Her Cold-Blooded Master

by Lea Linnett

  He pushed back from the table. “I’ll have my people send you an official notice later today.”

  “Please reconsider, Niiren. Like I said, we’ll be making a statement today—”

  “Kaan, your name is poison right now. I can’t.”

  With that said, he left the room, the automatic door hissing shut behind him.

  Helik leaned back with a sigh, dreading calling Roia and having her send in the next donor. There was a whole line of them who had come in just to scream at him, and each one hacked another chunk of his composure away.

  He knew he should have made his statement sooner, but selfishly, he was glad it was scheduled for that afternoon.

  He didn’t want to speak out against Devis. Despite the terror of having the scandal skate so close to him, despite the damage it would cause to his career, she was his best friend, and every mechanical word that he said against her hollowed him out a little further. She’d been watching his back since their university days—she was the reason behind much of his success. If he hadn’t had her there to push him, he wasn’t sure what he’d be doing right now.

  And it was what Ellie wanted.

  Helik had tried to keep her from his thoughts, but every time he was left alone, she invaded again, and he felt her absence like a deep well inside him. Sleeping in the penthouse had been an exercise in futility, the never-ending quiet pressing in on him while the memory of Ellie’s scent clung to the sheets. Every room felt darker without her blond hair catching the light, and every minute he spent there was long and lonely. The silence was almost threatening without the sizzle of human food on the stove or the noise of Ellie banging into things while she cleaned, and Helik couldn’t stand it.

  So he had taken refuge at his office in Kaan Tower, but even here he wasn’t safe. Every angry donor was a reminder of Ellie begging him to help Devis and Scott. Every time a call came through, he was terrified it would be about Ellie—that she was in trouble, that someone had kidnapped her, that her body had been left down a back alley.

  Roia was right: he should never have let her go. The Senekkar was at best indifferent to humans and at worst, outright hostile, and the Inner Districts were worse, rife with people—levekk and sub-species alike—who wouldn’t hesitate to prey on humans. Ellie wasn’t used to their tricks.

  He rubbed his plated brow with his fingers, barely noticing the vibrations of the bony pads scraping against his skull.

  He should try to calm himself. There had been no calls about her. And she was resourceful—anyone who grew up in the Outer Districts was bound to be. Roia was right, too—Ellie had friends. Maybe she was fine.

  But his attempt at cheering himself was flimsy. Sitting alone in his office, everything around him felt unreal and distorted. The noise from outside was muted and hard to follow, as if someone had placed a thick blanket between him and the world. The only thing that had gotten him through his meetings so far was his years of practice at not being himself, but in the back of his mind, Ellie decried that as well. She’d hated how he acted in public, always looking beneath the mask for ‘the real him.’

  Now, the real him felt utterly exhausted, but this was more than just sleeplessness. The real him felt so hollow that it wanted to curl up and close its eyes, never to open them again.

  Was this what his life would be like from now on? Losing Calli had been like losing the moon from the night sky. None of the stars still shining in its place measured up to her brilliance, and when he stared at them too long, they winked out. He’d gotten good at pretending during the daylight, but every night, he sank back into that sadness.

  Losing Ellie was like losing the sun, and suddenly he feared that he’d never see daylight again with her gone.

  He lost track of the time as he sat alone in his office, his mind mired in thoughts of her until finally Roia walked in, clutching her datapad in her claws.

  “Helik,” she said, her voice lacking its usual stern edge. “You have more appointments.”

  He blinked back to consciousness, trying to find the version of him that could deal with this. “You’d better send them in, then.”

  But Roia didn’t nod and leave the room like he expected her to. “The press conference is scheduled for this afternoon.”

  He nodded absently, moving things around his desk. “Mmhmm.”

  “Helik,” she repeated, stronger this time. “Are you sure about what you’re going to say?”

  He paused, peering up at the xylidian with more clarity now. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, are you completely certain that… that disavowing Devis is really…?”

  Helik’s heartbeat quickened. “What else can I do?” He’d meant it to sound rhetorical, but instead he found himself actually asking.

