"You did use protection, right?"
He could lie, but he's never been one to lie. It's best if he comes clean. "No. I didn't."
"Then you better start praying to whatever god or goddess you believe in that she's not pregnant. You know what they'll do to the child. Say it."
It takes him a minute to form the words. "They'll . . . they'll throw it down the well."
"Is that something you want on your conscience?" Silver asks. "Do you want your baby's blood on your hands? You're a pure Nymph. You can't go around making babies with impure Nymphs, especially not in the cities. Out here, it's a bit more lenient, but it's still not something you need to be doing. Then there's Nova's fate."
"What would happen to Nova?" Troy asks.
"The same thing that happened to her impure Nymph mother. She was forced to fight in the arena and died. Do you want Nova to go through what you just did? I know you love her and would never intentionally hurt her, but you might have handed her a death sentence."
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it right now." Orion says. "Only time will tell, unless she decides to end the pregnancy."
"No!" Troy tries to jump up, but the leash holds him down.
Orion's grip on his arms grows tighter. "Shh. It's not your decision, is it? Plus, she might not be pregnant. It's in Hera's hands now."
Silver scoffs. "If you actually believe in those myths. I believe in the one true God and his son Jesus Christ."
"You're the only one."
"Uriel does too."
"The archon? Then you two can have your own little church." Orion says. "Just don't persecute us for our beliefs."
"What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing." Orion fixes Troy's clothes. "That's it. We're done. I'll see you tomorrow, Silver."
"Bye. Both of you, get some sleep." He stands then leaves the room.
Orion strips to his boxers and turns the lights off before crawling into bed. "Sleep well, Troy."
* * *
Zodiac stops outside his sister's room when he hears her talking. Who is she talking to? Her cell phone is in the living room where Blice is playing a game on his computer. Having him around all the time is already getting old and this is the first day. Who does he think he is, just moving into a person's house without asking first? That's the least of Zodiac's worries. When Nova screams out in pain, he opens her door and nearly faints. "What did you do?"
Nova looks up at him from the floor where she is crawling around naked and she throws the razorblade across the room. Blood is dripping down from the cuts on the inside of her arms. "I don't want to kill him! He's my brother. You can't do this."
"Nova, who are you talking to?" Zodiac tries to pick her up, but she shrieks and bites his arm. He pushes her down and sits on her. "Blice, help me! It's Nova. She's going insane."
"I'm not insane. Ares, help me!"
"Ares? More like Lyssa. You're crazy."
"Ares needs me to wage war against the IGR." Nova says. "I have to save my people. But Athena keeps trying to stop me. She has abandoned her sacred city. Then Hera keeps telling me I'm pregnant. I can't be pregnant!"
Zodiac wraps her in a blanket as she cries and continues speaking nonsense. "Blice!"
"Coming!" He runs down the hallway. "Oh my God. What happened?"
Nova crawls to Blice and holds onto his legs. "Make them stop. Make the voices stop!"
"Has she taken anything? More drugs?"
"No!" She screams as she tears at her hair. "We have to do what they say. Athena wants Troy back. If she doesn't get him back in the city as king, then she'll kill everyone."
"Uh . . ." Blice fishes in his pocket and finds a couple of pills. "Take these."
"No."
"Zodiac, help me." Blice holds her down as Zodiac holds her head still. He slips the pills into her mouth. "Swallow them or you don't get to breathe." He covers her mouth and nose as she thrashes and whimpers. Minutes go by until she stops moving.
"She's unconscious." Zodiac says as he gets off of her.
"Or that works too." Blice drags her up onto her bed. "Get her wrists bandaged up."
"What am I going to do? I just lost my best friend. I can't lose my sister too."
Blice leaves the room and returns with some bandages. "I don't buy this Greek mythology crap, but if she believes that her gods are talking to her, then maybe the best thing we can do for her is to get the clergy involved. The oracle guards should know what to do to help her."
"They'll take her away. Don't let them take her away. There's nothing wrong with her. She's just tired. I need her."
