“Indeed.” He withdrew his fingers and, never taking his eyes from hers, sucked them clean of her juices. “Delicious.” His voice was still a low, lustful growl.
Sarah felt like a thousand butterflies had just taken off inside her stomach.
“Sazar,” she whispered. “I just…I think you should let me down off your lap.”
“No,” he murmured. “I haven’t finished placing your breast jewelry yet.
“But—”
Suddenly the door burst open.
“Are you two all right?” Chandra was standing there, wide-eyed and worried. “I heard strange noises and I didn’t know what to think,” she explained.
Sazar frowned. “I thought I locked the door. We are perfectly fine, as you can see. I was just helping Sarah apply her breast jewelry.”
“Oh, all right. Hurry up then.” The Alquon girl gestured impatiently. “We have lots to get to before you come back here to get ready for the Breeding Ball.”
“Lots to get to? What…what do you mean?” Sarah asked breathlessly. She couldn’t help the little gasp in her voice. She was still feeling the after-shocks of her orgasm and Sazar had matter-of-factly sucked her nipple back into his mouth, as though he was simply getting her ready to wear the golden bands. God, would she ever get used to letting her boss suck her nipples as though it was no big deal? Especially while someone else was watching?
Somehow she didn't think so.
“I mean we have engagements today we didn’t have yesterday. What happened at Fresh Catch last night was the talk of our social-net,” Chandra said. “How did you manage to attract all those catchems Sarah? Everyone is talking about it!”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Sarah protested as Sazar put the first golden band in place and it tightened around her nipple. “I…I just…” She had to bite her lip for a moment because he was sucking her other nipple, deep and hard and long. “I only petted one of them,” she told Chandra. “And…and then they all came running up to me. It was awful…” She shivered.
“Well some people are saying it’s that old prophesy. You know—
‘When the silver fingers…
Find the ivory mounds…
There you may be certain….
Pure blood abounds.’” Chandra sounded like she was quoting.
“What?” Sazar finished placing the second golden band, which tightened over Sarah’s left nipple. He frowned at Chandra. “What does that verse you quoted mean?”
“You know—what The Lord Magnate was telling you yesterday,” Chandra said impatiently. “About how the blood of our people was genetically altered—and how it’s his duty and the duty of every Lord Magnate that came before him to try and spread his seed and his own pure blood to change it back?”
“Yes, we remember that,” Sarah said, climbing somewhat awkwardly off Sazar’s lap. Now that the jewelry was in place, he seemed willing to let her go and she felt embarrassed to be straddling him so blatantly for no reason. “But what about the silver fingers and ivory mounds? What is that?” she asked.
“Our waiter last night told us that the catchems are often referred to as ‘silver fingers,’” Sazar rumbled, sounding thoughtful.
“Oh—okay. But where are the mounds? What does that mean?” Sarah asked.
“They’re there.” Chandra pointed at her chest.
“What?” Sarah looked down at herself and noticed that her nipples seemed extra red, possibly from all the sucking Sazar had been doing before he put on the jewelry. There was no sign of his fang marks, though—he must have healed her. “I still don’t get it,” she said.
“Ivory mounds,” Chandra said impatiently. “Look at yourself, my dear Sarah! Your breasts.”
“What? So that’s what the verse means?” Sarah could hardly believe it. “But that…that’s ridiculous.”
“No it’s not. Look.” Chandra pulled out one of the flat, black squares Sarah had seen several people pointing at her in the restaurant last night. She remembered wondering if they were the Alquon version of cell phones.
When Chandra tapped the square it started to glow and soon a picture of Sarah appeared with twelve or thirteen of the little silver catchems clustered together on the tops of her breasts.
“See? Silver fingers on ivory mounds.” Chandra tapped the square and another picture popped up—and then another and another.
“Oh, no!” Sarah moaned. “Are you telling me these pictures are all over Alquon Ultrea?”
