He bit her at the junction of neck and shoulder, rumbling low in his throat as he moved. One hand played over her breasts. With the other at the joining of their bodies, he took her swiftly to the edge, then deliberately paused, waiting for her quivering muscles to unclench.
“Will you forfeit, Blade Master?” he panted, his voice raspy with the effort of denying them both.
Smoothing a hand over his tight backside, then his hip, she reached between them and cupped him in her palm.
He trembled, swore, and with a groan rocked hard into her over and over until she pleaded for release.
“Now,” he ground out. “Now.”
The ripple of power in his voice shot through her like lightning. She thought she screamed. He shouted and once again, the passion they’d ignited detonated.
They collapsed, boneless. She turned. He tucked her head against his shoulder and sighed, sounding pleased. If she’d been any more pleased, she’d have been dead. Her body still thrummed.
Seaghdh flipped the covers up over them. He smoothed hair out of her face.
Her eyes closed.
“Sleep, hwe vaugh,” he said to the top of her head.
Ari’s eyes snapped open and she tensed.
“What is it?”
She pulled out of his grasp and sat up, rubbing her hands hard against her face to wake herself. “Jettison that, Seaghdh,” she warned. “Don’t make it harder. You know I have to go back.”
“What happened?” he pressed. “You’re running away. What frightened you?”
She gaped at him as he watched half-formed thoughts plod across her face.
Sympathy darkened his expression. “You aren’t with the Chekydran. It is safe to feel again.”
A reflexive stab of panic shook her. She waited it out and forced herself to smile at him. “I halfway think you planned this brilliant and amazing seduction to get me to volunteer to destroy my own government.”
He blinked and sat up slowly, looking alternately smug and like a man who’d just taken a sucker punch. “Want to explain that?”
“I have to get into TFC military databases if we’re going to proceed. We need positive IDs on everyone involved with the Chekydran and proof of both the IDs and the alliance. I can’t bring the traitors down without it.”
“No,” he corrected. “Explain the brilliant and amazing seduction part.”
Scowling at him, Ari saw the uncertainty behind the carefully neutral mask he wore. Damn it. He was right. She was running away from feeling anything for him. Stricken, she crawled into his lap, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. She’d entrusted her emotional well-being to the man and look at her trampling all over his feelings. How many kinds of idiot could she be?
He folded her in his embrace. “You cannot save the galaxy tonight while you’re exhausted.”
“And hungry.”
He chuckled. “Sleep first or food?”
“Sleep. If I can stay here. With you?”
“Right where I want you,” he said.
“Will you do that voice thing? So I don’t have nightmares? Or flashbacks?”
He nodded slowly. “Not ready to kill me just yet?”
“Sex is specified as the weapon of choice.”
He chuckled. “Remind me to thank whoever programmed in that particular condition. Rest. Peaceful. Pleasant. Dreamless.”
His voice and the power it contained twined around her, drawing her into sleep as surely as Seaghdh shifted her into bed beside him. Still. It wasn’t his ability that made her sigh as a sense of safety enveloped her. All that required was his arm around her and Seaghdh, warm and solid at her back. Three Hells. What would he do if she said “hwe vaugh” to him?
WHEN Ari woke, Seaghdh sat on the edge of the bed, already in a uniform so dark green it was nearly black, caressing her face with a touch that made her shiver. Baxt’k. She’d succumbed to the dangerous, remote Auhrnok Riorchjan.
“Duty calls,” he said.
She stretched and sat up, nodding. “The completion of my programmed mission to destroy you in bed? I’m game, but I really need breakfast first.”
The intimidating Queen’s Blade sitting beside her smiled, his eyes half lidded. “I do look forward to your next assassination attempt. Sadly, we have no time right now.”
His formal phrasing brought Ari fully awake and into “Captain, enemy ship approaching” mode. She stiffened her spine, swung her legs to the floor, and stood. “Report.”
“The Balykkal is on approach.”
She rocked back on her heels.
Seaghdh rose swiftly and grabbed her elbow to steady her.
“Do I have time for a shower?”
