They didn’t see Master? Ren was unsure if Cam meant that literally, and was also disappointed. He had expected a strange set up, maybe even an unsafe environment, but he did not foresee an invisible master.
“You’re quite pretty,” Cam commented, looking Ren up and down. “Maybe the prettiest of all so far aside from Zanti. So far I see no orders incoming for your make up or hair style. You’re to be allowed to go rogue, as we say here in our little world. Wild.”
“I usually braid my hair,” Ren said.
“You can do that. But if Master commands otherwise, you must obey.”
Ren glanced about the vast room, taking everything in. It seemed so big, and the waterfall gave off an outdoorsy scent and feel, but he suspected it all would grow smaller to the mind week after week when this was to be the extent of his world from now on. A prison with fine things and pretty men and room to move about, but still a prison. Well, he had chosen this.
“Oh!” Cam waved his tablet under Ren’s face. “I forgot. We all have tablets if we want them. I can set yours up for you in a blink. You can access most things on them about the outside, but it’s one way. There is no contact with others allowed. You cannot receive or send information to people, organizations or anything of that sort, no emails, texts, comments, messages. It won’t work. You can only view. You can see movies. You can play games. You can keep a diary. But you will be unable to submit any of what you do or see here to the outside.”
“That was clear to me from the beginning when I was sold,” Ren said.
“Good. Then you understand.” Cam and Zanti exchanged looks, as Zanti sidled up alongside Cam again. “You have only us. It can be hard sometimes. Confining.”
Zanti stared hard at Ren, then frowned again.
“I understand,” said Ren, looking away from Zanti as his heart skipped a beat from his nerves. He was still too nervous to see any auras.
“Come along, then, let’s give you the tour.”
Cam led Ren all about. Zanti followed several feet behind them, wordless, almost darkly withdrawn except for his almost hostile interest in the newbie. In Ren.
As Ren was shown every section and every space, the other men lounging about or swimming or playing games all quit what they were doing and came over, surrounding them. They all looked Ren over, some with friendly gazes and grins, some with cold stares and noses held high. They represented all skin tones and hair color, but their sizes and shapes were relatively the same. Lean, wiry. All somewhere between five ten and six two. The age range appeared to be twenty to thirty years of age.
In the living space beside the couch with the TV on mute, Ren stood very still and let the crowd of men have their look at him. It did not seem odd they were curious. If Cam was telling the truth, they did not see new men enter their ranks all that often. Maybe they were jaded and tired of each other. Maybe Ren represented something new and interesting to fill the long hours of the day waiting for Master to call. Or, maybe because he was new and untried, they resented him. He hoped not. He wanted friends. And he wanted to do everything right by his new master.
All the naked bodies came close and surrounded him. He was used to men, used to nudity and that included the friendliness of other pleasure slaves. The swimmers smelled fresh and damp, and faintly of chlorine. The others also smelled good, sweet, their colognes mingling.
Cam stood back, and Zanti went with him, grasping Cam’s free hand in a possessive way, pulling slightly.
Cam whispered something in his ear.
Zanti lowered his head and shut his eyes, shaking his head hard. His dark hair reflected the lights in pale blues and gold and suddenly, from one minute to the next, Ren could see his aura. It was dark, almost solid black, but there were little lightning strikes of brilliant blue within and blooms of phosphor green. It was unlike any aura he’d ever seen. He did not understand it. Black might mean angry… but then again something else. He had never seen a black aura.
Zanti stomped his foot, spun and sauntered off alone. Ren did not see where he went for the others were demanding attention.
He glanced at Cam and the men around him as a multitude of colors assaulted his senses all at once. A rainbow of essences. So much instant emotion. Excitement. The others were all suddenly easy to read.
To Ren, this meant connections were being made. For better or worse, these men would be his brothers for the rest of his life, or until he was tossed from the harem for being too old. He wondered if that had already happened to slaves before him. If so, where did they go? Were the other outbuilding complexes for men retired from Master’s central harem?
