Super Spaced Out

I Am The King You Will Choose

The end of Lily's second fall was no where near as bad as her tumble onto the St. Rose Manor's marble floor. This time, she landed on something soft. And bounced. When she settled and didn't undergo any further attack, she pushed herself sitting and found herself on a bed. A big bed with four thorny iron posters in the center of a. Gray stone formed the walls. Crude, yet intricate tapestries draped them. Large, threatening looking furniture occupied the unadorned spaces. She had no idea where this was. She'd never relived any of this.

Lily scrambled for the end of the bed. The tinkling of metal preceded a sharp jerk to her neck. A fat band of a collar bit into the delicate skin at her throat. Choking, she flopped onto the mattress, feet flying overhead. Fingers picked at the metal band which wouldn't budge. She swallowed repetitively even though it hurt.

"My, my. Aren't we looking lovely."

The voice sat Lily up. Vlex emerged from the shadows near a large cabinet across from the bed. The Black Briar uniform he wore in the St. Rose Manor had morphed into a set of long black robes. They carpeted the stone floor around the Utori man in an enormous circle. Indelicate embroidery decorated the hem and lapels. A simple black diadem banded the his pale skull. Dark, glittering eyes cast an appreciative glance her way. When she looked down she gasped.

A flimsy garment, if you could call it that, draped her body. It was pretty much see through.

"You can stop staring." She paused a beat, then said, "Anytime."

Vlex averted his gaze as Lily tucked herself under the bed's covers. The commander had both of his arms. Damage done in an Escapade apparently wasn't permanent even for the duration of the session. She scowled at him.

"You could have told me you were really you too." Lily plucked at her golden collar. "I wouldn't have acted like I did if I knew you were real. Can you get this thing off me?" Two fingers barely fit with the give of the band.

"Unfortunately, no." The Utori commander held out his hands. "Though it seems I play the part of the Xidian King in this memory, I've no idea where the key to your bonds resides."

"Xidian King, huh? Then who'm I supposed to be?"

"Camille Marie St. Rose. She was the king's concubine for a brief period."

Lily's jaw fell open.

"An unwilling concubine," Vlex added.

"He chained her to this bed and raped her?"

"He did."

Camille...Poor Camille. But where was Adelle all that time? The Mistress wouldn't have let that happen. She would have ripped the Xidian King apart to get to her partner.

This was another link in Camille's timeline. The abduction had to have occurred after the women landed on Utor but before they ended up on Raxos Base.