Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) (30 page)

“No. Nothing that upsets you that much is silly.”
He frowned. “I had a bad dream too. Maybe it had something to do with the dream
gas we inhaled.”

“Maybe.” Trin sighed uneasily. “Although I doubt it
was the red gas and I didn’t breathe in any of the black nightmare gas like you
did. Maybe it was the white…the one that’s supposed to show you the truth about
people?”

“That’s right.” He frowned. “You know, I meant to
but I never asked what you saw when you inhaled that. You touched Lord X and
nearly jumped out of your skin.”

“Oh—that was so weird.” Trin shook her head. “And
it didn’t make any sense. For a minute I thought I saw that male from the
Demon’s Eye. You know—the one with the metal teeth?”

“
B’Rugh’s
second in command, you mean? But why would you see him when you touched
a male from a completely different galaxy?”

Trin shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make any
sense. But then…” She motioned, indicating not just their room but all of
Dreaming Hills.
“None
of this does.”

“No, it sure as hell doesn’t,” Thrace agreed in a low voice.
“C’mere.” He pulled her close to his side again. Trin let herself settle
against him, not even minding the fact that she was still naked. She was still
too much upset by the dream, whatever it had been, to feel aroused anyway.

“Just a dream,” she murmured, feeling her heart
begin to slow. “Just a really bad dream.”

“Whatever you were dreaming of, you don’t need to
worry about it,” Thrace
rumbled comfortingly. “I’ll protect you with my life, you know that.”

“I know,” Trin whispered. Something about his words
seemed to jog her memory and for a moment she almost remembered what the
terrible dream had been about. But then Thrace breathed deeply, jostling
her against his side and the moment was gone.

She took a deep breath, inhaling his warm, spicy
male scent and snuggled closer to him. His arms around her were so comforting
and his body against hers felt so right. Though she knew it was weak and wrong
to want the protection and comfort of a male, she couldn’t help it—Thrace
made her feel good. Warm. Safe. Too safe to want to remember whatever the
horrible dream had been.

“Go back to sleep, baby,” he murmured and placed a
tender kiss on the top of her head. “It’s still a few hours until we have to
get up.”

“Okay.” Trin yawned and let herself relax
completely. Finally sleep took her again and this time there were no dreams.

*
* * * *

Thrace
held her close against him, wondering if she had
dreamed the same thing he had somehow. He didn’t know how that was possible
unless it was some kind of effect of the dream gas. All he knew was at the same
time he’d been dreaming of his first violation at the hands of his old master,
Trin had woken up screaming, “Leave him alone! Stop it!”

Her shouting was what had woken him, bringing him
out of the nightmare of reliving the old pain. But while she had apparently
forgotten it, the images lived on in his own memory. Images he had tried to
bury, memories he had kept under lock and key for more years than he cared to
admit.

It’s
all right. It’s over,
he told himself
uneasily.

Except it wasn’t. Here he was, a slave all over
again. And this time by his own choice. What had he been thinking to accept the
collar a second time? And of his own volition!

I’ll
tell you what you were thinking,
whispered a
little voice in his head.
You were thinking that you weren’t ready to leave
Trin yet and this was the only way to stay with her.
That’s
what you were thinking. You weren’t considering any possible
consequences. Anything that might happen to you because you chose to travel
this road again.

Thrace
told himself not to be a fool. Though it was true
he had actually
chosen
slavery this time, Trin was a far cry from his
old master. She wasn’t wantonly cruel and she didn’t delight in his pain or
subjugation. In fact, she treated him more like an equal than a slave. And he
was certain she would
never
put him through what his old master had
done. She would never hurt him that way.

She was more likely to pierce his heart by leaving
him after this deal was said and done than she was to penetrate his flesh in
any way.

If
she wanted to though, would I let her?
Could
I?
Thrace
shivered at the thought. The idea of anyone doing
that
to him again made a mixture of emotions rise inside him—anger, fear, hurt,
shame… They threatened to swamp him, to overwhelm his senses until he wanted to
weep and rage and kill the male who had hurt him in the first place.

But you could only kill someone once. After that,
you had to deal with what they had done. And their death didn’t erase the
horrors they’d committed when they were alive—that fact he knew only too well.

Stop
it,
he told himself roughly.
Stop
bringing up the past. Just bury it again and forget it. It’s over and done with
and it’ll never happen again. I was young then—weak and tied up—defenseless.
I’m a full grown male now and no one…
no
one
will ever be able to use me that way again.

