“Is this…are you the Kindred Goddess?” she asked hesitantly.
“I am she,” the voice replied. “Do you know me now?”
“Oh, er, yes. Yes, I do.” Terra nodded her head. “Forgive me,” she said, sniffing. “I, um, I didn’t actually believe in you—or in any deity, really—before just now.”
“That’s all right, Daughter—for I believe in you,” the Goddess told her. “Do you acknowledge the folly of your ways and admit that you wish to be the Queen of the colony I sent to you?”
“Yes—oh, yes!” Terra exclaimed, nodding fiercely. “I love them all, Goddess—love them so much! I was such a fool not to see it before!”
“You see it now and that is enough,” the Goddess told her.
“Yes, but now it’s too late!” Terra cried. “That horrible Dahlia has them all under her spell somehow. They wouldn’t even look at me after the Heart-finder went off for her!”
“The contraption she used is false,” the Goddess informed her. “The reason she was able to steal your colony from you had to do with the rings her mother, Mistress Bodikin, gave them to wear.”
“The rings?” Terra looked down at her own hand, where she still wore the glowing golden ring that had shown her the path through the different words. “I didn’t know they were mind control devices!” she exclaimed.
“They are linked to a control ring which Dahlia wears herself,” the Goddess said. “You have only to remove the rings from your warriors and they will once again acknowledge you as their Queen. And if further proof is needed, Mistress Bodikin does indeed possess a true Heart-finder. She simply did not want to give it to you, because of her greed.”
“It’s easy enough to say I should remove their rings,” Terra protested. “But how am I going to get in to see them again? I’m sure Mistress Bodikin isn’t going to let me come walking right through her front door to reclaim my colony!”
When she said the words, “my colony,” she felt such a rush of love and need and desire for her three guys, that it brought tears to her eyes again.
“You SHALL walk in through her front door with my help and bring your warriors out again safely.” The Goddess’s voice was strong and decisive. “For I do not permit outside interference when I put my warriors with the female who is right for them.”
“But how will you help me?” Terra asked anxiously. “Please, Goddess—tell me what to do and I’ll do it!”
“Very well, child. Listen well and I shall reveal my plan. You shall see but not be seen and you will witness my vengeance before you leave. For I do not deal lightly with those who attempt to circumvent my will…”
As the Goddess spoke, Terra listened with wide eyes. What the Kindred deity was proposing sounded impossible…
And yet it was the only hope she had of getting back her guys.
FORTY-SIX
A few hours after the dinner bell had rung and everyone in the villa was getting ready for the evening’s festivities, there was a buzzing at the front security gate.
Smithers, the Head Doorman, came trotting down the long marble hallway, wondering who in the world could be calling at this hour of the evening. Mistress Bodikin was reclusive by nature—she didn’t have many callers even back in Opulex, the capital city of Yonnie Six, where there were many more Mistresses about.
Still, maybe his Mistress had invited some investors or collectors to witness the Grand Event she had planned for that very night. She had announced it at dinner, sending everyone in the villa scrambling to get things ready on such extremely short notice.
Smithers wished his Mistress would give more warning before planning a big occasion—or at least that she had given him a guest list so he would know who to watch out for. But Yonnite Mistresses weren’t known for their patience. If Mistress Bodikin announced that everyone must be assembled in the Grand Receiving Chamber at midnight to witness “History in the making,” then you had best believe everyone was going to be there!
It was either that, or risk a flogging, and no one wanted that. Why, even Mistress Dahlia was going to be there, though she had complained that she would rather spend time with her three burly new bodyslaves. However, her mother had insisted and everyone was gathering even now, getting ready to see what their Mistress had planned.
He got to the double doors at the end of the long hallway at last and threw them open, clearing his throat importantly as he did so.
“Welcome to the private villa of Mistress Bodikin of—” he began. But the words died on his lips for there was no one there—no one at all.
Frowning, Smithers peered around the sides of the large double doors, bending so far, his tremendously tall wig began to tilt and he had to grab it to put it back in place. But no matter how far he looked, he couldn’t see anyone. How strange! Then who had rung the bell? It wasn’t like there were any neighbors or many passersby here—it was a private island.