Neh’sa kept her cool admirably considering the circumstances, Thorn thought as he watched her walk out of the living area. Despite the fact that her gown was torn, exposing her breasts and the other Mistress had offered her what was clearly the worst insult possible in Yonnite society, she kept her head up and her shoulders straight as she walked regally out of the room.
The party was breaking up, the Mistresses shuffling around nervously with their body-slaves in tow. There were shocked looks on many faces and from the whispered remarks he heard, Thorn was beginning to get the idea that what had happened was more than just a spat.
Were there going to be legal repercussions for Neh’sa to deal with? Had he made the matter worse by his intervention?
But what the hell else could I do? he asked himself. That bitch, Lady Wraith’neck, had sent her massive Clopsian on a rampage—he’d been about to rape or kill Neh’sa. And after that, Wraith’neck had slapped Neh’sa and tried to push her into the pool of flesh-eating fish.
When he’s seen the nasty intention in the cruel Mistress’s narrow eyes as she shoved Neh’sa, the fire had risen so fast and hard inside Thorn he’d actually almost flamed-up—a loss of control so extreme he hadn’t experienced it in nearly twenty cycles. He had lost it a little while he was punching the Clopsian, but though his fists had heated, the fire hadn’t actually escaped—though it had come close.
Have to get control of myself! he told himself grimly as he watched the party guests leave in bunches until only the Mistress and her body-slave who had been joined in the ceremony remained.
Well, them and the giant Clopsian. The house droids had managed to stop his bleeding and had pasted tight pressure bandages over what remained of his shaft but he had slumped into a stupor by the pool and couldn’t be revived, no matter how often the ancient male who served Neh’sa as a butler patted his cheeks and begged him to rise.
At least the blood smeared on the big body hid most of the burn marks where Thorn’s fists had landed. He hoped the male healed fast or that the marks were just singes instead of actual deep burns. It was hard to tell—the fire inside him had been very close to the surface when he fought the Clopsian.
Again he reminded himself that he had to get back some of the control he had lost the minute Neh’sa had touched him—but how?
* * * * *
Somehow Neh’sa made it to her bedchamber before she lost her calm outer demeanor and started shaking and crying.
Calm—be calm, she tried to tell herself but she couldn’t help it—the tears came out, hard and fast as bullets and she couldn’t stop them—could only let them come.
Goddess, she’d nearly died. Would have died if Thorn hadn’t disobeyed her and come running to her rescue. It was something her first beloved body-slave, Heloth would have done and for a moment Neh’sa missed her old lover so badly she felt like she was being torn in two.
If only he was here now—if only she wasn’t all alone. She had kept herself so isolated since his death, only training body-slaves for other Mistresses and never taking one for herself. She’d learned to live a lonely, loveless existence because she couldn’t bear that pain again, the pain of loss, of love gone forever.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she sat on the vast, empty bed where she slept alone every night and let the tears come. She wept for the past and for the future—the vast, lonely future she saw stretching out before her. She was thirty-three cycles old but before she knew it she would be forty-three, then fifty-three, then a hundred and three and still all alone with no one to hold her at night, no one to love her…
Stop it! she told herself sternly. Stop this maudlin display, you’re a Mistress—a dominant female who doesn’t need anyone to be happy and fulfilled but herself.
Normally that was true—Neh’sa was actually quite content with the life she’d made for herself. But sometimes—times like this when something awful happened—she just wanted someone to hold her. Did that make her weak or less in control of herself?
Neh’sa didn’t think so.
“It just makes me lonely…so lonely,” she whispered brokenly. “Goddess, I wish…” But she couldn’t even finish the thought. The sad fact was, she had better get used to loneliness—it was part of her life and nothing was going to change it.
With a sigh, she swiped at her streaming eyes with the sleeve of her ruined dress. Time to get a grip. She would take a brief, refreshing shower, change clothes, and go back out to her living area. She was pretty sure most of the guests were gone—she hoped so anyway—but Lady Tandy and Lo’im would still be there. Neh’sa was certain of that because Lady Tandy had asked her for something in strictest confidence—something only Neh’sa could provide.
Sighing again, Neh’sa got off the vast bed and went to the waterfall shower in her private bathing room. She might be lonely but she was strong. She would make it through this and persevere just as she always had before.
She had to—there was no choice.
