Then she swept away with her body-slave in tow, leaving Trin to look after her in disbelief.
* * * * *
“Looks like we’re stuck here—at least for the night,” Thrace remarked under his breath. Trin was looking pale and upset and he wanted to get her talking and make sure she was all right.
“Did you hear what she said?” Trin turned to him, ignoring the crowd of mistresses and slaves that were making their way to another large room through a vast golden archway.
“Yeah, I heard. Sounds like you have a choice to make,” Thrace said. “Either forget about the deal or put on a show for Lady Tam-tam tonight.”
“Why only me? Why am I the only one making the choice?” Trin demanded, her eyes flashing. “This involves you too. Don’t you care that Lady Malroth is basically telling us we have to prostitute ourselves to earn her business?”
Thrace shrugged. “Honestly? No.” He let his eyes travel over her body from the rectangle of see-though lace pulled tight over her full breasts to the tiny scrap of turquoise fabric which barely covered her pussy mound. “You’re gorgeous and soft and curved in all the right places,” he said, letting his eyes return to hers. “And you smell so damn good it makes me ache. I have no problem in ‘putting on a show’ for Lady Tam-tam if it means I get to stroke your soft skin and bring you pleasure.”
“Thrace!” Trin bit her lip and crossed her arms protectively over her breasts. “You’re not supposed to talk like that. It’s not…”
“Proper? Here it is,” he pointed out. “But I’m not trying to embarrass you. You asked me a question and I gave you an honest answer. If you want to go through with the deal, we’ll have to do whatever Lady Tam-tam wants. It’s up to you.”
“Maybe…” Trin bit her lip. “Maybe she doesn’t want much—just something romantic. Like you holding me, the way you did last night.”
“Maybe,” Thrace acknowledged although he couldn’t help hoping for a little more. Not that he wanted to make Trin uncomfortable or take what she didn’t want to give, but even now her scent was hot. She might not know what she wanted, but her body clearly did.
“Or maybe we can pretend—act like we’re doing…whatever it is without actually doing it.” Trin was beginning to sound more hopeful.
Thrace shrugged again. “It’s worth a try.”
“All right, we’ll do it.” Trin lifted her chin. “I need this deal to go through. Normally I would never consider anything like this but since you don’t mind…”
“Not a bit,” Thrace growled. He took her hand in his. “Didn’t you hear me tell Lady Tam-tam there was nothing I wouldn’t do for you?”
“But…” Her cheeks got flushed. “You were just trying to charm her when you said that.”
“I was telling the truth,” Thrace said quietly. “I owe you a great debt, Trin. One I can never truly repay. I’ll do whatever it takes…whatever you want to get this done. And I’ll do it with pleasure.” He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm gently. Gods, he loved kissing her soft little hands. He just wished he could kiss the rest of her as well!
“Thrace…” Her dark eyes were wide and uncertain. “I—”
“Forgive me, my lady, but the dinner chime rang five minutes ago. If you don’t hurry you will be late.”
It was one of the door guards, dressed in his orange and purple uniform. He bowed low and indicated the broad golden archway at the end of the room which most of the other mistresses had already gone through.
“Oh, of course. Thank you.” Trin nodded in confusion and looked at Thrace. “I guess we’d better go.”
“I guess so,” he said. But he couldn’t help wondering what was in store for them later that night. And if Trin would allow herself to enjoy it.
Chapter Eighteen
The head dining table was at the far end of the long, high-ceilinged rectangular room. Two long tables ran the length of the vast hall and all the other mistresses were already seated along them with their slaves.
Trin and Thrace had to walk all the way from one end of the banquet hall to the other with everyone staring at them. Trin could feel her cheeks heating as they strode down the narrow isle between the lengthy tables but she kept her head high and her shoulders back. She refused to be embarrassed by a lot of women she didn’t know and didn’t care about—at least, that was what she told herself.
“Ah, my dear—here you are. I was beginning to get worried!” Lady Tam-tam said when they finally reached the head table which was covered in a gold lace tablecloth and laid with gem encrusted goblets and plates. Lady Tam-tam was seated on a vast golden throne-like chair right in the center of the table.
There were chairs on either side of her, but they weren’t normal plasti-wood ones like the kind the other mistresses and slaves were seated on at the two long tables. Instead, the chairs at the head table appeared to be a kind of high-backed sitting swing made of padded mesh and suspended from the arching ceiling above. Trin saw, with some dismay, that the chairs were meant for two—but not to sit side-by-side. No, the arrangement appeared to be much more…intimate than that.
From what she could see, the body-slave sat in the swing first and leaned back against the padded mesh and then his mistress sat in his lap. It looked rather awkward for the few couples who didn’t appear to want to be together or touching but there were several mistress and slave pairs seated around Lady Tam-tam who seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. One of them was a little blonde mistress and her slave seated directly to Trin’s left. They were giggling and snuggling like a pair of love birds, obviously perfectly comfortable in the strange swing-seat.
There was an empty swinging seat to Lady Tam-tam’s right, right beside the giggling couple, but when Trin moved to go to it, their hostess raised a hand to stop her.
“Wait, Lady Trin. Through some oversight by the door guards I don’t believe you were announced as we came into the reception hall.”
Trin’s mouth went dry and her palms began to sweat.
“Oh, well that’s all right, Lady Tam-tam. I don’t mind, really,” she said, trying to smile.
“But I do.” Lady Tam-tam got a mulish expression on her face. “You’re my special guest—you must be announced! And there is no time like the present. Guard!” she said and one of the guards in orange and purple livery rushed over at once.
“Yes, my Mistress?”
“Announce Lady Trin at once. Yes—right here will do,” indicating the open spot in front of the table. “And see that you speak nice and loudly so everyone can hear.”
Trin had never been a particularly shy person but she felt she wanted to melt into the ground when the guard turned and bellowed,
“Announcing Lady Trin, the special guest of our hostess and the mistress of all our hearts, Lady Tam-tam of Dreaming Hills!”
Trin made a brief bow to all those assembled but she knew she couldn’t be seated yet. Thrace was standing right beside her, waiting for her signal. But somehow she couldn’t give it.
“Well, go on my dear,” Lady Tam-tam hissed behind her. “Have your love-slave make obeisance to you. Then the feast can begin.”
She looked at Thrace, her heart pounding. Goddess, I can’t do this in front of all these people. I can’t…
Thrace seemed to understand her trouble—the way she was frozen to the spot and unable to move, unable to give him the correct signal to make obeisance to her.
“Mistress,” he murmured and bent towards her. But instead of getting on his knees at once, he leaned forward and cupped her breasts. Bringing them to his mouth, he laid a soft, gentle kiss on each nipple, making Trin bite back a gasp. His breath was hot through the thin lace and her nipples, already erect from the slight chill in the air, were suddenly tight, aching little points at the ends of her breasts.
From behind her, she heard Lady Tam-tam give a murmur of approval but Thrace wasn’t done yet—he knelt before her and put his hands on her waist. He looked up at her, holding her gaze with his own, and then pressed his mouth carefully to the tiny triangle of turquoise lace at the center of her mound.