Page 26 of Darkest Desire

They watched. After arguing a bit more, the two men seemed to come to some kind of understanding because the seller pulled one of the pizzdoodle pastries out of the case that was keeping them warm and handed it to the buyer.

The buyer took a bite of the pastry and nodded, then he motioned to the woman kneeling at his feet.

“Service him,” he growled around the mouthful of food.

Without a word of protest, the woman rose and went around the side of the stall where the owner was standing. He twitched the long apron he was wearing to one side, revealing the horrifying fact that he wasn’t wearing pants of any kind!

Phoebe’s eyes grew wide—wasn’t that some kind of health code violation? But things were about to get worse. The woman knelt in front of the owner of the pastry stall and pulled out his long, oily looking member—which was a dark blue-gray with yellow patches on it. To Phoebe it looked like a rotten banana.

The woman hesitated—she probably didn’t like the look of the pastry dealer’s dick either, Phoebe thought. But when her owner said, through a mouthful of pastry,

“Go on—what are you waiting for?”

The woman took the disgusting looking thing in her mouth and started sucking.

“Eww!” Phoebe muttered, looking away. “They do this kind of thing all the time? In public?”

“Everywhere and anywhere—the male sexual drive knows no limits and so none are imposed here on Salacious Prime,” Lady Scornfoot said dryly.

“I won’t allow Phoebe to do anything like that,” Sirex growled. “She’s mine—I won’t have any other male touching or using her in that manner. It’s disgusting and wrong to barter with a female’s body!”

“Well aren’t you just the most wonderful male to ever walk the planet?” Lady Scornfoot scoffed. “Fine, then be sure you have a good line of credit. And remember that some males prefer to receive payment in sexual favors.”

“Then I won’t deal with them,” Sirex growled. “Phoebe is mine—no other male is going to touch her!”

“Well, have fun with that attitude in the palace,” Lady Scornfoot sniffed. “And now, I believe I’ve told you everything I can. Get her a breast harness and go to the palace. Good luck with your business endeavors.”

She turned on her heel and walked away abruptly, leaving Sirex and Phoebe there.

“Well, Sir?” Phoebe looked up at her massive mentor. “What next?”

Sirex sighed. He had a troubled look on his face, Phoebe thought, as though he might be having second thoughts about this mission. But he only said,

“Next I suppose we should buy you a breast harness, as Lady Scornfoot suggested. Come on.” Reaching down, he took Phoebe by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he looped an arm around her shoulder. “You’d better stay close to me,” he murmured. “I have a feeling this whole spaceport is filled with Broken Ones.”

Phoebe couldn’t say that he was wrong. Now that Lady Scornfoot had pointed out the non-monitory methods of payment, she was seeing them everywhere. She was glad all over again that Sirex was with her on her first mission—it would have felt overwhelming alone, especially in a place where women were thought of as nothing but objects and possessions.

To be honest, she felt a little overwhelmed even with Sirex by her side, but she told herself to take a deep breath and get on with it. After all, as long as they were together, she would be fine.

She had no idea of the mess the two of them were walking into…or the way that it would change their relationship forever.

12

SIREX

“Hello good sir, how may I help you today?” The owner of the breast jewelry stall nodded agreeably at Sirex as he and Phoebe came up to look at the display of gold and silver chains at the front of the shop. He had mottled greenish-gray skin and there was what looked like a jeweler’s loop implanted where his left eye should have been. It flashed as he turned his head up to speak to Sirex.

“Hello—I need a breast harness for my female,” Sirex said, getting right to the point. “It needs to be non-piercing,” he added. “Her nipples aren’t pierced and I don’t intend on piercing them, either.”

It felt strange to talk about his protégé’s nipples at all—especially to a stranger—but Sirex told himself he had better get used to it. The world of Salacious Prime had an exploitive and misogynistic culture—if he and Phoebe didn’t learn to fit in, this mission was going nowhere.

“Not pierced hmm? Well, that’s quite unusual. May I see her breasts?” the shop owner asked.

Phoebe looked up at him and Sirex could see the uncertainty in her silvery-green eyes. If the shop owner had been anything but polite and business-like, he would have turned the male down and gone to a different jewelry shop. However, it was clear from the slightly disinterested look on his face that he only wished to be able to fit her for the harness. And since she was going to have to get used to “being inspected” for them to get into the palace and see the Emperor, Sirex decided reluctantly that she was probably going to have to get used to this kind of thing.

“You can see her but don’t touch,” he warned. “In fact, here…” Taking a step behind Phoebe, he reached around in front of her and parted the long strands of her top.

But the shop keeper frowned and shook his head.

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