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  “Uh, Jessa?” she asked, looking at the other woman. “I’m sorry but this bathroom doesn’t look anything like the ones back on my home world. Can you explain it to me? I mean, where is the sink?”

  “The sink?” Jessa gave her a puzzled frown.

  “You know—the place where you can wash your hands after you, uh…I’m looking for a source of water,” Elaina tried to explain. “To rinse my eye out.”

  “Oh—you want the wash-all.” Jessa pointed to the red circle on the floor. “Go on. Help yourself.”

  “Help myself to what?” Feeling exasperated, Elaina stepped forward to examine the red circle. There was a round hole in the center of it that seemed to lead down. But down into where? She leaned over to look into it.

  “Elaina—” Jessa began but before she could say more, Elaina’s head went past the red circle and a downpour of warm water suddenly drenched her hair and face.

  “What the—?” Elaina jumped back, sputtering.

  Jessa looked like she was trying to suppress a giggle.

  “I was about to warn you—if you want to take a shower, you ought to take off your clothing first.”

  “I wasn’t going to take a shower but now I guess I might as well.” Elaina pushed her drenched hair back from her forehead. “Do I have time before we go have our audience with ‘his Supreme Exaltedness?’”

  “I believe so.” Jessa smiled at her. “Just toss your garments in the corner and the maid will see to them later. Go on—” she added when Elaina hesitated, waiting for her to leave and give her some privacy.

  “Um…we don’t usually, uh, bathe in front of people we don’t know on my planet,” she offered at last, when it seemed Jessa had no intention of going.

  “What?” The other woman burst out laughing. “But then how do you get to know each other if you don’t talk while you’re bathing?”

  “We…talk to each other in other places,” Elaina tried to explain. “We go out for lunch. We go get pedicures or manicures or see a show. We just don’t go around naked. It…makes us uncomfortable.”

  “Oh dear.” Jessa looked worried. “Then I’m not sure how you’ll handle it when we all have to go to the Royal Baths.”

  “The Royal Baths?”

  “Of course! It’s the social center of the palace. Everyone who’s anyone goes there and if you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of his Supreme Exaltedness himself with one of his favorite concubines.” Jessa’s triple-ringed eyes shone with excitement. “Of course—not one of his Needy Ones. They aren’t allowed out among the others where they might spread the Need to other, uninfected females.”

  “The ruler—uh, his Supreme Exaltedness—keeps a bunch of women infected with the Need?” Elaina asked, frowning.

  “Oh, yes.” Jessa nodded. “He has a whole harem full of them. They make the best lovers, you know.” She lowered her voice, as though telling a dirty secret. “The Need makes them absolutely insatiable.”

  “But I thought it just made them want to be beaten…I mean spanked?”

  “Oh no, my dear—that’s only part of it! The Need also gives you a sexual appetite that’s well-nigh unquenchable.” She sighed. “Don’t get me wrong—I wouldn’t want the awful social stigma that comes with it, but sometimes when my Master Waygu comes to me at night, I wish I could have just the tiniest bit of the Need. It might make it easier to submit to him and enjoy the way he uses me.”

  Ugh! Elaina tried to suppress a shiver at the idea of being “used” by the plump, prissy Ambassador. Jessa was a pretty young woman who was probably at least thirty years younger than him. And she’d been given to Waygu like some kind of prize or trophy with no say in the matter at all. No wonder she didn’t feel any desire for the man who was supposed to be her lord and master.

  “But as I was saying,” Jessa went on. “Everyone who’s anyone goes to the Baths and since your master is so important, you probably will too.”

  “I see.” Elaina felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. She’d known she would have to wear something pretty revealing to fit in around here. But was she really going to have to get completely naked and take a bath in public? She didn’t hate her body but she didn’t exactly love it either—she was way wider in the hips than she really wanted to be and her thighs weren’t exactly skinny either. Showing herself off to everybody—especially Terex—was going to be excruciatingly embarrassing.

  Better get used to it, she told herself grimly. They don’t have a problem with nudity here—at least, the women don’t. If you want to fit in and find help for Gina, you’re going to have to deal with it.

  And it was probably better to start now rather than later. After all, it would be less nerve-wracking to strip for the first time in front of the friendly—if somewhat ditzy—Jessa, than in front of a bunch of strangers. So instead of asking the other woman to leave again, she took a deep breath and started pulling off her sweater.

  “There you go.” Jessa smiled encouragingly. “See—it’s not so bad. And your skin is such a pretty, exotic tan color. But—oh my goodness!” She took a quick step back from Elaina, her eyes going wide.

  “What? What is it?” Elaina asked, wondering if she’d seen a rat or insect somewhere in the empty stone bathroom.

  “You…your…” Jessa pointed at her breasts. “Are you certain you didn’t have skin contact with one of those Needy Ones you were trying to rescue?”

  “No—why?” Elaina frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Your nipples—they’re so dark! It’s a sign of the Need when your nipples and your outer sex lips turn such a dark pink. The first sign, anyway,” she added ominously.

  Elaina looked down at herself. Were her nipples just a little darker than usual? But no—it was just her imagination, she was sure.

  “This is my natural coloring,” she told Jessa firmly. “Remember how you were just remarking on my tan skin? Well, this is part of it—I have darker pigmentation everywhere.”

  “Oh.” The worry on Jessa’s face cleared and she gave a little laugh. “Oh, of course! Silly me.” She looked at Elaina anxiously. “I hope I haven’t offended you.”

  “Not at all.” Elaina smiled at her as she slipped off her jeans and underwear.

  “Anyway, it’s good you’ve got dark nipples—it’s considered very erotic,” Jessa informed her. “Because it looks like you’ve got the Need, even if you don’t.”

  “I thought it was a disease you didn’t want to catch,” Elaina said, frowning.

  “Well, we females don’t want to catch it, of course. But males can’t catch it. And I think they like females that have it. Because of the whole insatiable thing, I mean.”

  Elaina frowned. “Isn’t there any way to cure it? What about…” She hesitated, watching the other girl closely. “What about the little healer that never fails?”

  “The what?” Jessa gave her a blank look.

  “You know—the little healer?” Elaina looked at her hopefully, trying again. “Can’t that cure the Need?”

  “I don’t know what that means.” Jessa shrugged. “And anyway, there’s no known cure for the Need. Once you get it, you’ve got it for life—which isn’t very long, unfortunately, since it makes you die young.”

  “That’s awful!” Elaina exclaimed. The more she heard about this disease, the worse it sounded.

  Jessa shrugged again. “It’s just the way things are.”

  “What happens to a woman with the Need if she can’t get enough, uh, sensation?” Elaina asked.

  “You mean enough sexual domination and spankings?” Jessa asked. “Oh, my dear—I don’t know first hand, of course but they say the pain is terrible. Like an empty aching inside you can’t control without the help of your master. In fact, I’ve heard that’s what his Supreme Exaltedness Krumf the Fourth does when he’s angry at one of his concubines—he withholds both sensation and, even worse…” Her eyes got wide. “He withholds his seed.”

  “So he refuses to spank them or s