And then I saw the reason in his eyes.
“You won’t kill him because the Taw name still means something to the people,” I said. “If you slay him in cold blood, the people will rise against the Changelings and drive them back.”
He smiled.
“Very astute for an undeveloped species,” he said. “Perhaps one day when I am lord I will have my own human female to please me. Perhaps even you.”
He raised a hand to touch me but I backed away.
“The time has come for you to make a choice,” Not George Clooney said. “Will you help yourself and your friends to return home and aid the Titan lord in avoiding a fate worse than death? Or will you allow everyone to die for your vanity?”
It was no choice at all. It made me sick to my stomach to admit that. I lowered my head in defeat.
“What do you want me to do?” I said.
Not George Clooney grinned in satisfaction. Zes’s smile was smaller but just as bent and corrupt.
“We know he’s been receiving messages,” Not George Clooney said, “but we don’t know-how. We thought they were coming electronically, but that’s proven not to be the case. We want you to discover how someone has been leaving messages on his desk without anyone else knowing.”
I thought back to when I was in his study, to the breeze I’d felt on my sweaty palm.
“The bookshelf,” I said. “I felt a cool breeze coming from it.”
“A secret passage?” Zes said. “We’ve mapped the passageways. None lead to the study.”
“Then there must be one you don’t know about,” I said.
Zes appraised me. I hated the way he looked at me—like a whipped dog. It was how I felt too.
“Is what she’s saying true?” Not George Clooney said.
“We have the blueprints from when the castle was built, and the various tunnels that were added later,” Zes said. “But it’s possible we don’t have all the plans. Some might have been stolen, lost, or deliberately burned.”
“Wonderful!” Not George Clooney said, clapping his hands. “Then I leave it to you to keep a close eye on this passageway. If we can discover who brings the messages, it will be all we need to set the trap.”
“Trap?” I said, feeling sick to my stomach. “What trap?”
“Oh yes,” Not George Clooney said. “We’ll force him to make a decision that will bring him into the light and make his true allegiance known to all. Then, your mission will be finished once and for all.”
Kal
I was in the middle of a long and pleasant dream. I was the newly minted Lord of Taw and the people bowed before me in reverence and respect—the same way they had for Qale when he ascended to the title.
The moment was spoiled by the approach of Changeling warships. They attacked and destroyed large swathes of the town. The people screamed. Not in fear but anger.
They looked to me, their new lord.
I didn’t hesitate.
I drew my sword and raised it above my head and aimed it at the heavens. I bellowed and tore through the onlookers and ran at the alien creatures laying waste to our homes, our history, our heritage.
And I wasn’t alone.
Powerful warrior Titans—from the humble baker to the muscular lawyer—took up arms with the nearest weapons to hand and added to my bellowing crying. They joined me in the attack and defense of our homes and our livelihoods.
Our way of life.
Many Titans fell but more survived, forcing the Changelings out like cancer from our homeworld and back into the darkness from whence they came.
We raised our bloodied weapons in the air and our voices rang out, singing victory over a conquered enemy.
When I opened my eyes, I brought those feelings of success with me into the waking world, a parting gift of my deepest desires.
At least in dreams I could have a happy ending. The real world was a much more difficult and complicated place.
Still, I hoped. I supposed I would never stop hoping. The Changelings were a temporary fixture, nothing more. A stumbling block on the journey to our destiny of peace and justice.
It was a warm and welcoming emotion, one I knew there was only one person I could thank for. The woman who would be lying next to me in bed right now.
I reached across for her without looking but couldn’t feel her there. I reached a little further and still couldn’t sense her smooth skin.
Had she left in the middle of the night? Gone back to her room to avoid having to face me in the morning?
Did she regret what we did together?
I opened my eyes and prepared myself for the worst. Instead, I got a welcome surprise.
She lay in the bed—barely. She perched right on its edge. She couldn’t have gotten any closer if she tried.
The bed was huge. She could have slept anywhere and decided to perch right on the fringes?
The sheet was wrapped tightly around her ass and her hair spilled over her shoulders. I growled at the back of my throat. She was a piece of cake that was simply too delicious to leave alone.
I had to sneak another piece…
It didn’t surprise me she was a fireball in the sack. She didn’t offer a word of complaint as I broke her down. Initially, I’d been afraid I might hurt her. She was not a Titan and wasn’t built the same way we were. But she turned out to be far tougher than I thought.
She took everything I dished out, and then, to my surprise, she took the initiative and rode me mercilessly. Seeing her on top, bouncing, and working so hard to satisfy herself…
I had never seen such a sexy sight my entire life.
She was right. She wasn’t my wife. She was a completely different being with very different mannerisms. My wife would never have acted the way Sirena had, never would have confronted me like that.
And yet, they both possessed
