A long black streak covered his chest from shoulder to hip. He looked down at it, then thrust his sword toward Aidan. He stepped back, striking again at Jodarin. Their swords met, nearly hilt to hilt. Aidan twisted his wrist. He shoved Jodarin backward. The man stumbled. And fell.
Jacey rose to her feet. Adrenaline pulsed through her as she watched Aidan stand over his fallen opponent.
“I don’t wish you any harm, Jodarin. You may cede now and keep your life.”
Jodarin sneered. “No! I challenge you to the death, Aidan Starsek, and so to the death it will be.” He thrust his sword upward, catching Aidan beneath the breastplate.
Aidan staggered back.
“No!” Jacey screamed as her lover stumbled away from his opponent. A heavy black char mark covered the lower half of his chest plate. Deactivation Day. Domanins can be killed. It all coalesced in her mind as her lover stumbled away from the rising form of Jodarin.
Jodarin rushed Aidan. He raced across the ground, his strides staggered. He swung his sword madly, trying to catch anything with its deadly edge. Aidan straightened. He danced away, bringing his sword up in front of him. He parried Jodarin’s thrusts, the two men keeping each other at bay.
Then, Aidan struck again. His sword rang off Jodarin’s shoulder braces. He struck again, this time clipping the side of Jodarin’s neck. A wicked sizzle filled the air. Jodarin crumpled to the ground.
Aidan stood over him, sword held at the ready.
He killed him. Jacey stared gape-mouthed at her lover standing over the prone body of his opponent. The battle seemed noble, two men fighting over her, until one of them died. For a moment she thought about knights back on medieval Earth. Chivalry had sounded so wonderful.
Jodarin moved his arm but made no move to stand. Jacey heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that Aidan hadn’t killed him. She leaned forward, uncaring that she stood on the dais. The crowd focused its attention on the field, not on her.
The announcer stepped forward.
Please say that it’s ended. Please call it off.
The announcer raised his hands. He reached for Aidan, and Jacey expected him to raise her lover’s arm in the air like referees did at boxing matches. Instead, he held both of his palms out flat before him. Aidan laid his sword in the Herald’s hands, then bowed his head.
Jacey leaned forward to get a better look. This didn’t look like any sort of victory celebration that she knew of. Her skirt tangled around her legs. She yanked at the material to keep it from tripping her.
The Herald raised the sword over Aidan’s neck.
“Noooo!” Jacey’s cry of outrage filled the stadium. She lurched forward, yanking on her skirt as it tripped her. Rushing headlong toward the stairs, she grabbed handfuls of her skirt. The material twisted around her ankles, hampering her progress. She pulled on it. The sound of ripping material filled her ears.
She ran down the stairs, her bejeweled slippers pounding on the wooden treads. “Aidan, no!” She blinked back tears of worry as she stumbled down the last two stairs.
The announcer stared at her, a smile on his face. Jacey wanted to wipe the smug look off with her fist. The man had about killed Aidan, and all he could do was smile. She gave him an indignant snarl and raced across the lawn toward her Lord.
Aidan raised his head. His eyes widened as he watched her race in the full skirts across the field toward him.
Jacey’s heart leaped into her throat. He looked like hell. Dark charred marks bisected his chest plate and dotted the armor on his shoulders and arms. A scratch marred one cheek. His handsome tunic hung in shreds beneath the armor, more bruises and marks showing on the skin beneath. He gingerly held out his arms toward her, and Jacey forced herself to check her pace.
She stopped two feet from him and pointed to the Herald. “You will not harm him.” Thinking of how close the glowing blue blade had come to the back of his neck sent shivers down her spine. “Ever,” she added for good measure.
The announcer bowed. “My lady, had they fought in the new style, then yes, the victor would be allowed to live. But this is a traditional Dajarka, and once the domanin warriors fight, they have proven themselves to be violent and must be destroyed as per the edicts of Deactivation Day. I am very sorry.”
