“I received your message about your shipment ofJaxite crystals with cautious pleasure, mingled, I must confess, with more thana little trepidation,” a sharp, cultured voice said.

Thrace started to go back into the fresher—this was aprivate message, after all. But he could tell that the woman speaking was amistress of Yonnie Six by the way she was dressed. She was wearing an outfitthat was a bizarre mixture of modest and revealing. Her dress had a collar thatwent up to her chin and fell down to her ankles, covering her completely. Itwas a flat, opaque blue except for clear mesh panels over her breasts and thearea between her thighs. Though they were technically covered, her breasts andsex were clearly revealed by the odd garment.

But her dress wasn’t the only strange thing abouther—her hair was dyed deep blue to match her dress and swept up in an elaboratestyle that towered over her head. On her fingers, rings filled with rare andprecious gems flashed as she talked.

Ohyeah, Yonnie Six, all right, Thrace thought. His old Master had had some dealings withthe mistresses there—though he’d been forced to use a female envoy to conductthem. The Yonnites had absolutely no respect or use for males at all—except asbody-slaves. That was about as much as Thrace knew about them and it wasas much as he’d ever wanted to know. But since this call might affecthis future freedom and Trin’s ability to sell the crystals, he figured he’dbetter listen in.

“My trepidation, of course, stems from the factthat last time you came to see me, you were not properly accessorized.” TheYonnie mistress emphasized the word. “I trust you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Trin muttered fromthe bed. “You want me to have a body-slave, you snobbish prig.” Her backwas still towards him so she didn’t see Thrace standing in the shadowswatching her. There was a slump to her slim shoulders that spoke of herweariness and he felt a surge of pity for his new mistress.

“I very much want the shipment and I’m prepared togive you a very fair price. But…” The mistress held up one ringedfinger. “You must have a proper body-slave with you this time. It is of utmostimportance as the only place I can see you is at the Landra-Rey Celebration.There will be other mistresses there as well and I must not be seen toassociate with an inferior connection. Every move you make will be scrutinizedso I hope you’re up to date on the current customs and fashions. As you know,they change daily—sometimes hourly—on our lovely world and only the latestfashions and trends will be tolerated.”

“Customs and fashions. Goddess of Judgment, give mestrength!” Trin sighed and ran a hand through her long black hair.

“Your body-slave must also be perfectly behavedwith only the finest manners. An impressive specimen will be in order so I hopeyou have procured one.”

“Oh, I think you’ll be impressed, Lady Malroth,”Trin muttered to herself and Thracecouldn’t help grinning. It was good to know she had confidence in his abilityto impress the picky Yonnite mistress.

“The Landra-Rey Celebration is being heldtwo days from now at Lady Tam-tams estate, Dreaming Hills, located in thecountryside just north of Opulex. I will leave your name at the estate entranceand I hope to see you at the grand reception the first evening. There we canmeet and talk and finalize our deal…if everything is acceptable.”

The message ended abruptly with no good-bye.Presumably Lady Malroth was too busy for such trivial courtesies.

“Well, it looks like we have our work cut out forus,” Thracesaid, stepping forward.

“Oh!” Trin spun around, one hand to her heart andthe remote to the pain collar gripped in the other. Her eyes widened when shesaw him.

“Take it easy,” Thrace held out his free hand in agesture of peace—the other was holding the too-small towel around his waist andhe didn’t want to let it go. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Were you listening to my message?” Trin demanded,her dark eyes flashing.

Thrace nodded, seeing no point in lying.

“I figured it concerned us both.”

She sighed and seemed to lose some of herirritation.

“You’re right about that. I was hoping she’d bewilling to grant me a quick, private audience in her own home to do this dealbut no—apparently I’ve got to go to some weird celebration or otherwhere my every move will be scrutinized in order to even see her.”

“What kind of celebration is it?” Thrace raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. Thedaughters of Zetta Prime are descended from the Yonnie Six mistresses but westopped following their customs long ago.”

“Except for the one about having nothing to do withmales,” Thracepointed out dryly.

“Except for that,” Trin admitted. “Although eventhe Yonnites have more dealing with males than we do. They use them forbody-slaves—we just prefer to avoid them altogether.”

“Too bad I seem to be unavoidable,” Thraceremarked, smiling at her.

A small smile ghosted across her lips in reply.

“I guess so.” She sighed. “Well, that message wasdated from much earlier—it must have come in just as I was leaving for theDemon’s Eye. Which means we really only have a day to get ready and getourselves back to Yonnie Six and this Landra-Rey Celebration.”

“Guess I’ll have to become the perfect body-slave,”Thracesaid thoughtfully. “I’d better not screw this up for you if I don’t want toremain in your service for the rest of my natural life.”

“I’ll have to be the perfect mistress as well.”Trin sighed. “That’s not going to be easy. The Yonnites are so devious andround-about. I prefer straight-forward dealings where you know where youstand.”

“We’re going to be standing in quickmud the entiretime and we’ll sink in up to our necks if we don’t keep moving,” Thracemuttered. “With your permission, I’d like to run a few searches on theviewscreen—I need to find out exactly what’s going to be expected of me.”

“Okay, but tomorrow.” Trin yawned and shivered,wrapping her arms around herself. “We’ll start early but right now I’m tiredand really cold. I need a hot shower and then I’m going to bed.”

“A hot bath would be better,” Thrace pointed out. “I noticed youhave a small bubble tub in there. You should submerge yourself in hot water—itwould bring up your core temperature.” Not that it would help that much if shewas still having after effects from the passion berries as he suspected. But itcouldn’t hurt…

Trin shook her head.

“That sounds great but I’m too tired for a bathright now. Just a quick shower is fine. Um…” She cleared her throat and hereyes flickered down to the towel around his waist. “The storage locker in thecorner has extra blankets and pillows and a few items of male clothing left bythe mistress who used to own this ship. I think she had a slave that was aboutyour size. Maybe you could find something to fit you.”

“I’ll look,” Thrace said, nodding. He washeartily sick of wearing the tight black leather pants the slavers had forcedhim into but the flimsy towel he was holding around his waist was hardly aviable alternative. He fervently hoped he might find something both morecomfortable and more practical in the storage locker.

“Good.” Trin nodded at him briefly. “Okay, then I’mtaking a shower. Good night.”

“Good night…Mistress.” The title still seemedstrange to him, especially when he’d sworn to himself never to call her that.But it fit her somehow and Thracefound that the more he said it, the easier it came.

Shaking his head at the strangeness of it, he wentto the storage locker she’d indicated and started to look for something new towear.

Chapter Thirteen

Trin turned over on her side and rolled herselfinto a ball, pulling her knees in tight to her body. Goddess of Judgment, shewas cold! And no matter what she did, she just kept getting colder. She’salready put two extra thermal blankets on and she was wearing thermal sockstoo. She wished she had some thermal sleepwear but the thin, silky sleepdresses which had so bothered Thracewhen she wore them around him were the only nighttime garments she possessed.