"My Reina?" called out a soft, tentative voice, cutting through my peace.
I opened my eyes, still floating in the middle of the pool, only to see three of the Kallutan people standing on the edge of the water, looking at me nervously.
I didn't bother to speak. I didn't know if they could understand my words, and even if they could, what point would there be? I had begged people to free me until I was blue in the face, and not a single person listened.
Somehow, I didn't think that these three would be any different.
Shifting so that only my face was above the water, I stared at the one who spoke. "Reina, please, come out. Our Sire desires your presence," said the one who had spoken earlier. I couldn't tell if the person talking was a male or female. I had thought the General was a female until he proved otherwise. But their gender didn't matter. They all wanted something from me.
I remained silent in the middle of the pool. I wasn't about to make their lives easier by complying with their not-so-veiled demands. Sure, the Kallutan made it seem like it was my choice, but we all knew differently.
Instead, I sunk even lower into the water, to the point where only my eyes and the top of my head were on top of the surface. I had no idea how deep the pool was, but I wasn't touching the ground.
Then again, I was five foot even, so that didn't say much.
"Please, Reina," begged the female again as she shared yet another look at her companions. None of them looked over interested in coming into the pool, and I was going to take full advantage of that. "We will be punished if you aren't there for dinner with the delegates."
She gave me her big blue eyes, kind of like Puss'n Boots, but she really underestimated my ability to have compassion for others at this point. She could probably be killed right in front of me, and I might say a little prayer over her body. Might.
"Don't force us to come in here," grunted one of the taller women to the left. "We will not be gentle."
Ah, when the begging doesn't work, then the threats begin. How long do you think it will take them to realize that I don't give a flying fuck what they want or what they think best?
I'd give it five minutes.
"You think that you are such a treasure," sneered the woman on the left. "But you aren't. You are a used-up slut from a pleasure station. The only reason why our Sire would even look at you is because you have red fur coming from your head. Otherwise, what use are you? You don't even have proper ears or a tail."
I simply raised an eyebrow. There really was no point in trying to slut shame me; I had pretty much become completely immune to it by now. It was a favorite of the Prophet. Even when I was a virgin, I was a slut. And now that I have had more men than I could count, it didn't change anything inside me.
I would never take responsibility for what had been done to me. That was all on the males who decided to act out their desires on an unwilling body, only to go back to their ship or planet and pretend that they weren't the monsters I knew them to be.
No, I wasn't a slut because of what had been done to me. She could call me that until she was blue in the face, and she still wouldn't get a reaction from me.
"If you want dinner, you need to get out of the pool and take a bath," said the middle woman softly.
Huh, I guess this wasn't the bathtub they had prepared for me. Too bad I like it better.
When the promise of dinner didn't do anything, the woman in the center sighed and turned around.
I stared at them until they disappeared, refusing to get out of the water even when I was sure they had gone. There was always a chance they were waiting in ambush for me, and I wasn't taking that risk.
-----
"This is boring," grumbled He'dtaalh as he leaned against one of the pillars in the middle of the throne room. They were sent here in order to witness the crowning of the new ruler of the Kallutan people, but frankly, He'dtaalh couldn't have cared less.
"You only think it is boring because no one is bleeding," grunted Vi'dta. While all of the Nycteromys' species tended to lean more toward the violent side of life, He'dtaalh took it to a whole new level. The male was not happy unless he was seeing someone bleed or causing it.
Vi'dta, on the other hand, was more than welcome to let someone else do his dirty work, mostly He'dtaalh. But as the second in command for an entire species, second only to the Rein himself, Vi'dta had to exercise restraint.
It had taken him a few centuries to learn to hone his temper, but at 500 years old, he was almost completely able to suppress his need for blood.
"Stop," interrupted Ba'dqeel, looking down at the two males. While neither one of them where small, they were still smaller than him. He shifted his head slightly, trying not to clip the top of his primary set of horns against the ceiling. He had six of them, growing out from different directions on his head, each one meant to protect a different part of his head and neck.
But in this hall with only nine-foot ceilings, it was much too confined for anyone of their species, let alone three of them standing side by side. Even He'dtaalh, with his smaller set of horns, still had to be careful when moving around. "Where is Nai'dqa?"
He'dtaalh spun around like the eight foot tall assassin was hiding in plain sight. It wasn't that he couldn't disappear, but he would have been obvious if he was anywhere in the room.
"No idea," Vi'dta shrugged as if it weren't a big deal that a killer was on the loose in the capital of a species they had just become allies with. "He'll show up at some point in time."