by Lili Zander
Teeth scratch the fragile skin of my neck. So tempting, Ragnar murmurs. So impossible to resist. I would drink from you, little human.
At those words, my lust vanishes, and I start to struggle in my bindings.
He can’t drink from me. My blood is liquid poison. I struggle on the silky sheets, trying to break free of the ties that bind me. Please don’t, I beg. Please stop.
Ragnar’s eyes darken with displeasure. You dare say no to me?
He’s not used to being denied. One word from him and worlds burn. Women would sacrifice their first-born for the privilege of giving blood to Prince Ragnar. And I, Raven Unnuk, a survivor of the re-education camps, a miner from the dusty backwater world of Boarus 4, am denying him my blood.
The fangs descend. Closer and closer. My attempts to break free are futile.
They’re hungry now. Not just Ragnar. Saber’s nostrils are flared. Zeke licks his full lower lip. Nero growls in his throat, his eyes feral and wild.
They’re caught in the grip of blood lust.
Nothing I do or say stops them.
Their fangs pierce my veins.
My poisoned blood gushes forth, hot and angry, ready to obliterate them.
They clutch their throats. Fling themselves back. What is happening? Saber chokes out, his eyes clouded with disbelief and pain. Raven, what have you done?
Without their help, I would have died on Glacis.
Without their help, Overlord Zimmer would have sold me to the Empress’ torturers.
And because of me, they’re dying in front of my eyes. Because of my sweet, irresistible, tainted blood.
I’m sorry, I whisper, tears rolling down my cheek. I break free of my bonds, but it’s too late. It’s far too late to save them. All I can do is sink to my knees.
I want to close my eyes, but I force myself to keep them open. To confront my sins, to see what I’ve wrought. I make myself keep them open, because my vampires are dying, and they do not deserve to die alone and unloved. I must bear witness and honor their deaths.
The Prayer of the Long Night is on my lips. Sing your death song, my vampires. Die like heroes going home.
“Raven.” A harsh voice punctures my nightmare. “Raven. Wake up.”
The weight of my tears presses down on me, heavy and suffocating. My throat is thick with sorrow, my grief a smothering blanket that I want to cover myself with. I don’t want to open my eyes and face the truth. Everyone I have ever cared for is dead.
“Raven.” Saber sounds more urgent now. “Open your eyes.”
Saber? Keeping my eyes closed, I grope along the covers until I touch him. “You’re here?” I don’t understand. I can still smell the metallic tang of blood in the air. If I’m very quiet, I can hear the echoes of their dying gasps.
“You cried out in your sleep.”
My sleep? Thank the Great Spirit, it was a nightmare, nothing more. Gripping Saber’s hand, I slowly open my eyes and almost cry in relief when I see him at my side, a solid, warm presence.
“I had a bad dream.” I snuggle into him, too shaken to be embarrassed by my nudity.
“Want to talk about it?”
A shiver runs through me. “You drank from me,” I whisper. I leave out any mention of Ragnar for the moment. “You, Nero, and Zeke.” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “Everyone died.”
He puts his arm around my shoulder. He’s bare-chested, his skin cool to the touch. I can’t stop myself; I lean into him, my head resting on his shoulder, and sink into the comfort he’s offering. “It was just a dream, Raven.”
“I know.” I want the images to be scoured from my mind. “Where’s Nero?”
“He relieved Zeke at the controls. The ship does have an auto-pilot, but with Marya pursuing us, we need to be alert. We’ll take turns piloting the ship.”
“How long will it take for us to get to Merin?”
“Twenty hours. I spoke to Ragnar.”
Shit. Has Ragnar told Saber he more or less propositioned me? “About what?”
“Two things. One, he’s going to send Ivar Karling to Merin to do your blood transfusion.”
“That’s good?”
He nods. “Very much so. We have no idea what Levitan’s virus is capable of. The procedure might not be as straightforward as I hope it will be. It’s good to have a scientist there to supervise. I looked up Ivar Karling. He has an excellent reputation. You’ll be in good hands with him.”
“What else did you talk about?”
