by Lili Zander
She sways toward me. “I’ve missed you too,” she murmurs. “Zeke thought the three of you took advantage of me on Boarus 4.”
“Did we?”
“No.”
“That’s settled then.” My fingers trail up her arm, and I press a kiss on her bare shoulder. “You’re a grown woman. You know your mind.”
“So what are you saying?” she whispers. “If I asked you to share my bed tonight…”
My cock jumps. “Are you asking?” My voice comes out low, strained.
“Yes,” she whispers. “I’m asking. I don’t want to sleep alone tonight. I want to lose myself in pleasure.” She looks at me, her blue eyes luminous. “Will you pleasure me, Nero?”
“You only have to ask.” I cup her jaw with my fingers and lean in. Her breathing hitches at my nearness. The low hum of the drones fade, and I can only hear the roaring of my blood in my ears.
My lips find hers. Our kiss is soft at first, and then she tugs me closer, deepening the contact, wordlessly asking for more. I run my tongue over the seam of her lips, and she parts her mouth and lets me in.
Heat floods me. I fight the urge to lay her down on the grass and tear off her pretty new dress. I want her so badly that my hands are shaking. Her nipples are pebbled with need, and I want to suck those blood-engorged tips into my mouth.
There’s a bedroom back on the Valiant. We won’t be interrupted there by other tourists, or by Lin Perscule’s drones, or by…
Danger prickles at the back of my neck. “Something’s wrong.” The instant I realize what it is, I pull Raven to her feet. The drones are gone. There’s not a single one of them in sight.
Fool. Fool. I should have been paying attention, but I’d lowered my guard, and Raven’s life hangs in the balance. “Come on. We need to get back.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The drones. Someone’s reprogrammed their routes. There’s no surveillance here. They’ve created a blind spot. We’re in danger.”
“Is it Marya?”
Before I can answer, five humans materialize out of nowhere. They’re dressed in black from head to toe, and, despite Antaras Seven’s no-firearms rule, they’re all carrying weapons.
If we get out of here alive, I’m going to find Lin Perscule and tell him exactly what I think about the Jowth’s guarantee of safety. With my fists.
Even as I imagine beating Perscule, I’m assessing the situation. Five humans, and judging from the way they’re holding themselves, they’re professional soldiers. I’m unarmed. I can bring down two of them. Maybe three. “I’ll hold them off,” I murmur to Raven. “You run. Got it?”
Her eyes flash. “I’m not leaving you.”
One of the human soldiers speaks up. “There’s no need for any displays of violence. Give us the girl, and you leave here alive.”
“Not happening,” I say flatly. “You get the girl over my dead body.”
He lifts his weapon up and fires. I grab Raven and fall to the ground, but his aim is true. Electricity jolts through my body, and numbness spreads in its wake.
Fuck. If I’m guessing correctly, they’ve just pumped me with anthurium. I’m paralyzed. I can see and hear everything. I just can’t move.
“What the hell have you done?” Raven screams. “You shot him.”
How the hell did a group of humans on Antaras Seven get a hold of one of the Imperial Army’s most experimental weapons? These aren’t common criminals. Marya Revit always works alone, but maybe Levitan sent the five of them along as backup?
We should have never left the safety of the ship. I wanted Raven to experience the magic of setting foot on a different planet, but instead, I’ve put her life in danger.
“He’s alive,” the soldier replies. “Just temporarily paralyzed. Perscule will find him soon enough.” He lifts his weapon up again. “I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if I have to. Please come with us.”
Raven snarls something in reply and rushes him. He shocks her, and she crumples. Helpless, unable to move, I see the soldier in the lead hoist an unconscious Raven up on his shoulder and take her away.
And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
10
Raven
My head pounds like somebody’s been repeatedly swinging a pickaxe at it. My eyes feel like they’re glued shut. There’s a dull buzzing my ears.