“Yes. They’re ten minutes from visual. You will speak to them?”
“I’d better. I need my uniform,” she said, wishing she had something more impressive than her combat gear.
“Yes.”
That’s when she noticed he’d already placed her olive-drab fatigues, clean and folded, on the foot of the bed. She showered and dressed quickly. When she strode into his office, Seaghdh rose from his desk and brought her a tray. She tried to take it.
He wouldn’t release it.
She glanced at him and finally saw the light dancing in his golden eyes, the only sign of the man she knew in the formidable officer before her. “There is a price to be paid for everything,” he said, his voice lazy and tinged with humor. Leaning across the tray, he claimed a lingering kiss that ramped her pulse.
Her stomach grumbled.
He released her and the tray but followed her to the couch. It was just as well. He’d given her far too much food. She ate the few bites she could stomach, grabbed the cup of tea, and started to rise.
“Relax,” he ordered, hand on her arm. “Even if they are within range, there are protocols. You have time.” He took the tea from her and put it back on the tray. He held a morsel of Grebnol fruit to her lips.
She shook her head. “I can’t . . .”
The Myallki spawn popped the sweet fruit into her mouth where it promptly dissolved. Twelve Gods, it was good.
“If I eat too much at one sitting,” Ari warned, “I’ll be sick.”
“You haven’t yet eaten anything at this sitting.” He offered another piece, his gaze on hers, coaxing. When she just looked at him, he said, “What is the Second Point?”
“Strength.”
He forced the fruit on her again and nodded. “As in, I intend that you’ll need every last bit of yours.”
Her blood went hot. She cursed.
He laughed, low and heartless, and fed her another piece.
Something on his desk chirped.
He straightened, the cool mask claiming his expression once more. Wiping his fingers on her napkin, he rose, dropped the cloth on the tray, and strode to his desk.
Ari admired the play of tight muscle outlined by the seat of his pants.
A click. “Riorchjan,” he said.
“Auhrnok, Her Majesty requests your attendance and that of your guest to com channel two,” a young man’s voice said. “Will you comply?”
She grabbed a hurried sip of tea and rose.
“By Her Majesty’s will,” Seaghdh said. He glanced at her and held up a hand.
Message received and understood. Ari waited.
“Engaging visuals,” the voice said.
Did Seaghdh have any idea that she now understood nearly everything he and his crew said? Would it matter?
“Acknowledged. Visual engaged,” Seaghdh replied. “Awaiting Her Majesty’s pleasure.”
“Auhrnok Riorchjan,” the communications officer said, “Her Majesty, the queen.”
“Good morning, Your Majesty.” Seaghdh snapped to attention.
“Fair morning to you, Auhrnok Riorchjan,” Eilod replied.
Ari stood behind the screen, unable to see her, but her lilting voice was unmistakable.
“Auhrnok, the Balykkal requests speech with Captain Idylle,” Eilod said. “I beli
eve they wish to assure themselves that she is recovering well from the brief coma brought on by that tree venom.”
Ari blinked. Coma?
They’d spoken to Armada personnel at least once already without mentioning the fact to her. Should she be concerned or encouraged that they’d lied to her people on her behalf? Why had they done it at all?
Ari smiled, not at all amused. Her commanders had tried to reach her via her transponder after the codes had been changed, or more likely, Armada had activated the destruct code on her transponder. When that had failed, they’d dispatched the Balykkal with orders to retrieve her. By any means possible.
“I stand ready, Your Majesty,” Seaghdh said.
“Our appreciation, Auhrnok. Yeoman Onnyth?”
The screen apparently blanked. Seaghdh tossed Ari a troubled look. When the yeoman announced the patch through complete, he’d switched to her language.
“Captain Idylle,” Seaghdh said, firmly back in his guise of official representative of the Empire. “The captain of the Balykkal requests your presence on com.”
She flinched at “captain of the Balykkal.” That was her title. Hearing it applied to someone other than she felt like a knife in her solar plexus.
She discovered her vanity was still intact when she found herself looking down at her uniform and straightening her bars. The irony of the move made her scowl. She strode to Seaghdh’s side.
