Close Liaisons (The Krinar Chronicles 1)

He said truthfully, “I don’t know. He may choose to have you killed or punished in some other way. I honestly don’t know.”

Mia let out a short bitter laugh. “And you don’t care, right?”

John sighed. “I do, Mia. More than anything, I wish that things were different. That I wasn’t asking you to do this, that the only thing you had to worry about were your midterms. But we don’t live in that kind of world anymore. If we are to regain our freedom, we have to risk everything. You are our best chance to get close to Korum. You can really make a difference, Mia.”

Mia

walked over to the table and sat down, closing her eyes for a minute so she could think. She had no reason to trust John, and she had no idea if anything he had told her was the truth. Still, she was somehow inclined to believe him. There was too much pain in his voice when he talked about his sister; he was either the best actor in the world, or the Ks really were abducting and enslaving humans who caught their eye. The way she had inadvertently caught Korum’s.

Another question occurred to her. Opening her eyes, she asked, “What if Korum knows that Jason is Jessie’s cousin, and he is already suspicious of me?”

John shrugged. “It’s a possibility, of course. But Jason is Jessie’s third cousin, so the connection is very distant. Also, he’s a nobody in our operation – he has barely been involved in the last two years. He only came to me today because Jessie had called him about you. We can’t completely rule out this possibility, but the odds are in our favor. Also, don’t forget – Korum is the one who has been pursuing you, not the other way around, so he really has no reason to suspect anything.”

“All right,” said Mia, “let’s pretend for a second that I do decide to spy for you. How do you expect me to go to him tonight, knowing everything you’ve just told me, and act like nothing has changed? He’s thousands of years old – he can read me like an open book. I don’t stand a chance.”

“I don’t know, Mia. At this point, you know him far better than we do. I know you’ve never been tested like this, but I believe in you. Your biggest advantage may simply be the fact that he likely underestimates your intelligence. As long as you’re just his charl, he may not see you as a threat.”

Mia had finally had enough. She stood up, a feeling of exhaustion washing over her.

“John,” she said wearily, “I understand what you’re trying to do, and I do sympathize with your cause. I can’t promise you anything. I will not put my life in danger to report to you on Korum’s whereabouts and what he had for dinner. But if I do happen to come across any information that could be material, I will do my best to get it to you.”

He nodded. “That’s fair, Mia. If you need to get in touch with us, just talk to Jessie – or if that’s not possible, send her an email with ‘Hi’ in the subject line – we’ll be monitoring her account. That way, if he decides to keep tabs on your email – which he probably will – he won’t get suspicious. You’ll just be saying hi to your roommate.”

Mia nodded in agreement, wanting nothing more than to be alone. Her head was pounding with a brutal headache, and she gladly locked the door behind John as soon as he left.

Making her way to her room, she collapsed on the bed.

She felt sick, her stomach churning from John’s revelations. It just couldn’t be true – she didn’t want to believe it. Yes, Korum did seem to ride roughshod over her objections, and he really hadn’t given her much choice in their relationship thus far. But to actually keep her as a very real sex slave? To take away all her freedom and keep her locked up somewhere within a K Center? If the existence of the charl were anything more than a figment of John’s imagination – and Korum intended to make her one – then he was definitely the monster that she’d accused him of being.

Mia felt nauseous at the thought that she would see him tonight and feel his touch on her body. And probably respond to it, as though he were really her lover. That last part made her want to throw up again. How could her body want him when he didn’t even regard her as a person with basic human – or rather, intelligent being’s – rights?

She was also terrified about spying on him. If she got caught, she was sure that she would probably be killed – perhaps even tortured first, for information. Anyone who kept slaves likely wouldn’t blink at torture.

She shuddered.

In fact, if he found out about her conversation with John today, she might be doomed.

She tried to imagine him intentionally inflicting pain on her. For some reason, it was difficult. For the most part, he had been very gentle with her. Even her loss of virginity this morning – as traumatic as that had been – could have been much worse if he hadn’t tried to control himself. In fact, some of his actions were almost caring – feeding her, making sure she was warm and dry, healing her (well, maybe not that one, given what she’d just learned) – and that hardly jived with the villainous image John had painted for her. Then again, she wouldn’t want to hurt a kitten either, but would have no problem keeping the said kitten locked up in her house. If that was truly how he saw her – as a cute pet that he just happened to want to fuck – then his behavior made perfect sense.

Mia tried not to think about the implications of it all, but it was impossible. Her future had always seemed so bright, and she had enjoyed thinking about it, planning out the next few years of her life. And now she had no idea what the next few weeks would hold – whether she would even be alive, much less still attending NYU.

The thought that she might end up as Korum’s charl in an alien settlement was devastating, especially if she started thinking of her family’s reaction to her disappearance. Would he at least let her tell them that she was alive, or would she vanish without a trace?

A wave of self-pity washing over her, Mia felt the hot prickle of tears behind her eyelids. Unable to contain her battered emotions any longer, she buried her face in her pillow and sobbed at the bitter unfairness of it all – until her eyes were red and swollen and she couldn’t squeeze out another tear.

Then she got up, washed her face, and began to pack her things for tonight as per Korum’s suggestion.

* * *

At 6:45 p.m. she took the subway down to TriBeCa and entered Korum’s building at 6:59. Mentally patting herself on the back, Mia thought that she made quite a punctual spy.

He greeted her with a slow sensuous smile, looking as gorgeous as ever in a pair of light blue jeans and a plain white T-shirt. Even after John’s revelations, Mia’s heart skipped a beat at the sight. Her inner muscles clenched, and she felt herself starting to get wet. His smile got wider, exposing that damnable dimple. He could obviously sense her arousal.

Mia cursed her body. It had gotten conditioned to respond to him, despite everything. Then again, if she was literally sleeping with the enemy, she figured she might as well enjoy it. Now that she knew the truth about his kind and his probable intentions toward her, she was fairly certain that she could keep her emotions in check, no matter how many screaming orgasms he gave her.

The dinner that he prepared was outstanding as usual. Tender roasted potatoes with wild mushrooms, dill, and caramelized onions were the main course, preceded by an appetizer of spinach salad with poached pears. The dessert was a platter of fresh fruit, cut in various unique shapes, with a sweet walnut dip. The entire meal was served by candlelight. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he was wooing her with a romantic dinner. The more likely explanation was that he simply enjoyed great food in a beautiful setting, and she was the beneficiary of that.

Still, this hardly fit with the evil overlord image John had painted.