Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) (17 page)

She was in the act of turning to storm off in a
huff when Thrace
rose from his crouch at Trin’s feet and turned to her.

“Mistress,” he rumbled, pulling Trin into his arms.
“At last a place where we need not hide our love.”

Then he kissed her. A long, slow, passionate kiss
that took Trin’s breath away. She opened her mouth to gasp and Thrace
was there, his tongue teasing its way inside as he licked her gently…as though
he was desperate to taste her.

At first Trin tried to push him away instinctively
but he held her close against his broad chest. After a moment, to her intense
surprise, she found she was kissing him back.

She’d never kissed a male before and this was very
different from the few kisses she’d traded with females. There was no sticky
gloss or lipstick to contend with for one thing. Thrace’s mouth was firm and
demanding but gentle at the same time. And the way he was running his big, warm
hands over her back made her shiver and want to press closer for some reason.

Somehow Trin’s arms drifted up to rest around his
neck as she leaned into his big body. Once again she felt surrounded by
him—overpowered and out of control in a way that made her heart pound and her
breath come short.

Goddess, what was happening to her? How was he
doing this to her and why couldn’t she make it stop? Why didn’t she
want
it
to stop?

Then, from behind her, she heard Lady Malroth
clearing her throat pointedly. Trin’s eyes, which had drifted shut, flew open.

Lady
Malroth! Oh my Goddess! Can’t believe we’re doing this in public!
Forget that—Trin couldn’t believe they were doing
this
at all.

“Thrace!”
she gasped, managing to break the kiss and push back from him at last. “No, we
can’t—”

“Oh, yes you can, my dear.” Lady Tam-tam’s faded
blue eyes were shining as she held out a hand to Trin. “You absolutely
can
here at Dreaming Hills—that’s what this place is all about. It’s one reason I
built it so far from that horrid capital city, Opulex.”

Trin took her hand uncertainly.

“You…built your house so that males and females
could have…relationships here?”

“I did.” Lady Tam-tam squeezed her hand tightly.
“My body-slave, Nales and I were deeply in love but no one would accept us in
Yonnie high society.” She lifted her chin. “So I moved out here and since I am
richer than the Goddess herself, I made my
own
society. Which only
mistresses and slaves who truly love each other are welcome to join.”

“Well, that’s…beautiful,” Trin said uncertainly.

“It certainly is,” Lady Malroth said, sounding
rather sour. She and her own body-slave were holding hands now, probably in deference
to the passionate display Trin and Thrace had just put on. But neither
of them looked very comfortable doing it. In fact, Lady Malroth appeared to be
standing as far from her body-slave as she could while still touching him.

Lady Tam-tam didn’t appear to notice that, however.
Her eyes were glued on Trin and Thrace,
who still had one long arm possessively around her waist.

“Tell me, my dear,” she said to Thrace. “How long have you loved
your mistress?”

“From the moment she bought me, my lady,” Thrace
rumbled, bowing his head respectfully. “My Lady Trin saved my life—the slaver
who had me was going to kill me with the pain collar. Lady Trin didn’t allow
it—she punched the bastard and forced him to stop shocking me. Then she bought
me for an exorbitant amount to keep me from falling into the wrong hands.” He
looked Trin in the eyes and his voice got softer. “I owe her everything and I
am completely devoted to her. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her.” He
lifted Trin’s hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss to the back of her knuckles.
“
Nothing.”

“Oh…” His gentle kiss seemed to burn her but
somehow Trin found she couldn’t pull her hand from his and couldn’t look away
from him either. She knew the big Havoc was just putting on a show for their
hostess but those silvery-blue eyes ringed with black seemed to be staring into
her very soul. Goddess, he was a really good actor! She could
almost
believe he meant what he was saying. Almost.

“Thrace,”
she whispered uncertainly, her mouth dry. “I…I…”

“Oh
my.”
Lady Tam-tam put a hand between her
breasts and sighed deeply. “My dears, that is just the most
romantic
story
I have
ever
heard! Truly, the two of you belong here. In fact, I want
you to sit with me at the grand reception tonight.”

