42. Aurora

42

AURORA

S lade’s family mansion was grander by far than the palace I had grown up in. But though wealth was displayed everywhere, it was overdone and gaudy. “ Garish ” my mother would have said, if she could have seen it.

We went down a long hallway that had expensive looking artwork every few feet. There was a long, dark purple fur carpet rolled over the beautiful parquet floor, which in my opinion was the only elegant looking part of the place.

Lyrah walked a little ahead of me, telling me what every piece of art was and how much it had cost. Her large, balloon breasts jiggled as she stalked down the hallway on her stilt-like heels and her full behind twitched with every move. I wondered if that was what Slade’s father saw in her. It certainly wasn’t her personality.

“ Now , I’ve just had this suite redecorated for you and Slade ,” Lyrah said to me as she opened an elaborately carved wooden door. “ I do hope you’ll love it.”

I stepped into the room after her and saw that it was the most garish one yet.

There was a massive round bed in the center of the room covered in a furry white throw with multiple cube-shaped pillows scattered across it. On the floor was another fur carpet, also white. At least I thought the carpet and bed were white—it was hard to tell because of all the red light in the room, which appeared to be coming from all directions.

I looked closer and saw that the walls and the ceiling were covered in a sea of red which seemed to be moving like waves in the ocean. I touched one wall carefully to see what was going on but the red waves flowed over my fingers without changing. After a moment, I realized it was some kind of light projection. But how had Lyrah gotten it to cover all of the walls from floor all the way up and across the ceiling?

“ Do you like it? It’s the latest,” she chirped. “ It’s an interactive holo projection. There are sensors in all the walls and the ceiling—and you can even change the colors. Look !”

There was a life-sized statue of a naked man with extremely large, erect genitals standing just inside the door of the room. On his outstretched tray was a small silver remote. Lyrah picked it up and pointed at one of the walls at random. When she pressed the button, the walls and ceiling were suddenly covered with bright green waves.

It was sort of an improvement on the red— I’d been feeling like I was swimming in an ocean of blood. But the bright green was hard on the eyes.

“ Could I try it?” I asked politely.

“ What ? Oh yes, of course.” She handed me back the remote. “ And when you get tired of playing with it, just put it back on Mr . Dingus’s tray.” She nodded at the naked statue and giggled. “ He’s perfect for holding little items you don’t want to use. You can even hang your handbag on his shaft!”

“ Er , yes— I see.” I nodded, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t really want to live in a room with a life-sized naked statue of an excited man, but I sensed I didn’t have a choice.

“ Well ? Go ahead—play around with it. The remote—not Mr . Dingus !” Lyrah said and let out her annoying giggle again.

I pointed the remote at the wall and pushed a button at random. Suddenly the green waves were deep, dark indigo blue.

“ Oh , so soothing! It’s like being at the bottom of the ocean, right?” Lyrah asked, raising her eyebrows.

“ It really is,” I admitted. Though the dark blue didn’t feel very restful. It reminded me of stories I’d read about some of the oceans here on Rigelis Nine where the water was so deep and dark the light never reached the bottom and horrible creatures prowled through the pitch-black depths.

“ And the best thing is, it never turns off!” Lyrah said to me. “ It just keeps going and going and going!”

“ Oh really?” I said weakly. “ I mean, you can’t turn it off? Not even when you want to sleep?”

“ That’s when you put it on the darker settings,” she informed me. “ The artist who sold it to me swears it’s very peaceful and good for your brain’s binaural rhythms. That’s a real thing, you know,” she added. “ And listen to this…”

She snatched the remote from my hand and pressed some more buttons. At once a low, thundering sound like a giant beating a drum overhead started coming from the walls. She pressed a few more buttons and a flute-like melody joined in.

“ See ?” Lyrah shouted at me to be heard above the music. “ It’s supposed to be very restful. You’ll fall right to sleep every night!”

Honestly , I wouldn’t have minded the music if it hadn’t been quite so loud.

“ It’s lovely!” I shouted back. “ But can you turn it down just a little?”

