Kyan shook his head.
“Not even a sniffle?”
Kyan frowned, not understanding the term, so Mike demonstrated with what sounded more like a nasal snort than a sniffle. It seemed to get the point across for he said, “No. Not even a sniffle.”
“Oh. My. Fricking. God. What I wouldn’t give for a spell to cure that.” Mike shook his head and heaved a sigh. “Pity.”
It was beginning to seem as though Ruby wasn’t going to have to make that embarrassing appointment with her GP to discuss STD testing after all. She would get away with a discreet purchase of the morning-after pill at her local pharmacy instead. Yay.
“Unfortunately, as my people discovered, such magic is not entirely benevolent.” Kyan licked melted butter from his fingers and Ruby had to pinch herself to concentrate on his words, not his mouth.
“And as you have said, Ruby, there are consequences. Someone must always pay the price.”
“Wh-what—? Ahem! What do you, ah, m-mean?” Watching him swirl his tongue around another buttery finger was playing havoc with her concentration.
Kyan took a sip of his coffee and placed his mug on the breakfast bar with studied care. When he cast his gaze in her direction, he looked not at her, but through her.
His alien-ness hit her like a sudden blow. Whatever he was remembering was reflected in his face, subtly shifting his perfect features into something ruthless and yes, even cruel. The sleek, über-confident man who’d slotted himself so easily into her world and endured its differences with cool composure had vanished, leaving a man forged by the harshness of his home world. A man capable of anything.
Ruby shivered, uneasy at the change, abruptly conscious of the vast gulf between them despite their physical intimacy.
Kyan laughed, and it was a mirthless, chilling sound. “Of course, our priests did not wish commoners to learn of their folly, and so our histories do not record exactly what occurred. Only vague hints of the truth remain, buried amongst the dross for those who care enough to demand the truth to discover. Malach, our tehun-Leader, was such a one. And over many years he pieced together the truth. I caught him with a scroll he stole from a temple and coerced him to confess what he had learnt. Instead of offering him my support, I recall jeering at him, suggesting he renounce his Warrior-status to become a priest if he was so enamored with old records and such.”
He rubbed his hands over his face as if to rid himself of the unpleasant memory. “I told no one of Malach’s discovery because I did not wish to believe him. In my heart of hearts, though, I knew it to be truth. But I thought… I thought if I did not allow myself to dwell on it, refused to speak of it, life could proceed as usual. I did not wish to believe my people were dying out because of covetousness and greed. Better we died in defense of our lives and our homes. Better we died with honor for a worthy purpose.”
His voice throbbed with emotion, an emotion that stripped him of the raw sexuality that was so much an integral part of him, allowing Ruby a glimpse of the vulnerability beneath.
“What is the worth of mere treasure to a man?” he said, and Ruby had the impression he was speaking to no one in particular, that this was a thought he’d often contemplated but until now, never voiced. “Gold cannot take the place of the woman a man holds in his arms in the darkest part of the night. Jewels cannot replace the joy he feels when he gazes upon his firstborn.”
Ruby ached for him. Her own guilt weighed heavily on her shoulders, making her hunch. She had once thought him shallow, of little substance—a to-die-for male body housing little else. She had been all-too-willing to take him at face value and not look deeper to the man beneath. And she’d harbored a vague sense shame that she was so attracted to him, had allowed herself to be seduced by a man based on looks alone. She’d justified everything she felt for Kyan by telling herself she couldn’t possibly be held accountable because she was influenced by “magic”.
God. She was pathetic, clinging to the belief that all the good-looking men were arrogant pricks who got by on looks alone, and they’d only hurt her because they cared more about themselves and their image than anything else. Kyan was living proof that she was wrong. He was gorgeous, intelligent, caring. He was a man with deeply held morals, capable of deep feelings. He was the antithesis of shallow.
What more could a girl ask for?
