“Unknown. Most likely in the hands of the Synergy’s finest.”
“Gods, man, what happened to you? I saw you not a month ago, and you were on the luck.”
Kyl tilted his head toward Dina, who had managed to hold her tongue against the pressure of her countless questions.
Wiggy’s gaze swept Dina up and down like the long bristles of a well-worn broom, and he tried to peer underneath the drooping brim of her hood.
“What have you here, my boy?” The slow words dripped suspicion, but the knowing twinkle in the man’s eyes would have revealed his hand to the most green of gambling men.
“It’s all right, Dina. This is Poik Hluodowig. Wiggy’s an old friend. Wig, this is Dina.”
The room was pleasantly warm, and Dina was glad to rid herself of the cumbersome disguise. She pushed the hood back from her head and heard Wig’s whistle of both astonishment and appreciation.
“Alec, my boy, this is a story that bears hearing. Come in, both of you. How long were you in the wilderness? You must be starving!”
Wig’s questions never seemed to allow time for an answer, and yet, within moments, he had, with amazing efficiency, both laid a table overflowing with succulent dishes and gleaned the basics behind Kyl and Dina’s arrival. Both she and Kyl pounced on the food with relish, and the fried bread, roasted poultry, and spicy vegetables vanished as quickly as they had appeared. It was the first real food Dina had eaten since being awakened from the hypersleep, and the only thing she craved more was a leisurely hot bath.
The luxury of steaming water, scented cleansers, and relaxing salts would have to wait, however. Once the last of the food was consumed, it was Kyl’s turn to ask question after question, and in point of fact, Dina was as eager to hear the answers as he was. She was reasonably certain he wouldn’t try to sell her, but he hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with what his actual plans were.
“Wig, I need credit, news, and a ship.”
“Well, the first two are no problem, but I don’t know of any available ships. I’ll have to do some checking,” said the big man, leaning back contentedly and rubbing his stomach.
“Here. I didn’t come empty-handed. Dina isn’t the only jewel I carry with me.” Kyl turned to her and gave her a quick wink.
The spontaneous, playful gesture pleased her more than she would have imagined, and she felt her cheeks flush. Kyl gazed at her with a look that would do nothing to fade her blush, and Wig shook his head slowly.
“Alec, don’t forget that you owe me that story.” But his eyes abruptly caught the flash of light from the table top, and his attention shifted to the stones Kyl had laid on the table.
“Can you change these for me, Wig?”
Wig hunched forward to peer at the small treasure trove, then quickly raised his eyes to Kyl, as if he were a small child asking for a bit of candy. “May I?”
“Of course.”
Wig pulled a jeweler’s loupe from a hiding place deep in his voluminous trousers and examined the cut gems carefully, one by one. With a deep sigh, he slipped the loupe back into the folds of cloth and leaned back again.
“First-rate exodite, my boy. But you knew that, didn’t you? I can exchange them, no problem. I’ll give you four thousand for the lot.”
“You’re a good friend, Wig, but you know they’re worth five,” said Kyl, as evenly as if he were at the gaming table.
“Aye, Alec, they may be worth five, but the Rorian market is as unstable as the resident populace. Four-two is the best I can do. The news you’ll get free, friend to friend. You won’t find a better deal on this rock, my boy, and well you know that.”
“Aye. Four-two it is, then.”
Kyl and Wig both raised their glasses and touched them together to seal the bargain.
“Pour me another, Wiggy, and tell me what ships are here. I also want to know everything you’ve heard in the tappers the past week, especially anything that concerns Vaizya.”
“Gladly, but by the looks of the young lady, I think she’d rather get out of those dirty clothes than hear tap talk.”
Dina looked at Kyl expectantly. She did want to hear everything, but the large meal had made her sleepy, and the thought of a thorough washing and clean clothes was irresistible.
“It’s up to you, Hellfire.”
She smiled. “Do you promise to tell me everything later on?”
“You won’t be left in the dark, I promise.”
“That would be a welcome change, but you didn’t exactly answer my question.”
“I won’t make a promise I may not be able to keep. Go in the back, get cleaned up, and trust me, or sit here and listen for yourself.”
“You’re being exasperating.”
He lowered his voice, and his words came to her in a controlled whisper as even as his white teeth. “I thought I was being nice. I gave you a choice.”
“All I did was ask a simple question.”
“To which I gave an honest answer.”
“Honest? Try evasive.”
“Would you rather have me lie? Wig, would you excuse us? I’d like to take Hellfire in the back and explain something to her.”
Wig merely nodded, a wide grin on his face.
Dina was trapped, and she knew it. She couldn’t very well protest further in front of their host. A moment later they were alone in a comfortably appointed back room, but Dina saw neither the massive bed nor the inviting bathing area. Her full attention was riveted on the man who had just slammed the door behind them.
“Your manners are atrocious. Aren’t little Glacian girls raised any better than that?” His restrained whisper had lost its quiet flow, and his words were like steps taken on a surface that was suddenly too hot to walk upon.
“My manners! Why can’t you ever give me a straight answer to anything?”
“Come here.” The words sizzled at her.
“No.”