“ Oh —of course!” Lyrah punched more buttons on the remote and turned down the music, which was a relief. However , she also set the wall and ceiling colors to bright pink and neon yellow respectively. “ Now isn’t that nice?” she said, smiling as the yellow light poured down from the ceiling, mixing with the bright pink of the walls to turn the white bed and carpet orange. “ Just like standing in a patch of sunshine!”

I wasn’t sure if I agreed with her, but I didn’t want to be rude to my new step-mother-in-law so I just smiled and nodded. I hoped that once I got my hands on the remote again, I could find a way to turn everything way down— way down. I couldn’t imagine sleeping soundly in a room where there was bright light and loud sounds that never stopped or turned off.

“ Well , I’m so glad you like it!” Lyrah said to me. “ And your bathroom is through here.”

She ushered me through the vast bedroom and down a small hallway. Just as we were about to enter the bathroom, a door to the right of us opened and one of the maids wearing a gold and green uniform came out.

“ Ah , Ulala , there you are,” Lyrah said to her. “ Have you finished unpacking all of my new daughter’s clothes and belongings?”

“ Yes , Ma’am .” Ulala , who had beady eyes that were set too close together and a cap of short black hair, bobbed a kind of curtsy. “ May I talk to you, Ma’am ?” she asked, as she came back up. “ It’s a matter of some urgency.”

“ Oh , well of course. Just let me say goodbye to my darling new daughter.” She turned to me. “ So that room Ulala just came out of is your walk-in closet. And that door up ahead is the bathroom. Do freshen up and relax for just a moment—dinner is at half past seven.”

Then she bustled out of the room with the maid right behind her, whispering in her ear. I caught both of them looking back at me and had the strangest sensation they were gossiping about me—but why? Maybe because I had brought so few clothes, I thought. After all, Slade and I were supposed to be moving in here, yet I had only brought a handful of outfits.

I really didn’t like the idea of the maid going through my luggage and unpacking everything. I had brought the stretchers with me, just in case, and it made me writhe inside with embarrassment to think of her seeing them and guessing what they were for.

Still , what was done was done. I was just going to have to suck it up and hope the maid hadn’t told on me. Though by the way she and Lyrah had been whispering, I didn’t have much hope of that.

Sighing , I decided to put it out of my mind and choose which of the dresses I had brought to wear to dinner. I was just about to duck into the walk-in closet to pick something when I heard Slade’s voice coming from the bedroom.

“ What the fucking fuck is this?” he demanded.

I came out of the hallway and saw him standing in the middle of the room, looking around with a grimace on his face.

I couldn’t say that I blamed him. The walls and ceiling were still projecting neon yellow and pink respectively and the odd drum and flute music was still playing. Nothing could have been further from his own style, which was modern and minimalist and above all, quiet.

“ She doesn’t expect us to stay in here, does she?” Slade asked, looking around. “ I mean, Goddess of the Four Faces , it’s fucking unlivable in here!”

“ Here —maybe I can help.”

Lyrah had put the silver remote back on “ Mr . Dingus’s ” tray. I picked it up and pressed several buttons, trying to get a better mixture. Finally I settled on a gentle aquamarine blue and turned off the music altogether.

“ There —is that better?” I asked Slade .

“ A little,” he grumbled. “ But why didn’t you just turn the lights all the way off?”

“ Er , well, I’m afraid your stepmother says they can’t be turned off,” I told him. “ The best thing we can do is just try to choose dark colors when we want to sleep.”

“ What ?” he growled as he looked at the naked statue. “ This is fucking ridiculous! We can’t sleep in here—we need to move to another room.”

“ Actually , your stepmother said that she had this room redecorated just for us,” I told him. “ So she’s probably going to be offended if we ask to switch rooms.”

“ So we won’t ask,” Slade said, frowning. “ There are plenty of unused rooms in this place. We’ll just go sleep next door. But we shouldn’t have to,” he added darkly. “ I swear Lyrah did this on purpose just to grind my fucking gears.”

