Enslaved Read online

  Gods! Thrace knew he shouldn’t look—it was disrespectful and wrong. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her creamy brown skin and her full curves. She was like no female he had ever seen before and he longed to stroke all her exposed flesh and make her moan and come as she had last night.

  Of course, last night was about the passion berry residue, he reminded himself. Trin was doubtless never going to want to repeat it…which was why she was going to be very unhappy about some of the things his viewscreen searches had turned up.

  She was a strange mixture, he reflected. On one hand she was a self assured female, the captain of a star ship and a very competent leader. On the other, she was a virgin, having never actually been with anyone, even one of her own sex as was usual for her people. And she still seemed completely tied to the ideas she’d grown up with which was going to be a problem in the near future unless he was very much mistaken.

  “Mistress?” he said again and cleared his throat.

  “What?” Trin’s eyes flew open and she looked up at him and then down at herself. “What…what’s going on?” She began trying to straighten her night dress hastily. “I had the strangest dreams.”

  “What did you dream, Mistress?” Thrace averted his eyes pointedly though he wanted nothing more than to keep drinking her in.

  “That I was cold and you held me to warm me up and then I…I…” She stopped fighting with her twisted dress and put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my Goddess, that was no dream, was it?”

  “Afraid not,” Thrace said.

  “I can’t believe I did those things.”

  From the corner of his eye, Thrace saw that his new mistress looked really upset.

  “You had to,” he said quickly. “It was the only way to finally rid yourself completely of the passion berry residue. If you hadn’t, you might still be having problems with it.”

  “Then…why didn’t you tell me to do that in the first place instead of offering to hold me?” she demanded.

  “Right,” Thrace said flatly. “You think you would have listened to me if I suggested out of the blue that you touch yourself until you came? Besides, you were freezing to start with—frostbite and sexual arousal don’t usually go hand in hand. I had to warm you up first before you could let yourself go there.”

  “I guess. But…I let you hold me and talk to me that way and you’re a male.” She still looked upset. “And the things you said to me…”

  “Were all true.” Thrace sat on the bed beside her. “But I only said them—I didn’t act on them. You remain pure—you’re still one of the Unpenetrated.”

  “Yes, I suppose so.” Trin still looked troubled. “I’m just thinking about what everyone back home on Zetta Prime would think if they knew. What they would say in the temple of the Goddess of Judgment if it was known that I—”

  “They don’t have to know,” Thrace told her. “And you shouldn’t worry about them or what they think or believe. Outdated beliefs are not going to get those crystals sold and make you solvent again.”

  “I suppose not.” Trin took a deep breath and threw back her shoulders—a distracting move that thrust her full breasts out. Thrace tried hard not to notice but her berry dark nipples made his mouth water to taste them. “You’re right—I’ll be fine,” she said resolutely.

  “I know I’m right,” he said roughly. “And you’re going to have to keep it in mind the whole time we’re on Yonnie Six at this damn celebration. Otherwise we’re not going to make it.”

  “Make it? What do you mean?” She frowned.

  Thrace took a deep breath. “Gods, how do I say this? Remember how I asked you what the Landra-Rey Celebration is all about and you said you had no idea?”

  “Yes? So?” She shrugged. “It probably has to do with the phases of one of Yonnie Six’s moons or a new fashion emerging or something like that.”

  “Wrong.” Thrace shook his head. “It’s none of those things.”

  “And you know this how, exactly?” She put a hand on her hip.

  “Because I’ve been doing searches while you were sleeping. Look.”

  He went to the viewscreen and pulled up one of his bookmarked searches. An elegant female in an old fashioned opaque lace dress and long, curling hair appeared on the viewscreen. Thrace pointed at her.

  “Mistress Landra—one of the first females to subdue a male to her service. Before that, the Yonnites eschewed all contact with males, much as your people on Zetta Prime do. But Mistress Landra started a trend—one that became a way of life when she took herself a body-slave.”

  “Why did she do it? Why did she decide she wanted a male?” Trin sounded puzzled.

  “Don’t know.” Thrace shrugged. “The site doesn’t go into that. But apparently she and her body-slave, Rey, were the ones who first laid the foundation of the mistress and slave relationship on Yonnie Six which used to be much more equal than it is now. The celebration is to commemorate what they started and highlight the ways a body-slave must serve his mistress.”

  “Really? They have a whole celebration for that?” Trin frowned at the viewscreen. “Weird.”

  “Well, not just the relationship between them,” Thrace said dryly. “There’s also the fact that he gave his life for hers when they were attacked by space pirates.”

  “He did? Why would he do that? Didn’t he hate being her slave?”

  “I don’t hate being yours,” Thrace remarked, looking at her.

  “And you’ve already risked your life for me,” Trin murmured, her eyes flicking over to his and away again quickly.

  “You risked a lot for me too,” Thrace reminded her. “We make a good team.”

  “So…maybe this celebration won’t be too difficult.” She sounded so hopeful he hated to burst her bubble. But she had to know what was coming before they took a pod down to Yonnie Six.

  “Well…” Thrace cleared his throat. “That really depends on you.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “The celebration can be rather…graphic in nature.”

  “Graphic?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Graphic how?”

  Thrace sighed. Might as well get it over with.

  “As in, a body-slave on Yonnie Six is expected to do much more for his mistress than simply guard her body. Listen…” He switched over to another site he’d bookmarked and read aloud. “A proper body-slave must be all things to his mistress. He must guard and protect her with his own life, if necessary but that is only the beginning of his duties. He must also groom her—wash her hair, bathe her, soften her skin with lotion or oil and massage her sore or tired muscles to be certain she is well rested. In addition, he must dress her, wait on her, anticipate her every need and tend to her sexual desires so that she is never wanting or in need.” He looked up at Trin and raised an eyebrow. “Beginning to get the picture?”

  “All right.” She nodded, seemingly taking all this in stride. “I’ve been in Yonnite high society before—I know that some mistresses use their body-slaves in a sexual capacity. And we can certainly pretend that we do that.”

  “We may have to do more than pretend,” Thrace pointed out. “Especially if we’re on display with a bunch of Yonnie mistresses who are hyper-alert for any wrong behavior. Some of the things I’m supposed to do in order to serve you—”

  “We’ll pretend,” Trin said firmly. “Just because we’re going among all the decadent, sexually depraved Yonnites doesn’t mean I have to turn into one of them.” She looked at him. “I promised you I wouldn’t use you for sexual purposes and I meant it, Thrace.”

  Thrace sighed. Like he would mind if she did want to use him for such purposes. After holding her soft, sweet body in his arms while she gasped and cried and came the night before, he would be willing to do almost anything for her. But he knew she was off limits. Might as well stop fantasizing, he told himself roughly. She’s never going to let you in. She’s the mistress, you’re the slave. And even if you weren’t, being with a male is against her fucking