“You’re kind to offer my slave sanctuary in your palace, your Majesty, but her place is with me,” Terex said firmly. “The deep pink pigmentation of her nipples is normal for one of her kind. Note her tan skin color—it’s a natural continuation of that tone.”
“Ah, yes…I see.” Krumf looked disappointed and maybe a little angry, Terex thought. “Well, in that case, as you have already claimed her…”
“I have.” Terex frowned at him and wrapped one arm possessively around Elaina’s waist, drawing her close to him. “Elaina is mine and no hand but mine may touch her.”
“That’s a very strong statement to make to your Supreme Leader, Valdor,” Krumf growled.
“Please, your Supreme Excellency,” Elaina said, surprising him. “Forgive me for talking out of turn in your presence, but my Master Valdor is only trying to keep me healthy. You see, once a woman…er, female of my kind has been claimed by a male, he is the only one who can touch her. If anyone else tries, she sickens and dies in a matter of just a few weeks. We call it the separation sickness.”
“Is that true?” Krumf demanded, frowning at Terex, who was looking at Elaina in surprise.
Quick thinking! She’s smart as well as beautiful.
“Yes, your Majesty,” he said, dragging his eyes away from her and looking back to the disgruntled Krumf. “Elaina’s people form a chemical life-bond with the male who claims them. It makes them physically unable to be with any other male without dying.”
It was a difficult lie to disprove—he hoped. At any rate, it seemed that Krumf was beginning to buy it.
“It’s a very dangerous situation to be in and my Master didn’t want to risk my life by taking me outside his spaceship,” Elaina went on, fluttering her long eyelashes at the dictator. “But, well…I had heard so much about your Supreme Excellency’s power and influence and…and uh, good looks, that I longed to see you with my own eyes. So I begged him to bring me.”
“You did, did you?” Krumf was beginning to look mollified—maybe even pleased with her lavish flattery. He puffed up like a old toad and beamed at her. “And is what you see before you the way you imagined it?”
Elaina made her eyes wide and wondering.
“Your palace is so much more opulent and luxurious than anything I could ever have imagined, your Supreme Excellency,” she murmured in an awed voice. “And your, er, personal self—I mean you—are much more, um, manly than I ever could have anticipated. In fact…” She pressed her face to Terex’s side, like a shy little girl. “It makes me feel quite overwhelmed, just to be in your presence.”
“Well…” Krumf sat up straighter on his throne and preened a little. “Then I suppose we must give you a little time to process the experience.” He looked at Terex. “I hereby extend an invitation for you to stay in the palace for the next two days, friend of my ancestor.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.” Terex bowed his head briefly. “I accept your invitation.”
“Very well. And Ambassador Waygu—you and your lovely slave must stay too, since you were kind enough to bring Master Valdor to us in the first place,” Krumf added.
“I thank you, your Supreme Exaltedness—it is always an honor to stay in your presence.”
The rotund Ambassador bowed low and Jessa pressed herself into the carpet and trembled with either fear or ecstasy at the invitation—Terex couldn’t tell which and he didn’t care. He just wanted to get Elaina out of here, away from the prying eyes of the old bastard on the golden throne. He didn’t trust Krumf and his motives one damn bit and the less time Elaina spent in his presence, the better.
“Very well then.” Krumf clapped his hands at the guards, who came forward at once. “Take Master Valdor and his lovely slave to the very best guest room the palace has to offer. They’ll need time to refresh themselves and change before the banquet tonight.”
“Thank you. You’re too kind, your Supreme Exaltedness.” The Ambassador bowed low again and Terex bowed his head.
“You’re welcome. And Master Valdor?” The dictator gave him a sharp look as they were about to follow the guards out of the throne room. “I’ll be watching you. You and your lovely slave both.”
