The next morning, Liam woke with a dry mouth, a head pounding with the force of a military band, and an ankle chained to the wall.
“You’re awake.”
“Not willingly.”
“This will help clear your head.” Liam felt something soft and warm land in his hand. He glared at it.
“You set it on your eyes,” Ondry explained. Liam grunted as Ondry manhandled him onto his back and then set the warm pad over his eyes.
“They have a drug in the temple air,” Liam said.
“It’s the main reason to keep humans out of the temple. Forcing the truth from someone using temple herbs is dishonorable.”
“And yet you keep dragging me back.”
“Letting your palteia hurt because you’re too foolish to ask for help is more dishonorable. I’m not so young that I don’t know when to ask for help. Do you remember yesterday?”
Liam remembered every ugly moment—the panic, the fear, the sudden realization that he wanted Ondry so much that it hurt, the belief that Ondry would turn on him sooner or later. Liam had decided to make the break sooner rather than to risk more of his heart than he had already given away. “I tried to run away.”
“To be expected. I wouldn’t chain you to the wall if I didn’t think that you had divided loyalties at this point. It is one thing to admit under the influence of the temple and the thothlickta that you want a new chilta, but to abandon an old loyalty in favor of a new one is not easy. Had you not tried to run, there would have been some who questioned your status. Of course, the fact that you got free of me makes me look like a bit of a fool.”
Liam lifted the edge of the pad. “I’m sorry about that.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. I made the mistake, and my reputation can survive it. Besides, I told the truth about palteia being valued. I have proved my trustworthiness enough that a palteia chose me, and eventually, you’ll walk by my side unleashed and trade in my name and share my bed, and that is not only a great pleasure for me but a great coup as well. The other traders who worked with you will hate themselves for failing to capture your attention. And all that will give me an even better reputation.” From the dark purple of his face, Liam was guessing Ondry took great pleasure imagining that future. He settled down on the pillows, and Liam pressed the warm pad back down onto his eyes. It did soothe the headache.
“Can I claim illness as a reason to stay here while you talk to the humans?”
“You remember the conversation with the grandmother.”
“In ugly detail.”
“Which details are ugly?” Ondry petted Liam’s arm. Two days ago, Liam would have felt the need to jerk away, but he had to admit things were different now. Ondry was as trapped as he was.
Liam pushed the pad up off his eyes. “Would she really skin your genitals?”
“As humans say, ‘Hell, yes,’” Ondry offered in English. “And I would be at the front of the line demanding no less if I were to abuse you. As your chilta, I set the rules and decide what jobs will get done between us. I send you where I need you to go, and chain you to a wall if I even suspect you will not follow my order. I will demand truth from you and force such truth if you have trouble sharing. Most importantly, I will expect you to put my needs ahead of even your own, in trades and in this house. Without exception. But if you are palteia, none of that bothers you.”
“Not really, no,” Liam admitted. It felt strange to admit that considering he’d been hiding his nature since he was nineteen for fear of another Mort finding him. And then he’d turned around and sold his ass to Kaplan in return for protection the second he hit the front lines. Hadn’t that just turned out great, he thought. Up to this point, his taste in chilta had sucked.
“However, I will also protect you, guard you jealously, and made sure everyone in this village knows that they are the offspring of thin-shelled eggs because they couldn’t see the truth under their noses. I plan to be quite obnoxious about it.”
Liam smiled as he pushed the pad back over his eyes.
“Well?” Ondry asked.
“Well what?”
“I have told you my rules. Are you planning to share yours?”
Liam frowned. “I plan to follow your rules.”
Ondry made a little huffing noise as he settled down into the nest, wrapping his long limbs around Liam. “Failure to define terms has not worked well for us. Tell me what you expect.” Ondry pulled the pad away from Liam’s eyes so they could look at each other. If Ondry were human with a human cock, Liam would call the man perfect.
“I expect you to give me clear rules so I know what I’m supposed to do.” Liam stopped, not sure if this was what Ondry expected. Neither Mort nor Kaplan had really asked for a lot of feedback.