“ Maybe she did but I don’t think fighting about it is going to help,” I said. “ I would like to move to another room, though. And can we ask that the maids not go through our things? One of them was in here unpacking my luggage and I brought the spreaders with me. I’m , uh, pretty sure she saw them,” I ended, my cheeks getting hot.

“ You brought them, did you?” Slade cupped my cheek in his big, warm hand. “ What’s the matter, baby? Are you still afraid of getting Bred ?”

Actually , I wasn’t. In fact, my body was longing for his right now.

“ No ,” I whispered. “ I just thought…thought they might come in handy. But if you’re going to Breed me tonight…”

“ Mmm …” Slade pulled me closer. “ Do you want me to Breed you, baby?”

“ I am feeling awfully empty inside,” I admitted, snuggling close to him and laying my head on his broad chest. “ Do we really have to go to dinner?”

Slade ran a hand through my hair.

“ I’m afraid that Family Dinner is non-negotiable around here,” he rumbled. “ But I promise we’ll skip dessert and come back to our room as soon as possible.” He made a face. “ Not this room though. One down the hall.”

“ That would be nice.” I stood on my tiptoes and put my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

Slade came willingly and kissed me back with passion.

“ Mmm , Princess —you’re going to get me in trouble,” he rumbled, his eyes half-lidded with lust when the kiss broke at last. “ Trying to get me to skip dinner to stay in and Breed you…”

“ Yes , Slade —please,” I whispered. “ I … I really think I’m ready.”

His golden eyes flashed.

“ I think you are too. But just in case I’m going to take a long time licking your sweet little pussy, baby. Getting you ready to take my cock deep inside.”

“ Slade !” I nearly moaned. His dirty talk was really getting to me and already I could feel my nipples getting tight and my cunny getting hot and wet.

“ Gods , baby— I can smell how hot you are,” he growled in my ear. “ Do you want to feel my shaft deep in your little pussy? Do you want me to give you a Deep Seeding when I Breed you?”

I was opening my mouth to say “yes” when a knock sounded on the door.

“ Hey , it’s me— Jessina !” a familiar voice called. “ Can I come in or am I interrupting your sexy times?”

Slade gave a low groan as we untangled ourselves.

“ Hang on,” he called and went to open the door.

“ Sorry if I’m interrupting.” Jessina came in wearing a long, silver gown that looked stunning with her warm brown skin tones. “ Hey , you’re not dressed yet,” she said to me. “ Better hurry up— Lyrah goes crazy when anyone is late to the table.”

“ All right— I’ll go change.” I ducked back into the walk-in closet which was bigger than my entire bedroom back home. My dresses—all seven of them—had been hung in a row and my shoes were on a rack beneath them. The rest of my things had been placed discretely in drawers. Unfortunately , the set of spreaders was there in their clear plastic case, right next to my underwear. So the maid had definitely seen them.

I winced in embarrassment and then sighed. Well , there was nothing I could do now but ask that the maids stay out of my closet from now on. But I dreaded the looks I would probably be getting from the servants while we were here.

Hopefully it won’t be for long, I thought as I selected a dark red dress and slipped it on. It was rather daring by L’Crist standards with a low-cut front and a slit up the center to halfway up my thighs, but everyone dressed like this here. I slipped on some matching heels—not as high as Lyrah’s but still high enough to make my legs look good—and looked in the mirror to fluff out my hair.

When I was satisfied that I looked presentable, I came out of the closet and saw Slade and Jessina waiting on me. Despite their dissimilar skin tones, I could really see the family resemblance in the shapes of their faces. Both of them were tall, too and though Slade’s eyes were a dark gold and Jessina’s were more amber, they both had extra long lashes.

“ There you are—you look fucking gorgeous.” Slade wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in for a hug and a kiss that went on longer than it should have.

“ You two are going to have to wait until later unless you want to set Lyrah off by being late,” Jessina said dryly, when we finally broke apart. “ Come on— I don’t want to have to deal with her!”

Slade sighed.

“ Remind me again why I came back here?”

“ So you could spend time with your dear little sister,” Jessina said, grinning. “ Now come on—let’s go!”