“First thing I saw when I looked at my square this morning.” Chandra giggled. “Don’t worry—it’s a good thing! It raises your profile—you’re trending now! Lots of Alquons say they want a genetic trade with the Kindred. Of course, the final decision rests with The Lord Magnate. But you’ll be seeing him tonight at the Breeding Ball—hopefully you can convince him then.”
“Hopefully so,” Sazar said dryly. “But in the meantime, these pictures are demeaning and embarrassing to my partner.”
“Oh, she’ll be fine.” Chandra patted Sarah on the shoulder. “She’ll just have to deal with being a minor celebrity—that’s all.”
“But I don’t want to be a celebrity,” Sarah exclaimed. “I’m not that kind of person! I’d rather stay in the background, behind the scenes.”
“I’m afraid you can’t hide from fame, my dear,” Chandra told her. “But if it bothers you that much, I promise I’ll take you to the chample farm on the most indirect tuve I can find.”
“Chample farm? What’s that?” Sazar asked.
“Oh, it’s on the agenda Minister Obglod set up for you. He’s waiting for us there, you know—we need to hurry.” Chandra motioned for her. “Are you all ready to go?”
“Can we at least get some breakfast first?” Sarah asked desperately. “We didn’t get anything for dinner and we’re both starving.” At least she knew she was.
“Oh you poor thing!” Chandra exclaimed. “You mean that whole incident with the catchems happened before you could eat?”
“We didn’t get a single bite,” Sarah said and then her eyes were drawn involuntarily to Sazar’s fangs.
He saw where she was looking and a corner of his mouth twitched up in one of his rare smiles.
“Well, maybe one bite,” he murmured and Sarah felt her cheeks getting hot with a blush. She really wished Chandra hadn’t interrupted when the big Kindred was drinking from her. She’d had a feeling that maybe the intense pleasure she’d felt could be repeated over and over again as long as he was taking her blood and touching her at the same time. Even though he’d made her come really hard it had been only once—she still wanted more.
Don’t be greedy, Sarah, she scolded herself. And don’t wish for more than you can have.
She was still certain that a permanent relationship between them was impossible. They were only together here because he needed her to act as his wife and he needed her blood. Once they got back to the Mother Ship they would probably have a much more normal and boring boss and assistant relationship.
Sarah told herself she didn’t care, though. She intended to enjoy her special time with Sazar as long as she could.
“…at the chample farm,” Chandra was saying and she realized she’d missed the first part of the sentence.
“I’m sorry?” she said. “What did you say?”
“That you can eat at the chample farm—there will be samples from all the different varieties there and as the honored guests you’ll get to try them all.”
Alien produce samples wasn’t exactly what Sarah had had in mind for breakfast but it looked like that was the best they were going to get. With a sigh, she looked at Sazar, who shrugged.
“All right,” she told Chandra. “Let’s go to the chample farm.”
Chapter Sixteen
The brilliant artificial sunlight wasn’t as taxing on Sazar as it had been the day before. Doubtless that was because of the sweet blood Sarah had offered him so freely.
She actually wanted me to drink from her breast.
He couldn’t help looking at the full mounds in question. Gods, they were beautiful—Sarah was beautiful. He loved touching her but he couldn’t help wishing he could have tried drinking from her without pleasuring her as he did so. If she could feel the Blood Pleasure when he called a vein to her breasts or between her legs and bit her there, even without sexually stimulating her first, it would prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was his Fated Mate.
And what if she is? whispered a little voice in his head. What good will it do you? She’s supposed to be your assistant—not your lover. You have a proscribed relationship. It’s time you remembered that and returned to propriety. You went far over the line last night and this morning as well.
Reluctantly, he acknowledged it was so. He didn’t want to take advantage of Sarah and he still wasn’t sure if she might feel something for him…or if she was just innocently trying to do her best to supply his needs and be a good assistant.
Whichever it was, Sazar told himself he needed to start behaving more like a boss and less like a lover. He promised himself he would be more careful in the future.
