Chapter 19

Valerie shared Dana’s bed that night, though they simply slept— or at least, Dana did. Valerie slept poorly; she was nervous, sharing a bed with a new— her thought process shuddered to a stop before it could insert the word “girlfriend”. She was unsure what word to use, but certainly not that one. Boss? Mistress? Owner?

She was nervous, nevertheless. Lying next to a woman as beautiful as Dana, who wanted to do such things with her that she could barely imagine; Valerie found it hard to let her brain relax and turn off. Her slumber was not helped by the fact that Dana offered her nothing to wear to sleep, except the ever-present collar; which was chained to one of those many attachment points she had seen integrated into the bed’s construction. Not tightly, but inarguably symbolic.

She did not feel like she slept at all, but nevertheless she was awakened from a fitful half-slumber by the room’s lights gradually brightening to almost daylight-brightness, while at the same time the electro-dimmed windows slowly cleared towards crystal clear transparency. They faced west and just slightly south, and so did not catch the morning sun, but the view down the hillside, of the bay, and the fog-shrouded city in the distance was breathtaking. The broad expanse of glass in combination with the brightness of the lights almost created the sense that the bed itself was outside.

Dana awoke with a cat-like stretch and a yawn that Valerie couldn’t help but find enchanting. She herself had been curled on her side, specifically not watching the woman sleep. Her gaze rested on Dana’s dark hair, pulled up into a bun for sleep; she visually traced the strands that had escaped as they curled into a soft wave against the woman’s cheekbone; she watched Dana’s breath being drawn in and let out through her parted lips; and Valerie imagined the swell of the woman’s breast as she breathed in, and the way those breasts had looked the evening before, glistening with sweat—

She squeezed her eyes shut and gave her head a little shake to try and physically clear her thoughts. The chain attached to her neck chimed musically as she did, and Dana’s eyes softly opened to regard her.

“How did you sleep, pet?”

The part of Valerie clinging to the idea that this is a business arrangement raged ineffectually at the way Dana’s voice sent a shiver down to her core.

“I..” She suddenly felt like the truth would be ungrateful. Her eyes slanted away from Dana’s sleepy expression. “Uhm.. not too bad..”

Dana seemed to see straight through the half-true nicety.

“It’s new, and strange. You’ll settle in.”

She stroked Valerie’s cheek soothingly, and then pivoted smoothly away from her, legs elegantly swinging off the side of the bed as she rose to stand. She had slept in a silk chemise, the sort of garment that can only look so simple and perfect by being horrifyingly expensive. Valerie was willing to wager it cost more than her entire— and here her thoughts stuttered, because she had no wardrobe, anymore; nor anything to wager.

“Bedroom, lights to ten percent,” Dana said, and a chime acknowledged her command, and a moment later the lights dimmed significantly and the window darkened, reversing the simulated sunrise to the barely glowing hours before dawn.

She retrieved a key on a silvery chain from where it hung alongside other necklaces, across the room and far out of Valerie’s reach; and used it to unlock Valerie’s tether, freeing her from the confines of the indulgently spacious bed.

“Sleep in,” Dana told her. Valerie could not quite figure out what it was in the woman’s tone, or demeanor, that made it clear that this is a command and not an offer or suggestion; but it was clear to her, nonetheless. It was not entirely dissimilar from how she addressed the home’s automation system: her words carried a simple expectation that they would be obeyed.

“Come find me when you feel rested. Bedroom, play rain sounds.” There was another chimed acknowledgment, and then the soft sound of falling rain filled the room, seeming to emanate from nowhere and everywhere all at once.

“Y— yes, ma’am.” Valerie felt uncertain about how to respond; she hasn’t been given instructions one way or another on this, but some honorific felt right to her. Dana only smiled, and set about starting her day.

The sounds of Dana tending to the needs of her body mingled with the rain sounds, and Valerie had fallen truly and fast asleep before the woman had moved on to selecting her outfit for the day, and then disappeared out into the house.

Valerie was unsure how much time had passed; she felt as though she had not slept properly in weeks, maybe months, until now. She awoke thirsty, and her head ached dully; and she felt perhaps not rested, but at least no longer exhausted. At some point while Valerie slept, Dana had placed a few items of clothing at the foot of the bed. Valerie took those, too, as a command; and the alternative would be to go digging through Dana’s closet, which she did not think would be met with approval.

She cleaned herself up as best she could in the en suite bath, unwilling to simply shower with a leather collar locked around her neck, and then dressed in the clothes provided, which turned out to be clean underwear precisely in her size and soft silk pajamas, in a jewel-toned purple.

She found Dana working in her office, a level below the bedroom. The office had the same sort of west-facing windows as the bedroom, dimmed just slightly so that the landscape outside wasn’t brighter than the screen Dana worked on. The door into the office was opposite a door that Valerie recognized, into the cell she had woken up in before. From this side, the door was less imposing and utilitarian, paneled to look identical to the other doors in the home.

Dana locked her screen and stood as Valerie stepped into the open doorway, alerted by the movement reflected by the expanse of glass window.

“There you are.”

Dana stood and stepped up to Valerie, who subconsciously took half a step back. Dana made a reproving sound and raised an eyebrow, and Valerie shyly stepped forward again, close enough to smell the hints of vanilla and almond in Dana’s perfume.

Dana ran her fingers across the short-cropped hair at the side of the girl’s head; Valerie gasped and tilted her face upward toward Dana, the touch of the woman’s hand sending a visceral thrill that tingled all the way to her fingers.

“Let’s get you some breakfast.” She pauses, glancing back over her shoulder- the sun had just set low enough to be visible in the window. “Or late lunch, I suppose.”

Dana gave Valerie her first protocol over hot cardamom chai tempered with oat milk, and reheated pakistani food; leftovers from a few days before, Dana told her, that still seemed edible.

“You are to be obedient. You’ll follow every command I give you, without argument.” She delicately swiped a torn piece of naan through the remains of a dark and heavily spiced chickpea curry.

“That does not mean ‘without question,’” she continued, after washing the bite down with a sip of chai. “If you don’t understand, or don’t know— ask. If it’s unclear— ask. Clear?”

She finished off the last few sips of the chai.

Valerie nodded, swallowing nervously. She knew this is what she had agreed to, but Dana had been so kind to her, she had started to think— irrationally, she supposed— that this might have been something like a real relationship, with a layer of play on top.

“Answer me,” Dana says to her, gently, but nevertheless there was that shift, again; that essence of command.

“Yes,” Valerie replies, barely above a whisper. “I understand.”

“I’ll give you a little time to get used to this and then we’ll add some more protocols.” Dana reaches across the table and cups Valerie’s cheek.

“This is already a lot, my little toy, and you’re doing so well. I’m proud of you.”