My skin crawls at Lazarus's touch and I flinch as his hands move up my thighs. I recoil and shift to the edge of my seat, away from him and for once he doesn't punish me for it.

Instead he laughs, a frivolous laugh filled with arrogance. He has me in the palm of his hand and he knows it.

Every nerve in my body ignites with panic as I glance at his bed for a split second. If he wants to have his way with me tonight, I would not be able to stop him. The thought fills me with a worse dread than I felt when Polaris screwed everything up.

"You can deny it all you want, Bone Breaker. But you do find me attractive," Lazarus drawls, his voice smug and content. "It's in your DNA, after all."

This time I turn to him, my eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"That does not make sense. I find you repulsive," I say.

"Such harsh words from such a pretty mouth," Lazarus cups my chin roughly, forcing me to glare into his eyes. "You have forgotten your place. Do I have to remind you that speaking to a Plutonian like that will get you punished?"

I close my eyes in pain as his fingernails dig into my skin but then he lets go of me, making me gasp in relief.

"As I was saying," Lazarus continues as he picks up a glass of purple wine. He gestures for me to do the same and I pick my glass up reluctantly. "It is in fact in your DNA to find me attractive, Bone Breaker. After all we are your predecessors."

I frown again, wondering what is he going on about and he smiles in delight at my perplexity.

"I forget, you were brought here when you were a child. You don't know how Earth is," He stands up and grabs my arm. He pulls me to the back of the room and throws me onto a sofa facing his many computer screens.

"Let me show you the ideals of beauty on Earth," His fingers glide across a panel on the sofa's arm and a few large monitors spring to life.

My eyes grow wide as I see images of Earth flash across my vision.

"These are the movies they play there, from before you were born to now and these are the models on most of the magazines. Can you see the pattern here?"

The last thing I want to do is agree with him but I can't deny what I am seeing. There were some actors with varying skin and hair colour in the beginning but the movies and models he is showing me now all have the same blue eyes and blonde, almost white hair.

In fact, their hair and skin colour seem to be getting paler by the second, making them look more and more Plutonian.

There are no girls or guys who look like me or Rosie only those like Stela.

"These are the top actors, actresses and singers on Earth," Lazarus runs through a string of clips and movies as I watch on in tense silence.

I watch a clip of a human dressed in some odd blue and red outfit and he swings around buildings with some weird white string that shoots out of his wrist.

He saves a bus of children and the crowd loves him. They shout out his name in praise, something that sounds like 'Ciderman' and he takes out his mask only to reveal a pale face, blue eyes and blonde hair.

Something about the way the people are chanting his name horrifies me to the bone, because to me he looks a huge Plutonian wannabe. All of them do and the fact that the humans are calling him a hero makes me want to kill someone.

"It's all been part of the plan, for years and years. Social conditioning for when we finally arrive and take over," Lazarus says proudly and the mention of the imminent invasion make my eyes widen in horror.

"But you are not heroes. You will enslave everyone and they will hate you for it," I argue.

"Not if we save them from themselves," Lazarus's eyes light up with reflections of a new set of images.

I look at the screen and see numerous reports of problems on Earth; global warming, pollution, extinction, war.

It reminds me of the firebombs the Plutonians planted on Taygeta and then they flew in and saved the day from the very fire they created themselves.

"We have solutions for every problem we helped you humans create and you will accept us, to save your planet," Lazarus leans back casually like he is discussing the weather. "It is in your DNA to worship us, to serve us, to look up to us. After all, we are the ones who created you. We are the heroes in your movies and soon we will become the heroes in your reality."

"Not everyone will fall for your sick propaganda and not all humans look like that Cinderman. I didn't see these images in Japan. For all we know, you're making this entire thing up," I tell myself more than him and he just smiles smugly.

"Oh yes, your little stint to Earth. Didn't last very long, did it? I doubt you saw much, even missed your family by a few years," He laughs at my expense and I seriously contemplate jumping on him and choking him. Knowing I am infinitely weaker is the only thing that keeps me from doing so.

I bunch my hands to fists, my entire body shaking with rage.

"I've done a lot of digging up on you and your group of humans. Most people become very truthful when they know you're the only thing keeping them from death. That Matt was such a screamer, gave up everything when I tortured his girlfriend in front of him. General Lyra, what a wild card, huh? I underestimated her."

I stiffen when I realise he is talking about torturing, Rosie.

Lazarus leans forward and from up close I am certain he can feel the rage burning off me in waves.

"That curly haired girl was tough. Never said a word even as she bled through her every orifice," His eyes twinkle with delight. "She was your friend, wasn't she?"

My body trembles as I stare at him, my eyes filled with pain. "Why are you like this?"

My question catches him off guard and he stares at me curiously. "Like what?"

