Page 19 of Darkest Desire
“Please don’t say such things to me, Phoebe.” He shook his head, his burning red eyes troubled. “I’ve told you in the past that I refuse to give in to my Scourge instincts, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still with me—inside me.”
“Of course.” Phoebe’s heart started pounding again. He was admitting that he wanted her—wanted to dominate and punish her—she was sure of it! But he was also saying how very inappropriate it would be for him to do so. How could she convince him that she wasn’t afraid—that she wanted exactly the same thing he did?
You can’t—not now, whispered a little voice in her head. Not while he’s still your mentor and you’re still his student. But just wait until you graduate and the two of you are coworkers, then maybe you’ll have a chance…
8
PHOEBE
PRESENT DAY
Maybe I finally have a chance to be more than just a student or a fellow agent, Phoebe thought, as she listened to Commander Sylvan explain their mission to the Salacious System. But that would depend on where they were going and what they were supposed to do once they got there…
“You’ll be going to Salacious Prime, also sometimes known as Salacious Alpha,” Commander Sylvan said. He looked at Phoebe. “It’s a planet where males are dominant so I’m afraid you’ll have to pretend to be submissive to Agent Sirex. Will that be a problem?”
A sudden flush of excited embarrassment passed through her in a wave but Phoebe somehow managed to keep her expression composed.
“No, Commander. I have no difficulty pretending to submit to Agent Sirex,” she said blandly. “I’ll do whatever the mission requires.”
From the corner of her eye she could see her mentor looking at her. No doubt he was picking up her body’s heated reaction to Commander Sylvan’s words with his special vision, but he said nothing about it.
“How, er, dominant do I need to be?” he asked instead, turning his gaze to their boss.
“Quite dominant, I’m afraid. Females are considered property on Salacious Prime. The males there are their owners or “Masters” as they call themselves. I’ve even heard that the women they claim to own are required to wear collars of different colors—apparently the colors have some significance to do with the type of ownership involved.” He cleared his throat. “Naturally Kat, who gets all our agents ready for their missions, will give you the outfits you’ll need to wear to fit in with the Salacion Court.”
“So we’re going to the Emperor’s palace?” Sirex asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Correct.” Commander Sylvan nodded. “And you’ll be looking for this.” He pulled out a thin, silver coin-shaped object and thumbed a tiny switch on the side. At once a projection of a gleaming, opalescent crystal came into view. It was long and narrow and smooth but Phoebe couldn’t tell its actual size because there was nothing in the holo image to give any kind of scale.
“What is that?” she asked. “It looks like a finger,”
“In fact, it’s called ‘The Goddess’s Finger or ‘The Finger of the Goddess,’” Commander Sylvan said, nodding. “It’s an ancient artifact which once belonged to the Kindred of First World, our home planet. However, it was stolen in a raid by an enterprising group of pirates and it hasn’t been seen in a thousand cycles. Just recently we got word that it surfaced on Salacious Prime. Apparently it’s being kept in the Emperor’s own private collection.”
“Are we going to bargain for it…or steal it?” Sirex rumbled, frowning.
“Ahh…I don’t like the word ‘steal,’” Commander Sylvan said, frowning. “Let’s just say it needs to be returned to its rightful place. It’s not just any artifact, you know—it has powers that shouldn’t be misused.”
“Powers? What kind of powers?” Phoebe asked, frowning.
“We don’t know everything about it, because it was stolen so long ago,” Commander Sylvan said. “But legend has it that The Goddess’s Finger can cure infertility. The Head Priestess of First World is eager to get it back so that she can help the many couples who come to her asking help to conceive.”
“Is there anything else we should know about it?” Sirex asked.
“Only that it’s dangerous for a female to touch the Finger directly.” Commander Sylvan looked at Phoebe. “If you come in contact with it, be sure you don’t let it touch your bare skin.”
“Why?” Phoebe felt a shiver run through her. “What happens if I do?”
Her boss shook his head.
“I’m sorry—I don’t know. Much of the knowledge we had about The Goddess’s Finger has been lost. I only know that the priestesses who used to work with it never touched it directly—it was always swathed in several layers of cloth if they needed to move it.”
“Got it. I won’t touch it at all.” Phoebe nodded firmly.
“Oh, and one other thing—it’s said to give off the scent of Loq’e blossoms,” Commander Sylvan added.
Sirex frowned.
“Loq’e blossoms?”