“Thank you, Auhrnok Riorchjan,” Ari said after making certain the com link was video enabled. She offered a hand to Seaghdh.
Expression set in the hard lines required of his station, he shook her hand and nodded.
“I appreciate your assistance, sir,” she said.
A glint of amusement lit his eye. He squeezed her hand, released her, and stepped back.
She turned to face the screen. “Captain Xiao. Good to see you,” she said to the man sitting in her command chair. “I don’t believe I had the opportunity to congratulate you on your promotion, Zhong. It was long past time you had your own ship. You wear the bars well.”
Her former first officer hesitated. His eyes slid sideways. Checking his screens for data, to see if the Claugh were using her as a distraction while they powered up weapons. Good boy.
“Captain Idylle,” Xiao said. “Are you all right?”
Raising her eyebrows, she nodded. “Of course, Captain. Perhaps you’ve not been briefed. Our outpost on Kebgra suffered an attack. The Sen Ekir issued a distress call. The Claugh nib Dovvyth Stalker, the Dagger, was on patrol at the edge of the Zone. They were kind enough to respond.”
Xiao blinked. “Kebgra? I had heard . . .” He broke off, his gaze turning inward as he considered. “Survivors?”
“Unknown,” she lied.
Xiao frowned, propped an elbow on an armrest, and leaned forward.
Ari recognized the gesture and had to suppress a smile. Apparently, she’d trained her first better than she’d intended.
“Death toll?”
“Also unknown,” she replied. “I didn’t have time to count before the creatures attacked again.”
Xiao’s eyes lit and the bridge crew spun to run scans without being told. “Chekydran?”
“No,” she said. “I’ve prepared a report for Armada Command. I will trans it into isolation at a location of your choosing.”
“Lieutenant Whyt,” Xiao ordered.
“Aye, Captain,” Celene Whyt, Ari’s former computer security officer, said. “Isolated block path on your screen.”
“Acknowledged. Prepare to receive data, Captain Idylle.”
Seaghdh stepped up beside her, touched a command code, froze the path information, then opened an access port for her handheld. “With your permission, Captain?” He took the unit from the desktop where she’d left it and plugged it in, then entered another command set. A familiar control panel, in her language, materialized in the tabletop before her. “Use this panel for your transmission.”
Ari glanced at him. “You understand, Auhrnok Riorchjan, I must report your replication of our technology to my superior officers.”
He looked at her from beneath his brow, enjoyment obvious in the crease at the corners of his eyes. The rest of his expression reflected only ominous disapproval.
“You will, of course, do as you see fit.”
She sent her report to keep from laughing at his clipped tone.
“Transmission received, Captain Idylle,” Whyt said.
“Thank you, Lieutenant.”
The woman grinned. At least someone was happy to see her. Ari had expected conflicting emotions in Xiao. It couldn’t be comfortable facing the captain whose command you’d taken when she’d been presumed dead. She wasn’t dead and was still called “Captain.” Xiao had to wonder what that made him. They were even. One ship couldn’t have two captains. What did that make her?
“Security sweep on the file complete, Captain Xiao,” Whyt said. “Copied to your screen.”
Xiao didn’t answer in favor of scanning the first few lines of the report. He knew she got straight to the point. Frowning, he looked up at her. “Source of the attacking soldiers?”
“Mother ship in orbit,” Ari said. “Ran when the Dagger came to our aid. There’s more, Zhong.”
Xiao sat back, bracing himself, conditioned to know by the tone of her voice that she had bad news.
“It isn’t in my report,” she said, “and it occurs to me that it’s no longer my job to notify next of kin. It’s yours.”
His eyes widened and he nodded.
“Tommy Heisen was one of them.”
“Baxt’k.”
“This is the Claugh royal flagship,” she told him. “You’ll want to mind your p’s and q’s, Xiao.”
Seaghdh suppressed a chuckle. He knew a code phrase when he heard one. He watched the surprise on the man’s face followed by a real smile. Xiao rubbed a hand over his scalp. Though he would have a head of thick, glossy black hair to complement his dark complexion and black eyes, he seemed to favor painfully close buzz cuts.