  Roia’s thin, dark lips pursed. “You could stand behind them. Ask for support.”

  He slumped forward onto the desk, his head in his hands. “Roia,” he said through his fingers, before coming up for air. “That would mean the end of the program—of my career.”

  “But it shouldn’t. You saw them together.” She dropped her voice, murmuring, “And you know. How is what they have different from what two levekk may have, or two pindar, or anyone?”

  “It’s illegal,” he groaned. “It’s been illegal since we settled on this planet—”

  “But is it illegal elsewhere?”

  Helik’s shoulders slouched. “No.”

  Roia stepped forward, perching on the edge of a chair to get to his level. “And the world hasn’t ended. You know there are hybrids out there.”

  “The Guides here made their decision, Roia.”

  “But are they always right? Can you imagine how Devis will cope when they take Scott away?” She hesitated, adding, “I’m trusting you not to tell the enforcers I questioned the Guides, by the way.”

  But Helik barely heard her, staring into Roia’s blood-red eyes and finally understanding what Ellie had tried to tell him.

  Devis was about to lose Scott, just as he’d lost Calli once and was terrified of losing Ellie. He thought his nights were dark? Devis wouldn’t have the luxury of pretending, in her weaker moments, that her human had just been returned to his old life, as Helik sometimes did with Calli. She wouldn’t have the assurance that Scott had left of his own accord, escaping punishment as Ellie had.

  No, Scott would most likely be made an example of. He was human, and humans were the worst species a levekk could be found fraternizing with, thanks to their compatible physiology. And with how public this whole ordeal was…

  Roia continued, every word piercing Helik’s defenses as he reeled. “When my planet—CL-11—was settled, we had advocates. We had someone to fight for us. But humans don’t really have that.” She caught Helik’s eye. “I thought this program could be it, but…”

  But it hadn’t worked. He hadn’t cared enough to make it work.

  Helik was silent for a long moment, before finally saying, “If I get involved, you know it’ll come back to Ellie.”

  Roia watched him carefully. “If I recall correctly, it was Ellie that was asking you to help them.”

  Helik deflated, and without the desk supporting him, he imagined he would have sunk right through the floor.

  “…You miss her, don’t you?”

  He laughed, humorlessly. “It’s like someone turned the lights off and left me wandering in the dark.”

  “What do you think she’d say if she were here?”

  “She’d call me an idiot,” he said, staring at the flawless surface of the desk without really seeing it. “She’d say I’m a liar, too. That I really do care, deep down.” At least, he hoped she would. After the way they’d parted, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

  Fear rocked through him, anchoring him to the chair. He didn’t want to stand up, didn’t want to have to make a decision that would change the course of his entire life, one way or the other. It was a surprisingly familiar feeling; with Ellie around, he’d managed to forget the way it clawe
d through him with icy fingers, holding him in place. Now that she was gone, it was back with a vengeance.

  What would Ellie have to say about that? She’d come to the Senekkar with nothing but a contract and a hope that working for him would be better than slaving away in Manufacturing. She’d walked into a place where all eyes would inevitably drift to her, and she’d had the guts to speak for her people when he asked.

  She’d taken a chance and reached out to him, when she had no guarantee that he wouldn’t use her up and spit her back out to Manufacturing.

  He closed his eyes. No wonder she was angry.

  If she was here…

  “She’d tell me to stop being so scared,” he said, almost to himself. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as fearless as her.”

  Roia smiled softly.

  Helik nodded to himself. “I have to do something, don’t I?”

  “I think so,” the xylidian replied, flashing her red teeth at him.

  “Okay.” Helik stood, his mind running through the options. He had connections, he had ways to get off-planet. He’d been blind to the resources he had until now, but supporting Devis didn’t have to mean a death sentence as long as he planned it right. And if all went well, maybe Scott and Ellie could be saved too.

  He checked his wristlet. He had only a few hours to call the right people. To call her.

