastasia. Every weekend, she watched enviously from her bedroom window as they left the house to go and party, all dressed up in the latest fashions, piling into cars filled with laughing, jubilant friends, while she herself still had endless and mundane housework to do.
I have no life. It’s so unfair. Why did Father have to die? Theoretically, now that Ella was over eighteen, she should be able to leave home… but her stepmother, unwilling to lose free slave labor, had made it impossible. The evil woman had confiscated Ella’s birth certificate and all other important paperwork, and Ella had never been permitted to learn how to drive—although, of course, her siblings had. With no friends and no social network outside the house, it was quite simple: she had nowhere else to go.
“Then why do you do this?” she panted, once Nathan had planted the fifth paddle swat lower, catching the tops of her thighs. “You could always just tell Mother that you carried out the punishment without actually having done it.”
Nathan remained silent.
“You’re just too much of a coward to lie,” she went on taunting him. “And even though you won’t admit it, you’re some kind of sick sadist who enjoys paddling his stepsister.”
“I swear to fucking God, Ella,” Nathan snarled, “if you don’t shut up right now, I’ll… I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” She gave a hollow laugh. “Punish me? Send me to bed without any supper?” A great wave of fury consumed her and she used that surge of energy to push herself up off the desk and spin around to face him. “You don’t seem to understand,” she said, grimly. “There is absolutely nothing you could do to me to make my life worse. I have nothing. I am treated as though I were nothing. I am at your beck and call every hour of the day, and often during the night as well. I’m given impossible tasks purely so you and your evil witch of a mother can exercise your sadistic urges and find ‘excuses’ to punish me. I have no life!” Her heart pounding, she stared him down, trying to find some trace of humanity or humility in Nathan’s eyes, but they were cold. Blank. Uncaring.