“Oh, so you’re here to—what? Spew cryptic crap at me while you pretend that you’re not just being a pervert?”
“I am here to remind you that you are naked here in this palace, whether you have clothes on or not.” Apex’s lips twitched like I’d actually managed to get to him, but as quickly as it happened, the expression was gone from his face once again. “There are things you need to know in order to make it through the next few weeks, Atlanta. Then, if you will it, yes, I will find a way to help you leave this place, if that is what you still wish.”
“Well…okay then. Good.” I took a step back and adjusted my towel. Did I trust him? I had no freakin’ clue. Did I have a choice? Probably not. “Then…talk, I guess. Tell me what I need to know.”
“Do you wish me to turn while I speak?” Apex’s eyes drifted down to the edge of the towel. I had it wound so tight around me, it was pressing into the small mounds of my breasts, almost drawing more attention to them than when I’d been completely nude. “You really should dress.”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “Turn around.”
“As you wish.”
When Apex’s back was turned, I dropped the towel and unfurled the clothes he’d picked out for me. A low-cut halter top that looked like it’d barely cover my rib cage and another pair of harem pants, both in black—just like Apex’s own shirt and pants.
I shimmied into them both without complaint. I’d worn skimpier costumes, and at least with my bright hair and lightly tanned skin, I’d look okay in black.
“All right. You can turn back around, if you want.”
As soon as he shifted back towards me, his eyes were all over me once again.
Great, groaned the rational side of me, while my inner floozy just smiled and enjoyed the attention.
I was beginning to think my inner floozy was kind of a slut.
“Very good,” Apex said after another long moment. “Now—food.”
He led me to a table in the corner that, in my excitement about the warm bath, I must have missed before. It was piled with several plates of little pastries and strange green balls that looked like they had been battered and fried. Apex, apparently back in gentleman mode, pulled a chair out for me and I sat in it. He took the chair opposite me—probably so he could stare some more.
“Can you really take me home?” I couldn’t help but ask. Now that I was bathed and clothed, getting the heck out of this place was pretty much the only thing on my mind.
“No.” Apex took a shiny black pitcher from the table and poured water into two of the goblets that went with it. “I can take you from this place—if you are willing to do as I say and behave yourself. But going home…I fear that is not an option for you anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Things on Earth have…changed, since you left.” He pushed one of the goblets my way, then claimed the other. “The ruling body of my planet, Lunaria, has cut a deal with the rulers of yours. The sectors, I believe you call them.”
“What kind of deal?” It was hard to imagine what the sectors would do if they found out there were aliens out here in the universe—but I doubted that no matter how they reacted, whatever they’d worked out had been a shady one.
“Slave trade,” Apex said, immediately confirming my suspicions. “My superior, Lady Idria, has locked Earth into an exclusive treaty. Earth will send breeding slaves to Lunaria, and in exchange, Lunaria will offer its protections to Earth. There will be no more kidnappings.”
“I don’t think you and I have the same idea about what the word slave means.” I was glad that I hadn’t taken a sip from my glass yet. If I had, I probably would have spat it back out at him the second he said breeding slaves. “Historically speaking…there’s usually not slavery on Earth without kidnapping.”
“Perhaps we do not. According to the slave trade commission, all slaves must be willing—not kidnapped. Lunaria has a long-running population issue, and as far as we know, acquiring human breeding slaves is the only way to solve it. Females of your planet who choose to sign contracts for breeding will be artificially inseminated with Lunarian seed and well-compensated for it.”
“That sounds great on paper—but in practice, I can guarantee you that’s not going to work. Your people obviously don’t know my government the way I do. The sectors won’t care whether they’re sending willing women or not.”
“It is amusing—your sister said almost the exact same thing.”
That time, I did have the misfortune of taking a sip of water. Instead of spitting it out, I nearly choked on it.
“You’ve talked to Savannah? Where is she? What happened to her? Is she safe?”
“I have.” Apex gave me a small nod. “She is on Lunaria. There was an incident with the Rutharians, and she was injured—”
“Oh, crap.” I didn’t know what Rutharians looked like, or exactly what their MO was, but Lieja had threatened me with them often enough that I knew it couldn’t be good.
“—but she was rescued,” Apex assured me. “She is safe now and has taken a Lunarian mate.”
“You forced her into marriage?” Everything Apex was telling me was just getting worse and worse.
“She chose to mate with a Lunarian,” he corrected me. “They are, as your people would say, in love. I believe she is pregnant with his child as well. The last news I heard of them suggested that they were very happy together.”
“Oh.” My mouth gaped open a little bit. All this time, I’d been dancing for alien queens and