* * * * *
Chandra led them to a little used tuve station and they were sucked away on a cushion of warm air to arrive in a rather rumpled state at the entrance of the chample farm.
Sarah wondered what in the world a chample was but she didn’t have time to speculate for long.
“There you are!” Minister Obglod’s thin, irritated voice rose to meet them as Chandra led them down a side tunnel to the entrance of a vast glass globe bigger than any underwater area Sarah had seen yet. There was a clear glass door which kept them from entering but she could see inside and she marveled at its size.
It was even taller than the globe that housed the palace and the top of it appeared to be poking out of the Alquon ocean which the rest of the city’s structures were submerged in. There was a clear demarcation between water and air when she looked through the clear sides.
The vast glass globe was filled to the top with long, thin plants which seemed to sway in the air currents the way kelp sways in ocean water. The plants themselves were a dull, blue-gray but they had brightly colored clusters of some kind of fruit or vegetable near their tops. Were those the champles?
“We’re here, sorry to keep you waiting,” Chandra fluttered, running up to the minister who tugged her breast chain absently. Sarah made sure to stay out of tugging range herself.
“Hello, Minister,” Sazar said, coming up beside her. “It’s good to see you again.”
“What is all this I hear about the two of you causing a kafuffle at one of the best restaurants in Idd?” Obglod demanded. “It’s all anyone is talking about. Can’t I leave the two of you alone for a moment without disaster ensuing?”
Once again Sazar had to bite his tongue at the old minister’s rude words. But as long as no one was threatening Sarah, he was able to be diplomatic.
“A simple misunderstanding,” he said smoothly. “I’m certain it won’t happen again.”
“It had better not!” Obglod exclaimed in his cracked and strident voice. “Don’t forget that I’m your sponsor and when you misbehave—”
“It reflects poorly on you. Yes, we know,” Chandra exclaimed. “Only they didn’t misbehave, Minister! Sarah here is the answer to the ancient prophesy about purifying our blood.”
“What?” Obglod demanded, staring at Sarah. “What nonsense are you talking?”
Chandra started to explain but just then a hearty-looking Alquon male in simple clothing came up to meet them. His kelpy hair was receding and he had an open, honest face that Sarah liked at first sight.
“Hey now, I reckon you fancy looking folk must be the group I’ve been expecting to tour the farm. I’m Dod. ”
“Hello, Dod,” Chandra said brightly. “Yes, that’s us! I’m Chandra, assistant to Minster Obglod here.” She nodded at Obglod. “And these two fine people are visitors from another world. They’ve never seen champles before and I was hoping you could explain their importance to our people and maybe let them taste a few samples.”
“Oh, I can do better than that,” Dod said easily. “I’ll let ‘em harvest their own.”
“Really?” Sarah asked, craning her neck to look up at the very tops of the immensely tall plants where the brightly colored clusters were growing. “How? I mean, if those are the champles, how are we supposed to get up there?”
“Those are them, all right,” Dod assured her. “But don’t worry—you can just jump right up there.”
“I think you may be overestimating our abilities,” Sazar said dryly. “Kindred are strong but I don’t know a single one who can leap a hundred feet into the air.”
“Maybe not in regular gravity,” Dod said, still sounding quite unperturbed. “But we grow chample stalks in low G. They can’t support the weight of their fruit otherwise. C’mon. You too, my Lady and Sir Minister, if you like,” he added, nodding deferentially to Chandra and Obglod.
Minister Obglod decided to stay outside the globe, saying he was too old to be doing manual labor like harvesting fruit. But Chandra agreed to come eagerly and Sarah noticed she was clutching her little black square again, possibly intent on taking some publicity photos.
The moment they stepped inside the huge glass globe, Sarah began to feel oddly light. Her whole body seemed to have less mass and she nearly stumbled from the strange new sensation.
