The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

As the woman entered the waiting room, Anna Paget looked up for what may have been the fiftieth time. All the others who had been rescued from the coach, except one, had now gone. Some had appeared to have been under arrest; she had not really understood the discussion about their wealth and debts incurred. When she was not looking up at whoever entered, hoping that this time it might prove to be Emily Aldred, the friend from her youth, Anna kept a watchful eye on the guard in the corner of the room. She was concerned that he would suddenly decide to take her off.

In the last two hours, Anna had steadily become familiar with the styles of dress of Xentra, the capital. Of course, even in hilly Sotra, she had heard the rumours. She knew the edicts about female marriage and enslavement for debts. However, in the uplands, there was little time for ornately worked leather clothes and certainly high-heeled boots would be impractical. Yes, there were women who loved other women, indeed men who loved men. However, the population was too small not to have a significant number of the people turning out babies so that the villages that provided the prized ores and textiles, could continue to function. Similarly, the settlements down in the valley that grew a lot of the leather used here on the backs of cattle, needed a steady birth rate so that the livestock were not abandoned.

Anna glanced over at the remaining passenger, a woman much of the same age, called Leanne. She had tried to make conversation, but Leanne had proven to be so nervous that after a few sentences she had burst into tears and the guard had scowled at the two women. He had suggested that they should sit apart as Anna’s presence was clearly disturbing the other. Furthermore, their situations were apparently different as Leanne seemed to have held on to a little more of her money than Anna.

“Leanne Fuller?”

An official stepped into the room. She was dressed in a fitted leather jacket of a dark green shade with a line of shiny buttons down one side. A crest was imprinted into the thicker leather at the shoulder of her right arm. She wore matching high-waisted leather trousers, laced tight down the outer edge of her legs and chunky ankle boots with a wedge heel.

“Leanne Fuller?” The woman repeated looking between Anna and Leanne.

Nervously Leanne raised her hand.

“Speak up.” The official said, but went over to the young woman and sat beside her. “I have managed to find a place at Madame Ferrelyn’s hotel. It is not the cheapest, but this is short notice. You can stay there while the situation is resolved. I have organised a carriage for you. It is waiting outside. You’ll obviously have to pay that from your own funds, of course. Do you understand?”

Leanne nodded.

“Good.” The official responded, rose and hurried back through the door she had entered by.

Leanne rose slowly and made a weak smile at Anna, then gathering the one bag she had with her she edged past the newcomer at the door and out into the street beyond.

Anna reflected on the woman who had just appeared. At first the occasional woman who had come into this place, something between a customs warehouse and a station for law enforcers, had demanded Anna’s attention. The figure-constricting leather outfits, the dagger sharp heels, the make-up that in Sotra would have looked ostentatious even on a whorehouse woman, had been intriguing, indeed a little alarming. The slaves were another issue. Slaves were seen in Sotra but most worked in farming, mining, wall or road building and were men; the female slaves were usually maids in houses. Here they were exotic pets, exuding a sexual air that Anna found unsettling. Their alien nature unnerved her, but worse was the excitement that she found difficult to suppress even whilst she disapproved and tried to be disgusted.

The latest woman who had come through the doors now looked to be walking towards Anna. She was like the bulk of those freewoman Anna had seen while waiting. Her clothes were of oxblood leather and it appeared she had ridden. The heels of the boots that stretched up to her thigh were chunkier than many of those she had seen. She wore leather jodhpurs that reached high to a waist which looked unnaturally narrow. Again, though, this was a profile Anna’s time in Xentra had begun to show her was expected, at least among the well-to-do. She envisaged that beneath the short, tailored riding jacket there was tight corseting.

The woman’s gloves reached to her elbow, again common here, but whilst elegant they had a thickness that show they were practical. A circular leather hat sat on her head, curled around with shaped jet shade hair. From it extended a veil with polka dots, but this had been cast back now to reveal the face below. The skin was pale which accentuated the plum shade the lips had been painted; the dark violet on the eyelids and the purple around. The woman’s full, black eyelashes fluttered as she blinked her eyes adjusting to the greater light in the room now that darkness had fallen outside.

Looking away from the woman, Anna cursed her bad luck. The flooding had meant the carriage had had to divert closer to the capital than she would have liked. Then for them to being held up by bandits before they could get within even the kind of refuge it offered, had brought her to this state. The bandits had snatched what little jewellery she had had and ransacked all of the trunks on board. She was just glad that before setting off on this journey to visit her convalescing brother she had followed her elderly grandmother’s advice. Consequently she had sewn coins into many hidden parts of her dress, even concealed some in the flat heels of her travelling boots. She was also sure that some of her things were among that which had been retrieved by the cavalry patrol. However, as yet, the officious women in this place had refused to give out anything, telling Anna she had to wait for the sitting of the so-called Restitution Court.

Anna had believed that she had had one piece of luck when she realised she still held her travelling book. As well as advice she had been given on coming and details of where her brother would be, she had copied the addresses of everyone known to herself and her family who now lived in towns along the way. Though she had never had the intention of visiting Emily Aldred, she was the only person Anna knew in Xentra. She had found a girl willing to take her a message to her for a small coin. However, as the minutes had turned to hours, Anna worried that either the girl had deceived her or that her old friend was simply not in the capital at the moment. Indeed she may had moved somewhere else entirely.

