
When her ship's AI forces a landing on Priznik, Hellara knows that everything around her is about to change, possibly with devastating results. She is pampered, primped and produced in a ballroom with two dozen other women, waiting for a dance with the Overlord of Priznik. Three days of balls and events will occur before he makes his selection of a consort, but what Hellara sees in his eyes makes up her mind on him on day one. She sees behind the Mask of the Overlord in an instant, and now wants to see even more.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Mask of the Overlord
Copyright © 2011 Viola Grace
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books
Look for us online at:
www.eXtasybooks.com
Mask of the Overlord
A Trapezium Exclusive
By
Viola Grace
f you give me time to boost the thrusters I can
"I get us past Priznik. Don't land, Mother, I am begging you." Hellara was almost crying at the terror that filled her with the name of the planet emblazoned on the screen.
Her father, Alfred Neering, was grey with nerves as well.
"Isn't there a way around the planet, Mother?" Their AI was usually more flexible than this.
"No. The Overlord has commanded that all unwed women within the ages of twenty and thirty be brought to him for this day. I will do as my Overlord commands." The feminine voice came through clearly and chilled everyone on board.
The captain scowled at the control centre.
"What is wrong with you, Mother? You know that Hellara can't land on Priznik. You have the Oracle's words in your system."
"I am aware of that, Captain, but this ship is going to Priznik. Hellara Neering will attend the ball."
Hellara stood shaking and looked to her father and brothers. They looked back helplessly and returned to their stations. Mother controlled 1
Viola Grace
everything on the Dust Up. If she thought it would be best for Hellara to be delivered unconscious and dangling upside down, they would help her do it.
She bit her lip and returned to her work, sliding under the console and working on the air lines.
Her hands shook as she handled the spanner.
Tears tracked down her face as she tried to do her job, but with every passing second they were getting closer to Priznik and the doom of the universe.
Hellara had been five when the Dust Up landed on Miska. She had wandered around until she found a woman, lying in a bed with wires and tubes running along her skin. The pleasant voice had greeted the little girl and asked her if she had a question.
Little Hellara followed instructions and placed her hand on the query stone just in time for her father to hear, "When Hellara goes to Priznik, the world as they know it will come to an end." It was years before her father told her what that had to have meant, and the Oracle was never wrong.
Terror of the very name of Priznik had been instilled within her and it hadn't eased up over the years.
Breathing to control her racing heart, she looked at the toxic lines and debated ending it all. After all, one couldn't be doomed if one were dead. She shook her head and gritted her teeth as she 2
Mask of the Overload
repaired the connection. What ever happened to her on the planet, she would face it with as much grace and style as a woman born and trained in star ship repair could manage.
She fiddled nervously with her jumpsuit, not quite sure what she should be wearing. Her brothers stood as an honour guard, their regenerated flesh in perfect shape, each body in ideal condition for a salvaged form.
Hellara's talent for repairing any kind of computer or flesh had gotten them dozens of commissions, but her penchant for picking up battered and wounded Regens was a hobby that her father had never gotten used to. Warriors, built, damaged and left for dead were now the crew of the Dust Up. She called them her brothers, and that was how they treated her, as a little sister.
Mother was the only one who outranked her in their eyes.
She waited for customs to check the ship.
Locking the crew in a main room was traditional during customs sweeps, but Hellara had the feeling that they were looking for more than just rogue imports.
Her father was with the officers, working on the manifests and detailing their ship's thruster damage. She was left with her brothers and waiting for whatever was going to happen next.
The door opened with a hiss and eight officers 3
Viola Grace
of the Priznik palace stood in the opening. "Lady, you will come with us. You have a ball to attend." Hellara stood and walked into their grouping.
They surrounded her and she marched forward to her doom and the doom of all those on the planet, including her father and brothers.
The spaceport was empty of all females, only male staff were visible and they did not look happy.
The guards surrounding her did not look at her at all, aside from assisting her into a vehicle that allowed them all to stand as a group while it whisked them into the most elaborate city that Hellara had ever seen.
The guards walked down empty halls and waited while sombre staff members dressed her in a gown, slippers and affixed a mask to her.
She finally found her voice. "What is the mask for?"
The dresser jumped in surprise. "The balls will take place over three nights. The Overlord will choose his mate from all the women assembled by compatibility alone. While your red hair is unmistakable, we have provided a few decoys to distract him. You won't know who he is and he won't know who you are."
