Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
MURGUL
She smells of sadness. What did you do to our mate, fool?
I have done nothing! She is preparing to tell me how she came to be on the Velgriddix ship and her past. Surely you have noticed that neither of us has really delved into our history these last rotations.
Of course I noticed! I am not as unobservant as you seem to think!
Well, cease prattling on so we can listen to what she says. She has already said this story will only be told once.
I am not the one still droning on and on. You are.
Ignoring Vrog’s last comment, I refocus on our lovely mate. Her beautiful face is wan with sadness and old grief. Vrog and I watch as she takes a deep breath and starts talking. Her voice full of emotion as she begins her tale:
“I was always considered pretty as a child,” she says.
“But once I hit puberty and grew into myself, pretty turned into beautiful. They were mid-level celebrities. Mom was a soap opera actress, Dad was a B-list movie star. Neither of them had the talent to climb higher, and I wasn’t planned.
It didn’t take me long to realize they never wanted to be parents.
They hired nannies, tutors—anyone to deal with me so they didn’t have to.
I can’t remember a single time either of them hugged me.
Not once. No affection. No warmth. Just distance. ”
I can hear the tightness in her voice, can feel the pain rolling off her even though she tries to keep it buried.
“One of Dad’s friends was a modeling headhunter—Larry Foxborough,” she continues, her hands twisting in her lap.
“Slimy as they come. He came over one weekend, took one look at me, and started telling Dad how much money he could make off my face if they’d just sign a contract.
I was still a minor… but that didn’t stop them. ”
I say nothing, but fury coils low in my gut. My claws itch to rend the flesh of those who used her, who twisted her beauty into a cage. The pain she carries is not something a creature like her should ever have borne.
Gwendolyn pauses for just a tic, her eyes focused on nothing as she stares straight ahead.
“I was only fourteen the day my parents signed the modeling contract that essentially made me the property of the company Larry worked for. I didn’t see my parents again for almost a year.
Thankfully, I was never molested or raped, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t violated. ”
Gwendolyn takes a breath, as though bracing herself for what she is about to share.
“The first thing Larry did was take me to an upscale salon where the attendants stripped me naked to see what sort of canvas they were working with. I was mortified because I hadn’t ever been naked in front of another person before.
That was the beginning of fifteen years of hell.
The contract my parents signed was only valid until I turned eighteen and achieved legal adulthood, but after four years of being told how, what, when, and where to be, when Larry brought me a second contract—I didn’t bat an eye at signing it. ”
Shaking her head, she scoffs before continuing.
“I should have. My parents only showed up for publicity events in the four years after they sold me to Larry. They didn’t ever love me or really even care about me as their daughter, so when the money dried up after my eighteenth birthday, I never saw them unless it was something organized by Larry to show what a ‘loving’ family we were.
” Gwendolyn rolls her eyes at that, her small hands clenching into fists where they rest on the table, her voice withering to nothing— I feel it when her mind swells with self-disgust over what she perceives as weakness of character.
Vrog’s belligerent voice distracts me from my tasks of soothing my mate’s distress.
It is good this Larry male is dead, or else we would have to make a trip to her planet to relieve him of his spine. While he still breathed.
Agreed. Her lifegivers are no better and deserved to suffer for what they did to her as a youngling.
Agreed. They are lucky they perished when her planet did.
Gwendolyn’s soft voice interrupts my conversation with Vrog and I mentally shove him so I can focus on her words.
“I was nothing more than a face and a body used to sell products,” she goes on quietly.
“My image sold clothing, hairstyles, makeup, skincare—if you could think of it, I was used to market it. You have to understand, the society I come from is obsessed with perfection. And to many, I was that ideal.”
She exhales softly, a bitter edge curling around her words.
“People are shallow, materialistic, drawn to impossible standards of beauty. What most people didn’t realize is that I lived a rigorous lifestyle to look the way I did.
Larry kept track of everything I ate, drank, and used.
If I gained too much weight, he would essentially starve me until I slimmed down to what he considered my ideal weight.
I was required to work out strenuously seven days a week, and had a personal trainer who ensured I was doing everything to the letter.
Larry would punish me for any slight infraction.
Since my beauty was what made him money, he got creative.
His favorite form of punishment was to beat the bottoms of my feet with a wooden rod until they were black and blue. ”
Rage wells as Vrog and I both let out a bone-chilling growl. Gripping the edge of the table, I feel my claws slide out as I seethe and process what my sweet mate has just told me. She suffered for not being perfect.
Now we understand why she does not care that we are not perfect. In her eyes, it truly does not matter.
Vrog’s words hit me like a warhammer, and I drop back into my seat, my eyes wide with disbelief as I stare at my mate from across the table. My reaction to her tale must have penetrated, because she pauses before reaching across the table to pat my hand. “Murgul, honey, are you okay?”
She is asking if I am well… after relaying part of her cruel story to me, her concern is if I am well. Whatever I did to deserve such a mate, I will eternally be grateful for it.
“Yes, bright one. I am fine. Please continue. I wish to hear the rest, no matter how dark it may be.”
A small tremulous smile creeps across her face as she processes my response.
Squaring her shoulders, she sits up straighter and delves right back into her story.
“A couple of days before I turned thirty, I tried to escape. I knew the contract I signed at eighteen ended on my thirtieth birthday. I had to get away from Larry before then, so he couldn’t force me into signing another.