“Astrid lost a major offensive because of boarium shortages. We think Levitan’s sabotaging the clean-up of the Uncharted Reaches. Zeke offered to help Ragnar find the missing fuel.” He gives me a sideways glance. “You remember Tomas Cabal? Zimmer’s champion?”
“The one who threw the race? Yes, why?”
“Turns out he’s Ragnar’s spy.”
My mouth falls open. “No,” I breathe. “Really?” I sit up as a thought strikes me. “Hang on. Tomas helped Lula Kenner break into the re-education camps. He wouldn’t have done it without Ragnar’s consent, would he?”
“Nope.” A smile plays about on Saber’s lips. “I’d forgotten how entertaining it was to hang out with the prince.”
I look at him curiously. “You said you used to be friends, but I also got the impression you didn’t like him very much anymore.”
A pained expression flashes over his face. “An unfortunate misunderstanding. A long time ago, Ragnar told me not to blood bond with Marya. I thought it was because she was human.”
All of Ragnar’s soldiers had been human. All of them had been willing to throw their bodies between the prince and the attacking vampires. I don’t think that kind of loyalty can be bought. “That’s not why?”
“I felt sorry for Marya. Ragnar saw it. Pity isn’t the basis for a healthy relationship.”
“Do you pity me?”
“I admire the hell out of you.” His eyes fall to my naked breasts, and his eyes gleam with desire. “I want you. The last thing I feel for you is pity.”
“Why? She had a hard childhood, so did I. What’s the difference?”
He thinks about my question. “You cried when you saw the children in Gratvar’s hold,” he says at last. “Marya lost the ability to feel; she couldn’t get over what she lost. You, on the other hand, went through the re-education camps, and you came out whole.”
Until I was ten, my parents had smothered me with love. Maybe that’s why. I am lucky. I had something Marya Revit never did. “She can still kick my ass though.”
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it; she’s a killer. Your training will begin as soon as we land in Merin. We won’t go easy on you.”
Because he wants me to survive. And maybe because, as Ragnar said, he wants me to be part of his world, and the better prepared I am, the more I will fit in.
Especially after everything we’ve been through, I owe Saber perfect honesty. It’s hard to accuse him of keeping things from me when I’m doing the same thing. “Ragnar told me there were two reasons he didn’t harm me. One was because you’d be mad at him.”
“What was the other?” he asks. “Because he’s attracted to you?”
“You knew? Or did he tell you?”
“A lucky guess.” He laces his fingers in my hair and pulls me closer. His lips meet mine in a deep kiss. My arousal level goes from a slow simmer to an out-of-control blaze instantly. I moan into his mouth and kiss him back. I can’t get enough of my vampires.
“Raven,” Saber breathes. He pulls me onto his lap and sucks my lower lip into his mouth. I throw my head back, waves of pleasure hammering my body. My fingernails rake down his back, hard enough to scratch. Judging from his throaty growl, he likes it.
I run my palms over him, lingering over his hard chest and tracing out his muscled abs. A very tempting bulge is tenting his pants, and I can’t take my eyes off it.
“Like what you see?” He doesn’t try to conceal his hunger. He wants me, and he’s not afraid to show his
desire, and that turns me on even further.
“Yes,” I breathe. “Very much. Take off your pants.”
He pushes me back on the bed and looms over me, a knee between my thighs, his hands on either side of me. His blue eyes bore into mine. “If I take off my pants, I’m going to fuck you.”
My nipples pebble at the promise in his voice. My insides tighten. “I’m counting on it,” I reply, pulling him into me. “I will hurt you if you stop.”
He laughs softly and presses soft kisses on my shoulder. “Should I be afraid?” His hand cups my breast. His thumb grazes my nipple, and I throw my head back and surrender to the pleasure.
I can barely think; my body is shaking from long-suppressed need. “Saber, please,” I beg. “I want you now.”
“So impatient. I’m tempted to keep you at the edge of orgasm for hours.” His voice is a low, sexy growl. He rolls my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. “I want you to fall apart when I touch you. I want to see you tremble and quiver. I want to hear you beg me to let you come.”
“Yes,” I promise through clenched teeth. His thumb swipes over my nipple again, and liquid pleasure flows through my body. “Anything.”