The dresser looked as if he would continue, but a gong sounded and their brief time was up.
He gathered his equipment and was almost to the door when he turned. "It is a good thing you 4
Mask of the Overload
arrived today. Tomorrow would have been too late."
She looked at the elegant lithe figure in the mirror and looked back at him. "Lucky me." The guards arrived in moments and they formed around her again. This time she was not the only woman in the halls. Clusters of guards and young females were all moving toward a huge set of doors.
Each woman was wearing a mask and most looked terrified, though a few looked very pleased with themselves.
All of the women were elegantly dressed, no two were precisely outfitted in the same manner.
As they entered the ballroom Hellara's guard dispersed and left her standing at the back of the crowd of women.
A line of men, each identical to the other were on the other side of the ballroom. As music began, servants manned the buffet tables and wine was poured into glasses for those attending the party.
Hellara had never seen this amount of women together in one space. The smirking women surged toward the approaching men. Masks were everywhere.
She skirted the crowd and moved behind a pillar. She would be safe here while she figured out what was going on.
Peering around a decorative drape, she watched the way the men moved. Each step was familiar to 5
Viola Grace
her and the gait and posture rippled in her mind.
The men all had long black hair threaded with tiny gold bands, a gilt mask that framed black eyes and let the full curve of his lips catch the eye of the women facing him. Hellara couldn't stare long at the face before the impressive structure of the body got her attention and she was drawn to the elegant vest barely containing a massive chest, arrowing her gaze down to the wide belt and the bulge visible in his snug trousers beneath it. His boots were tight, black and had a high polish. Each and every male was dressed precisely the same.
From her vantage point, she counted one male for every two females. She hid behind the post and watched each male take a female to the dance floor, he danced with her twice and then returned her to the group, taking another female in his arms.
It was surreal to watch the same man dancing with different women at the same time, but that was what she was seeing.
Her stomach rumbled, but she didn't want to expose herself to the attentions of the men. She couldn't sit in the dress she had been given, so she leaned against the pillar and tried to not think of the food that was just out of her reach.
After two hours of watching the dancers she decided that the path was safe. When the men were all dancing with partners for a fresh round, Hellara darted out and daintily snagged a few tidbits from the table as well as a glass of wine 6
Mask of the Overload
before returning to her hiding place.
The servants manning the table had seemed friendly, so she did not think that they would tell on her.
She was just licking her fingers clean when a shadow fell across her hand. Swallowing nervously, she looked up into the eyes of one of the males. "The Overlord, I presume?" He held out his hand and she finished licking her right hand, giving him her left. His gaze had fixated on her tongue as she removed the last of the cream. She watched him visibly shudder and jerk as he got control over himself.
As he led her to the floor, she whispered, "I don't know how to dance."
"Leave it to me." His voice was low and amused. The full lips quirked and he stood on the side of the dance floor, holding her tightly against every inch she had been admiring from a distance.
It was quite a few inches if her guess was any estimation.
He shifted forward and she jumped back in reflex, but with his hand on her waist and the other holding her right hand, she had no choice but to stay plastered to him. He moved again and she got out of his way and after a few more of those moves, she realized that they were dancing.
He spun her around and around, each step letting the heat from his body soak into hers.
"Aren't we supposed to talk or something?" She 7
Viola Grace
bit her lip as the second song began and he led her in a different pattern.
"What do you wish to talk about?"
"Why am I here?"
His lips quirked again. "Is that a philosophical question or geographical?"
"Situational."
"Ah. As Overlord of Prinzik there is a need to select a consort. With a limited population, all women of the surrounding sector in the precise age range have been brought here, once a year for this date. Three nights, three balls and if you are not chosen, you may go home."
He whirled her and she clutched at him for stability. She didn't remember this kind of acrobatic movement with the other dancers.
When the song ended, he didn't release her.
"What are you doing? Two dances and you are supposed to let me go."
"I don't want to. None of the others even dared speak to me, let alone question me. That makes you unique." He smiled again, and it was not a good smile.
"Fine, why are some of the women terrified?"
"Ah, if they are in the area of influence, they had no choice but to come here for this day, as has been happening for over a decade. They come, they dance, they return home."
She absorbed that information and shook her head, her mask hiding her expression. "You have 8
Mask of the Overload
been doing this for a decade and still no consort?" A grimness spilled into his tone. "I need a very particular kind of woman and only when I have found her will these events cease." She didn't know what else to say to that, she simply hung on and waited until they completed their turn and the music paused.
