Page 17 of Golden Darkness

He whispered in her ear, “Now, keep eating.”

“I’m full.”

“You won’t ever take more until you go past being uncomfortable.” He pressed his lips to her temple.

She grimaced. “Leave me here if you have somewhere to be, and I will sit here until I am finished.”

“I will stay with you until you are finished.”

The captain inclined his head. “I will see you on the bridge, Overlord Kethen. We will run the Terrans through medical first.”

“Very sensible. Also, set up several food dispensers. Their world was dead for two years. They need to learn how to obtain food on a ship.”

“Understood. We will instruct them like children.”

She shrugged and picked up something that looked sweet. They were children. They had to learn new worlds, new traditions, and new species.

The thugs in the container would have to work hard to get up to a basic operating level for a teenager.

Kethen held the cup up to her lips again, and she drank. His whisper in her ear was encouraging. “Good girl. This will help you digest what you have eaten.”

She finished swallowing and looked at him. “Did you order all of this while I was sleeping?”

He chuckled. “I did. The captain’s second-in-command is a telepath. I spoke with her, and she set up the order.”

She looked at the captain. “Apologies for being an inconvenience.”

He blinked in surprise. “You are not, Mistress. You are the missing part of our overlord, and we are honoured to help you get stronger and healthier.”

“Your overlord’s parts are his own business.”

Kethen licked at her ear. “They are very much your business as well. They are only yours and only mine.”

She shivered. Her ears had never been sensitive before. The captain smiled, and she blushed. “So, everyone knows why I am with you?”

Kethen nodded against her head. “Yes.”

The captain nodded. “Yes. It is a good thing. He actually seems like a living being and not a statue since he woke.”

“That’s a good thing?”

“It is a very good thing. We have been with Overlord Kethen since the beginning. The Kethic have a camaraderie with him that is very one-sided. We stay out of the way, and he protects us.”

Kethen growled, “Until the Vel-ech.”

“You still protected us by the only means you had at your disposal without the entire crew being slaughtered until you could get to the last of the intruders.” The captain inclined his head. “You know this.”

Kethen growled. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it. Going dormant was all I had, so the Vel-ech would relax and stop torturing you every time I moved.”

“We know and are thankful, but we look forward to seeing you in action when someone tries to take advantage of this ship again.”

Kethen nodded. “As do I. Oh, my lady has some thoughts on her people.”

“Are the Kethic sexually compatible with my people?”

Kethen frowned. “Based on you, they are.”

“Don’t trust this particular batch of Terrans loose on the ship without enough personnel to subdue them. They were sexually aggressive and attacking each other while I was caged in there with them. It’s a very basic dominance display.”