“Do you have the gift, Janie Roberts? Were you born with the healing arts in your blood? I think not. Fetch me the herbs and I will tend him.”
Janie lifted a palm in a gesture of peace.
“No, I don’t have the gift. I’m just a lowly baker. Give the baby to Kelskar and come with me. I’ll gather then you can thank him for saving your ass. And don’t listen to his protests. He’s ignored this long enough.”
“This is Dimo.” The woman intoned and proffered the bundle. No hesitation in deeming him worthy of protecting the child. Kelskar had been about to protest, to show insult that this woman would refer to his weakness so openly. Janie’s pleading eyes stopped such a folly. What value in a senseless death? He’d be dying of pride if he didn’t best this infection, nothing less, and leaving Janie and this woman to the wolves.
“You do me great honour.” The words came naturally to his tongue. The holding of the babe not so much. Kelskar’s mind remembered, but his hands did not. So small, a warm speck of flesh and bone, depending on them for everything.
“Come on, Laeesha, show me these herbs.” Janie paused to smile at him holding the babe. It barely filled his two outspread hands.
“Hold him in the crook of your elbow,” she said, demonstrating with her own. And then her face softened as if remembering what he’d lost. “He suits you.”
He thought not. Did there exist a more jarring match than an inked and scarred warrior, who’d put the fear of dark gods into the hardest of men and this tiny being? Kelskar shifted the child as instructed, praying it remained docile. He had no head for a child’s wailing tonight.
“Don’t go too far.” Too late Kelskar realised he should accompany the women. An iron rule they always moved together. The babe twisted in its wrappings, tiny hands fisted in some invisible protest against the world. He covered them against the chill and rested his head against a branch.
This is what he did. Protected the weak at the expense of his own life.
His life. Would that he’d died instead of them. His mind drifted on dark clouds.
The princess must die.
The order had come from nowhere. He, the head of royal security betrayed by a subsection of his most loyal men in cohort with a king who wished to start a war and lay blame. A man who would sacrifice his own daughter to that cause.
He took the coded order, under no illusions the renegades already held his wife and child as security. Dismissed the messenger. Then as the messenger turned, he slid a blade across the man’s throat.
“They’re already dead.” The words bubbled on a froth of blood from the dying man’s mouth. “You can’t save them.”
His wife and child were already dead. His own fate likely sealed.
Kelskar jerked up his head, catching the babe slipping from loose fingers. The images in his brain fogged and muddled until they made no sense. Slowly he came back to the present, the rough bark of the tree scraping his back, cloaked now in the shade of night.
Faced with an impossible decision, what did he do? Grab the princess and race home in an effort to save them all. Did he really throw her and the wailing nurse onto that transport? Or did he leave the young girl to her fate because his family came first?
“Kelskar?” A voice filtered through the confusion. A voice he knew.
“Not asleep,” he mumbled. Janie crouched beside him. Laeesha by the dying embers of the fire throwing leaves into a heating water can. Singing softly, long fingers making shapes over the rising steam.
“She can help you. She’s a healer, so she says.”
And valuable, he thought. A real prize in a place of violence and unknown threats where untended injuries more often led to death. Little wonder the pursuers wanted her back.
“You were out in the dark?” He handed Janie the sleeping babe, noting the canopy of star-crusted sky peeping through trees standing silent sentinel to Laeesha’s ritual song.
How long had he been dreaming?
“We had trouble finding the sallily. I think it works as an antibiotic. Laeesha doesn’t give much away, but I gather she’s human and was heavily pregnant when they took her.” Janie turned her head to the kneeling woman. “Is this really what happened to my aunt?”
“Very likely. It’s a sadly familiar story.” If she knew the real extent of the abductions... No, she would learn soon enough how prized human females were in the adjacent solar systems.
Janie nodded, shaking herself from unsettling thoughts. Not one to wallow in self-pity, thank the gods.
“This woman may be able to help you. Please give her a chance?”