Anna and Emily had grown up together and had long been friends. Whilst Anna’s family was not poor, Emily was the daughter of an owner of many livestock and he had interests in a small copper mine. However, it was not until Emily herself had inherited lands in this part of the country, that the distance between the two women had grown. Emily’s father had moved down to the valley and into a larger house, though the Pagets would sometimes see him at market days. Emily herself had come all the way to the capital. Though she had been only seventeen when she had left three years before, she had been deemed old enough to be trained in running the assets that had come to her from a great aunt. There was somerule about only a woman inheriting. Emily’s mother had had no desire to leave Sotra, her home all her life, but for Emily, it was a great opportunity. Anna was glad her friend had not squandered it, clearly sending generous sums back home.

Anna wondered what impact Xentra may have had on Emily. Anna herself did not think she had changed a great deal as she had come to womanhood. Whereas Emily had been the eldest girl of the Aldreds, Anna had been the youngest of four sisters. She knew that her family would have to see some good harvests before there was enough for her dowry, let alone to pay the new taxes levied for the marriage of men and women. Perhaps, she reflected, Emily had been made as uncomfortable by how people lived in the capital as Anna was now experiencing and that had encouraged her to move on.

Anna wondered where she might have gone. As she considered this issue, it appeared to make sense that Emily would have gone abroad; perhaps her great-aunt had also had foreign interests. Anna had heard the country was doing more trade than ever before with Kator across the Centre Sea. She finally came to the conclusion, however, that it did not matter for her fate if Emily was overseas or just on a landed estate some miles outside the city. Now she began to ponder what options were open to her in this very strange, potentially risky city.

“Anna, how long do I have to stand here?”

The familiar voice snatched Anna’s attention back and she looked up to see the woman in oxblood leather bare steps away, her gloved wrists on her hips. The face was unrecognisable but slowly her mind told Anna that this woman could be no-one other than Emily. All the sensations that had swept over her on seeing the previous women now hit her with tidal like force.

For a moment Anna thought it was a joke, but she stood unsteadily and stepped into her friend’s arms. The pair hugged though this made Anna even more conscious of the aroma of the tight leather Emily wore. Her mind ran with so many questions. For the moment she answered them with the thought that it was no surprise that, having spent three years in Xentra, Emily had been shaped by it. Anna wondered if this would mean the gap between them would be could not be bridged. As she stepped back and a small, but clearly strong man hurried forward apparently seeking baggage, Anna realised how grateful she was that Emily had turned up and chided herself for forgetting how forlorn she had felt just moments earlier.

“You retrieved nothing?” Emily asked.

Her voice had a rather breathless, with almost sensuous tone about it and Anna wondered if that was due to the way people spoke here or the tight clothes Emily wore.

“Yes, but it is contested. My belongings were strewn around and they will not return anything to me until they have decided what is indeed mine. One of the other women in the carriage has said that passengers often try to claim items not their own.”

At this news, Emily smiled broadly, her darkly coloured glossy lips reflecting the light.

“That seems to be a good reason for visiting outfitters. It is something I enjoy, but I have to confess I rarely have an excuse, certainly out of the ball season.”

Anna was apprehensive at what the outfits might entail, but she knew it would be churlish to ask. It was clear that Emily had become a woman of some means and Anna guessed that she probably now derived pleasure not just from buying a new set of clothes but in spoiling a visitor.

“Let me speak to these people. Follow Tatlow out to the carriage, I will join you.”

Anna hesitated as Emily marched up to the counter and began saying something about her being Lady Emmeline Hahn-Aldred and Anna being released on her cognisance. Encouraged by Emily’s manservant, Tatlow, Anna left the building. Outside they walked to a small enclosed, two-wheeled upright carriage. As Tatlow opened the door to allow Anna in and then clambered aboard into the driver’s position, Anna pondered the situation. Nothing in Xentra, of what she had seen of it so far, made her feel easy. Whilst she was very grateful to Emily for rescuing her, Anna was keen to be moving on as soon as possible. Far from the capital, whilst she had been aware of its laws and customs, they had seemed a little unreal; here they were right in front of her. Rather than a horse, two muscled men, clad in black leather, Anna assumed as protection against inclement weather, stood in the carriage’s traces, looking ahead as if they were indeed just beasts of burden.

Horse drawn vehicles did pass in the darkening streets, but many were like this with humans in place of livestock; perhaps, indeed, as livestock. That sense was emphasised by pedestrians, many dressed in clothing sufficiently exotic to make those Emily wore look dowdy. Women predominated in Xentra to a much greater extent than in Sotra; indeed Anna did not see one man who was not in a slave, or at least in an ancillary role. Then, close by, on the pavement next to which the carriage stood, a woman dressed in vibrant shiny blue clothes halted. She wore ankle boots with a thick platform and long sharp heels; her face was hidden behind an encompassing mask; her body was sheathed in a long clinging dress that stretched right up her neck. Her nipples were prominent against the tight material which Anna realised must be latex, something she had never seen used in clothing. The dress was sleeveless but she wore gloves that stretched beyond her elbow. Her hair was piled in a complex structure on her head; long, ornate wooden pins holding it in place. Her face was long and elegant with that pale complexion which seemed favoured here.

