Taming the Giant_A Kindred tales novel Read online

  But even knowing exactly how it worked, Alanah couldn’t help thinking it seemed like magic. It was so amazingly fast—Bram had made himself a shirt in the time it would have taken her to toast a piece of bread in the fire and with about the same amount of effort.

  Alanah knew that to make a shirt like he wore by hand would have been the work of weeks back home. She would have had to sheer a sheep, card the wool, use a spinning wheel to twist the wool fibers into thread, dye the yarn, put it on a loom, and then weave it into a bolt of fabric before cutting and sewing it by hand. All of this for one item of clothing which he has simply “thought” into existence as though it was nothing.

  If our people do mix, we’re going to have to find something to do with ourselves, she thought, as she carefully measured some of the polymer dots into the receptacle and picked up the thought wave transmitter. We’re so used to doing chores that take up our whole lives—planting and harvesting crops, raising animals, making food and clothes—it will be a shock to suddenly live a life of leisure where everything is done for us.

  Not that she was complaining—she was actually excited about the prospect. Her father had taught her to read and write and think for herself—he had even employed a tutor for her, such as a male heir might get, when it became clear he would have no son to take the throne after him.

  Alanah had always wished for more time to learn and read and now she would have it—along with access to much more advanced learning than she’d ever had before. Bram had showed her a small screen which he said held hundreds of books all at once and had promised to give her something which would help her learn his language so she could read them. It was an amazing idea and one she was excited about…if she stayed with him, that was.

  Because as much as she cared for her gentle giant, Alanah had decided it wasn’t fair to tie him to her if she couldn’t bloom for him. It was the reason why she had put him off, yet again, when he had offered to take her to the Sacred Grove—the place in the center of the ship dedicated to the Kindred Goddess—and marry her that morning. She simply couldn’t go through with such a final step until she was certain she could give him everything a wife ought to give her husband.

  She sighed when she thought of it. The experience she’d had with him last night had been equal parts amazing and depressing. Amazing because he’d made her feel things she hadn’t known were possible and depressing because in the end, even the intense pleasure her giant had given her hadn’t helped her bloom.

  If only Thiera hadn’t refused to do the ritual, she thought sadly. I want so much to be open for Bram—to give myself to him completely!

  Still, she hadn’t completely given up hope. Bram had assured her that his friend the physician could help. And the fact that he had taken blood from her made Alanah wonder if he might be a kind of witch or sorcerer himself—why else would he need blood? Could the “tests” he’d said he had to run actually have to do with a kind of magic?

  Of course, Bram kept assuring her that nothing aboard his big, wonderful ship was magic and he had attempted to explain about “science” several times but Alanah thought it was probably something she would have to study for some time to fully grasp.

  Okay now, stop worrying and concentrate on making a bathing shift, she told herself firmly. Of course, Bram had told her they would need to be naked in the tub during their bathing time but she was hoping he would at least let her work up to it by wearing a bathing shift or gown, such as she had always worn, to start with.

  She knew it was probably silly to feel shy about being completely naked with him after what they’d done the night before, but she couldn’t help it—the idea of having her entire body unclothed at once in front of another person—especially a man—made her nervous.

  Alanah had made several efforts at the bathing gown before but each time it didn’t quite seem to know what she wanted. She got piles of fabric which were oddly shaped and either too big or too small. It was frustrating after seeing how effortlessly Bram had made himself a shirt but Alanah was not a quitter—she was determined that this time she was going to get it right!

  Closing her eyes, she concentrated hard, this time trying something a little different. On past attempts, she had imagined the gown she wanted by itself, hanging in the air. This time she imagined herself in it. In fact, she pictured herself exactly as she had looked in her long mirror after the last bath she’d had with Jenla, down in the bathing cave.

  The simulator purred and a smooth, white piece of fabric began to emerge from its elongated mouth.

  Alanah didn’t let herself be distracted. She kept picturing herself in the gown from all angles until the machine stopped humming and a soft heap of fabric fell at her feet.

  Taking the sensor off her forehead, she bent, picked the fabric up, and shook it out.

  “At last,” she told Tabby, who was purring around her feet in a slightly metallic tone. “I think I’ve got the size right—well, mostly right. Let me try it on…”

  She took off the simple blue gown Bram had made for her that morning before taking her to the physician and slipped the new bathing shift over her head.

  It had seemed perfect when she held it up to look at it but as Alanah pulled it over her head, she realized something wasn’t quite right.

  “What is this? What’s wrong?” she muttered to herself. “It feels too tight somehow…”

  Leaving the dining room where the simulator was set up on a corner of the high table, she went into the bathing room and looked at herself in the 3-D viewer.

  What she saw made her gasp.

  The bathing gown she’d made was practically translucent. It showed her breasts and flower plainly and it seemed to cling to her, especially in those areas.

  “What in the world caused that?” Alanah asked herself. Then she realized the mistake she’d made—she had imagined the gown on herself looking as it had after she’d taken a bath. In other words, it had been soaking wet and clinging to her—much like the soft, silky fabric the simulator had produced for her was clinging to her now.

  Alanah took another look at herself. The slit of her flower—or pussy, as she was beginning to think of it—was plainly visible and so were the tiny, undeveloped buds of her nipples. But…were they quite as small as they had been? Somehow she thought they might have grown and gotten pinker, just a bit. The same with her pussy—though she hadn’t yet sprouted any curls, the lips of her slit weren’t quite so colorless and she could even see the tiny pink button of her clit peeking out from between her outer lips.

  Alanah wondered if the slight but noticeable changes had to do with the pleasure Bram had given her the night before—had to do with his hands on her? She shivered when she remembered the pleasure he’d given her. It had been so overwhelming…so intense…

  Just thinking about it made her wonder if it could be repeated. She’d been too upset to ask the night before but now she felt tingly and achy all over, especially at the tips of her breasts and between her thighs.

  Hesitantly, she reached down and cupped her flat mound in one hand. It was easy to feel through the filmy, transparent bathing gown the simulator had made for her. It was almost like wearing a cobweb, it was so light. Her pussy felt slightly warm in her hand. When she stroked gently and experimentally over the bud of her clit, she gave a low gasp of surprised pleasure. Oh my—that felt good. Almost as good as when Bram had touched her.

  Alanah tried it again, this time circling the tight little bud with her fingertips through the thin gown. The pleasure was beginning to grow and she couldn’t seem to stop—didn’t want to stop—it felt so good…

  “Well, well, little one…it seems like you’re enjoying yourself.”

  The deep, familiar voice from the doorway made Alanah gasp and look up. Bram was standing there, arms crossed over his broad chest, leaning against the doorway. A sleepy smile tugged at the corners of his sensual mouth and his eyes were glowing with lust.

  “Oh!” she gasped, suddenly embarras