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  Then the screen flickered to black and the call was over.

  * * * * *

  “Well…” Harper drew a deep breath as the image faded from the viewscreen and looked at Shad. “That was certainly interesting.”

  “You played your part well…my Empress.” His deep voice held a tone of grudging respect.

  “You didn’t think I could pull it off? Didn’t I tell you I was in drama in high school?” Harper said.

  “Yes, I remember.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I’d better get the landing craft ready.”

  “Oh, no—wait a minute.” Harper wasn’t nearly ready to let him go yet.

  “What is it?” Shad asked gruffly. “We’re expected at those damn Cleansing Baths immediately—we need to hurry.”

  “If you won’t talk about the elephant in the room, I sure as hell will,” Harper snapped. “What was all that about you being my, uh, sexual attendant?” She could feel her cheeks heating as their eyes clashed but she refused to back down. “Why did you insist on that? Are you jealous or something?”

  “Of course not.” The big Kindred raised an eyebrow at her. “I simply thought you’d rather have me touching you than a stranger. Was I wrong?”

  “And I thought you never wanted to touch me again after…after what happened with the uh, sex-milk.” Harper could feel her cheeks getting hotter but she wouldn’t drop her eyes. “At least, that’s the impression you’ve been giving me this past week. Was I wrong?”

  “You think I don’t want you—don’t want to touch you?”

  Shad bridged the gap between them and suddenly he was towering over her as she sat in the elaborate golden throne which was placed in the middle of the control center.

  Harper looked up at him, refusing to be intimidated.

  “What am I supposed to think after the way you acted? After the way you dropped me and ran back inside that shell of ice you have around you once we were done…doing what we did?” she demanded.

  “I told you once before to think anything but that I don’t care for you,” he said hoarsely. “Do you know how hard it was to stop last time I touched you? How close I was to taking you completely?”

  “But you don’t want that,” Harper shot back. “You’re afraid we’ll form a bond—isn’t that what you said?”

  “I can’t risk bonding with you, Harper—but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to—that I don’t want you.” He leaned closer, putting his hands on the arms of her golden throne, his white eyes luminous and blazing with a shifting opalescence that seemed to pierce right through her.

  Harper’s cloak of thorns hissed angrily but the big Kindred ignored it.

  “I want you Harper,” he growled, his voice soft but intense. “I want you so badly I fucking ache.” He took her hand in his and pressed it between his thighs.

  Harper gasped as she felt the hot, hard ridge of his cock filling her palm, barely contained by the smooth black leather stretched tightly over it.

  “Shad!” she protested but didn’t try to yank her hand away as she knew she ought to. This was the closest she’d been to him in over a week and she couldn’t help herself—she didn’t want it to end.

  I really care for him, she thought dismally. As much as I try not to, I can’t get the big bastard out of my head.

  Or out of her heart.

  His warm, masculine scent surrounded her and she could feel her heart pounding in the cage of her ribs. She was aware that they weren’t alone—that the clone servants that had come with the space yacht were all looking discretely away but she didn’t care—couldn’t care about anything but the big Kindred who was glaring down at her with his hardness still cupped in her palm.

  “I’m like this because of you,” he growled, still pressing her hand to his crotch. “Because I can’t stop thinking about you—can’t stop wanting you, Harper.”

  Harper just stared at him, not sure of what to say.

  Shad let go of her hand and drew back at last.

  “But I can’t have you—we can’t have each other. Because nothing between us can last—it can only lead to heartache.”

  “Then why did you demand to be my sexual attendant?” she asked. “Why if you’re so afraid of making any kind of commitment?”

  He glared at her. “Because I can’t fucking stand the idea of another male’s hands on you, all right? You’re mine, Harper. Mine.”

  His proprietary words and the look of possessive lust he was giving her shook Harper to her core. Despite his earlier words that his life was devoted to her, she’d begun to believe that she had somehow offended him or turned him off and that was why he’d grown so cool towards her. Now she realized all over again that the big Kindred really did want her—but he was refusing to act on their mutual desire.

  Well, he’s going to damn well have to act on it if he’s going to be my sexual attendant and my bodyguard down there on Goddess planet, she thought grimly.

  Aloud she said, “If that’s the way you feel, then maybe you could try acting like it instead of freezing me out all the time. And I belong to myself, Shad. Don’t forget that.”

  Her only answer was another possessive growl—which caused her cloak of thorns to hiss—and then he straightened up abruptly.

  “We have to get down to the surface soon,” he snapped. “Be certain you’re wearing your most royal-looking outfit—you have to look authentic.” Then he turned on his boot heel and left.

  Harper watched him go with a conflicting stew of emotions brewing inside. She felt strangely gratified to know that he wanted her after all and he was just holding himself back—and then angry at herself for being glad the big Kindred was attracted to her.

  There was also a growing desire for revenge. He’d hurt her badly when it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with her for the past week after their intensely intimate encounter. And now he wouldn’t be able to help touching her and being close to her.

  Maybe it was time to get a little of her own back, Harper thought.

