Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 47529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
I press much closer to him than my leash requires. I do not like this place. It feels oppressive and heavy. Most of the city is just your general decadent futuristic utopia, but there is a pall over this part of it, a place where the sun never shines.
“What is this place?” I whisper the question to Ark while I feel the eyes of the guards on me. These guys have a very different vibe to the cake indulging aristocrats I am used to. They are broader, more powerful, and not one of them looks like they eat cake. They ripple under tight uniforms that show off scales and muscles alike.
“It is a prison,” Ark says.
I look at him with wide eyes. Did I piss him off that much by trying to steal all his many items last night? Is he done with me? Is this where all the very worst pets go?
“But… I thought you were going to keep me?”
“You’re not going to prison,” Ark chuckles, thoroughly amused. “My brother is here.”
“He’s a prison warden? Makes sense. Seems like something your family would be into.”
He does not reply. Instead, he looks solemn and perhaps a little hurt. I shut up about three sentences too late and follow him into the interior of this dark palace, through a door grilled with lasers that scan us both as we pass through. I have no choice. My leash is firmly attached to his belt. Where he goes, I go.
“Arkan Voros to see Zain Voros,” he says to the stern looking guard who greets us once the heavy bars have closed behind us, swallowing us into the interior of the prison.
I am beginning to find it hard to breathe easily. My chest feels tight. My head feels light. The walls themselves seem to be sliding toward me.
I have been in a place like this before. I have been cut off from the light and from my freedom. It was a place like this that made me yearn for open spaces and making my own way no matter what.
Ark is moving deeper into the prison, through stony passages marked intermittently with bars that lead to cages of the kind even I could not get out of. The oppression in this place is so intense and so deep it sinks into my very bones. I take a deep breath to try to calm myself. It is only partially successful, air hitching and catching in my throat.
“Zain is in solitary for attacks on the guards. He’ll not have any visitors today.” A large, green-tinged guard with very sharp lower tusks materializes suddenly in our path.
“I have not seen my brother in months,” Ark replies. “It is imperative I see him today, and illegal for you to withhold my access. As head of my family, I am entitled to inspect his conditions four times per year.”
The guard grunts, not liking the fact that Ark appears to know his rights.
“The animal can’t come.”
“She’s my possession and she will come,” Ark replies calmly. “Please escort me to my brother at once. I do not have time to quibble over irrelevant details.”
I suddenly realize who he is channeling. He sounds like his brother, Kahn. He has the same officious and stern tone. It’s very effective. The guard, as high ranking as he seems to be, folds like a paper airplane, and we get the dubious pleasure of going ever deeper into the prison.
Ark
I feel my pet pressing close to me as we descend into the bowels of the Deep. This is a miserable place, and I feel somewhat guilty for bringing her here. She seems scared, and I cannot blame her.
Reaching out to put my hand on her back to calm her, I find that her presence calms me too. It has been a long time since I had someone I liked by my side. Someone I trust, too, though she has not done much to earn that trust. I know she will run if she can. I know she will disobey me to every extent I allow it, and yet there is a part of me that finds her eminently trustworthy.
Because she is your mate, my inner voice says. She is the one who was made for you in the beginning. She is your destiny.
According to the customs of our people, only another Euphorian can be my mate. A tall, statuesque creature of my own kind. That is who should be my mate. Not this chaotic little human who came to my world as a commodity.
You do not understand fate. There are events and consequences and forces at play far beyond your limited understanding of what is.
My inner voice is sometimes kind of an asshole, but I’ve overheard other people’s internal voices, and relatively speaking mine is only pedantic and whimsical, which I will take over the harsh cruelty some of my kind must tolerate inside their skulls.