“Well, well—only because you’re so beautiful. Pretty things for pretty girls, I always say.” He leered at her again and then jerked his head at Terex. “Come, Valdor—we must be going. The rest of the Private Council will be waiting by now.”
“Yes, your Majesty.” Terex looked at Elaina. “Go straight back to the suite, please Elaina. Be safe, sweetheart.”
The concern in his eyes made her heart flutter for some reason.
“Yes, Master,” she murmured, dipping him a bow.
It occurred to her how different she felt, having Terex look at her in her skimpy outfit as opposed to having the awful Krumf stare and leer at her body. She knew the big Kindred didn’t want to take advantage of her and that he respected her intellect. It was even different when he called her “good girl.” On his lips, it was an affirmation—the praise of a Master for something well done. When Krumf said it, she felt like her skin wanted to crawl off her body—it was a degradation and an insult to her intelligence.
“I’ll see you later,” Terex murmured and then he turned and followed the Supreme Leader and his entourage.
Elaina watched his broad shoulders as he went down the hall and sighed to herself. She’d been hoping to talk to him as soon as they reached the suite—not just to explain why she had caused him to lose Krumf’s wager but to ask him what was going on with her breast. The left nipple that had been pierced by his fang was getting extremely sore and swollen. But there was nothing to do except put up with it until he came back from the Council meeting.
Maybe a warm bath would help, she thought, remembering the vast, black marble bathtub in the center of the bathroom. At any rate—it certainly couldn’t hurt!
Turning, she headed down the hallway for their suite, intending to take a warm bath and relax until Terex got back.
At least, that was her intention. But the way back to their suite wasn’t exactly straightforward. They had made several turnings in the vast, maze-like corridors of the palace to get to the banquet hall and Elaina hadn’t been paying much attention to their route. Soon, to her dismay, she found she was hopelessly lost.
“Where am I?” she muttered, stopping at last in the middle of a three way intersection and staring at her options. The hallway on the left was broad and well lighted and looked somewhat familiar, she thought. The one on the right was narrow and dim and scary.
Left it is then, Elaina told herself. At the very least, the left-hand corridor looked more likely to have people in it. She was determined to ask for directions, even if she had to break the rules and talk to a man who wasn’t her Master. Or she could just use the market slang, she thought—no one could complain about that.
She had just taken a step down the left-hand passage when she heard someone calling her.
“Hello! Hello, foreign girl? Alien girl?”
“What?” Elaina stopped, startled when she realized the voice was talking to her. It was light and feminine but also sad, she thought. “Who…who said that?” she called, feeling a little foolish standing in the middle of the hallway yelling.
“It’s Zerana—come talk to me.” The voice was coming from the darker right-hand passage. Elaina looked into the dim, narrow corridor and shivered.
“I…don’t think I should,” she said. “Why don’t you come to me?”
“I can’t—I’m chained up.” There was a soft sob in the voice that tugged at Elaina’s heart. “Aren’t you the slave of Master Valdor? Please—can’t you come talk to me?”
“Well…” Almost of their own accord, her feet had already taken a step towards the soft, sad voice.
“Please,” begged the unseen girl. “If your master is truly Valdor then he has come to set us free. Please, please come talk to me.”
“I shouldn’t,” Elaina whispered but somehow she found she was going, walking carefully along the left-hand corridor, looking for the girl with the heartbreaking voice.
About halfway down the dark hallway, she came to a gate made of bars—like the door to a prison cell, Elaina thought. There, standing on the other side of the golden bars, which glimmered softly in the dim light, she saw a girl who looked to be no older than her late teens or early twenties.
“Oh thank you—thank you for coming!”
The girl had long, wavy black hair and huge dark eyes with green and blue and purple rings. Her slim hands were cuffed to the golden bars, keeping her in place no matter what she did. Elaina thought she recognized her from the banquet—hadn’t she been one of the girls attending Krumf?
