Protecting His Mistress - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,89
the ship.
On the viewscreen, to H’rare’s left, was a full-color image of her mother. And Lady Mirabella had a lot of color at the moment—most noticeably in her face, which was nearly purple with rage.
“How dare you?” she said in a low, dangerous voice as soon as Lilli came into view. “How dare you disobey me you insolent girl? How dare you steal my best ship and go after that no-good male who you allowed to penetrate you?”
Lilli raised her chin.
“I love Karn, Mother,” she said, trying not to let her voice tremble. “And I love his baby too—our baby.” She put a hand protectively over her belly. “I don’t want to lose either one of them. I…I won’t let you kill them!”
Mistress Mirabella’s eyes flashed.
“I’ll kill all three of you if you don’t turn that ship around right now and head for home,” she snarled.
“Just let us go,” Lilli pleaded. “You don’t like me anyway, Mother—you never have. You always thought having a daughter was a chore. Just let me disappear and I swear you’ll never have to see me again.”
“What?” her mother nearly shrieked. “Just let you go—just like that?” She snapped her fingers. “Lilliana, I am a member of the Sacred Seven. Do you know how it would look if anyone found out that I had allowed my daughter to run off with her bodyslave and have his wretched male baby? Do you know what people would say?”
Suddenly Lilli saw red. She’d never dared to get angry at her mother before, no matter what awful, cutting things Mistress Mirabella said to her. But finally, after a lifetime of derogatory comments and nasty words, she felt she’s had enough.
“That’s all you care about, isn’t it?” she demanded. “What people will say—how things look. Well, let me tell you something, Mother—I don’t care anymore. It doesn’t matter to me if I ruin my reputation, your reputation, and our family name. I don’t even care if you get kicked out of the Sacred Seven! I’m in love with Karn and we’re going to go someplace where people care about more than just appearances. Where they care about more than who’s got the most money or the highest building or the most expensive dress or bodyslave or hover-car. We’re going to go someplace where people value what’s inside and we’re going to raise our son there together. And you can just…just go to Hell!”
Throughout this speech her mother’s eyes had been getting wider and wider but when Lilli finished they narrowed to slits of rage.
“You’re not going anywhere but straight home, young lady,” she informed Lilli. And if you don’t, the two ships I have on your tail will shoot you out of the sky.”
“What?” Lilli felt sick. “You wouldn’t!”
“Oh, wouldn’t I?” A cruel smile curved Mistress Mirabella’s thin lips. “I’d rather have people think that my heir died in a tragic crash than let them know she was running off with some male in order to have his baby!”
“Mistress Lilli,” H’rare said hoarsely. “We really do have two ships on our tail—both military grade with laser cannons!”
Lilli felt sick. What should they do? If they turned around, both her baby and Karn would be killed. But if they went on, all of them would die, including H’rare whose only crime was being brave enough to leave with her and pilot the ship when she asked him to.
Goddess, she prayed, where are you now?
There was no answer and her heart sank. She looked at H’rare who looked back at her anxiously, his hands hovering over the complicated-looking controls.
“What do you want to do, Mistress?” he asked in a low voice.
“I don’t know.” Lilli bit her lip. “I don’t…don’t know where we can go.”
“There’s nowhere you can go but home,” her mother snapped from the viewscreen. “Come home and surrender yourself at once, Lilliana or face the consequences!”
“I don’t think so.” The deep, familiar voice behind her made Lilli whirl around.
Karn was standing there, still looking weary around the eyes, but standing tall and strong nonetheless.
“You say we have nowhere to go?” he said to Lilli’s Mother.
“Nowhere but back to the Diluthian mines,” she spat at him. “Only this time I’ll make sure they kill you!”
“I’m not going back to the mines and Lilli’s not going back to you, you abusive bitch!” Karn growled. “You’ve hurt her for the last time.”
“Not quite the last.” Mistress Mirabella’s thin lips curved into that cruel smile again. “If you don’t come back, I’ll have you