  With that in mind, she went to change.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shad tried to hold back a growl of lust as he stood at Harper’s side and waited for the attendant to check them into the Cleansing Baths. When he’d told her to wear her most royal looking outfit, he hadn’t meant anything like this.

  She was draped in her multicolored royal cloak of thorns, of course, which befitted royalty. But underneath it she was wearing a long green gown that seemed to be made entirely of fringes. At least, if the way her tight nipples and the V of her soft sex he could see flashing when she walked was any indication.

  It made him nearly crazy to think that other people would see her like this—lush…beautiful…exposed, but Harper didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Indeed, she carried herself like a queen with her head held high and her shoulders thrown back as though wearing such revealing clothing was her right. She had rolled her thick, curly hair into a golden-brown twist at the back of her head which showed the slender column of her throat and made her look even more elegant and unobtainable.

  The arrogant toss of her head and her confident posture only made Shad want her more. Made him want to take her here and now in front of the huge double doors leading into the Cleansing Baths and never mind what anyone who came to serve them might think…

  No! What are you thinking? Get hold of yourself!

  Shad shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the lustful thoughts. He remembered how he’d taken Harper’s hand and pressed it to his aching cock…how he longed to fill her with his shaft and his seed and claim her completely…

  This isn’t me. I’ve never acted like this on any of the paths we took together on the loop, he told himself. He’d never allowed himself to make love to Harper—had scarcely dared to allow himself to fantasize about it. As a Shadow Twin he was almost certainly unable to form a bond with a female. But there was always that tiny chance in a thousand that they could bond—and that was what kept him from claiming her.

&
nbsp; Forming a bond with her would be a disaster—it would tear the two of them apart if they managed to reach the end of the loop and were permanently separated. It was a foolish risk Shad was not prepared to take. Yet now here he was, almost ready to throw her down on the ground and take her in public! What was wrong with him?

  Shad frowned. Was it something to do with the looper nearing the end of its power? Was he experiencing some kind of personality distortion the same way Harper had been getting those Chromatic Bursts which showed her bits of other paths they had traveled together? Or was it just that he’d denied his feelings of longing and repressed his desire for her for so long that he was finally losing his self-control?

  Shad had no answer—he only knew he had to get hold of himself and quickly. They both needed to be on their guard now that they were about to see She Who Alters. They were close—closer than he’d ever been—to achieving their goal and reaching the end of the loop.

  But when you reach the end, you’ll never see Harper again, whispered a little voice in the back of his head.

  Shad pushed it away. The point was, he couldn’t let his lust get in the way of finishing this mission. He would do well to remember that and keep himself under tight control no matter what happened with Harper in the Cleansing Baths.

  * * * * *

  The big Kindred was strung as tight as a wire as he stood beside her before the grand double doors which led to the baths. He didn’t say anything but Harper could feel him looking at her—more like devouring her with his eyes, actually—and every muscle in his massive body seemed tense.

  She wondered uneasily if she should have worn a different outfit. She’d wanted to draw his attention—even to taunt him a little—but this wordless scrutiny was making her nervous.

  However, she refused to show it. She kept her chin high and tried not to notice that her nipples were poking out from between the long, emerald green fringes of her dress. God, what had possessed her to wear this thing anyway? It was one thing to dress seductively but something else entirely to flash everyone you saw. In fact—

  “Oh my! Forgive me for making you wait, my Empress! I didn’t realize you and your attendant were already here.”

  The voice belonged to a girl with large yellow, unblinking eyes and short, fluffy black hair. She had come out from the high double doors at the front of the Baths. To Harper she looked a little like a surprised owl.

  “That’s all right,” Harper couldn’t hide her relief that it was another woman, rather than a man, seeing her in the skimpy dress she’d picked out. “Let’s just get started, shall we?” she suggested.

  “Oh, of course!” The Bath attendant opened one of the vast double doors and bowed Harper and Shad into the interior of the Cleansing Baths. “Please enter.”

  It’s like the inside of a cave, Harper thought, looking up at the high, vaulted stone ceiling lit dimly by golden globes which seemed to hover in midair. There were no windows, just a vast echoing space decorated by…well, what were those things?

  They seemed to be statues made of some greenish-blue marbled stone but they were moving—albeit very, very slowly. But statues didn’t move—at least none Harper had ever seen. Were they alive? They seemed to be performing the same motions over and over again. She looked at them wide-eyed as they followed the owlish bath attendant down the wide hallway to a narrow silver reception desk.

  There was one statue of a man and a woman kissing. Slowly their faces came together and just as slowly they parted and then they kissed again.

  Weird, Harper thought. Like a live action gif.

  The statue across from them was stranger—it appeared to be a person who was half man and half some kind of sea creature with many long tentacles. The tentacles waved languidly in the air and the man’s mouth opened and closed, opened and closed as though he was shouting something over the waves of an invisible ocean. Entangled in his tentacles was a woman and he appeared to be penetrating her with several of them.

  Ugh! Harper shuttered and looked away. She didn’t need to see that.

  But there were other moving statues too—some extremely erotic. Harper watched from the corner of her eye as a statue woman on her knees took the shaft of the male statue standing over her deep into her mouth and then released it only to suck it again the next moment.

