... Dungeon? Yep. The long, wide curved stairway was now a cramped, narrow flight leading from a doorway in the room's upper corner. Close, the walls were stone, dark and damp. The ceiling had an odd slant. The 'table' I hadn't quite been able to make out from the other end of the room was a rack of some sort. It appeared to be designed to tilt, to change the angle of the 'working surface'. The edges were rimmed with a complex array of metal bars, wheels, and hinges.

Chained spread-eagle to the rack was a gagged, naked woman.

Or what LOOKED like a woman, anyway. Short, fair-skinned, dark hair and eyes. Not precisely buxom, but compared to me she was pretty curvy, with a kind of girlish roundness. She had that same ultra-THERE-ness I'd come to connect with Ares and Strife. I figured it was a god thing. And if you start thinking gods are human, well, then you might start thinking you understand them. That you can figure out how they think. And then, you're really screwed.

I looked at Ares, but his attention wasn't on me at that moment, it was on her. He was walking towards her with a light, agile step. It made his butt kinda wiggle, so that was cool. He had a way cute butt, and I hadn't gotten a good enough look at it before. She tried to turn her face away, but he cupped her chin with one hand, forcing her to face him. She fixed him with a resentful glare and tried to speak, but only the faintest of sounds slipped out around the gag.

"Now, now, Discord. I did warn you. I've been far too lenient with you and you know it." He was facing away from me, but I could hear the grin in his voice. "So I've arranged something that should remind you to keep to your place." He sauntered back towards me. Yep, he was grinning all right. He wrapped a hand around the back of my neck, pulling me close to him. "I'm counting on you, Jasne," he murmured. "This little snip of a goddess has been getting above herself. I want you to help me put her in her place."

Oh fuck. This could NOT be happening.

Ares chuckled at the shocked expression on my face. "You should be honored. How many mortals get to have a goddess at their mercy, without fear of retribution? Besides," his voice roughened, "I won't take no for an answer."

Well, he wouldn't, would he? "But I don't… I mean, I wouldn't know what…" Fuck. I was babbling. I took a deep breath. "I don't know what to do."

He looked at me for a moment, lips still curved in that damn mocking grin. "You forget who you're talking to. You've already had a few ideas that will do just nicely." He slid his hand from my neck down the length of my spine. "But first I need to make you forget how nervous you are."

Then he kissed me again. Damn. It wasn't fair, him kissing like that. When he kissed me, it was like I had extra nerves or something.

My knees were practically knocking together when he broke the kiss. Gently, with a hand on each shoulder, he spun me around to face Discord. "Now show me. Show me how much you want to please me."

Oh, so very not fair. But I must admit, the possibilities were intruiging. There was a small, five-cornered table I hadn't noticed before next to the rack. On the table were a horsehair whisk and a small clay flask. I shot a glance at Ares. He winked at me. Maybe I would be enjoying this after all.

I walked up to Discord, trying my best to copy Ares' cocky swagger. Well, he didn't laugh, and she couldn't. I lifted the horsehair whisk from the table, doing all I could to behave as if, yeah, I tormented chained goddesses all the fuckin' time. Cool and casual, that's me. The rack was a little higher than waist-height to me, so I didn't have to lean far to whisper in Discord's ear.

"Close your eyes."

She shot me a kind of dirty look, but she did it. Hey, cool!