“I believe I heard a flattering comment in that soliloquy. You can be assured I will endeavor to play the role of Conor well, if I have to do so,” Malachi said.
Synar looked at the male sitting next to him. Normally, he would have mistrusted such a promise from the demon, but at the moment he felt nothing but sincerity.
“I am still able to read your thoughts, Liam. Yes, you can trust me. This concern for Boca and the Greggor is annoying though. How do you entities live with this constant fretting for each other? This must be a punishment from the Creators. I don’t think Conor ever had a caring moment for anyone but himself. Well perhaps your mother. . .he did favor her now and again,” Malachi observed, staring off into the darkness of space and the ship they were speeding towards at a rapid clip. Then he turned to a familiar face staring at him in shock from the pilot’s chair. “What? Did I say something wrong?”
“No. I just hope the mission proves as redeemable as the Demon of Synar,” he answered.
“Redeemable? You’re starting to sound like Ania with her wishful thinking,” Malachi said, smiling at the only male he could ever remember caring for outside of his old host, Jonas. “I am still a demon you know. Nothing will ever change that.”
“Indeed, and my instinct is screaming that we’re going to need your demon skills before this mission is done,” Synar said.
“Liam, your thoughts are getting more and more blood-thirsty these days. One would think we’re changing places,” Malachi said with a grin.
Synar snorted and turned his attention to landing the shuttle inside the Liberator.
***
Chiang glanced at Boca, who was already frowning at the guards approaching them.
“Walk behind me,” he ordered, using a tone that he hoped she would just obey and not debate for once.
Boca started to argue but saw the four guards coming to greet them were all armed with laser weapons. Chiang had talked her out of hiding knives in her skirt, not that there was much room to do so, but she didn’t like being unarmed.
A short distance from the guards, Chiang spoke again. “We’re here to see Orem Sel. Conor Synar sent me.”
Two of the guards stopped, keeping their weapons pointed at Chiang. The other two walked past him, each taking one of Boca’s arms.
“I’m first,” one said, prompting Chiang to spin and glare.
“The female is not for sale or trade. She is mine,” he said quietly. “Touch her and face your death.”
Grabbing the edge of her top beneath the Xendrin collar, the second guard ripped one shoulder completely, until it fell open to reveal her chest on one side. “Smaller breasts than I usually like,” he said.
Chiang took a step towards them before feeling the laser weapons sticking him. Turning faster than either guard could see, he grabbed them by their necks and slammed the two males together, hearing their heads crack as they fell.
“Can I kill them?” Boca asked, even as the guard still holding her laughed.
“No,” Chiang barked. “We have to talk with Orem Sel first. Then we will see. I didn’t kill the other two. I merely stopped them from killing me.”
“Semantics,” Boca declared, stepping away only to hear the rest of her top rip as well.
Chiang sighed as the guard who had ripped her clothing swore and swung his laser in his direction. He held up his hands. “Leave my female alone and I won’t hurt you.”
Boca looked at the hygiene straps still covering her, happy for once to be wearing the support. If she hadn’t been wearing them, she’d be nude now.
“Can I kill them—please?” she asked, not surprised to hear Chiang laughing at her pleading, despite the dilemma they were in with the Lotharian guards.
Mostly she wanted him to know that she wasn’t afraid of these men. This type of humiliation was nothing new to her. Females were too valuable to kill. Only kingdom rulers could order the death of one. She had endured far worse during her previous captivity, even after she had been awarded to one of Fener Sel’s officials.
“Not yet,” Chiang said to Boca, then immediately shifted his attention to the males. “I’m going to ask you once more to do as I bid you. If you continue to refuse, I am going to let her kill both of you.”
When they laughed, Chiang growled low in his throat as a warning. Boca sighed at him.
“Please let me defend myself,” she said through gritted teeth, growling herself when Chiang shook his head and glared at their laughing tormentors.