Where am I? What’s happening? The last thing I remember, I was sitting at the edge of the Falls of Kamut. Nero was being blasé about the incredible sight of millions of gallons of water thundering over the translucent rocks. He’d spread a feast out on the bright blue grass, and the sheer abundance of it had taken my breath away. “What do you want to eat first?” he’d asked, waving at the dozens of containers in front of me.
Food was scarce in the re-education camps. Choices were non-existent. We ate what we were given, and we were happy for it.
Footsteps yank me out of my reverie. I force my eyes open. A blurry figure moves in front of me. “Sorry about that,” he says. His voice sounds both familiar and dangerous. I should know who this is, and I should run. “Gregory got a little carried away.” He’s holding a glass in his hand, filled to the brim with a pale pink beverage. “Narzis is a potent drug. The effects of it can linger in your bloodstream for days unless you take a neutralizer.” He extends the drink to me. “The neutralizer. Drink.”
“Who are you?” My throat feels raw and scraped, and the words come out in a shaky whisper.
He chuckles, the sound rich and amused. “You’ll recognize me soon enough. Take the neutralizer, please. I need you awake and alert.”
For what? I contemplate the wisdom of knocking the drink from the man’s hands and quickly reconsider. These men, whoever they are, have circumvented the Jowth security, taken Nero down, and kidnapped me with laughable ease. The pink beverage might be poison, but the reality is that if they wanted me dead, I’d already be dead.
I gulp down the drink, and life instantly returns to my limbs. The sharp pain in my head vanishes, and the haze clears. I can see again. I lift my head and look around, and my gaze lands on the man who offered me the neutralizer.
Prince Ragnar.
Panic jolts through me. Great Spirit, how did he find us? Zeke hasn’t yet sent him the message about the children. Antaras Seven wasn’t a scheduled stop; we’re in the Constellation of Jowth. There’s no love lost between the Constellation and the Empire. Ragnar shouldn’t be here. If Lin Perscule knew that the Empress’ brother was on his planet, he’d imprison him and use the prince as a hostage to demand concessions from the Shayde Empire. I don’t have to be a political strategist to know that.
Yet, here he is.
You are a threat, and Ragnar is ruthless about eliminating threats.
Ragnar takes in my reaction. His lips lift in a crooked smile. “Hello, Raven. I see you recognize me.” He offers me his hand. “Shall we talk?”
A hysterical laugh bubbles up my throat. Small talk before he kills me? Sure. Why not? “How did you find us?”
“I always know where the Valiant is,” he replies with a flash of arrogance. “Not even Zeke Ulrich can hack into my ship and disable all my security measures. Landing on Antaras Seven was a bit more of a challenge, but as you can see, I managed.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Is that what you think I’m going to do?”
I swing to my feet. The neutralizer works great. I might never have been drugged. You should have kept me groggy, Prince Ragnar. I look around the room, trying to plot my escape. It’s sparsely furnished. Apart from the couch I was sitting on, there’s a small table pushed against the wall, with two chairs on either side. There’s no sign of the men that abducted me.
The room has no windows. Just one door, but I’d have to go through Ragnar to get to it. Fuck.
Ragnar’s waiting for an answer. “The inner workings of the minds of powerful vampires such as yourself are beyond me to understand.”
I think I’ve hidden the sarcasm in my voice, but no. He catches my disdain just fine, and he laughs out loud. “Is this how you talk to Saber? I’m beginning to understand the attraction.” He gestures to the table. “One of the side effects of narzis is gnawing hunger. Let’s eat.”
“I’m used to hunger.”
The glimmer of amusement fades from his eyes. “I’m aware of that. Humor me.”
Fine. Whatever. I walk over to the table and sit down, as does the prince.
I’ve seen him on the holos, of course. The prince is a frequent topic of gossip. Who he’s sleeping with, who he’s spending time with, who might belong in his bô. He’s a good-looking man, tall and broad-shouldered. His dark hair hangs in careless waves around his face. In defiance of the current fashion in Starra, the prince has a neatly-trimmed beard. He looks strong. Capable. Ruthless.
Being this close to him is overwhelming. I want to run away screaming in fear. Or move closer and run my fingers over his corded muscles in his forearms.