A leash ran from the woman’s hand to the collar of another woman. The pair of them were probably in their thirties, but whilst the first had an air of arrogance the one she led managed to combine submissiveness and sexuality. Her clothes were also of blue latex but much skimpier. She wore a cropped top which held up, almost presented her breasts; below were shorts and then ankle boots like those of the woman who clearly owned her. The slave’s hair was blonde and spiked and her whole appearance made her stand out, even here. Above all, the slave wore a mask—her face was largely concealed beneath the blue latex with only holes for her eyes and nostrils and a larger one through which her hair emerged.

Then Anna saw why the woman had stopped. Another owner appeared. She was wearing a tabard dress which appeared to be made of inter-laced black leather, slit to the shoulder on both sides but held closed with a series of belts and buckles. Her hair was shaven down one side and long on the other. The woman behind her was dressed simply, in a black latex catsuit and thigh boots with a similar mask. As the two owners chatted, they casually fondled their slaves, grasping a breast or sliding a hand between their thighs. Anna did not hear a command but the two pets now moved around their owners and though at the end of leashes, began to caress, kiss and then pleasure each other.

Anna realised she felt nothing. She watched with distant curiosity at the sexual play. She wondered if she had already become so quickly inured to what she might witness here. Then, dimly, she imagined that there was only so much her mind could handle. Now it was simply delivering these images to her with even less emotion attached than in a dream. Anna looked away, glancing across the road, simply gazing at buildings, knowing this place would change her, but uncertain and uneasy about the ways in which she would be changed.

The carriage door opened and Emily was beside her. The upright carriage was not spacious and Anna was sharply aware of the aroma of her friend’s clothes, indeed of the light creak of the tight leather as she breathed and moved.

“All resolved.” Emily said cheerfully.

As she spoke, the carriage moved off and Anna imagined they were heading to Emily’s house. Despite how unsettling she found Xentra, Anna was keen to see how her friend’s life had turned out and the kind of place she lived in. Emily filled much of the journey pointing out features of the capital and referring to what seemed like innumerable parties. At times she would begin to recount something only to cease and say she would tell Anna more, later. Soon Anna was suspicious that there were risqué elements to the events that she was concerned Anna was not ready for.

“Do you own slaves?” Anna asked abruptly.

“Of course. These three naturally. Oh, but you mean sex-slaves. Yes, I know the curiosity of those in the provinces about them. Do you want to use one?” Emily asked excitedly. “Mon-mon, she was a wonderful buy, no-one can use her tongue on your pussy like my Mon-mon.”

Emily flushed and coughed, groping for how to respond; thinking what excuses she could make to leave the city quickly. “Thank you, no, erm … I was just curious. Everyone back home says you own three palaces and estate after estate of land.” Anna lied.

Emily laughed. “I have a town house, of course, and a lovely place on the largest estate. Illora Hahn, my great aunt—she left me three sets of lands and a few tenanted houses as well. I am not wealthy by the standards of Xentra, I am not nobility, I am just gentry—comfortably off as they say.”

Anna wondered at the distinction. Emily seemed rich by Sotra standards and Anna imagined that there would be more than the four slaves discussed. Soon they were at Anna’s house, somewhere that in Sotra could have been mistaken for a town hall. Servants, or perhaps they were slaves, rushed out to welcome home their mistress. The interior was spacious and quite sparsely furnished, but Anna preferred that to the cluttered style favoured by the well-to-do in Sotra. As she looked at the quality of the paintings, the furniture and the ceramics around the house, Anna realised that each was of the highest quality. It was clear that Emily’s tastes had become sophisticated since being in the capital. She guessed she should be grateful that her host had refinement rather than filling it with objects that echoed Xenta’s highly sexualised culture.

Anna was shown to the guest room which had a sumptuous bed covered with silk sheets and damask covers. Emily had her servants fetch hot water and fill the bath that was set into the small room off the bedroom. Anna was looking forward to being able to wash herself, especially in something as luxurious as a bath she could stretch out in. She undressed and quickly slipped into the water. She was a little startled when Anna simply walked into the room with a servant behind her who scooped up Anna’s clothes and took them away.

“I’ve ordered that something more suitable set out for you to wear when you get out. Whilst in Xentra, you must behave like a Xentran.”

That unsettled Anna a little, but she guessed there was no need for her to go outside much. She was certainly apprehensive about what she would have to wear and how constricting it might be. For the moment, though, her greater concern was how Emily was sat in the chair running her eyes over Anna. It was not a lustful gaze, more as how someone might measure up a horse they were to purchase.

“Let us clean and strengthen your hair.”

Emily picked up a bottle of black liquid which she poured liberally on the top of Anna’s head and massaged in thoroughly. She then washed it off using a jug she dipped in the bathwater.

“Too much hair.” Emily said at length.

Anna was going to protest that hers was shorter than the mane which Emily sported even if it was bound up with oxblood leather thongs. However, before she could, Emily reached over for a small bottle which she unstoppered and poured a quantity of into the water. It had a milky colour but soon had dissipated. Anna felt a tingle right across her body and then looked to see that the hair on her legs and around her sex was falling away.

“What is it doing?” Anna asked with concern.

