“Well, I was cleaning his room, right?” Zadie lowered her voice even more and leaned closer. “I found a book under his mattress. I shouldn’t have opened it, but I hadn’t ever seen anything like it. It was made of this glossy stiff paper. I figured if he was hiding it there had to be something interesting in it.”
“Zadie!” Alys admonished. “You shouldn’t snoop!”
“I won’t ever do it again! Believe me!” Her whole face went red as a tomato. “There were photos inside it. Moving photos.”
“Like the photos from the fair?” Alys and her siblings had bought tickets to one of the moving picture shows at the fair. Their father only allowed it because the stories were short and taught lessons about character and morality.
“No! Not anything like those!” Zadie sat up in her seat to make sure neither of the men were anywhere nearby. She leaned back down and said, “They were photos of people—couples—doing what married people do. Except they weren’t doing it the normal way.”
“What do you mean? What other way is there to do it?” Alys had only been told about wifely duties happening in bed, under the sheets and with her nightgown in place. After finding Bonnie last night, she had realized there was at least one other way men took their wives. Like animals.
“Apparently, there are a lot of ways,” Zadie said, her eyes wide. “And, Alys, the women were tied up in ropes.”
“Ropes?”
“And some of them were getting spanked or switched!”
“What?”
“And there were these strange contraptions with buckles and platforms where the women were tied up and suspended. Some of the women had rings in their mouths, holding their teeth wide open and the men were....” Zadie seemed unable to speak the words.
“The men were what?” Alys asked, her voice shrill as panic took hold.
“You two all right?” Tirade appeared in the doorway of the passenger cabin.
“Yes!” Alys and Zadie answered in unison and exchanged embarrassed looks. As red as their faces were, it would be a miracle if Tirade believed them. If he didn’t, he didn’t push the issue.
“We’re about to take off. You two need to get latched in for your safety.” He crouched down and carefully buckled the yellow belt around Zadie’s waist.
Worried her belt wouldn’t fit, Alys watched his movements and copied them. Belatedly, she realized she shouldn’t have worried. These were designed for giant warriors, after all.
Tirade stood and pointed to a black shimmery rectangle on the wall. “This is the communication screen. Right now, it’s showing that you need to stay seated and wear your safety belt. Eventually, those will disappear and you’ll be able to move around as needed. If something happens, and you need our help or attention, push this one here.” He indicated a large red square. “We’ll be able to see you from the cockpit.”
Alys looked away as Tirade bent down and kissed Zadie’s cheek. He whispered something sweet to her, and Alys felt a moment of unexpected jealousy. Would Swift have kissed her cheek? Whispered sweetly? Did she want him to?
She tried to soothe her doubts and anxieties by reminding herself what awaited her back home. Wendel and his disgusting mouth and cruel hands. Her father and his strap. A lifetime of working sixteen-hour days without a reprieve. Annual pregnancies and childbirth until she either died of complications or finally reached the change. Watching her daughters go through the same thing.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Zadie asked.
“Everything I left behind,” she admitted. “Everything that might be waiting in front of me.”
“We made the right choice. For different reasons,” Zadie allowed, “but it was the right one. My two nephews will be able to get the surgeries they need, and my brothers and their families will have access to medical care forever. You don’t have to marry that nasty old man.”
“And what about everything you saw in the book?” Alys couldn’t even imagine all the things Zadie had described. Her experience with sex was so extremely limited it all seemed rather impossible to her.
Zadie bit her lower lip. Eventually, she said, “Well, the women in the photos didn’t look like they were in pain. They looked...happy.”
“Happy?”
“Pleasured.”
“Pleasured?”
“Rapturous?”
Alys let loose a wild and noisy laugh. “Rapturous? Really?”
Zadie shrugged and giggled. “It’s a word!”
The spaceship started to move, and their giggles died down as they realized this was their last moment on the only planet they had ever known. Zadie reached for her hand, and Alys interlaced their fingers. She didn’t know what awaited her, but at least she wasn’t alone.
Chapter Six
“I gotta say this was not how I envisioned my return trip with my claimed mate going,” Tirade remarked as the Valiant grew ever larger in front of them.
“Being used to do grunt work or watching your mate take a nap?” Swift gestured to the live feed from the passenger cabin where both women were asleep. They had figured out how to recline their seats and had succumbed to exhaustion facing each other.
“Both,” Tirade replied and accepted the updated landing assignment that came across his console. “Maintenance 7.”
Swift frowned. “That’s a tight fit for this ship.”
“I’m feeling romantic so I’m going to let that prime opportunity for a filthy joke to pass unspoken.”
Swift chortled. “You’re disgusting.”
Tirade laughed. “They say a woman smooths out the rough edges. Maybe my Zadie will be the one to shape me into a gentleman.”
“We can only hope,” Swift replied dryly. Then, more seriously, he said, “She seems like a very good choice.”
“There’s something special about her. To me, at least.”
“I know what you mean.” Swift considered Alys. There were other men who wouldn’t have given her a second glance, but he had known from the very first glimpse that she was the one he wanted.
“It’s good they’re friends,” Tirade decided. “It’s easier when they have relationships and friendly faces from before we take them.”
“Easier,” Swift agreed, “but I expect it will still be hard for them.” He glanced at the screen and watched Alys for a moment. He thought of her bruised lip and the fear that had driven her to abandon her home and ride all night to be chased and taken. “I don’t think I’m going to press the issue.”
“The issue?” Tirade repeated with some amusement.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes. Fucking. Lovemaking. Intercourse. Sexual relations.”
Swift shot him an irritated look. “Really?”
Tirade laughed. “Well, not me, Swift. I figure my father had it right.”
“How’s that?”
“He told me to make it clear from the first step inside my quarters who is the master. Get her on her knees as quickly as possible. Be firm but gentle. Give pleasure freely the first night but make her earn it after that.”