Playing Their Parts: A Kindred Tales Novel

by Anderson, Evangeline

  “Yes, my Lord Kindred.” The pig-man bowed himself out with obsequious deference, calling, “I will wait for you at the main gate,” before Stone shut the door.

  As Cassie watched their contact go, she wondered again what they were getting themselves into. Then she turned her attention to Stone, who was saying,

  “All right, we don’t have much time to get into our new characters and make up some new back-stories. But the first thing you have to remember about being a Yonnite Mistress is that you are the most important person in the universe and I, as your body-slave, am the least important…”

  Twenty-Three

  Stone couldn’t help wondering if he was doing the right thing. Was he taking advantage of this situation in order to get closer to his partner—to touch her the way he had longed to for so long?

  For that matter, was he taking advantage of Cassandra?

  But honestly what other choice did they have than to play their current roles, he asked himself, as he instructed his partner on how to act like a Yonnite Mistress. How else could they get into Xempi Gozeriam’s palace and complete their mission?

  You just want an excuse to touch her—to taste her, whispered an accusing voice in his head. You know you’d never be able to otherwise. You know she only thinks of you as a friend. And now you’re taking advantage of that friendship to put her in a position where you can fulfill your own fantasies, with Cassandra none the wiser.

  We’re just role playing, he argued with himself uneasily. Acting out parts because it’s necessary. Besides, if I wasn’t the one touching her, Xempi Gozeriam would be and I know she doesn’t want that! This way at least I can limit how much sexual contact we have. I can choose where and how to touch her and pretend to do more than I actually am.

  It would probably only amount to a massage, anyway, he told himself. Once they proved themselves to Xempi Gozeriam, there would probably be some kind of orientation period before they were expected to begin making pornographic vids. Hopefully, during that time, they could find and destroy the plants, steal the holo-projector with the snuff film on it, and find a way to lure The Beast out of the palace, so they could place him under arrest and get him back to the ship.

  It seemed like a tall order to accomplish in a short period of time when he listed all the tasks together like that, but Stone assured himself they could do it. He and Cassandra were a team—a damn good one. They had accomplished difficult things before and they were up to this task—he was certain of it.

  As for taking the submissive role in their new disguise, that didn’t bother Stone a bit. He knew who he was and it didn’t make him feel less of a male to pretend that Cassandra was his Mistress. In fact, he rather liked the idea of serving her and staying always by her side to protect her.

  The only hole in their last plan, as far as Stone was concerned, was that the two of them would have been separated—him in the botany lab and her in the elite guard. This way, with him playing her loyal body-slave, they could remain together every step of the way, which made Stone feel much better about the odds of getting his partner through this mission in one piece.

  This is a good thing, he told himself firmly. This way I can stay by Cassandra’s side and keep her safe, no matter what occurs.

  He pushed his guilt to the back of his mind and concentrated on that—on protecting his partner, the woman he loved. No matter what else happened between them because of their new cover, it was worth it as long as Cassandra came out of this alive.

  Twenty-Four

  The palace up close was even more intimidating than it had looked when they were flying over it. Still, Cassie held her head high, as Stone had instructed her to do, and walked purposefully along the wide, white marble walkway that led up to the vast, two-story-tall double doors. Her boot heels clicked on the marble and she was grateful that the guard outfit Kat had designed for her was apparently fitting for a Yonnite Mistress, with just a little alteration.

  Behind her, wearing a leash attached to a black leather collar around his throat, walked Stone. He kept a respectful distance and his eyes were lowered in apparent submission—a sight Cassie would have bet money she would never, ever see in her tall, dominant partner.

  Stone had always had such a fierce, unforgiving glare that the idea of him dropping his eyes and acting submissive seemed strange. Still, it was a necessary part of their deception. She just hoped she and her partner could pull it off.

  As they followed Pocker, who was trotting ahead of them and shouting,

  “Make way for Mistress Cassandra of Yonnie Six!”

