[If there were anyone else around, Steve would be more careful with the rules. Even with other consorts. Him and Noiz don't know each other that well but he knew the first time they met that they'd had each other sized up pretty fast. He wouldn't tell anyone what Steve was saying, he was sure of that much.]

Why would I? I didn't want it.

[He couldn't request to be reassigned, he'd already agreed to this. Steve hadn't expected his mistress of such cruelty or he would have gone back to the Alliance after his master passed.]

I'm not property to be handed out on a whim. Either I chose to initiate contact and get approval from my mistress or it happens and she never finds out.

[Consorts slept with one another all the time. Masters and mistresses traded consorts and sometimes they all had sex with one another. Steve wasn't naive, but he had rights. A consort was always asked permission.]

But he asked and she said yes without speaking to me.