“Making you nice and smooth. No-one wants to be grazing their face as they run their tongue along your pussy.”

Anna felt shocked at anyone envisaging doing that, but she guessed that Emily had said it for effect. If Xentra had changed nothing else, it seemed to have fostered a mischievous humour in her. Emily now reached over again and grasped a sponge. She dipped it in the water and then firmly but not roughly lifted Anna’s arms and rubbed vigorously beneath them. Soon the hair from there was going too. The smoothness, Anna felt, was strange but not unpleasant. Then she saw that the liquid had left a shine to her skin especially on her breasts.

“Good, it is taking effect.”

“Why is that important?”

“A lot of clothes in Xentra are tight and cling, you need the skin to help get them on. If I was extreme I would have poured the Anas milk on your head as well; enable you to get a nice latex hood on.”

Anna felt bewildered and a little afraid.

“I am torn, Anna, my dear between wanting to prepare you for what you’ll encounter here and scaring you. I had not realised that Sotra was that backward. I will certainly postpone any visit back there.”

“I think I ought to get out of the bath.” Anna said tentatively.

“Yes, you’re all ready. Come, let us find some clothes for you, then we will have dinner.”

Anna wrapped herself in the soft towels that Emily provided and dried quickly. She kept them about her, very self-conscious about her nudity even in front of her friend. They walked back into the bedroom and Anna’s worries were confirmed as a set of leather clothes were laid out on the bed. They were a chocolate brown shade.

“I know when I came, it was quite a challenge to dress the way that is appropriate for the capital. You do not want to look like a visitor or a slave. However, neither will you be able to go straight away into the more interesting fashions here. I imagine you have never worn a tight corset, let alone latex. I picked this colour as it will not stand out on the street.”

Anna thought about protesting but imagined it would do her little good. She had no wish to cross the authorities, not even to attract attention to herself. If this was what she needed to wear to be inconspicuous, then she would have to do it.

“First the underwear.” Emily proclaimed.

Rather than the underslip or breast bindings Anna had expected, Emily produced something that looked to be ready to be worn by a warrior queen. She pulled its cups of the softest kid leather around Anna’s breasts and buckled its straps at the rear. The sensation was peculiar but not unpleasant; the leather soft enough to tease rather than chafe. Then she held out what looked like a loin cloth and Anna realised that this would replace her underskirt. She stepped into it and it was pulled up to sit on her hips and give scant coverage to her buttocks and her now smooth sex. As with what Emily termed the ‘brassiere’, these ‘panties’ felt surprisingly good, though Anna worried she would be cold in them. Soon Emily was helping Anna into the leather bodice. It laced down the front and at the cuffs, but was not pulled too tight. Once in place, however, Anna noted how much it accentuated her breasts.

Then Emily was sliding her into the ankle-length skirt. Anna was intrigued by seeing her legs sheathed in the brown leather. It was slit at the side allowing her to make at least small steps. Then she was sat down and Emily buckled on ankle boots. It appeared as if she was enjoying playing the maidservant in helping her friend dress. Anna was given a bolero jacket which she left open and then gloves stretching beyond her wrist. Emily smiled broadly as she helped Anna to her feet. The boots’ wedge heels made her feel unsteady.

“We’ll start with those, not too high and the heels are not going to get caught. You’ll soon become accustomed to them and we can then try something a little more exciting.” Emily reassured her. “Now, come over to the dresser, we need to paint your face.”

“I have never worn anything more than a little rouge on my cheeks and lips and then only at festival.”

Emily chuckled. “You don’t want people thinking you are poor or a country bumpkin.”

Anna understood that was the case. She also began to imagine that it would help a little in helping her feel that it was not her going around dressed this way but some other woman. Emily began to paint on a white paste, Anna recognised this was to give her the pale complexion so desired here.

“We’ll get you on to stilus tablets so you’ll get this skin tone naturally.”

Then she was painting Anna’s lips a shade similar to her own. The brushing of mascara onto her eyelashes and the shading of her eyelids, felt awkward but Anna sat without complaint. It was clear that in the city people had time for such distractions that would seem frivolous in the countryside. Finally, Emily stood back and held up a mirror for Anna. She gasped to see her features so different. She looked like some kind of demon with unearthly pale skin and dark blood lips. Her eyes looked larger, accentuated by the copper shades Emily had painted on to her. Her eyelashes fluttered as if she was a courtesan from some ancient story. What unsettled but also excited her was that the woman in the mirror clearly belonged in Xentra and even more than that, fitting in with its expectations and behaviour.

“Yes, you look wonderful.” Emily enthused. “I should have got you to come here much sooner. We are going to have such fun.”

Anna had mixed thoughts. She supposed that she might not consider the accident that had brought her here to be a fortunate turn, but certainly knew she was experiencing something she would otherwise not have witnessed. Yet, embarrassment about what was happening clung to her and Anna knew that, assuming she got out of this place, she would never speak of what had happened here to anyone. She thought she would die of shame if any of her family saw her even just dressed like this.

“I would so love to take you out to dinner now.” Emily said; Anna wondered how she could protest. “But I worry you’ll stumble in unfamiliar boots. We’ll get you all well-practiced around the house before you have your debut in Xentra.”