  Cassie tried to keep all of Stone’s advice about how to act like a Yonnite Mistress in mind.

  “The most important thing is to project confidence,” he had told her. “Be fierce, Cassandra. Remember how incredibly beautiful you are.”

  “Stone, come on,” she’d protested, feeling her cheeks get hot. “That’s laying it on a bit thick, don’t you think?”

  “Absolutely not.” Lifting her chin, Stone had looked her directly in the eyes. “Cassandra Steel, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he growled softly. “And you must own your beauty completely if we are going to pull this off.”

  His piercing gaze and the way he was talking to her made Cassie blush harder and drop her eyes.

  “Stone…” she protested breathlessly. “Come on…”

  “No, no, no.” Her partner frowned at her. “Accept the compliment as your due! Remember you are a queen—a goddess. If the whole world bowed down to worship at your feet, you wouldn’t be a bit surprised. In fact, you expect such deference and worship.”

  “Wow, these Yonnite Six ladies must be really high-maintenance,” Cassie murmured. Lifting her chin, she’d tried to assume an expression of haughty boredom. “Drop to the floor and kiss my feet, body-slave,” she demanded, trying to exude an aura of confidence.

  To her surprise, Stone had done exactly that. Dropping to his knees, he bent low to place a kiss on the toe of her black leather boot. Then he looked up at her.

  “Have you any other orders, my Mistress?” he murmured, his voice soft and low.

  “I…” Cassie had almost broken character, but she’d made an effort not to. “Not right now, body-slave,” she said. “Just wait quietly. I’ll let you know when I need you.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” Stone rumbled, bowing his head.

  After a moment he’d looked up.

  “You see?” he asked Cassie. “That was perfect. If you can just keep that up, Gozeriam won’t suspect a thing.”

  “You really don’t mind me ordering you around, though?” Cassie asked doubtfully.

  She’d had male partners before and not one of them had been eager to take orders from a woman. Oh, they listened to Captain Perkins because they had no choice. But Cassie couldn’t think of a single one of them who would have stood for this kind of treatment.

  But Stone only shrugged stoically.

  “This is part of our cover story. I’ll do anything I have to in order to catch The Beast and fulfill our other goals.” He’d looked at Cassie. “Why—does it bother you to order me around? I thought you liked this kind of BLT game.”

  “That’s BDSM,” Cassie corrected him, trying not to laugh. “And I told you, I only tried it for a little while with Keith to try and spice things up. Plus, I was never the Dom—I was always the sub.”

  “Well, for this to work, you’ll have to switch.” Stone raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you think you can do it?”

  “Of course I can!” Cassie exclaimed. “I can do anything we have to in order to catch The Best!”

  “Good.” Stone had nodded. “Then let’s go over our back-story one more time and get to the palace.”

  And now, here they were, about to put their new characters to the test, Cassie thought, as they finally came to the vast double doors that led into the black marble palace of Xempi Gozeriam, the porn king of the galaxy.

  There was another pig-man on guard here—this one wit
h slightly nicer armor than Pocker’s rattling tin-can array.

  “And who might this be?” he snorted to Pocker, just as though the other pig-man hadn’t been calling Cassie’s name the entire time they were promenading down the white marble walkway.

  “Why, this is Mistress Cassandra of Yonnie Six,” Pocker said indignantly. “She and her body-slave are here to audition for his Great Slimefullness, Xempi Gozeriam!”

  The other guard frowned at him, his snout wrinkling.

  “And do you vouch for them before I allow them to enter?”

  “I do so vouch,” Pocker said loftily, lifting his snout to the air. “They will be an excellent addition to his Greatness’s stable of actors.”

  “Very well, then.” The second guard nodded and swung open the door, allowing them to enter the vast, golden hallway which lay inside. “Enter and see if you can please his Greatness,” he snorted to Cassie. “Good luck—fortune favors the bold.”

  Cassie certainly hoped that he was right.

  “Thank you.” She nodded stiffly and then, holding her head high, started down the rich golden hallway with her partner in tow.