He took her by the arm and led her from the dance floor and out into the gardens. None of the other couples were near them. They entered the evening air and Hellara looked up to the stars that she called her home. "It's a lovely night." He looked down at her and she was struck by the familiarity in his movements. "Yes, it is." She took a few steps away from him and looked at him in the starlight. She put together the identical bodies, the masks, the motion and suddenly she knew what she was facing.
"Proxies."
He froze and the look he gave her was less than friendly. "I beg your pardon." She backed away from him. "You heard what I said. You are perfect in every detail, each one of you exactly the same. You are projections of a singular controller. No wonder you all move the same way. For all intents and purposes, you are the same person."
He stalked her as she backed toward the garden maze. "In ten years, not one woman has realized that. Hellara Neering, you are something 9
Viola Grace
extraordinary."
She was gearing up to run when he stiffened and straightened. "The ball is over. The guards will take you to your chamber for the night. Return to the ballroom."
His tone was blank with none of the banter that marked their earlier conversation and the quiet threat was gone as well.
Shaken to the core, she followed the projection into the ballroom and walked into the custody of the guards.
The guards led her to a door and ushered her inside. "The dressers will be here soon to help you out of your gown. Good evening, lady." She was left alone in the room and her hands shook while she fought at the clasps holding the mask in place. They refused to give way no matter how much she tugged and her fingers were raw by the time the dressers came in.
"Oh, lady. Stop that. You will hurt yourself. The mask will come off after the third day. Not before." The dresser rushed to her and pulled her hands away from her scalp.
Breathing quickly, Hellara fought the rush of panic at being trapped in the mask. Two of the dressers helped her out of her gown and slid a gauzy nightgown over her head, brushing her hair out beyond the confines of the mask.
"A meal will be brought to you in the morning, lady. Your gown for tomorrow will be brought to 10
Mask of the Overload
you in the evening. Try and relax, lady. It will all be over soon."
Hellara thought of the Oracle's prediction and nodded grimly. "That is what I am afraid of." A panel in the wall opened and a tray came out to sit on the small table. She looked at it and stumbled blearily to eat her brunch. The chronometer showed her that it was very close to noon and Hellara knew that she had not gotten more than an hour of sleep across the span of the night. Her mask may feel weightless, but she knew it was there and the confinement kept her on edge.
Her breakfast was a charming mix of ground-pounder foods. Eggs, toast, some kind of rolled cured meat and fruit. Tea and caf made up the rest of the selection and she had to admire the change from her normal ship rations and water.
She explored and found the lav, enjoying a shower after her breakfast. When she emerged from the shower, her hair drying under the band of the mask, she blinked at the appearance of the dressers in her room.
"Lady, we have been asked to prepare you first and deliver you to the ballroom." the first of six dressers bowed.
"Um, alright. What time is it?"
"Three hours until sundown. The guest rooms were arranged to avoid any external light. Please, sit." At the touch of a button on the wall, a dressing 11
Viola Grace
table and chair emerged.
Hellara took her seat and the dressers sprang into action. One dried her hair, another curled and pinned it up. Her nails were coloured a peacock blue, her lips stained pink with a lavender tint. The eye makeup had to be applied carefully, but when the dresser backed away, the visible lids behind her mask were the same blue as her nails.
The only dresser who spoke to her mentioned,
"Now, we tint your mask to match your dress." In a moment, the pattern of a blue-green peacock feather spread across each side of the mask.
"Now, for the dress."
The dressers swarmed her and tugged her to her feet. Her towel was stripped from her and her feet shoved into heeled golden slippers. The peacock patterned gown was slipped up her legs, over her thighs and laced tightly around her torso.
Her breathing was lightly restricted, but her body was all heady curves when she looked in the mirror. The creature that looked back at her was fantastically feminine, and well deserving of the sweat on the brows of the dressers.
"Your guards are waiting, lady."
"Thank you for your hard work." She smiled at them and they grinned at her.
"Thank you for making it worth our while. It is gratifying to see our arts so gracefully displayed." She blushed, the colour staining her cheeks, but hidden by her mask. The open expanse of her chest 12
Mask of the Overload
was the largest telltale marker of her embarrassment. "I... Thank you." Hellara left her chamber ahead of the dressers and six guards were waiting to escort her to the ballroom.
They surrounded her and walked her from her chambers, past a number of unmarked doors, toward a well-lit atrium. "I thought we were going to the ballroom?"
