“Go,” The Gy’at Li commanded. “All will be well.” With those final words, Klykka’s holo-image vanished.
An idea struck Kari, one she hadn’t thought of before. Slipping into her black zoka and grabbing her matching sandals, she left her dressing room and walked toward the stage.
“What are you doing, child?” Arista whispered in a harsh voice. “Remove the zoka and—”
“Trust me.” Kari pleaded with her through wide, silver-blue eyes. “Please.”
Arista frowned. “I’ve no bedamned time to debate this so apparently I must!” She didn’t look pleased, but she exited onto the stage.
Still behind the stage where customers couldn’t view her, Kari closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. She entered into the trance-like state it had taken years of training to reach. She could hear Arista announcing her arrival to the gathered throng, but the meditative state kept her calm.
Kari’s private parts were covered, but she would be nude before the performance ended. Arista might not have understood why, but some niggling feeling told Kari none of the patrons had ever seen a striptease before. She just hoped to hell and back that Arista would be proud of her initiative.
Since zokas didn’t have a top portion, she had made do by ripping off the scarf-like strings from her sandals and quickly fashioning them into something of a bra. With naturally large breasts, the black strips of cloth covered only her nipples and tied behind her back.
“’Tis with great pleasure,” Arista’s voice boomed out, “that I introduce to you the most seductive and beautiful apprentice ever known to me…”
Kari’s eyes flew open. She grunted. Even if The de Valor was only saying that to get the crowd riled up, it was a lot of fucking pressure! Praise the goddess for trances. And matpow.
“From the House of Gy’at Li, under the protection of her sister and Mistress, I give to you…”
Just say my name already! I feel like a slutty boxer being publicized by the Don King de Valor!
“Kari…”
Primitives can out-sexy anyone. I’ve got this! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!
“Gy’at…”
Hurry up!
“Liiiiiiiiiiii!”
I very well may faint!
The crowd burst into raucous applause the same moment the music cued. Their excitement was palpable and bolstered her confidence—at least enough to give her the courage to walk on stage.
The shimmering lights dimmed and the spotlight basked her in a fiery glow. The tavern fell silent. She smiled inwardly, knowing she’d made the right bet—they had no idea what a striptease was. Primitive Earthlings: 1, The Allegedly Advanced: 0.
The music was simultaneously hypnotic and sensual. Kari sauntered toward middle stage, strolling like a fashion model on the catwalk in slow motion. All eyes were on her, waiting to understand what came next. She could see Arista standing backstage gnawing at her lip.
Kari looked to the crowd, a sensual smile curving her lips. She raised her hands above her head before slowly bringing them down to rest above her breasts. Trailing her hands down to the strip of cloth covering her nipples, she started to remove it, showing a hint of her areolas, then put the cloth back.
The crowd roared. She could feel Arista’s approval without looking toward her to confirm it.
Turning around to give the crowd her back, she threw the patrons a naughty look from over her shoulder while playing with the ties that held the cloth together. Again, the customers cheered. She undid the tie and let it fall away while keeping her breasts shielded from view by holding the cloth in place. The hollering grew louder.
Methodically and sensuously turning to face the crowd, she held the strip across her nipples, her breasts spilling out both over and under it. The men wanted to see her nipples more than they wanted air to breathe. She gave her breasts a jiggle, teasing the patrons, and earning louder cheers than before. Biting her lip in a playful manner, she used the cloth like a feather boa, slithering it around, but not letting it fall.
It was all they could take; the crowd went wild.
Kari prepared to drop the cloth. Deciding to make eye contact with one of the customers, she zeroed in on the man closest to her. Her eyes widened. She did a double-take. Kari’s breath caught in the back of her throat as her silver-blue gaze clashed with a glowing gold one too familiar and commanding to ignore. It was him.
Out of all the taverns in Crystal City, the Trystonni warrior of her most fevered fantasies had managed to track her down. She didn’t know how she knew he’d hunted her in particular, but she did. His eyes, heavy-lidded with arousal, narrowed in on the nipples he badly desired to see. He wanted to do more than look, she realized, but looking was all he would get.
