Mastering the Mistress (9 page)

“But why does there have to be an inquiry? Surely I’m not the first person…er mistress to have a slave escape,” Kaylee protested as Lyra dragged her down the long hallway to the room where the heads of the Ruling Body of Yonnie Six held court.

“No you’re not but there’s always an inquest when a slave escapes. Don’t worry.” Lyra patted her arm. “They’ll see it wasn’t your fault. It was a combination of things—that shoddy pain collar the slaver sold us for one. I can’t believe it just quit on you like that—and at such a critical juncture!”

“It wouldn’t have done me much good anyway since you’d taken the remote with you,” Kaylee pointed out, frowning. Since the moment when Lyra had walked back in the dungeon and found her alone with Solar long gone, she and the other girl weren’t quite such good friends.

Lyra had seemed almost upset to see Kaylee still alive, though she covered the emotion quickly with shock and concern. But not quickly enough—Kaylee had seen the irritated look on her face when she’d explained how Solar had gotten away. It was almost as though some plan she’d made had been thwarted. But that was crazy, wasn’t it, Kaylee asked herself uneasily. She must be imagining things. She hoped, anyway. Still, something about Lyra’s behavior just felt
wrong
.

“I told you, I didn’t even realize I had the remote in my hand,” Lyra protested. “And then who knew your aunt’s dungeon had automatic locks? That feature of the domicile
certainly
should have been explained to you during the initial hearing when the law reps told you about your inheritance. The fact that they didn’t tell you is negligence—criminal negligence. Why, you might have gotten injured or even
killed.”

“Right.” Kaylee remained unconvinced by her friend’s apparent shock and horror at the idea. But she didn’t feel she had any other choice than to stick with Lyra, at least for the present. After all, she was the only one who could testify that Solar’s escape had been accidental and not intentional. Lyra had hinted darkly that if the Ruling Body thought she had set a dangerous slave free on purpose, there could be heavy fines or even prison time involved. Kaylee had no wish to go to jail—even at a cushy facility like the one the upper class mistresses were imprisoned in on Yonnie Six when they were convicted of a crime.

They came to a sliding glass panel door and Kaylee straightened her clothing nervously. She was wearing what the upper crust of Yonnie Six deemed a dull outfit—a dark blue dress that buttoned in the front and had a long, sweeping train that fell to her ankles. But even so, it still scooped low to show plenty of cleavage and it was cut high enough to nearly reveal the blue lace panties that went with it. Lyra was dressed much the same though her own outfit was a bright yellow that made her skin look positively orange, not that Kaylee would tell her so.

“Take a deep breath and just relax,” Lyra whispered. “Let me do the talking. Lady Minora is presiding—she’s the head of the Disciplinary Committee of the Ruling Body—I know her.” Then she waved her hand over the door panel and the frosted glass slid silently to one side, revealing an opulently furnished sitting room complete with plush couches and a sideboard filled with crystal liqueur bottles. An older woman with upswept hair in every imaginable shade of pink and purple and wearing an elaborate crushed velveteen gown that matched it exactly was frowning at them.

“Come in,” she said sternly, not bothering to rise from the elevated chase lounge she was draped across. It was so high that Kaylee had to look up to meet her eyes—and once she did she wished she hadn’t. The steely gray eyes of the other female bored into her as though she had already been proven guilty.

“Hello, your Eminence,” Lyra murmured, dropping an elaborate curtsy which seemed to involve spreading her skirts out as far as possible to either side and bowing her head low until the tip of her nose almost touched the polished
borra
wood floor. Kaylee tried to follow her lead without much success.

“We may dispense with the formalities,” the older female snapped. “Kaylee, is it? The heir to my good friend Jamelda who died so tragically?”

“Yes, your Eminence,” Kaylee rose from the convoluted pose as gracefully as she could.

“I understand you allowed a large and very dangerous male slave to escape your care yesterday,” Lady Minora said sternly.