* * * * *
At last, after watching the butler and several droids try in vain for ten minutes to get the giant Clopsian up, Thorn went to help. Mistress Wraith’neck had left in a huff ages ago, taking the remote to his pain collar with her. They couldn’t have the huge male, who might become dangerous again, lying around the domicile.
“Oh thank you, er…” The butler-slave looked at him uncertainly.
“Thorn,” Thorn supplied. “The new, uh, body-slave.” It felt funny introducing himself that way although he supposed he ought to get used to it.
“Oh, of course. I’m Maximus, Lady Neh’sanna’s butler-slave these many years. I’m very grateful for what you did—saving her from this beast and from being pushed into the Banda pool,” the other male said.
“What else could I do?” Thorn said lightly. “Couldn’t let my new Mistress be killed—it would just be right back to the auction house for me, right?”
“I suppose…” Maximus looked at him doubtfully and shook his graying head. “But for whatever reason you acted, your actions were very brave. You saved our Mistress and I will be forever grateful to you for that.”
“Thanks,” Thorn muttered, feeling uncomfortable. “What are we going to do with him when we get him up?” He nodded at the Clopsian.
“I’ll go call a transport to take him back to his Mistress,” the butler promised and trotted off, leaving Thorn with the task of lifting the huge male.
As he took the massive Clopsian under one arm and started to heave him to his feet—Goddess but the male weighed as much as a small vehicle—his new Mistress finally came out of her bedchamber.
“Neh-sa? I mean, Mistress?” he asked, studying her as she came towards him. She was wearing a silk dressing gown of deep green that made her skin look soft and creamy. Her large, dark eyes were red-rimmed and Thorn wondered if she’d been weeping. His heart fisted in his chest at the thought but he couldn’t tell if she had or not from the serene look on her face. On one cheek was a dull red mark where Lady Wraith’neck’s slap had landed but Neh’sa still carried her head high.
“Thorn,” she said in that low, feminine voice which seemed to carry a hint of steel under the velvet. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to get this big bastard out of your domicile.” He gestured at the Clopsian who sagged heavily to the floor the minute Thorn let go of him. “He’s deadweight though. I can’t tell if he’s drugged or just out of it from blood loss.”
“Possibly both.” She sighed and to Thorn’s surprise, stepped forward and placed one hand on the Clopsian’s broad forehead. For a moment he thought he saw a soft pinkish glow coming from under her palm. Then the giant’s single eye fluttered open and he gave a weak grunt.
Neh’sa stepped back and nodded.
“He’ll live,” she said. “And you’re right—we need to get him back to Lady Wraith’neck or she’ll have even more to charge me with.”
“Charge you?” Thorn demanded. “How can she charge you? She’s the one who brought a fucking wild beast into your house and set it loose! He could have killed you and everyone else here!”
Just the thought of that—of how close she’d come to dying—filled him with protective rage which he swallowed down only with difficulty.
Neh’sa sighed. “I’m afraid that Yonnite society is…complicated when it comes to such matters. Technically because her slave was injured in my domicile, she can charge me and possibly bring other grievances against me as well.” She shook her head. “I’ll find out what she’s cooked up with her barrister later on, no doubt. But for now if you could please just get him out of here?”
“That’s the plan,” Thorn growled. “Your butler went to call for a transport.” The idea of the other Mistress bringing legal charges against Neh’sa still angered and frustrated him, but as much as he found himself wanting to protect her, there was nothing he could do about it.
“Thank you, Thorn,” Neh’sa said gravely. She rose and hesitated for a moment before laying a gentle hand on his cheek. “And thank you for saving me. That’s twice you’ve come to my rescue and I haven’t even owned you a whole solar day yet.”
As always, her touch made his shaft rise and harden. Gods, she was beautiful!
“It was my pleasure, Mistress,” he said gruffly. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek as well—the wounded one—tenderly in his palm. “She hit you pretty hard here—are you all right?”
“No, Thorn…” Gently but firmly she removed his hand from her face and brought it back to his side. “The first rule you must learn—a body-slave is never allowed to touch his Mistress unless she tells him to.”
Thorn frowned. “Oh, but you can touch me whenever you want?”
“Yes,” she said simply and smiled that maddening smile at him. “Don’t worry—we’ll go over the rules later when everyone is gone and I have time to do a more thorough inspection. For now, though, I need to go speak to Lady Tandy and Lo’im.”
