“She’s a human female, far from home,” I said. “She was abducted and brought here against her will. She doesn’t know anybody. She’s alone. It’s not like she’s dangerous. I doubt she even knows how to be dangerous.”
Zes pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair.
“All right,” he said. “But if something happens, don’t say I didn’t warn you. I can see the next few days are going to be hard work. I won’t want to face this on an empty stomach.”
He raised a finger to the waitress and ordered everything on the menu. He would never learn.
That was the end of the discussion, and it went better than I thought it would. Finally, Zes was beginning to think of me as the new Lord of Taw. Maybe one day I’d think the same way.
I settled into the shuttlecraft chair and peered over at Sirena. She lay back with her eyes closed.
She was so beautiful. I wanted to reach out and touch her, to see if her skin was as soft as it looked, if her hair was as silky. The same thoughts that’d passed through my mind last night on the threshold of her room.
When I looked at her, I saw my wife. The thoughts came unbidden. I couldn’t kiss Sirena. When I reached my palace room and paced up and down, running my hands through my hair, I knew I couldn’t let her slip through my fingers. In a galaxy this big, you never got a second chance.
I came up with a temporary solution. I wanted to see her again. So, I would invite her to my home, introduce her to my family, and the townspeople, and find her somewhere better to live and work. Somewhere nearby. In case she needed my help. It must be better than the life of servitude she currently had, didn’t it?
So I marched back to her room, knocked on the door, and asked her to join me at my home. Thankfully, she agreed. I had begun to stare at her again, at her soft feminine body, and knew I had to leave quickly.
I tossed and turned all night, excited for the next day to begin so I could see her again. Finally, after an hour, I reached the very fringes of sleep, that moment where you’re just about to slip over the edge and into the dark welcoming depths of sleep when I jolted awake.
Zes. I’d completely forgotten about him.
He was still perched on his chair in the ballroom. I threw the blankets aside and slipped on my shoes. I needed to reach him as quickly as possible. If anyone else were to disturb him from his slumber, we might end up with a dead body on our hands.
I spoke with Sirena’s master—just the idea that she belonged to someone else made me feel sick to my stomach—and said I was interested in borrowing his singer for a few days’ engagements. I agreed to his rates, and just like that, she was mine.
The shuttlecraft banked hard and took us south, toward the most beautiful part of the entire moon. Innel.
The endless rolling hills and green lands of pasture gave way to dense woodland. Many counties had dug up their natural forests, but not us. For each tree we cut down, we planted another in its place. Titans had a mystical link with nature. Robbing it from locals was too high a price to pay.
The shuttlecraft shuddered as it met turbulence.
Sirena burst up in her seat. She’d slept most of the way. I’d spent the time gazing admiringly at her, memorizing every line of her face and curl of her hair.
Her eyes were quick, alert, and full of panic. She peered this way and that, looking everywhere but taking nothing in.
I placed a hand on her bare arm.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s just a little turbulence. It will pass.”
Her attention latched onto me. She took in my face and our surroundings before her shoulders visibly relaxed. After everything she’d been through, accepting this as her reality couldn’t have been easy. She pressed a hand to her head.
“Headache?” I said.
“From a nightmare,” she said.
“What do you have nightmares about?”
“Oh,” she said, placing a hand over her eyes. “There’s always something to be scared of.”
I reached up to press my hand to her temple.
“Do you mind?” I said.
She wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but she leaned forward and let me touch her. I gently rubbed her temple, sliding over the knot of muscle I felt beneath my thumb. I worked it gently, easing it away one stroke at a time.
“Mm,” she groaned, her eyes still shut. “That feels good.”
Her eyes darted left to right beneath her eyelids. It must be a bad headache. I placed my other hand on the opposite temple and repeated the motion.
She relaxed her neck so her head was like putty in my hands. I massaged those hard muscles away and eased her suffering.
With her eyes shut, I could look at her as much as I wanted. Those succulent lips of hers stared straight back at me. They opened and closed, making teasing ‘o’ shapes.
I took a moment to glance at the hard lump forming against the front of my pants, aching to be let loose and run rampant…
In one direction.
Sirena smiled as she opened her eyes. She looked at me as if she’d just woken from a much-needed nap. She placed her hands on mine, sending sparks shooting into my brain.
“That’s great,” she said. “Thank you. You have healing hands.”
“It’s nothing,” I said, wishing I could keep touching her. “Any time.”
She worked her jaw and shook her head.
“Where did you learn to do that?” she said.
“I get headaches sometimes,” I said. “When I’m very stressed. It helps me relax.”
“It’s awesome, whatever it is,” she said. “You’re going to have to teach me how to do it. I feel so refreshed!”
“That’s good,” I said with a
