“No,” Giss blurted. “Of course not. Just oral.”
“Perhaps he’s gay and only plans to enjoy his verbal and mental domination of a formerly wealthy girl,” the woman said.
“He’s not gay,” Eco responded emphatically. “And I promise you that he has more plans for her than to have her serve him drinks and kneel at his feet.”
“Let me see if he’s selected any special preparations from the menu.” The healer went to a com screen.
When she opened a long list that apparently came from Larsinc, Eco barked out a laugh.
“Quite a list,” the healer said, scrolling.
Eco smirked. “I told you.”
Giss sat up and caught only a small glimpse of the screen before she was told to lie back. The words full wax of front and back flowers raced through her mind. What exactly did that mean?
“He’s very fit and very well hung,” Eco said.
“How do you know?”
“He arrived naked.”
“Naked? Like a refugee?”
“No. Not like a refugee,” Eco said with pursed lips and a crisp shake of his head. “Refugees have that broken, weary look to them. He’s rather like an apex predator in his nakedness, confident and unabashed.
“Why was your master naked, darling?”
“It’s a long story,” Giss said.
“I suppose it must be. And what’s his occupation?”
“Mercenary?” Giss said.
There were several beats of silence.
“She knows next to nothing about him,” Eco said primly.
“She’s about to know a part of him very well. No waxing until after the internal cleanse. I don’t want it to sting.”
“Did you say internal cleanse?” Giss said, sitting up.
“Yes, my dear, but don’t worry. It won’t hurt.”
Gissandre shivered. Pain was not what she was worried about.
* * *
The pearl-colored shift with peach ribbons could’ve been a sweet summer dress she’d worn on Orius, but nothing about it felt sweet at the moment.
Her insides had been cleansed with warm soapy water and then she’d been given a full body scrub, lip plumping, and a humiliating waxing of all her private parts. Her breasts had been subjected to a suction device that left them tingling, swollen, and sore. Partway through Eco’s ministrations she’d begun trembling and couldn’t stop, not only because of the humiliatingly invasive and intimate things that had been done, but because they had been done at Larsinc’s behest. They implied his erotic plans for her body were exotic and scandalously filthy.
A woman of her background and standing couldn’t allow it to progress. But could she even stop him? She’d agreed in front of Eco that she was Linc’s property. She shuddered.
By the end, she’d refused to have anything more, even a finger, inserted into her anus after the waxing. He’d requested some sort of stretching device be placed into her, but when she’d broken down in tears from exhaustion and overwhelm, the mistress healer decided to delay.
Giss pushed her silky hair over her shoulders, but ignored Eco’s entreaty to allow him to apply cosmetics. She’d had enough and couldn’t stand to have even one more thing done to her. Why hadn’t Linc warned her how invasive the preparations would be?
Eco sighed. “Try not to pout. You look beautiful. And it’s a mark of his interest in you that he brought you here and spent so lavishly to have you prepared for him.”