“Yes, your Majesty,” Terex said stonily and then they turned and filed out. But every step of the way he was very aware of the other male’s gaze on his back. We’re going to have to be careful of Krumf—very fucking careful indeed, he thought to himself. The smartest thing would be to take Elaina and go now, before things get any more complicated.
But they couldn’t go. He felt in his gut that the palace was where they needed to be—that this was where he would find information pertaining to the prophesy the priestess Nirobe had given them.
They were stuck here—they would just have to be very damn careful and try to stay away from Krumf. But remembering the way the dictator’s greedy little eyes in their pouchy bags of flesh had stared at Elaina, Terex wondered if that would be possible.
Chapter Twelve
“This is fucking ridiculous! He’s doing this on purpose! He just wants to see more of your body, the lecherous old bastard!”
Terex’s voice was a low, angry growl as he held up the clothing and…other things the attendant had brought to the door of their suite for her to wear that night. It had come directly from his Supreme Excellency with a note which directed her in no uncertain terms to wear the outfit he was providing to tonight’s banquet. The instructions had definitely not been a request—which was possibly one reason Terex was so angry.
Elaina didn’t know when she had seen the big Kindred more upset and she couldn’t stop thinking of how possessive and angry he’d gotten when he was claiming her in front of the Supreme Leader. It was almost as though he really cared for her. But no—he had to be acting, just like she had been, right?
“He probably does want to see more,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and level. “But only because I’m ‘exotic’ here on this planet." She lowered her voice, in case they were being listened to. "Too bad I don’t know the trick of changing my hair and eyes and skin the way you seem to be able to do so I could blend in," she murmured.
“It was an ability given to me through surgery to replace parts I lost in combat—I don’t recommend it,” Terex said shortly, also in a lower voice.
Elaina shrugged. “Well, it seems pretty useful to me. But since I don’t have it and we’re in the palace of his Supreme Exaltedness, I don’t think I have a choice about wearing what he sent me to dinner.”
“But look at this!” Terex held up an extremely skimpy looking garment with long silky fringes dangling from it. To be honest, Elaina wasn’t even sure what it was—a top or a bottom or something else entirely. But she could tell it wouldn’t cover a hell of a lot.
“Give me that,” she said, snatching it from his hand as a blush rose to her cheeks. “I have to put it on.”
“You can’t wait to wear it, can you?” Terex demanded, glaring at her. “Can’t wait to show yourself off for that…that—”
“Wait a minute!” Elaina held up her hand for silence, glaring at him. “You think I want to wear this? That I want to go around half naked in embarrassing costumes?”
“The way you were acting in the throne room—”
“I was doing what I had to do in order to save my sister!” She didn’t even try to keep the anger out of her voice, though she did keep her tone low. “I don’t want to wear this!” She shook the tiny fringed garment in front of his face. “Any more than I wanted to do the hoochie-choochie dance in front of his Supreme Horniness back there. But I had no choice! Neither of us do.”
“You’re right.” Some of the anger in Terex’s eyes died away and he ran a hand over his hair and sighed. “Forgive me. I don’t know…what came over me. It’s just…when he was looking at you like that I felt…felt so…”
He shook his head, apparently unable to finish.
Elaina stared at him, uncertainly.
“So…that wasn’t an act?”
“No.” He looked down, his voice a soft growl. “No, in fact, I knew it was most unwise to claim you so strongly in front of Krumf. But I couldn’t help it. I feel…” He raised his eyes and looked at her directly. “I feel very possessive of you, Elaina. Maybe it’s just the roles we’re playing here but I need to protect you…to make certain no other male lays a hand on you.”
Elaina felt her breath catch in her throat. Was he really saying what she thought he was saying?
“It’s…” She cleared her throat. “It’s probably just the way this place is forcing us to act. Look—the attendant who brought this box of clothes said dinner is really soon so I’d better put this on.”
“Yes, all right.” He nodded briefly.
“So…” Elaina still hesitated. “Are we okay?”