"Zodiac, I know it's hard, but there's obviously something terribly wrong with her. If she doesn't get help from someone who knows what they're doing, then you could permanently lose her. No one wants that. Get her bandaged up. I'll call the oracle. Actually . . . do you have a microscope?"
"No. Why?" Zodiac asks.
"I'll go find mine. I want to analyze some of her blood. I might know what's going on."
* * *
Orion wakes up in the darkness and presses the gold sensor on his arm to check the time. It's a few minutes past midnight. What's that sound? He rolls over and turns on the lamp on the bedside table. The soft yellow light illuminates this side of the room where Troy is sitting near the wall with his knees up against his chest. The t-shirt he's wearing is wet with tears as he continues to cry, unaware that he's being watched. Orion sighs and looks around, trying to figure out what he should do. What would Silver do? He knows he shouldn't do this, but . . .
Orion slips out of bed and reaches over to the wall where he unlocks the leash and removes it from Troy's nose ring. "Troy, are you hurting?"
"I'm sorry, Master. I didn't mean to wake you." Troy whispers.
"Have you even been to sleep yet?"
"No, Master."
"You've been crying all night?" Orion asks.
"Yes, Master."
Orion knows this is the worst thing for him to do with a slave, but he can't leave him like this. He looks so broken. "Troy, come up into bed with me. I don't want you down here on the floor." He gets back into bed and moves over to create room. "Come on."
Troy wipes his eyes on his shirt before crawling into bed and hiding under the blankets. He immediately starts crying again as he lies there, curled up and motionless.
Spoiling slaves is bad, right? But where is the line between spoiling and taking care of them? And where is the line between being a good owner and becoming too attached too quickly? He's about to find out. "Troy, I'm going to hold you now, okay? I can't have you crying all night." Orion scoots over and presses up against Troy's back and puts his arms around him. "I'm here for you. I am your master, but I'm not heartless." Damn, he smells good. This is a little weird. Oh well. He has already crossed the line and there's no going back from here. Orion rests his face against Troy's neck and drifts to sleep.
* * *
Troy stretches as he wakes up after the most restful sleep of his life. He feels alive and invigorated, the exact opposite of how he felt yesterday. Nothing that happened to him seems to matter now. His septum piercing aches, but it's not too bad. He moves his left arm and notices that someone put a few stitches in the cut. He's in a bed? Oh, that's right. Where's Orion? When someone moves on the bed next to him, Troy peers out from his nest of blankets.
"Hi!"
Troy lets out a surprised scream before he can stop himself. Paris? What is he doing here?
"Did I scare you?" Paris asks as he bounces on the bed.
He sits up and runs his fingers through his hair. "A bit. Where is Master Orion?"
"Talking with my master. Wow, you slept in bed with Master Orion?"
"Yes. He told me to."
"I sleep with my master too." Paris says. "But Master Orion said he'd never share a bed with a slave."
"I don't know what to tell you." Troy stops talking as he hears Orion and Silver bickering in the hallway.
"Why does Mistress want Troy
? He's mine." Orion says.
"She has a night with all the new slaves. You know that."
"But I haven't even had a chance to get to know him yet. What if he's better than me?"
"It doesn't matter." Silver says.
"It does matter. I don't know if he's done this much."
"Are you really this concerned about that?"
"Yes!" Orion shouts. "I don't want another man to take my place. I'm Mistress's favorite. What if she doesn't want me anymore?"
"You're addicted."
"So what if I am? At least she likes when I do it. You couldn't even finish the mission."
"Boy, I've been doing this since before you were born." Silver says.
"And yet you still do it wrong."
"I would love to have you to myself and show you how it's really done. You've never done it with a man who knows what he's doing."
"You know what? Yes. I'll take you up on your offer." Orion says. "I could use some more practice. When Troy goes to Mistress, I'm going with you."
"Sounds good to me. I will dominate you so hard you won't know which way is up. Your ass is mine."
"I call top." Orion says.
"You think you're strong enough to be on top?"
