Pet's Pleasure (28 page)

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Vieve cleared her throat again.

Bekion looked back at her.

She gestured to the door. “I need to speak to you in private about a pressing matter.”

“So long as it is quick.” Bekion kissed Starling’s hands and then followed Vieve out of the chambers and down the hall. “Where are we going, Vieve?”

She stopped, faced him and said in a low voice, “When will you tell her that you understand her language?”

Bekion turned back to the doorway quickly to make sure Starling and Webber hadn’t heard Vieve’s question. They hadn’t followed. He pulled Vieve farther down the hall then said in a low voice, “Now is not the time to discuss that.”

“It’s unfair, Bekion. You have to tell her.”

“I will at the right time.”

She snapped, “When is that?”

Bekion pulled back from the woman. “Watch your tone with me, Vieve. My actions are not for you to question or dictate.” He looked back at the door once more. “There is much about Starling I yet do not understand. She speaks of those things with Webber.”

“Those communications are meant to be private. That’s why she uses her mother tongue. This is spying.”

“So be it. You will not educate her. Make the translation available to Nausic and Furielle. Caution them to keep the knowledge of the language to themselves as well. No one knows we have reached the minimum required. I want to keep that news hidden as long as possible to delay updating the public archive.”

Part of the language project involved making the new language available to all inhabitants of the Gorov Empire. For now, Starling’s language belonged to a few. He wanted it to remain that way until he had no choice.

“Dismissed, Vieve.” He walked back to his rooms.

Vieve didn’t call out to stop him. That’s how he knew she didn’t mean her scolding. When Vieve wanted her way, not even status kept her from speaking her mind. She had bullied and yelled at Bekion from her first day as his secretary. Her attitude had endeared her to him. She would be honest when all others would kowtow.

Backing down from the argument meant she voiced the words out of a sense of obligation, not because she meant them. She didn’t have to worry. He wouldn’t keep this secret from Starling long. Until he revealed it, he would learn as much about her as he could.

Chapter Nineteen

Starling couldn’t help the tears that sprang to her eyes. She wiped them away but more took their place. She sniffed.

“Would you look at that?” Webber whistled under his breath.

Starling stared at the tiny blue orb floating in the vast blackness.

Earth.

Only a handful of humans—and some animals—had ever actually left the planet so they could see it the way she and Webber did at that moment.

She looked back at Bekion. He stood next to the ship’s engineer at the pilot’s station. She and Webber had gone to the forward-most point of the ship so they could get closer to the view screen showing their home planet.

Bekion met her gaze. “I meant for this to make you happy, pretty pet.”

“I am, Bekion. This is happy.” She rubbed at the tears and smiled up at him. “Thank you so much for this.” She moved her gaze over the men and women of the science vessel. “Thank you all so very much.”

The people smiled and nodded.

Starling turned back to the view. She never thought she would see Earth again.

Bekion made it possible. The scientists studying Earth and the Milky Way galaxy had returned with their report three days after Starling’s attack. The scientists quickly filed another petition to go back. Bekion granted it with the stipulation that he, his pets and his normal entourage would be in attendance as well.

That had flustered the captain but she couldn’t deny him. A week after, Starling and Webber stared at Earth as though they had never seen it before.

Webber asked, **Do you miss it?**

**I don’t know. I thought I did but looking at it now…** She trailed off and shook her head. **We moved once when I was a kid. I cried for days and swore my life was over.**

**But you moved to the new place and loved it and lived happily ever after, right?**

**Not exactly. The new place grew on me. I didn’t love it like the last place but it was home.** She glanced at Bekion. He watched her but said nothing because he couldn’t understand the conversation. She faced the Earth. **I miss it but it doesn’t feel like home anymore.**

**Right there with you.** He tapped her chin with his knuckles. **I would be shit for work if I ever got back. Living a life of leisure has grown on me.** He flicked his chest insignia stating his rank as a royal guard. Webber had insisted on a uniform that denoted his new station so people wouldn’t mistake him for a pampered pet.

Starling said, **Yeah, that might be part of it. I can’t imagine going back to a nine-to-five and a boss whose greatest pleasure in life is making my workday harder.** A tiny shudder coursed over her shoulders at the thought of it.