While she coped with her shame for judging Kyan so harshly, and wrestled with seeing him in a whole new light, Mike was more interested in more important matters. Like, life and death, and the decline of an entire race of people. “What do you mean your people were dying out?”
“In their o’erweening pride, our priests sought to meddle with the natural laws of life and death,” Kyan said, his mouth downturned, features set in such a grim expression that Ruby shivered and rubbed her arms. “They conjured visions of other worlds such as yours, and they coveted the riches of those worlds. Thus they hatched their plans for invasion. When our Lord Keepers cast doubt over the wisdom of such plans, the priests vowed to cast a spell to make our warriors invincible so that none could defeat them in battle. And so the seeds for our own destruction were sown.” He paused, his jaw clenching so tightly the tendons of his neck distended. Ruby could see a pulse beating on his temple.
“We should have known our gods would not allow our arrogance and greed to go unpunished.”
“But the spell worked, didn’t it?” Ruby said. “Your people don’t ever get sick and they live long lives. It doesn’t sound to me like you were punished.”
“The spell did not work as the priests envisioned. For one, it affected all our people, not merely the warrior classes. And my people may have the benefit of rude health and longevity, but we are not invincible by any means. A sword thrust will kill a warrior, just as a broken neck will kill a commoner who trips and falls. But that is by-the-by. The true punishment for our arrogance in believing we could cheat death was that our women bore only male offspring.” He laughed again, and this time it reeked of despair and sadness. “And we, in our pride, rejoiced in this unexpected side-effect of the spell the priests wrought. Every man’s desire is for his woman to bear strong, healthy sons to carry on his name, yes? Is that not true in this world, also, Mike?”
“Yep,” Mike said. “Even in so-called civilized countries, sons are desired to inherit and carry on the family name.”
Ruby didn’t get it. She knew she was missing something crucial. “So, what happened?”
“What do you think happened?” Mike said. “Think about it, Ruby. The females of Kyan’s world eventually reached an age where they went through menopause and couldn’t have children any more. And when they began to die of old age, there were no more children being born at all. So—”
She gasped as the full import hit her. “All your people began to die out? That must have been devastating. Surely there was something your priests could do?”
Kyan levered himself from the stool to stand before her, looking down into her eyes. “Of course they found a solution, Ruby. My people did not die out, otherwise I would not be standing here today.”
His tone was dangerously light but she wasn’t fooled for an instant. He caressed her cheek with his knuckles, and despite the tension, even that feather-light touch made her shiver, and sent a rush of heated pleasure directly to her groin. She pressed her thighs together, embarrassed by her inappropriate desire in the face of his self-disgust.
“How could we survive without women to bear our children and replenish our population?” he asked. “Why would we even want to survive without the promise of a woman’s body to slake our needs? Our priests knew we needed women and of course, they knew exactly where to find them.” Kyan’s hand stilled, and cupped her cheek. Some unnamed emotion flickered in his eyes. Her body recognized and understood the emotion, even if her brain could not yet give it a name. Her skin grew cold beneath the warmth of his hand.
“What did your priests do?” she asked.
“They opened a portal to othe
r worlds as they had originally planned. Your world was one of them.”
“Why?”
“So that instead of stealing your metals and other riches, we could steal young women.”
Comprehension smacked her like a physical blow. She wanted to fling his hand away, break the connection that they shared. “To use as breeding stock?” The shrillness of her voice echoed the horror churning in her stomach.
Kyan tilted her chin and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Her brain began sending those inappropriate, lust-fueled messages to her body again, and she reared back, almost falling off her stool.
He straightened, turning away from her to address Mike. “You should not be surprised to learn what lengths men will go to in order to survive,” he said. And then he left the room.
Ruby let him go. She heard the squeal of the front door, then a slam that made her wince. But she didn’t follow him.
~~~
Chapter Eleven
Mike refilled her coffee mug. Ruby stared out the dining room window as she wrestled with her emotions. Easier said than done. They were contradictory—much as the man who’d sparked them was a contradiction.
