Protecting His Mistress (Kindred Tales)

“Excuse me,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your appointment. I’ll just be going now.”

“Oh, no, my dear Ms. Lilliana.” The woman shook her head. “I’m not here for me—I’m here for you.”

“You…you are?” Lilli looked at her uncertainly. Beside her, she could feel Karn bristling protectively. “But…who are you?” she asked. “I’m afraid I can’t remember your name or where we met.”

The woman laughed briskly.

“Well of course not because we’ve never met. My name is Mistress Martinet—I’m the personal sperm consultant your mother hired to meet you here and help you through the insemination procedure.”

“You…you are? You mean you report directly to my mother?” Lilli’s heart sank down to her shoes. She’d been planning to get in and out of the conception center without anyone seeing her—let alone someone who could tell her mother if she actually had the procedure done or not. What was she going to do now?

“Of course! I’ve been waiting for you but I’m afraid…” Mistress Martinet looked at the plain black chronometer strapped to her wrist. “You’re about three and a half minutes late. Which means we have to be moving along since another Mistress has an appointment scheduled here in a little less than an hour.”

“Oh, well maybe I’d better go then—since I’m late,” Lilli said quickly. “I wouldn’t want to interfere with another Mistress’s appointment and we can always reschedule for another day.”

“Nonsense,” Mistress Martinet said sharply. “Your mother tells me that you’ve only just had your second quick-grow shot yesterday which means you should be at peak fertility now.” She tapped her chronometer again, as though for emphasis. “So we need to get your impregnated today.”

“But—” Lilli tried to protest.

“Never fear.” Mistress Martinet was already taking her by the arm. “What usually takes the longest is choosing which sperm you want to be impregnated with. But that’s where I come in—I’ve already narrowed down your choices to several candidates your mother deems appropriate. So you’ve only got to choose one and we’ll get you pregnant like that!” She snapped her fingers and smiled brightly at Lilli.

“I…I don’t even get to choose my own sperm?” Lilli asked as the other woman dragged her through the door and further into the conception center.

“Yes, of course you do—out of the three acceptable candidates your mother already approved,” Mistress Martinet said briskly.

Lilli turned her head and saw with relief that Karn was with them. Mistress Martinet noticed it too because she frowned and turned her head to look back at him.

“You’re not needed, bodyslave. I’ll take good care of your Mistress and deliver her back to you in the lobby in no time,” she told him.

Karn glared at her.

“Where my Mistress goes, I go,” he growled.

The fierce look in his mismatched eyes must have unnerved Mistress Martinet because her face went noticeably paler.

“Well…as long as you stay well back and don’t touch anything,” she said at last. “Ah—here we are!”

They had been walking down a corridor and now she opened a black door at the end of it and led Lilli into another small room. Inside were more blank walls and another black viewscreen. Mistress Martinet tapped it lightly with one long nail and it came to life.

“Now then,” she said, turning to Lilli who still felt numb. “I’ve taken the liberty of creating some models of the way your DNA would mix with the DNA from the three sperm candidates your mother has chosen. Have a look and see which one you like the most.”

She tapped the screen again and a baby’s face appeared. It had a shock of black hair and big blue eyes. Mistress Martinet tapped it again and it changed to a child of around one, then ten, then fifteen, and finally it became a young woman about Lilli’s age.

“This is what your daughter will look like if you choose Candidate number one,” she told Lilli. “As you can see, the genes are extremely dominant—it was the only way to get blue eyes when yours are brown. This child will be quite beautiful as you can see, but also strong tempered and willful—something to bear in mind if you intend to raise her yourself. However, your mother tells me that you’ll probably be engaging the services of a nannybot, so you don’t need to worry about her personality for at least twenty years, until she comes of age.”

“I don’t know that I want a nannybot,” Lilli protested. “I don’t think it’s right to give your child to someone—or something else—to raise.”

“Oh?” Mistress Martinet’s purple eyebrows rose in apparent surprise. “Well then, maybe this child will be more to your liking.”

She tapped the screen again and a new baby face appeared. This one had brown hair and the eyes were brown like Lilli’s own.

“This daughter will be much more pliant and easy to deal with. She won’t want to disobey and will be subservient to you and do what you tell her.”