Mastering the Mistress (10 page)

Kaylee blinked, trying to process this. How in the world could it be? Had Lyra somehow gotten to Solar when she wasn’t looking? But no—that was impossible. And besides, the body Lyra’s head was on was wearing the outfit Kaylee had been wearing yesterday. Somehow, someone had put Lyra’s head on her body but it had been done so seamlessly and perfectly that no one who hadn’t been there would ever have known it was a fake.

“Lyra!” Lady Minora snapped again. She clapped her hands at her slave. “Manos—turn off this filth! I cannot see it any more lest I shall be sick.”

“At once, my Mistress,” the big slave rumbled.

The video stopped playing and the lights came up, showing an angry Lady Minora and a red-faced Lyra.

“Your Eminence,” she began. “I assure you this is some kind of a fake—a forgery! I would never—”

“Except it appears that you
did,”
Lady Minora snapped. “What happened, Lyra—did you show me the wrong part of the vid by accident? Maybe you and Kaylee here took turns with her new slave and you recorded both encounters.”

“No, of course not!” Lyra protested, but Lady Minora was not to be stopped or interrupted.

“Silence!” she snapped. “I think I see what went on here. Kaylee is an innocent—she knows nothing of our ways here in Opulex. I know because my dear friend, Jamelda, told me so when she explained why she was leaving everything to Kaylee in her will. She had hoped that her niece would remain unspoiled by the wealth she left her but in that, I am afraid, her wishes were thwarted. Thwarted by
you,
Lyra.”

“Your Eminence,” Lyra sputtered. “I never—”

“You latched onto the poor, innocent Kaylee and got her to buy a slave that wasn’t suited to her at all,” Lady Minora went on. “And then you taught her depravity and filth. Oh yes, young lady—I know your reputation,” she continued, glaring at Lyra. “You think because your family is in the upper echelon of Opulex society you can get away with anything. Well, you are
not
going to get away with this.” She pointed a finger at Lyra. “I order you to pay a fine of fifty thousand credits for this act of gross indecency and another fifty thousand for corrupting an innocent.”

Lyra seemed to be having trouble speaking.

“A hundred thousand credits?” she sputtered at last. “Your Eminence, where in the universe am I going to get that kind of money? I’m just a poor second daughter and I—”

“How you get it is not my concern,” Lady Minora said coolly. “But I will tell you this, Lyra—until you pay the fine you will
not
be allowed into any society events or balls for the foreseeable future.”

Lyra went pale.

“No more parties?” she gasped. “No more dances or events?”

“No public social gatherings of any kind,” Lady Minora said firmly. “Until you pay your fine.”

“But…but I’ll never be able to pay it!” Lyra protested. “I’ll never be able to go to another society party again!”

“And may I say that Yonnie society is well rid of you,” Lady Minora declared. Then she turned to Kaylee. “You are on probation as well. I know that Lyra led you in the wrong direction but the fact is, you followed her. You must learn to think for yourself and act on your own—not just blindly follow where others lead. Be your own woman, Kaylee. Make your own path—that is what your Aunt Jamelda would have wanted for you.” She waved her hand. “Now both of you go! I have spent enough time on this foolishness.”

Feeling like she’d barely missed the hanging noose, Kaylee turned to go. Lyra, silently fuming, was right beside her.

They left by the same door but when the sliding glass panel shut behind them, Lyra turned on her suddenly.

“You little
bitch,”
she hissed. “How dare you do this to me?”

Kaylee frowned.

“I didn’t do anything to you, Lyra—you did it to yourself. I don’t know why you wanted to discredit me to Lady Minora but it seems like your plan backfired.”

“A hundred thousand credits! She fined me a hundred thousand credits because of
you.”
Lyra poked a finger in her chest, hard enough to hurt. “What I want to know is how you changed those images—how the hell did you manage it?”

“I didn’t,” Kaylee said coldly. “And I don’t know who did. Maybe your file got corrupted somehow. But you have only yourself to blame—if you hadn’t tried to ruin me you wouldn’t be in this position right now.”

“You’re going to be sorry for this.” Lyra glared at her. “I’ll make you pay—see if I don’t!”

“I don’t see how since we’re not going to be moving in the same circles anymore,” Kaylee said icily. “All I wanted was a friend, Lyra. I would have been loyal to you forever if you hadn’t done this. As it is, I never want to see you again.”

“Oh, you’ll see me again—even if we aren’t ‘moving in the same circles.’ You can be sure of that.” With a final glare, Lyra turned on her heel and walked away, the angry clicking of her designer heels echoing in the empty corridor.

Kaylee watched her go, feeling a mixture of dismay, anger, hurt and betrayal. She’d thought Lyra was her friend—her
one
friend in all of this huge, heartless city. Now she had no one.

What was she going to do?

