From the Top Shelf - Mind Guest 1

Here is an excerpt from Mind Guest by Sharon Green, a science fiction novel with roughly equal measures of adventure and BDSM. Special space agent Diana has arrived on a distant planet that needs her help in resisting an invasion, and she agrees to take on the physical and mental identity of Bellna, a princess who also happens to be a spoiled brat.

Tough, aggressive Diana soon locks horns with a dominant male, Valdon. They argue, and she challenges him to a fight. His response:

"If you're expecting me to start a fist fight with you, you can forget it," he said, his tone flat and final. "Despite your generous offer, I don't make a habit of fist-fighting with women--even when they deserve a good swatting at the very least. All you can expect from me is the swatting, but I'll choose my own time and place, thanks."


"What's a swatting?"

We know she'll find out eventually, don't we? Diana and Valdon are forced to work together, and she irritates him with her behaviour. He issues this warning:

"Since you seem to have slept through all the briefing sessions you were given, let me repeat the point I thought I'd made when you first got here: if you keep wise-cracking the way you've been doing, you'll either outline yourself as a complete stranger and foreigner, or end up tied to a whipping stand. You won't find either possibility enjoyable."

She now finds herself being put to the test. Her personality is now a combination of herself and the bratty princess Bellna, and Grigon is treating her as a poor peasant girl, to evaluate how she will perform when she goes out on her mission in disguise. Grigon speaks:

"I shall now allow you the sip of wine I promised you earlier..." I reached for the glass he held out toward me, but he shook his head. "Both hands, if you please, little peasant. I should dislike having the contents of this glass emptied upon me. You have my word that I would dislike it a very great deal."


The hardened glint in his eyes told me that he would undoubtedly use an excuse like that to beat me, and a beating was one thing I couldn't risk. I didn't yet have a experienced enough hold on the Bellna presence to believe I could hold her back during the infliction of pain...


"You will lie flat so that I may examine you at my leisure... Should I hear a single sound from you, you will be punished. Have I made myself clear?"

Yes, I think he has, but our heroine is unable to remain quiet, with the obvious result.

That was what Grigon had been waiting for, of course, and the open-handed slap brought me back and told me I'd lost the round.


"Again you disobey! Go and fetch my belt, at once!"


Teary-eyed and trembling I backed away from him, then slid off the bed to do as he'd ordered... I groped in the shadows for Grigon's belt. It was lying half covered by his pants, as though it had been set in place in anticipation of use, which of course it had been. I picked up the soft but heavy leather in my trembling hands and held it to me, still not knowing whether or not I could go through with it. I had a thing about being beaten that stemmed from a very unpleasant experience during one of my assignments, and I didn't know whether or not I could hold still for being beaten by Grigon. I rose to my feet again, still clutching the belt, and hurried back to the bed through the chill of the room. One way or another, my question was about to be answered.


Grigon was waiting for me on the bed, the small candle above throwing shadows all about us as I climbed over his legs. The tears were still running down my cheeks as I reached the belt out toward him with both hands, and for a minute his eyes met mine. That I knew he was going to beat me must have been clear to see, as he took the belt a peculiar expression flickered across his face. He glanced at the trembling in my hands, the hopelessness my face must have been covered with, the roundness of defeat in my shoulders, and suddenly there was a different decision in his eyes.

No, the belt didn't get used. Instead, they talk, and her tormentor is not convinced of her suitability for the mission. She addresses her issue with punishment when he questions her competence:

"...Are you competent enough to overcome the handicap you have? Will you be able to handle it no matter what the situation?"

"Well, I can think of one situation when I may not be able to handle it. I'm glad you didn't try beating me with that belt. I don't know if I could have kept control of myself."

"You think you would have lost control to Bellna?" he asked with a frown. "Because of a beating? What makes you think she would have dominated you at a time like that?"

I'm not talking about her dominating me... In fact, it has nothing to do with Bellna. I'm the one with an aversion to being beaten, and I've been known to be somewhat--harsh--with people who try it. I had a run-in with a heavy whip once, and the passage of time hasn't done much to make me forget it."

"Harsh," he echoed, a strange expression on his face as he looked down on me. "Your eyes turn soulless when you say that. I've never had a heavy whip used on me, but I can imagine what it must be like. Tell me what was done to you."

"It's impossible to imagine what it's like without experiencing it," I said, unable to keep the harshness out of my tone even though I looked away from him. "As far as the rest of it goes, I'd rather not discuss it."

So Grigon doesn't get to hear the details, and neither do we. But I promise there is more fun to be had in the next installment, coming soon to a browser near you.