“Yes, yes, of course.” Lady Tam-tam waved one handdismissively. “Now why don’t the two of you come with me? I have a special roomfor the both of you—a dreaming room and you know there are only five inthe entire house so they’re very in demand. In fact, this one was goingto go to Lady Malroth but I’m sure she won’t mind—will you my dear?”

Lady Malroth’s face had been twisted into adisagreeable mask of irritation but she did her best to smooth it out and puton a fake smile.

“No, of course not, Lady Tam-tam. Nothing’s toogood for my little protégé.”

“Excellent! Well, come on then!” She took Trinaffectionately by the arm. “And we’ll find a different collar for yourlove-slave as well—that’s what I like to call a slave who loves his mistressand is truly devoted to her,” she explained. “We’ll get him one with no painnodes in it. He is still your slave and it is well to symbolize that—but wemust never forget that he serves you from adoration, not fear of pain. Yes?”

“Yes, of course,” Trin murmured. “I never wanted toput the collar back on him to start with,” she said, truthfully. “But I thoughtI had no choice. I…we had no idea…”

“No idea what a sanctuary you have here for slaveswho love their mistresses,” Thracesupplied smoothly.

“What a lovely way to put it,” Lady Tam-tam said,smiling. “A sanctuary. I like that. Yes, I like that very much.”

She pulled Trin and Thrace, who was still holding herhand, towards the house. But as they went, Trin looked back at Lady Malroth. Theother mistress scarcely looked happier than when Lady Tam-tam had been about tokick them off her estate. And to top it off, they had taken her room and itappeared that they were stuck at Dreaming Hills at least for tonight.

Goddess, what had they gotten themselves into andhow long would it take to get out of it?

** * * *

“Well, here we are—dreaming suite three—justperfect for the two of you.” Lady Tam-tam smiled broadly as she ushered Trinand Thraceacross the threshold of an opulently decorated room. It was a vast space with asitting-room area at one end and a huge sleeping platform on a raised dais atthe other. There was a viewscreen on the wall across from the bed, Thracenoted. It seemed like an odd place to put an expensive communication device butit might come in handy for searches or talking to The Alacrity if theyhad to.

The sleeping platform had four towering carvedgolden posts at each corner which supported a massive blue and gold canopyoverhead. It was high and wide with a thick mattress—plenty big enough for twowhich was good considering Lady Tam-tam’s next statement.

“I don’t believe in making a loving and devotedslave sleep on the floor or in a hideaway slave bed. Here at Dreaming Hills,your love-slave is welcome to share your bed…in any way you choose.” Shegave Trin a meaningful look.

Trin’s dark eyes grew wide.

“Lady Tam-tam, surely…you don’t mean…”

“Oh, my dear—I didn’t mean you should let him penetrateyou or anything like that,” Lady Tam-tam said, obviously seeing herembarrassment. “I mean, there are limits—he is still a slave and a male.Of course…” Her eyes gleamed. “If you want to penetrate him, well,that’s different. In fact, later on in the celebration we’ll have anight devoted specifically to the beauty of male submission.”

“You will?” Trin swallowed hard and Thracetried to keep from wincing. He hoped like hell they were long gone before thatparticular night came around. He didn’t mind being Trin’s slave and servingher in any capacity but there were limits to what he was able to endure.

“We will,” Lady Tam-tam said. “But I just want youto feel free to explore each other here in a loving way and know that noone will judge you for it.” She winked at both of them broadly and smiled.

“Of…of course.” Trin appeared to have troublegetting the words out but Thracewas very interested indeed. It seemed that body-slaves had a proscribed rolehere at Dreaming Hills but it was considerably looser than elsewhere on YonnieSix. He would have to learn the exact parameters of his new boundaries in orderto get this right.

Finally, after many hints and nods, Lady Tam-tamleft them alone. Trin sank down on the edge of the vast sleeping platform andgave a deep, relieved sigh.

“Whew! That was crazy.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Thrace came to stand before her.“Lady Tam-tam seems damn taken with you though, Mistress.”

“That’s thanks to you,” Trin remarked. “You reallysaved us back there! That kiss was…quick thinking.” She looked down at herhands. “Not that I think you ought to repeat it.”

“Why not, Mistress?” Thrace said softly. “Was it toointense for you?”

“Of course not.” Trin lifted her chin though hecould see that her cheeks were flushed. “It’s just…not—”

“Not right? Not proper?” Thrace finished for her. “I havenews for you, Trin, we’re probably going to have to do some other ‘improper’things while we’re here. You know what Yonnite society is like—I’ve onlyresearched it but you’ve lived it—at least to an extent. You know whatthey expect.”

“I think we’ve already seen that the expectationsare different here,” Trin argued. “Look at what just happened—on most of YonnieSix the idea of a male slave kissing his mistress on the mouth would have beena flogging or pain collar offense. It was damn risky of you to even try it.”

Thrace shrugged.

“No guts, no glory. I thought it was worth the risksince we were getting kicked out anyway.”

Also, he’d wanted to do it—wanted to tasteher sweet lips. The kiss they’d shared down on the gemstone path was burnedinto his mind and he couldn’t help wanting more. And he had a feeling that Trinmight too—even if she wouldn’t admit it. The way she’d melted in his armshadn’t been just an act—he could damn well tell by how hot her scent got. Butthis wasn’t the time to bring any of that up so he simply shrugged again.“Anyway—it worked and we’re in.”

“We’re in,” Trin echoed. “But now what?” She kickedthe high-heeled shoes he’d simmed for her. “Whew! It feels so good toget those off!”

“Now we find out exactly what our roles are hereand how different it really is from the rest of Yonnie Six,” Thrace murmured. Sinking to hisknees before her, he took one of her dainty feet in his hands and began to rub.

“Oh!” Trin tried to pull away. “You don’t have todo that!”

Thrace almost said he wanted to do it—that he wanted totouch her any way he could, which was true. But then he thought better of it.

“Yes, I do,” he said, continuing the foot rubdespite her protest. “I have to be the perfect devoted slave, hopelesslyenamored of his mistress here. This is part of it.”

“But you don’t have to keep it up while we’re inour private rooms,” Trin protested. She still seemed uneasy about letting himtouch her this way, even though he’d held her in his arms most of last night.It occurred to Thrace that she was a very self sufficient female and one who hadnever really had much intimate physical contact with another person—especiallynot a male. So getting her used to his touch would take some work on his part.

That was all right—he was willing to put in theeffort.

“And how private do you think this room is?”he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Well the doors are closed and there are shadesover all the windows,” she said, indicating the tall, floor to ceiling drapeswhich were outlined by weak grayish light around the edges.

“But how do you know there aren’t cameras or videquipment trained on us right now?” Thrace asked. “Think about it,Trin, Lady Malroth told us that lady Tam-tam is a voyeur. And what aboutthe way she was urging us to explore each other in bed?”

Trin’s cheeks flushed. “That was kind ofweird,” she admitted. “You think she might be…watching us?”