Brutally, he shoved the images from the dream and
the emotions they brought up, under the surface of his mind. He concentrated
instead on the girl in his arms—the one he would die to protect.

The one he had already lost his heart to.

*
* * * *

Charlie woke with a start, coming out of the
strange trance-like state she had fallen into when she touched Stavros. Of
course, she’d touched him because
he
was in another one of his trances.

Ever since the time they’d made love after he came
out of a particularly long trance, she had somehow gained a mental connection
as well—not that she wanted one. Of course, hers wasn’t as bad as his—he was
still seeing most of what Two did and none of that was very nice. Charlie,
however, had somehow become connected to Trin, the girl from Zetta Prime who
had bought the Havoc male, Thrace
as a slave.

“Are you all right?” Stav was looking at her with
concern. They were sitting together on their bed, having just finished making
love, which was when the trances most often seemed to occur.

“I think so.” Charlie shook her head and ran a hand
through her blonde hair. “I just had a bad one though—Trin had some kind of a
nightmare. Only it wasn’t just a nightmare—it was a
memory
and I shared
it.”

“Really?” Stavros looked uneasy. “Tell me about it.
Because I think I know what caused it.”

“You do? What?”

“Just tell me what you saw.” He made a motion with
one hand. “Ladies first, right?”

Charlie sighed. “All right. Well, it was weird.
Trin was definitely the one having the dream but she was dreaming about Thrace.
It was
his
memory. Of…something that happened to him when he was
younger. It upset her a lot.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “Honestly, it
upset the hell out of me too.”

“What was it?” Stav asked gently. “Just tell
me—you’ll feel better when you do.”

“He was being…well, there’s no pretty way to dress
it up,” Charlie said grimly. “He was being raped by his old master—back the
first time when he was a slave.”

“What?” Stav asked blankly. “But I thought that
Trin established he
wasn’t
a slave before she bought him.”

“He wasn’t at the time she bought him—but he was
captured by slavers
before
. Back when he was just a teenager. He and his
dad were both taken and his master…” Charlie shivered. “He must have been a
horrible man. He kept demanding that Thrace say some kind of oath—I
think swearing his loyalty or something.”

“And did he?”

“You know Thrace. Of course not.”

“No, of course not. That male will bend for no
one—other than Trin, that is,” Stav said thoughtfully. “I wonder if she knows
that he loves her.”

“You think he does?”

“Why else would he willingly go back to being a
slave just for her? Especially if he was one before and such horrible things
happened to him?”

“You’re right,” Charlie said. “It’s the prophesy,
you know.
A free-born male, Too
proud to bend his knee, Enslaved of his own will—that’s Thrace.” She was quoting the words Two
himself had told them—the prophesy was the reason he believed he was
invulnerable to any attack by the Kindred.

“It also says
‘
Against
his will set free’” Stav pointed out. “How do you explain that?”

“I don’t know.” Charlie
shrugged. “Maybe it hasn’t happened yet. But I think we can tell why Two is so
interested in Thrace
and Trin.”

“Other than the fact that he’s
tracking them for B’Rugh, you mean?” Stav asked. “Or he was before he took that
side trip back to the Dark Kindred home world.”

“I wish you could’ve seen what
he did there.” The idea made Charlie uneasy.

“I wish so too,” Stavros said
soberly. “But ever since, he hasn’t come near Trin or Thrace. He’s been spending time in
a ship—just orbiting Yonnie Six.”

“I wonder how he tracked them
there in the first place?” Charlie murmured.

“Well, it
is
the only place where there’s a demand for
Jaxite
crystals,” Stav pointed out. “And we know he has ways of
tracking people.”

Charlie remembered the tiny,
furry creature Two had used as a spy—seeing through its eyes to know where she
and Stav had gone during their trip to save Earth from the Dark Kindred.

“That’s true,” she murmured.
“You think he planted one of his spy rats on their shuttle somehow?”

Stav shrugged. “Who knows? It’s
possible. Anything is possible with Two.”

“True.” Charlie sighed. “Well,
he obviously knows where they are. Which makes me worried—what’s going to
happen to Thrace
and Trin?”

“I don’t know—I pray to the
Goddess they will be well.”

Charlie stretched, trying to get
rid of some of the tension in her shoulders.

“I guess it’s weird to talk
about them like we know them. But since we’ve been seeing all these different
pieces of their lives, I kind of feel like we
do.
It’s like…our own private soap opera playing out right in front
of us.”