Kaylee drove for hours, exploring some of the more deserted areas of the city. Solar had taken the little ship that Lyra had handled so effortlessly in his escape but Kaylee didn’t care about that. Aunt Jamelda had left her five more like it. She was in the one she and Lyra had driven to the inquest and she took it through its paces automatically, diving and dipping through the less crowded airspace.

She felt aimless…purposeless. She didn’t know where she was going and she didn’t know how she was going to get there. She was still filled with anger and sadness over Lyra’s betrayal but even more than that, her mind kept returning to Solar. The big Havoc had somehow lodged himself in her heart and she couldn’t let him go.

Forget him, Kaylee,
she advised herself.
He’s long gone by now and he probably hasn’t spared you a second thought except to be glad he got free of you. Get over it.

But she couldn’t forget him and she couldn’t get over it. She just felt…stuck.

Eventually there was nothing else to do but go home, to the big empty mansion at the top of the skyscraper Aunt Jamelda had left her. With a sigh, she headed there and parked in the private landing area.

Kaylee shivered as she climbed out of her little ship—it was creepy staying in the huge living space all by herself. Every step she took seemed to echo in the darkness—every shadow looked like a monster or intruder. Lyra had been company at least--now Kaylee was all alone.

“Lights,” she called and wished her voice didn’t tremble so much. A few dim lamps flickered to life but their feeble glow only seemed to make more shadows. “Lights, high,” she said louder, but there was no result.
Huh—must be something wrong with the power source. I’ll have to call someone tomorrow.

In the meantime, she would just have to manage. After all, it wasn’t like the whole place was in pitch blackness. It was just a little dim. Kaylee told herself she was fine but she kept jumping at shadows as she walked from the landing area to the first living room. The least little noises made her heart jump.

Don’t be such a coward,
she told herself sternly.
You’re just spooked because it’s late and dark and you’re alone. This is the first night in forever that Lyra hasn’t stayed over. You’ll be fine. Just take a nice, relaxing dip in the bubble pool and go to bed. Things will look better in the morning.

Deciding to take her own advice, Kaylee made her way to the bubble pool, which was located next to the private spa on the first floor, and turned the heat and the bubbles on high.

The steaming liquid inside the vast, round pool was pale pink and it wasn’t water at all. It was
Lavoshian pearlexence
, a special moisturizer that cleaned and softened the skin and hair without making anything greasy. In addition, it could also be sipped as a warm and slightly alcoholic beverage as one bathed. The liquid was passed through special bio-filtering stations located throughout the pool which meant it was perfectly sterile and drinkable no matter how many people were in the pool.

As Kaylee stripped and lowered herself into the warm, pink liquid, she was glad she had it all to herself. The tiny fizzing, popping bubbles felt so refreshing against her skin and when she opened her mouth they floated up to land on her tongue leaving a sweet, slightly acidic taste that reminded her of some kind of tart fruit juice.

“Who needs Lyra?” she muttered aloud as she relaxed against the curved side of the pool and inhaled a few more of the floating, slightly alcoholic bubbles. “I’m better off without her anyway.”

“Yes, you are—and I’m better off without you,” a familiar nasal voice said in her ear.

Kaylee started to gasp but strong hands grabbed her under her arms and dragged her naked and dripping from the bubble pool.

“Who…what…?” She struggled against her captor but whoever it was, they were too strong for her.

“That’s right, Geemus—just hold her steady.” Lyra was standing there, tapping the toe of one expensive looking heel against the
rowel
stone floor which was heated from beneath by the same source that ran the bubble pool.

Geemus—who’s Geemus?

Kaylee looked around wildly and was horrified to see a huge male slave standing behind her, holding her arms behind her back. He was completely bald and he was grinning from ear to ear with grim glee. Kaylee felt her stomach do a slow flip.

“Let me go!” she demanded. “What are you even doing here?”

“Taking what’s mine.” Lyra glared at her. “Or what
will
be mine once I get my hands on your juicy inheritance.”

“And just how do you plan to do that?” Kaylee wished her voice wouldn’t quiver so much. She also wished she could hide herself—she didn’t like feeling so naked and vulnerable, especially in front of the brute of a slave that Lyra had brought with her! But with her hands trapped behind her back, she was stuck. “Aunt Jamelda left everything to me,” she reminded Lyra. “You’ve got nothing to do with it.”

“Your aunt may have left it to you but now
you’re
going to leave it all to
me
.” Lyra’s eyes gleamed greedily. “Every last credit and this entire building as well. You’re going to sign it all over.”

“I will not!” Kaylee lifted her chin. “I won’t sign a thing!”

“You already have.” Lyra laughed--a nasal, unpleasant sound. “I slipped the papers in with that Havoc slave’s paperwork. You signed everything away to me in the event of any kind of accident or wrongful death. And you’re about to have a
very
wrongful death, my dear. I promise you that.”

