“Do you know who she is?” Deseer asked, her eyes frenzied as she scanned the area for more guards. “She’s the main prize for this year’s tournament! Prince Braol himself has his eye on her. We can’t take her with us. They’re not just going to let her go. She isn’t any other slave. They will never stop looking, not even after we leave the planet.”
“So be it.” Jiran fixed his sister with a cold gaze.
He knew Deseer was traumatized and afraid, but she was a good person deep down, and she was letting her own emotions get in the way of helping an innocent female.
“You know what they’ll do to her, Deseer—exactly what they were going to do to you! We have a chance to save a person from something unimaginable. How can you not want that, no matter how difficult it will be?”
Deseer’s expression sobered and she looked ashamed. “By the stars, you’re right. I’m sorry, Jiran. Of course, we must save as many as we can.”
Jiran pulled her into a one-armed hug, still keeping a firm grip on Sarai. “It’s alright, I understand. Now come on.”
It was a relief to step into the ship because he could finally let go of Sarai. She obviously didn’t want his touch, so the moment the doors were securely locked and Jiran let go of her, she dashed away, getting as far from him as she could.
She disappeared down a corridor, but Jiran wasn’t worried. The ship was small. It was just the kitchen and the bedrooms down there. She could only really do damage to their escape if she got into the controls or the communication system, but that’s where he and Deseer were now.
He briefly considered the fact that there were knives in the kitchen but dismissed it. She might have struggled, but he didn’t believe Sarai would go so far as stabbing him to try to escape. He’d have to sit her down and explain how she’d been deceived later. For now, Jiran needed to focus on escaping Krakia.
“How does it look?” Deseer was already in the navigator’s seat. Jiran could get by, but Deseer was by far the more talented pilot between the two of them. He was better utilized at the weapon station.
“Alarms are going off on the planet, but it doesn’t look like anything is in lockdown yet.”
Jiran scanned the screens. “They’ll likely try to stop us at the edge of the atmosphere, given the chaos down on the planet, but they don’t have enough troops up there yet to enforce a full lockdown. We can punch a hole through.”
Deseer nodded, her expression serious. As she started up the engine, Jiran could hear Sarai running wildly around the ship, apparently searching for a way out.
She didn’t seem to realize that the door was closed and there wasn’t any way to escape. Had she never been on a ship before? Probably not, Jiran realized, and this saddened him. What had they done to her?
He couldn’t focus on her for now. Jiran turned his attention to the monitors. As he’d expected, as soon as they reached the edge of the atmosphere, the communicator bleeped, telling them to halt, that there was trouble down on the planet.
Neither of them responded.
Deseer sped the ship up, and Jiran quickly launched the missiles of the ship, taking out the weapons of all other ships within range. He acted so fast that none of them had time to get off a single shot. Clearly, they had not been expecting an attack.
“The chase is on,” Deseer murmured. “Get me clear, Jiran.”
“Working on it.” They needed a certain amount of space around them to go into hyperspace without being followed. Three planetary guard ships were on their tail. Jiran carefully targeted the engine areas, hoping to disable them without killing everyone on board.
“Ha, gotcha,” he muttered as one ship lost power.
The other one was still coming, but a few quick maneuvers from Deseer got them into the clear. Nobles on Zarata went through extensive flight and weapons training, and Deseer was one of the best pilots he knew. The guards of a planet like Krakia were no match for their skills.
Deseer didn’t waste any time, taking them into hyperspace at once. Jiran breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they’d made it. Anyone who tried to follow would have no idea where they were headed.
“You got this?” he asked. “I should probably find Sarai.”
“I’ve got us. I’ll monitor things for a bit longer before putting us on autopilot.”
Feeling that Deseer had by far the easier job, Jiran walked along the corridor where he’d last seen Sarai, wondering what he was going to say to her.
4
Sarai
Sarai didn’t understand. This strange palace seemed to have no openings. How did people get in and out? She knew that she’d gotten in somehow, but when she returned to what she was sure was the spot, she saw no door, simply a wall with some cracks in it.
The palace floor shuddered slightly, and she flattened herself against the wall. Was it an earthquake? They weren’t common, but whenever they happened, the guards were there to protect her from any falling debris.
There weren’t any guards now.
“Sarai?”
The purple-skinned male—Jiran, Deseer had called him—approached her slowly, his hands raised.
“Let me go!” she begged. “You must return me to my masters immediately!”
Her purity was already ruined, but Sarai could still be given away to a gladiator. She wasn’t quite the prize she had been, and that stung after so many years of ensuring her purity, but she could still be good for her master.
“I’m not letting you go. We’re already heading away from Krakia. There’s no going back.”
Sarai felt faint. “We’re… away?”
“That’s right.”
Sarai knew that leaving the planet was possible. She just never thought she would be doing it unless she was at her master’s side. This strange palace must be what they called a spaceship, then.
Her head spun. What was she supposed to do now? Her entire life had just been ripped away from her, but raging at Jiran would only bring harsh punishment.