“Starling?” Bekion came down from the pilot’s station and approached her. “Are you cold?”

She shook her head. She resumed speaking in
jehlvan
. “No. Just bad memories. I’m fine. Is there any way to see where I used to live? How close can they zoom?”

Bekion signaled the technician. The view screen went black then turned gray.

She looked at it and then the technician. “Did something happen? What’s wrong with the picture?”

Webber pointed with his mouth hanging open. “Holy crap! Is that an ant?”

A giant-sized ant wandered into view, antennae twitching.

Starling snorted at the sight. “That answers that question. We don’t need it to be that close though.”

The technician winked at Starling, who had glanced back, and said, “Of course. Indicate the location of your home and we will gradually enhance the image as we get closer.”

Starling nodded. The picture zoomed out and showed the North American continent. It was nighttime.

She pointed to the Eastern seaboard. The screen zoomed in. She pointed again and again the image magnified. The game of point and zoom went on for a few minutes before she hovered over her parent’s street. She’d gone the wrong direction. She’d meant to direct them to her apartment.

Webber said, “Nice neighborhood. I knew you were too tame to come from the rough side of town.”

“That would be four blocks to the west.” She would have pointed but didn’t want the technician thinking she wanted the view to change.

The screen showed the street Starling had played on as a child. In the middle was her parent’s house.

Webber asked, “Something wrong with your lights?” He referred to the blinking light on top of the house.

Starling stared at it and couldn’t believe her eyes. She covered her mouth with both her hands even as she smiled in disbelief.

“What’s up, Star?”

She whispered, “It’s Morse code.” She pointed to the house. “Get closer, please.”

The technician zoomed in on the light.

“Can you record?”

The woman said, “Recording now.”

Starling stared at the flashing light.

Bekion rested his hand on her shoulder. “Starling?”

“My father is retired military. He was in communications. He taught me Morse code so we could play with the old telegraph he had. We used to send messages back and forth. Oh my God.” She gripped Bekion’s hand but didn’t take her eyes from the blinking light. “He’s writing me back. My father got my letter. He’s writing me back.”

“What’s he saying?” Webber asked. “For that matter, how the hell did he know we would be up here?”

“He doesn’t know we’re up here. It’s repeating the same thing over and over.”

Bekion whispered, “What does it say?”

It took Starling several tries before her lips moved. “We miss you. Stop. Write again. Stop. Give us a sign. Stop. And then it repeats.” The giddiness encompassing her threatened to bubble out in the form of happy laughter. Her parents had gotten her letter.

Webber asked, “What does he mean give us a sign? A sign about what?”

Starling gestured to the screen. “That I’m seeing this. If I write another letter and don’t mention this message then they would know the communication is one way. But this…” She looked up at Bekion.

Without her having to voice her question, he nodded to her.

“Really? It’s okay?”

Bekion said, “Write your letter. We will send it when you finish.”

“Thank you.”

He brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek.

As much as she wanted to bask in that show of affection, she wanted to write her letter more. She rushed to her room, grabbed her paper and pen and then ran back to the viewing room.

She bounced in place as nervous energy gripped her. “What do I write?”

Webber laughed at her. “First off, tell them we got the message loud and clear. Second, tell them that we can’t answer the same way and communication is sporadic but you’ll try to write as often as you can.” He looked at Bekion.

Starling followed his gaze.

Bekion nodded.

She dropped to the floor, not bothering with one of the tables, and scribbled out Webber’s words. As she wrote, more words poured forth until she filled the page and had to go to another. A flood of emotions cascaded through her pen onto the paper. When she finished, she’d filled almost ten pages, cramping her hand.

She decided to give her parents the entire rundown of her life until that point. She didn’t gloss over any detail or omit any event. They needed to know about her life so they wouldn’t worry.

As she sat back, shaking out her hand, she noticed Webber writing a letter of his own. She asked, “Your mother?”

He nodded but didn’t stop writing.

Starling looked back at the screen and her father’s message. Anyone who intercepted it would probably think it weird or a message to the astronauts in space or some other scenario that didn’t involve a daughter kidnapped by aliens.

Webber asked, “Star, what’s your parents’ address and phone number?”

Starling started to answer and then had to stop and think. “Lord, I haven’t had to remember their phone number in so long I think I might have forgotten.” She closed her eyes and imagined a phone. She air-dialed the numbers, calling them out as she did.

