“Stone!” She looked around, mortified. “What if someone hears you?”
“Cassandra, we are in a Dining Hall filled with pornographic actors,” he said reasonably. “Do you think that anything you or I could say would shock them?”
“I guess not.” She dropped her eyes. “I just…never dreamed you and I would be in this position, I guess.”
“I have,” Stone admitted in a soft voice.
“You have?” Her eyes fluttered up to his.
“Of course, I have. How could I not dream of tasting you?” Stone asked her. “You know how beautiful and desirable I find you, Cassandra.”
“But…but what if you find out you don’t like it after all?” she asked in a small voice. “What if you don’t like the smell or the taste or something?”
“Your scent is incredible—so warm and feminine,” Stone told her, his voice dropping to a growl. “And as for your taste, what do you think I was doing last night in the fresher after I left you so abruptly? I was sucking the fingers I had thrust deep in your soft little pussy and jamming off.”
A small smile curved her lips.
“I think you mean jacking off.”
“Whatever,” Stone told her. He lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “The point is, I love the way you taste, Cassandra. And I’m looking forward to tasting your honey straight from the source.”
“Oh…” She dropped her eyes, her cheeks getting pink. “Stone, you shouldn’t talk like that,” she admonished softly.
“Why not?” he asked. “How else can I reassure you, if we don’t talk frankly about what we’re about to do?”
“I don’t know. I guess—”
“Excuse me, but are you Mistress Cassandra?”
The high, self-important voice came from a bird-like creature. Or at least, its head was bird-like with a sharp, curving beak and a crest of multicolored feathers rising from its forehead. The rest of it looked a bit like a short humanoid, though it did have a pair of stubby vestigial wings sticking out of its back.
“Um, yes.” Cassandra nodded. “That’s me.”
“Very good! I am here to guide you and your body-slave to Wardrobe. The two of you are late!” And the bird-man clicked his beak together in a sharp noise of disapproval.
“Oh—sorry!” Cassandra hopped up from the table. “We didn’t know we were supposed to be there at a certain time.”
“Didn’t The Beast tell you?” The bird-man rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Lazy cretin. Anyway, come on.”
“Coming.” Cassandra nodded at Stone. “Uh, I guess we’ll have to table our discussion for later,” she said, her cheeks still pink.
“Not for much later,” Stone pointed out, which made his partner’s cheeks get even pinker.
“Come on,” she said shortly. And they followed the bird-man out of the Dining Hall.
Thirty-Seven
Wardrobe was a bustling department filled with all kinds of humanoids getting dressed in various sexy outfits. The bird-man led them to a harried woman with three heads and four arms who was already dealing with two other actors.
“Let me see your script,” she said, before Cassie could even introduce herself.
“All right.” She handed it over and the woman snatched it with one of her four hands while her left head scanned it rapidly. Her middle and right heads continued talking to other people.
“Right,” the head said, after briefly reading over the script. “Let me look at you.” She scrutinized both Cassie and Stone for a moment, making them turn all the way around so she could see them from all angles. Then she gave a short nod. “Punch in code 343B,” she said to Cassie. “And for your body-slave, 697H.”
“What? Punch what in where?” Cassie asked uncertainly. The woman’s two other heads were still talking to other actors, making it hard to hear, so she thought she might have misunderstood her.
“I said code 343B for you and 697H for your body-slave!” the left head repeated impatiently.
“But punch it in where?” Cassie repeated. “Look, I’m sorry but we’re new here—this is our first time doing por—, uh, acting for his Slimefullness,” she added.
The woman’s left head sighed in a long-suffering manner.
“Newbies, are you? Very well. Veena!” the left head shouted, so loudly that her other two heads winced and complained. The left head ignored them.
“Yes, Wardrobe Madam?” A small, thin girl with bright green skin came rushing up anxiously.
“These two are new,” the left head told her while one of her arms pointed at Cassie and Stone and another arm shoved the script back into Cassie’s hands. “Show them how the costume rack works, then show them to the dressing room, then take them to The Cave. You’ll need to hold their hand through the whole process because they don’t know anything.”
Cassie was a little offended at being presented as completely ignorant, but before she could complain, the green-skinned girl had taken her by the hand and was pulling her across the crowded Wardrobe department.
“Hurry!” she said to Cassie. “You mustn’t be late for your filming!”