"Not yet. The Overlord wished to speak with you privately first."
She swallowed. "Ah."
The atrium was filled with flowers on one side and a throne filled the other. The throne was occupied by a masked Overlord proxy. As she approached, the guards fell behind and left her alone with him.
"Hellara, thank you for coming. You look amazing." He beckoned for her to approach.
She made a careful curtsey and walked toward him. "I don't understand why I am here."
"Because I wished you to be." He got to his feet and met her halfway. "I wish to take you on a tour of the grounds."
He extended his hand and she placed hers on the back of his knuckles.
She walked with him through endless wings of the house in silence. Finally she said, "this isn't much of a tour."
He laughed. "I apologize, but I have something 13
Viola Grace
to show you in the east wing."
"Fair enough. Why is the city unoccupied?" His lips tightened. "My folk are afraid that I will take their daughters, so once a year, all who can, leave."
She scowled. "What do you mean take?"
"That is a discussion for another time. All you need to know is that there are only twelve women left here in the palace. The others were returned from where they originated."
A large metal door loomed at the end of the hallway. The Overlord walked up to it and placed a hand against it. "Behind this door is my body.
Once a year for the last ten years, it has unlocked to allow a special woman inside. That woman will be able to free me from my mask and in doing so, she will free my people from the knowledge that they are ruled by Proxies."
Hellara nodded. Proxies were a limited range technology. A very strong signal needed to be sent to keep the mechanicals moving. If the Overlord was stuck, that meant he was ineffective as a representative for his people. They were crippled by his condition.
"Why is your body in there?"
"It began as a treatment for a genetically engineered virus, but it was later found to have been a ploy to lock me in stasis. The Proxies were offered by a nearby world and have been invaluable in my continuing to rule my people.
Those here in the palace are my most loyal servants."
She nodded. "So, I need only open the door and release you?"
"As far as I know. No one has felt this right before." He was going to continue but a gong sounded. "We need to get to the ballroom. It is about to begin again."
"Time moves funnily here."
He quirked his lips. "Not really, there is a naturally occurring chemical in the air that skews the perceptions. When you leave, you won't know where you have been. It has kept other governments from destroying me while I have been otherwise occupied."
He led her back through the halls and into the ballroom. He separated from her and stood with the other proxies while the women filed in. True to his word, there were now only a dozen women.
Each woman was wearing an outfit reminiscent of a brilliantly plumed bird. The men were wearing the same clothing as the day before, vests over tight trousers and a bejewelled belt.
The dancing began again, this time Hellara did not manage to hide from the eyes that followed her every move. The proxy that she danced with held her far more closely than she had been held the day before. She widened her eyes in surprise at the erection that brushed against her with every shift in their balance and slide of their feet.
Her shoes were causing an ache she couldn't ignore, so she begged off the next dance and wandered over to the buffet table again.
Today a rich purple beverage was being served and the servants were most insistent that she take some. Each sip sent a hum through her veins in a most pleasurable manner. Warm, relaxed and enjoying a new pulse through her nerve endings, she returned to his arms and let him steer her around the dance floor once again. Her feet did not hurt, in fact her whole body felt wonderful.
She looked up into the proxy's eyes as they danced. He was looking at her intently as he pressed her hips to him in a repetitive manner. Her hips twisted against him, seeking further contact.
Her lips parted and she slowly dragged her tongue over her lower lip. His eyes darkened and he pressed a kiss to her lips, right there on the dance floor.
She surrendered completely to his embrace, revelling in the sensations rippling through her.
She didn't care about their audience, or the women who were whispering in shock, all she wanted was to wrap her fingers through the hair of the proxy in front of her and hold his lips to hers.
He lifted her off her feet and walked with her, her arms looped around his neck and her mouth firmly involved in the kiss.
He opened her chamber door and his hands worked at her ribbons and lacings until the gown 16
Mask of the Overload
slid free and left her wearing nothing but her mask and the high heels.
Nervous, she stood as he quickly stripped his body until he wore only his mask. The ripple of his abdomen drew her fingers and the jutting heat of his cock felt like an iron rod when she wrapped her hand around it.
She stroked it with several slow motions, causing his eyes to close behind the mask. Finally, he opened his eyes and pushed her back onto the bed. He lifted her knees and spread them wide, lowering his head between them.