“If I answered yes, you would be wishing the two of you had been the ones I rendered unconscious. Boca is not as merciful as I am.”
They looked at each other and then at Boca. Chiang hoped they weren’t seeing what he saw. She stood regally in just her hygiene straps, all glorious defiance with a dare in her eyes that any male would want to take on. Not even their circumstances stopped his male organ from twitching with want of her. The warrior in her called to all of them, but she was his.
“What is the female to you other than property?” the first one asked.
“The female is my mate,” Chiang declared. “Now leave her alone.”
The second one snorted at Chiang’s pronouncement. Keeping his weapon level on Chiang’s gut, the male walked around Boca, swearing as he did so. He reached out a hand, putting it on the back of Boca’s shoulder, and then pulled it back quickly as if burned.
“He speaks the truth. She bears the Greggor’s mark, and it’s protected by a force field. She is walking death.”
Chiang’s eyes widened when Boca rattled off a solid stream of Sumerian that went on for a full minute. She finished the tirade with a hand gesture at the second guard, who swung his laser weapon from Chiang to her. She was reaching over her shoulder, trying to feel what the guard had found. What had Malachi done?
“What did your female say? Is she being disrespectful?” he asked, directing the demand to Chiang. “I don’t speak Sumerian.”
“Neither do I,” Chiang said coldly. “I had almost broken her of the habit of using that tongue. Now I will have no peace again. If I didn’t need you to find your ruler, I would beat you until your life force ceased for disrobing her.”
“Perhaps you need more control over your woman,” the first said on snicker. “If she were mine, I’d cut out her tongue if she didn’t please me.”
“If you are done flattering me, can we go see Orem Sel now?” Chiang asked sarcastically, telling himself not to reach out and snap the man’s neck for threatening Boca.
The female in question snorted at the first guard. “Touch me and I will feed your bonding parts to you and laugh while you gag on them.”
The second guard laughed then, and the first ordered him to shut up.
Chiang sighed heavily, rolling his eyes at the two males on the ground who were starting to return to consciousness.
“If I do not report back to Conor Synar soon, he will send his demon to investigate the matter. You’ll all be micro-dust for trying to stop us, and your ruler will no longer be a coveted customer,” Chiang said.
“So it is true then? Conor Synar found his demon?” the first guard asked, grabbing Boca’s arm and throwing her forward.
Chiang growled. Boca reached out a hand but pulled it back at his frown. Ignoring Boca, Chiang looked at the guard. “Soon you will wish you had heeded my warnings to leave her alone.”
Both guards just laughed as they pointed to the gate and a path through it.
Chapter 16
When Chiang was brought before Orem Sel, the Lotharian ruler was not any more respectful than his guards, who openly gloated at Chiang’s growing frustration. Soon it was obvious that there was nothing he and Boca could do but go along with Orem Sel’s plan to entertain himself at their expense. In the few minutes they had been in the ruler’s main hall, Chiang had gone from hoping to convince their host of their ruse to just hoping they both lived long enough to be rescued.
He walked to where Boca stood panting. He could tell she was exas
perated from fighting off the guards who had continued to harass and mock her on their walk. They had tugged and torn the remains of her top until it now hung in tatters, leaving her covered only by her hygiene straps. Chiang growled as he passed the guards but did not glance at the males he wanted to kill, especially the one that made no effort to disguise his lust for her.
Their next move would either convince Orem Sel of their ruse, or get him killed and Boca captured again. He looked at the leering male who had torn her clothes from her, unable to keep the pure hatred he felt from his gaze. One way or another that particular male was going to die. It was going to either be at Boca’s hands or his.
“Our host is insisting to see you fight as fiercely as his guards say you threatened to do. They are both willing to take you on because they hope bonding with you is to be their reward. He says you may choose weapons from any male in the room, but I will have to collect them for you,” Chiang ordered. “This is Orem Sel’s warped way of letting you restore your own honor. I regret not being able to talk him out of it.”
