Chapter 27
Myrum
It was a special kind of torture to pretend to be affectionate with someone when all you wanted to do was grab them by the throat and squeeze until their head popped off their body.
“Try this,” Lorse said, holding a bowl up to Myrum’s lips.
Myrum took the smallest sip possible. It tasted like lukewarm water with herbs. “It has a very delicate flavor.”
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Lorse said, then drank the rest of the bowl himself.
“Hisha is the best chef in the entire quadrant. I made sure to hire only the most skilled. I had to promise I’d take her back with me when I was reassigned, but I might have to make her stay here.
My cousin is going to broker the sale of this planet, and he requested she stay.
I made sure her contract was transferable.
It’ll be a shame to lose her, but leaving here is worth it. ”
It was good that Lorse was oblivious to Myrum’s moods, otherwise he would’ve realized Myrum was constantly fighting off the instinct to snap at the spoiled, spiteful Ossiso.
Were all the clears like this? No wonder there was a civil war; they were absolutely intolerable!
The next course came sweeping into the room, and the bowls of soup were cleared away. This new course looked like small vegetable medallions stacked into miniature small pyramids. As his plate was placed in front of him, he noticed he was having a hard time focusing.
Blinking, he looked up at the staff rushing from the room with the dirty dishes. Why did it seem like time was skipping? One moment the staff was in the center of the room, and the next they were out the door.
Myrum took a sip of water, hoping it would clear his head. He shouldn’t be this affected by one sleepless night. Of course, there’d been the fun planetside with Amina, but none of that should’ve caused him this much fatigue.
“Where did your creature go?”
It took Myrum a moment to understand what Lorse was saying. Looking behind him, he noticed Amina wasn’t sitting at the small table.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled. Was this part of the plan? Was she supposed to leave before he excused himself to go to the elimination unit?
Wait, what was the signal? Was Gis asking if he wanted tea? No, that wasn’t it.
What was it?
He tried to make his mind work, but it felt like his brain was an engine bogged down with the wrong type of fuel.
“Myrum?”
He looked at Lorse. “Yes?”
“Are you feeling well?” Lorse asked with a frown. “You don’t seem to be paying attention to me.”
“Uh, not entirely," Myrum said. His tongue felt thick and awkward in his mouth. It suddenly occurred to him that he’d experienced something similar when he’d imbibed Neemon wine.
He hadn’t known it was toxic to Talins. He’d gotten lucky and hadn’t consumed much.
A healer flushed his system, and he was fine the next day.
There wasn’t anything here that should affect him like this. That left only one conclusion: he’d been given something deliberately.
Lorse was talking rapidly about how Myrum would see the best medical personnel once they were back on the Ossiso homeworld. Myrum worked on getting one word out when Lorse paused.
“Poisoned.”
He expected Lorse to react with alarm; instead he laughed.
“Oh, you haven’t been poisoned,” he said, rubbing Myrum’s back and leaning in close. “It’s merely some harmless drugs. They’ll help you relax, but I’ve been assured they won’t hurt you at all.”
It took Myrum several submarks to understand.
“Drugs?” He tried to rattle with outrage, but he couldn’t make his back plates move correctly. The sound came out as a jumble of noise.
“Don’t be upset,” Lorse said, turning in his chair to face Myrum. He put his hands on either side of Myrum’s face, pressing lightly on his scent glands.
He hated it and tried to pull away. Lorse tightened his hold painfully.
“I only did it because you’ve been so tense,” Lorse murmured, leaning his face in close.
“I know you’re likely to mind, but I don’t have the patience to give you an adjustment period.
I have to have you. I know I promised a sisort to female for you, but I think we should see if we can match as male to male.
You might enjoy it. I’ll be gentle with you.
I want to try using your mating pouch like a female’s sheath.
Doesn’t that sound like it would be fun? ”
Myrum tried to pull away again. He got free of Lorse’s hold but toppled himself to the floor in the process. Lorse made an impatient sound and crouched down next to him.
“I think the dose must’ve been too high. You’re far more disoriented than you should be. I expected compliance, not clumsiness.”
He waved at several staff members. “Get him back in his seat.”
Forms appeared above him. He tried to bat away the hands, but they still grabbed and lifted him back into his seat. The moment they let go, he tried to stand. He needed to get away from Lorse. He needed to find Amina. They needed to get out of here!
