“Such delicacy!” Lucilla said.
Sirafa took it as a compliment and smiled, but it was a tightly controlled expression. Her reactions were so alien!
“One thing,” Lucilla said. “If I must entertain a divine, how will I find Burzmali afterward?”
“Skar!”
“Yes. How will I find Skar?”
“He will wait nearby wherever you go. Skar will find you when you emerge.”
“Very well. If a divine interrupts, I return one hundred solari to Skar and –”
“Fifty!”
“I think not, Sirafa.” Lucilla shook her head slowly from side to side. “After being entertained by me, the divine will know that fifty solari is too small a sum.”
Sirafa pursed her lips and glanced past Lucilla at Burzmali. “You warned me about her kind but I did not suppose that . . .”
Using only a touch of Voice, Lucilla said: “You suppose nothing unless you hear it from me!”
Sirafa scowled. She was obviously startled by Voice, but her tone was just as arrogant when she resumed. “Do I presume that you need no explanation of sexual variations?”
“A safe assumption,” Lucilla said.
“And I do not need to tell you that your robe identifies you as a fifth-stage adept in the Order of Hormu?”
It was Lucilla’s turn to scowl. “What if I show abilities beyond this fifth stage?”
“Ahhhhh,” Sirafa said. “You will continue to heed my words, then?”
Lucilla nodded curtly.
“Very good,” Sirafa said. “May I presume you can administer vaginal pulsing?”
“I can.”
“From any position?”
“I can control any muscle in my body!”
Sirafa glanced past Lucilla at Burzmali. “True?”
Burzmali spoke from close behind Lucilla: “Or she would not claim it.”
Sirafa looked thoughtful, her focus on Lucilla’s chin. “This is a complication, I think.”
“Lest you get the wrong idea,” Lucilla said, “the abilities I was taught are not usually marketed. They have another purpose.”
“Oh, I’m sure they do,” Sirafa said. “But sexual agility is a –”
“Agility!” Lucilla allowed her tone to convey the full weight of a Reverend Mother’s outrage. No matter that this might be what Sirafa hoped to achieve, she had to be put in her place! “Agility, you say? I can control genital temperature. I know and can arouse the fifty-one excitation points. I –”
“Fifty-one? But there are only –”
“Fifty-one!” Lucilla snapped. “And the sequencing plus the combinations number two thousand and eight. Furthermore, in combination with the two hundred and five sexual positions
“Two hundred and five?” Sirafa was clearly startled. “Surely, you don’t mean –”
“More, actually, if you count minor variations. I am an Imprinter, which means I have mastered the three hundred steps of orgasmic amplification!”
Sirafa cleared her throat and wet her lips with her tongue. “I must warn you then to restrain yourself. Keep your full abilities unexpressed or . . .” Once more, she looked at Burzmali. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I did.”
Lucilla clearly heard amusement in his voice but did not look back to confirm it.
Sirafa inhaled and expelled two hard breaths. “If any questions are asked, you will say you are about to undergo testing for advancement. That may quiet suspicion.”
“And if I’m asked about the test.”
“Oh, that is easy. You smile mysteriously and remain silent.”
“What if I’m asked about this Order of Hormu?”
“Threaten to report the questioner to your superiors. The questions should stop.”
“And if they don’t?”
Sirafa shrugged. “Make up any story you like. Even a Truthsayer would be amused by your evasions.”
Lucilla held her face in repose while she thought about her situation. She heard Burzmali — Skar! — stirring directly behind her. She saw no serious difficulties in carrying out this deception. It might even provide an amusing interlude she could recount later at Chapter House. Sirafa, she noted, was grinning at Burz — Skar! Lucilla turned and looked at her customer.
Burzmali stood there naked, his battle garb and helmet neatly stacked beside the small mound of rough clothing.
“I can see that Skar does not object to your preparations for this venture,” Sirafa said. She waved a hand at his stiffly upcocked penis. “I will leave you, then.”
Lucilla heard Sirafa depart through the shimmering curtain. Filling Lucilla’s thoughts was an angry realization: