I watched Sir warily as he came back into the room. He was holding a silver plate that had what appeared to be some white bandages folded on it. I thought maybe his face looked calmer as he sat beside me on the bed and beckoned for me.
“Sit up, little one. Let me apply these healing wraps.”
I just lay there, frozen to the spot. Ever since he had told me he knew “everything” about my escape attempt, I had been wondering if I ought to hide under the bed. Only knowing that his arms were quite long enough to pull me out kept me from trying to get away.
“Well?” Sir frowned. “Are you afraid to approach me now?”
“Can you blame me?” I whispered through numb lips. “After all that stuff I just saw you do with your mind? You’re like a cross between an X-man and a Sith Lord! Of course I’m freaking scared of you.”
Sir sighed deeply and ran a hand over his face, producing a scratchy sound when his fingers ran over the stubble on his jaw.
“Listen to me, little one—I don’t normally use my abilities in that fashion. I should not have done so but seeing you lying on the ground, obviously hurt, frightened and enraged me.” He shook his head. “All I could think of was getting to you…and punishing the bastard who had hurt you.” He looked at me directly. “But I would never…never use my abilities to harm you. You have my word on that.” His voice dropped to a gentler tone. “Now please…let me heal you.”
“Um…okay.” Cautiously, I sat up and scooted a little closer to him, though I wasn’t sure I should. “So…how do you do all that? I mean, manipulate things with your mind?” I asked curiously.
“It’s a talent most HighBorn Korrigans are born with,” he said. Cupping my wounded left cheek in one big hand, he looked at me with concern. “Poor little one…your sweet face…”
“I’ll be okay,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if I would. If Shadrack had really cracked my cheekbone, wouldn’t I need some kind of surgery for that? I had no idea but it really hurt—the whole left side of my face was throbbing like a rotten tooth.
“You will be after I use the healing wraps on you,” Sir assured me.
Unfolding one of the white bandages from the silver plate, he began applying it delicately to my face. The bandage felt slightly damp and stuck to my skin like glue.
“Don’t play with them,” Sir ordered, when I reached up to touch the one over my cheekbone hesitantly. “They’ll fall off once they’ve done their job.”
I wondered if a bandage—even a fancy alien one—could really heal a cracked bone in my cheek—but I decided to give it a chance and see.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked instead, and then hated myself for asking. “Do you understand why I had to at least try and get away?” I amended instead, lifting my chin.
Sir gave me a level look from those full-black eyes of his.
“I understand that I shouldn’t have given you the chance. I trusted you, little one—I won’t make that mistake again.”
His words stung more than I liked. He was acting like I had betrayed him by running away when he was the one who had kidnapped me and stolen me away from my home planet!
“Listen to me,” I snapped, glaring at him. “I had to at least try to get back home. Do you have any idea how worried my mom probably is about me by now? We lost my dad suddenly—he died of a cardiac arrest—just dropped dead in our driveway when he went out to get the mail one day when I was only ten. Ever since, she needs to talk to me and my sister every single day to make sure we’re okay. You took me away from the people I love—the people who love me! And you have the nerve to be angry when I try to get back to them? I don’t think so, you gaslighting bastard!”
I was breathing hard by this time and glaring up at him.
Sir was frozen with a bandage in his hands, his eyes narrowed to slits and his mouth thin with obvious anger. For a minute I was sure he was going to strike me down with his crazy mind powers but he only shook his head and spoke in a low, terse voice.
“Do you know why I took you as my pet, little one? Because it wasn’t just for my own personal gratification or my wish to have a pet.”
“Of course I don’t know!” I exclaimed. “You never told me anything except that I was your property and there was nothing I could do about it.”
He nodded—a short, sharp jerk of his chin.
“That was my fault—I underestimated your intelligence and ability to understand.”
“That’s probably a problem you have a lot since you think everyone else in the universe is inferior to you,” I pointed out. “I mean, just because I can’t blast things with my mind doesn’t make me stupid.”
Then I bit my lip—which made me yelp because it was cut from Shadrack’s slap. I probably shouldn’t be snapping at someone who could kill me as easily as I might swat a fly without even lifting a finger.
Sir saw the look on my face and interpreted it correctly.
“No, speak your mind, little one,” he said in a low voice. “Your propensity to be direct is one reason I value you. And I told you, you need never fear me.”
“All right.” I lifted my chin. “I’ll take you at your word, then. I wanted to get away from you because I miss my family. “And I don’t think you can blame me for that.”
“I don’t.” he said simply. “But I’m afraid I cannot let you go. You see, I took you as my pet because I needed to prove a point in the Court of Splendara the Third and Thirtieth who rules my world, and by extension, my galaxy which is much larger than your own.”
“You took me to prove a point?” I put a hand on my hip, frowning skeptically. “How would having me as a pet help you do that?”
“I thought by taking a pet from the most primitive world in this universe, I could prove to my Sovereign that the species of your galaxy are worthy of living their own lives and should be left alone,” Sir said simply. “If even the least of the Twelve Peoples, as they call themselves, can be shown to be intelligent, thinking beings, maybe I can convince her to order others not to exploit you.”
“Wait a minute…” I put a hand on his arm. “Are you telling me that your galaxy is about to invade mine?”