Angry to once again be at the mercy of such selfish males, Boca’s gaze took in the room and those watching. Then she met Chiang’s concerned gaze and all anger fell away. In its place was a resolve to do what she could to help save them. If Orem Sel wanted to see her kill his guards, then raging fires of Helios, she was more than ready.
“Fine. I want to fight them anyway. Find me a pair of knives or scythes. I care not which blade.”
“Knives? To fight against guards with laser stunners?” Chiang asked, incredulous over her choice.
“Yes—if you want me to survive,” Boca said flatly. “I am not good with firing weapons. I am well trained in knives. You want me to trust you? Then trust me in this.”
Chiang arched an eyebrow, but seeing her confidence about the matter, walked to a male on the other side of the room. He took out a small pouch and held it out to the man.
“I offer Rylen incense for your blades. Even the smallest amount will turn the most reluctant female into an adoring mate for a time.”
He looked back over his shoulder at Boca.
“If this goes well, I will have her gratitude. If it does not and she dies, I still won’t have need of it this evening. Fair barter, I would say.”
The Lotharian male who owned the knives smiled in agreement. “Aye. Fair barter, Greggor. If you lose, I might even loan you a female for the evening. I’m happy you chose my blades. They have not seen much blood lately. I am sorry it will be your female’s. She looks like a screamer.”
Chiang smiled at his crude joke, forcing himself to bow his head. “That is a generous offer about sharing your females. I am a male of great needs.”
The smiling Lotharian held out the two fighting knives to be inspected, and at Chiang’s nod, laid them in his hand.
Chiang passed over the bag and made himself smile as he walked back to Boca. Turning the knives over, he presented the handles to her.
“Kill the one that ripped your clothes first. If you don’t, I will break him in half eventually. His death is needed, but allow the other to live. Restrain him, and then I will restrain you,” Chiang whispered. “I trust you to survive this. Trust me in this ruse.”
Boca took the weapons, met Chiang’s gaze, frowning as she tightly nodded her acceptance of his plan.
Chiang quickly walked away to take his place next to Orem Sel again.
“I really hope you don’t like the guard who assaulted her,” he said stiffly, finally looking at the smirking bastard, who just shrugged. No doubt Orem Sel was looking forward to the death of one of his own, but probably also thought Boca would die in the attempt. “I ordered Boca to kill him. No one humiliates my mate but me.”
Orem Sel smiled at the announcement. “If you had told my guards she was your mate in the beginning, this might not have gone so far. They said your mate was extremely disrespectful to them. Lotharians do not allow females this type of rebellious behavior. It tends to be too contagious.”
Now it was Chiang’s turn to shrug. “Let’s just say my employer—”
“Conor Synar?” Orem Sel asked.
To Chiang, the mention sounded like he was uninterested. Could it be that Orem Sel didn’t need Conor’s services? The frustrating male had given nothing away so far. Perhaps the captain’s information was faulty.
“Yes. Conor doesn’t like talk of mates and so on. He thinks a preference for one woman is a weakness, even though he keeps several for his exclusive use,” Chiang said sharply, fighting not to glare as he watched Boca walking in a tight circle as she got used to the feel of the strange blades in her hand. Let her be as talented as Gwen and Ania think she is, he prayed.
The male that had tried initially to strip her laughed as she walked. He pulled out his laser weapon, dialed a setting on it, and then looked up.
Seeing his neck exposed at last, Boca threw the first blade with deadly accuracy. It pierced his throat, the tip protruding from the back. He dropped the unfired laser weapon as he fell backwards to the floor, gurgling as he drowned in his own life force.
Chiang saw three guards lift their laser weapons and point them at Boca, dropping them only when Orem Sel waved them down.
Boca walked slowly over to the struggling guard and stomped her bare foot on the handle driving it through his throat more until he stopped struggling. Then she calmly leaned down and yanked the blade back out. Chiang watched her wiping it off on a strip of torn cloth that had once covered her shoulder—and his family’s mark. The gleaming outline of it was visible even from where he stood.