"Well, if we're both gonna try to finish at the same time, then someone has to be on bottom."
"It's not a race." Silver says. "Enjoy the process."
"I'll enjoy the process of teaching you a lesson."
"I'm looking forward to seeing you try."
What the hell are they talking about? When Orion enters the room, Troy has a question he has to know the answer to. "Master?"
"Oh, good morning, Troy. Well, afternoon . . . you slept for almost eighteen hours."
"Forgive me for sleeping so long, Master."
Orion shakes his head. "Oh, no. You slept for so long because I allowed you to. You were worn out. An exhausted slave doesn't do me any good. Now, you had a question?"
"Um . . . are you gay?"
"What? No. Why would you think that?"
Silver joins them in the room with two bowls of stew. "Paris, go get the other two bowls."
"Yes, Master." He jumps off the bed and runs into the hallway.
Orion starts laughing and pushes on Silver's arm. "Guess what Troy just asked me."
"Hmm?"
"He asked if I'm gay."
He smiles. "You? No. As a gay man, I can tell you that you aren't gay. You might call me an expert."
"I think he overheard our conversation in the hallway."
Silver roars with laughter as he slams his fist on the wall. "He thought we were . . . oh! Haha. No way, man. This is too easy."
"That's great." Orion gets four glasses out of the cabinet on the wall and sets them on the table. "Troy, get dressed in your uniform and come eat with us. Then you'll be going to Mistress. She specifically asked for you tonight."
Troy gets out of bed and takes his newly washed clothes into the bathroom. As he dresses, he listens to the three of them in the other room.
"Tomorrow, I want the day to be alone with Troy." Orion says.
"But tomorrow is fortune telling night!" Paris says excitedly. "We have to read his fortune."
"But he's not trained yet. I don't want to take him out into the desert and risk something happening."
"I'll be right there in case he tries something." Silver says. "Besides, you had him in your bed. If something was going to happen, it would have happened last night when you were cuddling with him."
"We weren't cuddling. We were . . . engaging in a manly embrace. Don't berate me for my choices. I did what I felt was right."
"On the first night?" Silver asks. "And you say I spoil Paris."
"You do. Everyone here spoils Paris. It's what we do. Look. Paris, are you spoiled?"
"Yes, Master Orion." Paris says happily.
"And why are you spoiled?"
"Because I'm the best ever."
"Yes. Yes, you are." Silver says. "Now eat your stew. Oh, Paris?"
"Yes, Master?"
"I'm going to have some grownup time with Orion tonight so you're going to stay in this room and watch cartoons for a couple of hours." Silver says.
"Okay, Master. What are you going to do?"
"I'm just gonna teach him some stuff. You'll learn one day when you're a bit older. Troy, you okay?"
Troy finishes spiking his hair as his thoughts go back to what Orion had said. He's going to be with Mistress tonight? Then that means . . . oh gods help him. The only woman he's been with is Nova and that didn't exactly end very well.
"If you're nervous about being with Mistress, don't be. We all have to do it." Silver calls to him. "Some of the agents like it more than others. She's really bossy and makes sure she gets what she wants. That's why she doesn't like me very much. She says I can't perform up to her standards. But I'm sure you'll do just fine. I bet you've done this plenty of times. Most guys your age have. Put those fingers to good use."
* * *
Troy feels the overwhelming dread sweep over him as Orion unclasps the leash and says goodbye, leaving him all alone outside the red and gold door. This is it. He pushes open the heavy door and steps inside Mistress's room. The cinnamon-scented room is dark except for the glow of a television. Troy jumps a bit as the door shuts behind him. Beads of sweat have gathered on his forehead. He can barely see the silhouette of a woman lying on the floor in front of the television. Her glasses glint in the dim light.
"Hello, Troy. You will speak freely while you are here. We don't have any time to waste. I truly hope you are better at this than Silver. The refrigerator is to your right. Be a dear and toss me a beer, will you? Feel free to grab yourself something. There's soda, beer, and some kind of weird wine Silver made. Oh, and if you're hungry, I have chips and some leftover pizza. Watch your step coming over here. I haven't done any cleaning in a while."