“I will allow her to repay her debt.” The need to salvage his pride warred with the greater need to gain the benefits of healing. The great bell in his head had turned into a mighty peal, a whole city of bells all clanging at once. Tolling out a warning to act now before this infection became an unstoppable force.
“Thank you.” Janie kissed his cheek and saved her smile of thanks for the babe, who opened wide, surprised eyes to find yet another stranger peering down at him.
Laeesha waved a willowy arm. “I must be alone with Bokari Kelskar. Take Dimo over to that stump. I will call you when it is done. Go now.”
Janie hesitated, her gaze flicking from the woman to him. “Just heal him. I’ll be watching.” A terse capitulation and then she bent to snuggle her cheek with baby Dimo.
Kelskar’s heart gave a curious jolt. To see Janie, his woman, with their own child? If they lived, it could happen. How could it not when they gave in to their lust and took each other full climax?
“He suits you, too,” he said unable to tear his gaze from the vision.
“He’s sweet.” Janie shrugged off the compliment, but the dip of her head, the look caught between panic and longing in her eyes told him she understood. “I’ll be over there, watching. No, don’t get up. Let her do her thing and heal you. What do we have to lose?”
Laeesha pushed the hood over her head and dipped a thumb into the bubbling mixture. No sign of pain from the boiling water. She painted a line across her forehead, down her nose and over her mouth and chin. A faint glow seemed to outline her body, or perhaps he was still hallucinating? She waited until Janie settled at the required distance and then slithered around to face him.
“Remove your clothing. More effective if I can see you.”
Without thought Kelskar shrugged and pushed his coat from his shoulders. Proud of his body with nothing to shame him, nakedness had never given him pause.
“It’s only his head.” Janie’s voice drifted across the space, firm with a hint of irritation. Laeesha shot her a pitying smile. Daggers flew from Janie’s eyes, finding their target in this woman about to lay hands on his naked body.
He must school his bodily reactions carefully so Janie had no cause to doubt him. A cock stand might happen naturally with no thought for wanting this healer in a sexual way. Would Janie understand that?
“Do you think I ran into the path of that beast merely to inveigle myself into your camp so I might look upon your man’s naked body? It is obviously beyond your understanding, but he must be naked for the healing.”
“Of course he must.” Janie squeezed her eyes shut, as if she knew her behaviour did her no credit. Jealousy and rational thought did not often go together.
“Quickly before the preparation cools.”
Kelskar dropped the coat behind him. Stood and divested himself of tunic and under shirt. Laeesha studied the plated armour barely clinging to his chest, nodding silently.
“You would like that removed?”
“Can you do it?” Determined not to be relegated, Janie chipped in, devoid now of any deference or respect.
“If you stop interrupting me, yes.” Everything, Kelskar. I would see everything.”
“As you wish.” Janie he would placate later, though he suspected he might have to endure some frost until her ruffled feathers smoothed and she forgave him for standing naked before another woman. He unfastened
his belt, oddly pleased at Janie’s flashes of warrior woman possessiveness. If this ritual failed and his body proved too weak to fight the invaders in his blood, she would need every scrap of that inner reserve.
Crouching, he snapped open his boots and kicked them away. His belt and pants, his close-wear dropped to the ground. The long sword lay within arm’s reach. Two knives on the bole of the trunk behind him. He did a quick weapon inventory lest there be lurkers out there in the forest waiting to catch him at his most vulnerable.
He could fight just as well naked. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Lie down, Kelskar Vespasian. You hold troubling visions in your head. I will unlock them for you.”
“I never agreed to that.” No, she would not get inside his head. He thought he moved. Thought he bent to snatch his clothes, cursing his weak need to trust this unknown woman. But his legs trembled with the effort. Why couldn’t he move?
“It is my gift to you.” Laeesha’s cheek touched his, filling his nostrils with the bitter scent of the herbs decorating her face. “Stand if you wish, but open to me. Give and you will receive.”
“He said no.” Janie’s voice cut through the roaring of the wind in the trees. A faint protest as he spiralled through years of blood and gore, moaning females and lusty song. Years of loneliness and despair and then on to blissful forgetting.