“Of course, Lady Tam-tam. It would be our honor,”
Trin said. Somehow she pulled her gaze away from Thrace’s at last but he continued
holding her hand in his much larger one. “And…will we get to meet your
body-slave, Nales?” she asked the older woman.

“Alas, no.” Lady Tam-tam dabbed at her eyes with a
scrap of lace she produced from her sleeve. “Poor Nales has been gone these
last seven cycles and I do miss him
so.”
She sniffed. “But it
does
cheer me up a bit to watch sweet young people like you and your own body-slave
so devoted to you. Just like Nales was devoted to me.” She smiled at Trin. “I’m
so
glad
you could come!”

“It’s kind of you to have us. And kind of Lady
Malroth to sponsor me in the first place,” Trin said, nodding diplomatically to
the forgotten Lady Malroth who smiled back sourly.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Lady Tam-tam waved one hand
dismissively. “Now why don’t the two of you come with me? I have a special room
for the both of you—a
dreaming
room and you know there are only five in
the entire house so they’re
very
in demand. In fact, this one was going
to go to Lady Malroth but I’m sure she won’t mind—will you my dear?”

Lady Malroth’s face had been twisted into a
disagreeable mask of irritation but she did her best to smooth it out and put
on a fake smile.

“No, of course not, Lady Tam-tam. Nothing’s too
good for my little protégé.”

“Excellent! Well, come on then!” She took Trin
affectionately by the arm. “And we’ll find a different collar for your
love-slave as well—that’s what I like to call a slave who loves his mistress
and is truly devoted to her,” she explained. “We’ll get him one with no pain
nodes in it. He is still your slave and it is well to symbolize that—but we
must never forget that he serves you from adoration, not fear of pain. Yes?”

“Yes, of course,” Trin murmured. “I never wanted to
put the collar back on him to start with,” she said, truthfully. “But I thought
I had no choice. I…we had no idea…”

“No idea what a sanctuary you have here for slaves
who love their mistresses,” Thrace
supplied smoothly.

“What a lovely way to put it,” Lady Tam-tam said,
smiling. “A
sanctuary.
I like that. Yes, I like that
very
much.”

She pulled Trin and Thrace, who was still holding her
hand, towards the house. But as they went, Trin looked back at Lady Malroth. The
other mistress scarcely looked happier than when Lady Tam-tam had been about to
kick them off her estate. And to top it off, they had taken her room and it
appeared that they were stuck at Dreaming Hills at least for tonight.

Goddess, what had they gotten themselves into and
how long would it take to get out of it?

*
* * * *

“Well, here we are—dreaming suite three—just
perfect for the two of you.” Lady Tam-tam smiled broadly as she ushered Trin
and Thrace
across the threshold of an opulently decorated room. It was a vast space with a
sitting-room area at one end and a huge sleeping platform on a raised dais at
the other. There was a viewscreen on the wall across from the bed, Thrace
noted. It seemed like an odd place to put an expensive communication device but
it might come in handy for searches or talking to
The Alacrity
if they
had to.

The sleeping platform had four towering carved
golden posts at each corner which supported a massive blue and gold canopy
overhead. It was high and wide with a thick mattress—plenty big enough for two
which was good considering Lady Tam-tam’s next statement.

“I don’t believe in making a loving and devoted
slave sleep on the floor or in a hideaway slave bed. Here at Dreaming Hills,
your love-slave is welcome to share your bed…in
any
way you choose.” She
gave Trin a meaningful look.

Trin’s dark eyes grew wide.

“Lady Tam-tam, surely…you don’t mean…”

“Oh, my dear—I didn’t mean you should let him
penetrate
you or anything like that,” Lady Tam-tam said, obviously seeing her
embarrassment. “I mean, there
are
limits—he is still a slave and a male.
Of course…” Her eyes gleamed. “If
you
want to penetrate him, well,
that’s
different
. In fact, later on in the celebration we’ll have a
night devoted specifically to the beauty of male submission.”

