At least in part.
It was a phrase I’d already heard—before the captain had ushered me to the safety of continued ignorance.
And it seemed the general was in the mood to share.
“This fragile,dangerousgirl seems to be more powerful than half of my best priestesses combined,” he began. “I’d like to know what other… hidden talents she might have. An eye for art, perhaps?” He grinned, plucking at the captain’s baggy shirt where it had fallen to expose my shoulder. “A sense of the future before it occurs?”
Sasha exhaled a nervous chuckle. “No, sir. Not that I’m aware of—”
“Then perhaps she carries more than a barren desert in place of a womb, hmm?”
All the color rushed from the Head Priestess’ face. Her fingers slick with cold sweat where they tightened then grew slack on my skin. “S-sir, that’s not… I don’t—”
“Is it possible,” he pressed, and took the top button of my shirt in between long fingers. Working it free without so much as touching my skin, he took liberties without paying the price. “Might she be bred? An exception to the rule of infertile priestesses?”
She swallowed,hard—a sentiment that resonated. Deep, where revulsion sparked and grew, disgust and terror became something… more.
Glancing my way, Sasha paused before she said, “It… it’spossible.” It was an admission that saw the general nod then work another two buttons free to expose the modest swell of my cleavage. “But if any elite c-could get her with… with child,” she said, stumbling over her words, “then it would be Captain Rawlings. Sir. As the only elite bound to an empath, their bond is unique. It has properties we haven’t yet begun to unravel.”
The general sighed. “Yes. I rather expected you to say as much. But what if,” he mused, and abandoned the effort to undress me. Moving instead to the far side of the Head Priestess’ desk, where a pedestal sat covered in dark cloth. “What if another claim were to supersede the first, hmm? Astrongerclaim from an elite already bound to a powerful priestess.”
Sasha’s jaw worked around nothing. Soundless rejection of a heinous idea she hadn’t been expecting to refute. I felt the cascade of emotions sparkle through her touch, tempting me to reach out and take. To revel in that sweet revulsion anddrink.
Lifting one bulky shoulder, the general shrugged. “It’s worth a shot, no?”
And with that, he pulled the curtain back on the chains. Revealed the golden manacles that were a match to my own, and said, “Come here, girl.”
I went. Willingly. Shooting Sasha a demur flick of my eyes before I pulled free of her restraining grip, I ignored the warning that sparkled through my skin. An alarm that was silenced the instant the contact between us broke. Pale legs flashing as I moved to obey, I moved on silent feet, eyes dutifully trained on the floor.
Where a good slave ought to look.
It was, after all, what they all wanted. Trained obedience that concealed the truth of pushing women to be desperate and coy in exchange for their own survival.
“General Tilcot, sir, Ireallydon’t think—”
“Then be silent,” he said, cutting her off. “We’ve been over what your job is, Sasha. And women don’t do their best thinking on their backs, do they?”
My lip curled where he couldn’t see it.
But I held myself in tight control. Watching without blinking. Fixated on this elite who didn’t see the danger standing directly before him, who chose to ignore the other half of the coin, and saw only the healer.
Ignoring the destroyer as he couldn’t ignore the hidden promise of my nipples.
I fought the smile.
Watched as he withdrew the chains and lay them out on the desktop to his left—one by one—then claimed my hand in one that was smooth and dry. Manicured.Soft.
Churning, lazy flames licked the back of my wrist. Power in dizzying abundance, yet it lacked the captain’s flavor, the pure ambrosia of vitality I’d grown accustomed to in so short a time.
I took a careful sip.
Groaned before I could stop myself, and rolled my neck. Trying not to take more than a single gulp, I turned the tide before the empath slipped her leash, and said, “Tell me what the program is for.”
The general snorted. Collecting one manacle, he slipped it over my knuckles and fit it over the one already welded in place. “Bossy little thing, hmm?”
Stretching unfamiliar muscles, I sent a single, tiny barb darting through the general’s veins. Took that dainty sip I’d stolen, and put the energy to work. Clumsy and reckless, I got the sense of the man in careful, lapping waves.
“Tell me,” I whispered, bleeding through muscle and sinew. Tugging on random strings until I felt a thread of compliance sparkle through his meaty brain.