”Like hell,” Jacey growled. “Surely you can spare Aidan. He has done nothing but answer a challenge given to him and fight bravely. Lord Jodarin may be bruised, but he’s still alive.” As if to prove Jacey’s words, the domanin on the ground moaned.
“With the traditional Dajarka, there is only one way to save the domanin’s life.”
The Herald’s words penetrated the shock of seeing Aidan nearly die. “Traditional Dajarka?” She faced Aidan. “You wanted this? You wanted to die.” Her voice caught in her throat, and she swallowed hard, turning her attention back to the Herald. “Tell me how to keep Aidan from dying.”
Aidan held up his hand. “Do not tell her. I do not want her to be compelled into something she doesn’t wish to do. I will accept my fate. I knew what would happen when Jodarin challenged me to fight.” He turned and looked at Jacey. Gently, he closed the space between them and clasped her shoulders. “My lady, you have done an honorable thing, but I will do what I must. I won’t force things from you that you’re not ready to give.”
Jacey pressed her finger against his lips. “Hush. Let the man tell me. I couldn’t stand it if I could prevent something from happening to you. When I saw Jodarin—” Emotion choked her voice. Clearing her throat, she turned back to the Herald. “Tell me. I order you.”
The man looked from Aidan to her, then back again. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aidan nod to him. The Herald breathed deeply. “My lady, there is only one way a domanin can live after fighting the Dajarka. He must be loved by a true-born.”
“A true-born?” Jacey asked. She looked at Aidan again. She cared for him deeply, even feared that she loved him. If she said she loved him, then she would forfeit all rights she had to demand that Aidan return her to Earth. By confessing her love, she would bind herself to his side for all time. If she returned to Earth, Aidan would die. She swallowed hard.
“Yes, a true-born. One who is born of a man and a woman.”
“I’m a true-born,” she said slowly, “though I am not of this planet.”
The announcer nodded. “If you cannot make the declaration, then the sentence must be carried out. I’m sorry, my lady. Step aside.” He stepped forward.
Sunlight glinted on the blade he held in his hands. The blue glow pulsed ominously around the metal, and Jacey tried not to imagine what it would do to Aidan’s flesh, his circuits.
She shook her head. “No, you step aside. I am a true-born woman of Earth, and I love Aidan Starsek.” She turned to face him, and the hope shining from Aidan’s eyes nearly blinded her. “I love you.”
Aidan stepped forward. With a groan he pulled her against him, his lips seeking and finding hers. His tongue plunged into her mouth. Jacey wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing against him. She cupped her hands at his nape, feeling his soft flesh, whole beneath her hands. At the thought of how close she’d really come to losing him, tears fell from her eyes.
A roar erupted from the crowd, a clatter of cheering and clapping that nearly deafened her.
Slowly, Aidan drew his lips from hers. He nuzzled her neck, then pulled away. “I love you too, but you know you must always remain by my side.”
His words twisted a knife of pain deep inside her. She knew, but to hear him say it aloud brought fresh tears to her eyes. “I know,” she breathed. She pulled away from his embrace, and Aidan let her go. “I don’t suppose I could talk you into running away with me.” She knew the answer, but Aidan’s sad smile confirmed it. She clasped his hand and knew that not only was this the happiest day of her life but also the saddest. But what I’ve gained has more than made up for what I have lost.
Chapter Nine
Once inside Aidan’s palace, she’d begged for time alone. On
ly when Aidan had given her that time, it was not in her rooms, but his. Curling up on the bed they had shared, she blinked back the tears. He said he loved her. Now wasn’t the time to be crying, but damn it, his love had stolen Earth away from her. She couldn’t go back. Not even to maintain a part-time presence. Someone would notice the spacecraft entering and leaving the atmosphere, and she didn’t want to put herself or Aidan through the kind of media circus that would ensue.
“I love him.” She sniffed. “So why do I feel like hell? And what do I have to go back for? No family. A crappy job. Very few friends. I doubt anyone is even missing me.”