Emily took her friend by the hand and led her to the dining room. With every step she took, Anna was conscious of the heady aroma of the tight leather. However, as the time passed, she found it was all becoming far less unusual. The meal was soon brought by Emily’s servants. It was excellent food and the wine soon made her drunk. It was only when Emily came to help her stand and make her way back to the large bedroom she had been assigned, that Anna recalled how she was dressed. However, she was too drunk to care as one of Emily’s servants, she could not remember her name, helped her get undressed and into the bed. Once Anna was beneath the sheets, grinning, Emily bent over her as if she was her daughter. She placed a kiss on her cheek and then turned away, clearly satisfied with how things had turned out.

Anna looked in the mirror as she painted her lips the new shade she had bought the day before. The plum colour contrasted with the fashionably blanched shade of her skin. She had matched it with the polish of her nails setting off her pale hands. It seemed incredible that she had only been taking the stilus tablets a week and now, at a glance, no-one could tell she was not a high-born woman from Xentra. Well, perhaps she had not got it all perfect, but she was getting there. She smiled at her reflection thinking it more showed ‘Anissa’, as Emmie now called her as a pet name, rather than Anna Lisle who had come to the capital.

“Madam, are you ready to dress?”

Anna smiled at Saira, the servant she had been assigned. She was a sweet young woman who Emmie saw as a project; someone she would craft before marrying off to an up-and-coming lady of this city. Anna still found it odd to think about marriage between women, but she guessed Saira had been raised in that context and presumably was grateful for whatever her employer might do to better her life.

“What clothes have been selected for today?”

Emmie always chose and provided the clothes that Anna wore here. They had taken their first steps out of the door just three days earlier. Anna had been pleased that she had not provoked any attention despite being dressed in a leather outfit that would have had crowds gawping if she had worn it in Sotra.

“These in purple, madam.” Saira gestured to what was laid out.

Anna saw that her friend had decided that it was time to take the next step and rather than the muted shades, to get her into a bright purple. The boots assigned her had thick platforms but were far longer and with sharper heels than any she had worn up to now.

“Well, I suppose you had better begin again with me.” She said gesturing to her make-up.

Anna knew as when she had resisted some of Emmie’s previous choices, it was simply an option between putting them on and not having anything to wear. On occasion she felt a little bullied by her friend. Then she would feel guilty for seeming ungrateful. Eventually, however, she would see that her friend had been right and she would find she enjoyed wearing the choice. Now, Anna knew there was no point in fighting and that, in fact, pleasure came from going along with what Emmie, with all her knowledge and her decisive nature, settled upon.

This morning Saira painted Anna’s nails and lips a purple shade and brought a darker version of that to streak her hair. With the treatments Anna had been compelled to follow religiously, it was now naturally jet black and stretched far down her back. Deftly Saira wove it into a complex chignon that she fixed with long hairpins. Looking in the mirror Anna saw these were tipped with small amethysts that had been among Emmie’s many gifts to Anna. Now Saira brought the brassiere and panties that had become so familiar to Anna. Today, though as well as being purple, Anna saw that leather had been replaced with latex; this would be the first time she wore that material. Saira clipped the brassiere on. This one closed at the front and Anna imagined that, in this sexualised city, the design was so a lover could remove it and expose her snow-white breasts to their attention. She stepped into the panties and like the brassiere these were coated with some oil that made them slide easily into place, smooth covered studs closed them, but again they could all too easily be opened.

The main item of clothing was a leather jumpsuit shaped so that ridges of leather stretched its full length. Aided by her maid, Anna manoeuvred herself inside. It was pulled tight against her by leather cords in a plum shade of the kind earlier removed from her lips. They ran up the outer edge of her legs, her waist and her body. At her breasts and over her sex, instead there was a single cord to pull the leather deliciously tight against these sensitive places. Other cords ran along both arms and with it all laced tight, Anna felt as she was now in a second skin. Then she was seated and laced the boots which, once in place, went beyond Anna’s knees. They had a smooth purple leather which matched the rest of her outfit. Anna stood up and took the matching leather gloves.

Anna walked to the mirror as she did habitually these days and looked at herself, bound tightly into the leather which accentuated her form and her pale skin. As she looked, Anna could not suppress the feeling of arousal. She wondered if that was because of the latex pressed tightly on to her. She found herself imagining that soon the day would come when Emmie had her put into clinging latex from head to toe. Once such a thought would have frightened her, but now Anna realised that there was not simply a resignation to this happening, but a curiosity about how it would feel and what it would make her think of doing. As yet she had had few sexual thoughts, but her body did seem more easily aroused. She wondered if the day would come when this would turn her to being attracted to women; whether, as clothes which would have once shocked her had become almost normal, thinking of sex with a woman would become the same.

Now Anna realised how hungry she felt. It seemed that it took her so much longer to get ready in the morning than it once would have done. When she went down to breakfast, Anna found Emmie had gone. She caught up with her in her office, dressed in a long black leather dress with her hair pinned into a complex hairstyle. As Anna entered she looked up and smiled.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Anna responded though feeling a little self-conscious.

However, though conscious of the creak of the leather she wore, and the slippery pressure of her latex underwear, Anna sat down. She tried to adopt the imperious stance that she had seen Emmie use and perhaps, she reflected, they looked like two women at business.

