Dragon's Mistress

Chapter 5

"Guildmistress Karya?" Calanna's voice drifted softly into the room. Her voice was unsteady, off balance.

"Yes, child?" Karya asked, leaning back in her comfortable chair.

"You have a call, from Lord Von'hot," she replied, seemingly dazed. "Lord Von'hot, himself, not his secretary or anything…"

"I'll take it from here, Calanna," Karya said, careful to inject her tone with confusion. She had no doubt their conversation was being monitored by Imperial spies. Leaning over, she carefully switched on her screen. The picture she saw next was one of decadent debauchery.

Drake Von'hot was calling her from his bedroom. He was lounging back against a pile of silken pillows. Dani was kneeling before him, her blond hair draped across his lower body. Karya assumed she was performing fellatio, although it was hard to tell. With clinical detachment, she noticed the girl was the consummate professional. Nothing in her stance betrayed the fact that this most intimate of acts was being performed before a view screen.

"Guildmistress Karya," Drake said, his voice filled with smug triumph. "I thought I'd call and let you know myself that I've convinced Daniella here to come work for me, now." He reached down with one hand, patting her head as if she were some exotic pet.

"I see," Karya replied coldly. "You do realize that it is against our code for her to make a contract with you without Guild sanction. It is traditional for a man of your position to make such arrangements through the local Guild authority. In this case, that would be me."

"I don't think that's necessary," he replied, smiling at her. "As I'm sure you've noticed, the Guild no longer holds the same position in this sector that it once held. Daniella has already made her decision."

Karya's hands clenched against the armrests of her chair. Her voice betrayed no tension, however, as she calmly asked, "Dani, is this true?"

Dani lifted her head from Drakes lap, and turned to look into the view screen. Her face was flushed, her lips red and swollen. She had the look of a woman who had been well loved.

"Yes, Karya," she said, her voice filled with malicious glee. "Lord Von'hot's made me a wonderful offer too good to refuse. Especially since he'll be paying me directly, not through the Guild. I'm tired of giving my earnings away to people like you."

"Daniella, you do realize that if you do this, you'll be expelled from the Guild. We're here to protect you-" Karya said, but her voice was cut off by a scream in the outer office. Calanna burst through the door, crying. Behind here were six heavily armed men in Drake's livery.

"I've sent you an escort, Guildmistress," Drake said in a light, amused voice. Karya's gaze snapped back to the view screen. He was pushing Dani's head back down toward his hips, and smiling with satisfaction. "I've decided that we no longer need Guild administrators on Von'hotten. Of course, individual pleasure workers will be more than welcome to stay, if they so choose. You, however, are no longer welcome."

With that, the transmission ended. Calanna was kneeling at her feet, crying and begging the men not to hurt them. Karya looked at her captors with cool dignity, then took a deep breath and stood up.

"I assume you'll allow me to collect my things?" she asked quiet dignity. The troopers looked at each other, and then one stepped forward. With interest, she noticed his discomfort. He didn't approve of his orders, she realized.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," he said in a low voice. "But we've been instructed to escort you directly to the space port. Your ship is waiting."

"I see," she replied quietly. "Calanna, pull yourself together. They aren't going to hurt us."

Calanna, still whimpering in fright, slowly stood up. Karya grasped the younger woman's hand firmly, and together they followed the soldiers out of the room, out of the building, and into a waiting transport. Karya held herself with stiff dignity the entire time, looking neither right nor left.

In fact, she didn't allow herself to relax at all until several hours later, long after she'd left Von'hotten.

They allowed her to leave on a Guild ship, and in the privacy of her own cabin, Karya went into the fresher and turned on the faucet. The cool water ran out, and she splashed a little up on her face. Then she burst out laughing, grinning at herself in the mirror like a naughty child.

They'd pulled it off. Her boy had convinced Dani to work with him. He was every bit as smart as his father had been, she thought wistfully. If only his father was still alive…

She caught herself, her iron discipline shutting the thought out. He was dead and gone, no point in thinking of him. Now it was time to help her son and her Guild.

She walked out into her room, sat down at her desk and paged the ship's communication officer.

"I need you to send a transmission for me," she said. "To the Guild's High Council." The young man nodded, and turned to adjust several controls. She waited patiently until he finished, then spoke with a steady, somber voice into her view screen.

"I regret to inform you that Lord Von'hot of Von'hotten has formally expelled Guild leadership from his system," she said. "I cannot express the dismay I feel over this, and it is with grave sorrow that I must also tell you that Daniella Forester, a member of the Guild in good standing to this point, has opted to betray us and stay with him. I spoke with her myself, and am quite sure she is not being held against her will. We will, of course, have to take immediate action against Lord Von'hot, and perhaps appeal to the Emperor. I also recommend that we expel Daniella. She is a traitor to our organization, and should be treated as such."

Karya switched off the screen and sat back in her chair, eyes closed. Take care,child , she thought.

She wished she could have stayed to ease things for Dani, but she knew from personal experience how hard it could be to be the mistress of a Von'hot lord . Take care.

The story continues…

in the Price of Pleasure series