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The silhouette of Master Belduk’s office building loomed ahead. Realizing that my steps had accelerated as I neared my destination, I forced myself to slow down. The notary had been charged with handling my father’s succession. After his death and, more recently, my half-brother Varrek’s demise, I had become his only remaining child and sole heiress.
The tall, glass doors of the fifty-story high building parted upon my approach. Straight ahead, smack in the center, an imposing security guard manned the reception desk. The trickling sound of water from the elaborate water-fountain behind him filled the hall. Its long basin ran from the left side of the wall almost to the middle of the room. A few females sat on long, cushioned benches before the basin. Their mates—or guardians—stood nearby, engaged in hushed conversations with other males.
On the right side of the reception, a giant statue of the god Menuk, the Hand of Justice, watched over the path to the elevators. As soon as I headed for them, the guard hailed me. Repressing a sigh of annoyance, I schooled my feature to the proper level of demureness.
“You’ve called me, Sen?” I asked, clasping my hands before me and looking at his nose.
Tilting his head to the side, his green eyes slowly undressed me.
I’d made sure to wear the traditional Free Woman outfit. The flowy, white dress had a plunging neckline that hinted at the curve of my breasts, cinched at the waist by a golden cord. Sleeveless, bare back, and split on both sides up to my thighs, it was designed to flaunt a woman’s assets with each step while hiding the naughty bits. I’d tied my knee-length, black hair into a heavy bun. Normally, it would have covered my back, but its unusual length—although traditional for a Veredian Warrior—would have drawn too much attention. Guldan females usually kept theirs to the middle of their backs.
“Are you lost, Sana?” he asked.
My heart seized in my chest, realizing how much he had in common with my late brother Varrek. The same silvery white hair parted by black horns recurving over his head, their tips pointing back up. The main differences lay in the color of his skin, a creamy brown a few shades darker than mine, where my brother’s had been silvery grey—a gift from his Xelixian mother. Like most Guldan males, tribal tattoos adorned the right half of his cleanly-shaven face. Their burnished gold color complemented his complexion.
“No, Sen, I am not lost,” I said in a soft voice. “I am here to see Master Belduk.”
“The notary? On your own?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I am expected,” I answered, noncommittally. “With your permission, I should make haste not to be late. It would be improper to have the man wait.”
I’d hoped my wording would mislead him into thinking I meant men plural, as in Master Belduk and my ‘male guardian.’
“Indeed,” he said, pursing his lips, his gaze lingering on my breasts. “You may proceed to the twenty-seventh floor.”
“Thank you, Sen,” I said, with a slight bow of the head.
The weight of his stare burned holes in my back as I made my way to the elevator. Once more, I had to silence the paranoid fear that the prosthetics between my shoulder blades, which hid my Veredian markings at that location, could have been damaged.
As the elevator flew upwards, I cast a brief glance at myself in the mirrored wall on the left side of the cabin. Reassured that the markings on my exposed arms and the sides of my legs didn’t show, I fixed the lock of hair that had gotten tangled in my left horn.
The elevator opened on the reception area of the legal firm, which also housed Master Belduk’s practice. A pretty hybrid slave greeted me as I entered. By her dusty blue skin, I could only surmise she was half-Avean, but I couldn’t figure out which other species she was mixed with. She escorted me to Master Belduk’s office, knocked, then opened when he bid us enter. She held the door, gestured for me to proceed, and then made a discreet exit once I walked in.
Master Belduk was well past his prime. Although I knew him to be in his early eighties, he looked closer to one-hundred. With an average lifespan of 140 years, Guldans usually looked more fit at that age. He rose to greet me, but didn’t move from behind his desk.
“Welcome, Sana Vrok,” Belduk said, waving at the chair in front of his desk.
“Master Belduk,” I said in greeting while settling on the chair.
It instantly adjusted to my size and height, the nanites in the leather-like material shifting slightly beneath me. Chic and sleek, the notary’s office boasted nothing but shades of black, grey, chrome, and white. Guldans took great pride in their technological and scientific advancements. They never missed an opportunity to flaunt both as signs of wealth and status.
“It is unfortunate that we should finally meet under such circumstances,” Belduk said, the intensity in his light grey eyes made all the more unnerving by the way they strangely blended with his uncommonly pale skin for a Guldan.
“Indeed. But that is the way of life,” I said with the proper level of calm acceptance.
By most cultures’ standards, neither my father nor my brother had been good men. But I had loved my dad. Even six years later, his death still broke my heart. My half-brother, though… That was far more complicated. Still, his recent passing haunted me. My heart knew that I had done the right thing by capturing him for the countless crimes he committed against Veredians, which ultimately led to his downfall.
Belduk harrumphed his assent, then summoned a holographic screen. Each side displayed the text in the right direction for us to read. I silently thanked my father for teaching me the Guldanese alphabet and language, even though I’d been raised according to Veredian beliefs.
The notary launched into an endless enumeration of all the assets that my father had bequeathed to my brother, as well as those personally owned by Varrek that now belonged to me. Despite his monotone delivery, Belduk failed to put me to sleep. My mind was reeling from the sheer magnitude of the wealth I had come into. But my self-preservation instincts also screamed in warning. The glimmer in the old man’s eyes, the way he licked his lips as he listed the mind-boggling sums held in various accounts, entire fleets of top-of-the-line spaceships, tech and medical patents—to name a few—clearly indicated he wanted a piece of it, if not all of it.
As he neared the end of the list, his eyes flicked to my neck and left wrist on multiple occasions, as if to re-confirm something he’d already verified many times. As per the law, unmated Free Women had to dress in white to broadcast their single status. A collar indicated she was promised to her future mate, while a bracelet indicated courtship with the sire’s blessing.
After what felt like an hour, Belduk finally stated the last item. Shutting off the holographic monitor, he leaned forward and clasped his hands on the desk before him.
“An impressive inheritance, Sana Vrok,” Belduk said.
“Indeed,” I said. “My father and brother were wise businessmen.”
