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Even faced with the destruction of his space station and the death of everyone aboard it, Master Lendrex got a stubborn look on his face.
“We made a deal!” he argued. “The Far Box for Seline.”
“I never agreed to such a bargain,” Nox told him. “Nor would I ever. Seline is mine and I will never give her up. Tell your guards to release her now or I will blow another bomb.”
His thumb hovered over the button on the black device and Seline was sure he would do it. Were they all going to be sucked into the black hole and spagettified? That was the term she’d heard used, because once you went over the event horizon of a black hole, you were pulled out long and thin until you resembled thousands of strands of spaghetti. She wondered if it would hurt very much or very long to be pulled out that way. She really didn’t want to find out.
“Master, please!” It was Lovely, who had been frozen in fear all this time. Now she ran forward and threw herself to her knees at Lendrex’s feet. “Please!” she begged, looking up at him with wide, terrified turquoise eyes. “He’ll do it—look at him, I’m sure he will! Just let her go—she’s only one pleasure slave and you can afford to buy more—so many more! But you can’t buy our lives again if we go into the black hole. Master, please!”
His favorite pleasure girl’s begging seemed to bring Lendrex back to reality. He might have always been the lord of all he surveyed, but it was clear that here was one male who refused to bow to him—and one female who could not be bought.
“Oh…very well,” he snapped, looking angry. “Guards, release the little whore,” he added, nodding at Seline.
The tight grip on her ankle released and she was finally able to run to Nox, who looped a protective arm around her, though he kept the black device firmly in his other hand.
“Seline and I are leaving now,” he said in that same calm, steady voice that reminded her of the old, logical Nox. “If you attempt to stop us, I will blow the third disruptor bomb and then the fourth if I have to. I suggest you allow us safe passage back down to the Tangle.”
“Yes, yes—guards, go with them and keep everyone off,” Lendrex snapped. He still looked extremely disgruntled—like a child told he can’t have his favorite toy. “She’s no good anyway,” he added, nodding at Seline. “She won’t do a damn thing you tell her to!”
“That is one of the reasons I value her so highly,” Nox remarked. “Seline is highly intelligent and has a mind of her own. The fact that she has given herself to me and not to you is proof of that.”
And with that statement, he turned and led Seline down the curving gray corridor that led away from the Halls of Pain and towards freedom and safety.
FORTY-THREE
SELINE
Seline broke down crying as soon as the ship was safely away from the Tangle. She couldn’t believe they were well and truly free of the awful place. But though it was behind them, she didn’t think she would ever forget her time there—especially the last few hours.
“Seline? Sweetheart?” Nox turned to her, an anxious look on his face. So he wasn’t the old Nox after all, she thought—he wasn’t the cold, logical robot he used to be. That was good, she supposed. But right now she couldn’t think of anything but how much she hurt and how frightened she’d been.
“Seline?” he said again, making her name a question. “What is it? Please, talk to me!”
“Oh, N-nox,” she whispered through her tears. She wanted to stop crying, but her body wouldn’t let her. She’d been so frightened and so hurt—she’d basically been through torture, both mental and physical. And now her whole body ached and her mind felt broken.
“Talk to me,” he urged again. “Tell me what’s wrong and how I can help you.”
“I…I don’t know if you can,” Seline told him, swiping at her eyes. “I just…I was so scared! Lendrex kept beating me and trying to…to make me do things. I wouldn’t do them, but I wasn’t sure how long I could hold out. And I was so…so afraid you weren’t coming back for me,” she admitted, and started sobbing again.
“Oh, sweetheart…” Nox did something to the controls—maybe putting the ship on autopilot—and then rose from his seat. Bending down, he scooped Seline up and cradled her close to his chest as he carried her back to the bedroom. Once there, he settled on the side of the bed and simply held her, letting her cry.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner,” he rumbled, stroking her hair. “It took me some time to find the charges I needed and to set them in the right places.”
