Part 23 (1/2)
”Maybe...” He didn't sound convinced. But just then Emily's stomach rumbled, much to her mortification.
”Oh, excuse me!” She put a hand to her belly, her cheeks getting hot. ”I'm just hungry, I guess. It's been a long time since those protein bars we had back on your s.h.i.+p.”
”As for that, I believe Xen'dex's mate is making a late meal for us now. We're going to eat with them and stay here tonight. We'll be off again tomorrow as long as you're well enough to travel.”
”I'm well enough,” Emily protested.
He frowned. ”That remains to be seen. I still don't like the way you're not even producing a single drop of nectar from either peak.” He sighed. ”But for now, let's go eat and see if the situation will ”resolve itself” as you said.”
”But I can't go out in nothing but a towel,” Emily protested. ”And anyway, now that the pinchers are off, I'm back to square one. Everything hurts me except, well...” She could feel her cheeks getting hot with a blush. ”Except you.”
”I would love nothing better than to hold your b.r.e.a.s.t.s in my hands the entire time we are eating,” he growled softly. ”As a true chosen mate would. But since I am not your chosen mate, it would probably be better for you to wear this.”
He rose and went to the other side of the bed. There was a gauzy top there so lightweight it looked like it barely weighed a thing. It fluttered in the air lightly as Tragar brought it to her.
”Lift your arms,” he instructed. ”Let me slip it over your head.”
”But...won't it hurt?” Emily couldn't help remembering how the soft, silky material of her nightgown had felt like sandpaper against her sensitive tips.
”It is fabric made of the petals of the la.s.sa flower-the same flower used to make the healing ointment,” he rumbled, pointing at the ointment pot still lying on the bed beside her. ”It shouldn't irritate your peaks-for a short time, at least.”
”All right.” Carefully, she let the soft, floaty fabric settle around her. The top was pale green and had spaghetti straps that could be adjusted to be longer or shorter through a series of loops. ”Hey-it really doesn't hurt.” Emily was relieved as the soft blouse settled against her sensitive nipples. She could see them poking out under the flower fabric, making two obscene little tents, but at least they were covered. The hem of the top felt about to her navel and while she wished it was longer, Emily was just glad to be decent for now.
”It won't hurt at first,” Tragar said, handing her a long green skirt with a slit up the middle which appeared to go with the blouse. ”Though after a little while even the la.s.sa fabric will irritate you. But this blouse can be adjusted for that. Watch.”
Leaning over her, he did something to the loops on the spaghetti straps, shortening them so that the hem of the pale green blouse was suddenly raised to just above her nipples.
Emily bit her lip as she looked down at the obscene sight of her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s thrusting out from under the gauzy green fabric.
”Um...is that really necessary?”
”Not now. It maybe become so later, especially when your nectar starts to flow.” He readjusted the straps so that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were hidden again, much to Emily's relief. ”The fabric also repels nectar so it won't stain when it starts to flow. The nectar simply rolls right off.”
”Okay, well that's good I guess.” It still seemed to Emily that she was going to be walking around all sticky and leaving a trail of the honey-looking nectar everywhere she went but at least her clothes wouldn't be stained. ”Do you mind not looking while I put this on?” she asked, holding up the skirt. ”I'm still kind of, um, shy.”
Plus she didn't want him to see the silver shaft which was still inside her. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s might be achy and full but the shaft didn't have anything to do with that-or so the little voice in her head insisted. And as long as it wasn't hurting her, she had decided to leave it where it was. After all, if it could keep her from moving to the third stage, or Vlammen as Tragar called it, it would be worth a little discomfort of having a foreign object inside her.
”Of course.” Tragar turned around courteously and she dropped the towel completely and pulled on the skirt. She wished she had panties to go with it but at least she was covered. The fabric was stretchy and the slit of the skirt came up to her mid thighs so she was easily able to walk in it.
Once she was dressed, Emily felt much better. The skirt and blouse outfit, though not what she would have picked for herself, was certainly flattering. And even if it hadn't been, anything was better than her ragged, stained nightgown.
”I'm ready,” she said to Tragar and he turned around to look at her.
”You look beautiful, my Khalla,” he murmured and held out an arm to her. ”May I escort you to dinner?”
”Yes, thank you.” Smiling and trying to ignore the ache in her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, Emily took his arm and let him lead her from the room. She could still feel the b.u.mpy silver shaft moving within her with each step, but at least her nipples didn't sting anymore and she and Tragar seemed to be on talking terms again. She just wished her b.r.e.a.s.t.s didn't hurt with every step.