“Essentially.” Sir nodded. “The Pet Finder who took you—he is only one of many who will soon be descending on your galaxy—on your world, little one. And he will be followed by hoards of Mind-Controllers. Whole worlds will be enslaved and made to work for the enrichment of those who are greedy enough and powerful enough to take them and squeeze them for every natural resource they have!”
I stared at him, not wanting to believe what he was saying was true. I’m not sure I would have believed if I hadn’t heard the words he’d exchanged with Shadrack.
“Is it the, uh, the Overlord of the Southern Continent who wants to do all this?” I asked. “That, uh, what was his name…?”
“Gra’multh.” Sir spat the name with bitterness. “He has ruined nearly every fertile and inhabited world in my own galaxy with his greed—I don’t intend to let him ruin yours as well—if I can help it.”
“So you’re hoping that I can change your Sovereign’s mind?” I asked incredulously. “Sir, I’m nothing special! I’m just a librarian slash dog walker--you should have kidnapped a Rhodes Scholar or a scientist or someone like that!”
“It is because you are ‘nothing special’ that I have hope you can convince Her Majesty to hold back Gra’multh’s greed,” he told me. “As I said, if even the most primitive planet can produce a female like you—one with such intelligence and wit—maybe I can prove to her that all the Twelve Peoples should be left alone.”
I looked at him, not sure what to say. How could I go home now, when the fate of my entire galaxy was resting on my shoulders?
“I…I want to help,” I said at last. “I do, Sir. But my mom—”
“I understand the thought of your mother grieving for you is hard to bear,” he murmured. “What if I sent a whisper to her ear, assuring her that you were all right? I don’t believe that Earth is out of my mental range yet.”
“I don’t know,” I said uncertainly. “That might just make her think she’s going crazy.”
“I’ll time it to reach her during her sleep cycle,” Sir promised me. “It will reach her as a dream that comforts her.”
“Well…” I hesitated. “I guess that might work. At least it should help.”
“Then you’ll come with me to the Court of Splendara the Third and Thirtieth?” Sir raised one eyebrow at me questioningly.
“You’re giving me a choice?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I am. I must if I am to trust you again.”
“All right,” I said at last. “I’ll go with you on two conditions.”
“Name them,” Sir said simply.
“First, you send my mom a dream like you said, letting her know I’m okay,” I said, counting them off on my fingers. “And second, after we go to your Sovereign’s court and convince her that everyone in my galaxy shouldn’t be turned into mind-controlled slaves, you’ll take me back to Earth.”
Sir frowned.
“By then our Master/pet bond will have formed more fully, little one—it has already started to form even now. I doubt by the time we are finished with this quest you will wish to leave my side.”
I glared at him and put a hand on my hip again.
“I don’t feel any bond between us and I don’t believe one is going to grow.”
“Then you have to give me a chance to make it grow,” Sir told me. “And then, if you still wish to leave me when our task is done, I will take you back to your home world.”
That seemed to be about as good a deal as I was going to get from him, so I decided to take it.
“All right—it’s a deal.” I nodded and stuck out my hand.
“What are you doing?” Sir frowned at my offered hand.
“It’s an Earth custom—you shake when you make a deal,” I said. “Here, hold out your hand.”
With a bemused expression on his face, he did as I asked. I took his hand—I felt like a little kid, holding an adult’s hand because of the size difference—and shook it firmly.
“And this is how you humans seal a bargain?” Sir asked, raising his eyebrows at me.
“In most cultures,” I said. “I mean, I’m sure there are places on Earth where they don’t shake hands but in my country, at least, this is how we do it.”
“All right.” He nodded solemnly. “We have an agreement.”
“Good.” I winced and touched my cheek again. “Um are you done putting those healing bandages on my face?”
“Almost.” His face went dark for a moment. “I want to put some around your throat as well, where that bastard choked you. Why do you ask?”
“Because I’d really like to take a bath,” I told him. “I feel like I still have that asshole Shadrack’s rotten fish stink on me and I want to wash it off.”
Sir raised his eyebrows in obvious confusion.
“His what did you say?”
“His smell—his stink. He stunk like rotten fish!” I exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice it. He reeked.”
“I, er, must have been too busy punishing him to notice,” Sir murmured, frowning. “But if you’d like a bath, I’ll be happy to give you one as soon as I finish applying the healing wraps.”
“Oh, can’t I take one myself, though?” I asked. “I mean, you don’t always have to bathe me, do you?”
Sir frowned.
“I most certainly do, little one. You agreed as your part of our bargain to continue your pet training. Tell me—do you have any pets back home on Earth that bathe themselves?”
“Well…no,” I grumbled. “But I just thought—”
“Are you going to abide by our deal?” Sir asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
I sighed.
“Yes, Sir. I will.”
“Good. Then let me finish applying these wraps and we’ll put you in the tub,” he said agreeably.
I wanted to complain, but I realized I really couldn’t. I had basically traded away the rights to my bodily autonomy in order to take a chance on saving my galaxy. Well, at least I had a noble cause to let my Master handle my body and get me all hot and bothered, I thought. Though I was afraid being intimate with him was going to make it harder to leave him in the end.
But hard or not, I will leave him and I will go back to Earth when all this is over, I promised myself. There’s no way I’m spending the rest of my life as an Alien Overlord’s pet!
I was certain of that.