you, Nels.” The litter was lifted up, and she was finally on her way. She was sorry she had not seen her father, or Susanna or little Mikhail before she left, but she knew they had done her a kindness in saying their goodbyes the previous evening. It really was better this way, and she could be strong for whatever lay ahead. Reaching down, she raised her star pendant to her lips and kissed it. The tiny flame flickered for a brief moment. She was safe. Had her faerie mother not said the necklace would always keep her safe? Her father had told her so, and Lara believed him. The bearers moved quickly, and before she knew it she heard the hail of the guard at the gate to the Golden District. He opened the curtains a moment, winked at her and then closed them. The litter moved off again, finally stopping for good. The curtains were opened gently and fully.
“Welcome, Lara, welcome!” Gaius Prospero’s fat hand helped her from the litter. “We have a busy day ahead of us. Have you eaten yet?”
She nodded. “My father’s slave woman fed me,” she told him.
“Excellent!” He beamed his approval. “Then come with me, my dear. There is much to do, and you must get started. The northern wing of my house is for the special slaves that pass through my hands. Tania is waiting there for you. She will prepare you for this evening. I am giving a dinner for the owners of the finest Pleasure Houses in the City, and the Pleasure Mistresses who manage these houses. Many began as you will, as simple Pleasure Women. You are to be the final course of the meal, the sweet if you will,” he chuckled, well pleased with himself. “I will display you to them so they may inspect you thoroughly. The bids on your person must be brought to me in writing between sunrise and sunset tomorrow. This permits me to weed out the serious buyers from those who do not have the wealth it will require to purchase you. There will then be one more viewing of you at which point those remaining may bid on you in a formal auction. At its conclusion you will be consigned to your new owner, and I shall have you delivered to his premises. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my lord Gaius,” Lara said.
He took her little hand in his plump one, and patted it comfortingly. “It all sounds very complicated, I will admit, but it is actually quite a simple process. And after your first-night rights have been taken, you will be very well trained to service the men who come to take their pleasure of you.”
“What are first-night rights?” Lara asked him.
“You have three virginities,” Gaius Prospero told her. “Each of them will be sold for a fabulous sum to the men who want them the most. Since you have never known intimacy, your reactions to these men, and their knowledge that they are the first to possess you, are valuable. Innocence has great charm, but afterward you will need to be taught the complexities of offering varied pleasures to a man. Ah, here we are! Tania, here is the lovely Lara. She is in your charge until she leaves us. See she is well prepared. Until tonight, my dear,” he purred, and turning was gone.
“Let me see your hands,” Tania said, and then she exclaimed, “What have you been doing, child? A Pleasure Woman must have the softest hands, and yours are all rough, and your nails are broken. And to think I have only until tonight to make you presentable! Come along! Come along!”
Lara followed Tania, and during the next few hours her world was expanded as she learned the secret of how Pleasure Women were treated. She was seated, and a slave woman began to pare and shape her nails. Her hands were first soaked in a mixture of hot water and soap, then her nails were cleaned, and each hand massaged before being put into a separate bowl of warm scented cream. While her hands were being treated, another slave woman began on her feet, tsking at the rough heels and soles she possessed.
“Make them like silk,” Tania ordered.
“It will take days to make these feet presentable,” the slave told Tania.
“She is being shown tonight,” Tania said. “You don’t want the master displeased, do you? Do you remember how long it took the welts to go down on the last slave who made him unhappy? He has a great investment in this girl.”
“Then he should have taken her from her family sooner, and not left it to the last minute,” the slave at Lara’s feet huffed. “I’ll do my best, but I’m not promising anything, and threatening me with a beating isn’t going to change a thing. The girl has feet like a farm worker, although I admit their dainty size will work to her advantage.”
Lara remained silent as the slaves worked on her. She was bathed next, slaves washing her all over with large sea sponges filled with scented soap. Then she was scraped and rinsed to be certain the dirt was removed from her body. A sweet-smelling paste the color of almond blossoms was smeared on her legs and her pubic mound. It burned slightly, and she complained as it was quickly rinsed away. She was then washed again, this time by Tania, who pushed the cloth she used into the most intimate areas of Lara’s body, causing Lara to blush furiously.
Tania snorted with impatience. “Every part of you must be fresh and sweet-smelling for your lovers,” she explained. “You’ll get use to this.” She rinsed Lara with basins of fragrant warm water. “Now, get into the bath pool and sit down while your hair is washed, child.”
The bathing pool had a bench that circled the entire pool. Lara sat down. The water was warm and very relaxing. She waited for someone to get into the water with her to wash her hair, but instead she was instructed to put her head back, and a slave woman washed her long tresses from the outside of the pool. Her pale gold locks were twice soaped, twice rinsed and then rinsed a third time with lemon juice and water.
“It makes golden hair even more golden,” Tania told her. “Are you hungry?” She busily toweled Lara’s hair dry first with a drying cloth, and then with a silk one.
“A little,” Lara admitted. She had been pampered for several hours now.
“Then I will have something brought to you before we continue,” Tania said. “It will be light, and you will not eat again until after you have been displayed.” She gave orders in a brisk tone, and shortly Lara was served a dish of yogurt flavored with berries, a piece of flat crisp bread with a thin slice of cheese, and a small goblet of wine.
When she had finished Tania handed her a goblet of minted water with which to rinse her mouth. Then to Lara’s surprise her mouth, her tongue and teeth were brushed with a boar’s bristle brush, and she rinsed again.
“A woman should always have sweet breath,” Tania said.
Lara was then laid out on a padded table. Her face was cleaned and creamed. Her body was thoroughly massaged until she felt as weak as a newborn kitten, and could barely stand on her own two legs. She was then led to a soft mattress, and a silvery curtain was drawn around it.
“You will sleep now,” Tania said. “When it is time I will come and get you.”
Lara needed no encouragement, and when she was awakened several hours later she realized that she felt better than she had ever felt in her life. Instinctively she touched the pendant. She had not allowed them to remove it from her neck while she was being prepared for display. Tania offered her a small goblet of water, and thirsty, Lara drank it down. Then at the older woman’s suggesting she relieved herself and was washed in that private place once again.
“What am I to wear this evening?” she asked Tania.
“You will be displayed naked but for your pendant and some flowers,” Tania said. “You understand that you will be touched by both the men and the women at the table? You must show no emotion at all, no matter how intimate a gesture it seems to you. Fear or repulsion will irritate the master’s guests. There are also