Hello,” she said softly when Elaina came near. “I’m Zerana.”
“I’m Elaina,” Elaina said. “What are you doing way back here? Why are you chained up like that?” She nodded at the slim golden cuffs that encircled the girl’s wrists, binding her to the bars.
“Because the lanthum syrup makes the Need so much worse and I have not been chosen to be used by his Supreme Excellency tonight.” There was bitterness in the girl’s voice that stabbed at Elaina like a knife. “Since he doesn’t want me and I’m not allowed to help myself, I must be chained to keep from committing the sin of self-pleasure.”
“That’s awful!” Elaina exclaimed indignantly. “But…you have the Need?” It seemed strange because the girl wasn’t acting like the other women she’d seen with the dreaded disease. She was neither begging for sensation, nor happy and frisky like the girl that had been beside them at the banquet. In fact, she seemed calm and collected, though extremely sad.
“Can’t you tell?” The girl nodded down at her nipples, which were jutting through slits in her elaborate green and blue gown.
“Oh, uh…I guess they are kind of dark pink.” Elaina acknowledged, taking a look.
“So are yours, for that matter, but I heard the Supreme Leader gave you a pass. How did you manage that?”
“I explained—well, my Master explained—that this is my natural coloring.” Elaina nodded down at herself, thinking briefly how bizarre it was to be standing here comparing nipple color with a complete stranger.
“Lucky girl.” Zerana sighed and then straightened up. “Speaking of your Master, is it true he’s come to set us all free?”
“What?” Elaina looked at her blankly. “I’m sorry but what would make you think that?”
“The prophesy, of course! It was foretold when Master Valdor left that when he returned he would free those of us who are in bondage—both to the males who own us and to this horrible disease.” Zerana sounded desperate. “Please tell me it’s true. It would give me hope that I might…might get out of here and see my home again. That I might see the male who should have been my Master and my love.”
“Were you forced to come here?” Elaina asked, her heart aching for the girl.
“More like flattered into it,” Zerana said bitterly. “I was out in the central square one day, walking behind my father who is one of the over-leaders of our province. It was just a solar week before I was to go to my new Master’s house—Ledo, his name is.” She sighed unhappily. “He was the male my father had picked for me but he was young and kind and, well…we understood each other. We would talk for hours sometimes and he treated me like an equal, not a slave.”
“What happened?” Elaina asked her. “Why didn’t you go to him?”
Zerana leaned her forehead against the golden bars.
“Unfortunately, it was a day when his Supreme Excellency had chosen to tour our village. He saw me and invited my father to bring me to the palace for mid-day meal.”
“What happened then?” Elaina asked, although she thought she could guess.
“We came and ate and I tried to be unobtrusive, as a slave is supposed to be, but I could feel his Supreme Excellency looking at me through the entire meal.”
Elaina shivered with disgust. “I know the feeling. But go on.”
“I thought I tasted something strange in my wine—it was so bitter and I got very dizzy,” Zerana said. “His Supreme Excellency told me to go lay down—he said there was a
room at the end of the hallway where I could rest until I felt better. One of his female slaves took me by the hand and led me but the palace was so confusing—I didn’t know where I was going.”
Elaina felt a tingle of horror—this girl had gotten lost in the palace corridors, just as she herself was now lost!
“Where…where did you end up?” she asked at last, having to force the words out.
“In the Harem of the Needy Ones,” Zerana whispered. I lay down and slept the sleep of one who has been drugged and when I woke…when I woke…”
“What? What happened?” Elaina urged softly.
“When I woke, he was with me.” A slow tear trickled down Zerana’s pale cheek.
Elaina didn’t have to be told who “he” was. “And then?” she whispered.
“He told me I had been exposed to the Need and I would have to be quarantined in the palace for the rest of my days. He said…he told me that he had paid my slave price—that I was his to do with as he chose.” The tears were coming faster now, falling unheeded from her lovely triple ringed eyes. “And then he…he took me.”