There’s no way he was going to let his biggest cash cow go. ”
Fetch her, fool. She needs support to get the rest of this said.
Her voice cracks on her last sentence, and I do not hesitate as I stand.
Stepping around the table, I scoop her up into my arms, ignoring her slight surprised squeak, and prowl over to the divan before gently easing down, being careful not to jostle her.
Pulling her close, I tuck her head under my chin and hold her, more for my comfort than hers, because I know what she is about to tell me will not be good.
Her voice is a mere thread of sound when she starts talking again.
“Note how I said ‘tried’ to escape. Larry caught me, and once he got me back to the mansion, his temper got the better of him. In his rage, he strangled me until I was barely conscious before beating me until I was nothing more than a bloody mess lying on the floor. Larry wasn’t really all that much bigger than me, but since I was kept so thin and malnourished, there wasn’t much I could do to defend myself.
With his numerous connections and obscene amount of money, he had an on-call doctor who knew better than to ask any questions.
The physician arrived, cleaned me up, and gave me enough pain medication to knock me out. ”
Her voice cracks with remembered pain so deep it’s physically manifesting itself before clearing her throat.
“Surprisingly enough, he didn’t break any of my bones, and none of my wounds scarred.
Not visibly anyway. It took a while, but the damage he did when he strangled me eventually became glaringly obvious.
Naturally, Larry released a statement to the press that a crazed stalker attacked me, but we both knew that was far from the truth.
It’s pretty sad, but I was almost glad that something about me wasn’t perfect anymore, because it meant that I wasn’t nearly as valuable an object to be exploited. ”
Gwendolyn pauses for another tic before taking a deep breath and resuming her tale.
“It took over a month for all the bruising to fade completely. I spent my thirtieth birthday bedridden, and in so much pain I could barely function. It also meant I wasn’t able to sign a new contract.
I’m not sure why, but the doctor Larry used must have had some small amount of either guilt or compassion, because he helped me escape.
On his last visit, he left a syringe full of an extremely strong sedative, explained to me what it was, and what would happen if I used it on myself…
or if I used it on Larry. Larry and I were the only ones who lived in his mansion.
All the security guys had separate residences and weren’t allowed inside the house unless it was an emergency.
All I wanted was my freedom and to lead a full, normal, happy life. ”
Do not worry, precious one. Between the fool and me, you will be happy. This I vow.
Gwendolyn’s voice drops to a whisper, as if the memory still tastes of iron.
“That evening when Larry came to check on me, I waited for the perfect moment to use the syringe,” she says.
“He was always on his phone — talking, texting, sending emails — so I knew it was only a matter of time before he’d pull it out while gloating about how much control he had over me.
Sure enough, his phone rang and he turned his back.
My heart felt like it would pound out of my chest. I was terrified, but I slid the syringe from under the pillow, crept up behind him, and shoved it into the side of his neck and pressed the plunger. ”
Her hands tremble as she squeezes them together. “Whatever was in it worked faster than I expected. When he turned to strike me, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed.”
What a brave little female, our mate is.
Yes, that took great courage to do.
“After that, I packed a bag with as many clothes as I could and drove myself off the property. The security guys were kept in the dark about what Larry did to me, so they had no reason to intervene when I drove through the front gate. A few days later, I ended up at a truck stop and ran into a woman named Janet. I’m not sure how she knew I needed help, but she did.
She took me to her women’s shelter out in the middle of nowhere, and I was safe there for the first time since I was fourteen. ”
Unable to keep silent any longer, I ask one of the questions burning holes in my mind.
“If you were safe with this Janet female, how did you become a captive of the Velgriddix. It is a long way from your planet to the Void.”
“My sense of safety lasted about a month. One night, those giant snake aliens slipped into the rock house and abducted all of us.”
She must notice my confusion at the mention of a house made of rock, because she hurriedly explains. “Oh, right. A rock house is a natural rock formation found in rural, valleyed, or mountain areas on Earth.”
Nodding my understanding, she resumes her dark tale.
“They held a cloth soaked with some sort of chemical over my nose and mouth, forcing me into unconsciousness. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the stench of rotted meat and unwashed bodies. I was wearing the same clothes I went to sleep in, and was lying in a puddle of viscous green liquid. One of them picked me up off the floor by my hair and dunked me in a vat of some cleansing liquid before tossing me in a cell full of other human women in various states of consciousness. Ruby and Rowan were there, but they were on the opposite side of the room from me.”
Hissing in displeasure, I interject.
“The Jega. That is what that species is called. They are masters of infiltration, which makes them the most sought-after for specialty acquisitions. There is very little they cannot access due to how flexible their bodies are. A rumor reached us here in the Void that Commander DaR, a male of great importance, made it illegal to possess any of your species against your will. I suppose the rewards for acquiring such a rare species outweighed the risks since the Veil prevents those of Darverius from entering the Void.”
Sarcasm is heavy in her voice when she replies. “Wow, I can’t even be abducted by aliens without being used as capital gains for someone else.”
Snorting in amusement, I use a coil in my tail, keeping the bladed end away from her delicate skin, to nudge her head up and out from under my chin.
“Your sense of humor is as warped as partially heated metal.”
Her laughter fills the room at my quip and lightens the mood within our quarters.