  Further down, a female statue lay arching her back on a stone bench while a male statue knelt before her, his face buried between her legs. He appeared to be lapping her stone pussy with his stone tongue as she arched and writhed in slow motion, a look of ecstasy fixed forever on her statue face.

  “Oh, do you enjoy our tableaus?” The Bath attendant had clearly seen her watching the strange moving statues.

  “Um, your art is very…interesting,” Harper said. “What exactly does it represent?” Then she felt stupid for asking. They’re having sex, Harper—what do you think it represents?

  But the owlish bathing attendant seemed to take her question seriously.

  “They’re meant to show the gratifying of physical desires before presentation to the Goddess. It doesn’t do to appear before her with unsatisfied appetites. Speaking of which, we must be certain you are replete in every way before you see her, my Empress. Let us start with your physical appetite.”

  They had reached the elegantly curved silver counter at the end of the large, echoing room now. The bathing attendant went behind it and brought out a flat, intricately carved dark wooden box inlaid with silver and mother of pearl. The shifting colors reminded Harper of Shad’s strangely beautiful eyes.

  “Here, my Empress,” the attendant said, opening the box and displaying what appeared to be a lot of coin-sized, flat disks in many different colors. Like the mother of pearl design on the box, their colorful round surfaces shimmered with rainbows.

  “Ooo—what are they?” Harper asked, forgetting she was supposed to be rich and haughty and impressed by nothing. “They’re gorgeous.”

  “Flavor disks, my Empress,” the bathing attendant said smoothly. “They will satisfy any physical hunger you may have so that you may go before She Who Alters without unnecessary need.”

  “My Lady tastes nothing that I do not taste first,” Shad said, stepping forward with a frown. “I must be certain she is not hurt or poisoned.”

  “Oh…” The owlish attendant blinked for the first time since she’d met them, apparently in surprise. “All right. We usually reserve them only for the supplicants who come to seek the Goddess but I was told by the social secretary to She Who Alters that you are to be accommodated in every way. So please, be my guest.”

  She held out the box to Shad who looked at it carefully before selecting a dark blue, shimmering pearlescent disk.

  “Just place it on your tongue and allow it to melt,” the attendant instructed. “When the full range of flavors is complete, you should feel satiety of your physical hunger.”

  Shad placed the flat blue disk on his tongue and closed his mouth, frowning.

  Harper watched him eagerly and saw his eyebrows rise and his eyes widen in surprise but he didn’t say a word, which was extremely aggravating. Why did he have to be so close-moutheded about something which was obviously an interesting new experience?

  “Well?” Harper asked impatiently. “What does it taste like?”

  The attendant answered for him.

  “It is all tastes and no taste, Empress,” she said helpfully. She looked at Shad. “Are you satisfied now that our flavor disks are pure?”

  The big Kindred nodded and looked at Harper.

  “It’s all right—you can take one.”

  “But what are they like?” Harper demanded. “What do they taste like?”

  “I can’t really describe it and even if I could, I’m pretty sure what I tasted will be different from what you’re going to taste,” he replied enigmatically.

  “In this he is correct, Empress,” the attendant said formally. She motioned with the box again. “Would you like to select one now?”


  “I’ll take…this one.” Harper took a shiny pink disk, mostly because she thought it looked sweet, like candy, and placed it on her tongue. Then she closed her eyes and waited for the flavors to begin.

  At first there was nothing—not even the flavor of her own mouth. It was as though she’d forgotten how to taste which was strange and disturbing. Harper liked tasting things—it was one reason she was plus-sized instead of being a skinny-minny.

  But then something began to happen. The smooth disk on her tongue began to grow bumpy. Then it took on a fleshy texture and the taste of rare roast beef filled her mouth. Not just any roast beef though—the kind she’d eaten as a child when her family went out to dinner at the Piccadilly Diner on Sundays after church. It was rich and meaty and salty and perfectly seasoned—wonderful.

  “Mmm!” she exclaimed. “This is good.”

  But she had barely finished speaking when the disk on her tongue changed textures—becoming spiky—and then the flavor changed too. Suddenly her mouth was flooded with the taste of hot sauce—the kind she liked best in the world that they put on the wings at Not Your Mama’s Wing Shop in Ybor City.

  “Oh!” Harper exclaimed but then the texture changed again—becoming smooth and somehow creamy in her mouth and she tasted her grandmother’s homemade banana pudding.

  Sudden tears pricked her eyes—she hadn’t tasted this in years, not since her Grams had died of breast cancer when Harper was fifteen. She’d tried to make it herself several times but somehow it just never came out right. The flavor and texture of the disk, however, were perfect.

  The disk changed again, becoming brittle and crispy, so she felt like she could break it with just a little pressure if she bit into it and Harper tasted her favorite salt and vinegar potato chips…then it was soft and succulent and her mother’s blueberry pancakes with blueberry jam filled her mouth.

  The flavors and textures of the disk kept changing until Harper thought she must have tasted every one of her favorite foods in some way or another. And though she hadn’t swallowed anything, she suddenly felt full.