He was coming down the stairs to the basement when he heard Trig’s voice.
“What do you say?”
Riju froze on the bottom step. His pretty, sweet Kit was on his hands and knees, his forehead was on the floor, and from his back and rear, he’d clearly been whipped as punishment.
Chapter Fourteen
Even though Kit had been trying to be a good slave, and he hadn’t thought to disobey lately, he couldn’t help but think Trig had been unfair. Dropping the coin hadn't truly been his fault.
Not that he’d dare complain. It wasn’t his place.
“Thank you for punishing me, Master,” Kit said as he touched his forehead to the floor.
“What did he do?” came Riju’s voice.
“He dropped the coin, so I punished him.” Trig crouched by Kit. “You can sit up.”
“He what?” Riju came closer.
Kit straightened with a wince, and Trig gestured at the wall. “Don’t you remember? I had him holding the coin against the wall with his nose.”
Riju, holding a glass of red juice, stared at Trig with a completely blank face before his knuckles whitened, and his expression grew tight.
“What?” asked Trig. “Don’t squeeze the glass so hard! You’re going to break it.”
“You-you punished him?!”
“He moved and dropped the coin,” said Trig. “He was supposed to hold it until I said.”
“He basically safety worded, and you still whipped him?!”
Kit had never heard him speak in that tone, not even when Trig had complained about him going to the fair.
Trig stood and backed up a step as he pointed at the din still lying on the floor. “He doesn’t have a safety word, and he disobeyed.”
Kit had never seen Riju look so angry either. He marched over and handed Kit the glass. “I think screaming for you counts assafety wording in this case. He was in pain and panicking. Did you expect him to remain still with a cra-”
“Rules are rules,” said Trig. “I made sure he was fine, I punished him, and he’ll have his juice now.”
“Punishment is supposed to be so the slave learns. What is he supposed to learn from this? You can’t learn to not get a cramp. That doesn’t even make sense.”
Trig shook his head. “The point is if he doesn’t obey, he'll be punished.”
“For something out of his control?”
Trig huffed. “No, for dropping the coin.”
“Which was because of a cramp, which he couldn’t stop. He did nothing wrong, and he didn’t have any intent to disobey-and you-” Riju clenched his fists as he breathed heavily.
“For fuck’s sake. Can we not do this again barely an hour after you already flipped out on me? Can you not be so fucking obtuse?”
“You fucking beat him for something he had no control over!” Riju gestured at Kit. “You taught him nothing! When we whipped him on his first day, he’d forgotten to use the title. He learned and hasn’t slipped up since. This is not the same.”
“He drops the coin, he gets a whipping. It’s not hard to understand. You’re making this into a big deal and getting your damn drawers in a twist over nothing.”
Riju gripped his hair as he turned away and made a frustrated sound.
Kit hunched on the floor with his glass. He hadn’t thought it was fair when Trig had said he’d get lashes for disobeying. But it also wasn’t his place to argue. Trig owned him, and his word was law, which meant Kit had to accept whatever, and his purpose was to serve. Seeing Riju so upset made his stomach twist, and he didn’t even want the juice.
