Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“You have?” Breenah’s heart started beating harder. Did Mistress Work-worthy somehow know what she’d done last night with Rax? She’d been so certain that everyone was in bed but what if the Superior had been watching her?
“Of course I have and we need to talk,” Mistress Work-worthy said. “Come with me.”
Taking Breenah by the arm, she steered her towards a table at the far end of the Dining Hall.
Heart pounding, Breenah allowed herself to be led. Oh Goddess, she was going to be in so much trouble! They would probably kick her out of the Compound or at the very least, Mistress Pain-giver would punish her.
Breenah had been to the dreaded Mistress’s office only once, when she’d been caught sneaking out of the dormitory in the middle of the night, to try and find a little more food to eat in the kitchens. She had been caught by a patrolling Superior, ravenously gobbling a dry grain-roll which was all she’d been able to find.
Mistress Pain-giver had punished her for the infraction harshly, using an electric prod to deliver stinging jolts to the tender tips of her nipples until Breenah had begged for mercy and forgiveness and had sworn never to steal food again. She had cried and cried and her nipples had felt numb and tingly for ages afterwards—a reminder of her punishment and shame.
But that had been when she was younger and still growing and her body had cried out for more sustenance. Now she had no such excuse—after all, it wasn’t as though her body craved what Rax had given her…did it?
“Come sit with me and Mistress Heal-all.” Mistress Work-worthy’s voice broke into her guilty train of thought and she looked up to see they were nearly to the long table at the far end of the Dining Hall.
Breenah had never sat at the Superiors’ table before. It was filled with older females who gave her disapproving sideways glances when Mistress Work-worthy settled her at the end of the bench.
There was Mistress Grow-much, who was the head of the Greenhouses and Mistress Tidy-all, who was charged with keeping the Compound neat and in order—she was Meendy’s direct supervisor. The two Mistresses were sitting with several other Superiors who were in charge of other, lesser operations of the Compound.
At the head of the table sat Mistress Pain-giver. She was a thin, stern woman with unforgiving black eyes and jet-black hair, touched with iron gray at the temples. She shot a suspicious glance at Breenah that made her heart gallop in her chest.
But Mistress Work-worthy didn’t appear to notice this. She settled on the bench beside Breenah and waved at Mistress Heal-all who came and sat across from them.
“What is it?” Breenah burst out abruptly. “Am…am I in trouble?”
Mistress Work-worthy frowned.
“Why no, Breenah. I promised to tell you of the plan that Mistress Heal-all and I have come up with to help you conform, didn’t I?”
“To…to help me conform?” Breenah repeated and then remembered their brief conversation at Last Meal the night before. “But…I thought you said you weren’t going to tell me until after the Lunar Equinox?” she asked.
“We can’t implement the plan until then, but Mistress Heal-all and I thought you’d like to know what to expect,” Mistress Work-worthy told her. She looked at Mistress Heal-all. “Since you’re the one who will actually implement the plan, I think it would be best if you explain it to her.”
“Of course,” Mistress Heal-all said, nodding her head. “Now, Breenah—” she began.
“What are you going to do to me?” Breenah interrupted. She couldn’t quite keep the apprehension out of her voice. It didn’t seem like anyone had seen what she had done with Rax but now she had a whole new reason to be frightened.
“Now, now—there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Mistress Heal-all said briskly, reaching across the table to pat her hand exactly twice. “We’re going to help you. Of course, the main problem is your breasts.”
“They’re simply too large,” Mistress Work-worthy said.
“And I’m sure they’re too sensitive, too—right?” Mistress Heal-all asked. “Look—could you do this?” She flicked her own flat, colorless nipple with a thumb and forefinger and didn’t even flinch.
“I…I’d rather not,” Breenah said, wincing at the idea.
“See? I didn’t think so,” Mistress Heal-all said. “What we need to do, Breenah, is get rid of those big, sensitive breasts of yours. And the way to do it is with just a little minor surgery.”
“We’ll simply snip them right off,” Mistress Work-worthy said and snapped her fingers to show how quick it would be. “You’ll go to sleep and when you wake up, you’ll have a nice, flat chest like everyone else.”
“You…you want to cut off my breasts?” Breenah couldn’t keep the horror out of her voice.
“You won’t even know they’re gone!” Mistress Heal-all protested. “And you won’t have to worry about sensitive parts being exposed to the cold.”