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feeling Shaina's eyes upon her, the slave girl turned her head
as well as she could and looked at her out of pleading, sky-
blue eyes. Her features were shockingly lovely, the kind of
face, Shaina thought, that you saw on the vid screen back
home.
"Ah now, this is Trebekka. As you can see she is being
punished," T'lar explained casually, nodding in the slave's
direction. "She was a naughty slave and refused to pleasure
her master properly so he has set her up here for all to try
until she has learned her lesson."
Shaina gasped. "You mean just anyone could come in here
and ... and try her out?"
"Oh, certainly, Mistress. It's a common practice among
those wishing to sell slaves. If you let the buyer get a taste of
the goods, he is more likely to buy. Any good slave should
give proven satisfaction before credit exchanges hands. In
fact, in most of the auction houses on the other side of the
planet, the merchants refuse to sell their slaves untried. It
reduces the number of complaints and returns, you see."
"How ... how so?" Shaina choked, unable to drag her eyes
from the harnessed slave girl.
"Why, I would think it would be obvious, little Mistress. If
the potential buyer publicly puts the slave he wishes to
purchase to the test and finds him or her acceptable, they are
less likely to be able to claim dissatisfaction later."
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"Publicly?" Shaina's eyes widened in horror. "You mean
they ... try them out right up there on the ... on the auction
block?"
"Oh, certainly, the more witnesses the better," T'lar said
casually. "In fact, the auction houses often employ people
just for that purpose, to make sure a buyer gets satisfaction
before he signs the contract. Would you like to try Trebekka
out? Allow me to demonstrate her sensitivity."
And before Shaina could protest, the tall Kandalar had
taken a long wand with what looked like a feather attached to
its end off the wall of Trebekka's stall and used it to stroke
along the slave girl's swollen pink clitoris eliciting a tortured
moan from her slender throat.
"Oh, no, stop! Please don't ... don't hurt her," Shaina
begged, grabbing T'lar's rose-pink arm and stopping him from
repeating the action.
"Hurt her?" He gave her a mystified look. "It doesn't hurt
her, Mistress Sender, except to increase her sexual need. You
see, her inner tissues have been liberally coated with the
same lubricating agent that I provided you to use with your
D'Lonian's sheath. It increases sexual arousal to a fever pitch
and keeps it there for hours. It is a form of torture, you might
say, but a very mild one as no actual pain is involved." As if
to prove his point, the slave girl wiggled and arched her back
as well as she could, presenting her hot little sex as if begging
for another stroke from the feather wand.
No actual pain, huh? Ty's voice in her head was full of
sarcasm and Shaina turned to look at him with surprise.
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It hurts? Why didn't you tell me? She demanded, feeling
awful that her partner had been in pain this whole time and
she hadn't had any idea. She put her hand up and stroked his
face, pretending to stroke the hair out of his golden eyes as
they communicated. His skin was smooth and warm and as
her hand passed over his cheek, he turned his face and
placed a lingering kiss in her palm that sent a tingle
throughout her entire body.
To be hard for hours at a time? Hell yes it hurts,
sweetheart. But it's more of an ache after a while. Don't
worry, I can stand it. As for why I didn't tell you, there was
nothing you could do about it so why bring it up?
We could have avoided using that bloody oil, Shaina
pointed out, angrily, trying to keep her face smooth and
unperturbed, just a Mistress tending to her slave
And let the damn sheath rub against me with no
lubrication? No thanks! It's painful but I'm used to it. I'm
always hard when I'm around you anyway. He gave her his
familiar feral grin, a white slice in his dark golden face and
Shaina tried not to blush and dropped her hand abruptly.
Don't tease, Ty.
I'm not. Think you'd better pay attention to your friend
T'lar, he's looking restless. Shaina shook her head and turned
back to T'lar who was indeed exhibiting signs of impatience.
"My slave appeared to have something in his eye," she
remarked, offhandedly.
"Are you interested in Trebekka or not, Mistress Sender?"
T'lar asked, hanging the feather wand back on the wall of her
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stall. "She will be on display as you see her for the rest of the
day."
"I don't know, T'lar. I want to look around some more
before I make a decision and I haven't even seen the male
quarters yet. Maybe I can come and have another look at her
after the banquet tonight."
"Ah, but I am afraid that will be quite impossible. You see,
the quarters are closed at night. The way we see it, the
Masters and Mistresses have all day to play with them and to
be at their best, even slaves need to rest. We here at the
Palace are not barbarians, you know."
Shaina had an entirely different opinion of the Palace
personnel and from the sound of Tyson's mental snort, he did
as well. Rather than commenting, however, she motioned for
T'lar to lead the way through the remaining stalls.
As they came to the end of the long row, Shaina saw a
familiar figure bending over the last stall. It was Cassandra
Shybolt, the friendly Mistress from the night before with her
tower of pale brown hair and sitting quietly at her feet was
her plump blond slave girl, L'Mera.
"Ah, Meshandra, my dear, how are you?" Mistress Shy
asked, looking up from the last stall with a radiant smile.
"You're looking very well today," she went on, without waiting
for an answer. "And your tame D'Lonian, delightful. I
understand you were privileged to be featured on the holo-
grid in the viewing room today and I was not a bit surprised
to hear it. Such a lovely display of pleasure you made last
night."
A star is born.
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Shut up, Ty. Shaina didn't need to look at her partner to
know he was grinning. She could feel her face glowing red
with embarrassment; all she wanted to do was change the
subject as quickly as possible.
"Yes ... well," she said uneasily. "Are you interested in
buying a new slave, Mistress Shy?"
"Well, I had thought about it you know. L'Mera gets
lonesome sometimes and might like to have a companion.
Would you not, my sweet?" The middle-aged Mistress turned
to her slave girl whose hair was fixed today, Shaina saw, in
what looked like thousands of long, thin tight braids each one
tied at the end with a bit of purple silk. A jeweled anti-grav
collar around her neck caused the braids to float suspended in
mid-air like a lot of blond snakes around her head. She
nodded vigorously at her Mistresses' question, causing the
snakes to bob and wiggle alarmingly.
"And which one have you picked out?" The way Mistress
Shy put it, it sounded rather like buying a pet for your pet.
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