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After her mother had died, she’d been raised in an orphanage, by the Holy Order of the Fang—a religious sect which preached the proper ways of sexual union strenuously and often. And though Sky no longer believed in what they had taught her…she still kind of believed. Or at least, the teachings still lingered in the back of her mind.
There was no way she was letting the giant Kindred penetrate her and that was the end of the discussion, she told herself. It would be a brutal experience no doubt. The shafts of the male Serpentines she’d tried having procreational sex with had been tiny—no larger than her finger and certainly not as large as the monster hanging between Torin’s thighs.
Being interrupted was probably the best outcome all around, she told herself as she slid into a fresh uniform and boots and made her way to the front of the ship. It just wasn’t in the cards for her to have the big Kindred—she would have to get over him.
TWENTY-SEVEN
SKY
“I have some news for you that you might find interesting,” Commander Sylvan said, once they were both seated in front of the viewscreen. “That black goo you found at the crime scene—neither of you touched it with your bare hands, did you?”
“No.” Torin said and Sky shook her head.
“Good. Because it’s a deadly poison. And not just any kind of poison—a soul poison,” Commander Sylvan had an extremely serious look on his face.
“A soul poison?” Sky frowned. “I don’t understand—what’s that?”
“It won’t just kill your body—though it will do that, as well—it will poison your soul—the essence of who and what you are,” the Kindred High Commander explained. “Too much of it can kill instantly—in fact, we were able to ascertain that Ambassador WinterBright was actually dead or dying even before…” He cleared his throat and Sky saw the pain in his pale blue eyes. “Before she was violated and her throat was cut.”
“What? Are you sure?” Torin said.
Commander Sylvan nodded.
“The soul poison wasn’t just on her thighs—it was inside her. Inside her nasal passages…her mouth…her entire alimentary canal. As though whatever it was had invaded every bit of her body.” He shook his head. “It’s horrifying.”
Sky thought so too. The idea of that oily, black stuff invading you, seeping into your nose and mouth, filling you from the inside out with pure evil…it was too awful to contemplate!
“Not only that, but the autopsies of the other victims indicate the same thing,” Commander Sylvan continued. “The male bodyslaves who were protecting their Mistresses only had their throats cut, but the Mistresses themselves—all the female victims—had the same black soul poison pervading their entire bodies.”
“That’s fucking horrible. Excuse my language, Commander,” Torin said hoarsely.
“But it’s also consistent with what we learned from Mistress Mirabella,” Sky put in.
“Oh—you got to speak with her, did you?” Commander Sylvan frowned. “Where is she? I would have thought you would have brought her back to the ship with you?”
“We would have, but she won’t budge,” Torin told him. “She’s decided to stay put in her panic room where she feels safe until we catch the killer. Can’t say that I blame her, to be honest, Commander.”
“Did you find out how she escaped the killer?” Sylvan asked eagerly.
Torin nodded.
“She hid inside an old-fashioned hollow automaton that her Aunt left her.”
“It’s hermetically sealed,” Sky offered. “She said the killer tried to get in—there were scratch marks all over the automaton’s front and it was smeared with the oily black poison stuff—but he couldn’t get to her.”
“She was extremely lucky, then,” Sylvan said seriously.
“Yes, but she’s traumatized now.” Torin sounded sympathetic. “She’s also extremely intelligent—did you know she’s a Tier Three Healer?”
“No, I didn’t.” Sylvan looked interested. “It was my impression that most of the Yonnite Mistresses don’t care much for academic achievement.”
“She wasn’t raised as a Mistress—she told us she was practicing medicine on the other side of the planet when her Aunt Razzmatazz called her to be her heir,” Sky offered. “But now that she’s the only one left of the Sacred Seven, she’s the Ruling Member who’s supposed to appoint new members.”
“But she has no interest in that. She just wants to stay where she can feel safe,” Torin put in. “I told her that you would send her some Kindred warriors to protect her—I hope I didn’t overstep,” he added.
“No, you didn’t. In fact, I think that’s an excellent idea.” Commander Sylvan looked thoughtful. “We’ve been at odds with the rulers of Yonnie Six for so long because they think of males as being sub-humanoid. But it seems to me that if we could gain an ally on the Sacred Seven, we might be able to turn that relationship around. And of course, as Kindred we cannot leave a female in danger.”
“Then you’ll send her someone to protect her?” Torin sounded hopeful.
