Irina selected clothes for me, presumably to Mira’s instructions. She rolled nearly black stockings up my legs and clipped them to a suspender belt of black silk. She held a long, crimson silk evening dress for me – I had never seen it before. It had a slit up the side that revealed my stocking tops and the bodice was almost transparent so that my nipples showed through the fabric barely but noticeably. The straps of the dress were like cotton thread, and the back dipped to just above my arse.

Irina knelt to strap shiny patent sandals onto my feet, then she spent a while brushing my hair into some semblance of order.

‘Irina, you seem to have forgotten something.’ She looked surprised. ‘Knickers, darling.’

She smiled. ‘The Mistress has said that you will not need them.’

‘You may have forgotten that small item of jewellery you shoved up my bum? Suppose it falls out?’

‘Her instructions were quite clear, Miss.’

‘Well, bugger that.’ I went to a drawer and took out a thong which I hoped would hold the plug were there to be an accident.

‘Miss, please. She will punish me.’

‘No. She might punish me but not you.’ I pulled the thong up over my stockings and felt a little more secure with it in place. Irina was distraught. I looked at her pretty face and the alarm it showed and relented, reluctantly taking off the thong and returning it to the drawer.

‘Well, if it slips out, she can do the explaining!’ The look of gratitude on her face was reward enough.

Dressed and more than a little uncomfortable I made my way to the boat deck where I found Mira standing by the rail. Her hair was covered in a large silk shawl of deep blues, reds and gold which matched the dress, more like a sari, that she was wearing. She kissed me.

‘I am glad you didn’t defy me.’ I looked at her, the question in my eyes. ‘Irina was told you would not need panties, I am glad you obeyed her. Don’t be surprised, there is nothing that happens on this boat that I don’t know about. Let us get ashore.’

One of the ships boats took us into the quay and from there a large, black Mercedes drove us a short distance to a restaurant. I felt I was being exhibited as Mira walked through the restaurant, stopping to say hello to some, kiss others. Always she kept a firm grasp on my hand and introduced me as her ‘new treasure’ to her friends who smiled knowingly. We sat at a quiet table waited on by fawning staff. She ordered, without referring to me, Kir Royale and then took a menu. I was not, it seemed, to be given any choice.

She ordered for both of us, a light starter of anchovies on toast with salad followed by scallops served with a thermidor sauce and salad. The drinks arrived as the waitress departed.

‘How did you know about the panties?’

‘I was watching.’ I should have been angry but I was not because I suppose I had already assumed so.

‘Why do you watch me?’

‘Because I choose to.’ She smiled. ‘I watched earlier when Irina served you too. Hasn’t she got the most industrious little tongue? Ivanova was watching too. Well, she tried to, but she was busy like Irina. You intrigue me, Joanna,’ the first time I recall her using my name. ‘You don’t stay with me for the money, I know that. Is it perhaps because you find the whole experience interesting? Are you intrigued by my lifestyle? Perhaps it is just the sex?’

‘I am intrigued, I admit. I think the sex is a part of it but so is the work.’ She smiled. ‘I’ve never met anyone like you. I don’t ever know what to think. I don’t feel at risk nor do I feel safe. I ought to leave.’

‘But you wont.’

‘No, I wont.’

‘Good.’ Her knee pressed against mine under the table.

‘Where are we going this evening?’

“Patience. You will find out in good time. Enjoy your meal and tell me about your life before you came here.’

I gave her a potted history. Happy home, wonderful university life where I was at last able to be me, the lesbian me with no more pretense. The lowly start in journalism, with a local paper covering courts and Women's Institute fairs. My first long term relationship with a woman almost twice my age. A messy break up when I found her in bed with her secretary – that made Mira laugh.

‘At least with me you expect that now! When I caned Irina I had an orgasm.’

I must have looked shocked.

She smiled. ‘Irina did too. It is not uncommon you know. Perhaps in your world it is, but not in mine. But you don’t need to worry, I do not intend to cane you this evening.’ She laughed at my expression. ‘How does the plug feel?’

The truth is that I had forgotten it and I told her so.

‘You see, my little western girl, something so unusual for you and yet you have forgotten it. I am sure that you are aware of it now though?’

That was the truth. Her mention of it had made my mind focus on it and I had to resist the urge to squirm.

‘It will not slip out, trust me but if it does I will do the explaining.’ She laughed. ‘I love knowing you have that jewel there for me. I love Irina knowing and Ivanova too; she was jealous. Ivanova loves pain even more than Irina. Perhaps sometime you will see that.’

She never discussed work when her day was done.

She chatted lightly but always returned to sex at some point.