Well, this is . . . different. He finds the refrigerator and pulls it open. There must be twenty different beers in here. "Mistress?"
"Yes, dear?"
"What kind of beer would you like?" Troy asks.
"It doesn't matter. Are you much of a drinker, Troy?"
"No, Mistress. I only drink on occasion."
"This is an occasion." Mistress says.
"Yes, Mistress." Troy picks up the two beer bottles with the most colorful labels and closes the door. He makes his way carefully over the cluttered carpet, only tripping twice. Now he can see her face. She's much younger than he had first thought. She can't be older than thirty. Her black hair is draped over her tank top and cascades down to her jean shorts and sneakers.
"Thanks. Oh, you forgot the bottle opener. That's okay." Mistress puts the top of the bottle in her mouth and pries the cap off with her teeth. She does the same with Troy's and hands it to him. "Sit down and let's get started. You want to be on top or bottom?"
He sets the beer down. "Um . . . I haven't done this very much. I don't know what I'm doing."
"Then take bottom and I'll go slow. It all comes down to instinct and muscle memory. You have to use your fingers without thinking. Press the right buttons at the right time."
Troy sits next to her. She is certainly attractive with her curves and tight clothes. Maybe this won't be as bad as he had first thought.
"Here. This is yours." She presses something hard into his hand.
A game controller?
"Okay. You'll be playing on Orion's account so we can have all the weapons unlocked. My favorite is the SCAR-H, but you can take whatever class you want. This is just a practice run to see how good you are against the AI bots. If you're a good shot, then we'll go online and find a match. This is just free-for-all so if it moves, shoot it. You'll get extra points for headshots. So if sniper is your thing, then take the character with the ghillie suit and find a place to hide. Under the second bridge is a good place to take shots when the enemies go by."
"A video game?"
"Yes. Didn't they tell you?" Mistress as
ks. "We all play competitively in tournaments. My last partner was . . . unfortunately yet humorously decapitated down in some ruins to the south of here. Ever since that booby trap incident, I've been looking for someone to take his place."
Troy breathes a much needed sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the gods."
"What's wrong?"
"I thought . . . I thought you wanted me for something else."
She sighs and pats Troy's arm. "What? Oh, no. Not again. They've been playing this trick on all the new agents and slaves. Don't worry your pretty pure face. There ain't gonna be no hanky panky with me."
"But Silver-"
"You thought I didn't enjoy doing this with Silver 'cause he's gay?" Mistress asks. "Ha! No. He's just really bad. Plus, he constantly complains that the sniper rifles on the game aren't like shooting one in real life. He grates on my nerves so bad. But he's a nice guy. Orion is too. You're a very lucky slave to have him as your owner. Well, enough chitchat. Let's lock and load, partner!"
14
Zodiac sits next to Blice at the kitchen table while the oracle guards are speaking with Nova in her room. She is still screaming and blabbering about gods and goddesses arguing in her mind. Something crashes followed by the sound of glass shattering. The oracle guards' orders for her to calm down are obviously going unheeded.
Blice looks up from the microscope and inserts another slide. "Huh . . . I was right."
"What is it?"
"Take a look." He stands up to let Zodiac examine the slide. "This is Nova's blood. Tell me what you see."
Zodiac looks into the microscope to see thousands of tiny spider-like organisms moving around, almost like ants on a piece of candy. "What are they?"
"Nanobots. I'd say her blood is eighty percent nanobots."
"How is that even possible? But her eyes aren't purple."
Blice rubs his face where stubble has grown. "You know what? You're right. Oh . . ."
"What? That's a good thing, right? She won't have to get her ears pierced like Troy to control the dark matter."
Blice pushes him out of the way and holds the slide up to the light. "That's the least of our worries. I've read a lot of documents from the lead nanobot researcher, Kazimir Dark, that theorized the possibility of this. Nova . . . is a carrier. I'll have to talk to Uriel."
Paradise Forgotten Trilogy Page 15