  He gulped, momentarily unsure, but he made himself breathe through it. Ellie made a point of facing her fears, and if a tiny human could manage it, so could he.

  So he turned to Roia, straightening his shoulders, and nodded. “We’ll go ahead with the press conference. I’m going to have to make a pretty big splash. It might be the only way she’ll listen to me.”

  Roia rose from her chair, her red eyes alight. “You mean Ellie?”

  “No,” Helik said, a wave of nerves rushing over him. “I mean my mother.”

  ---

  Not even the bustle of the Lodestars’ hideaway was enough to distract Ellie from the empty feeling in her chest.

  With her shock over Cara’s affiliation waning, there was nothing much left to fill the hole other than a creeping dread. What if Cara decided to let off her ‘fireworks’ early? Was Helik okay? One voice in the back of her head spit out angrily: Why should we care? He was probably continuing on just as he’d intended, happily covering his ass against any controversy to do with Devis and Scott.

  But as she followed Anna to breakfast, even that voice wavered. Even if it was true, the thought of anything happening to him made her chest clench, her breathing stutter. She had to tell him of the danger.

  She couldn’t lose any more family.

  She almost dropped her bowl of cooling oats at the realization. Because he was family, wasn’t he? She loved him. She’d never put a word to it before, but the ache in her heart at leaving that apartment rivaled her sadness at losing Lena, of abandoning Augusta. She gulped, moving mechanically to sit beside Anna. No matter how frustrating he might be, no matter how cowardly he pretended to be, she still wanted him in her life.

  No, she needed him.

  “I saw that the rations were getting a little low,” she said, thinking quickly as she turned to Taz, who was seated at the end of the table. “Should Anna and I go out to get some more?”

  The scarred woman raised an eyebrow, chewing her food thoughtfully. “No need,” she said shortly, and while she looked relaxed, leaning back with her boot caught on the edge of the table, her eyes watched Ellie with distrust. “Deeno’s getting more from a contact he’s meeting tomorrow. That’ll get us through to the closing ceremony.”

  “Oh.” She dropped her gaze to table, unable to hide her disappointment.

  “Besides,” said Taz, leaning forward. “You can’t go anywhere. The call from Manufacturing could come in at any time—you wouldn’t wanna miss it, would you?”

  “Right. Of course.”

  The woman watched her for another long moment, before finally turning away.

  “Are you nervous about speaking to your mom?” asked Anna, leaning in so their arms touched.

  “She’s not my…” Ellie frowned, reconsidering. She remembered her parents well enough, and missed them, but between them, Lena, and Augusta, it really was almost as if she’d had three moms. She shrugged. “Yeah. I am nervous. A lot was left… unfinished.”

  Anna nodded. “It must’ve been difficult. My parents were excited for me to go and make something of myself. They practically pushed me out the door—but it was still hard to leave.”

  They talked a while about their families, but Ellie found her gaze drifting towards the exits, wondering if she could sneak out. After breakfast, she passed by the staircase, only to find it guarded by a couple of burlier Lodestars—a human and the Calideez martian she’d noticed the night before. There was no way they’d let her through, she was sure, and they were so large they filled the corridor, making escape impossible.

  She heard the Calideez martian complaining as she hung nearby, pausing to inspect the items on a shelf in an adjacent room.

  “I think that Cara’s wasting a golden opportunity,” he grumbled, earning a disgruntled noise from his human companion.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “With that many explosives, she could be targeting the enforcers. Really put a dent in their numbers, really make ’em squirm.”

  “You’re kidding, right? They’d destroy us.”

  “They’d have to find us first. And anyway, who cares? We could take ’em. Throw a few hundred Lodestars at ’em and they won’t know where to put their fists.”

  “…Maybe. Wait, fists?”

  “Guns, whatever—it’s a metaphor.”

  “Uh-huh… Can you even make a fist with those slimy fucking hands of yours?”

  “Shut the fuck up, asshole.”

  Ellie pressed her lips together and moved on, aware of the eyes that followed her wherever she went in the rabbit-hole of an apartment.

