“Now then. I’ve reviewed the facts of this case and I’m ready to hear your suggestions as to a resolution to this conflict,” Mistress Thrust’much declared.
This was typical for the Grand Dame of the Council. She would hear both sides of an argument and then ask for the plaintiffs’ thoughts and wishes before making a ruling.
But this time, for some reason, Neh’sa felt uneasy as she stood before Mistress Thrust’much, who was sitting in a high, straight-backed chair made of black wood and silvery-gray upholstery. Everything in the Grande Dame’s domicile was decorated in white, black, and gray, which gave her living area an austere kind of beauty.
Neh’sa felt uneasy because, during the entire hearing, the older Mistress hadn’t stopped once for clarification, even when Lady Wraith’neck was spouting the most obvious falsehoods and outright lies. She’d simply kept quiet and let her go on and on about how Thorn had ruined two of her best body-slaves and she was owed hundreds of thousands in compensation.
Lady Wraith’neck, on the other hand, had that smug, contented look on her face again as though she knew she had already won.
What’s going on? Neh’sa wondered uneasily. Does Lady Wraith’neck have something on Mistress Thrust’much? It seemed impossible to believe—the Grande Dame was believed by everyone to be completely incorruptible. But maybe…
“Lady Neh’sanna’s barbaric body-slave has cost me two perfectly good body-slaves of my own, worth almost a million credits,” Lady Wraith’neck began, cutting into Neh’sa’s train of thought. It was a preposterous amount and clearly untrue. Neh’sa couldn’t let it stand.
“Wait a minute—if you think I’m going to pay you a million credits when it was your body-slaves who threatened my life—” she began.
“I wasn’t done yet,” Lady Wraith’neck snapped. She turned back to Mistress Thrust’much, who was watching her with sharp eyes. “I was going to say that I know poor Lady Neh’sanna can’t afford to pay me so much since she pours all her monetary resources into that stupid Mercy clinic of hers and practically has to live from hand to mouth.”
“Enough insults, Malisha,” Mistress Thrust’much said sharply. “What is your suggestion to mitigate this problem?”
“I suggest that since she owes me two good quality slaves and can’t afford to pay me back, Lady Neh’sanna should give me one of hers.” Lady Wraith’neck’s small, yellowish eyes flashed malevolently. “Specifically, that brute of a Kindred who did the damage in the first place.”
“What? No!” Neh’sa exclaimed. At her back, she could hear Thorn growling and her heart was pounding. She was only just beginning to understand what she felt for the big Kindred—she couldn’t give him up now. Especially not to a sadist like Lady Wraith’neck!
“It’s only fair!” Lady Wraith’neck insisted. “In fact, it’s more than fair. She’s essentially getting two slaves for the price of one. And the one I’m taking off her hands isn’t even trained properly!”
“You’re not taking Thorn anywhere!” Neh’sa rounded on the other Mistress. “I’ll die before I let you get your claws on him!”
“Oh, you’ll die all right. Socially at least—if you don’t agree to my terms,” Lady Wraith’ neck snapped.
“Are you threatening my Mistress?” Thorn demanded, taking a step forward. “If you lay so much as one fucking hand on her—”
“See what I mean?” Lady Wraith neck appealed to Mistress Thrust’much. “He’s not even trained. In fact, it’s my belief he’s completely untrainable—he ought to be put down in the interest of public safety.”
“You can’t be serious!” Neh’sa stepped in front of her big Kindred protectively, as though she could shield his muscular bulk with her own, much smaller body. “Never!”
“Calm down, Neh’sanna.” Lady Wraith’neck gave her a condescending smirk. “I didn’t say I would put him down—I’ll just train him a little harder than you’ve been doing. A lot harder, actually.” She looked at Thorn appraisingly. “I think I have a pain collar that will fit him, even though he is such a large specimen.”
“You’re acting like your proposal has been accepted,” Neh’sa said, lifting her chin. “Which it has not. I won’t give Thorn to you no matter what you say!”