“Come here, and ask me anything you like. I promise you a straight answer.”
What his voice promised her was far from an answer of any kind. She was trapped again.
She raised her chin at him. “Very well. What happens next?”
He stepped closer to her, and she was aware of his heat even without his touch. “I make love to you until you’re too senseless to ask stupid questions.”
Her body betrayed her with an immediate arousal to his words, and she didn’t know whether to slap him or kiss him. He was cold and hot, aloof and beckoning, dangerous and a haven. He infuriated her, but the fury inflamed her beyond a reasonable response.
“Damn you!”
“I’m quite sure I will be. Would you rather we fight? I seem to remember what happened the last time . . .”
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
He took the opportunity to cover her open mouth with his own, and when his lips touched hers, the heat that flowed to her core ignited her passion like a hammer to a flash pan. His big hands slid down her sides to settle at her waist, his fingers gently but possessively pressing her to him. Her mouth dueled with his, her tongue and lips meeting and parrying every thrust of his, until she acknowledged his mastery and allowed him to pierce the warm depths of her mouth.
Whatever her feelings, there was no denying the physical response of her body to his. At last, with one final kiss, his mouth released hers, and, breathless, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. He dragged his mouth down her neck to rest it over the pulse point there, and she stood as still in his embrace as prey caught in a predator’s deadly grasp, but his warm breath and hot, slick tongue quickly had her shuddering with a desire to do more than meekly submit. She wanted him as much as he seemed to want her.
She brought her hands down and placed her slender fingers over his hands, and as she did so, her mind, as
it had with Rayn, reached out for the ultimate connection. But his mind repelled hers, not with the sharp bolt of raw energy she’d felt before, but with a gentle repulsion, as if their minds were like the poles of two magnets. Kyl turned his wrists so that his fingers could weave with hers, and she felt the hard knuckles, the deep lines etched on his palms, and the sensitive pads of his fingertips. Her will seemed to guide his hands, and they glided up her ribcage. He pushed her tunic, undershirt, and bra over her head and took her mouth again with his, his hands simultaneously cupping her breasts. He swallowed the moan she exhaled into his mouth as she felt the ridged expanse of the pads of his thumbs gently abrade the tender peaks until he created pearls from the velvet.
He scooped her up effortlessly and dropped her on the bed, and she tore at his clothes with a hunger. When he insisted on removing his own boots, she kneeled on the bed behind him, pressed her breasts against his back, and ran her hands first upward over the contoured muscles of his abdomen, then down below his open waistband, tracing the narrow trail of hair.
“For someone so strong, you have a devil of a time with two pieces of leather,” she purred into his ear.
“If I’m deviled, it’s because a piece of gold and silver flotsam straight from hell is driving me mad,” he murmured back at her, one boot finally launching into the air to fall with a dull thud halfway across the room.
Dina moved her hands lower still, and found the hard evidence of his “devilment.” She stroked him until she heard the second thump, this time as the heavy piece of leather smacked the opposite wall. He whirled on her, stripped his trousers off, and pushed her back onto the bed, obviously eager to exact revenge for her torment.
“So I’m driving you mad? Good . . . it’s what you need,” she breathed, as his long sleek body covered hers.
“And what is it that you need, Hellfire?” came the rough whisper into her ear as he manacled her wrists with his hands and raised her arms above her head. Her breasts lifted, but were crushed by his chest as his weight settled onto her. His lips found the tender skin of the inside of her upper arm and drew on the fire that throbbed there.
“Tell me,” he insisted. The words vibrated against her skin, but she had no trouble hearing the demand. His mouth was but a breath from her ear, but more than that, her ability allowed her to hear the softest of sounds, even the thoughts that were never born to words.
She tried to think, but it was hard. The physical sensations filled her mind, and conscious thought was squeezed into a tiny corner that was hard to reach. What did she want? She turned her head and brushed his hair aside with her lips. Her teeth nipped at his earlobe, and she exhaled into his ear. “What do I need? You . . .” At that exact moment, it wasn’t a lie.
“But what is it from me that you need?” He pulled his head back, and his gaze bore into hers, the long bangs nearly shielding his intent gray gaze. His hands still shackled hers.
Her mind strained for a true answer. What did she want from Kyl? Love? Commitment? No, that was Rayn, and Rayn was gone from her life. His strength? His power? Protection? Yes, of course, but . . . that wasn’t quite it. Not anymore.
“No promises, no commitments. Just . . . an offering. Something freely given, with nothing demanded in return. Like your stories. That’s what I need from you.” Yes, that was it.
He released her arms and bowed his head. All she saw was the thick tarnished crown of hair. She reached up and buried her fingers in the silky strands. He raised his head, and his face held a vulnerability she had glimpsed only once before. “You ask for more than stories. You ask for my soul. The Roven are not givers.”
She turned her head aside, surprised at his response. His soul? Is that what she wanted? She didn’t know. She decided to give a safe reply. “The word is an old Glacian expression, isn’t it? ‘To rob?’ But you’re more than just a raider. I know you are.”
He shook his head slowly. “Roven is what I am, not just what I do. It’s not something I can change, Dina.”
