by Alana Khan
I’m wearing a magenta kimono with swirls of black. It was never my favorite, but it looks so beautiful next to T that I couldn’t resist wearing it tonight. T insists his mom is matchmaking; I wonder if she imagined a night like this when she gave me this dress. We look like a real couple.
My eyes, though, are mostly drawn to T. Looking at him out of the corner of my eye, I see him in the flesh and dozens of reflections on the wall. Although he’s been calm and happy with me all day, his face looks fierce now. Maybe it has something to do with the sexy outfit he’s wearing.
The black leather suit clings to his physique like a second skin. The long formal coat falls to mid-thigh and accentuates every muscular line of his body. There are tiny magenta pleats in a ‘v’ at his shoulders that draw the eye and make his broad shoulders look even more masculine. Wow.
It’s been such a great day. I’d have to put it toward the top of my very short list of great days. Of course, every day since we’ve been together is on that list, but today was pretty fabulous, especially if you start counting at midnight.
Two wonderful sessions of mind-altering bed-play, and a breakfast that mercifully didn’t consist of even one milky noodle. Then, almost better than sex, T taught me to fly the Pimple of the Skies. He called it that so many times today I’ve taken to referring to it that way, too.
But whether it’s the Pimple or the Jewel, the experience was amazing! I don’t think he was lying when he said I’m the fastest learner he’s ever met. Not bad for a girl whose formal education stopped in the seventh grade when I was abducted.
The lesson began after he took off from Carden. I flew for a while, which is the easy part, then he taught me to land. Then we landed and took off half a dozen times. I don’t know how to navigate yet, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good as him, but I would put me squarely in the ‘adequate’ category.
He says he’ll teach me how to fly the Ataraxia next, but I don’t want to count on anything beyond today. If anyone knows that bad things can be right around the corner, it’s me. But since today’s been the best day of my life, right now, this minute, I have zero complaints.
Sextus, Griff, Devolose, and Tawny are waiting for us at the exit. We’re all looking pretty spiffy, except for muscular, blue Sextus who is wearing a black t-shirt and cargo pants. His background is military, and he’s our official ‘muscle’. As I look closely, I see lumps in every pants pocket. I imagine they’re weapons. I’m still not sure why Thantose is so worried about tonight. He just kept saying something didn’t feel right because the organizers had changed the program so many times.
Half an hour later, we’ve hovered to the auction house, drunk our complimentary glass of wine, and are seated at banquet tables waiting for the main course to be served.
I recall mom and dad taking me to an auction once. It was in an old barn-like structure and we sat on metal bleachers. That was what I expected tonight, along with the inter-galactic version of bologna sandwiches and macaroni salad.
I guess I didn’t take into account that this auction contains some of the most valuable arts and antiquities in the galaxy. I guess the words ‘priceless’ and ‘one of a kind’ didn’t make a big enough impression on me.
The banquet room is finely-appointed in perhaps the things that haven’t sold over the last century, but they’re still amazingly-beautiful objects of art. We’re eating off exquisite china and drinking from crystal. It’s a lovely room.
“I told you we’d be able to make fun of the food,” Tawny whispers into my left ear about a minute after the main course is served. We both took one bite of the oblit au rusk with minced arinels and laid our forks on our plates.
“Maybe dessert will have chocolate and caramel and can take this awful taste out of my mouth,” I reply, my face screwed up in disgust. I wonder if T and I will ever go back to the amusement park on Primus and share a bowl of goozwell again.
“Let’s go to the restroom and gossip.” She raises her eyebrows in interest and motions with her head toward the exit.
When I stand to leave, Thantose stands, too.
“Tawny and I are old enough to make a bathroom run on our own,” I whisper-scold.
“I just want to keep you safe.” The sincere, caring look on his face makes my tummy feel warm and gooey, but I don’t allow myself to think the ‘L’ word—at least not for more than a second.
“I checked it out. The johns are two steps from that door.” I motion toward the exit.
“Don’t be gone too long.” He kisses the top of my head.
“Don’t worry. We’re going to gossip. Maybe Tawny can tell me how Lexa changed from a bitch to a nice person in five months.”
“So, you and Thantose, is it the real deal?” Tawny asks from her stall as she pees.
“Ummm, I’m not sure.”
“What’s not to be sure about, he’s beaming like a kid at Christmas, he can’t take his eyes off you, and he told everyone he’s falling for you. Or is it your own feelings you’re not sure of?”
Is it, I wonder.
The door swings open too hard and too fast and for a moment I wonder if I’m hallucinating. It’s Amrus.
He points a gun at me as he puts a finger to his lips in a ‘shhh’ motion. A hundred feelings swirl inside: disbelief, anger, protectiveness for Tawny, but most of all, fear. He didn’t need to shush me, I’m paralyzed. Neither my limbs nor my lips are capable of movement right now. My brain has seized up and I can’t think.
“So, you’re not sure of how you’re feeling?” Tawny prompts.
Amrus’s eyes shoot lasers at me and somehow I intuit he wants me to say something.
