“I am Kiri,” one of the women said as she stepped forward. She was shorter than the annoying one and while curiosity laced her expression, there was no malice. With a tilt of her head, she added, “The others are Lin, Vana, Ria, and Mara.”
I didn’t know who was who, so I nodded at all of them.
“We were working on our craft when you came in. Please, join us.”
The space was similar to Tark’s, with carpet covering the ground. Similar lights made the room have a soft yellow glow. The air was warm and the scent of almonds filled the air. I recognized the aroma from my dream at the processing center.
She turned, along with the others and settled at a table where they seemed to be carving small pieces of wood. There were several comfortable chairs, a low coffee table—God, did they have coffee here?—and another tall table against one wall that was laden with various platters of food and pitchers of various colored liquids. While I associated a harem as a type of prison, there were guards outside after all, the amenities matched that of Tark’s own tent.
The ladies settled in to their tasks, all except for the thin, beautiful one. She stared at me as if I’d been brought in with the trash.
“He will reject you,” she snapped.
“Mara, leave her be,” Kiri said.
Mara rolled her eyes at the other woman’s words, but only I could see the disgust and envy on her face. “I hear only convicts are sent from Earth. What was your crime?”
I had no friend in Mara, that much was obvious. Perhaps a little fear might go a long way instead, so I told her the truth. “Murder.”
The other women stopped their work and one hissed in pain. “Ah, I sliced my finger.”
She held her injured hand in her other one as the women circled to tend to her.
“I can help.” I attempted to step around Mara, my medical training urging my body forward before I stopped to consider.
Mara gave me a push on the shoulder. “Help? By killing her, too?”
I paused and watched as a small device was waved over the wound. A blue glow was emitted and, over the next few moments, the wound stopped bleeding and healed before my eyes.
While I was a doctor on Earth, it seemed that the medical advances on Trion were far superior. My scientific mind found it fascinating. “That is amazing. You are completely healed?”
The woman cleaned the blood from her hands with a damp cloth offered by one of the others, then held up the now healed finger. She smiled and nodded. There was so much to learn and I was eager to examine the healing tool.
Mara took my arm and walked me—none too gently—across the tent so that none of the others could hear her foul words. “He’s fucked all of us, you know.”
When I frowned, she smiled, then continued.
“You don’t know? Hmm. Tark fucks all the women. You are nothing special to him. He could call on any one of us to please him, anytime he wishes. His choice.”
She looked down at me, raking her eyes over my plump body with disdain.
“Then why was I sent here and matched to him?” I asked, tilting up my chin. I wouldn’t let her see that she’d upset me. The idea of Tark being with Mara, or any other woman—no, all the other women—made my belly churn.
“Because he needs an heir. Look at you. Overfed, ample hips, drooping bosom. You were made for birthing. Now I—” she tossed her hair back, “—was made for desire.”
The tent flap opened and one of the guards stuck his head in, looked around. “Mara, come at once. He wants you now.”
My mouth fell open and her eyes lit with triumph. She rolled back her shoulders and plucked at her nipples through her slip until they were tight points, the rings clearly defined. “See?” she called with a backward glance, then left, the tent flap closing with a slap behind her. I stood and stared after her, feeling hollowed out and empty, with two spheres inside my pussy and holding the attached chain in my hand like a dog holding its own leash. Even the vibrations that they emitted did nothing for me any longer.
I’d only been off-planet for perhaps an hour or two but I’d been fucked and found wanting by my own mate. Mara had stated Tark was only interested in me for breeding—why would he want curvy old me for anything else?—and he had called for her to slake his insatiable lust just minutes after he’d watched his seed slide down my thighs. I was just one of many in the harem. I wasn’t desirable, I was just the plump girl who could birth babies.
So, here I was, destined to be nothing more than a breeding machine, forever treated like a criminal? A murderer? I wasn’t much on Earth, but even there I was more than this. An innocent medical doctor with no love life? Yes. But I healed people, I didn’t kill them.
Now, here on this sandy planet, I was nothing but a baby factory. A biological machine. But me, the woman? The bride? The healer? I was worthless.
“Where do I sleep?” I asked Kiri. I could hear the dejection in my voice. She lifted her head and gave me a sympathetic smile.
“Through there.” She pointed to an opening in the tent I hadn’t noticed before. Ducking through, it was a secondary tent, the two connected.