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“Yes, yes—your rare chin’di cred chips.” Lendrex waved a hand as though payment was of no consequence. “The main thing is knowing that you and your little pleasure girl, Seline, are all right. I’d like to have the two of you back to the Halls of Pain so we can bargain properly.”
“Negative,” Nox said at once. He had no interest or intention of ever setting foot in the Upper Disk again. “We will not be returning to your territory—it puts us in a situation of extreme vulnerability,” he told Lendrex. “If you wish to bargain, you can come to my ship—I’m sure you know where I’m docked, since you were able to get my coordinates to call me.”
Lendrex frowned.
“I don’t like being put into a vulnerable position either, you know. What if we arranged a meeting at one of the public eating houses inside the Tangle? I’ll even let you choose the spot,” he offered.
“Well…” Nox hesitated but it seemed like the best offer he was going to get. “All right,” he said at last. “Give me some time to study a schematic of the station so that I can choose an advantageous spot.”
“Agreed,” Lendrex said. “Oh, and do be sure to bring your little pleasure girl,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “I’ll be bringing Lovely with me and she especially wants to see Seline so she can say goodbye. She got so very attached to her in a short period of time.”
Nox frowned. Here was another suggestion he didn’t trust.
“I do not know if Seline will feel well enough to come with me,” he said shortly. “You forced me to give her quite a severe beating. Not that there is any excuse for what I did.”
“I’ll come.” Seline’s voice from behind him made Nox jerk his head around. She was standing there behind him with the sheet from the bed wrapped around herself.
“Seline, my dear!” Lendrex exclaimed, smiling at her from the viewscreen. “How very nice to see you—you look none the worse for your little punishment.”
“Only because Nox healed me,” Seline said coolly. “I’ll come to the bargaining session but I’m only coming for Lovely. I have nothing to say to you.”
“Ah, you wound me!” Lendrex put a hand to his golden chest and gave her a sorrowful look. “I’m sorry I had to have you punished, but I cannot circumvent the laws of my own dominion—I would lose my authority if I did that.”
“I just hope you know that I wasn’t trying to steal from you,” Seline told him. “I know how it looked, but I would never do that.”
“Of course not.” Lendrex nodded his head. “I’ll tell Lovely that you’ll be at the negotiations—she’s been very anxious about your wellbeing, since you’re not used to punishments.”
Nox didn’t like this turn of events—he would much rather have kept Seline safe aboard the ship while he went to bargain for the other half of the Far Box himself, but it seemed she had already made up her mind.
“I must study the schematic of the Tangle,” he told Lendrex. “I’ll call you back shortly with a place and a time for the bargain. Please bring your half of the artifact so I can ascertain that it matches our half—only the genuine Far Box is of interest to us.”
“Of course.” Lendrex nodded. “I would expect nothing less. I’ll be waiting for your call.”
He nodded his bald, golden head and the viewscreen went blank. Apparently the bargaining for the Far Box was going ahead and it might soon be in their possession. Which was all good news.
But if so, Nox wondered why he still had such an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach…
THIRTY-SIX
SELINE
“Well, that was unexpected,” Seline remarked, sliding into the passenger seat beside Nox. “He was even polite about letting you choose the spot where we’re going to meet him.”
Nox frowned at her.
“I don’t like the idea of you coming with me. I think it would be better—and much safer—if you stayed here aboard the ship while I go bargain for the Far Box alone.”
“But I want to see Lovely again!” Seline exclaimed. She leaned towards him. “In fact, I was hoping that maybe we could make some kind of a dual bargain with Master Lendrex. Do you think he’d agree to sell us both the Far Box and Lovely?”
Nox shook his head.
“I do not understand. Why do you wish to buy Lovely?”
“Because! Look at the life she’s living—trapped in that horrible place with a man who beats her and puts her in the Ghost Box whenever he wants to!” Seline exclaimed. “Plus, I owe her a huge debt—if it wasn’t for her, I might have ended up in the Box myself. I want to get her out of there if I can.”
Nox frowned.
“And do what with her? Bring her back with us to our own universe?”