“Mmm,” is all I can muster.
The toilet flushes and Tawny comes out of her stall. In one second, Amrus has pulled me in front of him and I’m pressed to the front of his body with one hand while he menaces his gun at Tawny with the other.
“Kiss the wall,” he orders her. She immediately complies while saying, “Don’t hurt us. We don’t have any credits.”
He pushes me close to Tawny and sneers, “When you wake up from your little nap, tell Thantose Aberre Marris to find me if he wants his hinzeer to live. I’m in the Darameer in the interstellar lot. He’ll come alone and unarmed. I’ll trade the little pig for his life.”
“Don’t trust him,” I warn. He punches my chin so hard I lose consciousness.
Thantose
I don’t know why Brin would stay in the restroom so long when she knows I’m worried about her. My anger turns into fear, though, when there’s no response to my knock on the door. After barging in, I spy Tawny in a heap on the floor. Brin is nowhere in sight.
A giant fist reaches into my chest and clutches my heart so tightly I can’t draw a breath. Brin, my Brin, is gone.
Tawny comes around quickly when I splash water on her face. Devolose’s huge frame is now crowded into the small space; he must have wondered why all three of us left the table.
Tawny delivers the message given to her by the mystery male, and within a minima the five of us from the Ataraxia are standing in the hallway strategizing.
“We need to storm his ship,” Sextus points out reasonably.
“Great plan, except he has Brin.”
“He said he’s going to take your life,” Sextus reminds me.
“He agreed to exchange my life for Brin’s. I’m going. Alone and unarmed as he instructed.”
“You trust this dracker? Do you know who this is?”
“I have no idea. Tell Marcus to be ready to fly at a moment’s notice. Get Tawny to safety. Dev and Sextus, you hide near the Darameer. Maybe you can help. If I don’t return I want Brin to get my share of credits. Later.”
Now is an interesting moment to realize I love Brin, but I do. I didn’t give a moment’s thought to my decision to exchange my life for hers. I just want to get to her before she’s hurt.
Brin
The throbbing pain in my jaw wakes me. As soon as my eyes flicker open I reme
mber everything that happened. I’m in a cell on the Darameer. I know this vessel well. It’s Amrus’s calash-class ship. I’ve flown in it with him dozens of times.
It’s a small space vessel, built for two to five people. He often threw me into this very cage and went on short jaunts with me when he had business across the galaxy. I don’t want him to know I’m awake yet, so I don’t turn my head to inspect. It’s quiet onboard. I think it’s just him and me.
Fear tightens every muscle in my body and my mouth is desert dry. This cell takes up a tiny corner of the vessel and could be built to stretch to the ceiling. It doesn’t, though, it’s only four feet high. It’s built for punishment, and to keep its inhabitants in line.
My body responds just as it has dozens of times before when Amrus shoved me in here to wait until he’s ready to use me as his plaything. I’m afraid. And compliant. My mind reverts to its old habits, too. My thoughts cast about, wondering how I can please the black-haired male sitting in the captain’s chair.
I want to offer to suck his dick, or let him fuck my ass—he always liked that. But he would consider my offer forward and punish me for it.
All of a sudden the memory of what he told Tawny crashes into my thoughts. Oh my God, he wants to exchange my life for T’s.
My thoughts transform, and with them, my body. For a moment I was the old Brin—no, I was hinzeer, Amrus’s little piggy. His fucktoy and punching bag. I was a compliant little hinzeer who would do anything to please, anything to escape his punishments.
But I’m Brin now. I’m strong. I can fly a space vessel. I walked a plank over a twenty-story chasm. I spent ten fucking years as a prisoner and lived to tell the tale.
I’m not going to beg to suck Amrus’s golden cock. I’m not going to cower at his feet. I’ll never be his hinzeer again.
“Is my little piggy awake? Sit up!” he commands.
Immediately I sit up straight. I’ll comply. At least for now.
“You’re naked and in my cell. I never thought you’d be there again,” he sneers, “I imagine you didn’t either.”
When I don’t respond, he shouts, “Answer me!”
“Yes, Master,” I answer rotely.
“You’ve only been gone, what, five lunar cycles and you’ve already forgotten your manners?”
“Sorry, Master.”
“That’s better.” He walks over to my cell and pulls his cock out of his pants. “I imagine you missed this.” He says as he wags it in front of my face. “As I recall, the last thing you said before the slavers dragged you away was to beg to stay with me. I can still hear you declaring your undying love for me.” His derisive laugh slices through me, cutting to my very soul.
My face heats in mortification. I wish I could control it, but my fair skin can’t hide it. He’s telling the truth. This is what Lexa meant when she diagnosed me with those disorders. I thought I was in love with my abuser. Maybe it wasn’t just a thought, maybe I was in love with him. I was so confused and fucked up.
Now I know what love truly is. I have to find a way to give Amrus whatever he wants so he’ll let Thantose live.
“You want me back? You’ve got me,” I try not to sound like I’m pleading. “What do you need the ugly Primian for?”
