Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“Can you imagine having a Master that was a female?” the other guard asked, laughing coarsely. He nodded at Nox. “You think she makes him get down and lick her pussy anytime she wants? Even when it’s not her harvest time?”
“Excuse me?” Seline exclaimed. “How dare you talk that way about me right to my face?”
Nox simply growled—a low rumbling that came from the bottom of his deep chest and made both the guards look worried.
“Uh…sorry, female Master,” the first one said. “We’ve just…never seen your kind before. Not in the Halls of Pain, anyway.”
“The Halls of Pain?” Seline said, frowning. “I thought this was the Upper Disk?”
“That’s what the ones below call it,” the second guard said. “But they don’t know our ways—most of them don’t have a chance in hell of getting up here to see the way we live.”
“Yeah—you’re lucky the boss was bored and wanted some entertainment,” the first guard remarked. “Never would have agreed to see you otherwise.”
“Entertainment? I’m here to make a very lucrative offer,” Seline snapped. “Open the doors at once so that I can speak to Mistress Lendrex.”
“Mistress Lendrex, is it?” one of the guards snorted laughter. “All right then, since you insist.”
They swung the doors open, revealing a kind of throne room. At least, it was vast and decorated in marble and inlaid wood and precious metals but Seline didn’t see a Mistress sitting in the throne at the end of the vast room.
Instead, a large male with golden scales for skin was staring at them.
“Well, well,” he rumbled, narrowing his eyes. “So you must be the female Master. Come in—come in. I’m very interested to meet you.”
FOURTEEN
SELINE
“Oh, um…” For a moment, Seline was at a loss for words. Who was this person and where was Mistress Lendrex?
“Come on—come here so I can see you,” the male on the throne insisted. His scales were shiny and golden, throwing shimmering patterns of light onto the black marble floor. There were a lot of scales on display, too, since he wore only trousers and boots but no shirt to hide his muscular physique.
“I…I’m here to see Mistress Lendrex,” Seline said, taking a step forward.
The man with golden scales barked a laugh.
“There’s no Mistress here but I am Master Lendrex.”
Seline didn’t know what to say. Once more the one percent difference that Nox had been worried about must have come into play. In this universe Mistress Lendrex was male.
Part of her wanted to turn around and leave but even though the woman she had come to see had somehow been switched to a man, there was still the possibility that he had the other half of the Far Box, which they desperately needed.
“I…I have come to make a deal with you,” she said at last.
The male Lendrex—or Master Lendrex as he had called himself—waved her statement away with one golden hand.
“Please—I’m not interested in that. I only allowed you up here because I heard there was a female who thinks she can be a Master—which is something I’ve never seen before. At least, not in this part of the galaxy.” He pointed at Nox. “Is he your pleasure slave?”
Seline opened her mouth to answer but to her surprise, Nox suddenly took over.
The big Kindred unfastened the leather collar and chain from around his neck and let them fall to the floor. Then he stepped forward and put an arm around Seline’s shoulders.
“Actually, you have been misinformed,” he told Master Lendrex. “I am Master Nox and this female is my pleasure slave.”
“What?” A frown creased the golden Master’s face. “But I thought—”
“Apologies for the deception,” Nox said smoothly. “It was necessary in order to gain an audience with you, Master Lendrex. I have a very lucrative offer for you, if you’ll give me a moment to explain it.”
At first Seline was afraid the golden man on the throne was going to get mad. But then he shook his head and chuckled.
“Well, I must admit this is the most creative way anyone has ever gotten an audience with me, here in the Halls of Pain,” he remarked. “I’m notoriously hard to get a meeting with—but I suppose you must have known that.”
“Of course,” Nox said shrugging. “Hence our ruse.”
“So…your little pleasure slave played her part quite well,” Master Lendrex remarked, looking at Seline. “I honestly believed that she thought she was a Master for a moment there.”
“She does well enough—but she knows who the true Master is,” Nox rumbled.
He wove his long fingers into Seline’s hair and, to her utter shock, pushed her down to kneel beside him.
She nearly stumbled in surprise but she went to her knees, as he clearly wanted her to do. Nox kept his hold on her hair—he wasn’t hurting her exactly, but he was so strong she knew there was no way she was getting up until he let her. Well—she had promised to follow his lead—she just hadn’t expected her promise to lead her to something like this.