“Your presence here has not gone unnoticed.” Emmie smiled and held up a card with a gilt edging. “I am not surprised that you have prompted curiosity. I can certainly not claim to be at the heart of the social world of Xentra, but neither am I a recluse. We have been invited to a party, tomorrow evening. It is hosted by Lady Jessica Ballantyne. She has risen rapidly in society and may already be one of the leading hostesses of the city.”

“She has invited me by name?” Anna asked.

“No, but the invitation is accompanied by a letter; handwritten by the lady herself, saying how eager she is to meet the new arrival in the capital.”

Anna realised that while she was becoming adapted to the culture of Xentra, but it was something different to be fully out in its society. She worried that she might embarrass Emmie by seeming unsophisticated. Then she worried that she was simply being invited to be made fun of. To some degree it might be that she was being perceived as a curiosity to be viewed like a strange creature from the countryside. However, from what Emmie said, it seemed her presence had made her friend the centre of interest at least for a brief while. Anna guessed she could not begrudge Emmie that. After all, without her help she would be stuck in some dull lodgings, worrying how to she was going to pay for everything or perhaps by now she would be an inmate of a debtors’ prison.

“That sounds wonderful.” Anna tried to communicate genuine enthusiasm.

“I know it is a big step for you my Anissa, do you feel ready?”

Anna nodded eagerly. In some ways she no longer felt like Anna or at least not the one from Sotra. The way her hair and skin had been coloured; the extreme clothes she wore, were like the costume and make-up of a performer. She was as associated with the woman she appeared as here as she would have been with a baroness from a classical play.

“I will be with you, of course.”

“I know; I am grateful for everything you have done.”

That genuinely seemed to please Emmie.

“I will send a message to say that we will come. It is a good excuse to have a new outfit. Come, we will go to Bakkal’s and see what we can find.”

“That sounds delightful.” Anna said.

“You are beginning to sound like a Xentran lady.”

Anna bowed her head demurely in response. She wondered if it was a good thing, but understood that for the moment it was in her best interest—both so that she was not of particular interest to the Xentran authorities and, not least, because it clearly pleased her friend.

They had spent over an hour at Bakkal’s. Emmie’s measurements had been on their books, but they fussed excitedly over Anna, she imagined because they perceived her as a new potential customer. She was sure they now knew every eighth of an inch of her body. The seamstresses went to work even while they were there, conjuring up long, tight fitting leather dresses in purple; gloves and boots to match. They were of a similar design, but the criss-cross bands of leather making up the bodice would be narrower for Emmie, showing strips of pale flesh below. Her gloves would reach beyond her elbows whereas Anna’s would stop at her wrist and she would have shrug to cover her shoulders and arms. Anna’s heels would not be so high or the long skirt of the dress as restrictive as those of Emmie, much more accustomed to such clothes.

As they rode away to a restaurant that Emmie promised would be quiet enough that even in purple leather, Anna would not attract too much attention, Anna pondered how business was done in the capital.

“How do you pay for these new clothes?”

Emily smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I used very little of my income, you are no burden if that’s what worries you.”

“No, I am sorry. I am grateful that I am not draining your funds …”

“Don’t feel that you are providing nothing. I realise how lonely I was. Yes, I know people here, but I have really lacked a friend. I am being selfish now, hoping that you will not have to leave too soon.”

Anna shrugged. She had heard nothing from the Restitution Court, though from what she heard cases could drag on. Those with the funds would have their cases bumped up the waiting list and so those for the less wealthy, let alone strangers to the city, would find theirs languishing at the bottom of the list for months.

“I am grateful, but what I meant more, is how do you pay? You carry only some coin.” Anna gestured to the pouch at Emmie’s waist.

Emmie laughed. “Yes, I hardly think about it, though I remember it confused me when I first arrived. We write a scrip—a note that we accept a debt and we sign it. Then, on the quarter day, all the traders come to your house and you settle it. The streets are frantic, well for all that week. Then … if you cannot pay and you cannot deal, the Regulators come and you can find yourself prosecuted; at worst it is debtors’ prison. Well … if you cannot get out of there, then it is slavery. However, I’ve never known anyone to come to that. It is why, however, that I keep my own accounts.”

Anna knew that most mornings she had had to entertain herself reading the lurid and saucy publications which passed for newspapers in the city while Emmie was busy with her ledgers.

“Yes, it is inelegant for a lady to be clanking with coins; with jewellery or the chain to a slave, now that is a different matter.” Emmie joked.

As they passed an ornate park, Anna glanced out to indeed see ladies exercising their most personal of slaves and not simply through walking them. The scene did not shock her and indeed she soon found herself admiring the outfits and even the bodies of both slaves and their owners.

As Emmie’s carriage pulled up at the edge of the large square, Anna looked through the window. Flaming brands burnt in fittings around the door to the octagon house. Each of the houses around was in a different geometric shape and that of Lady Ballantyne sat opposite the famed circular home of the Lady Croucher. A number of carriages were pulling up and Emmie’s had to wait until the space became free. As they came in line with the front of the house, a serving woman in a smart jacket and trousers opened the carriage door. She helped Emmie and then Anna down from the carriage. In moments they were climbing the stairs of the house of pure white stone. Emmie handed over the invitation to a serious-looking attendant and, taking Anna’s gloved hand, led her into the vestibule.