“Is that right?” The other Mistress’s eyes glittered maliciously like cheap jewels. “I didn’t want to do this but I think I have something here that might change your mind.”
With a flourish, she withdrew a small rectangular receiving device from the voluminous pink and purple cloak she was wearing.
“Watch this,” she commanded Neh’sa. “You too, if you please Mistress Thrust’much. I think we all need to see what Neh’sanna has been up to.”
The small screen flickered to life and a holographic image appeared above it. Neh’sa recognized herself, sitting in her private office at her domicile. Her stomach dropped in surprise and outrage.
“How dare you!” she exclaimed. “Have you been recording me in my own domicile? That violates privacy rulings!”
“Indeed it does, Malisha,” Mistress Thrust’much sounded grave.
“Which is the only reason I haven’t brought this evidence before the Yonnite Mistresses Council before this,” Lady Wraith’neck said smoothly. “But please continue watching, Mistress Thrust’much. I think you’ll see some much bigger laws than just the privacy rulings are being broken.” She pressed a button and the holo-recording resumed.
There was a knock on the office door and Neh’sa watched with a sinking heart as her friend, Lady Tandy, the Mistress she had matched Lo’im to, came in and sat down.
“Lady Neh’sanna,” she began, “I need to ask you for help of a very personal nature. Now that Lo’im and I are together I have some…questions.”
Neh’sa felt sick as she saw the entire conversation from the day of the Devotion Ceremony replayed. Lady Tandy asking her for help so that she could allow Lo’im to penetrate her and Neh’sa giving her the necessary medication to mask the source of her pregnancy if one should occur.
It played through to the end and she couldn’t think of a single thing to say in her own defense. What she had done—what she had been doing for years now—was highly illegal and also considered completely immoral on Yonnie Six. The Grande Dame of the Council was known to be especially strict about prosecuting such cases.
“There—do you see?” Lady Wraith’ neck shut off the device and returned it to her pocket triumphantly. “Do you see what Lady Neh’sanna has been engaged in, Grand Dame? She is aiding and abetting male penetration! She’s telling females to treat their body-slaves as equals—making a mockery of everything we stand for here on Yonnie Six!”
“Yes, I see,” Mistress Thrust’much gave Neh’sa a deeply disapproving and disappointed look. “My dear Lady Neh’sanna, what can you have been thinking?”
“I was thinking that people ought to do as they wish with their own bodies in the privacy of their domiciles,” Neh’sa said, her voice wavering only a little. “I spent my first ten years on Lylas, as you may know, where males and females are equals. I know Yonnites believe differently but I cannot see anything so very bad about males and females being equal in the bedroom, at least.”
“Males are the inferior sex!” Lady Wraith’neck exclaimed. “Fit only to serve. Everyone knows that!”
“Only on Yonnie Six,” Thorn growled, joining in the conversation. “Most everywhere else in the Galaxy—hell, the entire universe—people believe the sexes should be equal.”
“Look at that—he speaks to us as though he was our equal!” Lady Wraith’neck pointed a finger at Thorn. “The nerve! The unmitigated gall! Is this how you let him speak to you at home, Neh’sanna? In between bouts of allowing him to penetrate you?”
“Thorn has never penetrated me,” Neh’sa denied, feeling her cheeks get hot. Well, except for his tongue and his fingers. But those didn’t count, surely.
“I’m sorry to say I just don’t believe that.” Lady Wraith’neck’s voice had taken on a tone of false pity. “I’m afraid having this subversive body-slave has corrupted your mind, Neh’sanna. I think he ought to be taken away from you for your own good.”
“No!” Neh’sa exclaimed. Why did it always come to this—taking Thorn away? Why did Lady Wraith’neck want him so badly?
She wants him because she can tell you care for him, whispered a shrewd little voice in the back of her head. Because she can see you love him and she wants to hurt you in the worst way possible—by taking that love away.
“Ladies, ladies!” Mistress Thrust’much raised her voice to make herself heard. “Let me speak! No—not another word until I’m finished, Malisha,” she added, pointing at Lady Wraith’neck who had her mouth open to protest. “Let me hear you both say you’ll listen attentively.”
