Stella dealt well with the twenty strokes, and had earned a little break.

"Good job taking the strokes, girl. For behaving so well with them, I will take your nipple clips off. Relax a bit now." Slowly, slowly, I took one clip, then the other off; the rush of blood to each caused a fresh surge of pain, then eased off.

"I will also lower your hands a bit, so your shoulders don't hurt quite the same. To pay for that, I'm going to turn up the power a bit." Her hands were lowered about 12 inches, easing some of the pressure there.

The power would be a surprise for her. The top edge of the horse had a copper cap running along it; with my remote I could send a variable burst of electricity along it, from a tingle to a 10 on the Richter scale. I turned it to about 2 and sent a burst of fun her way. How would she take it?