He supposed one day he might find out, but for now he did not allow himself to worry about it.
Now the men began to introduce themselves. Ren had no chance to remember all their names, but later he would learn them. For now, he heard low voices, a strum of introductions. “Finn.” “Michael.” “Li Po.” “Tomo.” “Aiden.” And so many more.
Cam came forward after a few minutes. “All right, all right,” he said, shooing them away. “Ren, are you tired after your long trip here?”
Ren nodded. In truth, he was exhausted.
“Are you hungry? Dinner is delivered in an hour. The food here never disappoints.”
“Thank you. I might like a nap.”
“Of course.”
Most of the men wandered away, bored now that he said he wanted to sleep, but still eyeing him. Some of the men sported half or full erections as well, which had not been the case moments before. Did they want to test Ren out? To fuck him?
Ren could not think about that right now. He was still in pain from the brand, and his energy definitely drooped.
Cam showed him his private alcove which wasn’t very private since the entire inside of it could be seen from most angles of the atrium.
Cam said, “I’ll bring you the pain pills and some water.”
Ren sat on the edge of his assigned bed on a silken spread of blended lavenders and golds. Cam’s aura was pale green, bobbing about his head and shoulders, open, friendly as he left the alcove.
Ren pushed the bedspread out of the way of his feet and lay down just as Cam returned with a glass and some medicine.
“Here.” Cam held out his hands.
Ren sat up and drank down the pills and set the water on a bedside table. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Ren felt instantly vulnerable in this strange place, and pulled the spread past his hips as he turned onto his side.
In seconds, he fell into a dark encompassing shadow, soon deeply asleep.
Chapter Eleven
Acceptance to the Harem
Li Po’s aura fluttered like a garden in bloom. He was the most colorful of them all. And the first real friend Ren made in the harem.
All the men in the harem had cat-like muscles, long and firm and lean. A type, it seemed, Master preferred. Despite what Master had said about collecting rarities -- people like Ren -- Ren still had not yet ascertained what each man’s gift actually was beyond their good looks. He did know now some had actual super-weird gifts like Ren’s, but more mundane.
Cam had told him he himself was a whiz at organization. Finn could do complex math in his head. Torrance and Seth, the twins, had black belts in kung fu. Aaron had a beautiful voice and sang the weirdest, old-fashioned ballads a capella. He said he could play six instruments but didn’t elaborate. But lots of people in the world had talents. Ren had been expecting them to be perhaps more strange, like seeing ghosts or making people’s heads explode with a thought. In fairness, he had watched a lot of science fiction as a kid. His imagination might have gotten away from him a little.
As it was, Li Po informed him that Master liked performances and the men were exceptionally talented in that manner. He wanted men who could perform. “And not just sexually,” Li Po laughed. “Acting. Singing. Dance.”
“Like putting on plays?” Ren asked.
“We do that, too.”
Zanti remained a peculiar, darkly shining thing, his aura like a shadow, always dark gray or black with bits of exploding stars breaking through now and again.
Ren learned that Zanti was deliberately mute. It wasn’t that he couldn’t speak, but according to Cam had chosen not to. He made only a few small sounds like grunts and squeaks, and that very rarely.
“You said his story is his to tell, but do you know his history?”
“He’s been hurt. That’s all I can say.”
“What is his talent?”
Cam smiled. “Looking beautiful.”
“Really?”
Cam shrugged.
Ren slept through his first night, exhausted beyond what even he had realized. He missed dinner and woke only once to use the facilities. Other than that, he was out cold.
The next morning, after he’d obediently followed the strict cleansing regimen of the harem, at breakfast, Cam invited Ren to sit by him and Zanti.
“So, you are Slave Palace trained?” Cam said.
“Yes.”
“So is Michael, but he didn’t pass the tests, so he wasn’t sold as a Palace slave. He went to another distributor and that’s how Master found him. The rest of us are not Palace trained at all. We come from all over. You can tell by some of our accents.”
