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“Oh, good!” Lilli said quickly. “Excellent, in fact. You were right, Mother—he was an excellent choice.”
“Well…I am a good judge of bodyslaves, if I do say so myself.” Lady Mirabella preened briefly before getting back to business. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re pleased with him. Why don’t you spend the rest of the day making certain he’s ready to make a good showing at the awards ceremony tonight and I’ll meet you back here by six to pick you up?”
“Where is the ceremony being held?” Lilli asked.
“Oh, the old Zangelo building—but only because it’s been planned for months,” Mistress Mirabella said. “Though after what happened there, I think people would have liked to move it if they could. Still, we’ll be two floors down from the residence where it happened so there’s no need to think about it if you don’t want to.”
“Where what happened?” Lilli asked, looking confused.
“Never mind.” Lady Mirabella looked at the jeweled chronometer strapped to her wrist. “Oh, is that the time? I must run! I’ll see you tonight at six, Lilliana. See that you’re ready to go!” she ordered and strode quickly out of the breakfast nook where Lilli was dining.
“I wonder what that was all about?” Lilli murmured to Karn as her mother swept from the room. “What could have happened at the Zangelo building?”
“Dunno.” Karn shrugged. He was more interested in getting into Mistress Mirabella’s files and sending the list of Kindred bodyslaves straight to Commander Sylvan. It was possible he might even be done with his mission by tonight!
Not that he was ready to leave yet, he thought, looking at Lilli’s lovely face. He ought to at least stay with her until the end of the week when she went to the conception center. His little Mistress needed him for moral support—especially when it came to going against her overbearing mother’s orders.
I’ll see her through this difficult time, he thought to himself. It’s the least I can do for her, after she’s been so kind to me.
He didn’t admit, even to himself, that he was looking for any excuse not to leave her side. His heart, so long completely untouchable, was already beginning to become entangled in the soft, silky web of desire, longing, and love. But Karn refused to examine the feelings growing inside him for his little Mistress.
After all, he had a mission to complete and no time for anything else—or so he told himself.
Twenty-Two
“This is Mother’s secret study,” Lilli explained, pressing in the code exactly as she’d been taught.
“I see.” And he did—Karn kept a watchful eye on the combination, memorizing it as she punched it in. This was almost too easy, he thought. In all his years in the Kindred Elite Espionage Corps, he’d never just been handed the information he’d come looking for like this.
“Here we go.” Lilli let them into a richly decorated room. The walls were lined with leather-bound tomes of Yonnite law and literature and the space was lit by the soft glows of many tall, purple pulta plants, whose blossoms had a glowing pink center.
“It’s a good thing Mother is gone for the day,” Lilli remarked, shutting the door behind them.
Karn arched an eyebrow.
“Because you don’t think she’d like you being in here on your own?”
“Well, that and the fact that every time she brings me in here she tries to teach me all about her job with the Sacred Seven.” Lilli sighed. “Honestly, the paperwork part of it isn’t so bad. But all the parties and public appearances you have to make are awful.”
“Well, let’s see if we can find what we came for and get out of here,” Karn suggested. This was feeling almost too easy—he didn’t trust it.
“Mother’s communications and computing system is right here.”
Lilli walked around to sit behind a massive crystal desktop which floated, seemingly with no support, about three feet off the richly carpeted floor. On it was placed a single computing unit with a liquid crystal screen. It had a manipu-cube rather that a keyboard, but that was fine with Karn—he was well versed in all kinds of tech.
“Let me see now…” Lilli seated herself in the cushioned leather office chair which immediately conformed to her shape and lifted her to the perfect height to work at the desk. “Mother showed me how to do this,” she muttered, touching the cube hesitantly. “But I haven’t got much experience—there was no communications tech at the convent…”
Karn watched impatiently as she began handling the manipu-cube. He normally would have given her as much time as she needed to do anything which was new and unfamiliar to her, but he really wanted to get in and out of this office. What if lady Mirabella came back unexpectedly?
“Mistress,” he said, “Maybe if you let me have a try? In my last assignment, I was charged with using this kind of tech.” Which was technically the truth.