She didn’t understand. “So what are you telling me?”
“Just that I may not be able to give you what you need.”
“I think you can, whether or not you believe it yourself.”
He dipped his head and met her kiss. The heat flowed between them in a circuit that had no beginning, no end, and cared not where lie the source, and where lie the destination. His mouth journeyed down her throat to the well between her breasts and toyed with the stone that nestled there, chained to her heart as well as her neck. She hadn’t explained the importance of the pendant to Kyl and was still afraid to. But he took no more than a fleeting notice of it, and his mouth moved to the tip of one breast, glazing the peak with his lambent tongue.
She arched into him, and his right hand fell in a glissade from her breast down over her ribcage to the flat plain of her belly. Once more his fingers sang to her, the sounds and sensations slurring together into a melody of desire that played to every measure of her being. He probed the small dip of her bellybutton and the hollow that sloped up to her hip bone.
She squirmed with need and tried to wrap her legs around him, but before she could, he drove into her, long and hard. But she was more than ready for him, and by the third thrust, he was deep inside her, establishing a slow, powerful rhythm that suspended all thought processes and sent her into the realm of urgency and demand, passion and response. He gave her everything she pleaded for, and more, until her body could take no more, and she let go with a shuddering cry. His own climax immediately followed, deep within her, and she held him as tightly as if he were the only bastion between her and the chaos of the Void.
He said no words to her until he eased out of her and rolled over. “Now if you continue to behave yourself, Hellfire, I’ll put you to sleep later tonight with a story.”
Dina sighed. No words of love. Not that she’d expected any. Nor wanted any. They’d made their bargain. “What am I, a child to be bribed into good behavior with a treat?”
“We’re all children to the Gods and the stars above. Even one such as I who has traveled from one end of the Xegesis Vortex to the other. You, little Hellfire, are definitely still a child.”)“Don’t talk to me as if you’re filled with the wisdom of the ancients. You may be well-traveled, but you can’t be that much older than I am. And I am not the sheltered little innocent you take me to be.” She thought suddenly of Rayn. He’d talked to her in much the same manner. The galaxy-weary arrogance of the all-knowing dens. Rayn had irritated her, too, when he talked that way, yet her innocence was one of the things that had attracted her to him. She was innocent no more. The sharp sting of betrayal stabbed at her, even though she’d only done what she had to do. Rayn, please forgive me . . .
Kyl laughed, and there was joy in the rich sound, but also a trace of sadness. “Enjoy your youth while you can, Dina. The halcyon days of youth, once gone, seldom come again.” He squeezed her gently one more time, then swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose. “I’m going to clean up and then spend some time with Wig. There’s much news I need to hear. You can come and listen if you like.”
She smiled at his laughter and the wistfulness in his voice. She would have liked nothing better than to curl up on the soft bed and sleep for hours, but she didn’t want to miss anything. She trusted him with her safety, but she still didn’t trust Kyl to enlighten her with information on his own. Pushing the painful thoughts of Rayn away, she sprang off the bed. “If I like? I have no choice. You held out on me.”
“What are you talking about?” His voice floated to her above the running of hot water.
“The exodite. You told me you lost everything when the Megaera was destroyed. You lied to me.” She was steaming almost as much as the bathing area had just moments before.
He waited until he was clean and half-dressed to answer her. His damp hair hung in slick strands combed away from his face, an
d he smiled at her. He wore the snug gray trousers with the silver buttons, but nothing else. The top four buttons were undone, and the vee of exposed skin did nothing to cool her.
“I didn’t lie. The exodite was very little compared to what I lost. But one thing you learn as you go through life, Dina, is to hedge. Never put all your beans in one pot, as the Rorians will tell you. A raider always appropriates at least one item on his take-down that’s small, valuable, and easy to transport. Nothing beats exodite for this purpose. That’s point one. Point two is this. Always load said goods into the escape pod of your ship. That way, in an emergency, you’re not left empty-handed. So you can thank me for my foresight in planning instead of being mad. That exodite is our ticket off this rock.”
“Well, you could have told me.”
He merely gave her another wolfish grin and finished dressing. “Come up front when you’re ready. I promise we won’t talk about anything important until you join us.”
Dina doubted that, but couldn’t help smiling in return. With his fresh-washed appearance, the flash of the rare smile, and the memories of what they’d shared in the big bed, he presented an irresistible picture. “I told you, no promises. You’ll only break them,” she said, tossing a pillow at him.
His grin widened, and he turned and closed the door softly behind him.
Dina hurried to bathe and dress. She knew that as soon as Kyl sat down with Wig that they’d be scheming like thieves, and she had no intention of missing out on the action.
“HOW MANY MEN does Vaizya have?” asked Kyl. Dina had come in only a moment before.
“Five. They’ve been at the tappers and whorehouses for a week straight now, buggered silly, all of them. Vaizya, now, he keeps himself straight in spite of being a habitué at the Odalisque. He nurses one wad all night long. His pleasure is in the boasting of his deeds. And women, of course. Unlike most of the others, though, he’s careful enough not to get himself poxed. Excuse the language, miss,” said Wig, with a nod of apology to Dina.
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