Dreams of fire have plagued her, but can the embrace of a warrior cool one blaze and start another?
Xia has been running from dreams of fire her entire adult life. She warns, threatens and begs, but no one will listen when she tells them she knows when and where the fire will strike. Across twelve worlds she has been chased by the nightmares, and now she finally has met the one man she has been looking for all her life, the man who will use her knowledge to stop the flames from destroying lives.
Drov is an Asku of the Velu family, and he is a posted base commander on a world beset by fires. When he was scanning the passenger files of an incoming ship, he found a woman he wanted without knowing she existed. Xia will tell him where the fire is, and in return, he offers her a home, a world and so much more.
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Dreams of Fire
Copyright © 2012 Zenina Masters
ISBN: 978-1-77111-301-4
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Dreams of Fire
Darkest Star Saga Book 4
By
Zenina Masters
Chapter One
Exhaustion weighed her down. Nine days of supplements and electric shock kept her awake and mobile but alert was a long time gone.
Xia Noon was tired of dodging sleep, but she hated the dreams more. Each night, she dreamed of fire and nothing or no one could stop it. She spoke to counsellors, law enforcement, anyone she could think of on a dozen worlds. All said the same thing. She was insane.
After the fires she predicted came to pass, law enforcement changed their tune. She was a suspect.
When she was released from suspicion, each branch of law enforcement said the same thing. “Leave our world.”
She travelled from world to world, looking for a place to rest where she wouldn’t see fire in her dreams every night.
Each night, it was different. Sometimes, she watched a kindling flame, other nights, the horror of buildings alight with people running for safety danced through her mind.
Now, Xia was on the Latent Star, a transport due to dock on the Nacroia station in two hours. She kept to her quarters as much as possible, only venturing out for food, but it still took quite a bit of effort to avoid her fellow passengers.
There was something about travelling on a large passenger ship that made folk want to invade her personal space. She wasn’t particularly attractive, but a single woman on a ship always got more than her fair share of attention.
It was her twelfth move in the last decade, and she was beyond tired of scuttling onto stellar transports in the hope that the dreams would not follow her.
With her bags packed, she watched the station grow larger in the small display in her quarters. The two Asku escort vehicles were visible occasionally as they set up to link with the station. When they moved into docking position, Xia grabbed her bags and her identification bands and left her quarters, hiking toward the exit.
The slight impact of the ship in the mag locks made her smile. Her journey was almost over. She plodded mindlessly to the exit hall where a few of her flight companions were already waiting to make a run for it. It was a rookie mistake to be too eager to leave. It was far better to plod along like a whipped dog and stare into the eyes of the customs agents until they realized you were no threat.
The people around her were laughing too brightly, talking too fast. If they thought that faking perky would get them past the customs office of Nacroia, they were woefully misinformed.
The ship’s personnel secured the interior locks, and when all lights turned white, they opened the doors.
Xia held out her bands and waited while she was scanned off the Latent Star. Whatever she did or didn’t do now, she was no longer their problem.
She filed past the officer who scanned her bands, plodding along behind the masses that rushed around her to be the first through customs. Asku warriors milled around in the background, seemingly bored. Xia knew differently, they were waiting for someone to try to get through with a controlled substance.
Nacroia was a defended world, and they paid well for the privilege of the Asku defence.
Xia smiled slightly. Having the Asku vetting all who came through to walk the planet was part of her reason for choosing the out-of-the-way world. If anyone could stop the creature from her nightmares, it would be the warriors of legend.
She was shoved to one side as another eager passenger lunged for the customs line. A few staggered steps and she was fine, but a hand on her arm stopped her.
Her dazed and exhausted gaze looked up at the warrior who was touching her. She blinked furiously to clear her vision. “I am sorry. Did I bump into you?”
He smiled as if that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “Please, miss, come with me to the front of the line. You look tired.”
Her body tried to cry out acknowledgement of that fact, but she looked behind her. “It isn’t fair to the others in line.”
He put a hand on her back and steered her around the customs line. “I am sure they will get over it.”
A desk with a customs agent was open, and he took her right to the desk where a nervous man was waiting.
The passenger who had moved toward the open agent was shocked when two Asku blocked his way.
Xia sat and blinked at the customs agent. The Asku were surrounding them, giving them the illusion of privacy.
The agent smiled brightly, but it was forced. “Identification bands, please.”
She extended them over the scanner and waited for someone to rifle through her bags.