“Not on purpose,” Kaylee said quickly. “I just—”

“I told her the slave was too much for her, your Eminence,” Lyra butted in. “He was a Havoc—a wild savage. He would have been too much for an experienced mistress, let alone one who had never had any experience being a slave owner before.”

“I…you…” Kaylee was at a loss for words. What was Lyra saying? And why was she saying it? “You said you’d teach me how to train him,” she got out at last, looking at her supposed friend.

“I told you I’d
try.”
Lyra shook her head regretfully. “It’s not surprising he got loose, really. What
is
surprising is that he didn’t maim and dismember both of us in the process.”

Kaylee stiffened. “Solar never would have hurt us. Well, not
me
anyway. You were the one who kept shocking him with the pain collar even though he hadn’t done anything to deserve it.”

“
Solar
, is it?” Lady Minora frowned at Kaylee.

“Yes.” Kaylee could feel her cheeks getting hot but she went on anyway. “He told me his name after he got…got free. We…talked for a little. He wasn’t raised a slave as the slaver who sold him claimed. He was a free male—the navigator on a star cruiser, I think. I…I didn’t blame him for wanting to go free. He should never have been enslaved in the first place.”

“All
males need to be enslaved,” Lady Minora said severely. “It is their natural place. But this…Solar…it sounds to me like you started having feelings for him? Thinking of him as an actual person?”

“He
is
an actual person,” Kaylee snapped. “He was kind and gentle and sweet and he didn’t hurt me. But I couldn’t hold him once he was free—it wouldn’t have been right. And anyway, I wasn’t strong enough once the pain collar was gone.”

“It was
gone?”
The older female raised one pink and purple eyebrow. “Just gone? Where, pray tell, did it go?”

“Thank the Goddess I was already locked in the fresher in another part of the domicile when you let him take it off,” Lyra said before Kaylee could answer.

“Before I
let
him take it off?” Kaylee said.

“Why were you locked away in the fresher?” Lady Minora asked, frowning at Lyra and ignoring Kaylee.

“Well, once she started letting him
penetrate
her…” Lyra’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my Goddess, I didn’t mean to say that. Forgive me, your Eminence!”

“She
what?”
Lady Minora was scowling at Kaylee now as though she was some kind of scum she’d found on the bottom of her dainty high-heeled slipper.

“Lyra, what are you doing?” Kaylee hissed at her friend in desperation. “Why are you saying this?”

“I’m sorry, Kaylee—it just slipped out.” Lyra looked at her wide-eyed but Kaylee thought she could see a spark of malice dancing far back in the depths of her “friend’s” innocent gaze.

“Lyra, I hope you have some evidence to back up such scandalous statements,” Lady Minora said. “If you don’t, there is no excuse for spewing such filth in my presence.”

“Oh, your Eminence, I didn’t mean to say it,” Lyra cried. “But I
do
happen to have something here,” she continued slyly, pulling her thin little
Commnuni-K
out of her yellow gotha-hide handbag. “Do you have a viewing screen?”

“I do indeed.” Lady Minora made an imperious motion with one hand and a muscular slave wearing nothing but a brief blue loincloth came forward and held out his hand to Lyra. “Give Manos here your device, Lyra,” the older female commanded. “Let us dim the lights and see if your accusations are well founded. If so, some serious punishment must be considered. Allowing a dangerous slave to escape by accident is one thing—setting him free after
fornicating
with him is quite another.” She fixed Kaylee with a stern and disgusted look. “I only
hope
that Lyra here is mistaken.”

“I…but I…” Kaylee couldn’t think of anything to say in her own defense. She watched in horror as the large, muscular slave hooked Lyra’s
Commnuni-K
to a home projection system, dimmed the lights, and pulled down a large white screen at the front of the room.

