Nojan (The Vartik King Chronicles Book 2)

by Liza Probz

  “Happy to oblige.” He positioned his body above hers, this time wrapping her lithe legs around his hips. “Hold on,” he said, then shoved his cock into her tight sheath.

  They both cried out in ecstasy and Nojan knew that he wouldn’t last long. It didn’t seem to matter, however, because Mayra was coming again mere seconds after he entered her. Too much had happened, too many emotions had been dredged up. All he could do was take her, hard, fast, and with an abiding passion that he hoped would never fade.

  Mayra was panting, a near-constant moan escaping her lips. Nojan buried his head in her neck, giving him permission to say the things he’d wanted to say but didn’t have the courage. “I want you more than any creature I’ve ever seen. You make me feel alive in ways I never thought possible. I want to spend every minute with you for the rest of my days. I love you, angel. I need you.”

  Her eyes flew open, meeting his just as he thrust hard. She tumbled into another climax and he followed her, emptying his seed deep inside her. He lay there, breathing heavily into her hair, wishing he could absorb the sweet scent of her so that it would always be with him.

  Rolling to his side, he pulled her in tight. Nojan kissed her forehead, then her eyelids, holding her close as she slipped back into sleep. After a moment, he followed her, more content than he’d ever been in his long life.

  Chapter 27

  When Mayra awoke, she was alone. Pulling the blankets up around her, she considered all that had passed in the hours before she’d fallen asleep.

  I stabbed Sanri. Could that have really happened? She looked down at her hands and realized that traces of blood were caked around her fingers. It had happened. She’d tried to murder the woman.

  It had all seemed to make a sick sort of sense when she’d done it. Her inner voice had convinced her of how deep the plot against her had run and how Sanri was a part of it. The woman had been helping her to slit her own throat, for fuck’s sake. Mayra had done what she had to do.

  But after, when the voice inside her was eerily silent, she’d wondered if she’d made a mistake. Then Nojan had ordered her to bed, where she’d been accosted by nightmares and visions. Was any of it true? Would the things she saw happen? Some had seemed contradictory, like her marriage to Nojan in a field of flowers versus being alone on a planet filled with fire. Seeing the future certainly wasn’t like what she’d thought it would be.

  And she had vague memories of Nojan joining her on the bed last night. He’d made passionate love to her after she’d begged him to. Had that happened, or was it just another one of her dreams? It had seemed real, and her lower regions were sore this morning. Perhaps it had happened.

  Oh, gods, I asked him to touch my pussy, she thought, suddenly mortified. She’d shown such desperation that she wondered if he could still respect her this morning. Then she sat up in bed, realizing that she had bigger worries on her plate.

  Mayra wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but she figured they must be getting close to their destination. She just wasn’t sure exactly where they were headed. Vartik or Vanfia? she asked herself. In the end, it didn’t matter. Either way, I can’t show up with blood on my hands in one of Nojan’s dirty shirts.

  She padded into the shower, letting the hot water wash away the cobwebs in her brain along with the remnants of blood around her neck. The wound had disappeared, and she knew that Nojan must have healed her while she slept. Mayra felt shaky, as if she’d been buffeted by hurricane-force winds for days. She soaped up trembling limbs and tried not to think about how she’d shared a shower with Nojan only the day before.

  Last night, he’d said things, wonderful things, when he was inside her. The thought that they might be true was the only thing holding her together. She finished the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, heading once more to his wardrobe in the hopes of finding something serviceable. What she found was a dark trench coat with a row of shiny buttons and a cloth belt. It likely came down just past Nojan’s waist, but on her, it fell to the knee. Grabbing one of his plain white T-shirts, she threw it on underneath, then belted the trench coat around her. It would have to do.

  She stood at the bedchamber door and focused on her breathing. This was the moment of truth. If Nojan was being honest, she’d walk out this door to find herself headed toward a new planet, home to a superior species, one of whom had professed his love for her. In this incarnation of her destiny, she would be protected by the most handsome man in the galaxy, one who brought her intense pleasure. One who she loved with all of her sad little heart.