He nodded and gestured to the Asku while he said, “Xia Noon, welcome to Nacroia. These gentlemen will assist you in getting to the surface where their base commander is waiting for you.”
Xia was sure her face showed her confusion. “No questions?”
The agent went from tense to kind at her obviously exhausted expression. “No. No questions. You will go with them, and they will help you.”
The idea of someone helping her was so foreign that it took a moment before she pulled her arms back. One of the Asku moved forward and took her bags from the floor next to her and another offered his hand to help her rise.
The warriors ushered her down a hall to a shuttle, careful not to walk faster than she could manage. They didn’t answer her questions, but their expressions were not unkind. Wherever they were taking her, they didn’t think harm was the ultimate goal of their mission.
They tucked her into the shuttle and buckled her in place as if she were a child. With a few curt words between them, the shuttle was sealed, and they fell away from the station.
Just like that, she was falling toward a planet that held all her hopes and dreams.
If she was lucky, she would get
one good night’s sleep before the nightmares started again. Xia knew that it was ironic that her ultimate dream was a night with no dreams, but a dreamless sleep was all she wanted in life.
She didn’t fight being taken down to the planet by the Asku, because it was precisely where she wanted to go.
* * * *
Drov watched the shuttle approach the base. If Xia Noon could really see the fires the day before they happened, she would be a welcome addition to Nacroia. None of their tech could find the fire starter, and nothing physical had begun the blazes.
A psychic was starting fires, and at this point, Drov knew only one thing, Xia Noon was the only chance they had to stop the city of Kentrial from going up in flames.
If she could dream of fire, he would listen to whatever she had to say.
* * * *
Xia was shivering uncontrollably when they landed. Her escort looked at her with concern, but they went through protocols before helping her out of her seat.
Her body was protesting the prolonged waking period, and it wasn’t being shy about it. If she got horizontal even for a moment, she would be out.
The sun was bright and the gravity familiar to her. Xia was able to stand tall and walk in the small space within the detachment of warriors. Her senses were not so completely scrambled that she didn’t appreciate the scent of male and afternoon sunlight. It was comforting to be surrounded by folk who would pick her up if she fell.
They made their way to a building with medical markings, and her fatigued mind tried to get upset.
When a man with coal black eyes and fire burning within came out to greet them, her mind gave up its attempt at panic and settled into a happy hum of hormones and thoughts that no woman with her past should be entertaining.
Xia fought a smile, the thoughts were still fun though.
Chapter Two
“Greetings of the day to you, Xia Noon. I am Base Commander Drov Velu, and I have something I need your help with. Would you come with me?”
She nodded and followed him into the medical facility. They walked through the building to a central lab. Her escort trimmed down to two, one of whom was still carrying her luggage.
A boardroom waited for them, and he held her chair while she sat down. “The city we are in has been experiencing a difficulty that you may be able to help us with.”
She blinked. “Can I stay here then?”
His dark eyes and tattooed features clouded. “Of course.”
She smiled. “What do you need?”
He cleared his throat, “There have been fires…”
The rest of his words disappeared as she watched images on a holographic display between them. He described their lack of physical evidence and the seeming random nature of the fires.
She raised her hand, and she looked at him with resigned eyes. “I will be able to tell you where the next fire will be. All I need is a comfortable bed and uninterrupted sleep. Is that possible?”
Commander Drov nodded. “Of course. Will you submit to a physical before you sleep?”
She shrugged. “Whatever. I simply need rest, and when I rest, I will find the next fire.”
He nodded, and a door opened on the far side of the boardroom.
A woman in a medical uniform was standing next to another Asku, and she cleared her throat. “Miss, come with me please.”
It took a lot of effort to rise from the comfortable chair, but once she was standing, Xia shuffled to the medic and kept going until the woman steered her into an exam room where she was treated to a very thorough workup.
“I can’t believe that you are taking being surrounded by Asku so calmly.” The medic was amazed.
In reply, Xia simply said, “I am tired.”
The medic laughed. “You must be exhausted. Everyone here is on edge the moment that the Asku appear.”
Xia smiled vaguely. “Where will I sleep?”
“We have a monitor system rigged into a bed in the lab. It will record your bio signs without being attached to you in any way. If you dream, we will know.”
Xia’s body was screaming at her with the need for sleep. “Fine. Just point me to the bed, and we will begin.”
The medic looked surprised, “Do you want a sedative?”
Xia shook her head. “It will not be necessary. It has been a while since I had the luxury of sleep.”