“Yes, Elaina.” Terex cupped her cheek briefly and looked into her eyes in a way that made her heart pound for some reason. “We’re all right. Go get changed and then come out and play the dutiful slave girl. And I’ll play the stern Master.”
Elaina nearly said that it didn’t seem so much like he was playing anymore but she didn’t think it would be a very smart thing to say. Not now, when he was looking at her so intensely.
“All right,” she whispered instead, and gathered up the brightly colored box a palace attendant had brought to the door of their guest suite. “I’ll just, uh, get changed then.”
“Do that.” He nodded and Elaina turned and scampered off into the bathroom, taking the box with her.
Whew! Once inside with the door shut behind her, she leaned against the cold marble wall and breathed a deep sigh. What was going on here? She felt like things were getting more and more intense between herself and the big Kindred but she didn’t know what to do about it. To be honest—she didn’t know if she wanted to do anything about it.
Stop it, Elaina, she scolded herself as she put the box, filled with strange alien sex clothes, down on the broad marble countertop. You’re here to do one thing and one thing only—find a cure for Gina. So just stop it with the school girl fantasies right now.
But as she slipped the see-through sheath dress with it’s strategically placed gems over her head, she couldn’t stop seeing that look in his eyes when he told her he felt possessive of her. What in the world was going on and where would it lead?
The dress snagged on the golden collar she was wearing and nearly tore, bringing her attention abruptly back to the moment at hand.
Damn! Carefully, she untangled the dress from the collar and finished taking it off without damaging either one. She fingered the thick gold band around her neck ruefully, wishing she could take it off too, not certain if she dared or not. She knew she was supposed to wear a collar at all times here in the palace and now that she’d gotten used to this one it wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. But she still didn’t like it.
Reluctantly, she decided to leave it on. She folded the dress neatly and then began going through the contents of the box, trying to figure out what each one was for and how to wear it.
There was the delicate fringed thing which appeared to be a kind of top. It consisted of a band of red silk that went around her chest, sitting just above her breasts. From it hung long, silky black and white fringes which Elaina supposed were meant to cover her breasts. Unfortunately, once she put the top on, she found that they didn’t do a very good job of that. The fringes only hung down to the middle of her breasts and no matter how she tried to arrange them, her nipples kept peaking out.
“Damn it!” she muttered after trying time and again to get the fringes to go flat and stay in place. At last she decided she’d better turn her attention to the bottom of the outfit. The clock was ticking and they didn’t want to be late for the banquet.
The bottom was a lot like the top except the fringes were longer, reaching all the way to her ankles. The strip of red silk at the top fit low on her hips and stopped just above her pussy mound, which meant, of course, that she was going to be mostly exposed on the bottom too.
Elaina sighed in frustration as she regarded herself in the long 3-D viewer that ran along the top of the sink and countertop area. The bathroom here was considerably nicer than the one in the women’s quarters back at Ambassador Waygu’s house. In fact, it was positively opulent with black marble everywhere, including a deep marble tub instead of just a wash-all with a drain in the floor, and plush looking towel-sheets to wrap yourself in after you bathed.
But no matter how luxurious her surroundings, Elaina’s eyes just kept returning to her nearly naked body peaking out from between the fringes of her new outfit.
Who would have thought that she would ever dress like this? Especially at her age. It seemed like something she might have worn on a dare during her college years but those were far behind her now. Thank goodness her breasts while full, were still perky, although not as perky as they’d been in her twenties.
At least the fringes minimize my hips and ass, she thought, eyeing her problem areas. Well—I’d better put the shoes on too.
In the colored box there was a pair of jeweled, lace-up sandals that looked like they would lace all the way to her knees to go with the fringed top and skirt. After Elaina put them on, though, something that had been under them caught her eye.
Winking in the soft, muted light were two little gold rings with strings of blood-red rubies hanging off of them. Elaina frowned and picked them up.
