Free Gateway to HeVan by Lucy Kelly Page B

and began running down the corridor.  Both of the guards straightened and became even more alert.
    The duke paid not the slightest attention.  “Once again, you have kept me waiting.  You are a very poorly trained servant.  I’m surprised the queen has kept you employed,” he said. 
    Natalie had reached her limit.  She gave BianCa a look which said, I’m sorry, as she spoke.
    “For your information, I’m not a servant.  I’m Lady Enlil of the House of Azure.  My rank on HeVan is equal to what yours is on KowLer.  And you have just gotten on my last nerve.  Here,” she said, handing him his handheld device, “you left this inside―very careless of you.  Now you won’t have to make a trip back to retrieve it.  I’ll escort you to the docking station now,” she said. 
    I hope Peet and Reeko won’t mind me borrowing my future title.  Lady Enlil sounds better than Miss Warner of Chicago, she thought. 
    She looked over at the warrior standing guard at the door and he gave her a wink of encouragement.
    She thought she saw a flash of anger cross the duke’s face and then he got himself under control. 
    “I have missed my wife.  I will be spending some more time with her.  I can make my own way to the docking station.  You need not put yourself out any further― My Lady ,” he said sarcastically through clenched teeth.
    BianCa really needs to yank that stick out of his ass and beat him over the head with it , she thought, as she led them toward the lift.
    As she approached BianCa’s quarters, once again she waited for BianCa to open the door.
    “It is not possible for you to wander the ship unescorted.  When would you like me to come and take you to the docking station?” she asked. 
    He was the last visitor of the day and she wanted to take a bath and put on some nice clothes for her date with her Ankida .
    “Thirty minutes―don’t keep m e waiting,” he said, closing the door in her face.
    Once again, she opened the panel beside the door and keyed in the sequence which put the door under her control.  It was a safety measure Arjun had insisted on and in this instance, she was grateful for the rule.  She didn’t trust the duke to stay put.  She didn’t trust him an inch; he was the type to cause trouble just because he could. 
    Non-Nephilim visitors were not allowed the run of the ship.  It didn’t matter who they were.  Natalie took her duties seriously.  Even though she trusted BianCa, she always locked her in when she retired for the evening.  BianCa had been provided with a wrist communicator designed by Jett and Gilda so it was functional and looked like a nice piece of jewelry.  It allowed her the ability to call when she needed to leave quarters to visit with Grace or Addie.  Natalie was just happy the duke hadn’t seen her unlock the mechanism on the door earlier.  He’d been too busy ignoring the servant and sizing up the Seraphians.  BianCa obviously hadn’t given this information to her husband.  Natalie could easily understand why.
    Natalie wondered what she could do in the thirty minutes she had before she had to be back there.  She decided to run down to the kitchen and check in with Jennifer on the lasagna.
    ****
    As soon as the door closed and they were alone, LucenTio walked over to his wife and backhanded her across the face, making her fall on the bed and leaving a red welt on her cheek.
    “ PietRo, you should have not have done that.  I told you I would ask for Ben’s protection if you ever struck me again.  You have gone mad; he will kill you for this,” she said.
    “You have picked up strange customs from these barbarians.  You don’t know your place, so I obviously need to show it to you.  Finally, I thought you would be of some use to me.  You got me on this ship, but the women here are interfering busybodies,” he said , as he crawled onto the bed and put one hand around his wife’s throat.
    “But perhaps all is not lost.  All I