The First One's Free by TS Hottle Read Free Book Online

being
dedicated to the job.”
    “I’ve been taking fertility
suppressants.”
    “What a coincidence. I keep forgetting to
have those locked up. Seems some of the guards don’t want to wear
shrouds or take injections when they kneel with their women.” He
rolled on his side and traced his finger along the curve of
Tishla’s hip. “But denying a master the opportunity for a child is
a serious offense. You’re a wise woman, Tishla. I seek your counsel
in resolving this matter.”
    She took his hand and guided it back down to
her navel. “Well, my Master…”
    “Don’t call me that,” he said. “Even in the
others’ presence.”
    “We must follow protocol, my love.”
    “Nonetheless, it offends me. You’re better
than that.”
    “As you wish. Now, to your dilemma.” She took
his hand again and manipulated one of his fingers into her navel.
It made her moan. “Your concubine has taken anti-fertility drugs in
violation of her contract. You must punish her.”
    “Perhaps I should forcefully kneel with her
multiple times a day.”
    “How would she stand all that pleasure?” She
smiled and began working his finger around her in navel. “Yes, I
believe you should use her several times a day. I can assure you
that will teach her a lesson. But for her crime. We must…” Her
breath caught again as his finger went sunk in. “Oh, that tickles
good.”
    Kai took over, working his finger in deeper.
“You were saying about her crime?”
    “I might get careless and… Oooh, yes, curl it
around like that… Might leave my pills out on the basin.” She cried
out, her breathing getting more rapid.
    “And maybe it’s time I had your chamber
inspected.” As she became unable to speak, he said, “so when the
crime is discovered, I will have to punish you again.”
    Tishla could only respond with an incoherent
“ Unnh! ”
    Kai began working his finger faster and
faster, the tip rubbing all four pressure spots. He could feel his
tongue swelling again. “And so, in order to have the child you
promised me, I would have to extend your contract.”
    “ Yes! ” Her whole body shuddered and
went limp. She gasped as he pulled her finger out. “If that is what
you want… Me and a child… Do it.”
    “And when the child is born?”
    Tishla took a moment to relax her body. “Oh,
I have a headache from that. What do you want of me, Kai? If I gave
you a son…”
    “A child. Anything I make inside you is my
child, son or daughter. What I’m asking is… Would you consent to
marriage if a child binds us together?”
    “Yes.”
    She kissed him and had to feel his tongue
becoming stiffer. “I think you need to practice making a child some
more, my Master… My husband.”
    Kai crouched over her, now unable to speak,
and plunged his tongue inside her navel.
     
    *****
     
    The next morning, Kai descended for his
breakfast only to find Laral seated at the head of his table. A
servant had just served the general a plate of eggs and meat,
imported from more developed worlds, and a tuber cut up and fried
as a side.
    “That’s my breakfast,” said Kai. “And I’ll
take my seat now.”
    Laral looked up at him the way a father
stares down an impudent child. “What did you just say? I am a
member of Council, Kai. You’d better…”
    “You are Warrior Caste,” said Kai. “You are
also a guest here. That means you ask permission to eat my food –
which I import for myself and my staff – and you do not sit where
the head of the household and the Governor of the colony
sits. Your caste tends to forget these things.” He looked over to
the servant. “Once the general has made himself comfortable in his
new seat, have the kitchen make him whatever he wants.”
    The general rose and moved two places down
the table. “I beg your forgiveness, Governor.” His voice lacked any
trace of sincerity. “A warrior sometimes forgets who serves whom.”
Laral sank into his new seat barely making eye contact with
Kai.
    Kai took