with compassion. When he looked at her like this, it only made her want to cry again.
Though she soaked up his every comforting touch or gentle glance like the affection-starved mess that she was, his kindness was perhaps more dangerous than his earlier potential for violence. Because when they reached planet Kall and she officially became his slave and he ignored her for another, a female of his own kind, she would endure a broken heart.
“What has saddened you, human?” he finally asked, drawing his thumbs over her cheeks in a soothing caress. “What has caused you to cry?”
She shrugged one of her shoulders. “It’s no big deal. I-I was just thinking about my Aunt Colleen. She died in the war.” She died in the war and you could’ve been the one to kill her for all I know—or one of the warriors under your command.
“How did she die? Tell me exactly what happened.”
“She lived near a military base in Virginia that was under attack by Kall forces, and she refused to evacuate. I begged her to leave. I wanted so badly to go to her and get her out myself, but I was in a bunker beneath the White House and wasn’t permitted to leave. I-I hired private security to get her out, but by the time they reached her home, it was gone, and her body was found in the rubble. The war was still raging, so the soldiers buried her in the backyard. That happened a few months before Earth even surrendered.”
He wiped at the tears that escaped her eyes, softly drawing his thumbs over the moisture. Her throat burned and clogged with emotion. It had been a long time since she’d spoken of Aunt Colleen to anyone. She’d never even mentioned her aunt to Fiona.
“Sometimes I wish I hadn’t gone to the bunker with the other White House workers and their families. Sometimes I wish I’d just fled DC that day and went straight for her house. But Michael wouldn’t let me, and President Carson also begged me to stay. Michael said we needed to be smart and trust that my aunt would follow the evacuation orders.” She shook her head and finally admitted to a dark suspicion of hers. “Michael had never liked my aunt—you see, Aunt Colleen didn’t approve of our marriage—and there are times I wondered if he was relieved that she died, times I wondered if maybe he held me back from helping her because he didn’t care what happened to her.”
General Zamek’s frown deepened. He opened his mouth and drew in a deep breath, then said, “I am sorry for the loss of your aunt, human.”
Sorry. Since he’d entered her cell, he’d already said ‘sorry’ twice. Hearing that word from him—a proud Kall warrior and a decorated general at that—was truly shocking. But his eyes glimmered with sincerity. He meant it.
“I know your parents died when you were very young and that your aunt raised you. She must have meant a lot to you.”
“What? How-how do you know that?” She stared at him in confusion.
“I read about you.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then continued stroking his thumbs over her cheeks, as if waiting to catch any further tears.
“Read about me? Where? What do you mean?”
“I was curious about you, so I asked Kall security forces to compile a detailed report about you,” he replied. “I wished to know more about you, even before I’d reached a decision about what I would do with you. Even before I hurt you.”
Layla didn’t know whether to be frightened or flattered by his admission. She tried to glance down, but he wouldn’t release her face. So she stared into his dark otherworldly eyes as she wondered what would come of her attraction to General Zamek.
“You said even before you’d reached a decision about what you would do with me. Does-does that mean you’ve come to a decision? I am anxious to know precisely what fate awaits me on your planet.”
“You will become my slave, Layla, though it will be in name only. On the day we arrive in Sumlin District, I will be required to take you to the slave office and have a tracker placed in your arm. Then I will take you to my home on the mountainside and keep you all to myself. As my mistress.”
Chapter 14
“Your mistress?” Layla asked. “Forgive me, General, but-but don’t you have servants? And if so, won’t they think your treatment of