Kyan had been a trafficker of humans—of young fertile women, which somehow made it so much worse. Ruby could picture all-too-vividly how they would be used over and over like brood-mares until they were too old, or worn out, to bear another child. He’d been little more than a slaver—a monster. And yet….
Any adult who possessed a television and tuned in to the evening news had seen graphic video footage of humankind struggling to survive. None of it was pretty. All of it was disturbing. Despots reigned. Other countries intervened for the greater good—just so long as “the greater good” benefited them. Wars were fought over disparate beliefs or natural resources. And those caught up in the conflict were forced to come to terms with how far they’d go, what they’d do, to survive another day.
Fear, desperation and suffering drove even the most determinedly moral to resort to baser instincts. How were Kyan’s people, fighting for survival in the only way they knew how, any different?
She would have to ask the women they’d stolen and used as breeders before she could answer that question.
But here and now, given the information she had, she could understand what had driven Kyan’s people. She didn’t like it, not one little bit. But she possessed enough compassion and empathy to understand.
She grabbed her rapidly cooling coffee and spotted Mike examining her face intently. Before he schooled his expression to nonchalance, a bunch of little clues clicked neatly into place.
“You bloody well knew all about Kyan’s past, didn’t you, Mike? He told you everything. And doubtless that’s why he and the rest of the Crystal Warriors were imprisoned by the Guardian—as punishment for their crimes. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would it have made a difference, Rubes?” He extracted a lump of frozen bread from its bag and pried the individual slices apart.
“A difference? Of course it would have made a goddamned difference.” She snatched the slices of bread from him and shoved them into the toaster. All the coffee sloshing round in her empty, exercise-hyped stomach was making her exceedingly nauseous.
At least, she hoped it was the coffee. And not because she was pregnant—
“Why?” Mike asked.
Ruby pulled herself together. No way would she be showing signs of morning sickness already. Just in case, though, she’d stop by the pharmacy before work for a morning after pill.
Mike clicked his fingers in her face. “Why would it have made a difference, Ruby?”
“What? Oh. Duh. Because no way would I have slept with Kyan if—”
“You’ve slept with Kyan?”
“Erm, yes?” She flushed and tried to hide it by peering into the toaster to check what was taking the bread so long to toast. “What do you think we were doing when you walked in on us? Reciting poetry?”
“Sheesh. I had no idea my own sister was such a bloody trollop.”
She lifted her chin, preparing to mount a defense, and then realized he was trying not to smile and enjoying making her squirm. Bastard. “Before you get into tease-your-poor-sister-unmercifully mode, if I’d known he was a… a—”
“Soldier, doing what he was ordered to do? Trying his utmost to save an entire race of people?”
“I hate you when you’re so fucking eloquent this early in the morning.”
“Language,” Mike said, in such an excellent imitation of their mother that Ruby shuddered.
She grumbled beneath her breath, knowing he was right. Kyan was a soldier, following orders. And that made it even more difficult to judge him.
The toast shot up from the toaster and Mike grabbed it before it landed on the bench.
“Hey, that’s mine. Hand it over.”
“You would have slept with him anyway,” Mike said, slapping her hands away. “You need to have something more substantial than toast to keep your strength up. Go microwave an egg or something.”
“I’ll have you know, me sleeping with Kyan was not a foregone conclusion.”
Mike drizzled manuka honey over his toast. “Puhlease. He’s so hot for you he can’t keep his hands off you. And then there’s the whole needing you to save him from a fate worse than death. You didn’t stand a chance. Of course you were going to sleep with him.”
Ruby popped two more pieces of bread in the toaster, and while Mike was otherwise distracted with extracting the last dregs of coffee from the plunger, she snitched both pieces of his honey toast. She licked a drip of honey from her fingers and gave up trying to gather the scattered crumbs of her dignity. “Yeah. You’re right.”
Mike scowled at his empty plate. “And from the sounds I’ve heard coming from your room the last two nights, he’s not too shabby a lay, either.”