Ren nodded, realizing some of these men could have been from back alley deals, maybe not even consenting.
“What’s Michael’s talent?”
“He’s a great actor. He can sing, too. Not like Aaron, but he’s very good.”
Ren nodded.
“Slave Palaces are famous, known for producing the best. Are you the best, Ren?” Cam asked with a smile.
Awkward, Ren could only think to say, “I do my best, yes.”
Cam chuckled. “Can’t wait to see.”
Whatever that meant, Ren did not feel like asking just yet. He was still getting his bearings.
Breakfast was wonderful, complete with a vast selection of foods. Ren chose eggs and bacon, the standard fare, and when he was still hungry after downing his orange juice, he filled up on the best honeyed oatmeal he’d ever tasted.
He was not surprised when several men paired off afterward. He watched as a dark-haired man named Jaxon and a fairer one named Calder entered the shallow end of the pool, sat on a low step and began to make out. He saw their erections grow, flushed and strong, and their auras bounce pink to red, the colors for arousal.
Seth and Torrance, the twins, went to the weights, but they seemed to be helping each other with more than just exercise, their touches on each other’s bodies as they worked out far from platonic. After awhile, they started to do some sort of kata or dance. With every move, their cocks lengthened. They moved as one, eyes on each other only, the rest of the world locked out.
Cam and Zanti went to watch TV. Or rather, Cam did. Zanti just seemed to follow, mostly uninterested in anything. But he kept stealing glances at Ren, and Ren kept a curious eye on him.
Others wandered about. Ren stared at his empty plates.
Li Po came up behind him and said, “Don’t worry. The servers will return to clean this all up.”
Ren looked away from Seth and Torrance but Li Po was staring at them now. “They’re something. Beautiful together. Master has a kink for them.” Li Po winked.
“They’re twins.” Ren did not know what else to say.
“Yeah. Cute, eh?”
Of course they were. Ren was not shocked at all. He looked up at Li Po. “They are. You all are. I was not sure what to expect, but I am surrounded by loveliness everywhere I look.”
“As lovely as at the Slave Palace? I have heard stories…”
“Yes. As lovely.” Ren smiled. He sighed.
Li Po said, “Are you still nervous? Are you all right? I know a great way to help you relax.” He winked.
Li Po had a hard, wiry body, thin-skinned, almond dark, and narrow at the waist. He was friendly without being too forward. He had a lovely, dark cock, thin but long. His straight, fine hair was like curtains of pale brown silk falling about his cheekbones, and his angular eyes were soft and gentle, exotically gorgeous. It might be lovely to push that hair back from that beautiful face, and feel it slide through his fingers.
But Ren was still tense. He had not been ordered to do anything. He still felt he needed to settle in. Watching other men have sex and lounge about was enough for now.
“Maybe later,” Ren said. He raised his eyebrows in the hope that his words were not seen as rejection to a man who seemed to be trying to form a friendship with him.
Li Po took a deep breath. His aura remained a friendly gold-green. “Sure. That’s fine.”
Ren stood. “Will you sit with me, then? Talk? I have more questions. I want to learn. Everything.”
Li Po had the sweetest, low laugh, a mix of a rumble and hum. It went right through Ren’s chest. Li Po’s aura came better into focus now. So many colors flitted about the edges. So many designs. One of the prettiest Ren had ever seen.
They found a plush, unoccupied couch facing the pool and made themselves comfortable.
Ren wanted to know about the other men, but more, he wanted to know about Master. There was an urgency in his chest about this subject, which was still an unknown. All he had to go on about his new owner was an echo-voice that sounded faintly mechanical, and what Cam had said. We do not see Master. He sees us.
Either Cam was teasing, or this was quite the riddle.
“I want to know about our Ma—um, about Master.”
Li Po sat forward, his legs bent, feet up, resting one arm across his knees. “Everyone does, of course.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know. Here’s the thing. Master is very private. Shy, perhaps? He is what some might call a voyeur.”
“He doesn’t like to participate, you mean?” Ren asked.
