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  “How does he do that? Just appear and disappear like that?” Sebastian asked, awed. He had reluctantly agreed to go to the hospital and bring the armor to my apartment, but only if I told him absolutely everything. Which I had tried to do, though Kristoff didn’t like it. Still, I felt like I owed my friend an explanation and besides—telling it to someone else and having them believe it made me feel less crazy.

  Not that there could be any doubt about Kristoff telling the truth now. Besides the heap of silver metal parts which was all that was left of the assassin-droid, his chameleon-like skin changing abilities, and the small crystal cube which projected a message from the previous Empress, who looked like a much older version of myself, I could now add the irrefutable fact that his technology was clearly not of this world. Case in point, he was somehow able to twist a knob on his thick leather belt and vanish into thin air, only to reappear when I least expected it.

  “It is Nicean stealth tech,” he explained to Sebastian who was looking at him with a kind of awe-struck lust. He clearly wasn’t holding a grudge against Kristoff for strangling him the night before, even though I could see the marks of the big alien’s long fingers still on his neck.

  Yes, that’s right—I said alien. There was no denying it anymore—Kristoff most definitely was an alien. An alien who had insisted on following me to the hospital when I refused to call in sick for my shift. But at least now that he had his armor he was able to make himself invisible while he watched over me.

  “I wish I could get some of that tech,” Sebastian murmured, looking over Kristoff’s lean, muscular physique hungrily. “It would really come in handy when I go clubbing.”

  “It would not work for you,” Kristoff told him shortly. “You need Majoran blood in your veins and the ability to change the color of your skin, hair, and eyes at will. We are chromatachromes—the tech simply enhances our talents.”

  “You can do all that?” Sebastian asked eagerly. “Show me!”

  Kristoff looked at me and I nodded apologetically.

  “Could you? He won’t stop asking until you do.”

  “Very well.” With a shrug, he turned his skin deep green, then violet, then back to the tan with a gold sheen which was what he most seemed to favor.

  “Oh my God,” Sebastian exclaimed. “He’s like a sexy, muscular chameleon!”

  “It’s pretty amazing, all right,” I acknowledged. Then I saw a nurse coming down the corridor. “Kristoff,” I hissed, turning my head to him, but he had already disappeared. To anyone watching, it would look like Sebastian and I were alone in the hallway, perhaps discussing a patient. But I knew that Kristoff was just behind me, keeping an eye out for any potential threats, even though I couldn’t see him.

  “We’d better get to the Pit,” Sebastian remarked. “Uh…” He cast a glance behind us. “How is he going to, you know, keep from bumping into people if he’s shadowing you all night?”

  “Don’t concern yourself,” rumbled a deep voice, pitched for our ears alone. “I will not give away my position.”

  It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up to hear his voice coming out of what appeared to be empty air. I took a deep breath and tried to shrug off the feeling of being watched—not just by Kristoff but by some unseen enemy too.

  “Why are you even here if everything he told you is true?” Sebastian demanded, as we walked towards the ER, which was still pretty quiet this time of night. “I mean, if you’re really some kind of goddess or empress or whatever then what are you doing pulling a nine to nine in the Pit? You should be on your way to Glamour-planet, girl!”

  “I can’t just pick up and go like that,” I exclaimed, telling Sebastian the same thing I had told Kristoff. “I have a life here! I worked hard to get into this program.”

  “Didn’t we all,” he murmured. “But if some massive, muscular, sexy alien showed up and told me I was supposed to be the king of his universe, I sure as hell wouldn’t be hanging around here!”

  “Well, I am,” I said stubbornly.

  “So then why is he still hanging around if you told him you’re not interested in being the Queen of Everything?” Sebastian threw a look over his shoulder at my invisible bodyguard even though he couldn’t see him.

  “I can’t, um, convince him to leave without me,” I said. “He seems to think I’m still at risk.”

  “Then you shouldn’t be in the ER,” he pointed out. “You don’t need to bring your stranger danger in here for all of us to share!”

  “That’s the thing—I don’t think I am in danger. Not here in a crowded place, anyway,” I said in a low voice, indicating all the people around us now that we were in the ER proper. “The assassin-droid came after me when I was all alone at home. As long as I stay busy and in a place with lots of activity, I should be fine.”

  “But why take the chance?” Sebastian demanded.

  “Damn it, Sebastian—you’re supposed to be on my side!” I exclaimed. “I can’t just let this reshape my whole life! Even if I did decide to go, I have some loose ends to tie up here. Some patients I’m responsible for. Not to mention I’d want to give our Attending a damn good excuse before I suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

  Just saying that made a shiver go down my spine. That was the real reason I didn’t want to go with Kristoff, even though I now believed him. I didn’t want to leave my safe, normal existence and abandon the only planet I’d ever called home.

  I know it sounds foolish, but I was more afraid of the unknown than I was of some possible killer lurking around the corner.

  “So he’s just going to shadow you and stay at your place until you change your mind?” Sebastian muttered.

  “I don’t know. I guess.” I shrugged and reached for a chart. “Look, we’d better get to work.”

  “Okay…see you, I guess. Be careful.” He gave me a cautious look and then threw a glance over his shoulder as well, as if Kristoff might be watching him.

  I knew he wasn’t though—he was too busy watching me.

  Kristoff

  I wished I could have convinced Charlotte to come with me at once. I had already signaled my ship, getting it ready to go. My best shuttle was cloaked in stealth tech, hovering in low Earth orbit, ready to descend the moment I called it to me. But I couldn’t go until my new mistress was ready to come with me.

  I considered taking her by force—simply picking her up and slinging her over my shoulder. She was light enough—it would be easy. It would also be for her own good. It was a fool’s errand, shadowing her at the House of Healing, watching and waiting to circumvent any new attacks before they happened.

  It was true, I told myself restively. Now that I had made contact with her and she believed me and understood I was telling the truth about the galaxy and her role in it, I should simply kidnap her and take her back to Femme One. There she could begin the Trials and prove she was the True Incarnation so she could take the Golden Throne.

  Except I knew if I did that, she would never forgive me.

  Though I hadn’t known her long, I already knew my new mistress well enough to understand that she couldn’t be bullied or coerced into doing something she didn’t want to do. I remembered with admiration the way she had dealt with her male superior, who had come to her domicile seeking her sexual favors. Charlotte had sent him away and not gently either—which was good, such males deserved no gentleness when it came to the rejection of their advances.

  Just thinking of the proprietary way he’d touched her made a low growl rise in my throat. Mine, came a thought, unbidden to my mind. She is mine and the next time that bastard touches her I’ll cut off his fucking hand!

  The vehemence of my feelings surprised me and made me uneasy. But of course, I was just protecting my mistress—or so I told myself as I threaded my way through the crowded halls of the House of Healing.

  I watched as Charlotte assessed the hurt and injured and dealt out treatment. She worked with quiet efficiency and I saw as an obser