  Otherwise, they were headed to Vanfia and a lifetime of servitude. The man that she loved with all of her sad little heart had betrayed her, used her, and ultimately led her back into the servitude that had so crushed her spirit. Even a couple of stabbings couldn’t get her out of a lifetime spent catering to Rantel’s whims.

  Which would it be?

  For an oracle, she was really bad at telling the future.

  She rested her head against the door for a moment, her limbs trembling. It would either be the best thing or the worst thing to ever happen to her, so she was understandably anxious about opening the door. Then she remembered that, either way, she was fated to take part in the Battle of the End, some kind of apocalyptic war that would pit good against evil for the fate of all worlds. When she considered her life in that perspective, she figured even Rantel paled in comparison to the apocalypse.

  Another deep breath and she opened the door.

  Stepping through, she was surprised at how mundane everything seemed. Sanri was sitting at the table, eating a bowl of something. Her eyes followed Mayra as she headed toward the console where Nojan sat. Mayra approached the man who’d captured her heart. She felt suddenly shy, unsure of where to begin. Maybe it was best to lay it all out on the table.

  “Are we almost there?” she asked.

  “Yes. We land in five minutes.” He swiveled around to look at her. “Would you like to have a look?”

  Mayra nodded, waiting with her heart in her throat as Nojan punched up the viewscreen. Would it be the yellow and pink swirls of Vanfia that appeared, or the image of a mystery planet unknown to her?

  The viewscreen winked on and Mayra’s breath caught in her chest. “It’s beautiful,” she said at last, meaning her words. The planet was a lovely mixture of blues and greens, running the spectrum from the lightest lime to the deepest navy and everything in between. A few purple-tinged clouds spiraled their way along the surface, like the lightest icing on the top of an exquisite cake.

  “Home,” Nojan said, his eyes shining.

  “Eh,” Sanri said, and Mayra turned to see the woman shrug a shoulder. “You seen one world, you’ve seen them all.”

  Mayra cocked an eyebrow but decided not to engage. She would spend the rest of this short trip avoiding the evil woman and would only breathe easily when she’d seen the back of her as she departed into the distance.

  She seated herself to watch Nojan make preparations for landing. It was hard to sit patiently as she felt a wave of overpowering relief wash over her. Nojan had been telling the truth. He’d promised to bring her to Vartik, and he did. All of her suppositions of betrayal had been unfounded.

  Mayra wanted to apologize but didn’t think that was the right time. Once they’d landed, she would pull him aside and let him know how bad she felt about everything. He loves me, she thought with wonder. It hadn’t been a dream or a lie. He loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me.

  The craft entered the atmosphere, and soon, the viewscreen was filled with amazing sights. They glided past pink snowcapped mountains and hills full of swaying grasses. The ship drew closer, and suddenly, they were flying over fields of yellow flowers.

  Mayra clutched at her chest. The flower fields from her vision, they were here on Vartik. She recalled cupping her pregnant belly, remembered being whirled around with Nojan while they laughed in a joy she’d never before experienced.

  And then she recalled the
flames. And the voice that had blotted out everything else in the universe. This is the End.

  Shaking her head, she tried to clear it of such terrible thoughts. No, it doesn’t have to be that way. That doesn’t have to be my future. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure Vartik isn’t scorched by the flames of the final battle.

  The rest of the trip passed in a blur. Soon, they were setting down on a landing pad on the edge of a dense green forest full of towering trees. Nojan stood once they were secure and turned to face her. “Come,” he said, extending his hand. “I want to show you my world.”

  Mayra took his outstretched hand with a smile and let him lead her out of the ship. “Never mind me,” Sanri pouted from behind them. “I can find my own way around.”

  “My brother, Zelup, will be coming to assist you,” Nojan said over his shoulder. “In fact, here he comes now.”

