Carrick watched as the slave diligently cleaned off the tip of the leather whip. He saw the shame in her eyes and the blush rising on her cheeks and felt a familiar sense of desire rising in him. Humiliating and degrading a kneeling, naked slave... there were few experiences that could compare. The vampire gave her a curt nod when she had finished her task and then turned his head to Mir.
He was almost amused at Mir's comment about him being blackhearted. Presumably he was still smarting over Carrick's evening with Emrys. The werewolf was obviously smitten with his pretty young slave boy and was never going to forgive Carrick for taking his pleasure with the boy. So be it. It mattered little to him.
He feigned incomprehension for a moment. "Black hearted? I'm afraid I don't know what you..." He raised his eyebrows and looked down at his riding clothes in some astonishment and raised the whip as though he had only just realised he was carrying it. "Oh! What, you think I use this whip on my horse? Of course not. Do you think I'm a monster?"
He gave a cold, dismissive look to the kneeling slave. "As if I'd ever beat my horse or my dogs the way I'm about to punish this slave."