Protecting His Mistress - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,19
do you think drinking a big glass of bubble wine would do to my quick-grow?” She held the empty wine glass up in one hand and patted her swelling lower abdomen with the other.
“I…I don’t know, my Lady,” H’rare muttered miserably. “I’m not…I don’t know such things.”
“Which is the only reason I’m not having you sent to the Diluthian mines!” Priss snapped. She pressed the remote again and watched with a smile curving the corners of her thin lips as her bodyslave stiffened in pain. This time she did not let up immediately but watched with that same nasty smirk as H’rare writhed in front of her.
Karn felt sorry for the poor bastard—clearly his young Mistress was a burgeoning sadist. But when he looked at his own Mistress, he saw that Lilli was upset by the display.
“Oh, please—you’re hurting him!” she exclaimed, putting out a hand to Priss. “Please, don’t!”
The other girl shot her a disdainful look.
“You can’t be too easy on your bodyslaves, Lilliana, or they’ll walk all over you,” she snapped. “However, since we are at the dinner table…”
She let up on the remote and H’rare—who had been frozen in a rictus of pain—sank to his knees panting.
“Clean up this mess,” Priss barked at him. “And bring me something non-alcoholic to drink.”
“Wait.” Priss glared up at him. “Aren’t you forgetting something, H’rare?”
Her bodyslave swallowed and Karn saw a look of pure hatred flash in his eyes. But it was gone so quickly no one else noticed it.
“Thank you for correcting me, Mistress,” he said mechanically. “Truly, I am most grateful.”
“Of course you are.” Priss snapped her fingers at him. “Now go. And if you don’t know the way in this ridiculously huge barn of a house, I’m sure one of the other bodyslaves who works here can guide you.” She looked at Lilli. “Lilliana, have your bodyslave take my H’rare to the kitchens to get me something more appropriate to drink.”
“Oh, well actually, Karn hasn’t been with me very long,” Lilli said, glancing back at him. “So he doesn’t know where the kitchens are either.”
“That’s all right, little Mistress,” Karn told her. “I’m sure I can find my way. Come on.” He nodded at the other bodyslave, who nodded back, and the two of them set off for the far corner of the long banquet hall where there was a swinging double door. That seemed the most logical place to find the kitchens and even if it wasn’t, this was a golden opportunity for Karn to explore.
He only hoped Lilli would be all right with the awful Priss while he was gone.
Twelve
“So, that’s a nice new bodyslave you have, Lilliana—though he’s a bit too quick to speak to his betters if you ask me.” Priss remarked, toying with the food on her plate.
The servants had come and served everyone but the skinny girl had hardly touched a thing as far as Lilli could see. She wished Karn was back behind her chair. His solid presence made her feel grounded, but he and Priss’s bodyslave were still gone to the distant kitchens to clean up and get the picky Mistress something new to drink.
In fact, none of the girls was drinking the bubble wine, though her mother had said it was extremely expensive and sure to be a hit. Lilli had ordered one of the serving girls to bring a bottle of sparkling goochi juice to the table instead and they were all sipping that, though it only cost a fraction of the other exotic vintage.
“Yes, Karn is a Kindred,” Lilli said, trying to be gracious though she was disliking Priss more and more every minute they sat at the same table together. She especially didn’t like the way the other girl had treated her bodyslave.
“A Kindred, is it? No wonder he has such a big shaft.” Priss popped a single sedju seed between her teeth and crunched noisily. “Most impressive, I must say. Maybe I’ll tell my mother to buy him from your mother for me.”
“Oh, but you can’t do that!” Lilli exclaimed. “Karn is mine. He’s my very first bodyslave—Mother bought him for me specially.”
“Karn is mine,” Priss sing-songed in a baby voice. “Honestly, I can’t believe you’re only just now getting your first bodyslave. I’ve had five already, counting H’rare.”
“Five?” Lilli looked at her in surprise. “But, well…where are they?”
Priss shrugged. “They’re all so troublesome. Every single one had to be sent to the Diluthian mines because they couldn’t behave