Emmie had made it clear that this was not a large event. She explained that it was more involved than a soirée but certainly a long way from the grand balls and parties that often filled the summer and tended to be held at the mansions beyond the city. However, to Anna this appeared to be a spectacle that she could only envisage a queen staging. Around her, in more than a rainbow of colours, were women. The servants between them stood out as if they were plain trees in a forest of exotic flowers. Anna quivered as she felt the intense sexuality of all that she saw. While the complex structuring of her black hair, the platform and heels of her tightly laced ankle boots, the sheath of a leather dress and the matching latex underwear still felt exceptional to Anna, around she saw far more extreme, every way she looked.

Women strutted on immense platforms and heels. Boots reached to crotches; waists were pulled to the breadth of a book by leather corsets; identities were lost behind all-encompassing latex masks. Some were concealed from head to toe, others walked naked; just the paint and glitter on their bodies showing they had prepared for the party. Little was natural and so much was coloured by intense make-up and intricate jewellery hanging from any part of the body which could hold it. Many, it was clear were slaves entranced, collared, masked, leashed; sometimes even caged. Prized possessions very much like a fine necklace or bracelet, but yet with the hint of more that they could do. Anna wondered if she should consider these women to be like bejewelled dildoes; a word she had recently learned.

To Anna it was as if she had slipped into a dream world, one she could not quite determine whether it was of pleasure or darker visions; never a nightmare, but certainly unsettling all the same. Yet, as she walked and was given a silver goblet of a dark purple drink, she wondered if that the feeling was because she was an outsider rather than this place having anything peculiar about it. Emmie did not let go of Anna’s hand and she worried a little that she might be considered her wife. Then again, given the way many women were pawing slaves and sucking the faces and breasts of each other, perhaps that provided her with some form of protection, without which she might be perceived as fair game.

They moved on into the ballroom. Rather than the restrained music that Anna might have expected from an upper class recital, the sounds were frenetic as if produced by an excited folk band. The performers appeared as dominoes, kitted out in skin-tight bronze latex with masks that even left some of them mouthless. Their leashes were all tied to a large bronze ring suspended from the ceiling. In the ballroom, women cavorted with slaves and each other. In cages in the four corners slaves, also in bronze latex, danced sensuously, performing alone or acrobatically with a partner. Anna did not know if it was the wine or simply what she was witnessing but she felt her pulse raising, her nipples excited and hard, and her pussy waking as if eager to receive the weight of a dildo or the tongue of a slave.

“Would you like to dance?” Emmie asked.

“I do not know the steps.”

Emmie laughed at that. “At such a party, you move how it feels natural; there is nothing formal.”

Anna wondered if she lusted after a woman she would find it easier to snake around her, teasing, licking, toying with her or whether, even then, that this was so far removed from what she knew that it would remain a challenge. She was pleased that Emmie accepted her reluctance and instead led her upstairs to the gallery which ran around the eight sides of the ballroom. There were small alcoves here in which some women were slumped; in others there was kissing and groping or simply conversation. Emmie nodded greeting to some of the women and Anna was pleased that her friend seemed very happy to be there.

“You look hot.” Emmie said as she guided Anna into a free chaise longue. “I’ll fetch us some drinks.”

Anna smiled her thanks and sat back, flapping her gloved hand to cool herself a little. She would not concede it, but a voice in her mind was saying it was not simply the press of the people, the women, in here nor the lanterns, but something else which was heating her up.

“Here, use my fan.”

Anna looked up to see a woman in copper-coloured clothes; with rounded features but a body shaped by what she wore. Her hair was in a bob that angled upwards from her cheeks to the back of her head; its russet shade was echoed in the colour of her lips and the glistening latex dress she wore. It was corseted tightly with a fitted jacket buttoned over it. The skirt was extensive, reaching out from her waist but stopping in line with her calves to show the buttoned boots with a kitten heel, below. She handed over a silk fan and Anna used it though it offered little cooling. The woman sat beside Anna and she straightened up, not wanting to see rude to someone who might be important.

“I am Anna Paget from Sotra—a friend of Emily, sorry Lady Emmeline Aldred; Hahn-Aldred.”

“Ah yes, Emmie, a rising star of Xentra. There is much discussion of who she might marry.” The woman explained then looking around as if seeking someone; perhaps Emmie herself. “I am Lady Sara Croucher; maybe Emmie has mentioned me.”

“You own the Circle House.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Now looking at this woman she seemed younger than Anna had expected—she had envisaged a dowager rather than a woman probably only a few years older than herself. However, presumably she came from an old Xentran family and had no need to work to establish herself in its society.

“And you’ve not come to Xentra to marry?”

“Erm no, no I have not. I am probably too young for that.”

She was going to add that she was not thinking of a wedding in the way it was perceived here in Xentra but worried that would be seen as offensive. She had to presume that this lady was fully part of the capital’s culture and may have a wife herself.

“Well, then, you have no worries about sampling a few slaves. I have this new one and I think she is excellent. Let me know what you think.”