“Understood,” Xiao said, looking like a man who’d never expected to hear a code phrase again, but who thoroughly enjoyed having to respond to it. “We owe you a debt of gratitude, sir,” Xiao said to Seaghdh. “Captain Idylle is a valued member of the Armada. We are relieved to find her safe.”
Seaghdh inclined his head.
Xiao’s gaze darted to Whyt’s station, then back to Ari. “P’s and q’s, Captain. Logging disabled. We have only a few minutes.”
She grinned.
Seaghdh’s blood quickened and he cursed under his breath.
“It is damn good to see you, Xiao,” she said. “It’s good to see all of you.”
“Thank you, Captain. All due respect, you’ve lost too much weight.”
“Chekydran prisons are a hell of a diet plan,” she agreed.
Xiao grimaced. “We lost six crew attempting to recover you. We spent three months in dry dock, patching up the ship.”
Ari dropped her chin to her chest.
Seaghdh’s heart constricted in sympathy. He knew too well what it felt like to lose crew.
“I never doubted that you disobeyed my direct orders to not engage the Chekydran,” she said, her voice muted.
Xiao’s smile looked sad.
She straightened. “You owe me a beer. I told you you’d get the next command.”
They grinned.
Misgiving prickled through Seaghdh and he peered hard at Ari. Just what had their relationship been? Was she merely facing down the man who’d taken her command? Or a former lover?
Xiao looked troubled. “I do owe you a beer, Captain. I wish to all the Gods I didn’t. The last ship I wanted was yours. You are still senior, you know.”
She shook her head. “I was relieved of command, Zhong, and from all indications, it’s going to be permanent even if it isn’t fatal. I’ve prepared a recorded statement for Tommy’s family. Would you review it? You’re in the best position to decide whether it will he
lp.”
“Understood. Transmit to the same secured block.”
“Acknowledged.” She keyed in rapid-fire commands and in an offhand way said, “You might relieve your transport officer. You won’t get a lock on me through the shields without my transponder code.”
Seaghdh allowed himself a tiny, admiring smile. She’d broadsided Xiao with her guess about the purpose of Xiao’s com call. The man’s discomfited look gave Seaghdh a clear glimpse of his motives. He was trying to decide if she deserved to be murdered by trans-shield teleport.
The pained look in Xiao’s black eyes said he had indeed been ordered to teleport Ari out, at any cost, and that he hadn’t had the heart to make the grab. Encouraging.
Ari seemed to see the same thing. She pressed harder. “Get your transponder removed. The implant is armed with remote destruct capability.”
Xiao froze. Horror clouded his features, followed swiftly by denial and disbelief.
“Think,” she ordered. “It makes sense.”
Shaking his head, Xiao said, “If it’s true, why not use it rather than order me to kill you with a trans-shield port?”
“It may have been tried, Captain,” Seaghdh said. “When Captain Idylle’s medical scan revealed the transponder, I programmed our shields to disrupt command streams coming into the unit. I cannot ignore the fact that Captain Idylle’s distress call coincided with the brief time this specific ship was within range of Kebgra. It hasn’t escaped me that Captain Idylle might have been sent as an unwitting assassin.”
“Assassin?”
“Her Majesty, Queen Eilod Saoyrse, is aboard this vessel,” Ari said.
CHAPTER 21
SEAGHDH could see Ari’s former first officer working through the implications of her on board a Claugh ship in the company of the two highest-ranking officials of the Claugh nib Dovvyth.
“You’re an Armada man, Xiao,” she said. “Yet you just disobeyed a direct order to teleport me out. Why?”
“Two hours ago I received a coded, off-channel message from IntCom,” he replied, his look assessing, “claiming you as an undercover operative. It ordered me to retrieve you unharmed.”
Surprise showed in the faces of the few bridge personnel Seaghdh could see over Xiao’s shoulder. A stab of alarm drove through him. Had she neglected to disclose her exact mission? Scientist-sitter or master operative?
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