“Oh, Zerana!” Elaina’s heart ached for the poor girl and filled with anger at the horrible Krumf all over again.
“It was only a standard month ago but it feels like forever. I’ll never see Ledo again,” Zerana whispered. “Or my family. Or anyone but him and the women of the harem for the rest…the rest of my life.”
She was openly sobbing now and Elaina longed to comfort her. She slipped her arms through the golden bars, intending to draw the girl into a hug but Zerana drew back quickly.
“No! She shook her head, her eyes wide and wet. “You mustn’t touch me! You’ll get it if you touch my skin or my tears. You’ll have the Need too and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
“I just wish I could make you feel better somehow,” Elaina said helplessly.
“Just tell me your Master will set us free.” Zerana turned her head and wiped her eyes against the elaborate blue and green sleeve of her dress. “I’m sure Ledo would still want me, even though I’ve been used by him.” She spat the word, as though it left a slimy taste in her mouth. “Ledo told me once that he would love me no matter what.” Her breath hitched in her throat. “But…but even if he didn’t want me, if I could only get away from him and the horrible things he makes me do—the things the Need makes me do.”
“Oh, honey…” Elaina’s heart felt like it was going to break. What a horrible life this poor girl had—what a terrible existence to bear and all because the disgusting Krumf had taken a liking to her and decided to make her his.
“You know the worst thing about it?” Zerana demanded. “About the Need? It makes me do things that disgust me—it…it makes me want to do them. Even now, I’m so desperate if he called for me, I would go.” Her eyes overflowed again and she looked up at the ceiling of her jail beseechingly. “Oh Janos, God of Punishment, what sin did I commit? And why did you not kill me for it rather than letting me end my days here?”
“Look,” Elaina said, making up her mind. “You’re not going to be here forever. I don’t know how but my Master and I will see to it—we’re going to do something about this situation. I don’t know what but something.”
“Maybe your Master has a plan?” Zerana looked at her hopefully. “A way to get us out of bondage?”
“Maybe…” Elaina said. She was already regretting her rash promise to fix this horrible, unfixable situation. But what else could she do? She had to give the girl some hope. She had a sudden thought. “There are things my master needs to find—things he’s been searching for that might help us,” she said. “Tell me—have you heard of the little healer which cannot fail or the silver sphere which finds the trail?”
“I’ve heard whispers of the little healer.” Zerana leaned against the bars of her cell eagerly. “I heard the males speaking of it the last time his Supreme Excellency took me to the Private Baths.”
“You did? What did they say?”
Zerana frowned. “Something about how the little healer is almost ready to harvest. And then he said, ‘I shall be young again for the fifth time—my rule shall never end.”
Elaina frowned. “What does that mean? Is the little healer some kind of plant or herb?”
The other girl shrugged. “I do not know. But I do know the Supreme Leader and the other males speak most freely in the Baths. Perhaps your Master could gain access and ask some questions there.”
“I don’t know—he’s actually sitting in on a Council meeting right now,” Elaina said, but Zerana shook her head.
“He’ll learn nothing there. A spot at the Council table is nothing more than a sop the Supreme Leader throws to males who think they are more important than they are. I’ve heard him laughing about it in the Baths with the advisors he truly trusts. No…” she frowned. “You need to gain access to his Supreme Excellence’s Private Bathing area to learn anything.”
“How do we do that?” Elaina asked, mystified. “I thought everyone went to the Baths at the palace,” she added, remembering what Jessa had told her.
“They do but only a few select and trusted advisors are invited into the Supreme Leader’s Private Bathing area.”
“Well, what if my Master isn’t a trusted advisor?” Elaina asked.
Zerana frowned. “The only other way to get in is to put on some kind of a show that intrigues and interests his Supreme Excellency.”
“Put on a show? What kind of a show?” Elaina demanded.
