Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“I will now join hands with the other La-ti-zal,” Rylee continued, still looking up at the enormous Emperor. “But be warned—the surge of energy when two La-ti-zal touch can be intense!”
She held out her hand to me and looked right at me. I saw one of her eyes twitch down ever so slightly—the hint of a wink.
“Come—join with me, my Sister La-ti-zal!” she said loudly.
“Um…okay.” I reached for her hand and Rylee quickly entwined our fingers.
But the moment she had a firm grip on my hand, she went suddenly rigid, as though power was surging through her. Then a low moan broke from her lips and she began to shake all over.
Remembering that she had told me to follow her head, I started moaning and shivering too—like I was having some kind of religious experience or maybe a seizure.
Rylee put her other hand—the one not holding mine—to her head.
“Oh, it’s too much—too much!” she moaned and collapsed to the floor.
I did the same, moaning and clutching my own head with my free hand.
“What is it? What’s wrong with them?” The Emperor demanded. Standing up from his throne, he came to stare down at Rylee and me, still twitching on the floor. “What has happened?”
“I do not know, Your Majesty,” Captain Zernex knelt beside me. “Perhaps the surge of energy the first La-ti-zal spoke of has incapacitated them.”
“Oh!” Rylee moaned loudly, as though to reinforce this idea. “The images…the thoughts…I must…must have time to process—to interpret what I have seen!”
“Yes…yes! We must have time!” I moaned in agreement, still clutching my head. From the corner of my eye, I saw the Emperor giving us a disgusted look.
“Very well—take them away to a holding cell for a time to let them recover. Bring them back to me in a few hours.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Captain Zernex barked, bowing his head. He scooped me up in his arms and I went as limp as rag doll, not even trying to resist. Another guard picked up Rylee and the two of us were carried out of the throne room.
FORTY-SIX
NATALIE
I kept my eyes closed tightly so I didn’t see where we were going. I only looked up after the Captain of the Guards deposited me on what felt like the hardest mattress ever and I heard his tromping footsteps retreating. Beside me, I could hear Rylee stirring.
When I dared to peek, I saw we were in some kind of prison cell, lying on a cot with a plain gray mattress and surrounded by black metal bars. So apparently we were in the Tangellan version of prison, but at least we were alone—all the guards had left the room.
When I looked over at my cousin, I saw she was lying on her side, staring at me.
“Girl, what are you doing here?” she demanded, frowning. “You’re supposed to be safe, back home on Earth!”
“I’m doing the same damn thing you are—I was captured by the Commercians! I was sucked right through the mirror—your bathroom mirror, actually,” I told her. “When I was looking around your apartment for clues to see where the hell you went!”
“What? How did you get into my apartment?” she demanded. “And when was this, anyway? I got back home—for a while, anyway—before I left again.”
“About a week after you went missing,” I told her. “Aunt Celia was really worried about you so she called and asked me to go check on you. And remember, you changed the locks because of your ex, Phillip, and gave me one of your spare keys?”
“Damn…I completely forgot about that.” She put a hand to her head. “You must have gotten abducted right before I came back and then left again. So we just missed each other.” She shook her head. “Bad timing, I guess.”
“You could say that,” I said dryly. “Since I just spent the last six months living as a Blood Whore on O’nagga Nine.”
“What?” Rylee’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
Briefly, I explained about how Gumpas had bought me, decided I wasn’t a La-ti-zal and left me on O’nagga Nine where I had no choice but to sell my blood.
“But that’s all I sold,” I told my cousin firmly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. “Until I met Vik’tor…”
“Vik’tor, hmmm?” Rylee raised her eyebrows at me in that way she does when she’s teasing me about a guy. “And who is this Vik’tor?”
“He’s really just a friend,” I said, though that wasn’t quite true.
I told her how he was a Baron and the richest man on the planet and how we had felt an instant attraction to each other the minute I literally ran into him.
“Oh, like Pretty Woman!” she exclaimed. “Remember how we used to watch that over and over in high school, whenever I’d go over to your house on the weekends?”