Free King of Diamonds by Cheyenne McCray

my permission, and your goal will always be to please me.”
    With every one of his statements, his rules , Annie’s eyes got wider and wider. He was nuts. Crazy even! “You’re kidding, right?” She tried to take a step back but he had a tight grip on her hair and one of her nipples. “I don’t even know you, and you’re treating me like some kind of—of slave.”
    Karn tugged on the handful of hair he’d wrapped around his fist. “You have earned your first punishment.”
    He dragged her toward him and kissed her so hard her world spun. When he withdrew from the kiss she felt dizzy and so darn horny she could just about scream.
    Wow. Okay. Where were we?
    Oh, yeah. The slave thing.
    But Karn was moving away from her as she was attempting to gather her thoughts. The trunk lid opened magically, and he withdrew a ruby red scrap of material and held it up. The thing was so darn sheer she saw completely through it.
    “Wear this,” he said as he handed the piece of nothing to her. “Beya will be up soon to serve you breakfast. Afterwards she will escort you to the gardens.”
    Annie was tempted to throw the silky cloth at him, but the look in his eyes and the hard set to his jaw made her think better of it. Instead she just glared at his backside as he turned away and let himself out of the room.
    “You—you, ass!” she hissed under her breath and hurled the mini-dress at the door.
    From beneath the bed came Abra’s answering “Meow , ” and Annie took that as an emphatic agreement.
     
     
    Annie was positive death by embarrassment was possible as Beya led her through the mansion on their way to the gardens after a nourishing breakfast. The little red dress was sheer enough that it exposed her pink nipples and the curls of her mound. It clung to her full curves as if intent on showing every bit of her body as she passed servants and too many other folks to count. She wished she hadn’t put her glasses on, because then she wouldn’t so clearly see their interested glances as she walked by with Beya.
    Most of the people she passed were fully clothed, but some as scantily as she was, which made her feel a little better. All of the barely clad women had collars, though, one thing Annie could be thankful she didn’t have.
    She’d left Abra in her chambers, afraid the cat might get lost in this mausoleum of a mansion. Thankfully, at Annie’s request, Beya had come up with a kitty litter box of sorts, along with three crystal dishes for Abra’s food, milk, and water.
    “Here you be, Mistress,” Beya said as she brought Annie to a pair of double doors at the back of the mansion. The doors were rich mahogany with stained-glass panes in the same intricate design as the diamond on the back of Karn’s right shoulder.
    Through the red and gold panes, Annie’s view was slightly distorted, but she saw what appeared to be extensive gardens. The beauty contrasted sharply with what she’d seen of the mansion in her painting, and in the storm last night when Karn brought her to this world.
    “Sire Karn be in the gardens,” Beya said as she opened the doors. She gave a nod in the direction of a wall of bright red flowers. “Over yon, Mistress. Behind the starflower blooms.”
    “Thank you, Beya.” Annie took a deep breath and walked away from the tiny woman and out onto a flagstone patio, and then the lush grass. It was wet beneath her feet and her nipples tightened from the slight chill in the air. The rain had stopped late last night. The sky was a broody gray, but she didn’t think it would rain now.
    Sweet perfume from countless flowers met her nose, like the perfumes of roses and orchids, yet different. Smells of salt and brine, and the familiar crash of waves against shore filled her senses, reminding her of home.
    Massive trees similar to weeping willows surrounded the area like dark sentinels blocking the view of anything outside the gardens. Within its boundaries brilliant flowers in purples, reds, blues,