“With some important pieces
missing,” Stav pointed out. “What did Two do when he visited his home world?
What is he up to now, orbiting Yonnie Six? And what part of the future did
B’Rugh See for him?”

“I guess we could go after him
and try to find out,” Charlie suggested although the idea of seeing Two
face-to-face again made her stomach twist into knots.

Stavros shook his head. “No. I
have the sense that we were given this link to Trin and Thrace and Two
to observe, not to act. I think the Goddess will let us know when and if we
should get involved.”

“Well, you started seeing them
first so I guess you know best,” Charlie said. “Although you never did tell me
what caused Trin’s bad dream.”

“It was what I saw in my own
vision. I couldn’t see much because the room was dark but there was some kind
of control panel. It had a row of vid screens and one of them was showing Trin
and Thrace’s
room,” Stav explained. “They were sleeping peacefully to start with. Then I saw
a hand—I think it was a male hand—turning a knob on the panel. After that, a
kind of black, swirling mist filled the area above their bed. Thrace breathed in a lot of it—more
than Trin—but after that, she was the one who started thrashing around and
moaning.”

“Dream gas?” Charlie asked. “Or
maybe that nightmare vapor we saw coming out in some of the bubbles from that
weird silver fountain?”

“Possibly,” Stav said.

“But if Thrace breathed in more of it, why
did Trin have the nightmare? And who gassed them in the first place?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his
head. “But I do know that they are not clear of trouble yet. I pray the Goddess
will guide and protect them.”

Charlie sighed. “I guess that’s
all we can do. But if I ever meet Trin in person, I’m going to give her a big
hug. She could use it.”

Chapter
Twenty-two

“Good morning.” Trin smiled as
she seated herself beside Lady Malroth at the long table in the huge First Meal
Hall. Thankfully, the first meal of the day wasn’t nearly such a formal
occasion as dinner. The slaves were eating at a separate table, specially
reserved for them, and the mistresses were on their own.

The menu included steaming
bright green porridge which smelled sweet and bland and large, curving blue
fruits longer than Trin’s arm. When the fruit was opened, however, it was
revealed to be mostly thick blue peal. Inside were three to five tiny, tender
morsels no bigger than the end of Trin’s thumb.

These sweet, juicy nuggets were
apparently quite a delicacy and, after inquiring discretely to be certain they
wouldn’t have any strange effects on her, Trin had eaten several of them. They
were said to expand in one’s stomach and keep you from being hungry the rest of
the day. An effect she was sure she’d be glad of if she had to spend anymore
time at Dreaming Hills. Although she
had
been planning to leave today.

“Good morning, you say?” Lady
Malroth demanded, frowning at her. “And what’s good about it, I’d like to
know?”

“Well…I…” Trin wasn’t sure what
to say to this. She’d been hoping that she’d fulfilled her obligations by
attending the feast the night before as Lady Tam-tam had wanted, and that Lady
Malroth would consent to make the deal. But Lady Malroth’s lips were pursed as
though she’d been sucking on an unripe sour fruit—clearly she wasn’t pleased.

“I heard about your
performance—if you can call it that—last night,” Lady Malroth snapped.

“You
did?”
Trin felt like she might faint from embarrassment. “Did
you…see us?” Knowing they were probably being watched and actually having it
confirmed were two different things. The idea of Lady Malroth watching her and
Thrace do…intimate things made her feel sick with shame.

“No, I didn’t see it,” Lady
Malroth snapped, to Trin’s intense relief. “Lady Tam-tam rarely allows anyone
inside her private viewing room. But she
told
me all about it—she was
very
disappointed.
Apparently all you did was let your slave suck your nipples and finger you a
little. He didn’t even penetrate you with his tongue—though I understand he
kissed you quite a bit!”

“Of course he didn’t penetrate
me!” Trin exclaimed, feeling her cheeks get hot. “I’m one of the
Unpenetrated—the elite of Zetta Prime.”

“Is that right?” Lady Malroth
said nastily. “Well I’m afraid you’ll have to relinquish that title after
tonight’s banquet.”

“What are you talking about?”
Trin demanded. “I could never let my slave do that. I mean—”

“No, no—I don’t mean you should
let him penetrate you with his shaft—we’re not all as depraved as Lady Needra.
Imagine—letting her slave put his cock right in her pussy! And at the dinner
table no less. Ugh!” Lady Malroth made a face.

“Well, I’m glad you see it the
same way I do,” Trin said carefully. “But I wasn’t really planning on being at
the feast tonight anyway. I was hoping we could conclude our deal
today.”

