pressed some of the buttons—though not the big red pain button, Lilli was relieved to note.
“There,” Mistress Mirabella said at last, handing it back. “That will make certain he can’t touch himself and he can’t touch you. Later you can set it so that your slave can massage you and do other things for you, but until he’s trained, it’s best to keep it at a non-contact setting. Only you can touch him and he won’t be able to lay a finger on either his own equipment or you without getting a nasty jolt.”
“All right.” Lilli nodded and took back the remote. She supposed it was a good safety feature to have. It would keep a rebellious bodyslave in line and keep a Mistress who wasn’t quite sure of him safe.
“Now take care of him and get the both of you ready,” her mother ordered. “You only have a little over an hour before guests will begin arriving. Oh, and don’t forget to oil his shaft and put a stay-hard strap on him. I want that impressive endowment of his on display tonight—Lady Paddlepants will be so jealous!” She smirked, clearly anticipating the jealousy and discomfort of one of her best friends.
Lilli felt her mouth go dry. She’d never oiled a slave’s shaft before—or fitted one with a stay-hard strap. For that matter, she’d never touched a naked male and washed him all over. How was she going to manage all this?
But her mother was already turning away to get ready in her own rooms on the other end of the vast penthouse suite.
It looked like Lilli was on her own.
Five
Karn was beginning to feel sorry for the little female. She could hardly meet his eyes and she looked scared to death when her mother had ordered her to bathe him. And when she’d further ordered that Lilli must oil his shaft and put him into some kind of contraption to keep him hard at the party they were having that night, his new little Mistress had looked so terrified his heart melted in sympathy.
Too bad I can’t offer to wash myself, Karn thought, as she led him through the elaborate suite of rooms which were clearly hers. But of course if he did that, he would be admitting that the remote was as fake as the collar he wore.
They went through a sitting room with rose-gold velvet plush Synthian furniture and then through a bedroom dominated by an elaborately carved white four-poster bed made of rare gnoss ivory. Finally they entered a cavernous bathing chamber made of expensive hurtha marble. The marble was a deep blue, shot through with swirls of silver, white, and gold. The effect was that of the galaxy laid out on the walls, Karn thought. A space-scape in the confines of a fresher.
“Fucking gorgeous,” he murmured, looking around. All the fixtures on the shower and the huge tub were pure gold and the bathmats were woven of tengu grass which lived off the water that was dripped on it and sprouted tiny flowers when it was stepped on with wet feet.
“Oh, do you like my bathing chamber?” Lilli asked shyly. “It’s so much different from the bathroom I used to share with the other girls at the convent.”
Karn frowned.
“You lived in a convent?” He’d heard Lady Mirabella saying something along that line, but he wasn’t sure he’d understood her correctly.
Lilli nodded her head.
“Oh, yes. Mother had me raised there after she gave birth. In fact, she had me brought right from the birthing and conception center to the convent. She said she didn’t have time for children.”
“That seems kind of harsh,” Karn remarked. His own mother had been warm and loving and he felt sorry for the girl for not having had that.
“Oh, no.” Lilli shook her head quickly, her golden ringlets rippling fetchingly. “She visited me once a month, you know, which was more than some of the other girls got to see their parents. She’s just always been so busy with her business, you see.”
Then she blushed, her cheeks going rosy and looked down at her hands.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Karn started to lift her chin so she would meet his eyes but remembered at the last minute he wasn’t supposed to be able to touch her. Damn.
Instead, he leaned down to get their faces on the same level.
“What is it, little Mistress?” he asked gently.
“Oh, it’s just that…I shouldn’t be talking private business to you.” She sounded ashamed, as though she had broken