He licked, bit, stroked and petted her until she was writhing on the bed with her hands fisted in the sheets. She bit her lip as she twisted to get more of his lapping tongue on her clit, but just as she was going to go over the edge, he stopped.
She whimpered in desperation, but he moved over her and slid his cock into her in one long slow deliberate stroke.
She sighed as he withdrew and surged back into her, setting a precedent that gained in speed and power until her knees were draped over his forearms and he was pounding into her.
When she screamed her release, he paused in place. His body was giving him feedback but on its own, she had just had sex with a talking doll.
Embarrassment claimed her and she covered her breasts, turning from his gaze.
"Why are you doing that?"
"You are a proxy and can't have your own orgasm, so this was simply to what? Expose that I am a slut?"
He withdrew from her with a wet pop and quickly pulled her into his arms. "This body can't find release, but my mind had no trouble at all. I simply enjoyed the sight of you in pleasure so much that I continued past my own release."
"Oh. I suppose that you will go now." She was filled with dread and optimism.
"No. I will stay with you throughout the night.
Tomorrow they will try and stop you and you will have to fight to free me. You need your rest." He cuddled her against him and hauled her to the bed.
"I really don't think I will be able to sleep."
"Then I will have no choice but to make love to you again until you are exhausted. It is your choice."
The heavy erection at the base of her spine let her know that he was serious. The true mind controlled the actions of the proxy, but also had access to the sensations that the artificial body felt.
He would know if she made a move or didn't sleep.
Taking a deep breath, she lay still and tried to relax. After an hour, she attempted to ease herself free, but his hands held her tightly, rolling her to her stomach, then sliding two fingers into her.
She was ready in under two minutes, his teeth 18
Mask of the Overload
on the back of her neck and shoulders causing a rush of moisture and an internal fluttering that he could feel. He was inside her in a moment, his weight pressing her into the sheets as she tried to lift back against him with each rocking thrust.
She slid a hand between her body and the fabric, but he got to her clit before she did, circling with a rough motion that had her bucking back against him. She could hear her voice whimpering, "More.
Harder," but she ignored it in favour of enjoying the increasing tempo of his hips.
She could hear as well as feel his skin slapping hers with every thrust. Not only would her channel ache later, but she suspected that her ass would look like it was paddled.
Her breath sawed in her lungs, her taut nipples scraped the sheets and when he nipped her shoulder again, her body locked and a high whine came from her throat as she shook and he continued to pound into her.
It went on forever, bursts of light behind her eyes, her body jumping and quivering with every slide of his cock inside her until he finally let her rest.
Exhausted, she lay under him, trying to work her thoughts into a concentrated mass. "Why are you staying with me?"
He licked her neck and inhaled deeply.
"Because I wish to. Because if you are not the one, then this memory will have to last me another 19
Viola Grace
year."
She tried to raise herself, but he kept her pinned, threading his fingers between hers on the mattress.
"Are you making memories with the other women?"
"No, they are on their way back to the spaceport. You are the only one left." He rubbed his chest against her spine, like a great cat.
She squirmed against him. "That doesn't really make me feel better. What time is it?"
"It is just after two in the morning." She nodded. "When does the door open?"
"Today."
She smiled with her head turned to one side.
"Then why don't I put on some clothing and try to get you out of there."
He levered off her. "I hadn't thought of that." She chuckled. "I know what you were thinking.
Let me just freshen up and we can go and see if you are ready to be awoken."
He sat aside and let her head to the lav, a quick mist in the shower and she removed most of the sweat from her body. She wrapped herself in a towel while she moved around the room, looking for the hidden wardrobe where her nightgown was stored. "Aha."
She removed the gauzy silken gown and pulled it over her head, the elaborate mess of her hair still pinned in place.
Hellara frowned and slipped on the 20
Mask of the Overload
glass-heeled slippers she had worn to the ball.
"Come on."
The Overlord had pulled on his pants and boots, but his belt and vest were still on the floor.
He took her by the hand and led her through the dark halls. No guards were visible anywhere and she felt a tingle of awareness that she might be in danger.
They moved in silence with the exception of her clicking heels. The door in the east wing loomed in front of them and sure enough, as she pressed against it, it gave way. She slipped inside, bringing the Overlord with her. With a burst of intuition, she pushed the door closed behind them.
With the door closed, she turned to face the chamber of the true Overlord of Priznik and the Demnar sector.
Wired in a restoration tank, he floated, weightless in a heavy fluid. The mask over his eyes was attached to a breather over his mouth, and she noted the flaring lights on the edge of the mask.
