Page 5 of Tender Captivity
“It’s nice to have you here, Commandant,” Renalan commented, and Holian could hear the wistful note in his voice. Was his friend lonely here on Talarian? When he got back to Kalor he might need to see if any of the humans or retired soldiers would like to travel to Talarian to keep Renalan company. It could be hard living in the capital, surrounded by so many but isolated by politics and strict social protocols.
Before he could mention that idea to Renalan, the male hurried from the room, talking over his shoulder as he left. “I haven’t ordered anything else yet, so I’m going to see if I can contact the market before they close for the day. Leave everything after you’re done. I’ll come back to clean.”
Holian looked down at the human and his breath caught. He’d been ready to say something amusing about Renalan buying out an entire store, but Jinna’s hungry eyes were fixed on the food. That drove all other thoughts out of his head.
Although he knew humas were capable of feeding themselves, he indulged in the pleasure of feeding her with his own hand.
“I’m sure you’ve only been fed that atrocious human feed,” Holian said as he plucked up a bit ofjoland held it to her mouth. “This will be far more flavorful.” As he spoke, she opened her mouth and delicately took the bite from his hand.
Two things happened at once. An intense feeling of affection filled him and blood rushed to his mating shaft, making his flesh pouch uncomfortably tight.
When had feeding a human become an erotic act for him? This had never happened to him before.
“More, please,” she requested, her voice quiet and a little shaky, but at least she’d spoken to him.
“As much as you want,” he promised and fed her another bite of jol. “Of anything you want.”
Jinna ate until she felt full enough to burst. Everything Holian offered was more delicious than the plain brown balls of food mashed up in warm water she’d been given by Nelaran. Although she hadn’t been starved, he sometimes forgot to feed her, like this morning. She knew a few missed meals weren’t going to kill her, but hunger had been yet another discomfort she’d been forced to bear.
“You can request food at any time,” Holian told her when she finally refused to eat any more from his hand. That had been a strangely sensuous experience. No one had ever fed her like this, not even her husband. And this Talin had been so patient with her, even encouraging her to try different dishes and urging her to point to the ones she liked.
“Thank you.” It felt strange to talk after spending most of the last few months remaining silent. When she’d first been delivered to Nelaran, she’d tried to explain that she wasn’t a slave. That she’d been abducted and sold illegally. That had gotten her the first beating. She’d learned quickly talking wasn’t encouraged by her owner.
Unlike Nelaran, Holian sounded a delighted rumble at the sound of her voice. The way he was treating her was so different than how she’d been treated so far, she felt a little spot of hope developing. In a universe that, at best, treated humans as second-class citizens and at worst enslaved them, she’d given up on finding kindness from anyone nonhuman.
But maybe she was wrong and a little bit of compassion could be found.
“It will always be my pleasure to see to your needs. All you need to do is ask. Or draw me a picture or point me in the right direction.”
His teasing made her feel like smiling and encouraged her to use her rusty voice. “You’re a kind Talin.”
Holian went silent, and she worried she’d said something wrong. “Many Talins would have treated you very well if they’d been lucky enough to receive you as a pet. It was hugely unfortunate that you found yourself with Nelaran. Human pets are only status symbols to that family instead of the rare, precious gems you are.”
He thought she was a precious gem? That almost made her snort out a laugh.
“I can see you don’t believe me,” Holian said, making her tense up. The moment she stiffened, he started purring again. “Easy, I’m not upset. There isn’t much you could do to anger me, except place yourself in danger.”
“Being a human means I’m always in danger,” she responded and then gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth.
A rumble of amusement burst from Holian, surprising her and easing her worry over reprisal to her challenging words.
“It’s obvious you weren’t born among the Talins,” he said, and although Talin faces didn’t express emotions, she could swear his eyes were twinkling with humor. “Tell me, were you free and abducted, or were you purchased from a slave auction?”
“Abducted,” she admitted, relaxing back against his chest. “I worked on Balbor Station.”
He sounded an inquisitive rumble before going back to purring. “Balbor Station? I don’t know where that is.”
“I’m not surprised. It wasn’t a very big station. It’s in the Sandiry system, part of the Ilgorian Empire.”
“I’ve heard of that system, but I’m not familiar with it. Our government is only now starting to have trading conversations with the Ilgorian Empire.”
“Good luck with that,” she muttered. “They’re tetchy bastards. That’s why I thought I was mostly safe there. Ilgorians don’t like any species in their space that are attached to powerful civilizations. After the Orlok Empire fell apart around five hundred years ago, a lot of humans moved into Ilgorian-controlled areas.”
“That’s good information to know,” Holian commented thoughtfully. Jinna worried she might have said too much and put other humans in danger of being abducted, but Holian distracted her with another question.
“What was your job on Balbor Station?”
“I oversaw all the station’s automated systems,” she said with a little shrug. She expected he wouldn’t believe her because after humans decimated their own homeworld, most other sentient species assumed every human was an idiot. In truth, Jinna couldn’t blame them, but it still hurt that everyone she met assumed she had the intelligence of space dust.