“I can do that,” Ondry agreed. Reaching up, he rested his hand against the side of Liam’s neck, and Liam shivered at the powerful fingers pressing against such a fragile bit of flesh. “The first rule is that you don’t run. Or if you do, you run to either me or a grandmother and tell us that you’re hurting.”
Liam nodded. He had that coming.
“What else do you expect?” Ondry asked.
“I want you to tell me when I make a mistake and explain what I should have done differently. I can learn anything if people just explain things.” Liam’s words tumbled out, and he realized he desperately needed Ondry to believe him. He could learn.
Ondry’s cheeks tightened so much that his eye shape became more angular. “I’ve done that since the first day I met you. More than one trader resented our meals because I spent so much time teaching you to trade the vegetables without giving away the meat, but you listened, and each time I hoped you would ask to stay on Prarownt.”
Liam sucked in a breath. “You did, didn’t you?” Five years suddenly shifted into a new pattern as he realized he’d been courted—enticed and tempted—and he was so turned around in the head he hadn’t noticed it. He definitely had a few loose nuts rolling around in the old engine.
Ondry let his fingers caress the back of Liam’s neck. “You looked to me for every answer like a child or a palteia. I tried to ignore my growing need to care for you, but more than one older trader informed me that you were manipulating me and my youthful ignorance.”
“They were wrong. I never did.”
“And they know that now. Now I can call them fools often and for a very long time. Palteia are so very rare and valued, and they were looking one in the eyes and not seeing the beauty in front of them. I like making others jealous. So I can promise to always teach you, Liam.”
“And if I really screw up and you need to punish me, be fair.” Liam blurted that last one out before he could lose his nerve.
That seemed to make Ondry think. “I am unlikely to do more than chain you to a wall, Liam. Were you to act in a way to earn any punishment more serious, I would likely take you to the grandmothers, and no one can say what they will do.”
Liam nodded and closed his eyes. “That’s fair. And I’ll try to avoid screwing up badly enough for you to take me back there, because my head still hurts.”
“I’ll get you some water.”
“I thought I was supposed to be serving you,” Liam called as Ondry got up.
“You can make up for it when you don’t look pale enough to die at any moment,” Ondry answered before heading out of the room.
Liam snorted. “You’re purple. I’m always going to look pale as death next to you,” he muttered more to himself than anyone else.
“Here.” Ondry stepped back down into the nest and offered Liam water. Propping himself up on one elbow, Liam drank gratefully. “Are you uncomfortable when I serve you?” Ondry asked, crouching instead of settling back down into the bed.
“Yes.”
Ondry laughed. “Spoken like a true palteia. Follow the rule about not running well enough to go unchained, and you can serve me.” Liam finished his water, and Ondry reclaimed the glass.
“Deal,” Liam agreed. He tried to sit up, but the curved side of the nest meant he slid down to the bottom along with a number of pillows before he could push himself up. “You could go to the human base without me.”
“After yesterday? No. I think not.”
Liam could feel his face heat with embarrassment. He had no idea why he’d tried so hard to run, but in retrospect it’d been stupid. Even if he’d made it to the base, he wouldn’t have received a warm welcome.
Ondry sat next to him. “Why do you want to avoid humans?”
Liam sighed and pulled his leg up so he could play with the silver cuff. “Everything I told you yesterday—if you were going to tell another Rownt that story, how would you tell it?”
“What is said in the temple is private. I would not tell your story.”
Liam looked over. “Consider it a linguistic exercise. How would you tell the story?”
Ondry’s eyes narrowed. “You were young and managed to trade your body, which must be difficult considering that every human has one to trade and many offer theirs to others for free. It sounds a lot like the folktale of a trader so skilled he could sell air, so that would take some effort to convince anyone of its veracity. You were a palteia, and you served a man for several years, but your chilta traded you out to others until your loyalties fractured, and you ran. And then you could not trust others, so you buried your palteia nature until you met a Rownt so insightful that he saw through your disguise and took you to the grandmothers and claimed you as his own. And he could do that because for five years he had courted you to show you that he was a great trader who you could trust to provide and protect.”
