CHAPTER 40

The room spun a little and Mia tilted her head, attempting to counter it.

“But what does it mean they are you and they are me?” Becky wondered, for the fourth time.

Ashley snorted and grabbed the bowl, taking a sip. “Maybe it's a philosophy. You know, the devil lives in us all.”

Mia and Becky both stared at her.

“What? I took some philosophy courses.”

“I don't know,” Mia admitted. “I'm not even sure anything he said means anything.”

“The stuff about the parasites is kind of intense. I have to be honest I'd like to know what he's on just so that I can avoid it.”

“The good news is that I know what the doors look like now,” Mia told them. “I don't know where Earth's door is, but I know what to look for.”

Becky shifted uncomfortably.

“What?” Mia asked.

“It's just...why go back now?”

Ashley took a large gulp from the bowl. “It's not like you had anything great going on back home.”

Mia frowned at her. “Leanne told me your guy was cheating.”

“You're just a ball of sunshine aren't you.”

Ashley cringed. “Sorry.”

Becky shook her head. Unfortunately, she tossed it a little too hard and tipped over, barely catching herself before face-planting into the shed floor.

“It's just, think of how much good you can do here.”

“It's not about that,” Mia protested. “It's...I think it's the principle of it. I want to be able to choose if I do good.”

Wait. Did that even make sense?

“I think the bigger question is, why did the Livarians choose us?” Ashley posed. “Think about it, seven billion people on Earth. That makes what...,” she lifted up some fingers, “three and a half billion women? There are maybe a hundred or so of us here. Why us?”

Mia hadn't really focused on that. It was kind of odd when it was put that way.

“Specifically, why that fucking Leanne?” Becky ventured.

Mia stared at her; beside her, Ashley's mouth fell open.

“Oh, did I say that out loud?” Becky blushed, “I'm sorry she's just...”

“A whiny little bitch,” Ashley interjected

“Well that's a turn around,” Becky muttered.

Ashley swayed and then put a hand on Becky's arm. “I'm really actually sorry, Beck. I told you that.”

“Yeah, but I thought...I don't know, I guess I thought you still agreed with her methods.”

“Fuck no,” Ashley rubbed her eyes. “I didn't agree with them to begin with, I just...” She took a deep breath and then exhaled it. “I'm kind of a bitch, I guess. I get super frustrated when things don't go right, and I think Leanne's plan kind of spoke to me when I was in that state of mind. You know, angry and wanting to take it out on someone.”

“Actually, that makes a lot of sense,” Mia told her. “Not that you're a bitch,” she assured when Ashley glared at her. “Just, a lot of people don't know how to handle emotion properly. I think you're really brave to admit it.”

“Thanks, I guess. I just know that I was angry. I still am, but not really at the Livarians...maybe just at the whole situation. Yoa and I talked a little and I actually think I'm more like them than Leanne's little group.” She blinked, as if realizing what she just said, and then peered cautiously at the bowl.

“That's some strong stuff.”

Mia's attention floated away from the women.

“What's eating you, Mia?”

“I still think he knows something about the missing men. I think he knows what happened to them. How else would he know about the door and the bodies?”

“The obvious conclusion is that he put them there,” Ashley told her. “You're probably just lucky Draven showed up when he did... and that he didn't take the opportunity you gave him today.”

Mia shook her head, “I really don't think it was him.”

“I think you should give it up, Mia. At worst, the guy is somehow responsible for the deaths. At best, he's off his rocker. You said yourself he was trying to barter drugs from the Livarians. Maybe he came across the bodies and wanted to trade the information for a new stash. Besides, how scary is it that he gave you the fake virus and had a cure? He's dangerous, Mia.”

She sighed. It was true, all signs pointed in that direction.

“What about the world-Key? He seemed pretty desperate for it.”

“Then it seems like a good idea to me to keep it as far away from him as possible. Look, the Livarians seem to have it under control. They're pretty capable of taking care of themselves.”

“Yeah...What do you think, Beck?” Mia swayed so that she could see her friend. The brunette was tipped over, her hair spilled across her face, snoring slightly.

“Ha! You guys are great, we should totally do this again...” Ashley sloshed the bowl toward Mia in a salute.

Light burst into her mind bringing pain.

“Ahh...Christ...,” Ashley cried. Mia squinted at her, trying to process what was happening before she realized that someone had opened the shed door.

They had known it was going to happen, but she still wasn't prepared to meet the ice blue eyes staring into hers.

Becky sat up, her hand over her heart, looking around until she focused on the door, and who stood in it.

“Shit,” she cursed.

Yup. The Prime was pissed.

God the world was ending. Mia rolled to her side trying to tame the rolling of her stomach. Something made a distant noise.

“Put me back under...please,” she begged.

There was a dark, familiar chuckle, but it wasn't friendly. Not at all.

“This pain, I'm afraid, you're going to have to suffer through.”