“This is unacceptable,” Lorse snapped. “If you keep moving around you’re going to upset the table and ruin the feast.”
He slapped Myrum across the face. It wasn’t a hard blow, but it made a noise loud enough to cause several of the staff to gasp.
“No!” Myrum was proud that he managed that single word. Adrenaline was coursing through his system, and his heartbeat was going strong. He hoped he could throw off the effects of the drugs if he kept his body moving.
His next attempt to stand got him halfway up before his legs went wobbly and he landed hard in his chair, making it creak.
“Secure him so we can finish the feast without any more disruptions,” Lorse ordered.
This time the security personnel rushed at him. Two held him down while the other two locked his wrists together and then secured them at his waist.
He’d thought it was odd that all four were present for the dinner when they’d worked in pairs before. Now he understood. It was to make sure he behaved properly.
Stepping away after they were done, Myrum found that his legs were free. Unfortunately, by now his head was swimming and he couldn’t make sense of anything going on around him.
Lorse touched Myrum’s face, running the fingers of one hand down and then cupping his chin. Myrum didn’t react. Now that his hands were trapped, it was as if his body was confused and couldn’t figure out how to make anything else move.
“That’s better,” Lorse said. He leaned in close and licked his tongue over Myrum’s mouth before letting go and settling back in his seat. “Tonight will be perfect, even if I have to force you to comply.”
Amina
“This is so bad,” Amina hissed, looking into the dining area through a small viewing port usually meant for ceiling bots to pass from room to room. When Myrum hadn’t left the feast to use the elimination room, they’d gotten worried. Observing through the port explained why he hadn't shown up.
“I knew Lorse was determined to have Myrum be obedient, but I didn’t think he’d go so far as to drug him!” Gis said with a shake of his head. “We can’t escape if Myrum can’t walk.”
“Yes we can,” Amina said. She climbed down from the wall and Gis followed her. “We’ll simply have to carry him.”
“That’s the very reason the evacuation ploy won’t work,” Gis objected. “Lorse will simply have his security carry Myrum to the shuttle.”
“You’re right,” Amina said. She was so frustrated she wanted to hit something.
An idea came to her. “What if we get Lorse away from the dining area before we have Hisha set off the alarm? He’d send some of his security, but we could get Myrum away before they get there.
They won’t want to spend too much time looking for him. ”
Gis considered it. “That might work, but what would draw Lorse away from his feast?”
“A message from his parent?”
“Oh!” The top of Gis’s mane fluffed up in excitement. “Yes, that’s excellent. We’re always having issues with the comms. We could feed a blank message packet to the system. He’ll try all kinds of things to get the message to play, giving us a little time.”
“That’s all we need,” Amina said. She patted the pocket Ruby was napping in. The last thing she needed was for the lizard to go missing unexpectedly.
“You should go back in there,” Gis said. He handed over the flask she’d be sent off to fetch.
“Right,” she said, taking it in both hands and bracing herself to be in Lorse’s presence.
No one even looked at her when she walked in. The tenth or eleventh course was being served, but she wasn’t sure which. There were so many!
She set the flask down in front of Myrum and risked a look at his face. His eyes were darting around, and he was making a constant confused rumble.
It was close, but she almost asked Lorse if she could put Myrum to bed because he seemed sick. She stopped herself in time. Myrum’s state was on purpose; of course Lorse wouldn't want him tucked away somewhere else when the entire feast was for their union.
The whole thing had been hilarious on the planet, then Lorse showed his dark side and nothing was funny any longer.
Moving around the table, she took her seat and tucked her hands away in her sleeves. Myrum sniffed the air as if trying to catch her scent. She was desperate to touch and talk to him, but she couldn’t risk it.
Gis came back into the room and took a spot next to Sar, standing against a wall. Lorse was talking nonstop to Myrum about the significance of the color of the food. He fed a bite to Myrum, who managed to chew and swallow but was obviously having a hard time with even those basic functions.
Someone walked in. Amina peered around Myrum to see Nashie bowing to Lorse.
“Planetary Expansionist Lorse, a data packet from your parent has arrived.”
Lorse set down the food he’d been about to eat. “So soon?”
“It could’ve been sent before you sent your data packet this morning,” Nashie said, remaining in the bow. “Or it could be an answer. It’s unlikely but not impossible that Grand Soul Jishorn received and responded on the same day.”