She glided away and he watched her for a minute, his shaft throbbing, before going back to the task of heaving the heavy Clopsian to his feet and getting him out of the domicile.
At last with the help of the butler and all the house droids, the job was finally accomplished. The massive beast was deposited in a transport headed back to Lady Wraith’neck’s domicile and Neh’sa’s home was safe again.
With a sigh of relief, Thorn went to find his new Mistress. He wanted to ask her what exactly she had meant by “inspection” and what the rules about who could touch who were. But when he finally located her, in her office, she was speaking quietly and intensely with Lady Tandy alone.
Thorn stood outside the door, watching the two females through the crack, thinking that he shouldn’t eavesdrop—he should just go back to her bedchamber and wait for her there. Lo’im was nowhere to be found—it was just Neh’sa and Lady Tandy in her office so it was clearly a private conversation. But then he heard something which made him stop, watch, and listen.
“Here,” Neh’sa said, pressing something into the younger Mistress’s hand. “If you wish to let Lo’im finish inside you, you must have him take these first. They’ll alter his seed so that only female children will result if you should…”
“If I should get pregnant?” Lady Tandy’s blue eyes widened and her voice sank to a whisper. “Lady Neh’sa, are you sure it’s all right to…to want this? To want to let my body-slave penetrate me?”
“The love between a male and a female is their own business,” Neh’sa told her firmly. “As a Mistress, you must do what you feel is right for you. I’m not advising you either way—I’m only giving you the means to have what you want without fear of retribution. If you and Lo’im should make love without protection and you conceive a male child, everyone will know you didn’t go to the conception center to be artificially inseminated.”
Lady Tady bit her full lower lip.
“I do want to let him penetrate me,” she admitted softly. “I…I’ve wanted it from the first. I don’t know why I have such perverted desires.”
“Nothing consensual is perverted,” Neh’sa said, lifting her chin. “And you’re planning to penetrate him too—why is this different?”
“I don’t know…” Lady Tandy looked down at the small packet of pills Neh’sa had given her and then looked up again. “Thank you for…for understanding and not judging me. You’re the only one in Opulex I could have told my secret to.”
“I’m happy to help you, my dear.” Neh’sa pressed her hand gently. “I’m just sorry that your Devotion Ceremony was ruined by the scuffle.”
“It wasn’t ruined, honestly it wasn’t,” Lady Tandy told her earnestly. “The ceremony itself was beautiful. And what happened afterwards, well…” She gave a little laugh. “Let’s just say it’s a memory Lo’im and I will never forget.” She sighed. “I just hope Lady Wraith’neck doesn’t make things too difficult for you now.”
“Don’t worry about me—you and Lo’im just go and enjoy yourselves and have a beautiful life together.” Neh’sa smiled at her and started to rise.
Thorn, who had been watching silently, completely mesmerized by the forbidden conversation, moved hurriedly out of the way. He barely got back across the large living area to the door of the bedchamber before he heard Neh’sa calling his name.
Turning, he tried to pretend he hadn’t overheard her conversation. He kept his face blank though his mind was whirling.
“You know we don’t do that on Yonnie Six,” Neh’sa had told him when they had been speaking about penetration on her ship—specifically of him penetrating her. Well, apparently they did do that here on Yonnie Six—some of the Mistresses anyway. And it was obvious that Neh’sa was helping them do it.
Lady Wraith’ neck’s angry accusations came back to him.
“We all know what kind of business you’re running here!”
Was this what she had been talking about? But why would Neh’sa go against her society’s beliefs to do something which was not only unconventional but very probably illegal? And how did she feel about being penetrated herself?
A sudden image came to him—his petite, curvy Mistress with her long dark hair spread out on the pillow and her thighs open wide for him. He could almost see her beckoning to him, her soft folds glistening with her honey—hot and wet and perfect. He would cover her small body with his own larger, harder one and sink his shaft to the root in her tight, welcoming pussy…
“Did you hear me, Thorn?” Neh’sa’s voice drew him out of the illicit fantasy.
“Hmm?” He blinked and looked up to see her frowning.
“You need to pay better attention—a good body-slave is always attuned to his Mistress’s words,” she lectured softly. “I said it’s time for your bath and inspection.”