“Something like that.”
“Wait. So none of you have ever actually been with him?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t Cam just say so? Okay, but some of you must have seen him at some point, then?”
Li Po held up an elegant hand. “I know what Cam says to everyone who is new. And it’s true. We don’t see him. None of us have. Tomo was the first, before there was a harem. He came to be Master’s slave and lived in luxury alone until called upstairs, sometimes once a week, sometimes once a night. Master ordered him to do things. He was alone for a year before Master bought more slaves.”
“But you said Tomo saw him, or…?”
“No. I didn’t say that.” Li Po glanced about the room until he saw Tomo. Ren followed his gaze. Tomo stood by an open window, the long pink drapes moving about his legs and hips from the outdoor breeze. He was very dark-skinned, with a regal face, close-cropped black hair, and gleaming, long muscles. Tomo had his hip cocked, head back, but he was watching the twins. As he watched them dance together, he pleasured himself with his hand.
“Look at him. Like a king,” Li Po said.
Ren saw it was true. Tomo held himself like a man of power, as if he’d been born to it. His cock was long and thick, pink as a rose at the tip. Breathtaking.
“His ass is like nothing you’ve ever experienced.” Li Po scrunched his face as if he’d said something funny. “Seriously. I’m not trying to be crude. Look at him.”
Ren looked at how Tomo’s ass curved outward from his lower back, plump but hard, and the way it met the backs of his thighs—so much flesh to touch, to stroke, to grab hold of. It was in prime condition. They all were, but Tomo’s buttocks were somehow richer, fuller. Pillows to sink into.
“He’s very handsome.”
“Master is a voyeur, like I said,” Li Po went on. “But he could not resist Tomo’s ass. Tomo said Master fucked him. But only once. And no, they did not meet. There was a wall between them.”
“He used a glory hole,” Ren supplied.
“Yes. Fucked him from behind. Tomo never saw him. Or his cock. Maybe it wasn’t
even Master. He said he tried to see into the hole in the wall, but every time Tomo turned around to look, only darkness from the hole in the wall was there. Not even a bit of light. He didn’t even see the cock because it withdrew whenever he tried to see. Tomo is special. He’s the only one of us Master has ever actually touched with any part of his body. If it was Master touching him at all. It might have been a guard, or a servant. Master is an enigma. So it is possible he used surrogates.”
Ren’s heart sank. He could not help but be disappointed. He knew he was being a bit spoiled, but he’d hoped for a master to take him, tell him what to do all the time, order him to be whatever he wanted. But in the master’s bed. Not apart from him. Yes, Ren could perform and was taught well, and he did not mind playing in groups with other pleasure slaves, but a master’s pleasure was what he’d trained for. What he’d dreamed of having for the rest of his life. He’d hoped for a sort of real love, hands on, not games of love.
But Master Locke had warned him. It might never happen. And in a harem any master’s attention would be divided.
Ren could understand voyeurism well. He’d enjoyed looking at men from an early age. But he had wanted to be someone to be looked at as well, controlled. The men he looked at were men he wanted to be, not have. He had always wanted to give pleasure, to be wanted, desired, coveted.
He glanced away from Tomo, and from the twins with a pang. It was almost jealousy, but not quite. More a feeling of anxiety as to whether he might match up to these men in areas of talent, beauty and prowess. He was Palace trained. Of course he was the best. But deep inside him a wavering insecurity still lived, as if he were a child still yearning to escape, still trying to deal with the deaths of his parents.
He had rarely felt insecurity at the Palace because he was with others like himself, trainees focused on revelatory acts of sex day in and day out. But here he was not a trainee. He was one of thirteen collected men, all of whom were unknown to him. With Master being the biggest mystery. He would be judged. It would be anyone’s nature to judge their newest acquisition, their newest cellmate. If he had rules, tests to pass, that would have been fine. In this black mansion, the harem had few rules. And Master kept a cold distance.
The Slave Harem: A Kingdom of Slaves Book Page 8