"So cruel, so wicked. Is there even a single bone in your entire body that's good?"

Lazarus strokes his chin, enjoying my distress more than anything. "Everybody's perception of good is different. In my opinion I have been very good. Suppressing a weaker species like yours is an act of kindness in itself."

"Do you even feel love? What about Luna, you cared for her. There must be something there," I say, wanting to understand him for some reason. There must be a chink in his armour somewhere. A weak point.

He cocks his head to the side and smirks. "Are you trying to get me to open up to you? Tell you some childhood trauma made me this way? Will hearing that make you wet for me? It certainly worked with Luna, she forgave me every time."

He scoots closer and grabs my back. His fingers glide across my scarred skin and he is so close me, it makes my heart freeze in fear.

I open my mouth to speak but my vocal cords have frozen as well.

"Sorry to disappoint you sweetheart but no one made me this way. I am who I am for the good of the Plutonian empire, so that aliens like you know your place and never step out of line." He leans in and his nose touches the side of my face.

I stiffen as I feel his lips on my temple.

"I don't believe you. You cared about Luna. You cared about someone. You told her you would be waiting for her," I babble incoherently hoping my words will somehow save me from him.

His cold hands snake their way under my straps and he fiddles with them.

"Luna," He chuckles to himself. "She was desirable when we were kids, when Lucian wanted her."

His grip tightens when he mentions Lucian and I realise that that is the only time he has shown any vulnerability throughout our time here.

"And then you came into the picture," He says, a tremor of frustration in his voice. He doesn't have to finish his sentence.

The more I stare at him, the more he slowly starts to make sense in my eyes. I ask him another question just to test this.

"But you told her you would be waiting for her. That she would always choose you," I reply and he looks bored at my question.

"My officers were everywhere, I couldn't very well shoot her in front of everyone could I?" He leans back as annoyance creeps into his gaze. "I had to play the scorned lover, betrayed by his treacherous fiancé. I will kill her in due time, Bone Breaker. For all we know your lover boy is flying this way to save you as we speak. I will kill you all and make Lucian watch until he suffocates in his misery and begs for death."

"Lucian won't come for me. I broke his heart when I escaped Pluto," I say slowly, hoping that my hunch is right.

Just as I thought, the lust in Lazarus's eyes slowly disappears and he leans back, away from me.

"You're lying. You were together at the rebel base," He says darkly.

"Yes but not as lovers. I was working with the rebels to defeat you and save Earth and he was working with them too."

Lazarus grabs my arm and pulls me towards him till our faces are almost touching. "You are just saying this to toy with me."

"He was with Luna when he met us at the rebel base. He didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. Why do you think I volunteered to be a part of this mission? I had nothing to lose."

There is some truth in my words and thankfully Lazarus doesn't have any Truth machines lying around.

He wraps his hand around my neck, his gaze slowly turning from desire to one of hatred and disgust. It only proves that I am right about him.

"I knew he would lose interest in you eventually. After all, you are only a pathetic little human."

He grabs my hair and stares at my face angrily. "I saw you first. If you had only just slept with me instead of becoming his lover none of this would have happened. I would have forgotten you the very next day."

He releases me and gets up to walk away. "I have hundreds of women who are dying to sleep with me, there is no need to force myself on someone like you."

I watch him tense in anger as he calls for someone to drag me away.

"See you in the pits tomorrow, Bone Breaker," His voice is laced with bitterness and it only puts a smile on my face because I have finally figured him out.

Luna was wrong about him, he isn't obsessed with me because he could never have me. He is obsessed with the fact that he could never take me away from Lucian.

Lazarus isn't infatuated with me or Luna or any other woman for that matter. It has always been Lucian from the start and the rivalry that stemmed from a young age.

Pieces of him slowly come together, parents who preferred Lucian to him, everyone doting on a young, smart and empathic Lucian who has never forced his way into leadership.

While Lazarus's path was paved with blood, starting from that of his very own parents, Lucian's came as naturally as breathing and now I see it so clearly, it's a wonder why I never saw it before.

Lazarus has hated Lucian from the beginning. He stole Luna from him, stole his planet from him and was elated that he thought he had stolen me as well. He is against everything that Lucian stands for.

As I am dragged through the corridors and away from Lazarus's mansion of doom I realise that Lazarus is nothing but an empty shell. His every action a reaction to Lucian.

Take away Lucian from the equation and he would implode. The sky above darkens as I think of Lucian and I pray that he isn't coming for me.

But there is a darker thought that crosses my mind. One that I should have never thought of in the first place.

Would the end to Lucian ultimately be the end to Lazarus? Is that what it would take to finally defeat him?

Hey guys, now you finally know why Lazarus is the way he is and why he has been infatuated with Aria.