The hivemind is conquering for me?

As Sophia re entered the living room, Orchid was sat back on the couch with puffed up cheeks and a look of nirvana on her face. 'Lucky bitch.' Sophia internally thought, but kept a happy smile on her face.

"Here you go my sweet, sorry for the wait, the machine was broken." She said as she passed me the cup. "Thank you love." I said as I received the cup. I then took a cursory glance around the room to make sure there is nothing that will cause it to spill all over me before I took a sip.

"Mmmh delicious thank you, Orchid will you put it on the table for me?" Orchid did as I asked and I turned to Sophia. "Come, sit down. We need to chat." I said with a smile.

Sophia moved around the couch and I placed Keyla's small frame on my lap so Sophia had a place to sit down. As she sat down she asked. "What do you wish to talk about my sweet?"

"Oh don't have such a worried look darling its nothing bad- Keyla will you stop grinding on me, I did not put you there for that.- Yes like I was saying, nothing bad, just wanted to talk to you about my friend Janine."

Sophia recalled Keyla mentioning the Sepiidan to her before she rushed up here yesterday. "What about her my sweet?" I grabbed Sophia's breast and began to massage in in my hand, causing her to jolt at the sudden contact. "Oh I was just wondering if you could hire her as a hired gun. She is one of the best marksman out of all the mercenaries I worked with and we have grown quite close.

That is why I want you to employ her."

Sophia was having a hard time listening after the boob grab, but she did in fact hear. "Might I Ask why I need to employ her? Why not simply coerce her into my cult?" My hand tensed as Sophia said this, causing Sophia to close her eyes and bite her lips in pain. "Oh, sorry Soph, did not mean to hurt you." I said and I removed my hand upon realising I was hurting her.

"Hurt?" She opened her eyes confused and proceeded to look at me with a pleading for more.

I ignored her and just wrapped Keyla in a bear hug as I continued. "Janine is not attracted to the opposite gender. I don't want to strip her of her sexual preference against her will as that would most likely happen if she gets converted. Just simply hiring her would make me happy."

Sophia did not need to think over my proposition, she had hired plenty of non family staff, a delicious Sepiidan would not hurt. "Oh course darling, though I will not play favourites, she will have to work hard." I smiled at Sophia and leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

…

10 minutes of idle chatter later, Elias entered the room and stood in stupor for a moment at the sight before him. Sophia and her sister sitting either side of Apollo as Keyla straddled his lap while laughing.

He cursed why life was so unfair before making himself present. "Lady Sophia, your food is ready, shall I plate it now or wait a little while? Sophia turned around and Elias' heart almost ceased functioning as he saw the radiant true smile upon her face. "Now will be fine Elias, we will be right in." She said before turning back around.

Elias had stopped functioning for a moment as the smile had stuck with him. In his delusions he vowed to himself. 'The day you are no longer blind and see me the way you always should have, I shall make you smile like that everyday!'

Not knowing that there was a greater chance for the universe to suddenly implode due to outer entities than that scenario from happening, Elias returned to the kitchen to plate the food and place it on the table where the women and the gigolo were now present.

As we had all begun to dig into our food, it was no surprise that it was delicious. Halfway through the meal however, Keyla suddenly jolted upright as she remembered something. "Oh Apollo, I forgot to tell you, Kathrine came looking for you last night. She would not say why, just that is was important."

I looked at Keyla and stopped my fork from entering Orchids mouth, causing her to bite the air. "Kathrine? Hmm she must have finished her business prep already. Shame I did not see her, I can't be bothered flying today." I said and looked at Sophia as I already told her about Kathrine's openness to a joint business venture.

"Oh no she is not gone back north yet, she stayed in our guest rooms alongside her daughter and Willow." Keyla stated. "Oh? In that case I'll go have a chat with her after breakfast. Speaking of after breakfast, Sophia, is there some sort of markets or large shopping area nearby?"

Sophia looked at me with genuine confusion. "There is an open market about 5 miles west. Why? Do you want me to get one of my cultists to get something for you?"

I smiled at Sophia's consideration and replied. "Oh no I don't need anything, It is just that I know Janine went to get some shopping didn't she?" I then lost my train of thought for a moment and spoke to the room. "Oh that reminds me, Onyx, did you end up checking Janine for Psionic potential?"

The room went silent expecting Onyx to appear from somewhere, but she was being lazy under my origin and simply relayed to me no. "Ok, so I will do it myself later. As I was saying, since the markets aren't too far, I am going to go look for something, I may as well take Janine along as well so I will have company."

Orchid look visibly stung by my words. "You do not wish for Orchid to accompany you?" I turned to face her and replied.

"No."

I paused a moment and then continued. "Because I am going to look for something secret and If you come it will spoil the secret." I could see that after my explanation Orchid still looked saddened. It was understandable, we had just reunited and I was about to go do something without her.

To fix the damage before it was too late, I leaned in and whispered to her with no context. "One hour." Orchids head tilted for a millisecond before she understood what I meant.

She then proceeded to copy Sophia's eating posture and humorously said. "Orchid hopes you stay safe, and make sure to wear a coat, Orchid thinks it is going to rain soon, she can sense by the pressure in the air." She then casually began eating her food and hummed a tune that Apollo enjoyed.

Sophia did not hear what I had to say so she grew confused when Orchid suddenly agreed with no hesitation. "While Orchid might be fine with you leaving, I feel like your safety should come first. This hemisphere is dangerous, even for those strong like us. Let me send along some bodyguards for you."

I placed my hands on my chin and smiled at Sophia lovingly. "Gosh you are just so cute when you get protective. You dropped me into a warzone once and now you are scared of me taking a little stroll?"

At this point I was actually talking to the hive instead of one individual. "That being said, for your state of mind, I have to bring Onyx along anyway as she has threatened to spoil the surprise if I don't and I believe the crazy woman."

Sophia had been cut off, save a few times, in the last few decades and as such she had a hard time turning her brain off so she could answer as the hive would. Orchid however lost a lot of her ditzy tone and became regal as though she was Jewel. "We trust you to be safe Apollo, but that does not mean we can't worry. That being said, the stalker is sufficient enough to stem or worries."

Orchid shook her head after speaking to get her bearings then turned to Sophia and scowled. "What? I have not done autonomy in ages, I forgot how to clear my mind to do it." Sophia defended herself.

Orchid then frowned in disappointment. "Orchid is not angry about that, she is annoyed that if you did do it and we spoke as one, Apollo would have ravished us and forgotten the idea of leaving.

I looked at Orchid in shock and so did Sophia and Keyla, though all for different reasons. I looked in shock because although I was not thinking about that, If they both spoke in the Hives tone, I would indeed have lost it having not been on the link for a while.

Sophia looked shocked and was immediately disappointed with herself. 'Curses! If I had known, I would have cleared my mind in a second!' She thought to myself, while Keyla looked at Orchid with a mixture of shock and Jealousy.

'I cannot wait until I am fully converted and can feel a deeper love I did not know possible for my King.' She then proceeded to smile to herself as her imagination left the table.