“You’ll see,” Zerana said darkly. “You must have come past Bathing time today or you’d already know what I mean. The point is to do something different or interesting enough to get the Supreme Leader’s attention. Then he’ll invite you into his Private Area and you might hear all sorts of things.”
“Thank you,” Elaina said, really meaning it. “But the silver sphere—have you heard of it?”
“Sorry, no.” Zerana shook her head. “But if you think it would help, I can ask around the harem. All of us pick up different tid-bits of information during our time with him. He thinks nothing of talking in front of women because he thinks we won’t understand.”
“Yes, I heard him say something like that tonight,” Elaina said dryly. “Horrible, disgusting man!”
Zerana’s eyes widened. “Don’t let anyone ever hear you talking like that,” she whispered. “It’s a death sentence. His Supreme Excellency doesn’t allow anything bad to be spoken or written of him. He even has to approve the hologram shots of him shown on the nightly news vids to make certain he looks good in them from all angles.”
“I don’t see how he could look good from any angle,” Elaina said. “But fine—I won’t say anymore.”
“Please don’t—for your own safety, as much as mine,” Zerana said urgently.
“All right.” Elaina nodded. “And I’ll take you up on your offer. If you think you can ask the other women in the harem in a round about way about the silver sphere or the little healer without getting caught or in trouble, then please do.”
“I will,” Zerana promised, her eyes shining. “And please tell your Master for me that we are praying daily for his success. When we heard that he had come back to Nixelle Prime-Beta after over a hundred cycles, the entire harem rejoiced!”
Elaina felt a sudden stab of guilt. These women thought she and Terex were there to save them from the horrible bondage they found themselves in. But what could she and the big Kindred do to help such a hopeless situation?
I don’t know what we’ll do but we have to do something, she told herself firmly. We have to find a way to either rescue them or cure them or help them escape!
She had no idea how they were supposed to do any of that but she was determined to talk to Terex about it and find a way. They couldn’t just leave these women here to rot in Krumf’s horrible harem.
“I have to go now,” she told Zerana. “My Master will be wondering where I am. But I promise I’ll think of something.”
&n
bsp; “Thank you.” Zerana’s eyes were shining with new hope. “Thank you so much, Elaina, slave of the wonderful Master Valdor, he who shall save us all.”
“We’ll certainly try,” Elaina promised again. “Now, could you tell me the way back to the wing with the guest suites on it? I’m sort of lost.”
“I can tell you.” Zerana looked wistful. “I wish you could stay a little longer but I don’t blame you for needing to go. I saw you at the banquet—you consumed quite a lot of the lanthum syrup, didn’t you?”
“Well…yes.” Elaina frowned. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“I told you it makes things worse for those who have the Need,” Zerana explained. “But it makes even those females who do not have the Need feel as though they do.” She frowned. “How long is it—an hour since the banquet? Perhaps a little more? You should be feeling the effects of the syrup very soon.”
“Effects? What effects?” Elaina was beginning to feel alarmed.
“I told you—it makes you feel as though you have the Need.” Zerana bit her lip. “I hope you love your Master for you’ll soon be willing to do anything to have his hands on you.”
“Really?” Elaina couldn’t believe it. “Are you telling me it’s some kind of aphrodisiac?”
“It increases the female sexual drive until she feels nearly crazy with lust.” Zerana shifted from foot to foot. “I feel half-mad with it myself already. But speaking to you helped—thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome.” Elaina was suddenly uncomfortably aware that she felt swollen and hot between her legs and her nipples were throbbing. She’d been feeling the strange sensations for some time, she realized, only she’d been busy talking to Zerana and she’d put the pain in her nipples down to the accidental bite Terex had given her. Also, her eye was itching again. What the hell was going on with that? She didn’t know but it was the other parts of her anatomy that worried her the most.
I’d better get back in a hurry, she told herself. If she was going to have some kind of lust attack as a result of all the lanthum syrup she’d ingested, she wanted to do it in the privacy of her own room, where she could at least take care of herself.
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