She blinked at him, mouth agape, face burning. “Eeeeuw! I’m so not discussing my sex life with you, Mike. You’re my brother. It’s just… wrong.”
“Bet you’ll tell Jules all about it—in such shocking detail it’d be enough to make a man’s hair curl.”
“That’s different. Well, it would be if I’d told her about Kyan and me. But I haven’t. I’ve told everyone he’s an old friend from primary school.”
Mike regarded her with slitty-eyed concentration. “How come?”
No point in trying to prevaricate when he was in inquisition mode. “I don’t feel comfortable telling Jules. Or anyone else, for that matter.”
“Why? I figured you’d want to show him off. You know, rub the Stick-Insect’s nose in it for all it’s worth.”
“Much as I’d adore to rub Caroline’s nose in the fact that even someone like me can hook a hot man, I’d prefer to keep our relationship between me and Kyan. It’s nobody’s business but ours.” No way did she want to admit her fears to Mike. Gut-twisting, heart-wrenching fears that once they’d passed the Testing, Kyan would have no further need of her and he’d take off, leaving her looking like a gullible idiot. Leaving her feeling a whole heap of things she didn’t want to examine too closely.
“He’s not like that, Rubes,” Mike said, obviously reading her thoughts in that uncanny way he’d always had since they were kids.
“You really think he’s hot for me?” she whispered, daring to hope.
“Yep. Hard to miss, really.”
The flush of embarrassment morphed into a warm glow of contentment—for all of two shakes of a lamb’s tail before the doubts crept in. “Mmm.”
“What’re you ‘mmming’ about?”
Ruby gnawed her lower lip, struggling to put the niggling worry pricking her mind into words. “This bonding thing you told me about in the café. What if there’s more to it than we’ve been told? What if there’s more to it than haphazardly matching a Crystal Warrior up with his chosen life-mate?” She wound a lock of hair around her finger and tugged until it hurt. “I mean, what if he accidentally chooses another girl? Or his chosen mate isn’t havi
ng a bar of it—like that Chalcedony woman’s mother. Bet that wasn’t supposed to happen. I mean, what if there’s no… connection between the two of them? Life-mates. Bonding. What about free will? I can’t help thinking there’s an important piece of information missing from this puzzle.”
“You think too much.” Mike’s gaze slid away, and he bustled about, cleaning up the breakfast dishes.
He was hiding something. “Mike, what—?
“Are you happy when you’re with Kyan, Ruby?”
“Happy?”
“It’s a simple question. How do you feel when you’re with Kyan?”
“I – I feel great. He makes me feel, I dunno, like a different person.”
“Complete? Like there was something missing and now you’re complete? Whole?”
She stared at him, wondering how he’s managed to sum up her innermost feelings so accurately. Spooky. “Yeah. I feel whole.”
“Like I do with Annie,” he said. “You’d better go get ready for work. It’s pushing seven thirty.”
“Shi-iiit!” She rushed from the kitchen to shower and get ready. Neat change of subject, bro, but you’re not fooling me.
She knew how to find out what he was hiding, though—if she dared.
~~~
Work started off bad and went downhill from there.
Liz just about drove Ruby crazy with her incessant bitching that Mrs. Liang would never buy a freaking house in a month of Sundays no matter how many houses she was shown, and how much effort Liz put in.
David kept dropping not-so-subtle hints he’d like her to introduce him to Kyan so he could check firsthand whether Kyan was AC or DC. Hah. Like a man who made love to women like Kyan did could ever bat for the other side.
And Caroline kept bringing up Ruby’s monthly get-together with Jules, and pretending to be all teary-eyed at being excluded. Yeah right. Like Caroline had ever been interested in going out to see a chick-flick with them before. It was so not her scene, she’d informed Ruby the first couple of times Ruby had naively invited her to come along.
The Crystal Warriors Series Bundle Page 45
