“Quite well,” her grandmother insisted. “Though I am in the middle of my dinner, as you can see. Was there something you wanted, child?”
“Um…”
Now that it came to it, Ellina found it very difficult to voice the question she’d originally called to ask. But Ty, who had been watching the whole exchange, made a ‘go on’ motion with one hand, and she knew she had to at least try.
“Grandmamma,” she said, gathering her courage. “Do you remember when you told me about…about a Potentate’s Heat Cycle?”
“Yes, why? You know this is a private subject, Ellina,” Lor said reprovingly, in her grandmother’s voice.
“I know,” Ellina said. “I just wondered if…if there was anything else you could tell me about it?” She hated to be so vague but she was well aware that Lullabella was listening in on the other end.
“I can only tell you what I’ve already told you.” Her grandmother’s voice was faint and weary. “Can’t this wait for another time, child? My soup is getting cold and I’m so dreadfully tired….”
“Of course, Grandmamma. I’m sorry. I’ll speak to you later,” Ellina said. “I love you!”
“I love you too, sweet child.” Her grandmother’s voice was nothing but a tired sigh now. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
“Yes, Grandmamma.”
And with that, Ellina had to be contented as the connection between Lor and Shel was broken.
“Well, I’m afraid we don’t know much more than before,” she said to Ty, who had been looking on thoughtfully, his arms crossed over his broad chest, as he watched the exchange.
“No, we don’t,” he acknowledged. “I guess you’ll just have to monitor yourself and watch for signs of your, uh, Cycle starting up.”
“I suppose.” Ellina sighed and glanced at the chronometer on the wall. “Oh dear, we have to go! I’m due at my public appearance at the Holy Mists within half an hour!”
“We’d better hurry then,” Ty said. “I haven’t been to the Holy Mists yet. Is there any special equipment I need to bring?”
“Just your skin,” Ellina told him.
He frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ll find out.” She sighed and beckoned to him. “Come on or we’ll be late.”
Chapter Fourteen
Apparently most people had to go through a long, arduous ritual purification process to get into the Holy Mists. Luckily, Ty thought, Ellina wasn’t “most people.” As the Potentate, she had a private entrance all for herself, as well as a private changing room for the two of them.
There were two wooden booths in the room and Ellina went into one while Ty went into another—though he still had no idea what he was supposed to change into. He looked in vain for any kind of bathing suit or swimming trunks but though there were hooks hanging on one wall, there was nothing hanging from them except a Sacred Blue robe which looked like it would be considerably too small to fit him.
“My Lady?” he called to her. “What am I supposed to wear?”
“I told you—just your skin,” she called back. “Take everything off—males must be naked in the Holy Mists.”
“We must?” Ty frowned. He didn’t mind going nude—he didn’t have any body image issues. But where was he to put his weapons? His expanding shield was built into his arm but everything else was external. “What about my blaster?” he asked? Or all the rest of his arsenal including his many knives, his poison tipped darts, his garroting wire…
He might be acting as a bodyguard on this mission but he still had all the tools of an assassin on him as well. One never knew when they might come in handy, especially if someone important was trying to hurt the Potentate and he had to take care of them quietly. That bastard Hennessy Tolland, for instance, who had broken her heart when she was younger and now thought he could come back into her life and do as he pleased…
But Ellina’s next words startled him out of his thoughts.
“You must leave your blaster here. No weapons are permissible in the Holy Mists. In fact, it is a grave offense to bring them.”
“What?” Ty demanded, stepping naked out of his dressing room. He didn’t bother with the too-small robe. “I don’t like that, Ellina. I can defend you with my bare hands if need be, but what if someone else brings a blaster or some other weapon I can’t defend against with hand-to-hand combat?”
“Where would they hide it when everyone is naked? Or as good as naked?”
As she spoke, she, too, emerged from her dressing room. And she, too, was completely naked.
Ty forgot what he’d been going to say as he gazed at her. Her luscious curves were fully on display as he had never seen them before. And now he saw the truth of what Asher’s new bride, Lisa, had told him.
On the front of her chest, three full breasts and three ripe, dark blue nipples were clearly visible—though the one in the middle seemed strangely flatter than the ones on either side of it. Ty’s eyes lingered there a moment, then flickered downward before he could stop himself. Sure enough, he saw two vaginas, one in the usual place between her legs and one directly above it and just below her belly button. Both had neatly clipped Sacred Blue curls, the same color as the hair on her head, and the one above had a very prominent clit which was dark purple in color.
“How do you like my purification garments?”
Ellina’s soft voice dragged Ty out of his rapt contemplation of her body and he realized he’d been standing there, staring at her in the rudest way imaginable. He supposed he was surprised that she was willing to stand before him nude, when she had always been so very modest before. But of
