by Viola Grace
The girls didn’t look like they understood, and with them still years from being adults, she didn’t want them to. Unfortunately, she was about to give a talk about being a sexual companion. It was the payment that Szriata had demanded for the trip.
Szriata gave her a look. “They won’t be at the lecture.”
Hannah nearly collapsed with relief. “Great. Well, I am sure that you two will want to get settled at the school.”
Ruth scowled again. “Where will you be?”
“You can reach me with a com screen. I live...” She analyzed the skies and pointed. “Over there. It is a six-hour trip. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things.”
“So, why are we here? Why don’t we live with you?”
They were walking toward the port building, and Mero came toward them with long strides, his wings behind him and the vest he wore for formal occasions, gleaming with metallic embroidery.
Debbie squeaked. “What is that?”
“That is a Hmrain and my employer. Or patron, if you will.”
Ruth was staring. “Do the wings work?”
Szriata laughed. “Everything works. Let’s just get this over with. My kind need pleasure to fuel our psychic batteries. It is a simplified definition of the process, but that is the closest thing. So, your sister provides sexual services to Lord Mero, and he turns that into energy.”
Debbie’s eyes were still bugging out. She squeaked. “You have sex with that?”
Hannah grimaced. “Not all of him at one time.”
Ruth looked at her in shock, and Szriata doubled over with laughter.
Debbie caught onto something. “Does Szriata consume sex too?”
The educator wiped her eyes and smiled. “I do. I am between companions at this moment, but your sister’s generosity with her own energy has allowed Mero to share some of the harvest. It is her sensuality rating that makes her valuable, and the person that she is. She lets herself feel and that is a very rare situation.”
Mero was upon them, and he bowed low. “Ladies.”
“Lord Mero, this is my sister Ruth and my sister Deborah.”
He rose and inclined his head to them in turn. “It is an honour to see you safely here, ladies.”
Ruth stared, and then, she said, “Is my sister a slave?”
He quirked his lips. “Did she say she was?”
“No. She gave me some crap about being a bondservant, but that doesn’t make sense. If she was a bondservant, she would have the option for freedom when she had saved enough or done her time. She didn’t mention a freedom date.”
Mero met her serious gaze with his own. “Her bond price extends the servitude beyond her normal life span, but she will gain her freedom if she provides me with a child.”
Szriata gasped.
Hannah was wary. “That wasn’t mentioned.”
He shrugged. “I won’t go into rut for another decade. There did not seem to be a point in mentioning it early.”
She bit her lip. “What if I don’t want to leave you?”
He wrapped his hand around the back of her head and leaned in to whisper against her lips. “Then, you will not have to. Child or not.”
She smiled and kissed him, ignoring her sisters for the moment. They were safe, in the sun and with air they could breathe. They could hate her or have contempt for her, but she had gotten them safe and that was all she could do.
Szriata cleared her throat. “You are going to be late for the lecture.”
She was brought back to reality with a thud. “Right. Sorry.”
With Mero’s hand in hers and her sisters trailing behind them, they entered the port while she tried to think of the down sides of being a sexual companion. Right now, she couldn’t think of any aside from societal stigma.
Mero squeezed her hand, and she relaxed. Society be damned. She knew where she belonged.
Author’s Note
Well, here it is. The book I wrote because I read some books I used to enjoy and realized that they were missing science, physics and a basic knowledge of human biology.
If you want to see another book in this universe, I want you to vote.
Yes, vote. 2016 was the 100th anniversary of women voting in my province, and I think it is a grand way to decide.
Email your vote, Yes or No, with the Subject: Shattered Stars, to: [email protected]
That is right. If I get 100 or more votes from different readers, I will write another instalment this year, or I won’t if there are more NOs than YESs.
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