"Come along, Hellara. Get me out of there."
"You have been in there a long time. This will take some doing." She explored the control panel and looked at the medical readouts.
He had been infected with a designer virus and the efforts of his staff had cured him temporarily, but it was a slow process that required another component. She swallowed as she realized that she was that component.
The Overlord needed Edinar blood, and Hellara was the only Edinar she knew.
She looked at the man in the tank, and the proxy next to her. The choice she had to make was something she would deal with later. The extraction would take six hours to get him functioning again and in the meantime, she needed to prepare herself to give up her blood and possibly her life.
Time ticked by and slowly, the fluids that kept the Overlord in stasis were replaced by blood and saline.
She checked the tube in her own arm and winced. In another half hour, she might not be able to stay conscious.
"Why are you doing that?" The proxy looked concerned, or at least his lips were twisted.
"You need Edinar blood. I am Edinar. The blood is being filtered, but I am a very good match for you. You should be waking within the hour." She swayed and he caught her.
"You are very pale."
"I am a redhead, we are always pale." Spots were swimming in front of her eyes. "Do me a favour and call my dad. He will be worried." She dimly heard cursing as she was lowered to the floor. Darkness surged and flowed around her and then her father's orange face was hovering over hers. "Ah, Hellara, what have you done?" 22
Mask of the Overload
"Life will never be the same." She smiled up at his face.
Alfred Neering was a Nimlak who had legally adopted her after he bought her as a child. Her stepmother had sold her into what she hoped was a life of drudgery, but with Alfred, Hellara had flourished.
Now he was holding her in his arms and tears formed in his eyes. "You did it, by the way. Your brothers are helping him out of the tank. He's weak, but alive."
"Josu is the closest match if he needs more blood." She drifted off but came to when her father shook her.
"Why are you wearing that mask?"
"He has to take it off, I can't. Is keyed to him." She yawned as he lifted her in his arms, the transfusion tube long gone.
"Which one of the boys can help you?" She thought and then lost the thread. "What?"
"Who is closest to you in blood?"
"Lader. It will have to be filtered or his nanos will do something strange, but he is closest. Why?" Alfred rolled his eyes and called for his son.
With her family there, Hellara had everything she needed so she relaxed.
Dressers were working on her and her father was scowling. "This isn't right." The Overlord stood nearby and frowned as 23
Viola Grace
well. "I would not do if it wasn't necessary, but we have to do this together. How in the name of the gods did you get an Edinar?"
"Her stepmother sold her ten years before the purge started. We declared her dead and I started travelling. I had no idea that they would all be destroyed." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you think that there are others?"
"I have been looking for ten years. She is the first one I have seen."
Hellara struggled against the constriction of the dress. "I am right here you know, you don't have to talk like I am unconscious or dead." The Overlord took her hands and held her still when she would have slapped the dressers. "Be still, Hellara. We only have half an hour. I still need to walk you to the throne room." She quieted and the dressers finished fussing with her. The Overlord set her on her feet and held her while she got her balance.
She carefully moved and kissed her father's weathered cheek. "Thank you, Dad. Thanks, guys."
Her brothers nodded and her father blushed.
"Anything for you, dear heart. Now, go and shake the world."
She raised her eyebrows beneath her mask and took the Overlord's extended hand. Together they walked the halls, but her family was at her back, weapons ready. She didn't understand the 24
Mask of the Overload
weaponry until they walked into a cluster of guards.
"With respect, Overlord, war has been declared."
"Not until after midnight. I have fifteen minutes to regain my throne." The Overlord stood still, but he moved Hellara slightly behind him.
"That is fifteen minutes you do not have." The guard raised a weapon. "The Kelio pay much better."
In an instant, weapon fire filled the air. When the noise stopped, the guards were dead and her father and brothers were at her side.
"Overlord, I don't mean to rush you, but we should get going." Alfred looked around and Josu took point.
They moved without further incident to the doors of the throne room. The Overlord pressed his hand to the door and looked down at her, his eyes telling her to do the same.
Bemused, she placed her hand over his and the door latch clicked at the same moment that another round of weapon fire occurred behind them. The Overlord pushed her into the throne room and to the central fixture in the room. The huge chair had a full set of controls on the arms and the Overlord quickly took his seat, leaning back and closing his eyes.
