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  But no matter how much I lectured myself, I couldn’t overcome the burning need that was still growing inside me every minute. Under the special gown I was wearing, my nipples were tight and achy and the place between my thighs felt swollen and tender with desire—a desire I could do nothing to satiate myself.

  I knew because I’d tried.

  I had insisted on bathing myself for that express purpose. At first Kristoff had adamantly refused, but I insisted and I think he finally got the hint. I took a long leisurely soak in the huge, blue marble tub and tried taking care of business.

  It didn’t work.

  Or rather, it did work but it wasn’t enough. It seemed like no matter how much I touched myself, the need was never satiated. And believe me, I tried until the water went cold around me and I was beyond frustrated. My clit felt hot and swollen, ready to come at the lightest touch but every orgasm I gave myself seemed to barely ease the need inside me. At last I had to admit I needed something deeper—another way to satisfy my desire.

  Finally, Kristoff had knocked on the door and demanded admittance. I sat up quickly, letting the tepid water cover me and told him to come in.

  He took one look at my flushed and guilty face and shook his head.

  “My Lady,” he said in a low voice as he sat on the edge of the tub. “It won’t help.”

  “What won’t help? What do you mean?” I stuttered, feeling like my face must be as hot as the bathwater was cold by that time.

  Kristoff simply gave me a look. “Don’t forget that I can feel your emotions through the link I share to you,” he said matter-of-factly. “I know what you’ve been doing in here and exactly how unsatisfied you still are, my Lady.”

  “I…you…” I’d felt suddenly ashamed, and even more naked than I already was, somehow.

  Kristoff must have felt my mortification because his deep voice got a little softer.

  “I know you’re trying to please yourself, to take care of your need on your own, but you can’t, Charlotte. You’ve reached the point where you need someone else to help you.”

  I bit my lip, unsure of what to say. “This whole thing where you can feel my emotions,” I said at last. “It seems really unfair. Why can’t I feel yours too?”

  He shook his head. “The bond between the Empress and her Imperial Guards goes in one direction only. The only way you could feel my emotions is if we were mated and I bonded you to me.”

  “And how…how would you do that?” I asked, my heart suddenly pounding much harder.

  “Through sex…making love.” Kristoff’s voice had been a soft, deep growl. “True mating and bonding sex requires deep penetration and the male must fill his goddess with his seed.”

  “So…that’s all it takes?” I whispered, squeezing my thighs together under the water as I imagined him inside me, filling me, fucking me… “Just penetration and, uh ejaculation?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “If that was all, half the population would be wrongly bonded to a mate who wasn’t suitable for them. We believe there is, for each person in the galaxy, a ‘fated mate’—one whom you are destined to be bonded to for life. This is determined by the Goddess of Mercy, who is always seeking to propagate love among her people. When you make love with that one person the Goddess has meant for you, then and only then can a bond be formed.”

  “What if it’s a person everyone else thinks is wrong for you?” I asked softly. “What then?”

  Kristoff had stroked a strand of hair out of my face and looked at me. There was sorrow and regret in his rapidly shifting eyes.

  “The will of the Goddess usually prevails. But not in all cases, my Lady. Now, will you allow me to help you from the bath and get you dressed? I have a light meal prepared for you and then we’ll make our way to the House of Goddess Pleasures.”

  That had been the end of our conversation—and the end of me trying to “take care of” my problem myself. If Kristoff was right—and he had been right about everything else so I had no reason to doubt him—then what I needed was an outside touch. That was because the Goddess needed physical worship and as her scion here in the physical realm, I shared her needs and channeled them.

  I didn’t know how much or how little of that I believed but I had felt the immense surge of power when I had been Invested as the True Incarnation of the Empress, not to mention the hot wave of lust and need that had followed it. I thought it was probably better to err on the safe side and do what Kristoff said was necessary.

  But I couldn’t help wishing it was Kristoff who was going to take care of me. Please, Kristoff, can’t you promise me you’ll be the one to help me in the House of Pleasures? I wouldn’t mind going there and doing this if it was you. A dozen times the words rose on my lips and a dozen times I swallowed them back down.

  You can’t ask that of him. He’s not allowed to or he would have said so—you know he would have. You’ll just have to deal with it, I lectured myself. And besides, maybe it won’t be so bad. It’s all going to be completely anonymous. Just try to relax and enjoy it…

  Right. There was no way I was enjoying this, no matter how much my body declared that it needed a release. But there was no way out of it now—I would just have to suck it up and deal with it.

  Sooner than I liked, the golden carriage pulled up before a tall, temple-like structure made of smooth, white marble. Four graceful columns flanked an arched entryway and there were people of both sexes ascending and descending the marble stairs that led up to it.

  Kristoff got out first and motioned for me to pull my hood over my face to hide my identity. Many of the other women I saw were also wearing hoods or cloaks, though some wore masks instead. The males wore black leather masks that concealed their features, and I understood that other steps were taken inside to further preserve anonymity.

  “Come, my Lady,” Kristoff murmured, handing me down from the carriage, which was drawn by a lovely white horse-type creature with six legs instead of four. It snorted and tossed its head, its silky mane flying as I stepped down, holding tight to Kristoff’s hand.

  He led me up the marble steps and I kept my head down, glad that no one seemed to have recognized me.

  Beneath the long, hooded cloak I wore, I felt my special Goddess Pleasure gown shift against my bare skin. It was made of the same thin, silky material as the sleeping garment Kristoff had gotten the magic bureau to make for me and it felt strange to be out in public in what felt like a nightdress.

  Only this nightdress had several special features.

  I preferred not to think about them now, however. I was just glad that the hooded cloak covered everything and dreaded taking it off.

  At the top of the steps, we were met by a priest with brownish-tan skin in a long gray robe. He had serene gray eyes that matched his robe and an air of calm about him.

  “Good morrow, my Lady. Good morrow, Sir,” he greeted us. “Have you come to be served and to be of service both in turn?”

  “Are you Brother Selbert?” Kristoff asked in a low voice.

  “As a matter of fact, I am.” The priest nodded. “How can I be of assistance?”

  Kristoff leaned closer and spoke in a low voice I couldn’t catch. The priest’s gray eyes widened and flickered over to me for a moment. Then he nodded.

  “Of course. Come with me, if you please.”

  I wasn’t sure what Kristoff had said—something about discretion probably, because instead of leading us through the broad, main entrance, the priest led us around to a smaller, more private door. He rapped on it and after a moment it opened and he ushered us inside.

  “This is the private area where goddesses of Royal blood may receive pleasure and release,” he told us in a low voice. “My Lady, if you would come with me, I will show you to a private pleasure chamber.”

  “I…don’t know.” A sudden attack of nerves made my hands shake and my palms sweat. Was I actually going to do this? Was I really going to go into a “pleasure room” and let some stranger touc