He flashes me a smile of pure male satisfaction before repeating the motion on my other nipple. I whimper and writhe under his body, shamelessly spreading my legs open, hoping he’ll get the hint. “Saber…”
He moves away from me long enough to take off his pants. When he returns, he stretches out next to me. Pulling me closer, he rains kisses on my body. My neck, my throat, my erect nipples. “I can feel your pulse race when I touch you,” he says, running his tongue over that spot. “Are you frightened, Raven?”
Frightened? I’m half-crazed with lust and desperate for more. I reach for his cock, but he moves my hand away with a teasing smile. “Not yet, kära. I need to taste you first.”
He moves down my body, sending delicious friction sparkling through every nerve ending. His hands hold my thighs open, and he bends his head toward me. His tongue licks at my slit, and when he reaches my clitoris, he sucks it in between his lips.
Heat shocks through me.
“Ah,” he groans, his fingers gripping my flesh, “The taste of you…”
That reminds me of my final theory about why the vampires are with me. “Can I ask you something?”
He pushes a finger into my pussy. My thoughts fragment. I pull them back together with effort. “Are you here because you feel guilty that Ottar Thistle bit me and dragged me into this?”
He stops what he’s doing. “What?” He looks confused for a second, and then incredulity replaces the puzzlement on this face. “You think I’m eating you out because I feel guilty?” He rolls his eyes. “You really don’t know anything about men, do you? The taste of you drives me wild. Everything about you turns me on, and it doesn’t have a dammed thing to do with Ottar Thistle or the virus in your blood.”
Okay. They’re not with me to prevent genocide. They’re not with me because the virus makes me irresistible. And they’re not with me because they feel guilty that a vampire ruined my life.
Saber pushes another finger into my pussy. “If it’s alright with you,” he says, a flash of arrogance in his voice, “I’d really like to get back to what I was doing.”
He curls his fingers and twists them, and a low, insistent heat builds within me. I can figure out this puzzle later. “Okay,” I exhale. “That’s perfectly fine with me too.”
He chuckles, and his breath tickles my core. “Good.”
He resumes licking me, his strokes long and steady. I’m lost in a delirious haze. I ache everywhere, and it’s so good. Saber feasts on me, his tongue circling my clitoris, his fingers pumping in and out of my pussy.
I gasp and whimper for more. I’m so close. Every muscle in my body tightens. Great Spirit, this is so good.
Saber senses I’m close. His thumb presses down on my bundle of nerves, and I explode. My orgasm thunders through me, intense and overwhelming. Shaking and quivering, I cling to him as wave after wave of pleasure washes over me.
“Take me.”
His eyes blaze with heat. “Gladly,” he growls. He looms over my body and pushes inside me in one forceful thrust. I groan as his thick length fills me completely. Every nerve ending in my body comes alive. This feels incredible.
“The way you feel…” He pushes my breasts together, and nips them, each bite sending a sharp pinch of lust through me. He withdraws from me, before slamming back into my body. The strokes are deep, powerful. Each one sets me quivering. I’m drowning. I can’t think straight. I can’t hold on. I feel each thrust deep in my gut, and it fills me with a pleasure that straddles pain. I never want this to end. If he stops, I will die…
I explode.
Saber feels every quiver. Lines of need are etched into his face. He redoubles the intensity of his thrusts, faster, harder, until he comes with a loud groan, and then slumps next to me.
For a long while, neither of us can speak. Finally, Saber breaks the quiet. “What did you tell Ragnar?”
What? I have to search through my memories to remember what we were talking about. “I don’t want to cheat on the three of you. It wouldn’t be right. Especially after…”
His expression is too perceptive. “Especially after Marya drank from Levitan?” His voice is light. “Raven, the situations aren’t the same at all. Marya went behind my back. She let me believe she’d been killed by my enemies.” He skims the back of his hand over my cheek. “You wouldn’t be cheating on us. That’s a human concept. Vampires don’t pair-bond; we form bôs. As long as your current partners consent, you always have the right to invite another partner to a bô.”
That’s more or less what Ragnar had said.
