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affected her so easily and she
flushed with embarrassment, remembering her reaction to him at the lake.
    “How did you end up at the slave house?  Neither you
nor your sister were born into slavery, that’s obvious enough.”
    She shrugged.  “Nothing more than a bad luck story and
it’s a boring one at that.”
    “I would hear it anyway.”  He prompted.
    “I would prefer not to share it.”
    “I don’t care what you prefer.  Tell me the story,
now.”
    She cleared her throat angrily.  “Fine.  My father
was a very wealthy man.  Many years ago when he was a young man, he
figured out how the ancients had created their electricity.
    Tristan stiffened behind her.  “Your father was James
Hendrin?”
    She nodded.  “Aye.”
    “He’s one of the most famous humans in the history of the
new world.”  He grabbed her chin and turned her face towards his.
 “Are you telling me that I purchased the children of James Hendrin to be
my nanny and gardener?  Your father was the wealthiest man in the
country.”
    She wrenched her head free.  “I am well aware of that,
my lord.”  The bitterness in her voice was undeniable.
    “How did he die?”
    She sighed deeply and although she began to tremble softly,
her voice was steady enough.  “We were at our country home.  My
mother took Maya and I back into the city.  There was a play that Maya
wanted to see.  My father stayed home with our two younger siblings. 
While we were gone, there was a fire in the house and both my father and our
siblings died in the blaze.”
    “Was it an accident?”
    She shrugged.  “It appeared so, but my father had many
enemies.”
    “I still do not understand how you and your sister ended up
in a slave house.”
    “My mother is not a strong woman.  After my father and
siblings died, she – she became completely unglued.  My father had always
encouraged a frugal lifestyle, much to my mother’s dismay, and once he was gone
there was no one to stop her.  She threw elaborate parties, took expensive
trips and bought several houses.  She met the wrong people, fell in with a
bad crowd, and before long they had her hooked on the cocakin.”
    Tristan frowned.  He had tried the human’s cocakin
once, many years ago.  The fine white powder had burned his nose and given
him an instant headache, along with strange and disturbing
hallucinations.  He had not touched it again.
    “It took my mother less than nine moons to burn through my
father’s considerable wealth.”  She said bitterly.  “Maya and I
begged her to stop, begged her to get help, but she had gone mad with grief.”
    She sighed again.  “When she ran out of money, she sold
both Maya and I to the slave house in order to buy more drugs.  She
promised she would return in less than a week to buy us back and that was the
last time we saw her.  We have no idea where she is now or if she’s even
still alive.”
    She winced when Tristan squeezed her waist
involuntarily.  He was horrified by what she had just told him. 
Sophia’s mother had been a terrible mother, but even she would not have sold
her children for drugs.
    “My lord.”  She prompted, pushing at his arm. 
    He relaxed his grip and cleared his throat.  “How long
were you at the slave house?”
    She mulled it over for a few minutes.  “I’m not
entirely sure.  I would think at least ten or eleven moons.  I was
sold once, but returned back to the slave house the next day.”
    “Why?”
    She chose her words carefully.  “Most of the men that
go there are looking for a companion or a housekeeper.  The ones who are
looking for a housekeeper would sooner scrub their own toilets then bring a Red
into their household.  Those who are looking for a – a companion, are
leery of the stories of men who have tried to take Reds into their beds.”
    “What stories are those?”
    She gave him a strange look.  “Surely you know them, my
lord?”
    He shook his head, and she suddenly grinned