Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

“Oh, well…” Selena wasn’t sure how much she ought to tell the housemaid about the arrangement she had with the big Kindred. Probably, Valen wanted to keep his private business to himself. “I’m only here until after the Emperor’s gala,” she said, deciding it should be all right to tell Pashmeena that much, at least. “After that, I’m going back to Earth—the planet I’m from.”

“Are you now?” Pashmeena sounded unconvinced.

“Yes, I really am,” Selena emphasized. “I have a whole life there—I teach orchestra to students and I play in a string quartet.”

“Ah, I don’t know what any of that means,” Pashmeena said, shaking her head. “I only know that once the Master sets his heart on something, he doesn’t give it up easy.” She tapped her cheekbone again, beneath her left eye and nodded. “Now then, little Mistress—you finish your bath and give me a call when you want to get out. I’ve a nice soft robe you can wear and something delicious to eat for dinner.”

And nodding to herself, she left Selena to soak in the bathtub and think about her words. Was it true that Valen wouldn’t want to give her up, once the gala was over?

She didn’t really think so, as much as she might wish it, Selena admitted to herself reluctantly. After all, he had left her as soon as he possibly could once they got to the house. He would probably be glad when their arrangement was at an end.

Still, wouldn’t it be nice if Pashmeena was right? She knew she had only known the big Kindred less than a day, but being with him just felt right. He seemed to be some kind of natural Dom—which pushed all her buttons in exactly the right way. She loved his stern demeanor and the confident, skillful way he touched her. Gary hadn’t been able to find her clit with two hands and a map, but Valen knew exactly how to pleasure her.

Just thinking of the way he had touched and caressed her, made Selena all hot and bothered again. She wished she could get the damn crystal dome that was covering her clit off—she would have liked to have a little quality alone time.

But the cup over her clit was stuck fast, as were the ones over her nipples. They weren’t painful, exactly—though she could still feel some suction around her tight peaks. But it was annoying not to be able to touch her own body when she wanted to.

Still, she supposed that was the point of the harness in the first place. The idea was that, as a Dependent Female, your body belonged to your Master. He decided when you could and couldn’t touch yourself—maybe even when you could come.

The idea made her feel tingly all over—it was part of her submissive fantasy to give her Master complete power over her orgasms.

Don’t get too excited, though, she told herself. He probably just forgot to take the damn harness off you in the first place, because he was in such a hurry to get away from you and study. He doesn’t give a damn about your orgasms or your ability to touch yourself—he’s thinking of something else entirely.

Which was probably true. With a sigh, she decided it was time to get out of the bath and go see what was for dinner. She would just have to wait until tomorrow to get the harness off. Hopefully, Valen would be in the mood to pay attention to her again by then.

28

The food Pashmeena had prepared was delicious—a lot of it looked like the food Selena had seen other people pulling out of their mini vending machines at the banquet in the palace. By this time, the fruit and cheese platter from the spaceport VIP lounge was a long time ago, so Selena ate with a good appetite.

After supper, she took her violin out and practiced for an hour, working on the piece she was going to play at the gala. It was a technically difficult piece of music and she was working hard to get every note right.

She wanted to practice longer, but suddenly felt extremely tired, which she supposed made sense. After all, it had been an extremely eventful day. It was hard to believe that when she’d woken up that morning, she was just a simple orchestra teacher and now she was going to bed as a sex slave to a powerful vampire Kindred.

Right—a vampire Kindred who didn’t even bother to come and bite you, she told herself. I though he said he needed blood, but then he just left me to my own devices in here while he went off to study.

She wondered if he might come to bite her, or at least to say good night, before he left for the Midnight Court session he had been preparing for. But a glance at the chronometer on the wall, showed that it was already almost midnight, Ma’shorkan time. Selena sighed. She probably had zero chance of seeing Valen again tonight. She might as well get some sleep since she had no idea what the next day held in store for her. She still didn’t know what the “Pet Parade,” which had been mentioned on her itinerary, was all about.