“Easy there,” Dod, who moved with ease in the new environment, said. “It takes time to get used to low G. One little hop can send you spinning out of control so you have to be careful.”
“What are we supposed to do?” Sazar asked. He also moved with confidence and Sarah wondered if he had experienced low gravity before. It would make sense—he was a diplomat and had been to plenty of different worlds. Maybe some of them had had considerably less gravity than she was used to.
“Well, I’ll give you each a suction bag—here…” Dod handed out padded silver bags, about the size of a reusable shopping bags to each of them. Sarah noticed that the tops of the bags were pursed tightly shut. But when she put her hand down to touch hers, the bag opened and a strong suction pulled at her fingers. When she moved her hand, the bag stopped sucking and pursed shut again.
Weird but she supposed the design had practical value. If things bounced around so easily in the low G environment there had to be a way to secure the champles they picked or they would just go flying out of the bags and go everywhere.
But she still had questions.
“Please,” she said as Dod was showing Chandra how the suction bag worked. “What are champles? We still don’t know.”
“Oh goodness me—I’m about to let you pick some and here I went and forgot to tell you what they are!” Dod slapped his balding forehead good-naturedly and laughed. “Well, they’re one of our main food sources and the only plants we grow. We get everything else we need from the ocean around us.”
“Why grow them at all if the ocean supplies your needs so well?” Sazar asked.
“Because champles are a link to our past—to the way things were back before our world became covered in water,” Chandra explained, picking up the narrative.
“My lady is right.” Dod nodded. “See, champles are plants genetically modified to taste like all the foods we lost when we moved permanently to the oceans.”
“Really?” Sarah couldn’t help being interested. “Like fruits and vegetables you can’t grow anymore?”
“We could grow them,” Dod said. “But it would take up valuable living space. Why bother when we can grow the champles, which take on the taste and texture of the lost food while delivering three times the nutrients and making plenty of oxygen to circulate through all of Idd?”
“Some champles also have the taste and texture of food animals we couldn’t afford to bring with us,” Chandra explained. “Feeding and storing animals just for food is expensive and wasteful. Plant protein from the champles is a much better option.”
Sarah’s stomach growled, reminding her that she was nearly weak with hunger. Enough with the history lesson already. She didn’t care what the champles tasted like—she wanted to eat!
“They sound delicious,” she said quickly. “Can you tell us which ones taste like what?”
“Reckon it’s best if you just find out for yourself, my lady.” Dod grinned at her. “Wanna try harvesting?”
“Yes, please!” Sarah exclaimed but Sazar put a hand on her arm.
“Would you be so kind as to show us first, exactly how it is done?” he asked Dod.
The Alquon shrugged. “Be glad to. Here.”
He took Sarah’s silver suction bag and crouched low on the spongy ground. It looked to Sarah like he only took a little hop but his momentum sent him soaring high in the air, all the way up to the top of the greenhouse globe where the clusters of champles grew. He grabbed one of the tall, thin plants to steady himself and twisted a bright blue chample off its stalk. He shoved the fruit into the silver bag before letting go to drift slowly down again, as though carried by warm air currents.
“There, see?” he asked, returning to them and handing the bag back to Sarah. “Easy as can be. Wanna try that?” he asked, when she braved the strong suction to get the bright blue chample out of the bag. It was about as big as a large apple and to her surprise it was cube-shaped, not round as she’d expected. “It’s one of our most popular flavors—plez-nack,” Dod added.
Sarah didn’t know what plez-nack flavor was but it smelled delicious—kind of like a cross between watermelon, strawberries, pineapple and hot buttered popcorn. She took a bite, finding the texture both crunchy and chewy. It tasted as good as it smelled and her stomach growled again. Eagerly she took another bite and then offered it to Sazar.
“You have to try this—it’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted!”
Obligingly, he took a bite and chewed.
“There,” Sarah said, smiling. “Isn’t that the best thing you’ve ever put in your mouth?”
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