“And your way that tempts women into reckless abandon is better?”
“Yes,” Tok said.
“Such arrogance,” she said, crossing her arms over her breasts and closing her thighs. “It’s better for Canypscan men when Canypscan women are available for sex, no doubt.”
“True also.” Tok flashed a brief devastating smile before he turned.
She glared at his broad back as he left the chamber.
* * *
Zawri stiffened whenWex called Roll via com and said, “Bring her to me.”
“I haven’t completed the examination or fulfilled Tok’s requests.”
She bit her lip nervously. Exactly what special requests was the hunter making that required a physician to prepare her?
“Bring her. You can do all that later,” Wex said.
“All right,” Roll said, taking her by the arm and drawing her off the table. She grabbed her shift and pulled it on, holding it closed where it had been cut.
He smiled. “It’s all right to put it on, but they won’t let you keep it.”
She folded her arms, hugging her middle, and stared straight ahead. “I’ll keep it as long as I can.”
He motioned her into a passageway. The walk was brief and ended in a bathing chamber that was not unlike the ones on the luxury liner she’d been abducted from. The walls were natural warm yellow stone with umber veins. Wex sat casually on an amber-topped bench. He looked her over.
“When she finishes her duties here, I’ll bring her to the medical area and you can continue preparations.”
“Good enough.”
Roll cupped her face for a moment, then turned and left.
Wex stood in the bathing cavern. “Handmaiden, come do your duty.”
She stepped tentatively into the cool stone-walled enclosure. Wex discarded his clothes into a floor chute that sucked them away. She had never seen a nude man before. He was very like the photos of worker slaves she’d seen in com footage. His body was very muscular and powerful in a raw way.
“Take that off,” he commanded.
“If my duty is to bathe you, I don’t need to remove it.”
“For every protest, your first punishment later will be longer.”
Her eyes widened.
“Off now. I don’t want water wasted on a shift that has no reason to be cleaned.”
Her fingers trembled slightly as she shrugged off the fabric, revealing her slim limbs, curved hips, and the fluff of curls protecting her sex. His eyes focused on her belly and full breasts. She dropped the shift, which was pulled into the chute and whisked away.
“A beautiful body,” he said, cupping her breasts and squeezing them slowly.
She inhaled slowly. “I—”
“Quiet,” he said gently. His thumb and finger pinched her left nipple. It stiffened to an aching nub. “I like heavy breasts. I’ve never seen nipples this color. Sandy pink,” he said, the huskiness in his voice unmistakable as he handled her almost reverently. “It’s different.” His mouth grazed her shoulder, making her breath come in short gasps. She should’ve been terrified and fighting to escape his grip, but she didn’t move, save for breathing heavily.
“During my last month in captivity, a brat of a young woman from the next house snuck into the stable where I was kept, wounded from my last beating. She smelled like you. Tangy and sweet, like fruit that we picked but weren’t allowed to taste. She wanted to see me up close. I was chained. She teased my body,” he said, winding Zawri’s hair around his hand and pulling her head back slowly. “I’d bet all the gold in my hold that her nipples were like yours. I never got the chance to look at her naked body. Never got to touch or tease her. You’re going to stand in her stead. It’s my turn to be the master.”
Her heart thumped hard against her ribs.
