Uncharted Read online

  The right thing at the moment seemed to be to remain silent and still while his Supreme Excellency Krumf made his way onto the raised dais and reclined—with the help of two male attendants—on the golden couch. He had no less than three female slaves attending him and from the bright red color of their exposed nipples, Elaina guessed they all had the Need.

  Once Krumf was settled comfortably, propped up by numerous plump golden cushions, he clapped his hands and said loudly, “Let the banquet begin!”

  “Well…” Elaina turned towards Terex, who was lying on the couch, propped on one elbow on his right side. “What would you like to eat, Master? It looks like we have, uh…pinkish things and some orange pecan pie looking stuff or…ew.” She made a face at one of the “delicacies” piled on the platter. “Maybe some dead green worms in black slime sauce is more to your liking?”

  “Elaina…” He looked at her, the muscle clenching in his jaw again.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” She picked up a small pink globe that looked kind of like a cross between a grape and a cherry tomato and tried to put it in his mouth but Terex refused.

  “Are you all right?” he asked softly. “How do you feel?”

  “How do I feel?” Elaina wasn’t sure what he meant until he nodded down at her nipples, poking through the black and white fringes of her outfit. “Oh, um…”

  “Did I hurt you?” he murmured in a low voice.

  “No, I…” Elaina could feel her cheeks getting hot. “I mean yes but you…you didn’t pinch me too hard. Not any harder than I, um, wanted you to.” She couldn't believe she was admitting this but she couldn't seem to help what she was saying.

  “Actually I was talking about the jewelry,” Terex murmured. “Did I put it on too tightly? Your peaks seem much redder than they were—are the rings pinching you?”

  “No-no—I’m fine,” Elaina hastened to assure him. “I think…they’re just still red from, uh…”

  “From the way I pinched you.” He frowned. “I shouldn’t have done that. I…don’t know what came over me.”

  “It’s all right. I mean…you were just…just doing what you had to do, right? To…to get the jewelry to fit.” She bit her lip and held up the small pink fruit again. “Come on and eat something now. I have something to tell you—a new way we can communicate, even when we’re not supposed to.”

  Terex opened his mouth and allowed her to pop the small grape-tomato thing inside. As he did, she couldn’t help noticing how long and sharp the double set of fangs on either side of his mouth looked. Does that mean something? Does he want to bite me?

  She tried not to think about it. Instead, she explained about learning the market hand slang from Jessa and even taught him a few words as she fed him.

  “That was good thinking,” Terex murmured, as he took in the way her hands moved. “It’s good to have a way to communicate silently if we need to.” He sighed. “That’s one of the things I miss about my mate, Solange—our ability to speak without words.”

  “Your wife, you mean?” Elaina asked.

  He nodded. “Yes. When a Kindred bonds his mate to him, they form a mental connection that allows them to speak mind-to-mind.”

  “That sounds beautiful…very intimate,” Elaina murmured. “You must miss her terribly.”

  “The pain isn’t as bad as it was.” He looked away. “It’s just this place…it makes me think of her.”

  “Oh? Why is that?” Elaina raised one eyebrow at him curiously but Terex shook his head.

  “Never mind—it doesn’t matter.” He frowned. “Why aren’t you eating as well? Aren’t you hungry?”

  “Yes, but I’m not supposed to eat. Well, not unless you feed me. But that’s only if I give you a ‘favor,’ whatever that is,” Elaina said.

  “A favor? What kind of favor?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Jessa never told me. She…”

  The words died on her lips because of something that had caught her eye. On the pleasure couch to the right of theirs, a lovely slave girl with long, curly black hair was feeding her Master. Or rather—he was feeding her. He was holding up one of the little pink fruits and teasing her with it, placing it near her lips and then snatching it away at the last instant when she tried to bite.

  “Uh-uh, my little darling,” Elaina heard him tell her. “You don’t get a taste until I do.”

  “All right, Master,” the girl pouted. “Here you are.” She was wearing a silver mesh bikini-type top which clearly showed her nipples. As Elaina watched, she leaned forward and pressed one ripe peak to her Master’s lips. He sucked it deeply into his mouth, humming in pleasure as he nursed at the stiff, pale pink tip.

  “Ah! Oh, Master!” His slave girl writhed erotically and pressed herself against him. Either she was really enjoying this or she was putting on a very good show. When her Master finally withdrew, allowing her tight nipple to slide from between his lips, Elaina saw that it was a much darker pink than it had been—almost red, in fact.

  The slave girl apparently saw it too.

  “Master!” she complained, looking down at herself. “You shouldn’t have sucked so hard! You took off all my make-up—every one here is going to know I have the Need if we’re not careful.”

  “Don’t worry about that, precious one,” he murmured. “Most of the females at this banquet have it. In fact, most of the females on the planet have it. They’re just hiding it, like you.” Then he popped the little fruit into her mouth. “Enjoy that and then give me another ‘favor’ so I can suck your other little bud.”

  “Gods!” The low exclamation came from Terex and Elaina realized he’d been watching the little exchange to the right of them as well.

  “Do you think that’s true?” she asked softly. “Do most of the females on this planet have the Need?”

  “I don’t know.” Terex looked frustrated. “But I do know you shouldn’t have to worry about me exploiting you just to get something to eat.”

  “I don’t…don’t think it would be exploitation,” Elaina argued. “I mean, we’re both playing parts. We have to do what we have to do.”

  “Still—it’s not right. Not the Kindred way.” The muscle in his jaw was clenched again and he didn’t look happy.

  Watching him, Elaina suddenly had the strange idea that he was much more upset by their current state of affairs than she was herself. But that was crazy, wasn’t it? Why would treating her like a slave upset him more than having to act like a slave upset her?

  I still don’t understand him, she thought. Is it just that he dislikes not treating females as equals or did something else happen to him? And how could this place remind him of his wife?

  She had so many questions she almost didn’t hear the Supreme Leader calling Terex’s name.

  “Master Valdor,” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the chatter of the banquet hall. At once everyone became quiet so that when Terex answered, his deep voice seemed to fill the echoing space.

  “Yes, your Majesty?” he said, propping himself higher on his elbow and looking up to the dais where the Supreme Leader reclined.

  “I said, how are you enjoying your first banquet on our fair planet in over one hundred cycles?” Krumf said.

  “Oh—very well. Very well indeed.” Terex nodded solemnly. “Your Majesty was kind to invite me.”

  “You’re very welcome but I can’t help noticing your poor little slave isn’t enjoying the banquet nearly as much as you are.” He nodded at Elaina who could feel herself blushing from head to toe. “She looks lovely tonight, by the way. But you haven’t fed her so much as a crumb.”

  “I…” Terex didn’t seem to know what to say and Elaina was stumped for a moment too.

  Lecherous old bastard, she thought. He just wants to see us getting kinky like the rest of the people here!

  But it was clear from the way Krumf was watching them that he wasn’t going to give up.

  Elaina knew what she needed to do. Turning to the gol