Free Skylar's Guardians by Breanna Hayse Page A

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    “Whose side are you on anyway, asshole?” Skylar mumbled under her breath from the other room. Despite the pounding of her head, she had strained to hear their conversation and did not like the direction it was taking.
    “Did you say something, darling?” Troy asked, sticking his head in the room.
    “No,” Skylar growled, silently damning him for his hearing.
    “Good, because I was concerned you referred to me as an asshole. You already got swatted once today for using that term to describe Tralec,” he reminded her.
    Skylar clamped her mouth shut, knowing she was busted again. “I wouldn’t do that. It isn’t polite.”
    “Nor would you dare lie to us, either. I am certain Papa informed you of our society’s prohibition against fibbing. There now, that’s our good girl,” Tralec said calmly, handing her the beverage. “I warmed it for you and added honey and butter. The manual stated that would help you sleep.”
    “Put some rum in it and I’ll sleep even better,” Skylar grumbled.
    Tralec ignored her. “We like it when you behave respectfully. Have you decided what you wanted to do about the detoxification process?”
    “No, sir,” Skylar forced out.
    “I will give you until the setting of Solaris to decide. That is in approximately one of your hours. At that time, I will choose for you.”
    “Why? This has nothing to do with you.”
    “Because I… we… don’t want you to have to suffer any more than you already have. We want you to have the opportunity to be healthy and happy. You deserve it, baby.”
    “How do you know? I mean,” Skylar picked her words carefully, “you don’t really know me. I could be as evil as Paul was.”
    “Neither of us believes that.”
    “You are idiots, then. You…” Her eyes darkened as she felt the surge of rebellion rise again.
    “Think before you say anything else, Skylar. I am learning to interpret your expressions and predict your reactions,” Troy warned, wagging a finger in her face. “Behave.”
    A solid minute ticked by. “Yes, sir,” Skylar pouted, her lower lip sticking out prettily.
    “Make her stop that, Tralec,” Troy said, rolling his eyes. “She is too adorable to stay angry with.”
    “Daddy? Milk isn’t any good without cookies. Could I have a couple, please?” Skylar said sweetly, blinking up at Tralec.
    “I’ll find them. Sit with her and don’t let our little girl out of your sight,” Troy said to Tralec while wagging a warning finger at Skylar again.
    “What did I do?” Skylar asked innocently.
    Tralec shook his head. “I don’t know, but I trust Troy’s instincts. If he thinks you are plotting something, I tend to believe him. Why are you so resistant to allowing us to take care of you? I don’t understand your reluctance.”
    “It’s not that I don’t like the idea of being taken care of,” Skylar admitted, tracing invisible patterns on the edge of the bunk with her finger as she sipped the milk. “I just don’t like being told that I have to do something. I mean, you are sort of giving me a choice about how I want you to fix me, but not that I will be fixed. It makes me feel powerless, and it scares me.”
    “I have been offering you choices, haven’t I?”
    “Some, but you are not giving me any choice on what is important. You know, about whether or not I want to stay with you.”
    “Tell me, Skylar,” Tralec leaned back to look at her, “if you found an injured animal on the road, would you just patch it up as best as you can and then put it back in the wilderness?”
    “No, of course not. But an animal…”
    “Has better instincts to survive in the wild than a human does. You have no natural, physical defenses to protect you from the elements, to help you hunt and prepare food, or to care for your needs. Putting a weak animal back into its habitat before it has regained full strength is sentencing it to death. You would not do that with an animal, so why would you expect us to do that