"I told you this might happen," Geldis said over my head as I huddled on my knees upon the floor, vomit splattered on my clothing, my hands and on the floor itself.
"Clean it up," Perdil snapped at the assistants. "We'll take her upstairs." I fainted twice on the way, after I'd been shoved into the hoverchair by someone. I thought they might be taking me to the apartment I'd shared with Ry. We didn't stop there. The top floor was our destination. The hoverchair moved past Zendeval Rjjn while he stared at me and my attendants, an unreadable scowl marring his features.
"You couldn't clean her up first?" Zendeval demanded.
"This happened in the kitchens. Do you suggest we do it there?" Perdil was angry with Zendeval for some reason. "Get her into the bathroom," Perdil ordered Geldis. Geldis was confused until Zendeval showed him where the bathroom was inside his master suite. I didn't want to be anywhere near Zendeval Rjjn. And the tear that dropped? I wanted to hide that, if I could.
Zendeval and Perdil both watched as Geldis lowered me into a tub of water. I sobbed, thinking about how Ry had kept the water warm for me when I'd bathed under his watchful eye. There wasn't a soul here who cared for me now; I was a job to do and money to be made. Otherwise, I likely wouldn't have gotten a bath.
Zen watched impassively as Reah was bathed, even as a voice in his mind screamed protect, protect, protect. He ignored it and stood his ground. The evidence of his bite was still upon her shoulder. She bore his marks. That should please him. His black eyes betrayed nothing. Perdil glanced at Zen a time or two, but turned back to Reah's bathing both times. Did Perdil want her as well? Perdil hadn't expressed interest in any female. Zen wondered briefly why that was.
"Pick her up," Perdil hissed after Geldis dried Reah's skin and hair. "Are you completely devoid of feeling?" Zen wondered where he'd been, mesmerized as he was by Geldis caring for Reah. "One arm around her torso, beneath her arms, the other under her little butt, do I have to show you everything?" Perdil grunted as he helped get Reah's limbs sorted out. Geldis stepped back and watched as Zen lifted Reah.
A warm mouth on mine. That's what woke me. "Ry?" I mumbled.
"No. Never again," a voice replied when the mouth was taken away. I struggled. I knew that voice. It wasn't a voice I wanted anywhere near me.
"Reah, do not force me to activate the controller further," Perdil's voice was harsh. My body stilled in Zendeval's arms. That's where I khatd, thinkin was; Zendeval was holding me. Carrying me somewhere. I watched his chin as he carried me along, that's how close I was to him.
"Do not have sex with her for another eight-day at least; you will make her ill again," Geldis warned as Zendeval laid me on a bed. Standing back, he blinked down at me. I knew, then, whether he did or not, that he was being controlled just as I was supposed to be. I wanted to ask Perdil about that. The dwarf knew many things and he wasn't saying anything. Geldis' warning meant nothing to me—I was prepared to fight with Zendeval Rjjn if he even attempted sex. I still felt achy and out of sorts, my stomach wanted to heave again and I had a headache.
"Do not harm her," Perdil ordered. "You," he pointed to Geldis, "stay in the other room unless you are needed." He led Geldis away. I heard Zendeval's door closing shortly afterward. Perdil had left me alone with Zendeval Rjjn.
"Yes, I know there are still problems to be worked out," Faldin snapped. "I can't seem to separate what constitutes affection, and we're still experiencing difficulty with implanting instructions on how to escape or hide if they are implicated in a crime."
"It's only a matter of time before someone discovers the controllers," Dantel Schuul remarked, irritated that Faldin seemed to be wearing a hole in a very expensive Serendaan carpet. Dantel had asked Faldin to meet with him in Dantel's spacious, private study at the Schuul estate. Darletta was still amusing herself on Stellar Winds; Dantel had purchased the controlling interest in it for his only child once the opportunity to do so was presented to him.
"And you can't control fear," Dantel added to the list of the controller's shortcomings. "Although it was a stroke of genius to make them from this ancient technology. Who knew that these microscopic transmitters, combined with the tiniest of electronic chips, would prove to be practically invisible to medical technology? I commend you on your innovation, Faldin."
Faldin preened for Dantel Schuul, although the original idea hadn't been his. He wasn't about to tell Dantel that he'd borrowed anything to make the controllers possible. When he, Dantel, Darletta and the other six controlled both Alliances and what lay beyond them, Faldin expected to live beyond his wildest imaginings and have every sentient creature at his beck and call. All of it was within his grasp. Faldin flexed his hands and smiled at the thought. The last auction would be held, the last bit of their technology would be brought online and the universes would be theirs.
Faldin hadn't known when he was studying engineering that it would bring him to this. Who cared that his controllers couldn't command love? He and Darletta were made for one another. Neither cared that sex was obtained from others. It only titillated them. The controllers worked perfectly for commanding sex from any partner, including the unwilling ones.
I woke with warm arms around me. I still ached and moved slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. "Don't move. I think better with you close like this." Zendeval's voice. I froze.
"There's no need to be frightened." A hand was placed between my bare br**sts. He'd undressed me. I was naked against him. "Your heart needs to slow down." Lips caressed my ear and then my temple. I couldn't slow my heart any more than I could stop the planetoid from spinning; the organ was pounding in my chest. I whimpered without meaning to. kg te to be p
"Someday you will not be afraid of me." That wasn't going to happen. Someday, I intended to kill him. Then my heart might stop pounding like that. Zendeval's comp-vid beeped and he moved away to answer it. I huddled into a smaller ball on his bed.
"I must go." He stalked away. I blinked at his retreating back—he was just as naked as I. Sighing with relief that he was gone, I fell asleep again.
"Wake, Reah." Perdil was back. Was it his personal mission to torture or aggravate as much as possible? I blinked at the dwarf. "We have food for you, and then you will be taken to the kitchens again. It is six days before the sale. You must get on your feet as quickly as possible. We cannot have a weak female stand for the bidding."