Still, maybe the problem will take care of itself, she thought hopefully. Maybe the nectar will just go away-just dissipate or something. It didn't seem very likely but a girl could hope, couldn't she?
Chapter Nineteen.
”This is delicious, Saskia!” Emily said. ”I'd ask for the recipe but I'm pretty sure I couldn't find the ingredients back on Earth.”
”I'm glad you like it.” Saskia smiled and pa.s.sed her a small piece of undu bread, shaped like a hand for good luck. ”It's my specialty, so it tis. Though I never thought to be making it for a Khalla from so far away.”
Tragar watched as Emily dug into the steaming bowl of charnoth stew which their hostess had set before her. It really was delicious, with a thick, meaty broth and chunks of taroth root and other vegetables throughout it. In contrast, there were also delicate simbla blossoms floating on its surface, their fragile purple petals unfurling in the steam.
He was eating his own stew but keeping an eye on Emily, who was sitting directly across the table from him. So far, she still hadn't shed a single drop of nectar and he was becoming more and more concerned.
He knew the nectar wasn't flowing yet because the pale green fabric of her clothing remained unchanged. The flower-blouse she had on would repel the liquid of course but still, the pa.s.sage of the nectar would have changed its color, turning the pale green to a deep turquoise.
Of course, when she really started flowing the straps would have to be adjusted to reveal her nipples completely-they would be much too sensitive at that point to have even the softest petal fabric against them. But so far Emily seemed to have no such problem. In fact, he would have thought she had no problem at all, but for the slight wince he saw on her face any time she moved too quickly and caused her heavy b.r.e.a.s.t.s to jiggle.
”You're worried, aren't you?” Xen'dex, who was sitting beside him, murmured for his ears alone. ”Concerned about your Khalla.”
”I removed those d.a.m.ned pinchers myself-she couldn't stand to do it,” Tragar muttered back. ”And her b.r.e.a.s.t.s have grown so much fuller I was certain her nectar would flow at once. But so far...not a drop.”
”That's not good.” Xen'dex frowned. ”Possibly prolonged exposure to the star-silver inhibited her flow or thickened the nectar. Which can be extremely dangerous.”
”She admitted her b.r.e.a.s.t.s ache,” Tragar said in a low voice. ”But I don't know what to do about it. I even tried ma.s.saging them but...” He shook his head. ”Nothing.”
”I believe she should be in the second stage of Scintil by now.” Xen'dex shook his head. ”If the nectar doesn't being to flow soon, you may have to do something else to stimulate it.”
”Besides ma.s.saging her? What can I do?” Tragar demanded. He was glad that the table was wide and the females across from them were completely immersed in their own conversation-he had a feeling Emily wouldn't like knowing he was discussing this with his old master at all.
Xen'dex sighed and looked troubled.
”You may have to suck her peaks-just enough to get the nectar flowing.”
”What?” Tragar shook his head. ”But that's forbidden! To suck the nectar from a Khalla's peaks...It is unthinkable.”
”Sometimes the unthinkable is necessary,” Xen'dex murmured. ”And the rule against the sucking of nectar was not always in place-it is actually a fairly recent decree. Only in the past hundred cycles has it been considered forbidden.”
”Truly?” Tragar raised an eyebrow. ”I thought it was prohibited by the G.o.ddess herself.”
Xen'dex shook his head. ”Not by the G.o.ddess-by her Mouthpiece. The High Priestess and Head of the Holy Council.”
”That's the same thing,” Tragar objected. ”For surely the Mouthpiece of the G.o.ddess would not say anything the G.o.ddess had not given her to say. I cannot suck the nectar from Emily's b.r.e.a.s.t.s-it is wrong!”
”It didn't used to be considered so,” Xen'dex argued softly. ”According to some very ancient texts I have studied, the chosen mate of the Khalla-to-be would suck her peaks and partake of her nectar regularly. It created a bond between them which would never form otherwise.”
”That was then-this is now,” Tragar objected. ”All of my life I have been taught what a blasphemy it was for a male to let more than a drop or two of the Khalla's sacred nectar to pa.s.s his lips.”
”You do not have to imbibe completely. The key is to start the nectar flowing, then stop sucking-and above all, not to swallow any of the nectar itself.”