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The Overlord needed Edinar blood, and Hellara was the only Edinar she knew.
She looked at the man in the tank, and the proxy next to her. The choice she had to make was something she would deal with later. The extraction would take six hours to get him functioning again and in the meantime, she needed to prepare herself to give up her blood and possibly her life.
Time ticked by and slowly, the fluids that kept the Overlord in stasis were replaced by blood and saline.
She checked the tube in her own arm and winced. In another half hour, she might not be able to stay conscious.
“Why are you doing that?” The proxy looked concerned, or at least his lips were twisted.
“You need Edinar blood. I am Edinar. The blood is being filtered, but I am a very good match for you. You should be waking within the hour.” She swayed and he caught her.
“You are very pale.”
“I am a redhead, we are always pale.” Spots were swimming in front of her eyes. “Do me a favour and call my dad. He will be worried.” She dimly heard cursing as she was lowered to the floor. Darkness surged and flowed around her and then her father’s orange face was hovering over hers. “Ah, Hellara, what have you done?” 22
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“Life will never be the same.” She smiled up at his face.
Alfred Neering was a Nimlak who had legally adopted her after he bought her as a child. Her stepmother had sold her into what she hoped was a life of drudgery, but with Alfred, Hellara had flourished.
Now he was holding her in his arms and tears formed in his eyes. “You did it, by the way. Your brothers are helping him out of the tank. He’s weak, but alive.”
“Josu is the closest match if he needs more blood.” She drifted off but came to when her father shook her.
“Why are you wearing that mask?”
“He has to take it off, I can’t. Is keyed to him.” She yawned as he lifted her in his arms, the transfusion tube long gone.
“Which one of the boys can help you?” She thought and then lost the thread. “What?”
“Who is closest to you in blood?”
“Lader. It will have to be filtered or his nanos will do something strange, but he is closest. Why?” Alfred rolled his eyes and called for his son.
With her family there, Hellara had everything she needed so she relaxed.
Dressers were working on her and her father was scowling. “This isn’t right.” The Overlord stood nearby and frowned as 23
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well. “I would not do if it wasn’t necessary, but we have to do this together. How in the name of the gods did you get an Edinar?”
“Her stepmother sold her ten years before the purge started. We declared her dead and I started travelling. I had no idea that they would all be destroyed.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you think that there are others?”
“I have been looking for ten years. She is the first one I have seen.”
Hellara struggled against the constriction of the dress. “I am right here you know, you don’t have to talk like I am unconscious or dead.” The Overlord took her hands and held her still when she would have slapped the dressers. “Be still, Hellara. We only have half an hour. I still need to walk you to the throne room.” She quieted and the dressers finished fussing with her. The Overlord set her on her feet and held her while she got her balance.
She carefully moved and kissed her father’s weathered cheek. “Thank you, Dad. Thanks, guys.”
Her brothers nodded and her father blushed.
“Anything for you, dear heart. Now, go and shake the world.”
She raised her eyebrows beneath her mask and took the Overlord’s extended hand. Together they walked the halls, but her family was at her back, weapons ready. She didn’t understand the 24
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weaponry until they walked into a cluster of guards.
“With respect, Overlord, war has been declared.”
“Not until after midnight. I have fifteen minutes to regain my throne.” The Overlord stood still, but he moved Hellara slightly behind him.
“That is fifteen minutes you do not have.” The guard raised a weapon. “The Kelio pay much better.”
In an instant, weapon fire filled the air. When the noise stopped, the guards were dead and her father and brothers were at her side.
“Overlord, I don’t mean to rush you, but we should get going.” Alfred looked around and Josu took point.
They moved without further incident to the doors of the throne room. The Overlord pressed his hand to the door and looked down at her, his eyes telling her to do the same.
Bemused, she placed her hand over his and the door latch clicked at the same moment that another round of weapon fire occurred behind them. The Overlord pushed her into the throne room and to the central fixture in the room. The huge chair had a full set of controls on the arms and the Overlord quickly took his seat, leaning back and closing his eyes.
A hum of power ran through the building and lights came on throughout the throne room. In the 25
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courtyard through, the heavy blast proof glass, Hellara noticed the surface-to-air guns rising.
She took a seat on the base of the dais as blasts from outside the throne room told her her family was still in danger. Ships started to fall out of the sky with echoing thuds.
Needing something to do, she looked for any weapons or data ports. She found nothing.
The Overlord of Priznik opened his eyes and reached behind his head, removing the mask that had participated in his stasis. It clattered to the floor and he scrubbed his face.
Wearily, he looked up at her, his dark green eyes were over high strong cheekbones, the dark wings of his brows giving him a serious expression.
“Thank you, Hellara. Your timing was perfect. If we had waited until midnight, it would have been too late.”
She nodded and approached him. “You are welcome. Can you remove the mask now?” He nodded and beckoned for her to approach him. She leaned up as he gripped her scalp, making a small surprised noise as he pressed his lips to hers in a claiming kiss that deepened rapidly.
He had brushed his teeth after stasis, that much was obvious, the kiss was minty. She moaned lightly and pushed up on her toes to give him complete access to her mouth.