Draven.

“I can explain,” Mia pushed herself up from the bed.

Her stomach heaved and a vessel, a bowl, appeared below her.

Once her stomach had completely emptied, and her mind cleared a little, she managed a look around. The buttery walls were familiar.

“Tituc is highly alcoholic,” Draven's voice drawled unpleasantly by the side of the bed. “We generally cut it by three quarters with either water or some base. You and your friends won't be doing too well in the morning. Luckily, you've all managed to avoid alcohol poisoning.”

Really? Because she didn't feel lucky, she felt like....

Draven pushed the bowl beneath her again.

“That's it. Get it all out. Then we'll have ourselves a little talk.”

Morning...or late afternoon rather, came hard. Mia moaned, the torture of her body from the Attaphus virus screaming through her muscles followed by the general unease of being heavily hung over made her still. If she was just very, very still, then it would be okay.

“Not pleasant, is it?” Draven asked.

Mia cracked her eyelids, expecting the medical ward but finding herself in Draven's room, instead. Bits of memory came flooding back. Draven finding them in the storage shed. Being very unable to handle herself. Being picked up and, at last, placed in a soft bed, hoping that her stomach wouldn't ruin the sheets.

Mia groaned.

“You'd think you would have agreed your body has been through enough torture. And yet, here we are.”

“How was I to know you kept turpentine in a keg in the storage room. It seemed ok when you gave it to me the other night.”

“I don't know what turpentine is, but I've already explained that Tituc is a concentrated alcohol. It is not for drinking straight. What possessed you to do such a thing? And during a safety breech?” Mia peered at Draven, his question was soft, but his tone didn't fool Mia. He was monumentally angry.

“It just sort of happened,” she told him.

“Anything else you'd like to tell me that 'just sort of happened'?”

Mia pushed herself up on the bed, ignoring the terrible way it made her feel. She shook her head.

Draven growled…really growled. His fist lashed out and landed on the stonework near the door where he had been sitting. The crack from the impact sounded across the room. He dropped his hand to his side, leaving a broken tile behind.

Holy crap.

“Not how you slipped away from your guard, or staged a security breech that occupied nearly all of my men for hours? You are aware there is a threat lurking in the city and still you did this.” It was a statement, not a question. “How about how you deliberately snuck in to the secure apartment to visit a sworn enemy of the Livarians, who, I might remind you, first tormented and then kidnapped you. Then you disappeared for most of the day and became intoxicated to the point of putting yourself in danger once more.”

Shame crept along her skin. She hadn't meant to cause such a ruckus she just...she'd been certain that Jhudur knew what had been hunting the men.

“I'm sorry, Draven, it's just something Jhudur said...”

The sound he made then silenced her completely. The anger in the air was beating at her in waves.

“Enough,” he growled.

“I think he was right, about the danger,” she pushed forward.

“You think I do not know this? That I am simply strolling about the city, unconcerned, wasting my day?”

“No...,” of course she didn't. She simply hadn't known what he had been doing.

The anger faded from his face, replaced by an expressionless mask. Somehow, that didn't make her feel any better.

“The risks of your actions and the actions of the other women you led into this foolishness, not to mention the danger you put the compound in, is unacceptable.”

Mia opened her mouth.

“If I were you, I would consider my next words very carefully.”

“Just talk to him, Draven, I think he knows more than it seems.”

“Have you so very little faith in me?” He raised his hand. “Never mind, don't answer that, it is obvious you do.”

“Maybe if you were a little more reasonable.”

“I am very reasonable.”

“When have you shown me that?”

“The fact that you are laying in my bed, unharmed, right now is an excellent example of how reasonable and in control I am. I'm not sure which I want more, to spank that ass of yours until you cannot sit or tie you to this bed for the next week, but I have done neither.”

Whuh. And why did that statement slam her libido into overdrive? She had no interest in corporal punishment, especially in the bedroom...yeah her body was definitely calling her a liar.

“Fortunately for you, my people abolished physical punishment of women many generations ago.”

Yup. There was definitely something wrong with her. No need to be disappointed. None at all.

She suspected her problem had something to do with the sinfully sexy man standing in front of her putting erotic thoughts into her head.

“I think service, in return for the trouble you've caused, is a fair consequence. Don't you agree?”

“What?”

If Mia's stomach didn't hurt so bad she'd kick him.

“What's it to be then? Labor in the mines?” she rolled her eyes.

Draven's chuckle was anything but kind.

“Oh, nothing quite so easy. For your transgressions, I sentence you to the role of Topure. The sole purpose of your existence, until your debt is paid, is to serve your Prime.”

Mia's heart stuttered and her core clenched. Jesus she needed to get laid, and he did not just say what she thought he did. She grit her teeth together. Stupid, stubborn, Livarian.

“And what,” she growled, “does that entail?”

He smiled at her, but it did not reach his eyes.

“Anything I desire.”