  Eventually, Anna rescued her from being idle, which was how she found herself stationed beside the bright human in the laundry, folding rebel bedclothes like robots.

  “Man, sometimes I feel like I never really left, y’know?” said Anna, grinning at her. “Still folding sheets, just for sub-species instead of levekk.”

  “How did you end up here with the Lodestars?” Ellie asked. The last she’d seen of Anna was at the Christmas after-party, and she’d hardly seemed like someone who was about to turn rebel.

  The woman’s light mood soured a little at the question, but she was still smiling when she said, “Oh, you know. Employment disagreement.” When Ellie frowned, thinking that sounded almost as vague as Ellie’s excuse to Cara, she continued, “Ms. Kallo was… unhappy with my work. She’s been unhappy with it since I started, really.”

  A chill ran down Ellie’s spine. “She didn’t…?”

  Anna paused in her folding, turning amber eyes on her. “It was just yelling and insults, usually. She was never satisfied with what I did. The day after the Christmas party, I was… a little hungover, I guess. I over-burnished the heat room. Put a huge gash in the tile. She, uh…”

  She trailed off, and Ellie reached out, brushing a knuckle against the girl’s forearm comfortingly.

  Anna sighed. “She hit me.” She pulled back the short sleeve on her top, revealing a dark purple bruise spreading across her shoulder. “I ran away. Cara had mentioned that if I ever needed help, I should come here, so…”

  Ellie’s eyes watered, guilt crawling through her. “I’m so sorry, Anna. I should’ve realized it had gotten that bad.”

  “No, you shouldn’t,” the girl replied, shaking her head. “You were working harder than any of us the last few weeks. And I know you were worried about Scott. We all were.”

  Ellie looked down at the laundry again, folding it listlessly.

  “It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Anna added. “What happened with Scott?”

  “Yeah.” She glanced at the shorter girl to fin
d her grimacing, and added, “It was certainly a surprise.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  “Did you know it was Cara’s drones that got the pictures?”

  Anna nodded. “She was furious. Sent them off to a reporter the same day. She seemed so… angry at Scott, calling him a pervert and stuff. But I dunno…” She shrugged, not meeting Ellie’s eye. “I’m just glad his boss won’t be able to prey on him anymore.”

  “Prey on him?”

  Wide eyes blinked up at her. “Well, yeah. It’s illegal for them to pressure us like that.”

  Ellie took a long moment to reply. “You know Scott’s going to be punished as well, right?”

  Anna didn’t look at her, focusing on refolding the pillowcase in her hands that she’d been holding for a good minute already. “He won’t just be sent back to his home District?”

  “No.”

  The girl’s lips set into a thin line, closing her eyes. “I was afraid of that. Scott’s nice. Surely they can’t blame him for everything?”

  Ellie glanced over her shoulder at the laundry door, which was pulled to but not completely shut. She sidled closer to Anna, saying in a low whisper. “I got a chance to talk to him. He really loves her, apparently.”

  Anna stared up at her with eyes like saucers. “What? But the bruises.”

  “They really were accidents. …Bedroom accidents.”

  “Oh my god,” she whispered, her tanned skin flushing. She looked away, pursing her lips, and Ellie couldn’t tell if she was amused or horrified.

  She was silent for so long that Ellie thought the conversation was over, both of them returning to their folding, but then she whispered in a small voice, “I wish we could help him.”

  Ellie nodded. “Me too.”

  He wasn’t the only one she had to help. She had to find a way out of this place—tonight. Helik needed to know about the danger.

  Ellie had to try and convince him again, for Scott’s sake. She couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t.

  32

  Helik felt the air grow still as he entered the Guidance Tower, the doors shutting almost silently behind him. With the muted blue light cast over every inch of the place, and the near-silence of the few levekk dotting the atrium, stepping into the Tower was like dipping his head underwater. The only sound was the faint murmurings of two levekk in the back corner, whispering in the sibilant undertones of Levekk Sar.