The chip in his head, his friend and enemy spluttered and sparked. Waves of the all too familiar numbing oblivion danced in his brain. Dark gods, this woman was reactivating the chip. He never agreed to this. Would never be a slave again.
“Do not fight me, Kelskar Vespasian. You will thank me when done.”
A woman’s voice sounded from very far away. What was her name? Kelskar embraced the gentle drift to oblivion. Did he care what they called themselves? They had but one name.
Master.
Janie. Fuck. Fuck. He remembered his woman’s word, from her world. A word that should never fall from such innocent lips. Locked Janie’s face in his head, anchoring him there in the forest. Stopping him from going back.
They were on Prison Moon One, not somewhere in his past. A camera box. He thought he saw one hanging above a gnarled tree.
Janie. Remember Janie. Fight the chip and stay for her. She needed him.
And he needed her more than he ever knew.
“What are you doing to him? He said no.” Hugging the baby close, Janie half rose. Sat down again. The woman could be a massive fraud, versed in the art of hypnotism and about to bag Dimo a new daddy. The hell she was sitting by and watching that happen.
“They always say no.” Laeesha stepped back, raking Kelskar from head to toe with her all-seeing gaze.
The baby creased his forehead, dark eyes flicking to and fro seeking out the source of the agitated voices. Twice he scrunched his features ready to yell. A word from his mother and Dimo relaxed, eyelids drooping.
One less thing to worry about.
“Be calm, Janie Roberts. You wish me to heal Bokari Kelskar?”
“Yes, but frankly, I don’t trust you as far as I could throw you. You don’t know what he’s been through.”
“Oh, but I do.” For a brief pause a veil of sadness masked Laeesha’s face. “It is my curse to see everything.”
Damn, but they all had their stories to tell. And Kelskar. Oh God, he was such a beautiful man standing in all his naked glory. Why wouldn’t Laeesha want him? They’d make a great looking pair. A Greek statue and Wonder Woman with a fighting reach much longer than hers. If it came to a confrontation, Janie wouldn’t get anywhere near that lithe, athletic body.
All she could do was watch and continue to trust.
“Why isn’t he moving?
“Because I reactivated the chip in his head to keep him still.”
“You did what?” Cold fear washed over Janie, curdling in the pit of her stomach.
Holding a baby. She fought for calm. Don’t frighten him by yelling at this woman determined to undo weeks of Kelskar’s tortured journey to the truth.
“Janie. If I wanted your man, he would already be mine.”
“Tell me why you reactivated the chip.” Kelskar’s eyes glowed, like they did when the chip spluttered and took over his mind.
“For pain control. You want him to feel everything when I tear the chest implant from bone?”
“No. But you forget who’s holding your precious baby, Laeesha.”
“You would not harm the child. You have no killer instinct. Now be quiet and let me work.”
Janie rocked Dimo’s soft weight, knowing Laeesha had them both. Of course she’d never hurt the child. The very thought appalled her. She and Kelskar sat in the woman’s elegant hands and Laeesha knew it.
Trust the unknown in hope of a greater good. Janie eyed the knives balanced on the tree. Could she do it, if pushed? Kill this woman to save the man she loved and in doing so deprive Dimo of a mother?
Janie swallowed the knot of doubt in her throat. No time for thinking or moral debate when pushed to extremes. She hugged the baby closer, wishing all she had to worry about was finding new taste sensations to wow the tea shop customers and winning best in show at next year’s cake artist exhibition.
The bank would have come around to her plans for a new start, solo this time in the vacant storefront on the cliff road. A less prestigious location than the harbour, but cheaper to rent with a steady stream of thirsty hikers to serve.
A ripple of hysteria fluttered in her chest. A glum longing for things past. Tea and cakes were definitely off the menu for the foreseeable future.
“Give me your pain, Kelskar. Give me your hurt.” Laeesha ghosted her cupped hands on either side of Kelskar’s head, intoning a chanting song. Janie watched in vain for fireworks, sparks, something to show for the drama. Nothing. Kelskar stood mute, arms held rigid away from his sides, staring over Laeesha’s shoulder at some distant tree. Laeesha’s hands moved lower, skimming corded neck muscles, shaping powerful shoulders.
