Page 8 of To Quench Her Thirst

“Be that as it may, my Lady doesn’t want one in her room,” Drago said sternly, frowning at the three of them. “She has a fear of large insects and arachnids and she will be unable to sleep if she has one near her.”

He knew this from experience—Addison had once climbed him like a tree when a pincher bug from Moldove Beta got into their long-range shuttle. He’d had to kill it with her clinging to him—not an easy task. But since he so rarely allowed himself to touch her or hold her, Drago savored the memory.

“I understand how you feel,” the shortest lady-in-waiting said, patting Addison’s arm comfortingly. “But I’m afraid once the room assignments are handed out, nobody can change them—Palace Rules. Otherwise you’d have people endlessly swapping places and nobody could keep track of anybody.”

“But…can it get out?” Addison was still staring fearfully at the silky, which had finished wrapping up the hapless squeaker and was currently dragging it back up the wall to its lair in the corner.

“Don’t worry about that—they almostneverget out of their cages,” was the reply. “And they don’t start shrieking unless you forget to feed them.”

“Almost never?” Addison asked, her eyebrows raising. “And did you say they startshrieking?”

“Only if you forget to feed them. And since Peeza just fed yours, you should have no trouble for a good long time,” the shortest lady-in-waiting told her. “Now come on—let’s find you a feasting dress!”

“And while you two look at dresses, we’ll take Drago here tohisroom,” Peeza purred, reaching up to put a hand possessively on his arm.

“Yes, we’ll show himallthe amenities,” either Teeza or Leeza—Drago couldn’t tell them apart—added, giving him a wink.

But he wasn’t about to be led away from his charge.

“Sorry, ladies, but I’m staying with Dr. Hollister,” he said firmly, folding his arms over his chest. “And Iwon’tbe staying in a separate room, either,” he added.

“What? But we were under the impression that the two of you weren’t a couple,” Peeza protested.

“We’re not,” Drago admitted. “But I’m her Protector—I can’t keep her safe from halfway across the palace!”

“But it’sscandalousfor the two of you to stay in the same room if you’re not in a bonded relationship,” either Leeza or Teeza proclaimed, her large, dark eyes going wide.

“Well, we don’t want to cause a scandal or offend anyone…” Addison began doubtfully.

“What if we put him in this suit’s servant’s room?” the shortest lady-in-waiting asked. “It’s not a very big accommodation, but itdoeshave a bed and it’s directly connected to the suite. Not that we’re saying you’re a servant,” she said, turning to Drago. “But to save face?—”

“That’s fine as long as I have easy access to this room in case Dr. Hollister needs me,” he said firmly. He raised his eyebrows at Addison. “Does that work for you?”

She nodded and he thought he saw a look of relief pass over her lovely face.

“Yes, that would be fine. Thank you, Drago.”

A small surge of triumph ran through him.Ha—so even though she pretended otherwise, she didn’t want to be alone in a strange place without him to protect her! That was good to know—especially after the way she’d been falling all over herself to get close to that slimy Lx Sambla.

“We’ll stay here and try on dresses,” the shortest lady-in-waiting said. “You three show Lssa Addison’s bodyguard the servant’s room.”

“We will!” the three skinny ladies exclaimed. They crowded around Drago again but he didn’t leave until he had caught Addison’s eyes and raised his eyebrows in a silent question.

You’re all right with me leaving you for a moment?the look asked.

She nodded briefly, though her eyes cut to the silky cage for a moment and then came back.

Drago got the message—she didn’t mind him leaving but also didn’t want him to stay away for too long. He supposed he would be on spider-killing duty if that fucking silky got out. He didn’t relish the idea, but hedidlike the idea of Addison clinging to him and pressing her soft, curvy body against his. So he nodded back and reluctantly allowed the other three Ladies-in-waiting to lead him away.

5

ADDIE

“Now this one is justlovely—only the finest silk was used in making it,” Sparki said, pulling yet another black dress from the tall, white wardrobe.

"Oh, really?" Addie tried to look at the dress but she couldn't help it—her eyes kept getting drawn back to the silky cage and its horrible inhabitant. She'd watched a documentary once with her nephew, who was fascinated by dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. In it, the narrator claimed that there was once a time on Prehistoric Earth when spiders got as large as cats, dragonflies were bigger than squirrels, and centipedes were longer than your leg.

According to the documentary, this was because there was much more oxygen in the air back then, allowing insects and arachnids to grow to massive sizes. It sounded like a terrible time to Addie—she hated bugs of all kinds—but her nephew had loved it.

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