“What—so you could leave? While
Lady Tam-tam is still in such a terrible mood? I don’t think so,” Lady Malroth
said flatly. “You
will
attend
tonight’s banquet and you
will
wear
the ritual uniform as will we all.”

“What uniform?” Trin looked down
at herself. She had on another of the ridiculous Yonnie Six dresses. This one
was scarlet with black lace across her breasts and crotch. It had tiny red and
black panties to match. She hated it but could something worse be in store for
her? The idea of some kind of “uniform” sounded ominous.

“It’s the celebration of male
submission so you must wear a phallus,” Lady Malroth said. “If you didn’t bring
your own, you can get one from the slave set up in the corner as you leave.
He’s handing them out to everyone who needs one.”

“A phallus?” Trin had heard of
such things—the mistresses of Yonnie Six often called such an accoutrement “the
rod” and used it to punish wayward slaves. But she’d never thought to wear one
herself. “You mean the kind that straps on?” she asked.

Lady Malroth gave her a very
unpleasant smirk.

“Among other things.”

“But what if I don’t want to
wear one?”

We’re
all
going to be wearing them tonight—you will as well or the deal
is off. You have to at least
look
like
a proper mistress, even if you’re not going to
act
like one.”

Trin stiffened in her seat.

“I don’t like being threatened,
Lady Malroth.”

“And
I
don’t like being made to look a fool in front of my most
important business client,” Lady Malroth snapped. “Your crystals may be good
quality and cheap but there
are
others
in the universe, you know. And if you don’t behave like a proper mistress—if
you don’t wear what everyone else is wearing and act like everyone else is
acting and most important,
please Lady
Tam-tam—
then I will be damn sure you
never
have an opportunity to sell those crystals
anywhere.”

With that, Lady Malroth got up
and flounced away, leaving Trin to sit and stare after her and wonder what she
was supposed to do. Aside from strapping on a phallus, that was.
Please Lady Tam-tam,
Lady Malroth had
said. But if their “display” from the night before hadn’t made her happy, Trin
didn’t know what would. Or rather, she
did
have an idea of what might please Lady Tam-tam but she didn’t think she
could go there.

“Well,
she
doesn’t seem too happy.” Thrace’s low voice in her ear
startled her and she turned to see him standing on the other side of her, a
concerned look on her face.

“She’s not,” she said and
sighed. “And she doesn’t want to do the deal. Not yet. Not until we ‘please’
Lady Tam-tam by attending the feast tonight.”

“About that,” Thrace growled. “I have some bad
news for you—it may be a deal breaker.”

“I know.” Trin’s cheeks felt
hot. “I’m supposed to wear a phallus.”

“Huh—thought you’d be more upset
about it than that.” Thrace
looked surprised.

“Why? I mean, it’s sure to look
ridiculous but every mistress is going to be wearing one. Apparently it’s the
‘uniform’ for tonight’s theme.”

“Right—the beauty of male
submission.” Thrace
sounded grim as he helped her up from the table.

“Don’t worry,” Trin said,
squeezing his arm. “I’m sure it’s just for show. I would never
use
it on you.”

“I would never let you,” he
growled.

Trin raised an eyebrow. “What
happened to your oath that there was nothing you wouldn’t do for me?”

“Within reason.” He shuttered
and for a moment his big hands curled into fists. “I would give you anything in
my power, Mistress. But some things…are beyond me.”

The strange look on his face
struck a chord with her for some reason. For a moment Trin felt something
nibbling at the edges of her memory…she seemed to hear voices echo in her head.
Say it—say the words…
Stop—don’t do it! Leave him alone…
But
when she reached for the disturbing thought, it vanished like a puff of smoke.

“I understand,” she said gently.
“I feel the same way about such…penetration, as you know.”

“I know.” He took a deep breath
and seemed to shake off the strange mood that had come over him. “Which is why
it surprised me that you didn’t mind wearing a phallus.”

“What are you talking about? It
just straps on. I mean—”

“Good morrow, my lovely lady.
And how did you sleep?”

The deep, smooth voice belonged
to Lord X who had somehow managed to creep up behind them without either Trin
or Thrace
noticing him, despite the big black boots he wore.

Trin whirled around, feeling her
heart pound for some reason. She really didn’t like this male though she could
give no actual reason for her emotions. A low growl from Thrace let her know he felt the
same.

“Oh,
forgive
me—did I startle you?” Lord X smiled unconvincingly—the
expression never reached those strange red-black eyes of his.