“Your female kills with no remorse,” Orem Sel said, rubbing his chin. “That must make bonding with her an exciting risk to take.”
Chiang laughed, not having to work very hard at this response. “Boca is very exciting. Who do you think taught her to fight? If you wish, I can stop her before she kills the other one. I am mostly appeased now. There is no reason for the next one to completely die. He ceased his actions when he saw my mark on her. The first one sealed his death when he laughed at me.”
Orem Sel shook his head. “No. Let her fight him too. I find her coldness fascinating. Perhaps death need not be the final result though. I don’t want the rest of my guards thinking they will be used for sport. That is a weak way to die and only suitable for disobedient females.”
Chiang narrowed his gaze but showed no expression as he lifted the remote. He watched Boca start across the floor to the second guard, blades rolling in her hands and the first guard’s life force staining the clothing left on her. When she felt the collar go off, she lifted hands to it, bringing the deadly blades close to her own face.
Chiang saw her fall to her knees, and heard her call out loudly, but her gaze remained locked on the second guard, who was now grinning. Good, Chiang thought. She was handling it.
“Fight—but do not kill this one,” he commanded loudly.
He saw Boca glance at him over her shoulder as she climbed unsteadily to her feet. His gut was knotted with tension, but he made himself focus on the mark on her shoulder—his mark. His female. Not a responsibility, but a partner, he thought, willing her all the strength she needed to fight the guard.
As if she were aware of his wish to help her, Chiang watched Boca straighten her back. He would thank Malachi for the mark when they returned. Then he was going to take one giant swing at the demon, penalty or not, for forcing such a thing on Boca, who he knew had been as surprised as he was at what was there.
Pulling his thoughts back to the present, Chiang focused on the fight. Boca stopped a short distance away and waited for the next attack. The second guard pulled a fighting blade from his belt and began to walk around her slowly. She turned when he did, keeping her gaze focused. When the guard struck out, he sliced her arm before she could evade. Boca looked at the thin line briefly, watching it bleed for a moment, before swinging her gaze back to the guard’s gloating one.
When he lunged a second time, Boca jumped, kicked t
he knife from his hand, and then tripped his legs out from under him all in one continuous move. Once the guard hit the floor, she ran past him, sweeping low to pin one of his arms to the floor using one of the blades she held.
His scream of surprise echoed through the room as he realized his arm was pierced through and that he couldn’t free it without further pain.
Using a spin to kick and move the other arm to the floor, Boca raised the second blade high before planting it above the struggling male’s other wrist.
While he called out in agony, a stoic Boca walked to where the guard’s single but much larger blade had dropped. She swept it from the floor to her hand with a flick of her toes. She held it up to the light, inspected it, and then slipped it gently into her torn skirt band. She walked to him chin up, the room silent with the exception of the second guard’s cries of pain, escalating demands for help, and scathing names for her.
Never looking at Orem Sel, Boca slipped the blade from her skirt, lifting it to her palms, and offered it to Chiang with a bowed head.
Chiang stepped to her, took the blade, and then caught her chin, pulling her up to him by it for a relieved kiss. When he let go and she fell back to her toes, he stared at her hard. “Kneel and put your face on the floor. You just killed a servant of our host. I need to discuss this appalling situation.”
Boca glared at Chiang without the need to fake much, but did as he ordered, stretching her hands over her bowed head. When he was satisfied with her compliance, Chiang turned and offered the blade to Orem Sel. “It will be a while before your guard will have need of his blade again. What would you like to do with it?”
Orem Sel waved at the blade with his hand. “Keep it for a souvenir of your visit and proof of my sincere regret to have treated you so poorly.”
Chiang bowed his head. “I don’t know of what poor treatment you speak. You are a gracious host, Orem Sel.”
The Healer's Kiss: Book Four of the Forced To Serve Series Page 20
