“Needy,” he growled out.
I nodded. “This isn’t normal for me,” I admitted. “Or for any human woman I know. It’s like I have no control over my body, and I ache…” I paused. “Inside. I ache inside.”
I heard the scratch of claws against wood as his hands gripped either side of the wide door frame.
Before he could respond, there was another knock. This one on the door leading into the hall.
“Master, is Mistress Leda all right?” Masu called.
Bokkan closed his eyes and took a slow breath. “Would you be willing to talk to Masu about this? She understands a bit moreabout humans since she’s worked around your kind before. If not, I will call a healer here.”
I really, really didn’t want to talk about this with anyone at all, much less the imp, but I had no choice. I couldn’t go on this way.
“Okay,” I agreed, opening the door wider so I could slip out of the bathing room.
Bokkan pushed away from the door frame and walked to the outer door of the bedchamber. Then he opened it and gestured for Masu to come inside.
“It appears something is happening to Leda,” he said.
Masu’s eyes moved over me before she sighed. “Oh, dear,” she murmured. “I’d hoped this wouldn’t be a problem, but it appears I was wrong.”
“What’s a problem?” I asked, trying to focus on the imp rather than my desperate need to hump someone or something and find relief from the painful emptiness between my legs.
“The tincture for pain. It is safe for humans, but some of your kind will sometimes have a bit of a… well, reaction to it,” she explained. “It, uh, increases your desire to fornicate.”
I snorted at her words. “I wouldn’t call this just an increase,” I retorted. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. Like I have no control over myself at all.”
She frowned. “I am sorry, Mistress Leda. While it does sometimes happen, it’s not common. I didn’t expect it to affect you since you didn’t seem affected by the same herb in the food I’ve been making you. Including the dinner I made last night.”
“You gave this to her last night as well?” Bokkan asked.
“She’s been eating small amounts of it since she got here,” Masu answered with a shrug. “It’sdrifen. It’s used in nearly every dish I make. In fact, it’s used everywhere here.”
“Then why is it only affecting her now?”
“Maybe because it’s concentrated in the tincture and mixed with other herbs?” Masu suggested.
That made sense. I’d been feeling attraction and arousal around Bokkan almost as soon as I got here. Just not to this extent. Was that why? Was it because I’d been eating this herb and not because I was just plain ole attracted to him?
“Is there anything I can take to counteract this?” I asked, interrupting their back and forth.
Masu shrugged. “I am sorry, Mistress Leda. I do not know. I can send a few messages to other household imps I know that work with humans and find out. I am afraid that it may be tomorrow before they reply to me.”
I let her answer soak in before I asked, “Is there anything I can do to help this…” I swallowed hard. “Feeling end faster?”
She nodded, which gave me hope. Until she answered, “Find a male to pleasure you.”
I felt all the blood rush to my face so suddenly that I thought I was about to faint. My eyes darted to Bokkan. “Um, could I talk to Masu alone for a moment?”
“No.” The abrupt answer was accompanied by the daemon crossing his arms and scowling down at me.
“Bokkan, I just need to ask her a question, and I’d like some privacy when I do.”
He didn’t move.
Rolling my eyes, I took Masu’s arm and guided her over to the fireplace. I knew his acute hearing meant he would still be able to eavesdrop, but it made me feel a bit better.
Leaning closer to her, I whispered, “What if I, uh, pleasured myself? Would that help?”
