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Thrax was standing in a dim hallway with his hands manacled behind his back. Mistress Stoneheart was standing in front of him, looking into his eyes, though she had to look up to do it—clearly he had grown considerably since she had bought him at the Flesh Bazaar.
“Listen to me,” she was saying, as Andi stared at them both. “You’re going to do a job for me tonight—a very special and secret job. When it’s done, you’re not going to remember a thing. All right, my beautiful boy?”
“I…understand…Mistress.” Thrax’s voice was low and drugged and his golden eyes looked hazy.
Andi had a bad feeling about this particular memory—a very bad feeling indeed. But it seemed that all she could do was watch.
“Mistress Yardlark is cutting into my business,” Mistress Stoneheart continued. “She’s been training and selling under-aged bodyslaves to all of Yonnie Six! She must be stopped. So here’s what I want you to do…”
She leaned forward and whispered in Thrax’s ear in a voice too low for Andi to hear what she was saying. But whatever it was, it seemed to really upset the big Hybrid.
“No, Mistress!” He shook his head, his eyes losing some of their dullness. “No, I cannot do that! I must not harm a female!”
“You can and you will!” Mistress Stoneheart snapped. “You will do it, my beautiful boy, because I told you to! You must!”
Thrax was still clearly fighting the order, but the use of his trigger words—beautiful boy—had frozen him to the spot.
“Now are you going to obey me?” Mistress Stoneheart demanded. “Are you going to take care of Mistress Yardlark? Answer me!”
“Yes…Mistress.” The words were dragged out of him. “I…will…obey…”
Oh, no! Andi watched in panic. This was the memory that had bothered him the most—the one where that evil bitch had used him as a weapon to eliminate one of her rivals! How could she possibly mitigate this situation or heal him from the aftermath? Thrax hated himself for this—he thought it made him a “Broken One.”
Then she remembered the priestess saying that if she had a strong enough will, she could banish the most disturbing memories. This certainly seemed to count.
All right, Andi thought and took a deep breath. She had no idea how to go about banishing this memory—she only knew she had to do it. Goddess, if you can hear me, help me! she prayed. Give me the strength to get rid of this memory forever!
Suddenly, both her hands started glowing with a bright, golden light and a warm, familiar voice said in her ear,
“Daughter, I am loaning you my power for an instant. I have already forgiven Thrax for this—he bears no blame because he was used as a weapon against his will. Also, the woman he killed was evil and deserved her fate. Banish this memory to the pits of oblivion—Now!”
With the last word came a surge of power and Andi’s hands began glowing so brightly she had to squint to look at them.
“I banish this terrible memory forever into the pits of oblivion!” she shouted as the Goddess’s strength surged through her. She felt like the sun must feel—exploding outward with the force of a billion hydrogen bombs at once.
The scene she had been watching with Thrax and Mistress Stoneheart suddenly began to singe along the edges. Like a piece of paper catching fire, Andi thought.
And then the flames spread, licking upwards to consume the dark memory until, just a moment later, the entire thing was consumed completely and nothing was left but a pure, white light that seemed to shine from every direction at once.
The Goddess’s power ebbed abruptly, leaving Andi weak and panting for breath. She had an idea that she couldn’t have stood that amount of power inside her for more than the instant it had taken to banish the bad memory. She might have exploded if she’d had it for longer than that!
“You have done well, daughter. Your work here is completed.”
As the Goddess’s voice faded, the blink happened again. And when she opened her eyes this time, Andi found herself back in the Sacred Grove, standing beside the priestess with Thrax kneeling on the grass in front of them.
35
ANDI
“You have done well,” the priestess said as she let go of Andi’s hand. “You comforted, protected, and healed your partner.”
“Oh, er, did you, uh, see exactly how I healed him?” Andi could feel her cheeks getting hot with a blush when she remembered how uninhibited she’d been with the younger Thrax.
“Please don’t worry, I will not judge you,” the priestess assured her. “You gave the male you love what he needed to heal—there is no shame in that.”
“Um, okay. Thank you.” Andi still felt uncomfortable. She looked down at Thrax, who appeared to be in a light trance. His eyes were open but he was staring at nothing. “Now what? I mean, what happens to him?”
“Now we do the Cleansing Ceremony and send him back to his suite,” the priestess said. “As you are his loved one, I will ask you to participate.”
