“Exactly—you’ve got your priorities all wrong,” Lornah exclaimed. “Why, we do our other studies on the side—be it antiquities, or cakes and dishes, or languages, or insects, or what have you. Our main focus is training young males to be good lovers. Whereas you have made what ought to be a side-interest—languages and drama—into your main occupation. How long do you teach those silly things every day?”
Vicky wanted to be offended but the valium-like effects of the oil she was soaking in made it difficult.
“With lesson planning and grading papers and tests and everything else involved, I’d say it takes up around nine to eleven hours every day,” she admitted.
“Nine to eleven hours a day?” Torella exclaimed. “How can you possibly devote yourself to the proper sexual education of your student if you’re spending so much of your time and energy on such inconsequential matters?”
“Inconsequential?” Vicky protested. “My job isn’t inconsequential! All knowledge is worth having! And worth teaching.”
“Yes, well, some kinds of knowledge are more worth having than others,” Torella said dryly. “You admitted yourself that your entire world is unhappy due to your mixed-up priorities. I’m sorry, but I can’t consider you a true Professor and so I cannot possibly deal with you, my dear.”
Vicky felt a spasm of panic that even the valium-oil she was soaking in couldn’t tamp down.
“But…but you haven’t even seen my teaching methods yet!” she heard herself blurting out. “I thought you were going to let me demonstrate for you!”
Of course, she’d imagined they would want to give Chain some kind of oral exam in Spanish or something like that—not watch how well he got her off. But, still!
Oh, there’s going to be an “oral exam” all right, whispered the sarcastic little voice in her head. Just not the way you thought, Vicky.
Shut up! Vicky told the little voice fiercely. She was doing everything she could to salvage the mission—she didn’t need her stupid brain getting in the way of her mouth. Or did that even make sense?
At that point, Vicky didn’t care. She looked back and forth between the two women, hoping it wasn’t too late—hoping she hadn’t screwed up her mission beyond repair.
“I don’t know…” Torella frowned. “I was just going to have you demonstrate your student’s massage technique—that’s why I had the three massage platforms set up.” She nodded at the three padded tables that were positioned in front of the long fire pit at the front of the room. “But now I’m afraid I’d have to see something, well, much more intimate to convince me that you’re truly a good teacher.”
“That’s fine,” Vicky promised recklessly. “Chain can do anything you ask of him—I’ve trained him well in every technique. Please—you have to give me a chance to prove myself.”
At last Professor Torella gave a reluctant nod.
“I can see your point, my dear. We shouldn’t be prejudiced against you just because you come from a backwards planet. After all, you are trying to do what’s right.”
“She’s trying but is she succeeding?” Lornah grumbled.
“We won’t know unless we give her a trial,” Torella said decisively.
“I don’t like it.” Lornah frowned.
“Well, you don’t have to—this isn’t your domicile,” Torella snapped. “It’s mine and I say we give her a chance to prove how well she’s trained her student.” She looked at Vicky. “And if we deem that you’ve done a good job with him, well, I’ll think about selling you that little trinket you wanted. The T’lix-Kruthe, was it?”
“Yes, that’s it. Oh, thank you!” Vicky exclaimed. “I promise you won’t be sorry! You’ll see what a good job I’m doing with Chain.”
“Yes, we will.” Torella arched an eyebrow at her. “Because in addition to relaxing your muscles and your inhibitions, the vexba oil makes it impossible for you to fake sexual pleasure or orgasm. We will know exactly how well you’ve trained your student by how well he does at pleasuring you.” She raised an eyebrow at Vicky. “Will that be a problem?”
Vicky swallowed hard. It wasn’t like she didn’t think Chain could please her and bring her pleasure, but the idea that she wasn’t going to be able to fake it—(the way you did almost every time with Kevin,) whispered that snarky little voice in her head—was disconcerting to say the least.
Still, she lifted her chin and stared Torella in the eyes.
“You’ll see,” she said calmly. “I’ve trained Chain to perfection—he’ll be able to pleasure me effortlessly and extremely well with the excellent techniques I’ve taught him for pleasing women.”
“Very well.” Torella nodded. “Lornah and I will be the judges of that. For now—let’s get out of the pool and let the trial begin!”
Chapter Twenty-six
“Chain, I have to talk to you.” Victoria gripped his arm, speaking in a low voice as he helped her out of the pool.
“Yes, Professor Victoria, what is it?” The worry in her eyes concerned him. What had happened to her while he was away, scouting around the house?
He’d been pretending to search for a fresher while the other students made snacks for their professors but what he had found was much more interesting than any snack food. Still, maybe he should have stayed because Victoria looked really upset.
“You can stop with the ‘professor’ stuff,” she told him, still nearly whispering. “They know I’m not really from some university. But even if I was, it doesn’t mean the same thing here as it does back on Earth.”
“I know,” Chain murmured. “The other ‘students’ told me exactly what they’ve been learning under Professors Torella and Lornah and it’s not chemistry or languages or advanced mathematics.”
“I know—they’re teaching