“You will?” Trin swallowed hard and Thrace
tried to keep from wincing. He hoped like hell they were long gone before
that
particular night came around. He didn’t mind being Trin’s slave and serving
her in any capacity but there were limits to what he was able to endure.

“We will,” Lady Tam-tam said. “But I just want you
to feel free to
explore
each other here in a loving way and know that no
one will judge you for it.” She winked at both of them broadly and smiled.

“Of…of course.” Trin appeared to have trouble
getting the words out but Thrace
was very interested indeed. It seemed that body-slaves had a proscribed role
here at Dreaming Hills but it was considerably looser than elsewhere on Yonnie
Six. He would have to learn the exact parameters of his new boundaries in order
to get this right.

Finally, after many hints and nods, Lady Tam-tam
left them alone. Trin sank down on the edge of the vast sleeping platform and
gave a deep, relieved sigh.

“Whew! That was crazy.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Thrace came to stand before her.
“Lady Tam-tam seems damn taken with you though,
Mistress.”

“That’s thanks to you,” Trin remarked. “You really
saved us back there! That kiss was…quick thinking.” She looked down at her
hands. “Not that I think you ought to repeat it.”

“Why not, Mistress?” Thrace said softly. “Was it too
intense for you?”

“Of course not.” Trin lifted her chin though he
could see that her cheeks were flushed. “It’s just…not—”

“Not right? Not proper?” Thrace finished for her. “I have
news for you, Trin, we’re probably going to have to do some other ‘improper’
things while we’re here. You know what Yonnite society is like—I’ve only
researched it but you’ve
lived
it—at least to an extent. You know what
they expect.”

“I think we’ve already seen that the expectations
are different here,” Trin argued. “Look at what just happened—on most of Yonnie
Six the idea of a male slave kissing his mistress on the mouth would have been
a flogging or pain collar offense. It was damn risky of you to even try it.”

Thrace
shrugged.

“No guts, no glory. I thought it was worth the risk
since we were getting kicked out anyway.”

Also, he’d
wanted
to do it—wanted to taste
her sweet lips. The kiss they’d shared down on the gemstone path was burned
into his mind and he couldn’t help wanting more. And he had a feeling that Trin
might too—even if she wouldn’t admit it. The way she’d melted in his arms
hadn’t been just an act—he could damn well tell by how hot her scent got. But
this wasn’t the time to bring any of that up so he simply shrugged again.
“Anyway—it worked and we’re in.”

“We’re in,” Trin echoed. “But now what?” She kicked
the high-heeled shoes he’d simmed for her. “Whew! It feels so
good
to
get those off!”

“Now we find out exactly what our roles are here
and how different it really is from the rest of Yonnie Six,” Thrace murmured. Sinking to his
knees before her, he took one of her dainty feet in his hands and began to rub.

“Oh!” Trin tried to pull away. “You don’t have to
do that!”

Thrace
almost said he wanted to do it—that he wanted to
touch her any way he could, which was true. But then he thought better of it.

“Yes, I do,” he said, continuing the foot rub
despite her protest. “I have to be the perfect devoted slave, hopelessly
enamored of his mistress here. This is part of it.”

“But you don’t have to keep it up while we’re in
our private rooms,” Trin protested. She still seemed uneasy about letting him
touch her this way, even though he’d held her in his arms most of last night.
It occurred to Thrace that she was a very self sufficient female and one who had
never really had much intimate physical contact with another person—especially
not a male. So getting her used to his touch would take some work on his part.

That was all right—he was willing to put in the
effort.

“And how
private
do you think this room is?”
he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Well the doors are closed and there are shades
over all the windows,” she said, indicating the tall, floor to ceiling drapes
which were outlined by weak grayish light around the edges.