“Yes, Grande Dame,” Neh’sa murmured numbly.
“Yes, Grande Dame.” Lady Wraith’neck sounded impatient.
“Now,” Mistress Thrust’much continued when all was silent. “I must say, I’ve heard and seen some very shocking allegations today. I’m very, very saddened and disappointed in what I’ve learned. Of course,” she went on, frowning at both of them. “The recording we saw was taken in violation of privacy statutes so it cannot be admitted into any kind of public record. But I feel there must be some punishment involved. Therefore, despite the fact that I feel Lady Wraith’neck is actually in the wrong in her claims of damages, I must agree with her suggestion and give Lady Neh’sanna’s body-slave to her in compensation.”
“What? No!” Neh’sa gasped. “No, please Grande Dame! She’ll be cruel to him! She’ll—”
“I’ll go.” Thorn’s deep voice was so quiet it almost didn’t register with Neh’sa. But when it did, she felt like her heart had stopped beating in her chest. “What?” she asked, turning to face the big Kindred.
“I said, I’ll go with Lady Wraith’neck.” There was an unreadable expression on his face.
“Of course you’ll go, slave. You have no say in the matter,” Lady Thrust’much snarled.
“Yes, but I do have a say in how I’ll behave.” Thorn gave Lady Wraith’neck a predatory grin before looking at Mistress Thrust’much. “I’ll go with Mistress Wraith’neck here and I’ll be the perfect body-slave on the condition that she destroys that recording and neither it nor any other illegally obtained recordings of my Mistress are disseminated to the other Mistresses of Yonnite Six.”
“Thorn, no!” Neh’sa exclaimed. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Actually, he does. I have ruled.” Lady Thrust’much raised her chin, her faded blue eyes flashing. “The body-slave will go with Lady Wraith’neck and you, Neh’sanna, will cease all illegal activity at once.”
There was a finality in her words that told Neh’sa nothing would change the Grande Dame’s mind. Thorn was going to be given to Lady Wraith’neck, no matter what she said or did.
But she wasn’t prepared to just hand him over to be tortured and raped—there had to be something she could do to mitigate this awful development!
Suddenly, she knew what it was.
“All right,” she said, her voice shaking. “I…I’ll give Thorn over to Lady Wraith’neck. But when I do, she has to sign the same contract I have all prospective Mistresses sign when they buy a body-slave from me.” She glared at Lady Wraith’neck. “She has to promise never to use a pain collar or any other agony causing nerve conduction device and she has to swear not to abuse or mistreat him.”
“What?” Lady Wraith’neck exclaimed. “I’ll do no such thing! I treat my slaves however I deem appropriate! I won’t have anyone else dictating my behavior.”
“In this case, yes you will, Malisha,” Mistress Thrust’much said, weighing in on Neh’sa’s side, much to her surprise.
“But—” Lady Wraith’neck began to protest, her face purple with rage.
The Grande Dame held up a hand to stop her.
“Malisha, we all know you’re a bit—well more than a bit—of a sadist,” she said sternly. “And it’s clear Neh’sanna truly cares about this slave.”
“Of course she does—he’s her lover,” Lady Wraith’neck spat. “She probably lets him fuck her every night!”
“Please! No more foul language here!” Mistress Thrust’much pursed her lips in distaste. “No matter what perverted acts Mistress Neh’sanna has allowed this male to perform on her body, it doesn’t change the fact that she is handing over a much beloved and cherished slave. Though I believe she should be punished for her illegal actions, she deserves to know this slave is being well cared for and not unduly abused.” She leveled a glare at Lady Wraith’neck. “Therefore you will promise not to use nerve conduction agony devices such as pain collars on this slave for as long as Lady Neh’sanna lives.”
Lady Wraith’neck’s face was nearly puce with rage but she nodded stiffly.
“Very well.”
“Good. Then we’ll draw up the contract of transference and do it right now, at once.”