I banish that thought before it can fully form. Am I crazy? I can’t be seriously looking at Ragnar in a sexual light. Nero might be right about my inclination for danger sex, but there’s danger sex, and there’s pure insanity, and this is the latter.
“What do you want, Prince Ragnar?” I ask bluntly.
“Call me Ragnar.” He lifts the lid from the dish. It’s some kind of grain, dotted with succulent pieces of meat and fragrant with vegetables and herbs. I keep an impassive expression on my face, but my stomach growls, giving me away. Ragnar fills my plate. “The humans in this sector are known for their creative use of spice. Antaran chefs are much sought after in Starra. Eat, please.”
His plate is empty. “You’re not joining me?”
He lets his fangs drop, and fear shivers up my spine. Fear. Not anticipation. “I’m due for a feeding. I need blood.”
Thirsty? Drink from me, Ragnar. “My Lord Shayde, may I offer my services?”
He rolls his eyes and retracts his fangs. “How stupid do you think I am?”
“It was worth a shot.” I pick up my fork and dig in. “Are you going to throw me in a cage? That’s what Saber thought you’d do.”
His expression turns unreadable. “Did he really?”
I get the strangest feeling that I’ve offended Ragnar. I remind myself I don’t care, and eat more of the nutty rice in front of me. Savory, rich, and buttery, it is the tastiest meal I’ve ever eaten as a captive. “You’re not answering my question.”
“Is being caged something you find arousing?” He leans back, his eyes roaming over my body. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type. Too innocent.”
That barb digs deeper than expected. I return his frank assessment, refusing to flinch before this man. “I grew up in the re-education camp on Boarus 4, Prince Ragnar. The one that everyone in Starra turns a blind eye to, as long as boarium keeps arriving from the mines on schedule. I’m not as innocent as you think I am.”
The laughter vanishes from his eyes. “No, you’re right. You’re not. You never did have that luxury.” He reaches inside his pocket and pulls out a metal box, roughly the size of my palm. He sets it on the table. “I need your blood. I can take it from you by force, but I’d prefer not to.”
“Why not?”
“A couple of reasons. One, Saber cares about you. Harming you will antagonize him, and, despite his lamentably poor opinion of me, I have no desire to do that.”
Okay, that might not be a lie. “What’s the other reason?”
His lips curl into a smile. “I find myself fascinated by you,” he says. “It’s… unexpected.”
My mouth falls open. Ragnar’s smile widens. “Why is it so hard to believe that I want to sleep with you?”
“Because I’m nobody, and you are…”
“The second most powerful person in the Empire. Or third, depending on who you ask. Yes, yes, I’ve heard. But you’re not nobody. Have you drunk from Saber yet?”
“No.” I scrape my plate clean. “Why is that relevant?”
“Do you not want to?”
Once again, he’s answered a question of mine with one of his own. I want to scream with exasperation. “He hasn’t asked me to. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“It is absolutely my business,” he retorts. “He will ask. I saw the way Saber looked at you on Boarus 4. It’s only a matter of time.” He regards me. “I can see you don’t understand. Let me explain. Saber is popular and well-liked and is destined for greatness. You will be part of his bô, and he will be part of yours. You would be in the spotlight anyway, even if you weren’t human. But you are human. You will become a symbol of hope to every human in the Shayde Empire.”
My throat is tight. “I’m a miner from Boarus 4.”
There’s no mercy in his gaze. “Those days are gone, Raven. If you stay with Saber, you will become a symbol and a target. Learn to fight and defend yourself. Absorb every lesson Saber, Zeke, and Nero teach you. Spend hours on the InfoNet, because the moment your relationship with Saber becomes public knowledge, the assassination attempts will start.”
Ragnar survived his first assassination attempt when he was thirteen. The person trying to kill him was his childhood tutor. Since then, he’s been targeted at least another thirty times, and these are the ones that have come to light. They’ve gone after Astrid a dozen times as well. Every single attempt has failed.
“You speak from experience.”
