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The sight gave Lilli a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had never liked heights, even when she could see what she was standing on. Walking on what appeared to be thin air above the ground made her feel dizzy.
“Lilliana, do hurry,” her mother snapped, as she and her bodyslave took the lead. “What have I told you about shilly-shallying?”
“Sorry, Mother.” Her words seemed to come from far away and Lilli wasn’t sure if she had actually said them or only thought them. The ground, so far beneath her, swam under the too-high heels that went with her purple plume dress and everything began to look blurry and out of focus.
Suddenly the heels slipped on the slick plastiglass and she was falling… falling…
Strong arms caught her and she was cradled close to a broad chest.
“Careful there, little Mistress,” a familiar voice rumbled. “I don’t think you’ve learned how to fly yet, so let’s not go diving off the side of the building, all right?”
“Karn?” she blinked up at him, feeling dazed.
“Yeah, it’s me.” He gave her a concerned look. “Are you okay, baby?” he murmured in a low voice.
“I don’t like heights,” Lilli admitted. “They…they make me dizzy.”
“So I see,” he rumbled. “Come on—let’s get inside so you don’t have to see this crazy drop anymore.”
He carried her down the long, nearly invisible entryway towards the lighted entrance of the building. As he walked, Lilli sighed and rested her head against his broad chest.
“Does this mean you forgive me?” she whispered, looking up at him.
“Nothing to forgive,” he growled softly. “I should have known you were still finding your bearings in this crazy world and not rushed you.”
“I shouldn’t have pushed you away,” Lilli told him. “I’m so sorry, Karn.”
His mismatched eyes softened.
“Apology accepted, baby. And I’m sorry for acting like a jerk.”
She frowned. “A what?”
“It’s what Earth females call a guy who tries to take things too fast or acts like an asshole,” Karn explained. “I think I did a little bit of both.”
“I just wasn’t sure…I’m still not sure…how much or how far…” She trailed off.
“How much you ought to get involved with your bodyslave?” he rumbled. “Probably not at all, at least according to Yonnite Society. But it’s up to you if you want to break the rules or not. I shouldn’t be pushing until you’re sure what you want.”
“Oh, Karn…” Lilli looked up at him, heart pounding. “What I want is y—”
“Lilliana! What do you think you’re doing?” her mother’s shrill voice interrupted her confession. “Why in the world is your bodyslave carrying you? This is not the proper way to make an entrance at all!”
Lilli felt her insides clench tight, as they always did when her mother used that disapproving tone.
“Sorry, Mother—it’s just that I almost fell!” she exclaimed, struggling to sit up in Karn’s arms. The big Kindred placed her gently on her feet, keeping one hand unobtrusively on her lower back to help her balance as she stood upright.
“Fell?” Mistress Mirabella looked as though she didn’t believe it. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“I just don’t have much of a head for heights,” Lilli said apologetically. “And we’re so high up here.” She motioned to the ground far below and the other skyscrapers rising all around them to illustrate her point.
“No head for heights? Well, chalk that up as yet another deficiency in my heir,” her mother exclaimed. “No head for heights, no sense of fashion, no sense of politics… Honestly, Lilliana. Sometimes I wonder if the sperm the contraception center gave me when I got pregnant with you was defective! You don’t act like a proper Yonnite Mistress at all.”
“I’m sorry,” Lilli said again, in a small voice. “I…I’ll try to do better.”
“See that you do!” her mother snapped. “Now I’m next to be announced and since you’re a junior Mistress, you’ll be some time after me. Stand here and wait your turn and be certain you don’t embarrass me!”
“No, Mother. I won’t.” Lilli felt like crying. It seemed like no matter what she did, it was always wrong. Nothing was ever good enough for her mother. Lilli wasn’t tall enough or thin enough or fashionable enough and she never did or said the right thing at the right time.
Not for the first time, she wondered how she would ever survive in this life for the long term. She’d only been home on Yonnie Six with her mother for about a week and they seemed to do nothing but make each other miserable.
“Hey…over here.” Karn pulled her behind a huge potted burnu plant with bushy orange and green leaves that stood to one side of the lighted entrance. He lifted Lilli’s chin and looked into her eyes. “You okay?” he murmured.
Lilli shook her head and sniffed back tears.
“I’m fine. It’s just…nothing I do is ever good enough for her.”
