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SERENAI

“So that’s it. It’s over,” Serenai murmured to herself as she wandered around the penthouse suite, feeling like a ghost of her former self.

Cheeky cheeped sadly from his spot on the couch. The little creature was clearly missing his master almost as much as Serenai was.

“He’s gone,” she told Cheeky . “ And …and he’s never coming back.”

Everywhere she looked, she saw Brax . She couldn’t help remembering how gently he’d touched her—how he’d taught her to pleasure herself and urged her not to feel guilty for taking joy in her own body.

The way he’d held her at night, wrapped up safe in his arms…

the way he kissed her…tasted her…made her love him…

And then left her.

He’d flown off in the ship she’d given to him as a parting gift, with barely a backwards glance. Oh , he’d thanked her profusely for both the ship and his freedom, but it was clear he was looking towards the future and wasn’t concerned with the past.

It’s not his fault he can’t remember our past together. He gave up his memory to save my life, Serenai reminded herself. But it still stung when she remembered how easily the big half- Kindred had said goodbye, never to return.

The only thing she had left of him was the remote she still wore around her neck and even that was broken, she thought, remembering how it hadn’t worked when she’d tried to “punish” Brax at Mistress Trembledamp’s request.

Idly, she pulled it from around her neck and turned it over in her hands.

It was sleek and small—made of black and silver, it almost looked more like a piece of jewelry than a functional piece of tech.

But there were some strange scratches on the back of it.

What were those? She needed better light to see.

Serenai walked over to the far side of the room and pushed a button. Immediately a long, curving section of the clear glass wall whooshed to one side, revealing a balcony that looked over the vast, glittering display of downtown Opulex .

In the sunlight, the scratches on the back of the pain collar remote were more visible. Serenai rubbed her thumb over them and a tiny panel suddenly came loose.

“What’s this?” she murmured, pulling it aside—it was no bigger than her thumbnail.

She looked into the miniscule space that had been opened when the panel came loose and her frown deepened.

The tiny compartment was empty. Was that where the batteries were supposed to go?

If so, no wonder the pain collar hadn’t worked. But how?—

Suddenly, she heard the sound of the front door of the penthouse opening and Aunt Nibblegrim came bustling in. When she saw Serenai standing there on the balcony, her mouth pursed like she’d been sucking something sour.

“You!” she exclaimed. “ What are you still doing here?”

“What do you mean?” Serenai shook her head, bewildered. “ I live here.”

“Yes, yes—but what about that red-eyed thing you were telling me about?” Aunt Nibblegrim asked impatiently. “ How many times have you seen it now?”

Serenai frowned.

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Oh, I don’t know—just curious, I guess.” Aunt Nibblegrim shrugged her shoulders and then looked around. “ But where’s that brute you bought to serve as your bodyslave?”

“Brax is not…not my bodyslave anymore.” Serenai had to swallow a lump in her throat before she could keep talking. “ I set him free and sent him on his way.”

“Sent him on his way? How ? Where did you send him? A big bastard like that would be dangerous out on the streets. The other cast-off males would rally around him!” Aunt Nibblegrim exclaimed. “ The other Mistresses of Opulex won’t be pleased if they hear what you’ve done.”

“You don’t have to worry about any of that,” Serenai said calmly. “ I didn’t turn him out on the street. I gave him the ship Mother left me and let him fly away.”

Aunt Nibblegrim’s face went dark with anger.

“You what?” she exploded, glaring at Serenai . “ You gave away my ship to that…that big, stupid male?”

“Your ship?” Serenai frowned. “ What are you talking about? It was listed as one of the assets I inherited when the lawyer read out Mother’s will.”

“Yes, she left everything to you—everything that should have been mine!” Aunt Nibblegrim raged.

“ And now you’ve gone and given away a multi-million credit starship to some stupid slave just because you fell in love with him!

Why that big idiot didn’t kill you when he had the chance, I’ll never know. ”

“Kill me? What are you talking about?” Serenai demanded.

But things were beginning to fall into place.

“ There are no batteries in this,” she said, holding up the remote she’d been examining.

“ And you were the last one to handle it before you gave it to me. You told me you were putting in a new power source, but instead you took it out! You left me defenseless in case Brax decided to attack me!”

“Yes, not that it did any good!” Aunt Nibblegrim snapped. “ I expected him to kill you that first night—why he didn’t, I have no idea.”

“Because he was a decent man. And because he…he loved me. Before he broke the bloodstone curse,” Serenai said, her throat dry.

“What? He broke the curse on the necklace?” Aunt Nibblegrim looked almost apoplectic now. Her face was positively purple with rage. “ Do you know how much that cost me?”

“Wait… you bought the cursed necklace and sent it to my mother?” Serenai shook her head. “ I don’t understand. Why would you do that? She was your sister—didn’t you love her?”

“No of course not—no one could love a greedy, cruel, nasty woman like her!” Aunt Nibblegrim snapped. “ I thought I could get her out of the way and I did—only to find out that she’d left everything to you . An undeserving little idiot who has no notion of how to be a proper Mistress !”

Serenai felt torn between rage and tears. She hadn’t been especially close to her aunt, but at least she’d thought she could trust her. What she was hearing now was awful .

“How can you say that?” she asked, her voice trembling. “ What did I ever do to you?”

“You existed!” Aunt Nibblegrim shouted at her. “ You stole it all—everything I worked so hard for. I used the last of my savings on that cursed necklace and then you go and ruin everything but not succumbing to the curse!”

“You’re horrible!” Serenai left the balcony and paced back into the penthouse living area. “ I can’t believe you killed my mother and tried to kill me! Well , you won’t get away with it! I’m going straight to the Sacred Seven !”

The Sacred Seven was the ruling body of Yonnie Six , composed of seven wealthy and influential Mistresses who set rules for Opulex and the rest of the planet.

“Oh, no you won’t!” Aunt Nibblegrim suddenly produced a snub-nosed blaster from her pocket and waved it in Serenai’s face. “ You’re not going to live long enough to tell anyone.”