“Is that what they say?” he rumbled. “Bonds of affection, hmm?”
“Y-yes…” Trin’s teeth chattered as she tried to speak. They’d been apart for too long—the cold was creeping back into her bones and she was beginning to shiver again. Thrace seemed to recognize her problem at once.
“Come here.” He reached for her in the darkness but Trin resisted.
“W-wait. What about—?”
“I’ll keep my hips angled back so I don’t touch you,” he promised. “Just let me warm you up again so you don’t freeze. It takes a long time for the passion berry’s effects to completely leave your system.”
Reluctantly, Trin allowed him to draw her into his arms once more. It was like being held by warm, flexible steel bands. Almost immediately, her shivering stopped as his body heat seemed to penetrate her skin. Thrace kept his hips well back so that only the top parts of their bodies touched this time and after a little while, Trin found herself relaxing again.
“Mmm, this is nice,” she admitted, pressing her cold cheek to his chest. “You’re so warm.”
“Glad to be of service, Mistress,” he said, his deep voice slightly sarcastic in the gloom. “Just doing my best to be the perfect body-slave.”
“You are acting like a good body-slave would,” Trin said earnestly. “And I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful. I know you could’ve let me freeze and ignored my pain and you didn’t. It’s just…I’m not that used to male anatomy and you…startled me.”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it when you had me chained down,” he pointed out.
“Yes, but back then I thought of you as a pet—like my stallion, Swift,” she admitted. “I was just helping you. And you never…er, got hard until that last time.”
“If you’ve got a big, male animal as a pet back home then you’ve certainly seen a hard shaft before,” he rumbled.
“Yes, but not directed at me,” Trin said. “Not because of me.”
He sighed. “Sorry about that. Like I said, it’s an automatic response. The same way your pussy gets wet and your nipples get hard when you’re with another female you like.”
“I don’t…” Trin cleared her throat, embarrassed by his frank words. “I don’t have that kind of reaction to other females.”
“But I thought that females from Zetta Prime always mated with each other and since there are no males—”
“You’re right—they do. And a mating between two females can be a beautiful and fulfilling thing,” Trin said. “I’ve always wished I could have that,” she admitted in a low voice. “But I just can’t…can’t seem to feel that way for another female. I’ve tried but it never works and that’s not fair to the other girl. Women want a loving commitment and all I could ever offer was friendship. So I decided to keep to myself—it’s better that way. Easier.”
“And it never occurred to you to even try with a male since you’re clearly not wired to love the company of your own sex?” Thrace sounded incredulous.
“Why would it?” Trin demanded. “You know what my people think of males—the misconceptions they have. Why, I bet not one female in a hundred back home would believe me if I told them you were able to carry on an intelligent and thoughtful conversation like this. They’d as soon believe that I taught my pet stallion, Swift to talk.”
“Huh.” He grunted thoughtfully. “I guess that makes sense then. You wouldn’t want to form a relationship with a creature you considered no better than an animal.”
“That’s what the other daughters of Zetta Prime would think—not what I think,” Trin protested. “Not anymore. You’re not what I was taught to expect, Thrace. You’re intelligent…interesting…protective…different.”
“Glad you find me so entertaining,” he murmured dryly but there was a trace of humor in his voice.
“I didn’t mean it that way and you know it.” Trin sighed. “But it’s not just the misconceptions that stopped me—having a sexual relationship with a male is actually against my religion—well, the religion I was raised in, anyway.”
“Your religion?” Thrace sounded incredulous. “Forgive me but you don’t strike me as the religious type. And I thought your people worshiped the Goddess. The same one the Kindred revere?”
“We do worship a Goddess—the Goddess of Judgment,” Trin said. “I don’t know if our beliefs coincide with the Kindred—I doubt it. Our belief is that the Goddess wanted us to leave Yonnie Six because of all the sexual depravity going on between the mistresses and their male body-slaves and eschew contact with males as much as possible. That’s why we broke off from them in the first place and moved to a whole other planet.”
“So why did you go looking to buy a male body-slave then if you’re so devout?” he asked.
“I didn’t go looking to buy a male to…to penetrate me,” Trin pointed out. “I simply needed one as a prop, so I could trade with the entitled, snobbish mistresses of Yonnie Six.”
“So you truly believe it’s some kind of mortal sin to let a male penetrate you?” he rumbled. “You think this Goddess of yours is looking down on you, ready to blast you if you let that happen?”
Trin felt her cheeks get hot but she tried to speak lightly.
“Not blast me, exactly, but I would certainly be damned to the Hell of Defiled Women. But that’s not the only reason I wouldn’t let a male do that to me—only a weak or pathetic woman would allow such a thing.”
“That’s pretty much what males of my race feel too,” Thrace admitted. “Allowing yourself to be penetrated is the…” He swallowed hard and for a moment is seemed as though he was having trouble getting the words out. “The ultimate sign of failure. The final loss of dignity and pride. When you submit to such a thing…you’re no longer a male of worth.”
“Exactly,” Trin exclaimed. “But it’s even more than that with us. It’s considered depraved and disgusting…only a few steps up from bestiality.”
“Huh,” he grunted. “Your people really don’t think much of males.”
Trin shrugged. “Most of them don’t know any males—except for the body-slaves they see occasionally if they visit Yonnie Six. And those sad, cringing creatures are hardly an accurate representation of your sex.”
“So what do you believe about it?” he probed, his voice soft and questioning.
Trin lifted her chin. “Well, I’m not as religious as my mother but I still have way too much self respect to allow my body to be…to be used in that fashion. It’s low and vulgar and degrading. I won’t cheapen myself by allowing anyone or anything to penetrate me. In fact…” She hesitated for a moment and then decided to tell him. “In fact, I’m one of the Unpenetrated.”
“The who?”
“It’s a vow you take on Zetta Prime when you decide that you don’t want to join with anyone. You stand before the priestess of the Goddess of Judgment and swear that no one and nothing shall ever enter you…your sex, I mean.” Her cheeks were getting hot again. “I took my vows five years ago and I’ve always adhered to them. I’m very proud of that.”
“I see,” he murmured neutrally. “So it is a religious issue.”
“More of a pride thing,” Trin said. “What about you—have you ever allowed yourself to be penetrated…down there?”
He gave a harsh laugh. “I told you what my people feel about it…that it makes you less of a male, that it negates your self worth. Do you think I would willingly allow such a thing?”
“So it’s a pride thing for you too,” she challenged.
“Exactly. And yet, as proud as we both are, I don’t see you being too proud to snuggle up with a male to get warm,” he pointed out.
“That’s different,” Trin said, trying to make herself believe it. “There’s nothing sexual about this…well, not for me. And even if there was, it’s not like I’d let you actually—”
“I know you wouldn’t. I wouldn’t try it,” Thrace murmured. “I get it, Mistress—you’re off limits.”