“It’s your house…er, or penthouse suite or whatever. Do what you want.”
I couldn’t help smiling.
“I generally do, little girl,” I told her. “Why don’t we talk some more after I finish my business? And in the meantime, maybe you’d like to make use of my private bathing area?”
“You have an ion shower?” she asked, sounding hopeful.
I snorted.
“I think we can do alittlebetter than that. Try a bathing pool and everything that goes with it.”
Her eyes widened.
“Do you mean a pool filled withwater?As in an actualbath?”
“Sure.” I nodded. “You want to use it?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Wait a minute—is the waterhot?I don’t want an ice-cold bath.”
“As hot as you want it,” I told her.
She bit her lip.
“Oh my God, that soundsamazing.I would love to take a bath. If…if you’re sure?”
“I’ll give Daw’snx orders to get it ready for you and escort you there when you’re done with breakfast,” I told her. “But please don’t rush. You might as well take some time—my business will take a while.”
I didn’t think it would, actually, but I had the feeling she wouldn’t be able to completely relax until I disappeared and I wanted to give her some time to unwind. She’d had a hell of a morning and if Azz’lx had really tried to rape her, a hell of a night before that.
Thinking of my second-in-command made me frown. I had always sensed there was another side to him—a side that wasn’t so carefully subservient and polite as the face he to showed me. But I hadn’t thought that his other side would be so fuckingugly. Had he really tried twice to rape Natalie? I had only just met her, but so far the little female seemed trustworthy to me.
I would have to wait and reserve judgment until I knew her a little more, I told myself. But in the meantime, maybe I ought to start thinking about untangling Azz’lx from some of my business.
All the Twelve Peoples relate to their females differently. For instance, Naggians tend to keep their women tightly under their control, though they often treat them distantly.
However, on this matter my Braxian side was dominant and, to my surprise, I could feel a berserker fury bubbling just under the surface at the idea ofanyonetrying to hurt Natalie. It didn’t make sense—I’d only just fucking met her. But all the same, I was beginning to feel extremely protective of the little female—another trait from my father’s side.
I thought of Azz’lx again and the Braxian half of me pointed out that I didn’t want to work with a male who would abuse a helpless female, even if she was just a Blood Whore.
Not that Natalie had proved to be completely helpless, though. She’d been running from Azz’lx and her pimp when she bumped into me—possibly running for her life. But she’d been adamant about what she was andwasn’tprepared to sell and she’d used my sigil fearlessly to protect herself. The little female had courage and I respected that—it made me want to get to know her better.
I promised myself I would spend more time with her later, but for now, I had to go.
SEVEN
NATALIE
Abath—arealbath! The thought made me so excited I could hardly eat, but I reminded myself that this was more food than I’d seen all together in six months and I might not see anything like it ever again. At least, not while I was living on O’nagga Nine.
I finished the multicolored pies on my plate—all delicious—and tried a heaping helping ofsoomafruit, which tasted a little bit like chocolate pudding, though it looked like a kind of mutated banana with a bright pink peel.
I drank some more of the delicious hotl’x’lI’d been dying to have and tried a few bite-sized cakes that looked a bit likepetit fours. They tasted like exotic spices and rich frosting—delicious.
At last I had to acknowledge that my stomach—shrunken from months of living on nothing but disgusting noodles and oily nutritional paste—couldn’t hold another bite. With a sigh, I pushed back from the table. I was about to call for the servant when I had a thought—what if I got to feeling snacky later on? Or what if the Baron decided to let me go early? I decided to take some of the smaller food items with me just in case.
Quickly, I filled a fine linen napkin with a few more of the pies, some plumpflumberries and some more of the delicious, rich spice cakes. I wrapped it carefully and hid it in between the layers of my clothing—I had plenty of those, since layers are the only way to stay warm on O’nagga Nine.