Cybele mutters something alien under her breath that I can’t quite catch as she starts pulling lace and silks, in a rainbow of colors, from the cupboards. Beside her, Elara inspects and then discards most of her choices while I try not to cringe as Ynez strips me bare.
Naked and surrounded by a gaggle of women I’ve known for only a few days, all I can do is stay still while they hold up different fabric to me.
“Oooh, this one, I think,” Elara croons. “Look how the purple brings out the light and dark contrast of her eyes. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”
I’ve never thought of my ordinary hazel eyes as being in any way exotic. Except for maybe the way my lashes grow thick and dark, so that I rarely need to bother with mascara.
“What about this deep blue?” Ynez considers, holding up a dress with more ruffles and flounces than I’ve ever seen before.
“No, no, ladies. She was made to wear red,” Cybele announces and holds a slinky slip dress up to my curvy figure.
There is no way I’ll fit into that, I think as all three women oooh and ahhh. Before I can veto their decision, the dress is over my head, the silk slipping over my hips to fall to the floor.
“Perfect,” Cybele breathes in my ear, turning me to where a mirror has appeared in one of the cupboard doors.
My breath catches in my throat. I look like a sacrifice… or maybe a vampire’s bride… and she’s right, the dress is perfect. It’s as if it were made for me. The wine-colored silk dips low to hug my breasts before gathering in pleasing folds around my hips, enhancing my hourglass figure.
Next I’m dragged across the room to Cybele’s nook, where I’m set in front of a mirrored vanity. For the next several minutes, I’m perfumed and powdered. My eyes are lined in bold black lines that make the light hazel stand out even more, and my lips are painted to match my dress.
“Are you ready?” Elara asks me, clasping her hands above her small breasts with a grin showing off sharp white teeth.
So caught up in being pampered, I managed to forget what the fuss was all about, but reality comes slamming back with those three words.Hell no, I’m not ready!
I start to shake my head when Cybele pulls me up from the vanity. “She’s as ready as she’s going to be.” Against my ear she whispers, “The first one is always frightening, but often they are far more scared than you are.”
I findthatvery hard to believe. Still, I don’t struggle as Cybele leads me into the hallway and down the row of colorful doors. She stops in front of a dark red one and scans her wrist against a hidden pad.
When the lock disengages, she pushes us inside. I catch myself holding my breath as the door closes behind us with a finality that has my palms growing slick and my breaths coming fast.
When I finally gather the courage to look around the room it’s… not what I expect. I suppose my mind had conjured up images of harems and sheiks. Giant beds draped with silks. Maybe some kind of bondage dungeon. The air rich with the heady smell of sex.
Instead it’s… just a room.
The lighting is dim, the colors bold and masculine. There is a large bed, but it’s heaped with pillows and a dark comforter. Plush rugs litter the floor, and by the door is a sitting area with two wingback chairs and a small bar. The air is scented, but it’s with a dark musk, not the sweet, cloying smell of sex I expected.
Cybele strides to the small bar and pours a couple fingers of amber liquid into one of the crystal goblets, then hands it to me.
“Your customer has only bought you for an hour,” she reminds me. “So don’t expect him to want to do much talking. Just be as welcoming as you can and let him have free use of your body. These spacefarers are often so starved for cunt, they barely wet their tip before they are finished.”
With those sage words of advice, I tip the goblet back and empty its contents straight into my stomach.
Dear God, give me strength to get through the next hour.
“Is there anything I can do for you before I go?” she asks, taking the crystal from me and staring at me with her too-large, too-blue eyes.
I wring my hands at the same time I pull my bottom lip between my teeth. “I don’t suppose you’d create a distraction so I could sneak off the station?”
“Ah, but if it were that simple, I’d have left long ago.” Cybele’s eyes crinkle at the corners with a smile that doesn’t quite pass as genuine. She lightly pats me on the shoulder. “You’ll do just fine.”
“Thank you.” I’m not sure why I’m thanking her, but it seems like the right thing to say.
She nods once and then turns away, only to pause and turn back.
“Oh, there’s just one more thing.” Lightning quick, she grabs my arm and jams a syringe into my bicep.
“OW! What the fuck is that?” I stagger back from her, rubbing at where she got me.
“It’s a birth control injection,” she says, tucking the spent syringe back into its hiding place and giving me an apologetic look.
