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SERENAI

“No, no—you don’t understand! Brax isn’t at fault here—he saved me!”

Serenai stepped between the big half- Kindred —who was still holding Aunt Nibblegrim firmly by the shoulders—and the raised blasters of the peace-keepers. She’d heard of this special force of Amazonian women who kept peace for the Mistresses of Yonnie Six , but she’d never encountered them before.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, but not just from fear. Inside a little voice was singing,

Brax came back for me—he came back! That must mean he remembers me! He remembers our love!

“He saved me from my aunt—she was trying to kill me!” she said to the peace-keepers, hoping they would believe her. “ If he hadn’t come back when he did, I’d be dead right now.”

“Lies!” Aunt Nibblegrim shrieked. “ It was my niece who was trying to kill me. Why , she told her bodyslave to throw me over the balcony!”

The two peace-keepers looked between Serenai and her aunt, clearly uncertain as to what to do.

“I’m Mistress Nibblegrim —an established Mistress !” Aunt Nibblegrim went on, glaring at them from the mess of her hair. “ You must believe me! Check my credentials— I’ve been a Yonnite all my life and this girl—my niece—only just came here a week or two ago. She has no credibility whatsoever!”

Serenai’s heart sank. It was true, she hardly knew anyone on Yonnie Six who would vouch for her. And Aunt Nibblegrim had been a part of this community for years. Of course they would believe her over Serenai . They? —

“Excuse me, officers.” Robbi , who had been standing at the far end of the living area simply observing, waddled forward.

“What the fuck next?” one of the peace-keepers muttered. “ What do you want?” she demanded, glaring at Robbi .

“I am the robot butler of this household and I am the one who summoned you,” he said in his high, tinny voice. “ I also have valuable evidence that may help you decide who is at fault here.”

“Evidence? What kind of evidence?” the other peace keeper asked.

“A recording I made just before you came.”

A panel in Robbi’s rotund midsection slid to one side and a small black projector popped out. A beam of light shot out of it and suddenly there was a hologram of Serenai being menaced by Aunt Nibblegrim .

“You…you planned this all along,” Serenai saw the hologram of herself declare.

“Of course I planned it!” the holo of Aunt Nibblegrim replied.

“ You know, the cursed necklace worked on your mother and I was all set to inherit—until I found out your idiot of a mother had left everything to you! So then I thought, well, just give it time—it should work again. And in the meantime, you asked me about getting a bodyslave so I chose the most savage bastard I could find to guard you. I took the power source out of his pain collar remote— I was sure he’d rip your head off the minute he got a chance!

But noooo , he had to go and fall in love with you instead! ”

“That’s a lie—these are lies! I never said that!” Aunt Nibblegrim shouted, writhing in Brax’s grip.

“I don’t know, Mistress —it looks like a pretty legit recording to me,” one of the peace-keepers said skeptically.

“The conversation goes on for some time,” Robbie informed them. “ But I think this is the most pertinent part, officers.”

The holo recording skipped ahead to the part where Aunt Nibblegrim had been trying to push Serenai off the balcony.

“The point is, when they see you’ve ‘committed suicide,’ I’ll be able to tell the authorities the tragic story of how my poor innocent niece was fooled into falling in love with her bodyslave.

And then, when he left her, she was so distraught she threw herself over her own balcony!

” the hologram of Aunt Nibblegrim snarled as she tried to force Serenai over the drop.

“Well, well, this does shed a different light on things,” the other peace-keeper remarked.

“No, it doesn’t! It’s lies—all lies!” Aunt Nibblegrim raved. She glared at Robbi . “ You hunk of junk! I programmed you not to interfere!”

“Pardon me, Mistress , but you programmed me to be unable to interfere physically ,” Robbi said primly. “ But you made no mention of any non-physical interference. I suspected that you killed my old Mistress , who I cared for deeply. Now I know I was right.”

“You stupid mechanical idiot! I’ll have you junked!” Aunt Nibblegrim shrieked. “ Let me go —let me go!”

This last was directed at Brax , who still had her by the upper arms and was holding her in place with very little effort, despite the way she was screaming and writhing.

“Yes, let Mistress Nibblegrim go, bodyslave.” The first peace-keeper motioned with her blaster. “ We need to take her down to the station and process her.”

The second peace-keeper turned to Serenai .

“And I’m afraid we’ll need to bring your robot butler as well—he seems to have ample evidence we need to study.”

“All right—as long as you don’t hurt him and bring him back to me when you’re finished,” Serenai told her.

“Of course—we’ll be very careful with him,” the peace-keeper promised.

“Then that’s fine.” Serenai looked at the robo-butler. “ You’ll need to go with the peace-keepers. All right, Robbi ?”

“Yes, Mistress . I will be happy to.” Robbi nodded in his jerky, mechanical way.

“Very good. Come with us then,” the second peace-keeper said.

Before Serenai knew it, the two of them had cuffed Aunt Nibblegrim’s hands behind her back and were leading her out of the penthouse with Robbi waddling after them.

She could hardly wait to see them go. The minute the door closed behind them she rushed over to Brax and threw herself into his arms.

“You remembered!” she exclaimed, looking up at him eagerly. “ You remembered me—you remembered us! That’s why you came back—isn’t it?”

But her joy turned to ashes when she saw him shake his head.

“I’m sorry, little Mistress but I only came back because the Goddess told me to. I still don’t remember anything about our time together—however long it was.”

“The Goddess ?” Serenai shook her head. “ I don’t understand. You still don’t remember me? You don’t remember…telling me you…you loved me?”

Her voice was trembling and tears were filling her eyes. She couldn’t stop them from falling.

When he shook his head again, she pushed away from him and ran.

Rushing to the bedroom they had shared together those few precious nights, she slammed the door and fell to her knees, crying because her heart was breaking…breaking all over again.