“No, we’re fine,” Trin said
quickly. “Good morning.”

“Good morrow,” he repeated in
that odd way of his. “You’re looking very well this morning, may I say.” Taking
her hand, he bowed low over it. He was about to kiss it but Thrace grabbed her wrist and jerked
her hand away before he could.

“No one touches my lady but me,”
he growled.

“Is that right? A pity—I so
wanted to taste her soft skin.” Lord X smiled. “May I at least inquire as to
how you slept last night, my lady?” he asked Trin.

“Oh…well. Very well indeed,” she
said. She knew she ought to reprove Thrace for yanking her hand away
but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was too relieved not to be
touching Lord X to summon any rebuke for the big Havoc.

“Really?” He raised one glossy
black eyebrow. “No…bad dreams? No
nightmares
at all?”

“Of course no—” Trin started to
say but the words died on her lips. There was a knowing glint in those cold,
red-black eyes. Lord X
knew
about the
horrible dream she’d had last night. But how? Had he been watching them in the
private viewing room as well as Lady Tam-tam? The very thought made her feel
ill. Apparently Thrace
picked up on the idea as well.

“What do you know about it?” he
demanded, stepping forward so that he was face to face with the other male.
“What do you know about my lady’s night terrors last night?”

“Night terrors you say?” Lord X
appeared not the least intimidated. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and made
a
tsking
sound. “My, my—that sounds
dreadful.
I am so sorry to hear of it,
my Lady,” he said to Trin.

“I said,
what do you know about it?”
Thrace barked.

“Why, nothing but what you’ve
just told me.” Lord X raised both hands in a sign of peace. “Forgive me, but I
think I see Lady Tam-tam motioning to me. Mustn’t keep our lovely hostess
waiting.” With a final knowing smirk, he glided off, his large muscular body
moving as smoothly as if he was on wheels.

“That bastard,” Thrace
growled, glaring after him. “He
knew.
Somehow
he knew!”

“But how?” Trin asked. “Do you
think he could have been watching us? Lady Malroth said that Lady Tam-tam never
allows anyone else inside her private viewing room but—”

“Private
viewing room?”
Thrace
interrupted, his eyebrows raised.
“Seriously?”

“Yes,” Trin said shortly. “It
shouldn’t be a surprise, we knew she, uh, liked to watch.” She dropped her
voice, making it for his ears only. “Where did you
think
she was watching from?”

Thrace
shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess I
just didn’t expect her to have a whole room devoted to it.” He sighed. “All
right. Well, then I guess we should go collect your phallus.”

“I guess we should.” Trin
grimaced. This was sure to be embarrassing. She just hoped she wouldn’t have to
wear some huge, ridiculous, golden, engraved rod between her thighs for
everyone to see. But it sounded like the kind of thing Lady Tam-Tam would
require so she’d better get used to the idea.

“Honestly,” she said to Thrace
in a low tone as they crossed the vast dining area to where the male slave was
sitting in a corner behind a long table. “Speaking of the private viewing room,
I’m more worried about the other part of Lady Malroth’s demand than the fact
that I have to wear a stupid phallus.”

“What did she say? I only caught
the last part,” he murmured, bending his head so they could talk more
discretely.

“She said that our ‘performance’
last night didn’t please Lady Tam-tam.” Trin felt herself blushing again. “I
mean…can you
imagine?
After
everything we did she’s
still
not
satisfied?”

“All I did was suck your nipples
a little and rub your pussy,” Thrace
remarked mildly. “Well, and pay obeisance to you with a few kisses. But if
she’s used to seeing hard core performances from the likes of Lady Needra and
Yorth, it’s probably not surprising that we didn’t please her.”

“Well what we did felt pretty
‘hard core’ to me,” Trin whispered back, her face flushing. “I never dreamed
I’d do anything like that with a male. And yet I let you…let you…”

“You let me ease your pain and
need,” Thrace
reminded her in a soft growl. “Don’t start feeling guilty about it again, Trin.
It was
necessary
.”

“I guess so.” Trin bit her lip.
“It’s just…I never expected to do anything like that—you know.”

“I know.” Thrace’s face remained impassive.
“Quiet now though—here we are.”

They had arrived in front of the
table where she was to pick up her “uniform” for the evening’s feast. There was
a male slave in Lady Tam-tam’s purple and orange livery sitting at it. Spread
across the table in orderly rows were little velvet bags in different colors.
He seemed to have some kind of system for keeping track of them because he was
entering information on a lighted implant imbedded in his left forearm.