Page 26 of Commander's Slave
She pushed at his chest, but he kept one strong arm around her, holding her in place on his lap and enjoying the feel of her bottom pressing down on his cock as she struggled.
“You think I owe you sex for being agoodmaster?” The last two words dripped from her lips like a curse, her face wrinkling in disgust as she spoke them.
Tension filled the air as their gazes collided. He held her out by the shoulders and swallowed hard, trying to rein in his anger lest he react in too harsh a manner. He was not used to being disobeyed or challenged, particularly by a slave. Perhaps he’d been too gentle with her thus far. Perhaps it was his fault she hadn’t yet learned her place. As this last thought entered his mind, he experienced a surge of guilt, but he quickly brushed this weakness aside.
“You owe me nothing, Betsy. But you’re still a slave and need to learn to conduct yourself as one. That means you must obey yourgood master. You disobeyed me tonight, and for that you will be punished.”
A thousand different emotions flickered across her face.
Sadness. Anger. Fear. Frustration. Loneliness.
Edek steeled himself to be firm with her, even though everything inside him screamed to hold her tight while uttering promises to take care of her forever.
The tender feelings she evoked in him knew no bounds, and he stared down at her, wishing she wasn’t his slave, but a woman he’d met under different circumstances.
The threads of hatred he’d been clinging to weakened as he stared into her bottomless blue depths, noting the glimmer of moisture she kept blinking back.
“You can have a good life with me, Betsy, if you let go of your foolish human pride.” He nearly laughed at his own words. The Kall were a more prideful people than humans. “Your reluctance to accept your place as my slave speaks volumes about your character, but I know you’re lonely and want to give in. There’s no harm in it. Let go. Get to know me, little Heslla.” The endearment rolled off his tongue before he could stop it, and a fresh sheen of tears shone in her eyes as hopefulness danced across her features.
She wanted to give in. To believe him. To trust him.
Edek read her emotions and desires with so much ease that he felt he’d known her his whole life. Souls could reincarnate, he reminded himself. Perhaps he’d known her in another life. A life long forgotten. And now, the universe had deemed fit to bring them together again.
“I miss Earth,” she said, breaking his gaze and opting to stare at his chest. She toyed with the Sumlin District insignia sewn onto his uniform shirt.
“Tell me what you miss most about Earth.”
She peered up at him, appearing lost in thought as her eyebrows pinched together. “Freedom,” she whispered. A lone tear rolled down her cheek, and Edek caught it with his thumb, wiping it away. “And the smell of honeysuckle on a warm summer night.”
He didn’t know what honeysuckle was, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her.
“If you were still on Earth, what would you be doing right now, Betsy?”
She shrugged. “Probably working. I mean, if it wasn’t for the war, that’s what I’d be doing.” She went on to describe her job writing for a magazine, her interactions with celebrities, and her often busy travel schedule, interspersed with her duties as First Daughter. Edek listened to her every word as she spoke of a city called Los Angeles, the parties she was expected to attend but confessed not missing, and her best friend Layla.
“Did you leave any family behind besides your father? Any children? A significant other?” It had never occurred to him that she might have had a family on Earth, even though she hadn’t been married. His jaw tensed and his teeth ground together as he raged inside at the Kall justice system. Jealousy also occupied his senses at the thought of another man holding her heart.
But if she had children? How would she ever find happiness on planet Kall if she was forever separated from her offspring? He thought of his twin sons and a lump formed in his throat.
She shook her head, dispelling his fears. He’d been ready to figure out a way to bring her children to his planet, a realization that stunned him because the very notion was supposed to be unthinkable. Masters were not meant to care for their slaves and especially not a slave’s offspring.
“No, Master. I didn’t have a significant other, and I don’t have any children. To be honest, I don’t miss my father that much. Maybe that makes me a bad daughter, but it’s the truth. Layla told me he didn’t argue against the arranged marriages, even when he discovered my name on the list. I-I never understood why he didn’t at least try to save me from the betrothal to Merokk. I’ve been angry with him for a long time, and he didn’t even come to visit me in the detention camp while I awaited trial. I kept hoping he would somehow save me. That he would show up and rescue me.”
She paused and inhaled a deep breath before continuing.
“But my father never even sent me a letter. I suppose he was still angry about all the arguments we had after the betrothal. He-he told me I was a disappointment. He said it was good my mother was dead so she wouldn’t see what I’d become.”
Her confession filled in the missing pieces of her nightmare. His heart ached with the knowledge that her own flesh and blood had basically abandoned her. At the very least, President Carson could’ve given Betsy a kind word to help comfort her.
“It’s my understanding the treaty was non-negotiable, Betsy,” Edek said, tipping her face up. “But I’m not defending what your father did. If I had a daughter in your situation, I’d have broken laws and slit throats to save her.” His words weren’t eloquent, but she smiled nonetheless, and for one brief moment, her eyes lit up like the stars.
“Slavery isn’t what I expected. I thought I’d be working my fingers to the bone and falling into bed exhausted every night. I thought I’d be beaten to the brink of death on a daily basis. I thought I’d be starved and praying for death.”
She shifted on his lap, and his cock swelled at the nearness of her body. At the same time, his soul warmed in response to her words. She hadn’t professed happiness, but she hadn’t claimed misery either. Perhaps in time she’d find happiness. Here. With him.
“My father owned slaves.” Edek frowned at the memory, because though he’d enjoyed the company of many of the slaves, he knew his father hadn’t always treated them kindly. “At one point we had slaves from twelve different planets living under the roof. Draken and I were expected to speak with them every day and learn their tongues.”
“Is that how you learned English? From a slave?”