The medic closed her mouth. She helped Xia into a long, loose gown and led her out of the exam room and to the wired bed in the lab.
She dropped onto the bedding and was out before the medic flipped the blanket over her.
* * * *
“She looks like hell, Commander.” The medic did not mince words.
“Please, give the medical opinion and not your own.” Drov sat back in the chair in the boardroom and waited.
“Her organs are stressed to the point where I am surprised that they function. If I knew what her original species was, it would be easier, but I have to simply guess at the range based on standard species’ averages.”
“What is causing the stress?” He suspected that the dark and hollow eyes that had stared into his own were not their normal appearance.
“Given clues and data provided by the Latent Star, she has not slept in at least a week. I do not know by what means she is propelling herself, but even an Asku would have been dead by now.”
Drov lifted the data pad that had other listings on it and paused for a moment. “This is accurate?”
“It is, Commander.”
He nodded. “Does she sleep?”
“She does. She was out before I even covered her with the sensor blanket.” The medic nodded.
“Is someone watching her?” Drov got to his feet. His senses were on alert.
“No. I didn’t think that she would begin anything for a while. Why?”
He started down the hall to the lab where Xia Noon was supposedly sleeping. “Can’t you feel that?”
It was an electric feeling all over his skin. The tattoos on his body ached in a disconcerting way. If he didn’t know better, he would think someone was tracing each and every line of ink that marked his family name, his parentage and the battles he had been involved in.
He was nearly running when he skidded into the sleep lab.
Xia’s body was twisted and the room was lit up with the power she was emanating. She was the origin of a lightning storm, and the bed and blanket were repelling the energy, sending it arcing around the room.
Cursing, he lunged forward and flipped away the blanket, lifting Xia out of the bed where her body was scattering power around them. Her body was hot, limp, and her face showed no expression.
He backed out of the room, and the further she was from the monitoring systems, the less power poured out of her.
The medic was watching from the doorway in shock. “I don’t know how that happened.”
“If she was alert, her brain scans would have shown that her psychic talent doesn’t work well with scanning devices. Her fatigue subdued the readout. I wondered why the scans said normal.” He looked at the limp woman in his arms. She was on the edge of death, but her eyes were rolling beneath her lids, getting him the information that he needed.
“Call Asku medical and have a physician bring a coma kit to my quarters. She needs an electronic-free area, and I have one.” Drov waited until the medic nodded in agreement.
He walked to the courtyard of the medical facility and nodded to his driver. “Take me home, Tohs.”
He settled in the flight with Xia in his lap.
Tohs looked back at him while he powered up the flight. “Commander, are congratulations in order?”
Drov looked down at the pale woman, her cascade of black hair limp, her eyes closed and lips that held a tinge of blue. “I don’t know.”
The medical officer moved around Xia under Drov’s watchful gaze. The Asku didn’t like men touching their women, but Xia was not an Asku bride, so there was no reason for Drov to feel the surge of protecti
ve anger that was rippling through him. There was no reason for it at all.
Xia responded the moment that the physician started the drip and supplemented it with injections. Three extra fluid bags were left for Drov to switch out and the physician returned to the warship docked with the orbital station.
Drov sat next to the woman who had suddenly found herself in his bed, and he rubbed his hair while grinning at his own foolishness.
She breathed evenly now. Her body was visibly relaxing and colour was coming to her features.
Her posture shifted, and her hand touched his thigh. His cock surged to full and aching arousal at the light and accidental touch. It was enough to make his mind up. Despite Asku convention, he was going to call his mother.
Drov looked at the Radiance, and she propped her chin on her hands. “So, you don’t know anything about her, but your body reacts extremely when you are near her. Is she a virgin?”
A light blush stained his cheeks. “She is. It appeared on her medical workup. With all of her travels, I thought it would be impossible, and yet, it isn’t.”
“So, what are you waiting for?” Radiance grinned.
He sighed. “She is an unknown psychic known for her association with random fires through a dozen worlds. She didn’t set them, but something about her lets her detect them. What am I supposed to do with that?”
Radiance sighed. “What was your father supposed to do with a woman whose big claim to fame was a wash of blinding light? He saw past the talent and to the woman within.”
Drov grunted. “So, am I to look past her file and into her eyes?”
His mother laughed. “It would be a start. Maybe take her dancing or out to a public function.”
He sat back, “There is a formal this weekend. Perhaps she would come with me to that.”
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