“You weren’t acting like he was ugly at your fancy dinner. You looked quite happy to be on his arm,” his voice is bland. I can’t discern how he’s feeling. I used to be able to intuit his feelings from fifty paces, sometimes it meant the difference between life and death.
“I’m his slave. My job is to please.”
“Yes. I remember. For a while, you pleased me well enough.”
I desperately want to know why he wants Thantose. If Amrus wanted me, why didn’t he just snatch me and take off? I can’t ask. Amrus is cunning. If I express too much interest, he’ll never give me information.
He turns back to his computer, checking the feed from his external monitors. He’s looking for Thantose.
“Are you vain enough to think I came for you, little piggy? Is that what you’re wondering behind those stupid green eyes? You were a bonus.
“I came for the Malrusian sword. Your big, hideous male stole it from me annums ago. He was good, I’ll give him that. He snuck into my home despite a galaxy-class security system. When he entered it into auction I knew I’d find him here. Big mistake. I made the trip to Carden II to collect what’s mine.”
He grabs a three-foot sword from the first mate’s chair, pulls it out of its scabbard, and brandishes it.
“It doesn’t look like much, does it?” He holds it up to my cage. “It’s over ten thousand annums old and is the weapon Darancell used to part Enthanall’s head from his body to end the thousand-annum war of Seigh. Priceless.” He gives a cynical laugh.
“Today, the price of priceless is eight-hundred-seventy thousand credits. I bought it at the full pre-auction price because I wanted the dracking thing back. Because of your grotesque owner’s thievery, I’ve had to buy the sword twice. Thantose Aberre Marris is going to pay me back, though—with his life.
“You get to watch. And I think I’ll have you help me torture him. You may think he’s an ugly devil, but he certainly couldn’t take his eyes off my little hinzeer. Making you torture him will be like pouring acid in his cuts. I’ll enjoy that.” He laughs again as he turns to watch the screens. “Almost as much as I’ll enjoy making him watch me use every one of your holes. Ahh, here he is, as if on cue.”
He unlocks my cage, drags me out, cuffs my wrists, and stands me in front of him. “In case he comes in guns blazing, you’ll take the brunt of the laserfire,” he explains.
A moment later, T has joined us in the little vessel. His hands are in the air, and Amrus is motioning him into the cage I just vacated. Once Thantose is secured, Amrus lets me go as if I’m inconsequential. Which, of course, I am. In the five years he owned me I never lifted a finger to defend myself.
Thantose’s face is the picture of misery—his jaw is tight and his brow is furrowed. I realize Amrus tore my clothes off before he threw me into that cage. Thantose probably assumes the worst—that I’ve already been raped. I wish he’d worry about himself. I’ve watched Amrus kill men before. He’ll have no compunction about taking T’s life. He likes to do it slow and painful. Nothing gets his cock as hard as torturing someone to death.
My brain is threatening to go on lockdown. When things overwhelm me sometimes I can’t think. Stop it, Brin. Get your shit together. The male you love is about to be tortured and murdered. What can you do to help him?
Amrus uses his tablet to tell his vessel to take off.
“Your crew won’t be able to rescue you Thantose Aberre Marris. Perhaps I should introduce myself. Amrus of Angstrom. We may not have met, but you’re well-acquainted with my house on Aeon II. I believe it was you who snuck into my well-protected mansion six annums ago and stole my prized possession, the Malrusian sword.”
“Land the vessel, let her go, then do whatever you want with me,” T says levelly. How can someone who’s about to die be so calm? My heart is slamming in my chest and tears rim my eyes.
Amrus picks up the sword and clangs it against the cell bars right in front of T’s face. The strident sound reverberates throughout the ship.
“You will not tell me what to do, you ugly piece of drack. I’ll show the galaxy what Amrus of Angstrom does when someone steals from him.
“But first, I’m going to torture you. You tipped your hand. It’s obvious you care for my little hinzeer. Perhaps she hasn’t shown you all the tricks I taught her. I’ll run her through her paces right now, before I put you to death.”
He tosses the sword on the first mate’s chair and sits in his captain's chair which is turned toward the cage. After pulling his cock out of his pants, he pats his thigh and tells me to kneel.
I feel like I’m in a dream, or maybe it’s that strange feeling of déjà vu. I’ve done this a thousand times before. Sometimes with desire, sometimes with dread, but never w
ith a choice.
He removes my cuffs. Partly, I guess, because he’s never needed to force me to do anything in the past. Partly because he wants to twist the knife in T’s heart that I’m his compliant little sex slave.
He has me kneeling at his side so Thantose won’t miss a moment of the action. I focus on Amrus’s golden cock. I can’t bear to see the look on T’s face. I know it will be sheer misery having to watch me lose every shred of my self-esteem.
Then I use my superpower. I’ve developed it since the age of twelve. I just burrow deep inside myself and drift away. I leave my body on autopilot. Goodness knows, my mouth can give a blowjob without my conscious participation.