“What?” Kaylee had been doing all right up until this moment but Lyra’s revelation made her feel like someone had dumped a bowl of ice cubes into her stomach. Basically Lyra was saying she wasn’t needed—at all. She could be disposed of and Lyra would move into her domicile, lock, stock, and barrel, and take over at once. Which was clearly what the other girl wanted—probably what she had wanted all along.

“You heard me.” Lyra smirked. “At first I thought that big Havoc slave was the answer—he seemed so brutal and terrifying. I was sure he would finish you off. I can’t
imagine
how you got him to leave you alive when he escaped. Did you let him penetrate you again—was that it?”

Kaylee felt her cheeks going hot.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Well it’s going to be
everyone’s
business soon,” Lyra sneered. “Starting with the peace keepers when they find you floating face down in the bubble pool.”

“You wouldn’t!” Kaylee gasped.

“Oh yes I would.” Lyra’s eyes flashed. “Of course we have to make it look realistic which is why Geemus here is going to come in handy. You see, it has to look like that Havoc slave of yours came back for revenge. We’ll stage the scene to make it look like he raped you savagely, then drowned you in the pool. It shouldn’t be too hard to set up…”

“You can’t!” Kaylee struggled as hard as she could but the huge male slave was already pushing her to the hard tile floor. Lyra’s answer was a nasty laugh.

“Let’s see how well you like being penetrated
now
, shall we?” she snapped. “Geemus has quite a prodigiously large shaft and I haven’t let him breed a female in
ages
.”

The huge, sweaty slave loomed over Kaylee, a leer on his brutish face. His meaty hands closed over her wrists and a thick thigh parted her own. Kaylee kicked out, but her bare feet were no match for his brawn. He only laughed at her, a deep guffawing sound that made her think he wasn’t completely sane.

“Enough of that now, mistress.” He had a voice like someone gargling with gravel. He transferred both her wrists to one hand and with the other, he grabbed her throat.

Kaylee gasped for breath, her airway narrowed to a tiny thread. But still she fought, though her kicking and struggling was having no effect at all. A horrible realization came to her—she was trapped and probably going to die. As the slave’s huge, sweaty face loomed in her vision like a pockmarked moon, Kaylee closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see her fate.
Please, Goddess, let it be over quickly. If I’m going to die, don’t let it take long or hurt too much!

The massive slaved pressed his bulk against her, his foul breath blowing in her face, the stick of his sweat stinging her nostrils. Kaylee wanted to shy away from him but she was too weak…she could not longer get enough air to fight. She could feel herself fading…

Suddenly the heavy weight was dragged off her and she could breathe again. She drew in a choking breath and coughed it back out again.
Who…?

“Fucking scum!” a deep, familiar voice growled. “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

Kaylee opened her eyes and looked up to see Solar standing behind the slave who had been attacking her, his long fingers wrapped around the other male’s throat. Geemus was already turning reddish-purple in the face and he clawed desperately at the fingers cutting off his air supply.

“Solar?” she whispered hoarsely, scarcely daring to believe it.

“Got it in one, sweetheart.” He was squeezing even tighter now, choking the massive slave from behind until Geemus’s entire face went dark with congested blood. Kaylee wondered if she’d looked like that a minute ago when the slave had his fingers wrapped around her throat.

“But…but what are you doing here?” she couldn’t help asking.

Solar gave her a swift glance. “Saving your ass, apparently.”

At that moment, Geemus broke Solar’s hold around his neck and swung around to grapple with him face to face.

Kaylee gasped and jumped back as the punches flew. Beside her, Lyra did the same. At the same time, she was pulling something out of her designer bag—some kind of projectile weapon. To Kaylee’s horror, she raised the muzzle and pointed it at Solar.

“No—you can’t!” Without thinking Kaylee leapt forward and tried to knock the gun out of Lyra’s hand. She succeeded but not before her former “friend” got off a shot. The blast went wild, a beam of blue light grazing Kaylee’s arm, which immediately went numb, then hitting the huge, bald Geemus squarely in the center of his oily chest.

Geemus grunted and dropped like a sack of stones to the tile floor, his eyes rolling up to show the whites.

“Now, look what you’ve done!” raged Lyra. “He was on loan from my sister. If you’ve damaged him there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Oh my Goddess, Is he dead?” Kaylee ran forward, her left arm hanging limp against her side.

“No, just stunned,” Solar said grimly, bending over the other male, He rose slowly, wiping blood from his mouth. “He should be out for a good long time.” He glared at Lyra. “Long enough to take care of
you
, anyway.”

“Stay away.” Lyra was already backing up, trying to keep an eye on Solar as she also searched the floor frantically for her dropped weapon.

“Looking for this?” Solar stooped and scooped it up, holding the small silver projectile in the palm of his large hand.

“Give it to me! At once, slave!” Lyra demanded imperiously.

Solar’s face grew dark.

“I’m not your fucking slave,
”
he growled. “And I’m not putting up with your shit anymore.” He did something to the settings on the silver weapon and then pointed it at Lyra and shot her point blank in the chest.