Unsteady footsteps in the antechamber forced Jacey to sit up. Peering through the door, she watched as Aidan entered his rooms, closing the door heavily behind him. The solid thud sounded ominous, like she had just closed the door to an opportunity.
“I know I said I’d give you space, my love, but there are a few things I need,” Aidan said.
“Aidan?” She rose to her feet, and then she stepped into the living room. She took in the sight of him, standing there in his disheveled clothing, the burn marks across his armor. “Oh God, Aidan.” She raced across the floor to him. “It doesn’t matter. You were so gallant, and I didn’t realize you were hurt so badly. Here, let me help you.” Closing her fingers around his wrist, she began to unbuckle his vambraces.
With each piece of armor she removed, her worry increased. Vivid bruises and burn marks covered most of his arms and torso. Lightly, she skimmed her fingers over a particularly ugly bruise on his collarbone. “I thought you were an android. You shouldn’t bruise like that.”
“Our creator made it so the hatasword damages us like a regular sword does true-borns.” Aidan stretched out his legs, his metal armor clanking. “Gods, it hurts. I haven’t been in a battle like that for…a long time.”
“How long?” Jacey lifted the chest plate away from him and leaned it against a table. The padding beneath the metal looked burned, and his tunic hung in tattered strips.
Aidan thought for a moment. “At least fifty cycles, and then it was a demonstration in the new style.”
Jacey gasped. She knelt at his feet and began to unbuckle his leg armor. She let the knowledge sink into her mind. Aidan had mentioned his age before, but she never thought of him as being that old. Androids were ageless, she supposed. As long as his parts didn’t wear out, or could be replaced, he’d go on forever.
With a groan, Aidan leaned over. He tilted her chin up so she looked directly at him. “Did you mean it, when you said you loved me?”
Jacey nodded.
“You love me.” He spoke incredulously, as if he didn’t believe her words.
“I do,” she said. The significance of those words wasn’t lost on her, and she clasped his hands in hers. “Even if I don’t ever see Earth again, I love you, Aidan Starsek. And if you love me, you’ll tell me what we can do for these wounds of yours.”
Aidan pointed to the cabinet in a corner of the room. “The blue jar has salve for my bruises,” he said.
She rose, afraid that if he confessed his love to her again, she’d start to happy-cry like an actress in a romantic movie.
“Oh, Jacey, I’d hoped and I’d prayed, but I had faced the fact that when Deactivation Day came around, I would have my programming terminated. Then Jodarin challenged me, and I knew I would have less time with you than I wanted. I couldn’t force you to do something you didn’t want to do, so that’s why I told them we’d fight in the old style.”
Jacey opened the cabinet and pulled out the blue jar of salve. It smelled of marigolds and peppermint. Closing the door, she turned to face him. “And if I confessed my love sooner, would you still have fought in the old style?” She couldn’t be mad at him, not when he thought he was doing the right thing.
Aidan shook his head. A wry grin twisted the corner of his mouth. “Of course not. I would have fought in the new style, and I might have been more careful.”
Jacey knelt by his side with the salve, smiling at his words. Gingerly, she eased off his clothing until he sat naked in front of her. Starting with his hands, she worked the salve into his long fingers. Slowly, she worked her way up his arms. Her gentle touch soothed him, and she found herself focusing on each individual bruise on his flesh. She knelt between his legs. The unmistakable press of his hard cock against her drew her attention away from his wounds but only momentarily. Willing herself to remain strong, she continued administering the salve with soft fingers.
The sounds of her breathing filled the room, punctuated by Aidan’s tiny groans as she soothed a particularly nasty bruise. The scent of herbs filled her nose. Working the salve along his chest, then down over his flat abdomen, she admired his beauty. Sitting before her, his cock at attention, he looked like a warrior. Slowly, he moved his hand to caress her hair, his tiny motions telling her more than anything how much his wounds hurt him.
She captured his hand in her own. “Why don’t we take this into the bedroom? It would be a lot more comfortable for you if you lie down.”