Lady Croucher lifted a hand and rotated it to someone Anna could not see. In moments a woman appeared. She was dressed in a latex catsuit, mask and thigh boots the same shade as the clothes the lady wore; her hair was coloured the same. Without hesitation she went down on her knees and lined up with Anna’s crotch. In that moment, a shudder, a thrill, a shock, ran through Anna as she realised what was about to happen. She wondered if she could plead illness. However, as the slave was encouraged on by her owner, Anna realised the time was passed and it would now be seen as rude to refuse. Such a response now that she was known to be a friend of Emmie’s might have repercussions even once Anna had left the city.

Deftly the slave pulled back Anna’s long skirt and slid between the legs below each clad in purple latex stockings. She was able to free Anna’s now milk pale and hairless sex from the latex panties with greater skill than she could have mustered herself. Anna felt uneasy, conscious of this happening in a public place, though given what was going on around her, no-one, bar perhaps Lady Croucher, seemed interested. Any sense of discomfort was blasted away as the slave’s tongue ran down Anna’s pussy lips for the first time. Whether it was the sexual tension of the party or the clothes she wore, Anna did not know. However, her body reacted quickly and she found her hand pressed to the back of the russet-haired woman’s head threatening to grind her into her pussy as if she could derive more pleasure from it.

Anna was unresisting as Lady Croucher closed a hand around her breast and then pressed in for a long kiss. Anna’s mind spiralled with thoughts. Did this woman want her for her lover? Was this just some party entertainment? With the combined assault on her senses by mistress and slave, Anna found emotions building within her that she had never sensed before. She knew of orgasms but had no confidence that she was capable of having one. Now, however, Anna sensed she was being driven towards one by two women dressed in tight leather and latex; one utterly submissive, the other totally dominant. If pleasure had not been demanding the attention of her mind and body, she would have been completely questioning her entire sexuality. Instead she rode what were growing waves of ecstasy which quickly sent her body straining against her tight purple leathers and her uttering long moans of pleasure.

Slumping back on the sofa, Anna felt the pressure from her body subside. Her head was still buzzing and she found it difficult to focus. As her breathing and her heart began to slow, blinking Anna began to become more aware of all that was around her. Lady Croucher and her slave were gone and no-one seemed particularly bothered with Anna. She adjusted her clothes, thinking how strange it was that she found such things now as offering a kind of decency. She was left, however with a sharp eagerness to find Emmie and to leave the party. Her mind kept see-sawing between sparks of pleasure remembering what she had just experienced and guilt at what she had done. Anna felt that she had had few options stuck here in Xentra, but that she had the sense that she could have been more resistant to the debauchery that seemed about to engulf her. Had she been turned into a lover of women? Was she content to be toyed with the way that Lady Croucher had done? Had the changes to her hair and skin also altered how her body might be excited?

All her irritation at the carriage crash and then the bureaucracy which so constrained her flooded back now. Anna was frustrated not simply at her situation but also that she appeared to have failed to do much to rectify it. Surely if Emmie … Emily, had the money to buy all these clothes, then she could spare some to get Anna out of the city and on to see her brother. She felt qualms that she had not thought about him. By now he must be worrying about what had happened to Anna and presumably would have contacted Sotra too. How easy it had been for her to be led astray here in Xentra. While she would be eternally grateful to Emily, she recognised that she had simply slipped into a life here that was far removed from what was actually important.

Emily appeared with two goblets and smiled, sat down next to Anna.

“I am sorry, our hostess caught me and was plying me with questions.”

“About me?”

Emily chuckled. “A few, but I had the feeling she has been watching us from afar.”

At that Anna flushed and felt uncomfortable; what if Lady Ballantyne had seen her being sexed by the slave? As it was, she quite expected Lady Croucher to scurry off and report what she had been up to; Anna had no idea how indiscreet she might be.

“No, she was asking why I had not had a party at my house, given how long I have been established there. I would love to host a party while you are here.”

“I think … I think I would be an embarrassment.” Anna protested weakly.

“Nonsense, you are stunning. You look as if you were born to Xentran society.”

“I am not a lover of women.”

“No, nor is every woman here. There is a difference, however, between pleasure and production. You would not eat sugared plums for sustenance would you, but it does not take from their delicious taste?”

Anna found it far harder to detach one face of sex from the other. However, given what she had experienced here, she recognised now for certain what Emily meant about pleasure. Yet, in turn, did that not simply add to her guilt as if she had eaten a whole bowl of sugared plums?

Emily sipped her punch then looked back at Anna. “Are you feeling alright?”

Anna did not know the real answer but this seemed like a good let-out for her. “A bit overwhelmed by it all. It is rather hot.”

“Well, I think we’ve done enough not to seem rude. Come, let us ride home. Our party will be a little more low-key. We’ll plan it so you feel comfortable.”

“That sounds great, Emily, thank you.”

Anna mustered a smile. She put down her drink and allowed herself to be led by the hand through the crowd. It was probably twenty minutes or so before they were back in the carriage. Inside it, Anna felt safer and as it made its way through the busy streets, she was able to distance herself from all that she had seen and done at Lady Ballantyne’s party. Though she was determined to tell Emily that she was going to leave and then ironically to beg money from her to make that possible, she had no desire to dent her friend’s clear pleasure at attending the party and was determined she would wait until the colder light of the next day.