Surely, Braol would save her? He was supposed to become her new master. Sarai knew that he wanted her. He’d follow her and deliver her from the man who stole her purity. It was her only hope.
For now, though, she was alone, with no guards to save her. Sarai closed her eyes as she realized what she had to do. Calling for the guards wasn’t going to help, which left only one aspect of her training: submit.
She sank to her knees. “I am yours to command, master.”
Jiran took a step back. “What? No. What are you doing? I’m not your master. You’re free now.”
Free? If she was so free, why would he not let her return to Krakia?
Sarai didn’t say any of this. She simply bowed her head. “How may I please you, master?”
“Stop it.” He sounded angry now, and she flinched. She shouldn’t be making her master angry. What was she doing wrong? She was doing everything her training told her to do. Sarai kept her head bowed, thinking fast. What could she do to please him?
Before she could come up with any ideas, Jiran spoke again. “Please, get up, Sarai.”
She scrambled to her feet and stood before him with her eyes lowered, obeying her master’s command.
“Look—sit down here, have something to eat or drink.”
“I could use a good meal too.” Deseer walked in, her shoulders slumped in exhaustion. Clearly, the adrenaline was wearing off. For her part, Sarai’s senses were still tingling with fear.
Jiran pulled Deseer into a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Thank you for coming to rescue me.” She clutched him back just as tightly.
Sarai made a small squeak of distress. He was touching her, and it wasn’t allowed. Deseer would be in trouble for this when Braol finally rescued them.
“Sarai, let me introduce you. This is Jiran, my brother.”
That brought her up short. Sarai didn’t know the rules with regard to siblings. Maybe they were allowed to touch each other, regardless of gender? It was po
ssible, which meant she had been out of line by freaking out.
Sarai sternly reminded herself that it didn’t matter who was out of line. This was her new master. Her master was always right. Her feelings meant nothing; only his did.
“How may I please you, master?”
Jiran grimaced. “Stop saying that! I’m not your master.”
“You are the male in custody of me. That makes you my master, at least for now.”
Jiran didn’t seem like he intended to give her up, but Sarai still had hope that Braol would come and rescue her. Clearly, Jiran didn’t know how to own a female. She had been trained to expect the best. Braol would know how to discipline and order her, just like she knew all females needed.
“Look, Sarai, you’ve been brainwashed. What you’ve been taught… The way things run on Krakia is horrendous. I can see that you haven’t been badly abused up until now, but trust me, when you were given away, things would have changed. You would have been brutally raped and tortured.”
“Yes, master.”
Clearly, it was the response he wanted, but Jiran frowned, seemingly unsatisfied. Perhaps she wasn’t being convincing enough.
“I don’t just want you to do whatever you think I want. I want you to think for yourself. Once we arrive back home on Zarata, you’ll have choices. You can chart the course for your own life.”
The thought was terrifying, and Sarai hoped that Braol was coming for her soon. She could not live in the outside world. She was a female. She could not make decisions of her own.
“Just… think about it, okay?” Jiran looked at her with something akin to concern in his eyes. “I know you’ve been lied to your whole life, so you have no reason to believe me. All I ask is that you judge me by my action.”
He paused and sighed, running a hand through his flowing white hair. “I guess I haven’t made a good first impression, taking you against your will. But I hope someday you’ll realize that I did that to save you. The trip home will take us a few days. You may do whatever you wish, other than trying to contact Krakia.”
That wouldn’t be an issue. Sarai had no idea how this ship worked. She wouldn’t have been able to call for help even if Jiran hadn’t ordered her not to.
Sarai nodded obediently. She thought she was starting to figure him out. He was testing her. He wanted to see how well she anticipated his needs, rather than giving her clear orders.
Sarai’s training had covered this. She ate placidly, picking exactly the same things as Jiran did. When she tried to follow him, it only seemed to frustrate him, so she desisted, settling herself in a kneeling position outside his bedroom door. He’d indicated that she had her own room—but of course, she needed to be where her master was.
Hours passed, and Sarai started to get antsy. For as long as she could remember, she’d never had a period of time more than a few minutes long when she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. She wasn’t used to dealing with open patches of time with no orders to complete.
For the most part, Jiran and Deseer stayed away, though Jiran reminded her several times that she didn’t have to stay kneeling outside his door.
Eventually, boredom gave way to recklessness. Sarai was sure her new master was testing her, and she would more than likely be punished for taking the bait, but she couldn’t just sit here. Even punishment was better than this.
She cautiously came to her feet, half expecting a guard to appear out of nowhere and take her to task.
No one came, and she walked quietly down the corridor, examining the ship. She had no idea what half of the equipment did, but it was still fascinating, watching the different parts work in tandem, all functioning together to keep the ship going.
Sarai found a particularly large screen that had a picture of some colorful space formation on it. She’d only had the most basic of lessons with regards to life outside of Krakia, so she had no idea what it was.
She tapped on the screen and jumped slightly when lines of writing started to appear. She had been taught to read, and Sarai now put the skills to good use.