Liam nodded. He’d suspected as much, but hearing his story in those words hit him harder than he’d expected. He swallowed down the emotion that rose up as he realized Ondry didn’t blame him for any of it.
“You’re turning that color that makes me worry about your health again.” Ondry reached out and laid a hand on Liam’s bare leg.
With a shrug, Liam let his hand rest on Ondry’s. The contrast in colors was shocking, but Liam realized he’d actually grown so used to the darker Rownt skin that it was his own that he found unfamiliar.
“My people, or at least a lot of them, would say that there was a boy who was so scared and weak that he couldn’t protect himself, and he let himself be abused and hurt.”
Ondry gave a whine of distress, but he didn’t interrupt.
“This boy listened to a con man who promised him the world, but everyone knows con men never follow through on their promises, so either the boy liked to be hurt, or he was just stupid, but he let this man hurt him. He was dirty—he let men do things to him that are sexually taboo—and that dishonor soaked into the boy’s skin.
“Finally the boy had enough, and he ran. But that dishonor followed him, and now he was a psychological mess of a man who only met the psych requirements because during war the army only needs someone to shoot straight. He whored out his body for protection and food on the front, and when he discovered that everyone looked at him like a piece of dirt, he finally learned to keep his legs closed…except maybe for when he was drunk. And now the piece of shit has been captured by an alien race, and they’re probably getting human secrets out of him because he’s such a worthless piece of crap that he’ll do anything for a bit of affection and some cheap promise.”
Liam had kept his eyes on the nest, but when he looked over, Ondry was human-pale. For a time they just looked at each other. Eventually Ondry blew out a heavy breath. “I dislike humans.”
“Not all humans are like that. Lieutenant Spooner isn’t. Gina isn’t.”
“Colonel Thackeray is,” Ondry countered.
Liam nodded. That’s exactly how Thackeray saw him, which probably explained why he’d been trying to get rid of Liam. “Lieutenant Spooner tried to get me to qualify for officer training. He told me that I was the best linguist he had ever worked with and that he would sponsor my request.”
“But you’re palteia.” Ondry sounded confused.
“That doesn’t have a translation into English,” Liam pointed out. “But he thought I was smart, and he didn’t see any dishonor in me, and I suspect he saw enough of my psych profile to at least guess at some of my past. But he didn’t hold it against me.”
Ondry pulled Liam close in a one-armed hug. “Then I won’t hate Lieutenant Spooner, but I plan to be unreasonable with that eggless, grandmotherless Thackeray.”
“Hate away, only maybe you can avoid mentioning the specifics of my past.”
“I can,” Ondry promised in a solemn voice. “What I will not do is take you over there without a leash. I plan to remind you where your loyalties are until you remember them as easily as you breathe, and I will not negotiate that rule.”
Liam still didn’t like the idea of his former coworkers seeing him leashed like a dog, but disobeying Ondry didn’t feel possible. He nodded and held out his leg for Ondry to start locking the pieces in place. “On your stomach,” Ondry ordered after finishing the knee straps. Liam felt his cock starting to harden as he went to his knees on the pillows and then lay down on his stomach. Like before, Ondry knelt between Liam’s open legs to work on the higher thigh strap, and Liam groaned into his pillow.
“Are you ill?” Ondry rested his hand on the swell of Liam’s ass as he asked that, his thumb angling dangerously close to Liam’s unprotected hole.
“I’m fine,” Liam answered, his words muffled in the pillow. He was going to become a champion masturbator at this rate. “I just have to pee.”
“I’ll hurry,” Ondry promised, lifting Liam by his hips and casually turning him. And again, Ondry ended up nose to cock with Liam’s genitals. The way the belt attached, it was almost necessary, but it did make this awkward. Humming, Ondry got the last of the straps locked on, and Liam trembled with a need to move, to thrust, to get thrust into—at this point, any sort of sexual attention would work.