A hum of power ran through the building and lights came on throughout the throne room. In the 25
Viola Grace
courtyard through, the heavy blast proof glass, Hellara noticed the surface-to-air guns rising.
She took a seat on the base of the dais as blasts from outside the throne room told her her family was still in danger. Ships started to fall out of the sky with echoing thuds.
Needing something to do, she looked for any weapons or data ports. She found nothing.
The Overlord of Priznik opened his eyes and reached behind his head, removing the mask that had participated in his stasis. It clattered to the floor and he scrubbed his face.
Wearily, he looked up at her, his dark green eyes were over high strong cheekbones, the dark wings of his brows giving him a serious expression.
"Thank you, Hellara. Your timing was perfect. If we had waited until midnight, it would have been too late."
She nodded and approached him. "You are welcome. Can you remove the mask now?" He nodded and beckoned for her to approach him. She leaned up as he gripped her scalp, making a small surprised noise as he pressed his lips to hers in a claiming kiss that deepened rapidly.
He had brushed his teeth after stasis, that much was obvious, the kiss was minty. She moaned lightly and pushed up on her toes to give him complete access to her mouth.
It was a small thing that caught her attention, really. A tiny flicker of motion from behind the throne.
She shoved at the Overlord with all her might and knelt to find the only weapon in her possession. The shoe flew through the air and embedded in the forehead of the traitorous guard a moment after he had fired his weapon.
The chandelier swung gently, the smoking hole in the crystals an obvious marker for his strike.
"There is a law against assaulting the Overlord, Hellara, but in your case, I will let it pass." He stood and walked over to the dead guard. He grimaced as he pulled the shoe out of the man's forehead. He returned to her, helped her to a seat in the throne and lifted her unshod foot. "I believe that this is yours."
She smiled and brushed her hair off her face, her mask was lying on the floor next to his. "I am sorry, Overlord. I had to improvise. I was just lucky that it was sturdy enough to do the job." He slipped the shoe onto her foot and smiled up at her. "You may call me, Kai. Will you be my bride, Hellara?"
"Yes, she will." Alfred's voice was stern. "Your proxy already had his way with her, so you owe her a proper wedding."
Hellara waved her father's attitude off. "Yes, I will take you as my husband, Kai." He stood and caressed her cheek, stroked her 27
Viola Grace
forehead and pressed kisses on the skin that had been confined by the mask.
"Why did the women have to wear the masks, Kai?"
"They are filled with sensors and were designed to find a woman suitable for genetic transfer to wake me."
"An Edinar."
"Precisly. The Kelio have tried to wipe out your people. You have too much intelligence and far too much power. It was that power that enabled me to wake the planetary defences." His fingers played with her red curls.
"What comes next?"
"Well, we formally take the throne, we expel all Kelio influence and we get started in getting to know our actual bodies. I want to know if you really feel as soft as the proxy's sensors told me." She shook her head. "What will you do with the proxy bodies?"
"There is an orbital station where they can live with their basic programming and develop personalities. I have a plan for them." Hellara nodded. It was hard to keep her thoughts clear when he was so close and his body was giving off a warm musk that invited her to come closer. "Good. They have served you well."
"Come along, we have much to do, but it will wait until the morning. For now I wish to hold you in my arms while guards we can trust watch over 28
Mask of the Overload
us."
She nodded and yawned.
The brothers were waiting for her, Alfred scowling at the dead as if they should never have pushed them. "We need to rest. Will you guard us?"
Josu nodded. "We will. Mother has wished it to be so."
Their group moved through the palace and it was completely empty. Kai led them to a huge set of double doors and within, awaited a huge bed.
The blue starlight gown that she wore came off under her own power, the blood and brain spattered shoe was set carefully aside in case she needed to find them in the morning.
Stripped, she crawled into the bed and under the covers. When Kai curled around her from behind, she sighed and let him guard her in her sleep.
Coronations were peculiar things, but when the crown was placed on Hellara's head and she turned to Kai, she had one thing and one only to say. "I have had worse things on my head recently.
Do I need your help to take this off?" He chuckled as they held still for the news reels and information registers. "No, but your dress will only come off with my thumbprint."
29
Viola Grace
Around the sector, families watched the news and saw the new consort of the Overlord elbow their leader in the ribs, saw him laugh and tip her back into a kiss that left everyone smiling at the new security of their leading body.
The Kelio were being expunged and a new day was dawning. The world of Priznik and its surroundings would never be the same.
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola's fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush.
Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.
Table of Contents