She stopped at the loose chest plate. Janie leaned forward, her mouth dry.
A quiet pop and the plate fell to the matted forest floor. Laeesha stooped for the herb compound, murmuring softly, digging in with scooped fingers. She pasted the slimy mixture to the four anchor points, pushing it under the loose skin and into the wounds. The rest she painted on the infection points at Kelskar’s forehead and skull, making an incantation over each puffy wound. No sign of pain from Kelskar, no change in his blank, accepting expression.
He’d swapped the pain for the chip.
“You can deactivate the chip when you’re done?”
No answer from Laeesha. Did she really need to touch him like that? Running her hands down his arms, over his abs and hips. Lower. Kelskar couldn’t help reacting. Not his fault, any man would. Janie’s skin burned.
Laeesha was enjoying this way too much.
A light staccato tapping on the crunchy leaves signalled more rain. Janie glared at her mud-spattered boots, the dark splashes on her pants, despairing of ever being clean or dry again. She covered the baby’s head, holding him close. How would the little mite survive out here without catching pneumonia from the cold and the damp?
Laeesha stooped to complete the ritual with a brisk sweep of Kelskar’s trembling thighs and calves. Janie cleared her throat pointedly, a forced sound earning her a withering glance. She chose to interpret the look as disinterest and not a veiled threat that Laeesha could do as she damned well liked now she had Kelskar in her thrall.
Laeesha rose, cupped Kelskar’s skull, leaned close to his ear and whispered.
“I’m bidding him sleep so the herbs may do their work and the healing give him benefit. A man like this does not willingly lie idle. And,” she lifted a finger in caution. “We do not want all the good undone because he believes he has no need of rest.”
“That’s one thing we can agree on. What about the chip?” Janie tilted her head to the leaden canopy, devoid for once of watching camera boxes. Overc
ast now, no stars or moon to pierce the eerie darkness beyond the meagre light of the fire. No home planet riding low in the sky. Could the woman read the anxiety twisting her stomach into tangled knots?
“Lacking updates, the chip has little power left to it. With or without my help, he will be himself again soon.”
Had Laeesha forgotten her threat to help Kelskar remember things locked in his past? Don’t remind her. He’ll remember in his own good time.
“Yes, he will remember.” Laeesha stretched out her arms for the baby, features softening. Tenderly, she tucked Dimo beneath her cloak. Janie wrapped her own empty arms around her chest, strangely bereft after handing him back.
Weirdness from that ritual, she decided. From this woman who spooked her more than she wanted to admit.
“You can read minds too?”
“Sometimes it’s like a thousand voices all screaming at once. You can’t imagine what it was like on the abductor’s transport. See to your man, Janie Roberts. Make him rest. Watch over him.”
Kelskar stood rigid as an iron post, his cock proudly erect. Calling to her from the half-world Laeesha left him in? Or just a man thing? Janie’s body responded with a pulsing throb of need. Laeesha tilted her head at him and then at her, killing the intimate moment with a knowing smile. The rising wind ruffled her dark cloak in a billowing tent. Janie lifted her chin in challenge.
Let her look. And read this, Laeesha. He’s mine. He told me he’s mine. And men like him don’t lie.
“Laeesha shook her head. “I don’t want him. He’s yours, Janie Roberts. Now, I need to wash.”
“What did you mean when you said he’d remember?” Janie retrieved Kelskar’s coat and boots. Draped the long coat over his shoulders. A touch on his arm and he sank obediently into the shadow of the great tree root. Lids half closed, his head lolled forward, chin to his chest. She pushed the rigid boots onto his huge feet.
“He will not feel the cold. And the rain will hold off. This is only a shower. I know these things.” Laeesha took in the seated figure in one lingering glance. Almost regretful in the swift turn away. “I unlocked the memories, but gently. The clouds darkening his mind would drive any man to madness to remember all at once.”
Prison Moon_Ice Heart Page 17
