Free Like a Wisp of Steam by Thomas S. Roche

mortified her. Victoria kept telling herself that Charles was a professional—he was intimately acquainted with a woman's nether regions, and there was no need for her to be shy about it. And yet Victoria was not comfortable at all with the warm, tingling feel that knowledge brought to her body.
    Wearing the thick, concealing hospital gown, much like a nightgown but looser around her bust, Victoria was led by Clara into another examination room, albeit one outfitted with curious equipment.
    There was a slanted table with two stirrups, not unlike a birthing chair, perhaps, and right next to it was a bicycle.
    A bicycle?
    Victoria realized that, in fact, this was not a bicycle: there was only one wheel, which attached to a curious collection of wires leading to a rather complicated wand that rested on a table just in front of the stirrupped chair.
    "Goodness," said Victoria, frightened for the first time of the fate that was about to befall her.
    Charles had garbed himself for the procedure in a white coat of the same material, it seemed, as Clara's dress. Clara offered her another knowing smile before helping Victoria into the chair. Victoria blushed as Clara helped her to place her bare feet into the stirrups, spreading her legs in a most unladylike manner. The gown still cloaked Victoria's nether regions, but simply having her legs spread like that was shockingly powerful.
    She hadn't been spread like this since ... since ... since...
    Victoria realized that there were thick leather straps mounted to the sides of the seat. Clara quickly drew the thickest strap around Victoria's waist, buckling and cinching the leather belt until it kept Victoria quite firmly in place.
    Victoria felt curiously restrained, especially when Clara took hold of her wrists and circled each of them with a similar strap.
    "You may feel quite uncomfortable during the procedure,"
    drawled Charles as Clara swiftly fastened straps around Victoria's legs, restraining them in their vulnerable, spread position. "Clearly some very delicate regions are involved.
    This is why the restraints are helpful: we can't have you struggling and possibly interfering with the procedure."
    "But ... Doctor..." gasped Victoria breathlessly. "Is it unpleasant?"
    Charles shrugged, and Victoria thought for a moment that she could see the faintest hint of a smile on his handsome face. That sent a shiver through her.
    "There can be confusing sensations associated with the procedure," said Charles. "But you must trust that no matter how desperately you wish to get away, you are being kept restrained for your own good. Failure to complete the procedure once we've begun could be devastating. Do you understand?"
    Victoria had such a nagging familiarity associated with that phrase "for your own good." Wasn't that what Arthur had said that night—the last time, Victoria remembered with a flash of heat, that she had found her legs spread like this.
    "For my own good," she echoed, understanding that while Arthur had been mistaken, Charles most certainly was not.
    Clara swiftly cinched the final strap around Victoria's ankle.
    Now Victoria was most cleverly restrained. Clara bent forward and gave Victoria a tender, sisterly kiss on the lips, which earned a look of rebuke from the doctor.
    "Just relax," whispered Clara. "And leave everything to us.
    It's not so horrible—trust me, I know."
    Victoria looked up at Clara for a moment—had she undergone the procedure, too? Perhaps during an earlier experimental phase? Victoria would have to make it a point to ask Clara some time.
    Clara gave Victoria's hair a last ruffle, a motherly look crossing her face. Then, to Victoria's surprise, Clara mounted the bicycle, indelicately hoisting her white dress to allow her to part her legs around the bicycle's rather curiously-shaped seat.
    Clara took quite a long time to settle herself on the chair, having some evident difficulty getting herself into the right position.
    Charles seemed to read