His arousal empowered her. The fierce warrior had managed to throw her off her game for a Nuba-second, but Kari was back in control. She let the cloth fall to the ground, her puffy, pink nipples bared and erect, her wine-red curls cascading down her shoulders and framing her body. She could hear the patrons shouting and hooting, but her attention was focused solely on the only man she’d wanted in seventeen years—the one she couldn’t allow herself to have.
She played with her nipples, tweaking and massaging them, her gaze not straying from his. His erection was visible through the black leather pants all males of his species wore. His golden gaze, so possessive, stayed trained on her nipples. She knew he wanted to suck them and that knowledge was the most powerful aphrodisiac in all the worlds combined.
Next was the zoka. She teased and taunted, gave the audience her back again, and pretended to remove it. When the crowd groaned, she didn’t care, for it was only his reaction that mattered. Sliding the zoka down so he could see her bare ass, Kari bent over and gave him an unobstructed view of her wet pussy. She heard him mutter something imperceptible under his breath. He reached out to touch her cunt, but she stood up and pulled her thong back on. The tavern roared.
Turning again to face the warrior, this time Kari slid out of the zoka and let it fall to the floor. She could hear the shouting, but it didn’t signify. Again, he was all that mattered.
His golden gaze zeroed in on her triangular patch of wine-red hair. She let him run his fingers through it, didn’t resist when he rubbed her clit, and allowed herself to reenter the trance.
She sat in front of the giant, legs spread wide open, and massaged her pussy for his viewing pleasure. Allowing herself to go deeper into the trance, Kari’s mind reached the void—the source of all power. Too aroused to feel the elation she deserved to feel for reaching it, she used her power from within the void to bring the audience into an arousal-lock. From this moment until she broke the trance, the customers would feel everything she did.
Kari played with her nipples, plumping them up, and moaning from the pleasure. The patrons followed suit, all of them experiencing the very hedonism Kari was. Her gaze found the warlord’s. His breathing, in tune with hers, was heavy with arousal.
Like a wild animal unable to control himself, the warrior buried his face between her thighs and sucked on her pussy as if he owned it. Kari groaned as her head lolled back. The crowd groaned in response, unable to break her spell if they’d wanted to. The giant’s callused hands found her breasts. His fingers massaged her stiff nipples. Kari’s breathing grew increasingly labored as the warlord sucked harder, his possessiveness a tangible feeling.
Her orgasm was explosive. She knew from the moaning and shouts of satisfaction permeating the air that the audience was coming as hard as she was. She could feel the warrior’s hot cum spurt from his cock as though it was inside her. He kept sucking on her cunt as he came, forcing a second, harder orgasm on her.
Kari screamed from the intensity of it. The patrons came so hard that all but one of them passed out. That one kept nuzzling her pussy, his tongue curling around her clit and demanding more. She gave him what he wanted, her fingers running through his hair while pressing his face closer. “I’m coming!” she wailed. “Only for you—ohhhh
h!”
The mutual orgasm was so strong, so all-consuming, that Kari damn near passed out from it too. The giant at last lifted his face from between her thighs. His breathing was heavy and perspiration slicked his skin as his golden gaze found hers. He knew he was losing consciousness and that she would be able to run away. The last look he gave her before succumbing to blackness promised her that she could run, but he’d always find her.
Kari broke the trance. Taken off guard by the powerful connection she felt to the unconscious warrior, she shakily stood up. Her eyes wild, she looked at Arista. The de Valor inclined her head, proud. Kari nodded her gratitude and fled back to the crystal penthouse.
Chapter Nine
“You commanded the entire audience on your first attempt?” Dorra’s hologram asked. She looked bewildered and in awe. “For a certainty?”
Kari’s chin notched up. “I sure did.”
“She is the first to ever accomplish a feat such as this,” Klykka’s hologram proudly announced. “’Tis honor you have brought to the House of Gy’at Li, Kari. My hearts are swollen with pride.”