  Twenty-Five

  The golden hallway was lined with holograms on white marble pedestals—like moving statues, Cassie thought. When she looked closer, she saw that every single hologram seemed to depict some kind of sex act. But since many of the subjects were non-humanoid beings, it wasn’t always easy to see what kind of sex was being performed, exactly.

  She saw two octopus-like creatures entangling their tentacles on one pedestal and on another, two insects were busy screwing while one of them gnawed on the other one’s half-eaten head.

  Ugh—like praying mantises! Cassie thought, looking hurriedly away. Only to see a hologram of what appeared to be a centaur with a horse’s body and a man’s torso and head making love to a woman with a human body and a horse’s head.

  Oh my God—how is he going to fit himself inside her? she thought, staring at the strange sight.

  “Try not to look shocked,” she heard Stone murmur behind her. “Remember, you’re a worldly Yonnite Mistress—you’ve seen everything before.”

  Cassie realized that the disgust she felt must be showing on her face and Stone had seen it when she turned her head to look at the bizarre holograms.

  “Uh, right. Of course,” she whispered back and made an effort to put on a look of haughty distain. To her mingled relief and apprehension, the long hall was coming to an end. There was another set of doors at the end, every bit as tall as the front doors, except these were round and seemed to be made of solid gold. They looked like two vast, shimmering disks at the end of the hall.

  Standing in front of them was yet another pig-man guard, but this one had on much nicer armor than the other two, along with special-looking gold epaulets on his shoulders.

  “Halt,” he snorted at Cassie. “Give me your rank and station and state your business so that I may announce you to his Greatness properly.”

  “Very well. Stone, tell him.” Cassie tried to sound impatient, though honestly, her stomach was twisted into a knot at the idea of passing through the round gold doors and she wouldn’t have minded putting it off.

  “This is Mistress Cassandra of Yonnie Six,” Stone said, frowning at the guard. “She is here about the job notice for Yonnite pornography.”

  “I see.” The guard nodded. “A moment while I introduce you. I hope your display will entertain his Slimefullness—he has been purple-gray all evening with boredom.”

  “Our display?” Cassie asked, but the guard had already touched a button, which caused the vast, round, gold doors to roll open smoothly. As he did, he bellowed at the top of his lungs,

  “Announcing Mistress Cassandra of Yonnie Six, here to audition for his Great Slimefullness, Xempi Gozeriam, for the position of actor.”

  “Is that so?” a deep, burbling voice remarked, echoing from the end of the enormous, shadowy room beyond the golden doors. The voice was so deep Cassie could feel it in the soles of her feet. “Send her in,” it continued. “We have not had a Yonnite to answer our add in many cycles and we wish to look upon her.”

  The butterflies in Cassie’s stomach were doing loop-the-loops and barrel-rolls by this time but there was nothing to do but lift her head high and march into the throne room of the palace with Stone in tow.

  They seemed to walk forever but at last the end of the huge room was in sight. It was like walking into a theater, Cassie thought, and finally getting to the stage. In fact, there was a real stage and on it was a rectangular platform draped in red velvet. Lying on the velvet drape was a creature that looked like an enormous slug.

  Kat said he looked like Jabba the Hutt but I think that’s an insult to Jabba, Cassie thought, eyeing the slug-person.

  Xempi Gozeriam was about the same size as an elephant, which was to say enormous. He had pale, wrinkled skin, narrow slitted eyes, and a flat, frog-like face. Two tiny sets of arms that looked no bigger than a child’s were folded across his massive belly and five tiny feet dangled uselessly from his bulk on the side Cassie could see. She assumed there were five more on the other side, since Kat had told her the porn magnate had ten in total, but it didn’t look like he could use them to walk at all—he was too huge for them to support his massive, wrinkled bulk.

  But the thing that really caught Cassie’s eye wasn’t his alien body but the film of slime that covered it. A thick, glistening layer coated Xempi Gozeriam’s entire slug-like body like a second skin. It shimmered in the dim light of the throne room and at the moment, it was a dull purplish-gray.