Webber sat back with a sigh, shaking his hand as Starling had. “Done. I included your parents’ contact info so my mother can get in touch with them. How are we sending these?”

Bekion said, “Direct.” He turned back, looking past the technician to the captain. “Move within porting range, Captain.”

The captain cocked an eyebrow at Bekion. “What about what I mentioned in my request, King Bekion?”

“I approved your request in its entirety, Captain. I even brought my pretty pet and her mate to help you with your request.”

The woman smiled. “Technician, ahead to porting range. We have less than fifteen minutes.”

Starling asked, “What request?”

Bekion said, “The captain and her crew wish to sample Earth cuisine. They’ve heard much about something called fast food. I trust you will point out the proper locations to acquire it.”

“Sure.”

“Good. While they gather the foods they want, they will also deliver your letters to their proper locations, starting with yours.” He held out his hand.

Starling folded the letter quickly and put it in an envelope. She wrote, “To Mom and Dad” on the outside and gave it to Bekion.

Webber handed over his as well.

The technician transported Starling’s letter directly into her parent’s mailbox and then did the same for Webber’s letter when he directed them to his mother’s house. Next came the fast food the captain and her crew had requested.

Pizza, sub sandwiches, burgers and fries, Chinese food, sushi and curry made up the list. Webber and Starling agreed if the
jattikans
were going to taste certain foods, then it should come from the birthplaces of those specific foods.

Starling had packed the money she and Webber found amongst the belongings of the kidnapped humans. She used it to leave anonymous donations at every locale they acquired food, depleting all the funds. Hopefully no one would get in trouble for the theft of the food.

That night the entire crew sat around a large table dining on Earth food. Starling, who sat at her table with Webber, laughed at the faces the
jattikans
made as they enjoyed the food of her home planet.

Webber said, **You’d think it was ambrosia, the way they’re acting. I think food on Panagiota tastes better.**

**It’s only because we’re used to food like this, Webber. They aren’t.** She glanced over at Bekion, who had his back to her. She smiled sadly at him.

Webber asked, **What’s that look for?**

**I’m happy.**

**That’s not a happy look.**

She sighed and then shook her head. **He’s taking too many chances.**

**You mean the big guy, right?**

**Yes. He’s doing everything and anything that he thinks might please me. If the wrong person finds out he let the crew get within transporter range, there’s no telling what might happen to him. This trip is a mistake. I should have said no when he told us about it.**

**You didn’t because you wanted to see Earth as badly as me.**

She didn’t bother agreeing with that truth. Passing up the chance to see Earth because of the danger had never occurred to her, not until that moment. The image of them returning to Panagiota and finding armed guards waiting to arrest Bekion kept playing in her mind.

Webber said, **You did a number on the big guy. Good job.**

Starling glared at him. **I don’t want to be complimented for influencing him to abuse his power. That’s the same corruption his mother fostered. He wants to be different.**

**Corruption and politics go hand in hand, sweetheart. It’s the name of the game. You either play or you get the hell off the field. It’s not like he’s taxing people to death and making children starve in the streets. He’s only doing what he needs to do to make sure you stay safe and happy.**

**That’s what worries me.** She glanced at Bekion again to make sure he wasn’t looking their way. If he did, he would insist on knowing what had her upset so he could fix it.

Webber asked, **Why the pout? You finally got what your wish—the big guy wanting to treat you like a lover instead of a pet. You should be happy.**

**I should.**

**You’re not though. What’s the problem? He not acting right? Give me the word, I’ll kick his ass. I told him I would.**

Starling laughed a little but said in a sober voice, **That’s not it. He’s been wonderful. Too wonderful. Like this sudden trip to Earth. It worries me. He gives in to all of my requests.**

**That’s good.**

**We used to argue over every little thing. After a while, he wanted an explanation before giving in. Now all I have to do is say I want something and he gets it.**

**Not hearing the bad.**

**No, Webber. I feel like one day he’ll realize what he’s doing and it’ll come back and bite me in the ass.**

**Speaking of biting you on the ass, because this topic is boring me, how’s the sex? At least tell me that’s going better than it was. No one interrupts you anymore, right?**