“Knew he was the right one for you,” Bianca said.
“Exactly,” I said with a grin.
We all shared the same knowing smile. I was so glad the others understood what I was going through.
“It still gives me shivers though,” Sirena said.
She visibly shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands as if she felt a sudden chill.
“What does?” Maddy said.
“Thinking about that light,” Sirena said, “the bright one that sucked us out of the minivan and abducted us. I still get nightmares about it.”
I took her by the hand and squeezed it.
“You don’t need to worry,” I said. “We’re in the Titan empire now and no one is going to abduct us ever again.”
“I hope not,” Sirena said, squeezing my hand back. “I’ve got so much more to lose now. I never want to be parted from my Titan.”
“And you won’t,” I said. “None of us will.”
I realized then that I could give them all a little hope.
“I’m going to be the empress of the most powerful empire in the galaxy,” I said. “I can promise you all that nobody is dumb enough to fuck with us. Nobody!”
“Hoo-rah!” Vicky said. “Cheers to that!”
I might be nervous about taking on so much responsibility but I knew a good opportunity to be safe when I saw it.
And this was it.
And for the first time since Fiath had revealed himself for who he was and what that would entail for me, I felt upbeat about the situation. We were lone humans on the far side of the galaxy, with no one to protect or look after us…
Except each other and our lovers.
And soon I would be in the situation where I could ensure no one would ever dare come after with us with bad intentions.
Thwom!
The beam of light was powerful and bright. It beamed directly through the wide-open window behind me and struck the two girls sitting on the sofa opposite.
Their eyes bulged wide and absorbed the light. Their faces were immediately stained white as if the color had been sucked from them. Their arms fell and dropped to their sides. The same happened to the serving staff who stood along the back wall. Frozen stiff like meat statues.
Sirena sat in an armchair to one side and turned instinctively toward the window.
“Don’t look at it!” I bellowed, but I was too late.
She turned into a slave to the light too.
“Don’t move,” I said to Alice and Vicky who sat on either side of me.
They were just as still as those who’d been struck by the light. Their arms shook and wine spilled from Alice’s glass but never hit the floor. The red mass floated before our eyes.
They were terrified. So was I.
We were being abducted again.
Only this time, we knew what it was, and those of us with our backs to the light might be able to do something about it.
Outside, someone shouted.
A guard?
How had the ship slipped past the security defenses?
How had they gotten so close to us?
Pertinent questions but nothing we needed to know the answer to right now.
“What are… we going… to do?” Alice said through clenched teeth.
The light might not have turned us into mannequins but it had made our bodies as stiff as a board.
“Can any… od you… stand up… or mood?” I said.
“No,” Alice and Vicky said.
Neither could I.
It was the same as it had been with the first time we’d been abducted. The sofas behind us shifted back toward the wall.
I wanted to move in front of the other girls who’d been frozen by the light. At least then they would be able to think.
But I couldn’t move a muscle.
The next few words were going to be tough to hear but they were necessary.
“They are… going to dake us,” I said.
Vicky whimpered. It was a natural response given the situation.
“Shut your… eyes,” I said. “And don’t… open dem until… the light… is gone.”
“What den?” Alice said.
“Then we… give dem hell,” I said.
The sofas and armchairs screeched as they slid across the room and struck the back wall. One of the armchairs flipped up and smashed through the window.
I shut my eyes and hoped it would be enough to block the worst of the light.
I hoped we wouldn’t be abducted again and forced to take new masters.
I hoped we would get out of this alive.
I guess we weren’t so untouchable after all.
Fiath
We raised our ales and bowed our heads in respect to our ancestors. It was what we always did when we took the first mouthful of a new pint of ale.
The other Titans seemed a good sort. I knew Kal well already and had grown up with him. Now he was Lord Taw. Strange to think he’d stepped into my shoes when everyone thought I was dead.
I didn’t blame them. He was a good leader.
He told the story of how he came to be in that position and how it had taken his girl, Sirena, to point him in the right direction and make him see how he was going wrong.
It was the same story among all the other Titans.
They were floundering, struggling to get by in their lives until their special human ladies showed up and rescued them.
“Do you think all human females are like ours?” Nighteko said conspiratorially.
“I can’t imagine anyone else is like Maddy,” Chax said.
It took some doing but with enough alcohol poured down their necks, the others began to loosen up in my presence. It happened often with Titans. They felt like they’d known me their entire lives, what with my image up on their walls. Reciting their unbreakable pledges of allegiance to me was a part of growing up.
That was something else I was going to have to fix, I decided. Reduce the way I came across as a deity to the people. It might help Hazel fit more easily into her new role.
“And what’s your story?” Kal asked me, eying me
