The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 5.2

"Are you all right?" Ford was asking Mara as he swiftly plucked the last of the little creatures from her hair.

"Yes," she gasped out.

Ford turned to the nearest guard, dizzily getting to his feet, and shook him bodily. "You idiot! Can't you stop one unarmed woman? Take the Queen's handmaiden back to her quarters so she may recover! Go on, get out of my sight! And as for you," he added, turning to Sabrina, "if you dare lay a hand on my mother again, I'll wring your neck. Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly," she ground out, twisting her head to get a look at Mara. The sodden Guardian was being led off by the guard, shivering even in the heat. But she didn't seem to have recovered her memory by using her power. It hadn't worked.

Ford gripped her sunburned arm, making her give a little cry of protest, and shook her a bit. "Obviously you're not fit for palace service," he said loudly, then added in a low voice, "That was a stupid idea!"

"I didn't know what else to do. Nothing's working," she muttered.

Varla joined them a moment later. "Well," she said, "I was right to think that Miss Devon would amuse me. Now do you believe that my handmaiden cannot be turned?"

"No," Sabrina said, looking Varla in the eye fiercely. "I will never believe that."

"Do you know," Varla said, "I do believe I shall enjoy changing your mind. What do you think, my pet? Shall I chain her to my throne? Or give her to my guards for their amusement?"

"Give her to me," Ford growled. "I owe her for what she tried to do to my mother. She's been nothing but trouble since I met her—lording it over me and ordering me around. Me, a prince, and she's nothing, from a little backwards dirtball that hasn't even made interstellar contact yet! Give her to me. It will amuse me to humiliate her."

"Oh, shut up," Sabrina spat at him. "Like you'd dare! When we get home—"

"But we aren't going to get home," he retorted. "Haven't you been listening? Mother's hopeless. We're out of phase with Praxatillus, and even Homeworld's technology isn't advanced enough to knock us back in. We're here, and that's that. We may as well make the best of it. You'd realize that if you had a glimmer of intelligence in that disused organ you call your brain."

"I'll kill you in your sleep," Sabrina warned.

Ford laughed. "You can try! Do let me have her, Gracious Queen. It will amuse me vastly to beat the spirit out of her."

"Very well," Varla said. "But she is not to be in the laboratory with us."

"Of course not," Ford said. "But since it will take the rest of the day for our experiment to produce results, I shall have time to play with her a bit, shall I not?"

"Yes, if you wish," Varla said. "I have work to do. Amuse yourself as you will, but do so in your quarters. The guards outside will bring you whatever you require. I will return for you at sunset."

"Thank you, your majesty," Ford said, inclining his head. She departed, and he led Sabrina in the opposite direction, trailed by a guard. "Behave yourself," he said, "or I'll put you on a leash."

She glanced sharply at him, wondering if he was acting for the guard's benefit. It seemed unlikely since he was speaking Praxatillian, and the guards didn't understand it. They weren't powerful telepaths, either; it was only Varla, as far as she could tell, who had enough power to communicate with alien minds. "You'll have to bear with me. I've never been a toy before. I'm bound to do everything wrong."

Her tone made it a definite threat, and he grinned. "I look forward to it," he replied. "But let's keep in mind that we have the same goal."

"Do we?"