At first she thought they must be finger rings. But although they seemed at least somewhat adjustable, they were much too small to even fit around her pinkies. And anyway, why would she wear rings on her fingers that had long strings of stones dangling from them? She frowned, holding them up to the light. Why would she…
“Oh!” Elaina put a hand to her mouth as she finally figured out the point of the golden rings. “Oh my God, really?” she muttered, staring at them.
But there was no way they could be anything else—his Supreme Excellency had sent her nipple rings and he expected her to wear them at supper tonight.
Muttering to herself, Elaina brushed the fringes covering her breasts away—a much too easy thing to do, in her opinion—and turned her attention to putting on the first ring.
But as her fingers brushed over the sensitive bud of her right nipple, a loud, whooping alarm began to sound somewhere right over her head.
“What the hell?” Elaina gasped, nearly dropping the nipple jewelry.
“Elaina?” Terex was suddenly pounding on the door. “Elaina—are you all right in there?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Doing her best to smooth down the fringes so they covered her bare breasts again, she opened the bathroom door. “What is that? Some kind of fire drill?” she half-shouted to make herself heard over the whooping alarm.
“I don’t know! But we’d better—”
Suddenly a pounding on the thick wooden door of their suite startled them both. Terex crossed to the door in three long strides and Elaina hurried after him, sure that it must be the guards coming to tell them it was some kind of drill and they would all have to get out of the palace until the all-clear was given.
There were guards outside the door, all right—in fact, the same guard who had led them into the throne room in the first place. He pressed a small button on his broad belt and the whooping alarm stopped abruptly, much to Elaina’s relief.
“Your pardon, Master Valdor,” he said to Terex, bowing his head. “But our sensors have detected illicit female activity going on in here.”
“Illicit female activity?” Terex growled. “What in the Seven Hells are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, Master, but I’m talking about the fact that your slave must have been pleasuring herself without your help or approval.”
The guard frowned at Elaina who suddenly felt naked and terrified. Too late, she remembered Jessa’s warning that she shouldn’t “touch herself” anywhere in the palace because of the alarm system they had there. But could barely touching her nipple really s
et it off? Was it that sensitive?
“I’m afraid she’ll have to come with me for punishment.” The guard started to step forward and take Elaina by the arm but Terex stepped between them, fangs out, growling.
“Now wait just a Goddess-damned minute,” he snarled at the clearly shocked guard. “Elaina wasn’t touching herself—she was just getting dressed in the bathroom. There’s no law against that, I hope?”
“Just getting dressed wouldn’t have set off the sensors,” the guard argued stubbornly. “I’m afraid she’ll have to come with us.”
“Wait!” Elaina gasped. “I…I think I know what happened.”
“Tell me, Elaina,” Terex turned to face her, making sure she was talking to him and not the guards. For once Elaina felt grateful for the ridiculous rule that made him the only male she was supposed to speak to.
“Master,” she murmured, not having to fake the fear in her voice. “I was trying to put these on.” She held out the pair of nipple rings with their dangling rubies.
“Those?” Terex frowned. “What in the Seven Hells are they?”
“Nipple adornments,” the guard answered for her before Elaina could speak. “If she really was trying to put these on herself, it could have set off the sensors.”
“Well, there you are—that’s your answer.” Terex gave them an irritated glare. “Now could you please go and leave us in peace?”
“I will for now, but only because you clearly do not know the palace protocol.” The guard looked at him skeptically. “But for future reference, let me spell it out for you, Master Valdor—by order of his Supreme Excellency, no female slave is ever to touch herself in her private areas for the purpose of giving herself pleasure. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly clear,” Terex snapped. “Now leave—it won’t happen again.”
“It had better not.” The guard glared warningly at them. He stared at Elaina. “A second offense means punishment and a third means separation from your master—possibly forever, little female,” he told her. “Just you remember that before you start trying to scratch any itch you might have yourself. Only your Master is to touch your private areas—you understand?”