“Come on.” Ondry took one end of the leash and helped Liam to his feet. The smooth curve of the nest and the slick pillows conspired against Liam’s trembling legs, and he had some trouble climbing up to the main floor without falling on his nose, but Ondry caught his arm and pulled him up.
“I can go by myself,” Liam said as they reached the door to the waste room. A trench that was almost toilet-like ran down one wall and into the floor, but Liam couldn’t pee if his life depended on it. However, five minutes of privacy would fix that.
“No,” Ondry said in an utterly firm voice.
Liam groaned as he looked down at his traitorous cock. Grabbing it, he tried to pee, but all he could think about was thrusting into his hand, and he was not doing that with Ondry watching.
“Is something broken?” Ondry suddenly sounded concerned.
“Nope. Normal human problem,” Liam reassured him. Yep, perfectly normal when the copulation system and the urination system used the same damn pipes. Liam had read more than one species’ snickering comments about that design flaw. Learning insults was basic training for linguists, even self-taught linguists studying off an army manual.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep. Absolutely.”
Ondry grunted, but he didn’t comment. “One more rule,” he said. “If a female chooses me, you have to understand that I do want to spread my genetic material to strong females, even if it is not a pleasant experience. So do not assume that anything is wrong if some old grandmother grabs my tail.”
And that was enough to break the spell. Liam’s cock immediately softened, and the pee came right out.
“And if some young female grabs my tail, she may find herself flat on her back with my boot on her chest for trying. But either way, you do not need to worry about me. I know that anyone who takes my genetic material does so because they find it superior and hope to lay eggs with it.”
“I doubt I’d enjoy watching,” Liam said drily.
“Well, as long as you’re on the leash, I doubt it would happen. So when the day comes, you can turn your back.”
Liam nodded. He’d follow the rule even if he fucking hated it.
“Let’s get you dressed and head over to the human base.” Ondry paused. “Is there anything you can wear that would indicate high status?”
“Like jewelry?” Liam asked.
Ondry’s eyes lit with pleasure.
“Oh no. Whores who get paid well wear jewelry.” Well, the rich did as well, but Liam would never be mistaken for wealthy.
“Perhaps one or two pieces? A neckpiece or a wrist piece?” Ondry turned toward the shelves in his room so fast that he pulled the leash tight, and Liam had to hurry to catch up. Ondry reached to the top and felt around before coming down with a box. “The young like to show off, but then the mature who have a palteia like to show off as well, so it works.” Ondry opened the box to show a pair of polished wrist cuffs inlaid with jewels and a subtle leopard-spot pattern done in contrasting metals. In the center of each was one large white stone.
“I would have traded them away, but I personalized them. I think I kept them all these years as a reminder of the silly things we do when we’re trying to impress others,” Ondry admitted. “It’s so much better to be yourself and have people simply impressed because of your undeniable talent.”
Ondry was either teasing or very sure of himself. Liam couldn’t decide which, but he took one of the decorative cuffs Ondry offered. They looked a little large, but they were certainly human-sized.
“There’s no way you could fit in these.” Liam held them up against Ondry’s thick arms.
“I couldn’t have been more than sixty or seventy when I bought those. Trust me, they fit back then. I think I wore them for twenty years straight.” Ondry smiled. “And then I figured out that I had wasted credit that I could have put toward trading. I’ve bought quality art since then, but I’ve installed it in the temple where it belongs.”
“You have?”
“That’s one of the ways to gain status, but you’ll learn all about us.” Ondry took Liam’s arm in his hand and used the hidden hinge to open the cuff and wrap it around Liam’s wrist. “That looks beautiful.”
Liam had to agree. He watched Ondry put the cuff on his other wrist and then lifted his hands several times to feel the weight of them. “You are letting me wear clothes too, right?”
“Given your species’ strange attitudes toward sex and bodies, I plan to insist on it,” Ondry said. He tossed a shirt Liam’s way. Liam hesitated. Wearing only the leash and the cuffs was oddly erotic. If nothing else, he’d have a rich vein of masturbation material to mine once Ondry let him use the bathroom by himself. But for now, he definitely wanted clothes before heading to meet with the colonel.