Mastered by the Zandians (Zandian Brides 3)

“You do realize this just makes me all the more determined to escape, don’t you?”

Veck.

Of course it does. We want her to trust us, but show her no trust ourselves. This doesn’t sit right with me, but letting her run around free would be idiotic on our part.

“Remember that the cuff will alarm and lock to the wall if you try to enter the flight zones, mechanical shops, or technical training areas that are off limits to you,” I warn.

She sighs. “It’s entirely clear.”

“And what happens if you disobey?”

She smiles. “I’d probably invent something in five minutes that your crew have been working on for a few solar cycles. Fix a few mistakes, prevent you from killing yourself with a new weapon that you’ve wired incorrectly. Simple things like that.”

I can’t help but grin back. I step closer. “I’d like to see that.”

What’s she’s suggesting is my dream version of Mirelle—fully integrated, alive, part of Zandia. Keeping her prisoner is breaking her, and that breaks me.

Her gaze skitters away, like I just got too real with her.

I know she likes me, and Lanz. Likes what we do, punishment and pleasure, all of it. And I know she’d love this planet if she gave it half a chance. But her mind is so full of her old life, that I’m afraid there’s no room for her to even think about something new.

She won’t talk about her past or her life on Jesel, but I can see it in her eyes every vecking second of every planet rotation. She’ll still be more there than here.

We need to fix this before we run out of time.

But for now I hope our outing is a good start.

“You can visit the farms, other homesteads, the city center. Start interacting with other humans. Surely that sounds like a good plan to you?”

I slip my hands around her waist, then slide them down to cup her ass.

“Mmmm.” She pushes her body into my hands. “Certainly.”

My body has ideas on what another good plan might be.

“We’re already late to meet Rok.” Lanz checks his comm. “There will be time for that later.”

“I certainly hope so.” Mirelle pushes into me again. I know she uses sex as a distraction, maybe to keep her mind off other things. And I don’t mind. I just hope she gets to the point where she can appreciate life here even without the orgasms.

Lanz

* * *

“This is amazing.” Mirelle’s said it more than a dozen times, and each time with more enthusiasm.

I catch her hand, her appreciation infectious.

“How do you get the craft to glide so smoothly over the ground?” She glances at the controls. “Is it magnetic propulsion? Obviously.” She shakes her head. “Dumb question. But you don’t have magnets in the ground. Unless the ore implicitly present in the core of your planet is adaptable and can provide a thrust for steering?” Her lovely face is lit up like a hundred stars.

“Yes,” I say.

“To?”

“All of it.” Domm smiles.

“I knew it!” She pumps her fist. “Yes. But that means you must have strong neodymium-cast 3 magnets, which means you have the capability to contain the magnetic field, which means you also have light-controlled barrier transistors. Mother Earth!”

“How do you know about light-controlled barrier resisters?” I throw up my hands. “Is there anything in this universe you haven't heard of?”