“I do, yes.” He looks at my empty plate. “More?”
“No, thank you.” I eye the metal box lying next to Ragnar’s hand. “What’s inside it?”
“A gesture of goodwill.” He places a syringe on the table. “I want a pint of your blood,” he says. “You aren’t doing a very good job hiding. It’s not Ulrich’s fault; there’s only so much he can do with the equipment on board the Valiant.” He traces the outline of the box with his long fingers. “I have new identities for all four of you, better than anything Zeke can put together on the run. There’s also a better identification chip for the Valiant. It’ll provide you cover until you land in Merin and get rid of the blood virus.”
How the hell did he know what we were going to do?
A smile ghosts over his face. “It is my business to know everything. Of course, if you want to act impressed and tell me that I’m a man of many talents, I wouldn’t stand in your way.”
For a second, his smile disarms me. “You’re a man of many talents, Prince Ragnar.”
“Just Ragnar, little bird.”
I don’t trust him. This doesn’t make sense. There’s no reason for him to let me walk out of here alive. “My blood is a weapon, but you’re going to let me leave. Am I going to meet my end in some dark alley where my death can’t be traced back to you? Or is the food poisoned? Is that why you’re not eating it?”
“If I snap your neck now, your death won’t be traced back to me.” He spoons some food on his plate. “You don’t trust anyone. Given your history, it’s perfectly understandable.” He takes a bite of the rice. “We are all products of our past. I don’t trust anyone either. Saber could have come to me anytime with his suspicions about Levitan, but because of what happened to his grandfather, he waited to gather irrefutable proof. Nero will throw himself into dangerous situations because he was helpless when his mother was taken. Zeke…”
“What about Zeke?”
He tilts his head and surveys me. “Ah, you don’t know. It’s a good story. Ask him to tell you sometime.”
Argh. Spirit help me, I’m going to strangle this man.
“And yes. To get back to your question, I’m going to let you leave. Saber trusts you, and that’s enough for me. Besides, I have my hands full right now. We’re going to war. Apart from ensuring that my scientists create a cure to this disease, I also need to supervise the clean-up of the Uncharted Reaches so Harek doesn’t sabotage Astrid. Right now, Saber, Zeke, and Nero can protect you better than I can.”
Ragn
ar is right. I don’t trust easily. But I have to start somewhere, and now seems as good a time as any. I reach for the syringe. Ragnar watches as I inject the needle into a vein. “If you wanted to sleep with me, you could compel me.”
His nostrils flare. “What an insulting suggestion. Unlike the vampires you met on Boarus 4, I’m not interested in sleeping with an unwilling woman.”
The words tumble from my mouth before I can bite them back. “You think I’m going to sleep with you voluntarily?”
He brushes his fingers over my arm. Goosebumps rise on my skin and my pulse speeds up. “I think,” he says softly, “That you’re more interested than you’ll admit to yourself.” He traces a circle on my palm. “I think that under the right circumstances, you’d undo your braids for me.” He lets go of me and returns his attention to his meal. “These aren’t the right circumstances.”
My heart hammers in my chest. “You’re very arrogant. And I’m already sleeping with Saber, Zeke, and Nero. I won’t cheat on them.”
“Cheat on them?” He looks amused. “You don’t know our ways, do you? You may take as many lovers as you wish, as long as everyone consents to the arrangement.” He eats the last of his rice and sets his fork down with a clatter. “No poison.” He gives me a mocking look. “Unless, of course, I was clever enough to use a poison that only affects humans.”
“You think they’ll consent?”
“They’d be foolish not to. Saber’s powerful, but I’m more powerful than him, and I protect my own.”
The barrel is full. I twist it off, keeping the needle embedded in my arm. Ragnar hands me an empty syringe, and I continue the familiar process of drawing blood. “What about my consent?”
“In the future, when we meet under different circumstances, I hope to earn it.”
My mind jumps to the Ruby Rose. “You can earn it now. We ran into a slave ship on our way. Hiram Gratvar. He was transporting children to Banrilia.”
