26

Mask of the Overload

It was a small thing that caught her attention, really. A tiny flicker of motion from behind the throne.

She shoved at the Overlord with all her might and knelt to find the only weapon in her possession. The shoe flew through the air and embedded in the forehead of the traitorous guard a moment after he had fired his weapon.

The chandelier swung gently, the smoking hole in the crystals an obvious marker for his strike.

“There is a law against assaulting the Overlord, Hellara, but in your case, I will let it pass.” He stood and walked over to the dead guard. He grimaced as he pulled the shoe out of the man’s forehead. He returned to her, helped her to a seat in the throne and lifted her unshod foot. “I believe that this is yours.”

She smiled and brushed her hair off her face, her mask was lying on the floor next to his. “I am sorry, Overlord. I had to improvise. I was just lucky that it was sturdy enough to do the job.” He slipped the shoe onto her foot and smiled up at her. “You may call me, Kai. Will you be my bride, Hellara?”

“Yes, she will.” Alfred’s voice was stern. “Your proxy already had his way with her, so you owe her a proper wedding.”

Hellara waved her father’s attitude off. “Yes, I will take you as my husband, Kai.” He stood and caressed her cheek, stroked her 27

Viola Grace

forehead and pressed kisses on the skin that had been confined by the mask.

“Why did the women have to wear the masks, Kai?”

“They are filled with sensors and were designed to find a woman suitable for genetic transfer to wake me.”

“An Edinar.”

“Precisly. The Kelio have tried to wipe out your people. You have too much intelligence and far too much power. It was that power that enabled me to wake the planetary defences.” His fingers played with her red curls.

“What comes next?”

“Well, we formally take the throne, we expel all Kelio influence and we get started in getting to know our actual bodies. I want to know if you really feel as soft as the proxy’s sensors told me.” She shook her head. “What will you do with the proxy bodies?”

“There is an orbital station where they can live with their basic programming and develop personalities. I have a plan for them.” Hellara nodded. It was hard to keep her thoughts clear when he was so close and his body was giving off a warm musk that invited her to come closer. “Good. They have served you well.”

“Come along, we have much to do, but it will wait until the morning. For now I wish to hold you in my arms while guards we can trust watch over 28

Mask of the Overload

us.”

She nodded and yawned.

The brothers were waiting for her, Alfred scowling at the dead as if they should never have pushed them. “We need to rest. Will you guard us?”

Josu nodded. “We will. Mother has wished it to be so.”

Their group moved through the palace and it was completely empty. Kai led them to a huge set of double doors and within, awaited a huge bed.

The blue starlight gown that she wore came off under her own power, the blood and brain spattered shoe was set carefully aside in case she needed to find them in the morning.

Stripped, she crawled into the bed and under the covers. When Kai curled around her from behind, she sighed and let him guard her in her sleep.

Coronations were peculiar things, but when the crown was placed on Hellara’s head and she turned to Kai, she had one thing and one only to say. “I have had worse things on my head recently.

Do I need your help to take this off?” He chuckled as they held still for the news reels and information registers. “No, but your dress will only come off with my thumbprint.”

Viola Grace

Around the sector, families watched the news and saw the new consort of the Overlord elbow their leader in the ribs, saw him laugh and tip her back into a kiss that left everyone smiling at the new security of their leading body.

The Kelio were being expunged and a new day was dawning. The world of Priznik and its surroundings would never be the same.