Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

“Comfortable, my lady?” Balfore asked respectfully.

“Yes, thank you.” Selena nodded. “Er…maybe we could not tell Master Valen about this?” she asked hopefully. “It’s, uh, kind of embarrassing that I accidentally got myself molested by the mattress.”

Pashmeena’s faded purple eyes danced in her wrinkled face.

“Of course, little Mistress. It will remain our secret.”

“Thank you.” Selena smiled at her. She really liked the little old lady and her husband seemed nice, too. Of course, it was a bit awkward to be talking to them when she was wearing nothing but the platinum harness, but they seemed to take her near-nudity as a matter of course, so she supposed she ought to, as well. Clearly it was the Ma’shorkan way—at least for Dependent Females—which she currently was.

“Um, there’s no way that he—that Master Valen—could have heard me screaming, is there?” she asked Pashmeena.

“Oh no, my lady—he’s long gone to the High Court,” the old woman assured her. “Come now—why don’t you get some sleep. You’ve a big day ahead of you tomorrow and the day after that, you’ve got the gala. I heard you making music on your instrument.” She nodded respectfully at Selena’s violin case. “It was right pretty—though a little hard to understand.”

“Oh…well, thank you.” Selena smiled. She supposed that the piece she’d been playing might be “hard to understand” to someone who wasn’t well-versed in the violin. It was an intricate and difficult piece which she’d chosen to show off her technical mastery of her instrument. Still, it was nice of Pashmeena to comment favorably.

“You get a good night’s sleep, my lady,” Balfore said, bowing to her again. “Pashmeena and I will retire to our quarters. You may call for us if you need us. Simply press the call button.”

He indicated a round white button which was fastened discretely to the side of the carved wooden night table.

“Oh…thank you.” Selena nodded gratefully. “But hopefully I won’t need you anymore tonight.”

“Good night, my lady.” Pashmeena smiled at her and then she and Balfore left, closing the door behind them.

Selena was a little nervous about lying down on the bed again, but she knew she needed to get some sleep. Carefully, she laid back. When the mattress didn’t grab her as it had before, she began to relax. It only rolled gently beneath her, rocking her softly in a way that was extremely soothing. With a sigh, she let herself go limp as she looked up at the tiny, glittering lights above her.

Like staring into a starry sky, she thought. And at last, drifted off to sleep.

29

Selena was woken in the middle of the night by the feeling of someone pinching her nipples.

“Ouch! What in the world?” she muttered. At first she thought the mattress was molesting her again. But when she opened her eyes, she saw that it was lying quiet beneath her, not even making the gentle rocking motion now. What was going on?

Looking down at herself, she saw that the crystal suction cups seemed to have tightened. Under them, her nipples were swollen and tight. Before she’d gone to bed, the cups had only been exerting a gentle suction. Now, however, it felt as though they were sucking her as hard as they could. Why were they doing that?

Well, it didn’t matter why, she told herself—the main thing was that they were really beginning to hurt. Somehow, she had to get them off! As she thought this, the suction increased, sending sharp pains through her tender tips.

“Ouch!” Selena exclaimed. She tugged at the cups, and then tried twisting them one way and then the other, hoping to get them off somehow and ease the extreme suction.

But it was useless—the cups weren’t coming off and in fact, it seemed like the more she messed with them, the tighter they got.

“The remote!” Selena muttered to herself. “I have to get the remote that controls these damn things!”

But it was most likely in Valen’s pocket. And a glance at the chronometer on the wall, told her that it was an hour past midnight and he was probably still in the deposition he’d been studying for.

The suction cups tightened yet again and she gave a little yelp of pain. How much more of this could she take? It was really beginning to hurt!

She wondered if she ought to ring for Balfore and Pashmeena, but then she remembered the way the Ma’shorkan housemaid had acted when she’d asked her help to take the harness off earlier. It had been as though Selena had asked her to do some deeply forbidden task. Clearly, only her Master could take it off of her—quite literally, since he was the only one with the remote.

But could she wait until he got home from court? Her nipples were so painful now—the suction was so tight, she felt like she couldn’t stand it one more minute. The pain was literally bringing tears to her eyes.