Surrendered Read online

  “Enough insults, Malisha,” Mistress Thrust’much said sharply. “What is your suggestion to mitigate this problem?”

  “I suggest that since she owes me two good quality slaves and can’t afford to pay me back, Lady Neh’sanna should give me one of hers.” Lady Wraith’neck’s small, yellowish eyes flashed malevolently. “Specifically, that brute of a Kindred who did the damage in the first place.”

  “What? No!” Neh’sa exclaimed. At her back, she could hear Thorn growling and her heart was pounding. She was only just beginning to understand what she felt for the big Kindred—she couldn’t give him up now. Especially not to a sadist like Lady Wraith’neck!

  “It’s only fair!” Lady Wraith’neck insisted. “In fact, it’s more than fair. She’s essentially getting two slaves for the price of one. And the one I’m taking off her hands isn’t even trained properly!”

  “You’re not taking Thorn anywhere!” Neh’sa rounded on the other Mistress. “I’ll die before I let you get your claws on him!”

  “Oh, you’ll die all right. Socially at least—if you don’t agree to my terms,” Lady Wraith’ neck snapped.

  “Are you threatening my Mistress?” Thorn demanded, taking a step forward. “If you lay so much as one fucking hand on her—”

  “See what I mean?” Lady Wraith neck appealed to Mistress Thrust’much. “He’s not even trained. In fact, it’s my belief he’s completely untrainable—he ought to be put down in the interest of public safety.”

  “You can’t be serious!” Neh’sa stepped in front of her big Kindred protectively, as though she could shield his muscular bulk with her own, much smaller body. “Never!”

  “Calm down, Neh’sanna.” Lady Wraith’neck gave her a condescending smirk. “I didn’t say I would put him down—I’ll just train him a little harder than you’ve been doing. A lot harder, actually.” She looked at Thorn appraisingly. “I think I have a pain collar that will fit him, even though he is such a large specimen.”

  “You’re acting like your proposal has been accepted,” Neh’sa said, lifting her chin. “Which it has not. I won’t give Thorn to you no matter what you say!”

  “Is that right?” The other Mistress’s eyes glittered maliciously like cheap jewels. “I didn’t want to do this but I think I have something here that might change your mind.”

  With a flourish, she withdrew a small rectangular receiving device from the voluminous pink and purple cloak she was wearing.

  “Watch this,” she commanded Neh’sa. “You too, if you please Mistress Thrust’much. I think we all need to see what Neh’sanna has been up to.”

  The small screen flickered to life and a holographic image appeared above it. Neh’sa recognized herself, sitting in her private office at her domicile. Her stomach dropped in surprise and outrage.

  “How dare you!” she exclaimed. “Have you been recording me in my own domicile? That violates privacy rulings!”

  “Indeed it does, Malisha,” Mistress Thrust’much sounded grave.

  “Which is the only reason I haven’t brought this evidence before the Yonnite Mistresses Council before this,” Lady Wraith’neck said smoothly. “But please continue watching, Mistress Thrust’much. I think you’ll see some much bigger laws than just the privacy rulings are being broken.” She pressed a button and the holo-recording resumed.

  There was a knock on the office door and Neh’sa watched with a sinking heart as her friend, Lady Tandy, the Mistress she had matched Lo’im to, came in and sat down.

  “Lady Neh’sanna,” she began, “I need to ask you for help of a very personal nature. Now that Lo’im and I are together I have some…questions.”

  Neh’sa felt sick as she saw the entire conversation from the day of the Devotion Ceremony replayed. Lady Tandy asking her for help so that she could allow Lo’im to penetrate her and Neh’sa giving her the necessary medication to mask the source of her pregnancy if one should occur.

  It played through to the end and she couldn’t think of a single thing to say in her own defense. What she had done—what she had been doing for years now—was highly illegal and also considered completely immoral on Yonnie Six. The Grande Dame of the Council was known to be especially strict about prosecuting such cases.

  “There—do you see?” Lady Wraith’ neck shut off the device and returned it to her pocket triumphantly. “Do you see what Lady Neh’sanna has been engaged in, Grand Dame? She is aiding and abetting male penetration! She’s telling females to treat their body-slaves as equals—making a mockery of everything we stand for here on Yonnie Six!”

  “Yes, I see,” Mistress Thrust’much gave Neh’sa a deeply disapproving and disappointed look. “My dear Lady Neh’sanna, what can you have been thinking?”

  “I was thinking that people ought to do as they wish with their own bodies in the privacy of their domiciles,” Neh’sa said, her voice wavering only a little. “I spent my first ten years on Lylas, as you may know, where males and females are equals. I know Yonnites believe differently but I cannot see anything so very bad about males and females being equal in the bedroom, at least.”

  “Males are the inferior sex!” Lady Wraith’neck exclaimed. “Fit only to serve. Everyone knows that!”

  “Only on Yonnie Six,” Thorn growled, joining in the conversation. “Most everywhere else in the Galaxy—hell, the entire universe—people believe the sexes should be equal.”

  “Look at that—he speaks to us as though he was our equal!” Lady Wraith’neck pointed a finger at Thorn. “The nerve! The unmitigated gall! Is this how you let him speak to you at home, Neh’sanna? In between bouts of allowing him to penetrate you?”

  “Thorn has never penetrated me,” Neh’sa denied, feeling her cheeks get hot. Well, except for his tongue and his fingers. But those didn’t count, surely.

  “I’m sorry to say I just don’t believe that.” Lady Wraith’neck’s voice had taken on a tone of false pity. “I’m afraid having this subversive body-slave has corrupted your mind, Neh’sanna. I think he ought to be taken away from you for your own good.”

  “No!” Neh’sa exclaimed. Why did it always come to this—taking Thorn away? Why did Lady Wraith’neck want him so badly?

  She wants him because she can tell you care for him, whispered a shrewd little voice in the back of her head. Because she can see you love him and she wants to hurt you in the worst way possible—by taking that love away.

  “Ladies, ladies!” Mistress Thrust’much raised her voice to make herself heard. “Let me speak! No—not another word until I’m finished, Malisha,” she added, pointing at Lady Wraith’neck who had her mouth open to protest. “Let me hear you both say you’ll listen attentively.”

  “Yes, Grande Dame,” Neh’sa murmured numbly.

  “Yes, Grande Dame.” Lady Wraith’neck sounded impatient.

  “Now,” Mistress Thrust’much continued when all was silent. “I must say, I’ve heard and seen some very shocking allegations today. I’m very, very saddened and disappointed in what I’ve learned. Of course,” she went on, frowning at both of them. “The recording we saw was taken in violation of privacy statutes so it cannot be admitted into any kind of public record. But I feel there must be some punishment involved. Therefore, despite the fact that I feel Lady Wraith’neck is actually in the wrong in her claims of damages, I must agree with her suggestion and give Lady Neh’sanna’s body-slave to her in compensation.”

  “What? No!” Neh’sa gasped. “No, please Grande Dame! She’ll be cruel to him! She’ll—”

  “I’ll go.” Thorn’s deep voice was so quiet it almost didn’t register with Neh’sa. But when it did, she felt like her heart had stopped beating in her chest. “What?” she asked, turning to face the big Kindred.

  “I said, I’ll go with Lady Wraith’neck.” There was an unreadable expression on his face.

  “Of course you’ll go, slave. You have no say in the matter,” Lady Thrust’much snarled.

  “Yes, but I do have a say in how I’