Protecting His Mistress (Kindred Tales)

“I…I don’t believe that,” Lilli said, but now she wasn’t quite sure what to think. Was Priss telling the truth? Was there really another Kindred bodyslave who had ripped off his Mistress’s head?

Surely not, she thought. Priss is just trying to frighten me because she’s such an awful bully.

Priss shrugged. “Look it up for yourself. Your mother is the Archivist for the Sacred Seven, isn’t she? She ought to have all the information on file.”

“I don’t have to look it up to know you’re lying. You’re just jealous.” Lilli frowned at the other girl. “Because I have a Kindred bodyslave and you don’t.”

“The Kindred bodyslaves do have the biggest shafts,” Beelie remarked and Bodie nodded.

“Certainly he’s the biggest we’ve ever seen. Well, except for that Trollox bodyslave Mother had for a while but he was disgusting.”

The twins shivered together as though remembering something truly horrific.

Priss frowned, her blue eyes narrowing.

“How dare you say the Kindred’s shaft is bigger than my bodyslave’s?”

“Well, because it is,” Yulla pointed out. She looked between H’rare and Karn, frowning in a confused way. “Isn’t it? Didn’t you admit that yourself?”

“That doesn’t matter!” Priss snapped. “I don’t care how big your bodyslave’s shaft is,” she added, glaring at Lilli. “Because I know my slave can beat him in a seed-shooting contest!”

“A what?” Lilli asked, frowning.

Bodie and Beelie giggled behind their hands.

“Oh my—she doesn’t even know what a seed-shooting contest is!” Bodie whispered loudly to her twin.

“They must have kept her so ignorant in that convent!” Beelie whispered back.

“A seed-shooting contest is where you take your slave in hand and give him a manual release,” Priss explained loftily. “Of course, my H’rare can shoot more seed farther than any other bodyslave in Opulex. But I wouldn’t expect your Kindred to be able to compete at that level—seeing as how you all live out in the country here and you have such backwards ways.”

“Karn can beat your slave at anything!” Lilli said hotly. She was tired of the other girl’s posturing—tired of being bullied in her own home. “Anywhere, anytime,” she added.

“Fine.” Priss gave her a nasty smile. “Prove it.”

Thirteen

Well this was a fucking interesting turn of events, Karn thought dryly. Though he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. H’rare had warned him in the kitchens—once they found them—that his Mistress was a monster.

“A fucking cruel bitch,” was how the other bodyslave had put it, his face a twisted mask of helpless rage. “But I can’t do anything but obey her because she’ll send me to the Diluthian mines otherwise.”

“I’m sorry, Brother—you have a heavy burden to bear.” Karn had clapped him on the shoulder.

“Your Mistress seems all right,” H’rare said. “Or at least she’s not a sadist.”

“Lilli is something special,” Karn admitted, as much to himself as to the other male. “But she was raised in a convent—not that snake’s nest they call Opulex. It’s made her kinder and less jaded than the other Mistresses, I think.”

“You’re lucky,” H’rare had said with feeling. “I’d do anything to have a Mistress like that.”

Karn had to admit that he was lucky—especially since he hadn’t expected to have someone like Lilli for his Mistress. When he had accepted this mission, he’d gone with the idea that Lady Mirabella would be the one who bought him.

The Goddess is looking out for me to send me to Lilli instead, he’d thought. She must approve of my mission.

He had thought it again when he and the other bodyslave came back into the banquet hall and he’d heard Priss speaking about a jailed Kindred bodyslave. Then he’d heard that the poor bastard was scheduled for execution.

Have to look into that, he’d told himself. As soon as he knew where to look, anyway. The trip to the kitchen hadn’t gotten him any closer to finding Lady Mirabella’s private office, though he did have a better understanding of the layout of the vast mansion now.

He got an even better one now, as everyone at the dinner table got up and trooped out the golden double doors to stand on the broad marble balcony.

“Wherever are you girls going?” Lady Mirabella called as they left the table.

“Out for some air, Mistress Mirabella,” Priss called helpfully before Lilli could say anything. “And to admire your view—I understand it’s quite breathtaking.”

“Oh, well—so it is.” Lady Mirabella preened. “Thank you, Priss—do enjoy yourselves.”

“Oh, we will.” Priss’s blue eyes flashed as she glanced at Lilli.

Karn didn’t like the way the other girl was glaring at his little Mistress one bit, but again, there was nothing he could do unless Priss offered Lilli some kind of physical harm. Until that happened, he had to keep his mouth shut and his hands to himself.

In the moonlight streaming down from above, the balcony was a vast, silvery gray platform. Far to the South, Karn could the lights of Opulex gleaming. A waist-high banister ran around the edge of the marble platform for safety, but he was going to be certain Lilli got nowhere near it. They were eighty stories up and a gust of wind might carry her away.