Page 50 of Darkest Desire

“Well…Lord Thruck loves a public display of pain or pleasure,” Be’ti’ta said frankly. “Once he had my Master tie me up and flog me for an hour. It was shortly afterwards that he made him the Undersecretary,” she added, casting a glance up at Y’sfer who was talking to the male beside him.

“So he just likes to watch other people getting busy?” Phoebe asked. “Is that why he doesn’t have a girl of his own between his legs?” She looked at the tree trunk legs on the other side of her and made a face.

“Exactly—Lord Thruck never takes a woman of his own but he certainly likes to watch other males with their women.” Be’ti’ta made a face. “I’ve always thought that was strange. Not that I’m complaining,” she added quickly. “Y’sfer would give me away to him in a heartbeat if he asked, so I’m thankful he never has.”

“I don’t blame you for not wanting to be given to him,” Phoebe said. “The sane head is bad enough but that crazy head of his is so creepy.”

“It really is! Especially when the third eye opens and it speaks prophecy.” Be’ti’ta’s own eyes opened wide. “Why, do you know the other day it foretold someone’s death?”

“What? How could it know when someone was going to die?” Phoebe asked skeptically.

“I don’t know, but it was right. It said something like, ‘behold the dead—he fell on his head’—or something like that. I can’t remember exactly,” Be’ti’ta said. “But then the very next day the male it was looking at when it spoke, fell off his gallumpher during the weekly hunt and broke his neck and died.”

“That’s awful!” Phoebe wondered what a gallumpher was—maybe the Salacious Prime version of a horse?

“Yes, it was! And his poor female, Ta’li was one of my best friends. I begged Y’sfer to keep her here, but he wouldn’t. He had her sold on the open market and now I’ll probably never see her again.” Be’ti’ta looked so sad that Phoebe really felt for her.

“I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “But it’s awful how women are bought and sold on this planet! Like they’re nothing more than property.”

“That’s how it’s always been here,” Be’ti’ta said with a sigh. “Why—is it different where you come from?”

“Well, we don’t—” Phoebe began but Be’ti’ta interrupted her with a glad little cry.

“Oh good, they’re passing out the Sparkler early!”

“The what?” Phoebe frowned as she watched the other girl crawl out from between Y’sfer’s legs and take something from the girl on the other side of her. It appeared to be a silver can, kind of like a soda can from Earth, only there were no markings on it. Be’ti’ta took one for herself and passed one to Phoebe, who frowned at it.

“What’s this?”

“Sparkler!” Be’ti’ta’s eyes were bright with excitement. “Here—I’ll show you how to open it.”

She took the can back again and did something to the top of it. Then she handed it back and Phoebe saw that a perfect circle had been punched in the top of it. She took a whiff of the contents and pulled back for a moment.

“Whew—that’s strong!”

“It only smells strong—the taste is actually really mild. Try it,” Be’ti’ta urged her, taking a swig from her own silver can.

Phoebe took a small sip and found that the other girl was right—the “Sparkler” had a sweet, tart, fruity taste that reminded her a little bit of a mimosa, though it didn’t taste particularly alcoholic. It also had a lot of bubbles, which she liked. She took a bigger sip and before she knew it, she had drunk half the can.

“This stuff is pretty good,” she remarked to Be’ti’ta.

“Oh, I know! We look forward to getting it every day.” Be’ti’ta took another swig from her own can. “It tastes so good and it really makes the nights so much more bearable.”

“What do you mean, ‘more bearable?’” Phoebe asked, frowning.

“Oh, you know. Sleeping with our Masters.” Be’ti’ta looked up through the round glass “table window” and made a face at Y’sfer. “You think it’s easy to put up having sex with him every night? Because it’s not—it’s a fucking nightmare!”

Phoebe was a little taken aback by the other girl’s unguarded words. Earlier, Be’ti’ta had seemed like the type who “wouldn’t say ‘shit’ if she had a mouthful of it,’” as her Granny liked to say. But now she was much more uninhibited. What was going on?

“Er…are you feeling okay?” she asked, frowning.

“Fine. Never better.” Be’ti’ta drank some more. “I won’t be if Y’sfer doesn’t get me pregnant with a son soon though,” she added morosely. “Of course being here in the palace is supposed to help with fertility issues—that’s why he brought me here. But so far it’s not working.”

Phoebe’s ears perked up.

“So…the rumor is that coming to the palace increases your fertility?”

“Oh, yes! Just breathing the air around here is supposed to make a female more fertile. Take a look around and see how many of the girls here are pregnant,” Be’ti’ta said.

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