‘I told you I was going to fuck your arse, didn’t I?’ I nodded. ‘You don’t seem concerned?’

‘It would not be the first time.’

‘And do you like it?’ Her voice was far louder than I would have liked. I confessed that I do. Mira smiled.

The car drove us another short distance and we got out beside a non-descript building with a huge, black front door which opened as we ascended the steps that led up to it. I had to hold my dress up to avoid stepping on it. The entrance hall was sumptuously furnished and a woman in a long black dress and with hair of a deep red like I had never seen before. She and Mira kissed then Mira introduced me.

‘You are most welcome. Please go through to your usual booth, Mistress Mira.’

I had never heard anyone addressed in such a manner and I was surprised. At out booth, in which we sat side by side, drinks were brought to us, kir royale once more. There was subdued lighting, our booth was almost in darkness and it faced a pair of large, deep red curtains which I assumed covered a stage of some description. Mira’s hand slid through the slit in my dress and caressed my thigh just above my stocking.

‘Open your legs, I want to touch you.’ I spread them and her finger explored me. She turned towards me and kissed my mouth deeply and her free hand cupped my breast, her palm rubbing my now hardening nipple.

‘Your clitoris is hard too, Joanna.’ Her face was so close I could taste her. ‘Mine is too. It is rubbing on my panties. I love that feeling, don’t you?’

‘You forget, I am not wearing any.’

She smiled. ‘How could I forget when my finger is in your cunt?’

‘Do you always talk so loudly?’

She didn’t answer because the stage curtains opened and a woman stood with her back to us. She was not naked but might as well have been. She was wearing a leather harness that had straps around her waist, over her shoulders and between her legs. The buckles shone in the stage lighting. In her hand she held a long whip which she cracked viciously and startlingly enough to make me jump.

A tall, slender girl, masked but otherwise naked walked onto the stage. Soft mood music started and Mira’s finger stroked in time to it between the now wet folds of my pussy lips. The girl approached the other woman whose back was to us and kissed her then dropped to her knees before her. Mira’s finger delved deeper inside me. The standing woman stepped to one side and reached down to cup the masked girl’s chin, lifting her face so it was looking, despite the mask, directly at us. The kneeling girl lifted her arse. The woman stepped further back but kept her back mostly to us and without warning lashed the girl’s buttocks with the whip. The girl’s face assumed a smile. A second lash and she smiled even more broadly. Mira’s finger was deep now, curling inside me and despite my abhorrence I was incredibly aroused.

Mira whispered into my ear, ‘Are you on your knees or holding the whip?’

The whip cracked again and again and the girl arched her back. The woman dropped the whip and turned to face us, her strapon poking up from her groin obscenely, black and thick. She knelt behind the girl and, grasping her hair like reins, entered her in one firm stroke then began to rock her hips in time with the music which gradually gathered pace until she was pounding into her.

Mira’s body was leaning against mine and I looked down to see her hand was between her legs, her dress pulled up, her legs spread. She was masturbating furiously, her other hand still between my legs and fingering me with similar vigour.

Their orgasms, simulated or not, were coincidental, the masked girl screaming and the other moaning joyfully. As they came, so too did Mira, her mouth to my ear, her hand gone from between my legs to her mouth. I could feel her trembling as she pressed against me.

The whole performance took only a few minutes but at its end I was breathless, never had I seen such a sight. The woman grasped the girl’s mask and pulled it away.

Ivanova! I almost cried out when I saw her beautiful face and the obvious and real joy on it. I felt Mira stir beside me. ‘Is she not beautiful?’

I could not speak. No orgasm had racked me as it had Ivanova and Mira but I was spent, exhausted by the excitement. Slowly I became aware of my nipples straining against the silk of my dress. I could hear, as if in the distance, rapturous applause. The two women on stage stood, holding hands then kissed passionately before the curtains were drawn to conceal them.

Mira straightened her dress. I felt her hand stroking my hair and I turned to look into her gleaming eyes.

‘Do you begin to understand?’ Still I could not speak but I shook my head and Mira smiled broadly. ‘You will, my dear, soon you will.’

Ivanova suddenly appeared, now dressed in a beautiful scarlet robe that barely covered her magnificent breasts, her nipples tenting the material. She sat beside me and placed her hand on my shoulder, caressing it softly. She leant around me as did Mira and they kissed, so close in front of my face their hair touched my cheeks. It was an uninhibited kiss of deep passion. Mira whispered, ‘You were magnificent.’

More drinks were served and I sat between the two beautiful women and finally recovered enough to speak. ‘Should we not return to the ship, Mira?’

‘Oh, no, my dear. The evening has just begun.’