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“I merely made sure you were safe,” Horas said, not quite sure how to calm his mate’s ire and feeling—although he would never have admitted it—a little frightened of her vitriol.
“I am not a robot programmed to obey your every whim!”
“No, of course not,” Sarus murmured, eyes narrowed as he stared at her. His crest rose, a spiky crown of authority and assurance. His tail swished. “We need to keep you safe and healthy. We do nothing that is not in your best interests.”
“Oh, you fools just don’t get it,” she muttered and shifted to slide off Horas’ lap. His arms tightened around her. With a hissed oath, she twisted her torso to get just the right angle to drive her elbow into his gut. He grunted. She snarled, “Let me down, asshole.”
Shocked by her viciousness, he released her and stood. He reached for her, but she slapped his hand away. His crown flattened and his tail lashed the air.
“Don’t touch me.”
The two males exchanged worried glances. Crest rising to half-mast, Sarus walked around the counter, tail swishing, and extended his hand. She slapped it, too, and repeated, “Don’t touch me.”
His crest flattened and his tail again lashed the air.
“Tell us what distresses you, little flame,” Horas urged.
“You.Youdistress me.”
Horas’ eyes widened in surprise.
“I only wanted a job,” she said, working up a good head of steam. “A new career doing something I’m good at. I didn’t think that was too much to ask. But,noooo, I had to be sentwithout my consentto a frickin’ alien planet and offered in trade for alien goods and services. My own governmentsoldme.”
“We must definitely get word to the palace about the females’ lack of knowledge or consent,” Horas murmured.
“And then I’m nearly killed,” Evangeline continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “And to save my life, you turn me into something I was never meant to be. I didn’taskfor this, not any of it! And I … don’t … want it.” She plopped down onto a chair and bent over, sobbing into her hands. “I don’t want it. I don’t want to be a slave.”
Sarus went to her and lowered himself onto one knee beside the chair. He dared place a hand gently on her back between the shoulders that shook as she wept again. “You are no slave, little flame.”
She shrugged off his hand and straightened. With a watery glare, she demanded, “How do you figure that?”
He opened his mouth to answer, but she interrupted.
“Can I have the career I want?” Her pretty lips twisted in a sneer as she answered. “Not unless you permit it. Can I go where I want? Only with your permission and escort. Can I wear what I want? No, only what you allow me to wear. Can I say what I want? No, only if I agree with you.” She jutted her chin at him and snarled, “Does that sound like freedom to you? Or slavery?”
“We act in your best interests only,” Horas repeated from the kitchen.
“Would you tolerate being treated the way you’re treating me?” she demanded, sending a fulminating glare at him.
His eyes widened. “No, of course not. You’re female—”
“What’s that got to do with it?” she shouted. “I’m female, so I can never do or want anything beyond what you permit? That’sslavery, you idiot.”
“Our restrictions upon you keep you safe,” Sarus said.
“They keep meconfined,” she rebutted. “Poppethas more freedom than I do.”
Sarus exchanged another worried glance with Horas, sighed, then said, “I do not understand.” Evangeline opened her mouth, but seeing her outraged expression, he said, “Please do not shout at me. I seek to understand.”
Evangeline’s jaws snapped shut and she inhaled deeply through her nostrils in an effort to compose herself. In as calm a tone as she could muster, she asked, “If I were male, an adult male, would you have locked me in the bedroom?”
“Of course not,” Sarus said. “You would be able to defend yourself if an enemy attacked.”
“Just like that obnoxious engineer Arrenji-guy would have been able to defend himself?”
Horas huffed. “That poor excuse of a male could not defend himself against your little feline pet.”
“Exactly,” she said. “Arrenji is as useless as tits on a boar when it comes to self-defense, but you wouldn’t lock him in another room.”