Aidan nodded. Jacey rose to her feet, then helped him to his. She led him into the bedroom and settled him on the bed. “There,” she said, kneeling beside him, “much better.” She began her ministrations again, her fingers moving gently over the bruises along his ribs.
Leaning forward, she brushed her lips across the tip of his cock. It jerked in reflex, and she kissed it again. She slid her lips over his shaft, working all the way down until she took him deep into her mouth. He tasted of sweat and male musk. She laved the underside with long strokes of her tongue.
Aidan lifted his lips, sliding his tool deeper into her mouth, and she sucked hard. She massaged the salve into his skin, sliding her hands over his hips, down his thighs. She licked and stroked him with her tongue. Her lips moved over his hard cock, sliding like silk over steel. Her pussy clenched, and she felt a drop of moisture run down her thigh.
She wanted him inside her, proving to herself that he was whole. Her cunt ached to be touched, stroked, so she turned so that her legs lay alongside his torso. Aidan reached for her.
His fingers stroked the outer petals of her sex. They slid through the slick wetness, probing gently. He cupped her hips, pulling her body so that her pussy lay in front of his face. Sitting up, he pressed his lips to her.
Jacey gasped around his cock. She pulled her lips away, moaning softly as his tongue delved between her outer lips. He teased her clit with it, flicking it lightly. She wiggled against his face and lowered her lips to his cock once more.
She sucked hard on him, wishing that the magnificent organ in her mouth filled her pussy instead. This is mine, all mine. She fondled his balls gently, stroking the sensitive skin just behind with the tip of one finger.
Aidan fastened his lips around her clit. He sucked gently, soft pressure that drove her wild. She tried not to buck her hips. Her pussy ached to be filled, and she took his cock even deeper into her throat.
Connected. That was how she felt with Aidan’s lips around her clit and hers around his shaft. She worked her lips against him and he did the same. It was like a big circle of pleasure from which they gave and received. He thrust two fingers into her wet cunt, and she moaned against him.
A shiver went through Aidan’s body. He pumped his hips into her mouth, and she relaxed her throat muscles, feeling him slide down. Deeper. She wanted to take him deeper. Aidan lay back. He worked a third finger inside her, then a fourth, until he slid his entire hand inside her.
Jacey screamed. Ecstasy rocketed through her body. He pumped his hand inside her, using his fingers to caress sensitive spots inside her.
“Fuck me,” she breathed. “Oh, God, fuck me.”
He withdrew his hand.
Jacey turned. She settled her cunt over the tip of his shaft, sliding down until he was buried deep inside her. Aidan reached for her, his hand coated with her juices fondling her breast.
Jacey rode him. She worked his cock deep inside her, reli
shing the feeling of the man spread out beneath her. She rubbed her hands over his chest, to his shoulders, then down his arms to where his hands cupped her breast. The love shining in his eyes filled her.
I’ll never get this on Earth, not with him. It’s worth it. It’s all worth it. She increased her pace, watching the pleasure wash across Aidan’s features. He cupped her hips, helping her find a rhythm that suited them both. Tilting his hips, he altered the angle of his thrusts, and Jacey moaned deep in her chest. She came, her release pounding through her, and Aidan held her. He thrust into her, and she stiffened, feeling herself build again.
Two beings moving in harmony, like a planet around its sun. Jacey came a second time, and Aidan followed her. She nestled against his chest, feeling secure and warm in his arms. I may have been abducted, but I found love, and a chance for a new life. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she drifted asleep in the arms of her android.
Loose Id Titles by Adera Orfanelli
Abducted
Adera Orfanelli
Adera Orfanelli began writing several years ago when she discovered how fun it was to write stories about hot men and adventurous women living and loving in outer space. With the universe to explore, she lets the stars light her way and her imagination play.
Check out http://aderaorfanelli.net/ for more information about Adera, or become friends with her on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/aderaorfanelli.
Abducted Page 9
