My comm unit chirps.
"Incoming vid-call request from Lady Naasi sa'Rin," the computer calls out cheerfully. "Shall I accept?"
I stare at my chamber in horror. There's food plates everywhere, and I have a naked female chained to my bed. A naked human female.
My mother cannot see this. I grab the female by the wrist and lean over her. "I need you to hide."
"Do what?" She looks at me as if I've gone mad.
"If you hide," I say, undoing the cuff on the bed and taking her by the arm. "I will get you a dozen cakes. I will get you clothes. I just need you to hide. Quickly." I look around my quarters, frantic, and then spot my closet.
Perfect.
I drag her toward it, and to my surprise, she doesn't fight me. I open the door and gesture she should get in, even as the computer happily intones again that my mother's call is waiting. The human female gives me a skeptical look, but when I pull the door shut, she doesn't fight me. She's utterly quiet, and I'm thankful.
I smell a trap, but I'm thankful.
I rush to the far side of my room, toward the vid-comm station and rake my hand through my hair. Kef, it's a ragged mess. I pull my hood over my hair and horns, adjusting it…and my sleeve falls off just as the call is accepted.
19
RUTH
The moment he lodges me into the closet and shuts the door, I start looking for a way out. I run my hands over the walls and floor, looking for a grate of some kind, a give in the paneling, something. There's nothing, of course, so I start checking the pockets of all his robes, just in case he's left something in one. As I do, some of them fall apart to my touch. Maybe I was a little too heavy on the knife earlier. Oh well.
"Lady Naasi sa'Rin would like to connect," the computer says again after a time. "Shall I say you are unavailable?"
He hasn't answered the phone yet? What's he waiting for? An engraved invitation? I thought when he shoved me in here it was because it was urgent and he had to answer right away.
My curiosity getting the better of me, I open the sliding closet door a fraction and peer out. Straik is still in the room all right. But he's not answering the call. He's just pacing back and forth, raking a hand through his raggedy mess of hair over and over again. One of his sleeves has fallen down, which gives me a particularly vicious sense of satisfaction. I watch as he heads for the comm monitor, braces his hands against the table as if preparing to accept the call, his head hung. Then, he abruptly paces away again, raking his hand through his hair once more and narrowly avoiding his horns.
He turns away from the screen, takes a deep breath, and then pulls his hood over his hair. Or tries to—the hood comes off in his hands. I stifle a laugh behind mine.
With an irritated snarl, he flings the hood away, casts a dark look toward the closet, and then braces his hands against the comm table again. "Keffing answer already. Let's get this over with."
The screen shimmers and a beautiful blue woman appears on the screen. Her features are similar to Straik's, but delicate where his are strong. Her brow plating is encrusted with delicate jewels, and her eyes are highlighted by so much eye makeup that I can see it from my vantage spot in the closet. Her horns are highly decorated too, with little strands of silvery rope artfully dangling from them. Her dark hair is sleeked back and decorated with more of that silvery rope, and she looks intimidatingly beautiful.
A wife? I wonder? Is that why he hid me? Because he didn't want to be seen with a naked human slave in his bed? Or a boss? I'm tempted to fling myself out of the closet with jazz hands, screaming “Tadaa!” just to get his ass in trouble.
"Hello, Mother," Straik grits out.
Oh. Mother. Now that's interesting.
The woman gives him a sulky pout. "I've told you a dozen times, darling, not to call me that. It makes me sound old."
"Lady Naasi, then. What do you want?"
"What did you do to your hair?"
"That's why you called?" Straik sounds irritated.
"You look like a frightful mess. Of course I'm going to ask what happened." Her eyes narrow and she leans in, as if studying the screen. "Did you get into a fight? Were you roughhousing with those clones of yours? You cannot buy friends, my pet. Clones are only good for serving. They don't have fully developed minds."
Straik just sighs.
Well, I'm starting to see who he gets his sheer asshole-ness from.
"It's been a rough few days, Lady Naasi. Speak your piece and let me go. I have a million things to do."