“As are mine,” Dorra chimed in. “Leastways, you are the talk of the entire sector. My’ani is set to give birth any day now. She wishes to name the babe for you should the goddess gift her with a girl-child.”
“Are you serious?” Kari enthused. “Wow!”
Recalling the last movie she’d seen on Earth mere months before her departure, Kari allowed herself to relish in the glory that came from being Neo—The One!—for a moment. She had mastered her own matrix, albeit a pervy one. In fact, Arista said after she taught her a few more mind-and-body control techniques, her apprenticeship would be over. That gave her almost three moon-months in Crystal City to spend her time as she pleased.
Kari felt like she’d conquered Mount Everest, won Olympic gold—or graduated as the valedictorian from Sodom and Gomorrah High. However one chose to view it, it was a job well done.
“Will you be returning home early?” Dorra asked.
“’Tis unlikely,” Klykka wryly interjected. “Leastways, she has earned the right to holiday for a spell.”
“Were I you, I would sample every cock that crossed my path,” Dorra said matter-of-factly.
Kari grinned. “I’m hoping to sample something.” Unfortunately, the cock she wanted so badly belonged to a man she couldn’t tempt fate with by trying. She decided against mentioning that part. “I also told Arista that as long as I’m in Crystal City I’ll be glad to serve tables on the nights she needs additional help.”
“’Tis a generous boon, that.” Klykka inclined her head. “You make us proud. Now get yourself some sleep. You look nigh unto exhausted.”
“I am.”
“Dorra and I leave for a pack hunt on the morrow so you shan’t hear from us again. Leastways, not until our return.”
Kari nodded. Her smile was sleepy. “Good hunting.”
* * * * *
The next week was the busiest period in Kari’s life. Her days were filled with Arista’s training, her nights with erotic performances, and her stint at Mettle Tavern was nearing its end. Other than occasionally waiting tables when—and if—the need arose, her time would officially become her own after tomorrow night’s performance. She had been taught well and learned eagerly. She had surpassed Arista’s expectations and earned her respect. She should have been happy, should have been ecstatic in fact, but she wasn’t. As much as she hated admitting it, she knew the reason why.
It was him. The giant, brooding warrior with the glowing, gold gaze and a skull tattooed into his forehead. The muscled warlord whose name she didn’t even know.
He hadn’t returned to Mettle Tavern since her premiere performance. Kari had expected to fend him off every night, doing her damnedest to thwart his advances, but such was not the case. Her pride wasn’t smarting, which left her with one unmistakable and utterly frightening conclusion:
She missed him.
She didn’t know him and could never attempt to try so thinking about him was pointless, yet the weirdly inexplicable connection she felt toward him was all-consuming. Stranger still, she knew—knew—he felt it too.
Plopping into bed, Kari let out a sigh and absently stared at the ceiling. He was her every daytime thought and her every nighttime fantasy. He was everything she wanted in a man and all she couldn’t have. And he was throwing her off her game without even knowing it.
Earlier this evening she had helped out by serving trenchers of food and drink to the patrons overflowing the tavern. Kari had been so distracted by thoughts of the colossal warrior that when two vacationing females asked her what her name was, she had said “Kara” without thinking. She’d quickly corrected herself and told them she hadn’t gone by that name in years and was now called Kari.
There had been something eerily familiar about one of those women, but by the time it dawned on her what that something was, the traveler was nowhere to be found. The female had looked…earthy. Weirder still, she had the height and accent of a woman who heralded from her home planet. Her speech pattern was what one would expect from a human who’d been whisked away from Earth in the 1960s.
The moment Kari’s hazy mind cleared enough to question her had turned out to be a heartbeat too late. She’d asked one of the serving wenches about the foreign woman only to be told she’d fallen ill and had been removed from Mettle Tavern by the warlord Kil Q’an Tal, the brother of the emperor and king of Tryston’s dominant red moon Morak. “Leastways, she was mayhap a bound servant who fled from her Master,” the serving wench had informed Kari. “He likely came to collect her and return her to his harem.”