“What?” Neh’sa exclaimed. “Now? Won’t I even have a chance to…to…” She had been going to say ‘a chance to say goodbye,’ but she could tell by the looks on the other two Mistresses’ faces how that sounded.
They think I’m obsessed by Thorn—that I’m in love with him and I’m not thinking clearly, she realized.
They’re right, whispered a voice in her head. You’ve allowed yourself to become much too attached to him. This is probably a good thing—they’re taking him away before you can get in any deeper.
But if it was a good thing, why did her heart feel like it was being trampled on? Why did she have the same sinking, unreal feeling she’d had when she knelt over Heroth’s bloody, unmoving body and knew he was gone for good?
“I’ll give you a moment to prepare your body-slave for his transfer to a new Mistress,” the Grande Dame said at last, a look of pity on her face. “You may use my guest bedchamber.” She pointed to a pale gray sliding door enameled in black. “Please don’t be long.”
“Thank you, Grande Dame,” Neh’sa whispered. Numbly, she motioned for Thorn. “Come.”
“Yes, Mistress.” He followed her into the small bedchamber, which had a bed with a white spread. The pure white spread had black designs on it that looked like flying birds. At that moment, Neh’sa wished she could fly away herself—fly away from the mess her life had become and never come back.
“Thorn…” she began and then stopped. She had no idea what to say. How did one bid goodbye to a body-slave who had somehow become so much more? How could she tell him what he meant to her when she hardly knew herself?
“Thorn—” she started again but he cut her off.
“It’s better this way,” he said.
“What? How can you say that?” Neh’sa demanded. “She’ll beat you and…and…” She shook her head, unable to go on, unable to think of the unspeakable things—things which could have been pleasurable with the right Mistress—that the evil Lady Wraith’neck would do to him.
“It’s better this way,” Thorn repeated stoically.
“Why? Because you want to be tortured some more? You think giving yourself over to that evil bitch without complaint will help you expiate your past?” Neh’sa could feel herself losing her composure but she couldn’t seem to help it. “Thorn,” she said. “I can’t…can’t just let you—”
“Remember I told you that you don’t know everything about me?” he said quietly. “Well, you don’t. Believe me, Neh’sa—this is for the best.”
“I don’t…don’t see how.” She didn’t realize she was crying until he cupped her cheek and swiped away the tears with his thumb.
“Come here.” He pulled her towards him and Neh’sa found herself in his arms with her hot face pressed against the broad, muscular plane of his chest.
She couldn’t understand why she was doing this—why she was acting this way. She hadn’t allowed herself so much emotion since Heroth had been alive. But somehow she couldn’t seem to help it—she buried her face in his chest and sobbed.
“Neh’sa, don’t. Please don’t grieve over me.” He sounded truly distressed as he stroked her hair and shoulders, trying in vain to comfort her. “I’m not worth it. You’ll see that soon enough.”
She shook her head but couldn’t stop crying long enough to answer him. Goddess, what was wrong with her? Once again she was acting like anything but the proper Mistress.
Except I’m not his Mistress anymore and I never will be again!
The thought almost brought on a fresh storm of tears but somehow she remembered where she was and more importantly, who she was.
Grande Dame Thrust’much and the evil Lady Wraith’neck are both in the other room—no doubt listening to me carry on, she reminded herself. I am Lady Neh’sanna of Yonnie Six—I do not allow myself to become overly emotional.
Or not anymore than she already had, anyway. With an effort, she stopped crying and got hold of herself.
“Thorn,” she whispered, wiping her eyes with her fingers and looking up at him. “I’ll miss you. I….”
She stopped, surprised to see there were tears standing in his mismatched eyes. Suddenly she understood that he was as upset—as undone—by their parting as she was. Now that she had mastered her own pain a bit, she could feel his agony at the loss that racked them both.
“I’m going to miss you too, Mistress.” His voice was low and hoarse with the unshed tears. Slowly, he sank to his knees before her and put his arms around her waist. “I meant what I said before—I don’t deserve a female like you. But you own my heart forever, even if my body is somewhere else. Please don’t ever forget that.”