About an hour later, she knew that the formation was a nebula and that their ship would be passing it in their journey. She was so engrossed in reading more about it that she didn’t even notice when Jiran came up behind her.
“If you’re interested, I can give you my tablet. It has our route mapped out. I don’t imagine they taught you much about space where you came from. You can search for anything you want, learn whatever you’d like.”
Sarai automatically tried to sink to her knees, but Jiran’s hand under her elbow stopped her.
“I want you to speak to me, not bow to me,” he said softly. “Just tell me what you think, not what you think I want to hear.”
It was an order, possibly a test. But it was still an order and Sarai knew she couldn’t disobey.
“I would like to learn more about space and nebulas, master. If it pleases you.”
“Call me Jiran, please.”
“Jiran.” Sarai bowed her head.
Jiran sighed, but he didn’t strike her, so she couldn’t have done anything too horrible. She knew that it was a master’s prerogative to strike an unruly or disobedient harem member.
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Sarai followed after him, wondering. Was it possible that what Jiran was saying was really true? She’d been through too many tests to want to believe it—tests that always ended badly for her—but he seemed so sincere.
Who was to say that he wasn’t telling the truth, and her keepers on Krakia had been lying to her?
She still wasn’t convinced, but for the first time in many years, Sarai had doubts.
5
Braol
Red blood dripped onto the ground as Braol carefully sliced the female’s cheek with his blade. Her eyes were wide in fear and fat tears streamed down her face, but no sound came from her throat.
This one had been a screamer. And while screams of pain and fear were more beautiful than any other sound in the universe, enough was enough. Braol had made sure her vocal cords had been removed. She didn’t need her voice to suck his dick.
“Now, will you disobey me again?” He held the knife before the female’s face. “Do you need me to cut you again? Your soft, soft flesh…”
He ran the blade along the female’s neck and she shivered in fear. She shook her head once—slowly, so as not to move the blade along her throat. It still marred her turquoise skin, and a drop of blood fell onto the floor.
“Good.” Braol grabbed the female by her hair. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp. With his free hand, he started undoing his pants. “Now—”
There was a knock at the door. Braol snarled as he snapped toward it. Who dare interrupt him while he was playing with his harem?
The knocking became more urgent. Braol shoved the female aside and redid his pants.
“WHAT?!”
A palace servant opened the door, visibly shaking.
“The-There has been a breach, my lord. Two of the female slaves have been abducted.”
Braol sneered. “Which two?”
“The Zaratan female… and Sarai, my lord.”
The knife Braol had been holding clattered against the metallic doorframe as he threw it at the messenger. The male wisely fled, only narrowly avoiding the hit. Anger welled inside Braol, hot and red.
This couldn’t be. He’d had his eye on that female for years.
She was the most exotic specimen on the planet—the only human slave. She had been raised on Krakia since birth, and he’d waited years for her to come of age so that he could possess her. Break her.
Of course, the gladiators wouldn’t have been happy if she had just been given to Braol, even if he was the prince. So, she still had to be offered up as was the tradition. But he wasn’t about to risk losing this one. He’d already made all the arrangements with the other gladiators to have them throw the fight.
And now, despite all of his careful preparations, after
all these years of waiting, she had slipped through his fingers?
It was unacceptable.
Braol stormed out of the palace, heading to the slave quarters. The guards trembled as they saw him approach. He was the king’s son; none could lay a hand on him, even in self-defense.
He grabbed the nearest guard by the collar. “What happened!”
“My—my lord. We have identified the male abductor as Jiran of Zarata. It-it appears that one of the slaves was possibly…” The male swallowed. “Possibly his sister. He came for her. We don’t know why he took the human too…”
Braol roared in anger and threw the guard away from him. His body crashed into the wall and he slid down, unconscious or dead—Braol didn’t care which.
Jiran of Zarata. The guards were fools to think that they could kidnap a Zaratan noble and not expect a rescue attempt. Had they not done a background check on the slaves they’d abducted? Idiots! All of them!
And now his plans for the human were ruined because of their incompetence. Who wouldn’t grab up any tasty scraps they came across while hightailing it away from Krakia?
Braol took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
It didn’t matter.
Jiran would surely be heading back to his home planet. Braol didn’t care about the Zaratan’s sister, but he would have the human. She had been stolen from Krakia and he could easily demand her return. If that didn’t work, he was equally happy to smash heads until he got what he wanted.
“Prepare my ship!” Braol barked, striding back into the palace.
One of the servants scurried to do his bidding. Within the hour, his personal ship was prepared for an inter-system journey. Braol debated taking a couple of his harem along but decided that his capture of the human female would be sweeter if he went a couple of days without pleasure.
When he tore into her virgin flesh, her screams would sustain him for a long time, he was sure of that much. Her screams he wanted to hear.
A crew waited for him by the ship, but Braol waved them off. The ship had an advanced autopilot function, and he didn’t want witnesses to whatever was going to happen.
Stars, Snow and Mistletoe: A Holiday Naughty List Collection Page 13
