“I want you to be safe, God’s damn it!” Kane’s words were a muted roar in the confines of the small shuttle-car. His eyes flashed as he turned to Alli. “Don’t draw attention to yourself,” he growled. “Don’t let them know you’re different. Just keep your place by my side and stay silent so we can get through this. Do you understand?”
Alli’s mouth was suddenly dry. He hadn’t shown this side of himself before and his fury was frightening. But despite her fear, she thought she understood.
He’s not really angry at me, she thought, looking into his mirrored eyes. He’s afraid for me—afraid that if I draw attention to myself I’ll be in danger.
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” Kane said shortly. “You’re already too fucking beautiful for your own good. I don’t need the other Kru’ell Ones to see your spirit and covet you for that as well.” He took a deep breath and ran a hand over his shaved head. “I’m sorry you don’t like the state of your world in my universe, but you’ll be leaving it soon enough. So can you please just keep your feelings to yourself long enough for us to get through the feast and get away?”
“I suppose so,” Alli said stiffly. She shook her head. “After seeing all this, I’ll be glad to go home.”
“I’m sure you will,” Kane growled. “Here we are—remember to act like all the other concubines,” he added as he parked his shuttle on the West Lawn of what had once been the White House.
The structure of the original building still stood, Alli saw, but the building had been painted a foreboding dark gray and surrounded by a high, black, spiked fence. Paired with the banks of gloomy, lowering clouds above it, what had once been a symbol of liberty and justice was now an ominous sight.
A dictator lives there now, Alli thought, feeling her stomach knot into a fist of tension. He’s taken a place of democracy and freedom and twisted it—perverted it. He has silenced the voice of the people—or did his best to silence it, anyway. What has happened to the country and the world I once loved?
She didn’t know—she only knew it made her sick with fear and dread as Kane came around to her side of the shuttle and helped her out. What other atrocities would she see when she went with him to the feast?
Alli simply didn’t know, but she was terribly afraid she was about to find out.
Twenty-Five
“Your concubine can wait with the others in the Harem Complex,” the guard told Kane, as they entered the Overlord’s fortress. “There is a meeting of the Council before the feast can begin.”
Kane stiffened, his hands curling into fists at his sides. He didn’t like the idea of Allisandra being out of his sight for an instant but there was little choice. If he insisted on dragging his concubine with him into the Council meeting, the Overlord would want to know why. That, in turn, would draw unwanted attention to his lovely little female and the others might want to know why she was so different…so alluring.
No, he decided, he would have to let her go. There was one thing he could do to protect her, though.
“She can go,” he told the guard. “But I want a Peace Cloak for her to wear first.”
The guard’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“Something special is she?” he asked, frowning as he looked Allisandra up and down.
“She’s mine and I don’t want any other male getting ideas,” Kane said sharply. “As long as we’re here in the Overlord’s complex, I want her in a Peace Cloak.”
The guard shrugged.
“Suit yourself. Servant!” he shouted at one of the humans dressed in gray who were busily traversing the corridors.
An older woman with hair as gray as her garments came quickly.
“Yes, Kru’ell One? How may I be of service?” she asked blandly.
“A Peace Cloak is needed—now!” the guard snapped. “Be quick about it.”
The human servant nodded and scuttled off. She was back very shortly with a long, royal blue cloak which fastened at the neck and had a matching hood attached to it. She held it out mutely.
“Thank you.” Kane took it from her and turned to Allisandra. “Here—let me put this on you.”
He swept it around her shoulders and fastened it securely at her throat before standing back and taking her in. She looked good, he decided. The Peace Cloak was a clear sign of ownership—no other Kru’ell One would approach her as long as she was wearing it.
“Good,” he said aloud, speaking to the guard though he was looking at Allisandra. “Now she’s untouchable. As long as she keeps on the cloak, no other Kru’ell One will dare to bother her.”
The guard nodded.
“Can I take her to the Harem Complex now?”
“I suppose so.” Kane still hated letting her out of his sight, but at least now with the Peace Cloak she had a measure of protection. He just prayed that she would keep a low profile and not draw any attention to herself.