I'm running through a desert, lumbering gray things in pursuit. Claws catch in the hem of my dress and I fall headlong. The inhuman beasts shred my clothes and their huge distorted hands seize my wrists and ankles. They lift me, splaying my limbs, and the most monstrous giant stabs its huge phallus deep--
Aaaaaahhh!!!
I awake with a cry, flailing at the air. Where am I? Who is this ageing man propped up on his elbow looking at me? This isn't my bedroom! What's going on?
Memories flood back: yesterday I gave myself to Theodore Long. He's ready to grant my husband a contract that will make our fortune, but the price is my serving as his plaything.
I must discipline myself to be pleasing to him, so I smile. "Good morning, sir."
"Hello Arabella. Coffee?"
"Yes please, sir."
He presses a button on a bedside table, after which he starts toying with my nipples. Sexual contact before breakfast -- indeed, before dinner -- is new to me, but I smile as compliantly as I can.
The three girls I saw yesterday in servants' uniforms enter, and I jump in shock at how they're now dressed: bra, panties and stockings. Only the black girl has the apron from her maid's uniform over the top of this, and she carries a tray with a pot. The aroma of coffee spreads as she fills one of the two cups. Only one? She hands it to her employer, then returns to the other two standing by the far wall.
All three girls strip off everything except their stockings. They get to keep something on, while I'm completely nude. And it's horribly obvious what he wants from me next.
I have no more interest in female flesh than male. But dating men and then marrying one, reassuringly normal behavior, at least brought the comfort of social acceptance. I've never considered dalliance with a woman because it offered me neither wealth nor status. Now that lesbianism looms, it's worse than servicing a man because I'm unaccustomed to it.
And they're domestics, the bottom of the social scale, scarcely better than addicts who sleep on the streets. Until now I've only been with men of substance, whose status was some compensation. To be pawed by a woman of the lowest classes --
ughhh!
And the offer of coffee was just to taunt me with false hope. I'm going to have to put myself through this without even some caffeine to buck me up.
He gives me a little push toward the three young women, whose hands are just barely touching each others' bodies. Trying to stay calm I get off the bed and stand facing them.
"Carla. Entertain our guest."
The white girl sashays toward me and my hands come up, defending my chest, as if to push her away. Her bosoms press into my palms as she lays both hands on my face. My head twitches back, but I restore it to its place. Her fingertips play with my cheeks, then the corners of my mouth. She slips a hand behind my neck and leans in. My eyes slam shut and my lips draw themselves in between my teeth.
I mustn't rebel. I force my lips back out, and even manage to pucker them a little. It starts with a light kiss, then another, then one that presses a little more firmly. I try to remember how to do this. Gordon, content to pierce me now and then, has hardly offered a kiss since our wedding.
"Open up, Arabella."
I freeze in horror for a moment, then choose obedience. I lower my jaw, as does Carla, and her mouth moves again mine. I endure it until she breaks off. She moves to my right side, fingers tracing my collarbone, and starts kissing my shoulder. Her hand is on my upper back, the lightest caresses, barely brushing here and there. The maddening tickle meandering unpredictably over my skin sends shudders through me.