  Mayra followed his gaze and saw a tall and powerful-looking male headed their way. He had Nojan’s dark hair and chestnut eyes, but his nose was stronger, his jaw heavier, and his chest even broader, if that were possible.

  “Yummy,” Sanri said, bounding out from behind them to land in front of the approaching Vartik. “What’s a sexy savage like you doing in a civilized place like this?”

  Zelup looked down on her, his expression an equal mix of amusement and confusion. “I assume you’re the troublemaking hitchhiker I’ve been hearing so much about.”

  Sanri raised her hands and painted an innocent look onto her face. “Who me? You must be mistaken. I was the one who got stabbed.” She crooked a thumb over her shoulder. “She was the one doing the stabbing.”

  “Stabbing?” Confusion beat out amusement in Zelup’s expression.

  Nojan let out a long sigh. “Knock it off, Sanri. We’ll talk about this later. For now, let’s get inside. I’m sure our parents are going to have plenty to say about all this.”

  “You have no idea,” Zelup said as he led them inside. “Father would like to address you in the Throne Room.”

  “Fuck,” Nojan spat out under his breath. “Figures the old man would want to look as impressive and powerful as possible.”

  Mayra felt the undercurrent of concern that was radiating from the man she loved. His parents won’t approve of you, a voice whispered insider her.

  Not a voice. The voice.

  You’re a stranger, a former slave girl, and they’re royalty. Even if you are the oracle, they’re going to find out how mentally unstable you are. Do you think they’ll ever let a woman with a history of violence into their perfect little family?

  Mayra’s head was pounding. She felt sick to her stomach. That damn voice, back to spread its malicious whisperings. She’d brush it off if she wasn’t so worried that what it was saying was true. She could hardly concentrate on the opulence of the Vartik palace as she was led down hallway after hallway.

  Finally, Zelup paused at a pair of tall, ornately carved doors. A woman was standing there, although she looked like little more than a girl. She had mahogany hair that tumbled past her shoulders and large dark eyes. Her face reminded Mayra of Nojan’s.

  “What are you doing here, Kara? We’re supposed to report directly to Mother and Father.”

  Kara folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not here to stop you. I just wanted to get a look at the famous oracle before Mom and Dad got their claws into her.” Kara looked back and forth between the women. Then her weighty gaze settled firmly on Mayra.

  “So you’re the oracle, and it seems my brother was able to unlock your powers.”

  Mayra nodded, an embarrassed flush covering her cheeks.

  “It’s not quite what you expected, is it?” The Vartik female’s gaze was unsettling. She was tall, like her brothers, and so slender that she was virtually devoid of curves. Her eyes reminded Mayra of a fawn’s eyes as she’d seen them drawn in one of Demaylia’s picture books. “Still, there’s something not quite right.”

  Kara turned her stare onto Sanri. “And you.” Her head whipped back as if slapped, her jaw dropping open. “Who are you?”

  “We don’t have time for this,” Zelup said, picking his sister up and moving her out of the way of the doors. “You can get inside their heads later, sis.”

  “Wait,” Kara said, hitting her fists ineffectually against her big brother’s back. “Something’s wrong. You can’t—”

  “Later,” Zelup growled, setting her down and turning back to the doors. “We’re already late.” Then he pushed the big doors open to expose a lavish room outfitted in crimson and gold. Nojan put an arm around her to lead her forward as Mayra’s heart felt like it might burst through her chest.

  “Can your sister read minds?” she asked Nojan softly. But it was Zelup who answered.

  “Sure, she can read minds, but the whole family can do that. Her real talent is finding people. That’s how we knew where to look for you.”

  Mayra frowned, and Nojan caught her eyes, a serious expression on his face. “Kara is empathic. She can hone in on someone planets away and point to a map to show you where that person is. She found you on Vanfia and told me what to look for.”

  It seemed her rescue had been a team effort for the Vartik family. And now she was about to meet the matriarch and patriarch of this talented clan. Please don’t let them find me lacking.

