If the Senator still wants you, whispered a little voice in the back of her head. Now that your maiden head is gone.
The thought caused a ripple of anxiety to run through her. Her ultimate fate would depend on how the Senator chose to verify her virginity once she got to him. If he used a semen meter, which was able to detect if a girl had ever had a male’s seed inside her at any point in her life, she would be fine, for Lan’ara never had. But if he wanted to be certain the actual physical barrier of her maidenhead was intact, well…that was a different story.
Lan’ara wished desperately she knew which method her husband-to-be preferred. But there would be no telling until she stood before him and found out if he still wanted her or not.
And what will happen if he doesn’t want you? whispered a little voice in her head. Your new owner doesn’t appear to want to keep you—for all he paid so much for you. Maybe if Senator Pouncenblast doesn’t want you, he’ll try to sell you to someone else. Maybe even that monstrous Trollox.
The awful idea didn’t bear thinking of—Lan’dra tried uneasily to shove it out of her mind. Instead, she gave her long, curly hair one final fluff and then wandered away from the viewer. She was looking for something to take her mind off the future and soon enough her eyes were drawn to the strange wash blossoms.
Leaning over the tub, she eyed them warily. The waxy, dark blue flowers were curled up around the edges of the tub, their blossoms tightly furled and apparently asleep—if flowers could sleep, that was. But when she waved a hand over them, they came suddenly to life.
“Oh!” Lan’ara jerked her hand back with a gasp as one long vine with about a dozen blossoms rose suddenly into the air and turned blindly towards her. The dark blue flowers had unfurled and they were opening and closing their petals in a rhythmic fashion. She thought uneasily that they looked almost like hungry mouths, which she supposed was what they were.
They must live off the dirt and grime they get when they clean someone’s skin, she thought. And I guess they’re always looking for more.
She saw a flash of crimson inside several of the flowers’ bells and frowned. What was that? Leaning over to get a better look, she saw that all the dark blue flowers had dark red interiors. This detail—which she had missed earlier—made them look more than ever like hungry mouths, Lan’ara thought, as she watched the vine full of writhing flowers.
She was just about to straighten up when she felt something smooth and cool tugging at her right nipple.
With a little gasp, she looked down and saw that while she had been distracted by the first vine dancing in front of her face, a second had slipped into the loose front of her new shirtdress. Already two of the blossoms had attached themselves to her nipples and were sucking hungrily.
“Hey!” Lan’ara gasped, trying to brush them off. “Stop that, you bad things! I never meant for you to start trying to…to wash me again!”
But tug as she might, the flowers didn’t want to let go. She even unbuttoned the bronze shirtdress to the waist and tried pinching them off, the way Need had done when he got rid of the persistent flower between her legs. But the blossoms were surprisingly strong and resisted all her attempts to remove them.
What was wrong with the Goddess-blasted things?
Then one of the creepers began sliding up her inner thigh.
“Oh no you don’t!” Lan’ara exclaimed. Reaching under the hem of the shirtdress, she grabbed the creeping vine and yanked. But the creeper only tightened its hold on her and, the moment she let go to get a better grip, continue its course up to her pussy.
“No!” Lan’ara exclaimed and clamped her thighs shut. But she could feel the tiny cool tendril of the vine slithering between her legs anyway. What was wrong with these awful things and why did they want to get to her private areas so badly?
“What’s wrong, girl?” a deep, growling voice demanded.
“Oh!” Lan’ara looked up, feeling her cheeks get hot with shame. Need had somehow managed to come into his quarters without her noticing—maybe because she had been so caught up fighting off the wash blossoms. For such a big man, he certainly moved very quietly, she thought distractedly.
And now he was staring at her with an angry look in his bronze eyes.
Fifteen
“What in the Seven Hells is going on here?” the big Kindred demanded, glaring at her. “Why is it every time I leave you, when I come back you’re up to your ears in those damn wash blossoms?”
“I only came in here to make certain my appearance was pleasing to you, my Lord,” Lan’ara protested. “And it’s not my ears the vines are bothering!”