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meant to tease and titillate the customers, but my partner altered the whip and beat me senseless. That’s when I met Ra’jen. He healed me, and our attraction was instantaneous and powerful.”
    Winter took a deep breath. It didn’t take a detective to see where this was leading. “You’re hoping a similar attraction will develop between Mr. Brant and me?”
    “Are you attracted to him?” Though Autumn’s expression remained serene, her blue gaze penetrated.
    “I hardly remember him.” Winter glanced away, unable to maintain a straight face as the lie crossed her lips. His face haunted her dreams, and the memory of his kindness meant more than she cared to admit. If Ulrick hadn’t been there that day, she would be the subjugated chattel of one of the pod captains right now.
    “Well, he remembers you. He calls every day for an update, and he’s anxious to interview you. I suspect that the interview is merely an excuse so he can see you again.”
    “So I become Mr. Brant’s mistress. I entertain him until he tires of me, then what?” Resentment welled within her, making her reckless and bold. “I don’t want to become a madam. I think what you’re doing is just as degrading as what your girls are subjected to.”
    Surprisingly, Autumn didn’t take offense. “Would you object to people believing you were an ambassador if you didn’t actually fuck your customers?”
    Winter uncrossed her legs and scooted to the edge of the chair. Every scenario she’d imagined led to her losing control over her body. “I’m listening.”
    Autumn returned to her desk and opened one of the drawers. She took out a small case and opened it, setting it on the desk in front of Winter. “This is a brainwave modulator. I call it a succubus. It allows a person to create waking dreams—images and sensations so intense they’re indistinguishable from reality.”
    “I thought you didn’t trust Gathosian technology.” This sounded far more invasive than the language infuser.
    “I don’t. This is Pryett technology.”
    “I’ve never heard of the Pryett.” Winter pulled the case toward her and looked at the device. It had two parts, both slim and rectangular, one about the size of a postage stamp, the other slightly larger.
    “Ra’jen and Saroji are Pryett. When their world was decimated by the Gathosians, they were able to rescue a few of their extraordinary gadgets.” Lifting the smaller piece out of the contoured case, Autumn handed it to Winter. “The technology is patterned after their ability. It allows us to do what they do naturally—to some extent. These are extremely rare and valuable.”
    “If I break it I buy it?”
    “If you break it, it can never be replaced. The engineers who designed it are all long dead.”
    The tiny device suddenly felt heavy. “How will creating waking dreams enable me to be a pleasure ambassador without actually having sex with my clients?”
    Autumn retrieved the larger piece of the device and handed it to Winter as well. “Master and slave. The larger one takes control of the smaller one, guiding the images and controlling the outcome.”
    “Like Saroji did during our sessions,” Winter murmured, beginning to understand. “So I’d put the smaller one on the client and use the larger one to guide him through all the things we did together.”
    “Exactly. He’ll remember everything as if it really happened.”
    “How do we prevent him from remembering that I used this device on him? For that matter, how do I get the device on him in the first place?”
    “I have a mist that creates a momentary stupor. The device is self-adhering, so a moment is all you’ll need. As for remembering the procedure, the device is programmed to create a few moments of delta waves as it initializes and again as it disengages. All your target will remember is the dream.”
    “What do delta waves do?”
    “The brain produces delta waves when a person is deeply asleep, and theta waves while they