“Oh, Thorn…” She stroked his hair as he had stroked hers, giving comfort as she had taken it just moments before. What was it about the big Kindred that touched her so deeply? That hurt so much?
Just then someone started hammering on the door.
“Hurry up in there, Neh’sanna! You’d better not be letting that big brute fuck you one last time or Mistress Thrust’much will have to call and inform the authorities,” Lady Wraith’neck called.
Neh’sa ignored the other woman’s crude words and looked into Thorn’s troubled face. She didn’t know what else to say so she simply kissed him, bending down a little to take his mouth with hers.
At first he didn’t respond—as though he didn’t think he deserved to. Then, suddenly, he kissed her back so passionately Neh’sa felt her entire body light up with desire. He tasted like salt and tears and need.
Delicious, forbidden…and gone forever.
The hammering on the door resumed and finally drove them apart.
“Thorn,” she whispered, stroking his cheek.
“Don’t forget me. And forgive me if you can,” he murmured. Then he rose and went to open the door.
Lady Wraith’neck was standing there in the doorway, holding a signed parchment in one hand—the transferal of ownership document. When she saw Thorn, she practically gloated.
“Well, well—my new slave.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Thorn said heavily, eyes downcast. “What can I do for you?”
“I think a more appropriate question is what can I do to you?” Lady Wraith’neck purred throatily. “Oh my, I am so going to enjoy breaking you in, you big brute!” She looked at Neh’sa and held out a hand imperiously. “I’ll need the key to his collar, Neh’sanna. I have a new one he can wear.”
Suddenly something inside Neh’sa snapped. She strode over to the doorway, wedged herself between Thorn and Lady Wraith’neck and thrust her finger in the other female’s face.
“Listen to me, Malisha,” she snarled. “You may not know this but I am half Lylasian which means I can feel the emotions of others.”
“Ugh—why are you bringing up your half-blood status now?” Lady Wraith’neck wrinkled her nose. “What is your point?”
“My point is, I have a connection to Thorn. So I’ll know if you break the contract you signed and use a pain collar or anything else like that on him.” Neh’sa narrowed her eyes and glared at the other woman. “I’ll know and I’ll make you pay.”
For a moment Lady Wraith’neck looked incredulous. When she saw Neh’sa was serious, her expression became one of defiant anger.
“Oh? And how would you do that Neh’sanna? You have no friends in high places—not now that the Grande Dame knows what kind of illegal activity you’ve been up to.” She smirked.
“I don’t need friends in high places,” Neh’sa snapped. “I have other resources. Have you ever stopped to think, Malisha, how many downtrodden, starved, and mistreated males come through my Mercy clinic on any given night? And how grateful they are for even just a little bit of kindness—a bit of care their own Mistresses are too busy or too harsh to give them? I believe we’ve treated slaves belonging to you many times.”
Lady Wraith’ neck frowned.
“I’m afraid I still don’t understand. Are you threatening not to treat my slaves anymore? Because frankly, I couldn’t care less. Let them die—I can always buy more.”
“I know you don’t care about anyone but yourself but many others do. And the males who come through my clinic are appreciative—so appreciative, in fact, that if someone was to suggest they find a certain Mistress with an especially sadistic nature—one who has hurt several of their number over and over again, well they might just—”
“Stop!” Lady Wraith’neck was wide-eyed with shock. “How dare you? I can’t believe you’d threaten me!”
“I haven’t,” Neh’sa said coolly. “I’m just telling you what could happen if I feel Thorn’s pain and know a pain collar is responsible for it. I’ll be watching you.” She removed the key to Thorn’s collar, which she wore around her neck on a chain, and thrust it at the other Mistress. “This collar had better be replaced by one just as painless or I’ll know,” she said and swept from the room before the spluttering Lady Wraith’ neck could frame an answer.
She didn’t look back at Thorn although she wanted to so badly her stomach twisted in knots.
He’s gone, she told herself. Gone out of your life as surely as Heroth is. Forget him now, Neh’sa—all you can do is forget him.
But somehow her heart refused to listen.