Twisted: Brides of the Kindred 23 Read online

  “Doesn’t matter how I did it—what matters is that I will do it to you too unless you drop to your knees right now and beg your Mistress’s forgiveness, Ranks,” Malik growled. “Right. Now.”

  Ranks looked like he wanted to protest…but then he took a second look at the two unconscious slaves on the floor. Faint smoke was rising from their hair and there was a scent like scorched flesh which didn’t mix well at all with the soft, floral and herb aroma of the bathing suite. Reluctantly, he dropped to his knees and turned to face Nikki.

  “Mistress,” he said sullenly, “I beg your pardon for my behavior. I have no excuse except I was driven crazy by your beautiful body.”

  “You are not forgiven—that was not acceptable in any way!” Nikki pointed a shaking finger at him and spoke to Malik. “Get him out of here—get all of them out of here. I never want to see them again!”

  Malik frowned and called a security detail, just as he had with Ugger. Guards came and took the three slaves away—dragging the two unconscious ones—and leaving her alone with the big Kindred at last.

  Malik looked at her and shook his head.

  “Mistress, this is bad. Really bad.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that!” Nikki’s heart was still beating so hard it felt like it was shaking her entire body and her stomach was rolling so that she thought she might be sick any minute. “I can’t believe they just came in here like that,” she said, putting a hand to her stomach. “And that they wanted to…were going to…”

  But she couldn’t make herself finish the sentence—couldn’t make herself say that if Malik had walked in even a minute later, she might have been raped by the three angry men.

  “You control your slaves with an iron fist at all times, Mistress,” Malik said, frowning. “And you enjoy teasing them with your body constantly while almost never allowing them a sexual release. Every male in this place spends most of his life in a state of lustful rage. Of course they’re going to come after you the moment they sense your control is slipping.”

  “My control is not slipping!” Nikki snapped.

  “They why did you cry in my arms not thirty minutes ago?” There was a quiet intensity in his deep voice and his silver eyes were filled with concern. “The Mistress I know would never have allowed herself to be so vulnerable with a slave.”

  So she had made a big mistake in allowing her emotions to take over, just as she’d feared, Nikki thought dismally. But she hadn’t been able to help herself at the time—the tears had just taken over and she hadn’t been able to stop them.

  “I told you, I was working through some…issues,” she said, lifting her chin. “You don’t have to worry—it won’t happen again. I am in perfect control of myself and I was in control of the situation with the slaves too.” Which was a complete lie but now she felt backed into a corner.

  “Then why didn’t you use their pain collars on them?” Malik demanded. “In the past you would have had them on their knees for even daring to enter the bathing suite without permission! What has come over you, Mistress? It’s like you’re not even the same female who bought me so many cycles ago.”

  Nikki felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cubes in the pit of her stomach. She remembered Mistress Hellenix’s words—her absolute assurance that Malik would kill her if he found out she was an imposter. She couldn’t let that happen—she just couldn’t!

  “I’m the same person I always was,” she said, frowning at him regally. “Now kindly help me get dressed for dinner, Malik.”

  “But Mistress—” he started to protest.

  “No!” Nikki held up a hand to stop him. For a moment, she almost felt like she was channeling the real Mistress Hellenix. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore—I mean it!” she said in the coldest, most forbidding tone she could manage.

  The big Kindred looked surprised and confused, but finally he nodded.

  “As you wish, Mistress,” he rumbled. “Come—I have a selection of gowns for you to pick from. I hope at least one of them will meet with your approval.”

  “Thank you.” Nikki followed him, feeling that disaster had been very narrowly averted. She had to do a better job of pretending to be her evil twin if she wanted to survive this bizarre experience!

  She had to.

  Chapter Nine

  The Yonnite food was like nothing Nikki had ever eaten before and, in most cases, like nothing she would ever want to eat again.

  The very first course was a shiny black roasted beetle as big as her head lying on its back in a pile of bright purple salad greens. The bottom shell of its thorax had been carefully removed, showing a nauseating mass of yellow and red guts within, which had been cooked and seasoned with the most exotic herbs and spices—as the slave who served it to her assured her.

  Nikki nearly threw up all over it.

  If there was one thing she hated it was bugs. How was it that her evil twin showed no such aversion? She thought of the box filled with roach-like beetles in the spa and shivered. Either Mistress Hellenix was truly fearless or she just didn’t mind insects and other creepy-crawly things.

  “Take it away,” she told the slave who was serving her. She knew she had to do better and pretending to be the real Hellenix but she couldn’t—absolutely couldn’t—bring herself to even touch the shiny black bug and its disgusting exposed guts—let alone put any of it in her mouth.

  The slave looked surprised.

  “But Mistress, it is your favorite.”

  “Not tonight,” Nikki snapped. “Now take it away or…or I’ll use the pain collar on you—I swear I will.”

  Which was an empty threat since she couldn’t remember the word Mistress Hellenix had told her to activate the slaves’ collars and she wouldn’t hurt anyone over something as small as a bad meal anyway. But she couldn’t stand to look at the disgusting bug guts one minute longer!

  The slave turned pale and quickly whisked the offending plate away. But the next course wasn’t much better.

  “What is this?” Nikki asked when he placed a long, furry object also plated on purple salad greens in front of her.

  And how in the world am I supposed to eat it? she wondered to herself. It was about as long as her forearm and covered in many long, hair-like orange spikes that were tipped with blood-red. To be honest, what it really looked like was a giant wooly caterpillar—the kind with poison spines that would make your hand swell up to three times its normal size if you so much as brushed against it.

  “Why, Mistress—this is a broiled garrum worm,” the slave said carefully. “The spikes are left on for decoration but I will, of course, remove them so that you may eat the delectable meat within.”

  As he spoke, he used a long-handled utensil to whisk away the outer hide covered in orange and crimson spikes. Underneath, the worm looked even less edible—if that was possible. The pale gray tube of worm-meat which was revealed was threaded with blue and purple veins. It looked bizarrely intestinal and not at all like something Nikki wanted to put in her mouth.

  Ugh! She couldn’t help recoiling from the disgusting dish. Didn’t they serve any cuisine here that wasn’t insect-based?

  “Do you not like this either, my Mistress?” the slave asked, looking worried.

  “No,” Nikki said shortly. “Take it away and bring me a salad.”

  “A…salad?” The slave looked confused. “Is that some new food you found on one of your many travels, Mistress? If you will describe it to me, I will ask the chef to make it.”

  “It’s like this.” Nikki pointed at the purple salad greens that the massive intestine-looking caterpillar worm thing sat on. “Just lots of this with some kind of tangy dressing and crunch toppings.”

  The slave nodded quickly. “Yes, my Mistress—I will bring you a, uh, ‘salad,’ at once.”

  “Thank you.” Nikki sat back in the throne-like dining chair which was at the end of a very long, highly polished table. The table looked like it could seat fifty with ease but sh