“Yes. So. Technically, I own you.”
“You own fucking nothing.”
Have I ever hated anybody this much before? Probably not. He lied to me. Every day we were together, every moment he pretended to accompany me on my quest to uncover the clues of the exposition chest, which still makes no fucking sense, but whatever.
Eight
Rex
She is furious, as well she might be. But there is no way she would ever have survived on her world. She was in the process of being shot by a trigger happy police officer who responded to the bank’s alarms. She would have bled out on a dirty linoleum floor if not for this series, as dark and twisted as it may be, and as much deceit it may have involved on my part.
I take her by one arm and hold my finger beneath her petulant nose. I am not speaking to her as an equal, I am lecturing her as an insubordinate wretch defying her king — because that part of the deal was never fake. That was one hundred percent absolutely real.
“You remembered what happened to you. You were shot on your world, but instead of dying, you were transported the instant before the bullet pierced your flesh. You were a dead woman walking. You were saved from certain death. You were given a second chance at life. And love. I know that deception was involved, but that could not be avoided, and I have treated you exceptionally well, all things considered.”
“You tied me up and took my virginity in front of a live audience.”
“You begged me to take you. You were desperate for me. You wanted me, and you would have mated with me even if you had known a trillion souls were watching. Besides, I was never thinking about them, not after I met you. After I met you, you were all I cared about.”
* * *
Kristine
“Good acting, by the way,” I hiss. “The whole who are you, where are you from bullshit, that was super convincing.”
“Thank you,” he says, misconstruing my sarcasm for a compliment. This guy is un-fucking-believable. He’s hardly offered an apology. He’s justified his bullshit and little more.
“Is that how many saw me…saw us?”
“It’s a popular franchise,” he shrugs, apparently failing to understand why I might be so upset. “It’s broadcast across thousands of worlds. You’re probably one of the most famous humans in history, if that helps.”
“For a sex tape. You’ve made me the interstellar Kardashian. What I thought was a moment of real intimacy with someone who cared for me was actually a sexual spectacle.” I turn on Rex, lit with righteous indignation. “And you knew exactly what was going on the whole time. You could have told me.”
“No. I couldn’t have. The winning conditions specify the subject cannot know what is happening to her. If I had told you that it was a show, then we would both have lost. Winning was everything. For both of us. Now stop sulking and get cleaned up. Have a shower, and put some clean clothes on. They have the finest robes for you. Green, to bring out the color of your eyes and make the most of your beautiful hair…”
As if I give a fuck.
Has anybody in the history of everybody sulked this hard on a public stage before? I think not.
The interviewer is a different beautiful green-skinned woman with two heads. One is warm and friendly, the other has an almost perpetual expression of having smelled something bad.
I am not in the fucking mood for this. Apparently everybody has been waiting for this interview forever, and apparently, I am contractually obligated to do it. So I’m going to do it. But I’m not going to do it well.
“So we’ve heard there has been some tension between you and King Rex, since it was revealed that you were part of DINODOME. What do you have to say about that?”
“Yeah. I thought what he did sucked.”
“You just thought it sucked?” The sour face looks at me while the smiling one stays absolutely locked on Rex. He has fans, evidently. A great many females all lusting after him, I imagine. Wishing they had been me. That thought almost puts me in a good mood. Almost.
“Yeah. It sucked.”
I know I’m not being a good interviewee. I’m supposed to be charming so I get more advertisement dollars, but fuck being charming.
“You’re not pleased that you’re alive? And that you’re being carried off by a king? This is a romance ending to beat all romance endings.”
“Well, I don’t know if that is true. There have been some pretty fucking sweet romance endings that didn’t end with the hero having lied the whole time.”
She ignores my comment and follows up with another question. “What do you think it says that you’re the first female survivor, but you are also the first to have a hero by your side?”