Warlord and Concubine

“This is it,” she said under her breath. “The moment of truth.”

Not the moment of actual truth—she for one certainly would not be telling that. Not all of it. Not even if she were broken.

"Return to Dune Towers" Willow Raven Illustration & Design http://linkis.com/weebly.com/1QsYm

The sand whispered and eddied below the low-hovering platform at her feet as she passed, the imposing form of the palace-plex having now come into full view.

She knew that meant that she, herself, had now come into full view as well.

The master’s guard would soon be upon her.

She felt her senses pique as she anticipated her inevitable apprehension, and she fought not to show it. The best defense would be a convincing display of innocence.

How would the master accept her? Would the master accept her? He, the warlord, had never been known to suffer fools … or be willing to be made one of. For his entire oppressive reign, from his bloody, terrible rise to power and before, the master had made it abundantly clear. The burden of suffering would be borne on the backs of any fools who would dare cross him or his dominion.

The man and his dominion … they were one and the same, actually. A universal truth?

A smile pursed her lips.

As universal as any.

Hopefully so … her reason for being depended on it. He needed to need her, to want her back. To be less concerned about her whereabouts and the circumstances of her disappearance … than having back in his hand that which was his.

So his.

He had proclaimed her the crown jewel of his court—not before the court, but the court knew it all the same.

It had to be eating him alive, being without her … living without sustenance. It had to be eating him alive.

It had to be.

###

-Harlowe Pilgrim

Copyright 2014 Cock and Bull Publishing, LLC

Follow on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/Superhero_Story

Superhero Story is available at Amazon, iBooks,
Smashwords.com, Books-A-Million, and most other online booksellers.