“I was originally just trying to document this for training purposes,” Lyra was explaining. “I mean, he was a new slave and I wanted to have a record of everything so we could see what worked and what didn’t. And then, well, things started getting out of hand…”

“Enough, Lyra. I will watch for myself,” Lady Minora made an imperious gesture for silence with one hand.

Kaylee wanted to sink into the ground as the screen flickered to life. She was filled with dread for what was about to be revealed. Not because she regretted what she had done with Solar—she couldn’t regret it no matter how she tried. But there was no doubt she would be perceived differently now—in a very negative light. Allowing a male to penetrate you was considered little better than bestiality on Yonnie Six—even in her small home town it would have gotten her shunned. Here in the capital city of Opulex, it was likely to get her imprisoned.

The scene opened with a shot of Solar standing with his muscular arms spread and bound in the dungeon. He looked up, as though staring into the lens of the
Communi-K
on purpose, his gold and green eyes flashing.

Kaylee was surprised at the surge of sadness that hit her at the sight of him. It wasn’t just lust she felt when she saw his big body—there was something more. Something that tugged her towards him like an invisible cord fastened somewhere under her heart. She couldn’t help remembering the hurt look in his eyes before he left and his words came back to her too…
“Would you want to be bound to me forever?”
he’d asked her.

It had seemed unthinkable at the time. She barely knew him and he was a male and a slave. But now Kaylee wondered—what
would
it be like to be bound to Solar? To know he was always there to care for and protect her? To be able to seek shelter in those strong arms anytime she needed to? To let him penetrate her every night and revel in the feeling of him inside her…on top of her…

The thought sent a shiver of pure longing through her. Even the dread of what was about to happen to her couldn’t dispel it. Suddenly she wished more than anything else that she’d gone with him. She couldn’t have kept him with her—she knew that now. On Yonnie Six he would always be a second class citizen, marked as unfit because of his gender. But there were other places in the galaxy where that wasn’t true. Worlds where males and females lived together in peace and harmony. What if they had found a world like that to be together on? Would it really have been so bad?

No,
she thought, a little sob catching in her throat.
It would have been wonderful. Much better than being stuck here pretending to be something I’m not. I’m not some powerful, fashionable mistress. I’m just a plain little shop girl from Tulga and I’ve been fooling myself with all this wealth and power. Letting Lyra tell me what to do so I could try to fit in and look where it got me! I’ll probably be thrown into prison or—

An indrawn breath coming from the elevated chaise lounge of Lady Minora interrupted her bitter thoughts.

“My Goddess.” Lady Minora sounded well and truly scandalized. “I can scarcely believe this!”

On the white viewing screen, a close up shot of Solar’s shaft sliding against her cleft was in full view. Her panties were pushed up and to one side, hiding her tiny patch of red-gold curls, but the inside of her pussy was clearly revealed. How had Lyra gotten such an intimate shot? She never would have done anything like this in front of the other girl if she’d realized she was being recorded!

She blushed with mortification, feeling all the blood in her body rush to her face as the scene went on and on. There was no sound with the recording—of course Lyra would have gotten rid of that. If she’d left it in, Lady Minora would have heard her urging Kaylee to “harvest” her new slave’s nectar and seed. As it was, with only the images to go by, the video was damming evidence indeed.

Kaylee closed her eyes, unable to watch anymore. This was going to land her in prison—she was sure of it. There was no greater crime on Yonnie Six than to allow male penetration. She would be labeled a dirty pervert and a criminal who had conspired to have penetrative sex with her dangerous slave and then set him free. They would lock her up and throw away the key. She would never see the light of day again. She—

“Lyra! What is the meaning of this?” Lady Minora’s sharp, angry exclamation made Kaylee snap her eyes open and focus on the screen again. What she saw made her jaw drop.

The penetration—or attempted penetration really, since she’d never gotten that far while Lyra was still in the dungeon—was still playing. But when the image went from a close up to a full screen view, the face of the girl who was trying to mount Solar’s shaft wasn’t hers—it was Lyra’s!