Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“What is this for?”
“I don’t trust you.”
“I’d take it personally, but you don’t trust anyone. You must have been horribly betrayed by somebody.”
Her words took his breath away for a brief, vulnerable second. He did not like the way the human seemed to understand him. She knew more than she should have known. Much of it was a matter of intuition. Humans, it seemed, had an ability to understand that which they did not know.
“Don’t try to understand me, girl. Just do as I say.”
“Does my obedience make you feel safe, Konan? Am I the thing you control when all else seems to be out of control?”
“Stop talking,” he gritted out.
She fell silent, just as he had told her to, but he still didn’t feel as if she was obeying him. Her pretty head was full of rebellious thoughts, analysis of him and his situation. She had probably already come to an understanding of what was happening. She was perceptive — because perception was all a creature as weak and vulnerable as she was had to rely on.
He nudged her ahead of him all the way down the ramp and onto the new soil.
Even the dirt was beautiful, turned up by the landing in large, loamy ridges. This felt like the first time she’d ever set foot on an alien world, even though it was actually the second time.
“Planets are so much better without anything on them. Earth would have been so much nicer if humans had never crawled out of the primordial ooze. Of course, I wouldn’t have been here to comment about how much nicer it would have been, so it’s something of a catch-22, isn’t it. If there’s nobody to observe beauty, it doesn’t really matter if it is beautiful or not. But if there is somebody there, chances are they’ve already ruined the beauty by parking a spaceship, or a few hundred thousand cities on it.”
She was blathering, but the vista before her seemed to demand some kind of verbal tribute. Elizabeth didn’t want to stamp along like the king, acting as though nothing of any importance was happening.
Konan grunted and used the chain to keep her close. She could feel the weight of it not only around her neck, but weighing her down from behind, much like his presence. There was a gravity around Konan, a heaviness which caught others in his energy and sort of sucked them toward him, and it was reflected in the tools he chose to control her with.
“Konan…”
“Yes, spy?”
“I need clothes.”
“Do you? Why?”
He had made light of her nudity many times before. Even now he paraded her about in nothing more than links of metal. The crew of the ship did not seem very interested in her with her clothes on, or off. She did not know if that was because she was simply not very interesting, or if it was because the king had claimed her, and everybody else was afraid to be caught stealing so much as a look at her.
“Human skin burns in the sun, and freezes in the cold. We have little natural protection against the elements.”
Konan snorted in that way he did whenever he was confronted with the limitations of her humanity.
“You are my owned piece of human property,” he told her. “You are a spy. A liar. You have not earned the right to be clothed.”
She tried her very hardest to keep her temper, but failed.
“If you want to kill me, then kill me, but don’t leave me exposed to the elements of an alien world. That’s cruel.”
“And I am obviously known for my kindness,” Konan replied.
“Well, good for you. Dominating someone a fraction of your size and an even smaller fraction of your power. Guess I’ll die in the dirt so you can feel like a big strong alien.”
Elizabeth had never spoken to anyone like this before. All her life, she had kept most of the little annoyances most people would complain about inside. She’d once ordered the vegan cheese platter at a restaurant. A cheeseburger had come instead, and she’d eaten it just so she wouldn’t have to cause any kind of scene.
But Konan had changed her, or at least pushed her past the limits of her previous politeness. She was not going to survive him if she didn’t find some backbone. His blend of affection and hostility, desire and suspicion had left her with no choice but to advocate for herself. If she didn’t, he could very well hurt her out of sheer alien ignorance of her needs.
Konan stopped, leash taut, and gave her the kind of look that made her stomach quiver with anticipation, fear, and a little bit of excitement.
“Your attitude is less than respectful, human. If you want something, you could beg for it.”
“Would begging ever work with a king like you? Or would it just annoy you?”