Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 26718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
“You have nothing to be sorry about. We want you to be able to do as you please, for however long you want to do it. This is your life now, and you are not our prisoner or our servant.”
She swallowed, never hearing such kind words spoken to her before.
“Thank you again.”
He nodded in a gruff way and moved toward the chair across from her. After he was seated, he leaned back and braced his big arms over the back of the chair. “What were you reading?” Viktor asked and nodded with his chin toward the tablet on the table.
“I wasn’t actually reading… because I can’t.” Embarrassment filled her.
“We can put a reading chip in you, if you like?”
She nodded. Servants were not taught such luxuries, especially if they didn’t benefit their owners. “I was looking at the images, and I guess I got lost in it all.” She licked her lips. “But from the images, I gathered it was about a family on Earth trying to survive after the third World War that devastated and destroyed the planet.”
He nodded once. “That is one of Savastian’s favorites. I don’t get to read much, but when I do have the time, I enjoy the newer titles that have come out in this century.” He grinned and flashed her his straight white smile.
“I would assume you three have much more important things to worry about than reading.”
He didn’t respond but continued to stare at her with that piercing dark gaze of his. She felt bared for him, more than a little off-kilter when she was in their presence, but only in the best of ways.
“Would you like to hear about our planet before we arrive tomorrow?” he asked in that deep, slightly hoarse and scratchy voice of his.
Mekenna nodded, licked her lips, and settled back against the soft cushioning of the air chair.
“Although you have human genetics, your Cellulion blood should allow you to live comfortably in the extreme heat of Hades, especially since Sessinea is not much cooler than my home planet.”
Although she had never been to Hades, she did know enough about the red fire planet—that it was extremely hot because of the several suns in the sky, the lava rivers, lakes, and oceans, and of course the fire forest.
“Most Hades warriors live within the protection of the mountains on our planet, but my brothers and I have been living deep within the Fedenya caves in the center of the biggest fire forest called Goomata. It is on the other side of the Vella Mountains, but while protected from the heat and flames of our world, it still has a stabilized temperature to keep our kind comfortable.”
She pictured the fiery world he spoke of. Back on Sessinea, she had seen holographic images of Hades, and other planets in the Stoker Galaxy, and knew that not many forms of life could survive on it. Humans were by far the weakest, but if they stayed out of the extreme heat and elements, they could survive in the protection of caves and mountains.
But her species, even though she was half human, thrived in the heat. Her blue skin allowed the temperature to slowly be absorbed into her body and metabolized. She may appear human and look like her human servant mother, but she was very much a Cellulion alien.
The planet sounded frightening in some aspects, but she also remembered seeing the gorgeous fire oceans and bodies of lava, the towering black mountains and trees that had flames for leaves. It was a heaven and hell kind of world, and soon it would be where she’d spend the rest of her life.
Viktor went on to talk about his world more, giving her these visuals that no hologram could ever achieve. Mekenna found herself leaning forward, anticipating the stories, the creatures that were like monsters from a nightmare but for Hades were everyday occurrences.
How would she survive a planet where the life on it was so dangerous and destructive?
You’ll survive it, because you’ll be free, and any planet that allows you to have that kind of freedom is better than being chained up.
She lifted her hand to her neck, where there was no longer a chain around her throat. Viktor had taken it off as soon as they boarded the ship, and although it was strange to have that piece of metal off, she could still feel it there.
Maybe she always would, because that had been her life since the moment she came out of her mother.
After Viktor was finished speaking, he stood and went over to the window that showed the vast collection of planets and space. “Come stand by me, mate.”
She moved her hands over her thighs, took a deep, steadying breath, and rose, then moved toward him. For several moments, they just stood there, neither speaking, but the silence and atmosphere surrounding them comfortable.