It feels strange to talk about another man while I’m lying in bed, sated from the multiple orgasms Saber gave me. Saber, on the other hand, is acting perfectly normal. Another human-vampire difference, I guess. “Would you consent?” I ask him.
“Yes,” he replies readily.
I frown at him. “To protect me?”
Saber shakes his head. “Being part of Ragnar’s bô isn’t exactly safe. Ragnar can protect you, but you’ll also be in the spotlight. The threats against you will multiply.”
“Then why?”
“The Jowth would have used the children on the Ruby Rose as a bargaining chip,” he replies. “They might not have liked it, but they would have thought it was necessary to protect their interests. Ragnar wouldn’t have.”
“I told him that I’d undo my braids for him if he killed Gerra Clay.”
He flashes me a surprised look. “And he agreed? Before the team of vampires showed up to kill him?”
“Yes, why?”
“Because Gerra and Patrik Kevis, another member of the Ruling Council, sent those assassins.”
Oh. I see what he’s saying. Gerra Clay and Patrik Kevis made an attempt on Ragnar’s life; he will retaliate. But Ragnar had agreed to kill Gerra before he knew he was a target.
He had agreed to kill her because I’d asked.
I’m really not sure what to make of that. I don’t understand Ragnar, not at all. But there are so many other things to freak out about. Worrying about the prince’s motives just causes a headache, and so I curl around Saber’s body and fall back asleep.
16
Saber
A day and a half later, we approach Merin.
Technically part of the Empire, Merin is, in reality, a lawless city planet where anything can be bought or sold. “Home sweet home,” Nero says with a grin as we enter the atmosphere. “I’ve missed this shithole.”
A man’s voice crackles through the speakers. “This is ground control,” he says, sounding bored. “Identify yourselves and the reason for your trip.”
“Nero Grey, captain of the Albatross,” Nero replies, using the cover identity Ragnar’s people set up for us. “We’re tourists. It’s a lovely time of year to visit the Blue Mountains.”
Raven looks confused. “It’s a code,” Zeke whispers. “The Merin underground has operatives everywhere. They’ll recognize Nero and wave us through.”
That’s exactly what happens. “Very well, you’ve been cleared to land,” the man says, his tone unchanged. “Enjoy your stay.”
Back in Boarus 4, Nero contacted three vampires he can trust, Amara Zuboff, Corvan Tofegaard, and Marcus Riljor. They’re waiting for us when we land. Nero marches down the ramp to greet them. Raven hangs behind and studies them covertly, as do I.
Amara Zuboff is pale and tall. Her hair is jet black and hangs to her waist. She’s wearing a red dress that clings to every inch of her body, a shade too tight for subtlety. The men wear black. Corvan Tofegaard is bald and bulky, his face deeply scarred. Marcus Riljor is in his early twenties, lean and wiry.
“You look nervous.” Zeke squeezes Raven’s hand. “You don’t need to be. Nero is something of a hero on Merin. We’ll be safe here.”
Good. He’s finally talking to her. He’s been avoiding her, and on a spaceship the size of the Valiant, it’s a little hard to miss. Zeke’s being ridiculous, and I’ve told him that, but it won’t register unless the words come from Raven. I hope they talk soon. We weren’t attacked on our way to Merin, but my nerves are on edge. Marya is trying to lull us into complacency. An attack could come at any moment.
“I can’t wait for this to be over,” she whispers.
Me neither. The blood transfusion will happen as soon as Ivar Karling arrives on Merin. It can’t happen soon enough for me. There are so many things I want to share with Raven. I want to take her to Starra and show her the wonders of the capital, the sky gardens, and the night fields and the floating bazaars. I don’t want to hide in Merin, cowering in fear of Levitan. It’s not my style.
Then again, it’s not my life I’m protecting. Raven is precious to me. If hiding on Merin is what’s necessary to ensure her survival, then that’s what I’ll do.
Zeke gives Raven a sympathetic look, but before he can say anything, the vampires approach us. Amara Zuboff looks thrilled to see Nero. “Nero,” she squeals as soon as he disembarks, throwing her arms around him and hugging him close. A little too close. “We heard your code, but I couldn’t quite believe it was really you. It’s been too long.”
