Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
“Thank you for not dismissing me—for not thinking I’m crazy,” she said. “I know it sounds weird—a red-eyed creature stalking me in the darkness. I appreciate you taking me seriously.”
“Of course I take you seriously.” Brax dared to lay his own hand over hers. Gods he’d been right—her skin was so soft! “I’ll always take your fears and concerns seriously, little Mistress,” he murmured.
For a long moment their gazes met and held. Then her light brown cheeks suddenly went dark with a blush and she dropped her eyes.
“Okay, well…I guess I’ll take a bath in here and you can use the bathing chamber next door,” she murmured.
Brax wished he could offer to bathe her or even to scrub her back. He knew many Yonnite Mistresses used their bodyslaves as bathing attendants. But he sensed this was not the time.
Serenai had been raised in a convent that stressed purity and modesty—she wasn’t like the other jaded Mistresses who would walk around naked in front of their bodyslaves, showing off their bodies to the helpless males they owned for their own gratification. No, his little Mistress was shy—he needed to respect her boundaries and be patient.
So he simply nodded and left to go find the sleeping garments she’d said were in the bodyslave’s cupboard. He just hoped they were big enough to fit him.
8
SERENAI
After a refreshing bath, Serenai put on a long white nightgown that looked good against her warm brown skin tones. It reminded her a little of the long, modest nightgowns she’d always worn in the Convent except for the fact that the material was much thinner and more silky. In fact, it was so silky it clung to her curves and showed the outline of her nipples pressing against the cool fabric.
She frowned as she looked at herself in the viewer across from the bed. Ought she to wear something so revealing? But all the other night clothes she’d found in the closet adjoining her room were even worse. Some were much shorter and tighter and others had slits in inappropriate places. Honestly, the white silk nightgown was the best of the bunch.
She’d spent a long time going through her mother’s wardrobe when she’d first come here. Many of the outfits hanging in the vast walk-in closet were new, with the tags still on them. Those were the ones Serenai preferred to wear. It felt creepy to dress in clothing that her dead mother had worn. The white nightgown was new—maybe it had been too modest for Mistress Bloodlash’s taste.
When Brax came back in, still toweling his hair and with Cheeky on his broad shoulder, she saw that he had found a new outfit as well. He was bare-chested and wearing a pair of black sleep trousers made of some heavy, satiny material. They showed a hint of the long tube-like thing between his legs. Serenai wondered again what it was. Did he really have a trouser snake, like her old classmate had claimed?
Her new bodyslave seemed to be studying her too. His pale eyes flickered over her gown, seeming to linger on the outline of her heavy breasts and the tight points of her nipples.
Serenai felt her cheeks get hot but she had no urge to hide herself from him. Instead, she stood a little straighter, thrusting out her breasts. She liked the way he looked at her—it gave her that fluttery feeling in her stomach all over again.
“Well, you look ready for bed, little Mistress,” he rumbled, his pale eyes half-lidded as he scanned her.
“Yes, I…I suppose I am.” Serenai nodded. “Er, should I just go to bed and turn out the lights?”
“Yes, and I’ll stand right here and guard your sleep all night.” He took up a position right at the end of the bed, between the two tall bedposts. He looked so big and imposing that Serenai at once felt safer. But she had a thought.
“What about you, though? When will you get to sleep?” she asked him.
He shook his head.
“Don’t worry about me, little Mistress. I’m here to guard you. I can sleep later when there isn’t any threat.”
“Well…all right.” Serenai lifted her voice and said, “Lights out!”
The room was suddenly plunged into darkness and she could barely see the outline of the huge Kindred half-breed standing guard at the end of her bed. But knowing he was there made all the difference. With a sigh, she snuggled under the covers and felt herself slowly relaxing.
She was safe…or so she thought.
9
BRAX
Brax stared into the darkness, waiting to see if the thing with glowing red eyes would appear. He had no idea what Serenai had seen but he did actually believe that she had seen it. He wasn’t the kind of male who would dismiss a woman’s fears as frivolous or stupid—in part because he had been raised in a Kindred household and the Kindred considered males and females to be equals. So if his new Mistress said she’d been menaced by something in the night with glowing eyes, he believed her.