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I need to trust, Lilli told herself. The Goddess wouldn’t have brought me this far only to let me fail now. She means for me to rescue Karn and our baby. She’s with me now—I will not be afraid.
Taking a deep breath, she reached out with one hand and laid it lightly on the silver plates that covered Karn’s broad back.
“Stop,” she said in a clear voice. “Stop working and come with me.”
Karn’s arms stopped in mid-swing and he abruptly dropped the pickaxe to the ground. He turned and faced Lilli, clearly waiting to follow wherever she led.
Lilli let out a breath of relief and thought, Thank you, Goddess!
“Very good,” she said, trying to keep her voice strong, though inside she was as weak as jiggle-jelly with relief. “Let’s go to my ship. Thank you, guard,” she added, as the Horvath began to accompany them. “That will be all—you can go now.”
“Yessss, Mistress Mirabella,” the guard hissed and slunk off, his long lizard-like tail dragging in the greenish-gray Diluthian dust as he went.
“Come,” Lilli said to Karn and started for the ship. She was determined not to break character until they were safely underway, just in case any of the other Horvath guards might be watching.
He followed obediently as she led the way, his heavy footsteps puffing up little jets of dust as they walked. She was glad again that she was wearing protective gear. This stuff was completely toxic. In fact, she would have to remove the Obedience Skin just before he stepped aboard the ship—she didn’t want any of the Diluthian dust in the air circulating system once she took off her mask.
As soon as they reached the ship, she waved at H’rare to open the door and turned to the big Kindred, who had stopped obediently just in front of her. She wished she could read his face, but the bottom half of it was still obscured by the metal of the Obedience Skin and his eyes simply looked tired. No, more than tired—weary almost to death, Lilli saw with concern.
She touched his chest, letting her hand rest over the metal of the skin and said, “Skin, remove yourself from this male.”
She had no idea if this order would work and, indeed, at first it didn’t seem to. Karn just stood there, looking at her with those dead-tired eyes and for a moment Lilli was worried that he might collapse right in front of her.
Then the metal of the skin began to heat up—just a little at first, but soon it was so hot Lilli could barely stand to keep touching it. She held her hand there anyway, right over the big Kindred’s heart and repeated her command.
“Come off him, Skin!” she demanded. “Come off now!”
Abruptly the metal plates began to separate and melt away. Soon they were nothing but a handful of hot silver balls cupped in the center of Lilli’s palm. With a gasp, she threw them away, not wanting anything to do with the thing that had hurt the man she loved.
“Karn?” she asked, looking up at him. “Karn, are you all right?”
“Is it you the, little Mistress?” he rasped and then began to cough.
“It’s me,” Lilli told him. “But I have to keep the mask on as long as we’re near the Diluthian dust and gasses. I can’t risk it hurting the baby.”
“The…baby.” His mismatched eyes filled with wonderment. “My…son,” he said hoarsely.
And then he collapsed at her feet.
Forty-Seven
“In here—get him in the ship! Hurry! And bring me some water, H’rare! Oh please—we have to get out of here!”
Karn was vaguely aware of the flurry of activity around him—the grunts of effort on the other bodyslave’s part as he dragged Karn into the ship and Lilli hovering around, begging him to hurry.
Sorry, he wanted to say—wanted to apologize for collapsing and for being unable to get himself into the ship. But after hours and hours of unrelenting hard labor with no breaks and no hydration, his body was too weak to do anything but lie there as H’rare and Lilli dragged him aboard.
He blacked out for a moment but something cold and refreshing rubbing all over his face brought him around. Opening his eyes, he saw Lilli bending over him. Yes, it really was his sweet, precious Lilli and not her mother, as he had originally feared when she came to get him. No doubt she’d pretended to be Mistress Mirabella in order to fool the guards. But now, with the black mask off, there could be no doubt.
“Lilli,” he rasped. “Baby…”
“Shhh, don’t try to talk.” She wiped the cool cloth over his forehead gently. “Just rest. And drink. If that awful skin was over your mouth this whole time, you must be so thirsty!”
She held a squeeze bulb of cold, fresh water to his lips and Karn thought he had never tasted anything so wonderful in his life. The finest bubble wine from Zinzu Tertia couldn’t touch it—not even the nectar of the Goddess herself could be as good as the deep, life-saving draughts he sucked from the bulb Lilli held.