  Surrounding the alien porn magnate were a bevy of beautiful alien women. All of them were dressed in the same kind of metal bikini Cassie was wearing, though their outfits were considerably more revealing since they had openings in the breasts which revealed their nipples. Wide slits in the crotches of their metal bikini bottoms put their pussies on display as well.

  Wow—I’m so glad Kat didn’t put holes in my costume! Cassie thought. Each of the women was armed with a sharp metal spear and they stood around their slug-like lord with an air of casual menace. Cassie counted six of them.

  But soon her attention was drawn back to Xempi Gozeriam himself, because he spoke to her once more in his throbbing, burbling bass voice which echoed in the immense, dimly lighted chamber.

  “So you have come to us looking for employment, Yonnite Mistress?” he asked, staring at Cassie with his slitted yellow eyes.

  “I have, uh, your Slimefullness,” Cassie said, hoping that was the right way to address him. “I have come about the opening for, um, Yonnite pornography. And I have brought my body-slave with me to help me perform it. Bow to his Greatness, Stone!”

  She yanked on the leather leash attached to the collar around Stone’s neck and her partner dropped to his knees at once and bowed low.

  “As my Mistress commands,” he murmured.

  “We see…We see…” Xempi Gozeriam burbled. “Do you know, we generally must cast other actors for your Yonnite pornography because we do not often get true Yonnites here. They tend to have enough wealth of their own without performing for us, to earn more. Have you fallen on hard times, Mistress Cassandra?”

  Cassie thought fast, remembering the cover story she and Stone had cooked up.

  “My financial problems are not known on my own planet, your Greatness” she said respectfully. “And I would rather not go into detail about them here. Sufficient to say that I have a rival who is attempting to buy my best dream gas mine and I need capital in order to fend her off. If I go to a local bank, she will know that I am in trouble. But by earning the credit I need here, well…”

  She let the sentence trail off, shrugging expressively.

  “So you wish to earn without your rival being the wiser. A difficult problem indeed,” burbled Gozeriam. “But easily solved if your performance is to our liking.”

  “I thank you for giving me a chance, your Slimefullness,” Cassie said, nodding he
r head.

  “We have not offered you employment yet, Mistress,” Xempi Gozeriam rumbled sternly. “First we must witness your display and see if hiring you for our Yonnite pornography would make good business sense.”

  “My…display?” Cassie’s voice went high and she cleared her throat and managed to bring it back to a normal tone. “What display is that, your Slimefullness?” she asked, keeping a straight face.

  “Why, the one you will put on for us in order that we may judge your performance,” Gozeriam burbled. “But first, have your body-slave rise so that we may examine the two of you together.”

  “Rise, Stone.” Cassie tugged on the leash and Stone rose smoothly from his place at her feet.

  “Now turn around, the both of you, that we might see you from all angles,” Gozeriam commanded.

  Feeling slightly ridiculous, Cassie did as he said and Stone did as well.

  “Hmmm…both of you are attractive enough on your own, as humanoids go. Now order your slave to put his arms around you,” was Gozeriam’s next command. “We wish to see you together, to judge the aesthetic value of your pairing.”

  “Stone, embrace me,” Cassie demanded, keeping up her Yonnite Mistress persona, though it felt strange to order her partner to hug her.

  Stone came to her at once and put his arms around her, holding her close to him. Cassie pressed her face to her partner’s broad, bare chest and breathed in his spicy, warm scent. It should have felt awkward but it didn’t. In fact, she found herself melting against him. In this strange, alien place, Stone felt like home to her and his muscular arms encircling her made her feel safe and protected.

  “Hmmm…” Xempi Gozeriam seemed to be considering them. The thick, shimmering layer of slime that covered his body had turned from grayish-purple to a pale shade of blue, which Cassie considered a good sign. At least he seemed interested—if what Pocker had said about the different colors was right, anyway.