Kari had swallowed rather roughly after hearing that, the reality of what Trystonni warriors do to women they snare fortified in her consciousness. That reinforcement alone should have made her overjoyed that the giant hadn’t returned for her, yet it didn’t.
“I’m going crazy,” Kari whispered aloud. She closed her eyes and prayed for sleep. “Let him go,” she instructed herself, “just let him go.”
* * * * *
“’Tis honored I am to have trained you, Kari Gy’at Li.” Arista de Valor’s smile was infectious. “Leastways, what little training you needed! By the sands, Klykka taught you well.”
“Thank you, Arista. That means a lot coming from you. I’m certain Klykka will feel the same way.” Kari nostalgically scanned her now former dressing room. “I’m actually going to miss this place.” Her silver-blue gaze returned to the The de Valor. She absently cast a glance over the High Mystik’s ever-perfect form. Arista always looked stunning and tonight was no exception. The golden zoka and violet sandals she wore accented her caramel coloring while drawing attention to her almond-shaped, indigo eyes. “But I’ll especially miss you.”
“None of that, child.” Arista embraced her with the warmth, pride, and bittersweet sentiment of a mother telling her daughter goodbye just before the teenager left home for university. “For a certainty you may visit me whenever you so desire. And do you ever need me? You now understand how to pull me into hyatzi.”
Kari blew out a breath. “Let’s hope the need for thought-lock never arises.”
“War is coming to Trek Mi Q’an, child. Mayhap not for many moon-risings, but ‘twould be naïve to think we will never again see battle.”
“Do you really believe we could withstand an attack by Tryston?”
“If it came to that, aye, I do. And after you complete the final, necessary step of your training in the warring arts, you will believe it too.”
“They’re so big,” Kari murmured. “And ruthless.”
“Yet they know naught of Galis beyond the taverns and bartering stalls. Our technology, our training, even the vast majority of our terrain…it all remains a mystery to them.” Arista smiled as she released Kari from her embrace. “Do not waste your moon-risings fearing the unlikely, child. The emperor has no reason to attack us.”
Kari blinked. One wine-red eyebrow rose.
“Then what do you mean about war coming to Trek Mi Q’an?”
Arista’s expression was contemplative. “I cannot say as I do not know. ‘Tis naught but a feeling I have, this.” Arista sighed. “Ancient I may be, but Ari I am not. Only She Who is Borne of the Goddess can foretell destiny.”
“But this feeling…” Kari tried to understand. “You don’t believe it has to do with Tryston and Galis going to war?”
“Nay. If anything we will be allies, just as we were when the insurrectionists of Tron wreaked their havoc across the galaxy.”
“So the war coming to Trek Mi Q’an will be started by those not from it?”
Arista was silent for a protracted moment. “’Tis the gift of intuition bestowed upon females coupled with the wisdom of an ancient that gives me…well, ’tis difficult to describe, but one might call it a knowing. Not a seeing as Ari experiences, just a knowing.”
That was plenty of proof for Kari. Arista was never wrong. “This knowing tells you war is coming?”
“A darkness has breached Trek Mi Q’an.” The de Valor inclined her head. “Aye. ‘Tis the knowing that tells me war will be made against it.”
Kari visibly shivered.
“None of that, child.” Arista smiled before embracing her a final time. “You’ve two and a half moon-months of leisure to experience. Go enjoy it.”
* * * * *
Kari returned to the zoka bartering stall she’d first visited upon her arrival in Crystal City. She wanted to have a few more zokas made for her sisters and herself. Nyoki Zha’Ri was eager to oblige. Apparently very few patrons ordered custom-made zokas because Nyoki seemed excited by the artistic challenge.
“I love the maroon one I’m wearing,” Kari said. “It was purchased for me as a gift by The Gy’at Li.” She whirled around to show the tradeswoman every angle. “I’m hoping you can make a similar one that matches my hair a bit closer.”