  Perched on matching golden thrones on a dais at the far end of the room, Mayra first laid eyes on the King and Queen of Vartik. He was tall, regal, his body obviously at the peak of health. Like his sons, he was muscular, a warrior in build and in bearing. She was almost as tall as he, and like her daughter, straight as a board, although it was clear that she was as athletic as he. Both had dark hair and brown eyes, and both would easily be considered the height of attractiveness on Territh, she supposed.

  “Come forward,” the king said in a deep voice that commanded obedience. They moved closer, Mayra wondering if the whole group could hear her heart pounding. It was time to find out if the cold voice inside her was right about Nojan’s parents.

  If it was, she wasn’t sure if she could stand it. Just once, she wanted something to work out for her. Mayra couldn’t stand being vulnerable to the whims of the elite any longer. From slave to oracle, everyone thought they could use her. This time, no matter how much it hurt, if his parents wouldn’t accept her, then she would refuse to help them.

  This time, things would happen on her own terms.

  Chapter 28

  Nojan knew he was in for it before he set foot in the throne room. Not only was dear old dad about to chastise him for making a mess of the mission, but he was certain to chew Nojan a new asshole for bringing a stranger back to Vartik. But the only thing that mattered to him was his folks’ reaction to Mayra.

  His father had warned him to guard his heart because the sweet oracle would steal it, and she most definitely had. Would his father accept that Nojan’s heart belonged to Mayra now and that he didn’t want it back? Or would he insist that his son set aside the Territhian and find a mate of his own species?

  In the end, it didn’t matter what his father said. He only wanted Mayra and would accept no other. If that meant disobeying his father and eons of tradition, then so be it. He would step aside, abdicate his chance at the throne, and even move off-world if that was what was required. But he would never give up his angel. Never.

  Nojan watched as his father opened his mouth to speak, but before a word came out, another voice filled the gap. “Greetings, visitors.” It was the melodic tone of his mother, who smiled at the group standing below her. “It isn’t often that we have guests from other worlds. It is my pleasure to welcome you to Vartik.”

  He held back the smile that wanted to creep across his face at the look of baffled consternation on the king’s face. He’d likely been gearing up to give Nojan a stern talking to, but in a couple of words, the queen had diffused the tension.

  “Thank you, Mom,” he mouthed to the queen. The queen nodded back, a grin playing at the corners of her
mouth.

  “Well,” the king said, coughing to clear his throat. “As my wife says, we welcome you to Vartik. I’m sure you will both be comfortable here. Although I must admit, we were only expecting one off-worlder.”

  Sanri made a deep curtsey. “Begging your pardon, your royal Highnesses. I’m afraid I came into the situation only by accident. Your brave son saved me from a deadly situation, and before he could put me down, we were swept up into further drama. Please don’t blame him for my being here. I know you Vartiks guard your privacy well, and I can see why, but I mean you no harm, and I thank you for your hospitality.”

  Well, that was a mouthful, Nojan thought. It was the most gracious speech he’d ever heard Sanri give, and it rankled him. Anything Mayra said would sound hollow now that the hitchhiker had spoken first.

  The king nodded. “I understand you’re here through no fault of your own. Still, you must understand the delicate predicament you put us in. I can’t risk your leaving because you know our planet’s location, and although you seem like a charming female, I don’t know you well enough to trust my entire planet’s safety to your slight hands.”

  Sanri gave a sigh. “I was afraid you might say that. As a hitchhiker, I prefer to wander from world to world, seeing the sights, so it will be hard to stay put. However, I do have an opportunity that few others have, to explore a planet long thought destroyed and a people believed to be extinct. If you’ll let me stay until I’ve earned your trust, I vow that you won’t regret your decision.”

  The king looked to the queen, who gave a gentle nod. “Well,” he began, but Nojan interrupted.

  “Before you give her an answer, Father, I’d like to request that you wait a while before you say yes. She’s as likely to land in prison as she is to try and steal a ship to escape off-world.”