Enslaved Read online

  “Hello?” She looked around the dimly lit bedroom uneasily. “Who are you and why can’t I see you?”

  “It’s the Goddess,” Stav whispered hoarsely. “Can’t you feel her presence?”

  What Charlie mostly felt was that Stav was still hard inside her and now they were apparently being paid a visit from the Kindred deity. Awkward!

  “Oh, um…” She started to get up or try to find something to cover herself but the voice of the Goddess stopped her.

  “Do not feel shame for being joined to the male I chose for you,” the powerful, feminine voice murmured. “There is no wrong in it. This is the truth that Trin does not understand—I put her and Thrace together and it is right and proper that they should find pleasure in each other. It is what I wish for all those I draw together.”

  “Forgive me, Mother of all Life, but neither Trin nor Thrace are of Kindred or Earth blood,” Stavros said. “How is it you claim them?”

  “Half of Trin’s blood does come from Earth—her mother chose an Earth male’s seed to impregnate her when she wished to have a child. And though the Havoc have tried to separate from me and deny me, I still love and claim them as my children. They are but a little removed from the Kindred—another branch of your lineage, as you know.”

  “All right,” Charlie said, nodding. She wasn’t as startled as she had been but it was still an intensely uncomfortable sensation to know that the Goddess could see them locked together like this. “Uh…but what about the goddess that Trin’s people worship?” she asked aloud. “The Goddess of Judgment. Is she, um, related to you?”

  “She is no true deity at all but a false idol made up by the Daughters of Zetta to promote their own beliefs,” the Goddess assured them. “They have formed an idea of what is right but truly it is their own darkness and ignorance they are worshiping.”

  “We see,” Stavros said, speaking for both of them. “And was it you who sent us the visions then? I thought I had gained some kind of connection when Two and the demon he once hosted, Ur, touched me on the home world of the Dark Kindred.”

  “Two is yet a very dangerous male. He has gained powers through his misadventures and in the process he has become even more warped and twisted.”

  “Well, from what I just saw of his dealings with Thrace, it seems he will no longer be troubling us,” Stav said.

  “Do not become complacent in the matter of that male, no matter what you think you have seen,” the Goddess said sternly. “But I am not here to speak to you of the Dark Kindred. I have come to tell you that your time of watching is over. It is time for the both of you to act.”

  “Act in what way, oh Mother of Life?” Stavros asked respectfully.

  “You must go to Thrace—the vessel he is in cannot get to Zetta Prime in time and only he can save Trin. He must be brought to her before it is too late.”

  “But Goddess, uh, Mother of All Life…” Charlie wasn’t quite sure how to address a deity. “He already begged and pleaded with her and told her he loved her. What else can he do?”

  “Only he can save her,” the Goddess repeated. “Trin will be given a choice and she must choose correctly. The future of the Kindred race depends on it.”

  “You say the future of the race, but wasn’t that what Two was talking about?” Stavros asked. “I saw him—saw him give Thrace some kind of a vision though I couldn’t witness it myself. What about the other girl he was talking about? The one with two faces?”

  “Her time is coming but it is not yet here.” The Goddess’s voice was growing fainter. “My time grows short. Go to Thrace, bring him to Zetta Prime. But he is not to go to Trin at once. Charlotte, you must prepare the way.”

  “Me? Prepare the way? How?” Charlie asked, so startled she forgot to be respectful.

  “Males are not welcome on the surface of Zetta Prime. But you and one or two of your choosing may go there in disguise. Wear the robes of a priestess and speak to Trin—prepare the way so that when she sees Thrace again her heart is open and ready for him.” The voice was fainter still. “She must come with you of her own accord—do not take her before she is ready. To go with you, choose only those who have no children and are not with child. Your task may be dangerous if you are recognized as imposters.”

  “I…but I…” Charlie started to protest.

  “Farewell…” the Goddess whispered. “Go my children. And do not fail me…”

  * * * * *

  “…So that’s what she said,” Charlie finished, staring around the small, crowded living area. They were meeting in Commander Sylvan’s quarters since it was slightly larger and could fit the most people. It was still early—well before first meal—and most of those gathered were yawning. A few were still in their nightclothes.

  Charlie looked around at the faces of the Kindred wives—the women who had become her friends after she came to live on the Mother Ship. Liv and Sophie were there, holding their sleeping babies, as well as Kat who was holding little baby Shad. He stared up at his mother silently with wide silver eyes. Charlie tried not to look at Kat’s mates, Deep and Lock. Though she liked Kat, Charlie still harbored some hard feelings against her Kindred mates for what had happened to her older sister.

  Aside from Liv, Kat and Sophie and their Kindred husbands, Becca and her two Twin Kindred mates, Truth and Far, were there. Mei-li was also sitting with her mate, the former Dark Kindred, Six. Becca and Mei-li were both holding Kat’s other babies, Seeks War and Makes Peace. The two twins were sleeping peacefully unlike their brother Shad who was quiet but wakeful.

  “Okay, what did I miss?” Just then the door opened and Lauren bustled in with a baby on her hip and a platter of donuts and breakfast pastries in one hand. She put them down on the coffee table in the center of the room and looked around expectantly. Her baby, Aziza, looked around alertly as well. She had lovely skin—a warm, clear tone somewhere between the creamy brown of her mother and the pearlescent gray of her father, Xairn. Her eyes were the same amber as Lauren’s but when she was upset they shimmered with a reddish light that could look downright scary at times.

  “Hi doll,” Kat said. “Charlie here is asking for volunteers to go on a top secret mission given to her by the Goddess.”

  “She what?” Lauren looked confused.

  “Just hush and you’ll find out. Thanks for the goodies.” Kat snagged a donut.

  “And you’ve been having these visions for how long?” Sylvan asked sternly, frowning at Charlie and Stav.

  Stavros cleared his throat uncomfortably.

  “For some time now, Commander Sylvan. But it was my distinct impression that there was nothing we could do for either Thrace or Trin.”

  “Thrace and Trin? Who are they?” Charlie heard Lauren ask Kat.

  “The people Charlie and Stavros have been keeping tabs on. Apparently they’ve been seeing them off and on in these trances. Mostly while they, uh…you know.”

  “No, I don’t know. What are you talking about?”

  “Never mind,” Charlie said quickly. “The point is, they’re people the Goddess has claimed as her own and they’re destiny is tied to the future of the Kindred race. Also, they need our help.”

  Rapidly she outlined the situation, catching the assembled group up on the salient points of the relationship she and Stavros had seen.

  “And now she’s going back to Zetta Prime to undergo some kind of punishment—a purification ritual—just because she had sex with the man she loves,” she ended. “It’s so sad because Trin loves him desperately—she’s just freaked out about the idea of being with a man, er, a male since her people don’t do that.”

  “They certainly don’t,” Far, Becca’s Light Twin mate murmured.

  “Explain,” Sylvan said to him. “I know you’ve made an in depth study of the other sentient races our people have encountered, Far—what do you know about the inhabitants of Zetta Prime?”

  “Are they man haters like the women on Yonnie Six?” Kat asked, looking interested.