Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“You have to come! As the last surviving member of the Sacred Seven, you’re the Ruling Member—the only one who can appoint new members to serve! We’ve been as patient as we can be, but all of Opulex is beginning to grind to a halt without leadership. You simply must attend.”
“But I never wanted to be one of the Sacred Seven in the first place!” Mirabella protested. “Let alone appoint anyone else to serve with me.”
“In that case, you can always appoint someone to take your place,” Mistress Hottalot informed her. “But you must come in person. And do bring those two strapping bodyslaves with you,” she added, nodding at Lynx and Saxon. “I’m so glad you finally got yourself some—now that you’re properly attended, the other Mistresses can finally take you seriously.”
“They’re not—” Mirabella began but she didn’t get a chance to finish.
“And wear a new dress,” Mistress Hottalot continued, giving Mirabella’s limp green and silver outfit a scathing look. “One that properly shows off your assets! You must have on the proper clothing when you’re introduced and your bodyslaves kiss your panties, you know!”
“But—” Mirabella began again, rather desperately, Lynx thought.
“I’ll see you tonight at my Tower. Eight sharp. Don’t be late.” She pointed a finger at Mirabella. “And if you don’t attend, I’m coming to get you! You cannot let the fate of the entire planet twist in the wind because you don’t like taking personal responsibility for the position you inherited!”
The viewscreen abruptly went blank—Mistress Hottalot had had her say and Lynx wasn’t sure what was going to come of it. Though he did know one thing—he and Saxon couldn’t leave Mirabella yet. She needed them.
SEVENTEEN
MIRABELLA
“Well…” Miri sank down on the green, overstuffed sofa and put her head in her hands. She wanted to swear but she couldn’t think of words bad enough to describe her situation.
“What is it, my Lady?” Lynx came and sat on her right side. “Do you not wish to attend tonight?”
“No—of course I don’t!” Miri exclaimed, looking up. “I’ve been to so many Yonnite High Society functions and they’re all the same—the other Mistresses are so nasty. They make fun of me for wearing the wrong clothes and for not having a bodyslave.”
“Why don’t you have a bodyslave since you’re a Yonnite Mistress?” Saxon rumbled.
Miri lifted her chin.
“I refuse to enslave another sentient being—it’s not right! Besides, my own father started out as a bodyslave and if he hadn’t been bought by my mother, his life would have been pure misery!”
“We respect your personal ethics,” Lynx said, nodding. “It’s not easy to go against the flow—especially in an extremely stressful social situation like the one you’ve been put in.”
“You mean with me being the ‘Ruling Member of the Sacred Seven?’” Miri made a face. “Ugh! And now I have to go face them all again—all those nasty Mistresses who think it’s so much fun to snub me and look down their noses because I’m not from Opulex and I don’t dress the right way.”
“They snub you?” Lynx asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Of course they do! They don’t even talk behind your back—those bitches say awful things right to your face!” Miri ran a hand through her tangled curls. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do less than attend this stupid meeting. But…” She sighed. “I guess I have to. Now that the killer has been caught—and don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly relieved that he has—I don’t have an excuse to hide anymore.”
“You could just tell them all to go fuck themselves,” Saxon growled. “Sounds like that’s what they fucking deserve.”
“She can’t do that,” Lynx argued. “Mistress Hottalot was right about one thing—a planet can’t survive without leadership.”
“I know that’s true.” Miri sighed again. “But I don’t want to be the leader of that bunch of snooty bitches! What I want is to go back to practicing medicine.” She looked at the two of them. “You don’t know how good it felt to pull out my Med Kit and treat the two of you yesterday. I just want to heal people.”
Lynx looked thoughtful.
“I can understand that—and believe me, we were very grateful for your treatment.”
“Speaking of which, I should look the two of you over—make sure everything is healing right,” Miri said.
“Not until we get this resolved.” Lynx held up one finger. “You have to decide what to do about tonight.”
“I’ll have to go, I guess.” Miri ran both hands through her hair this time. “But you don’t know how much I’m dreading it! How would you like to go to a fancy party—because that’s what all these meetings amount to—where everyone there looked down on you and whispered about you and said nasty things about your weight—”
“They said things about your curves?” Saxon interrupted. He looked incensed, his nostrils flaring and his pale blue eyes narrowed.