Swearing, he rolled away from her, off the bed and to his feet. In two strides he was across the room. He activated the inter-palace communication system.
“Medlab. This is Raeder. You’re needed in my chambers immediately.”
No one answered.
He slammed his hand against the wall. “Medlab. This is Raeder. Report to my chambers immediately.”
No response.
“Effing hell.” He spit the words as he turned back to the bed. Aleea hadn’t moved, she lay just as he’d left her. All the healers would be at Mearyn and he needed one now. The closest one was aboard The Summit. He had to get Aleea there.
He pulled on pants and boots, wrapped a light sheet around Aleea and lifted her into his arms. “Blast you, Aleea. You’re not going to get away from me. You’re not.”
He crushed her to his chest as he raced down the corridor to the translocator. He activated the holo-controls, stepped through the portal and onto his ship.
“Incom,” he shouted to the intra-Strider communication system. “Fallyn. Meet me in the Medlab.”
He activated the translocator again and stepped from the deck he’d arrived on to the Medlab. Carefully he laid Aleea on a narrow bed.
“Fallyn.” He turned to the aqua-run. Fallyn wasn’t there.
“Incom. Fallyn! Where are you? Get to the Medlab.”
There was no response.
“Incom. Track location of Fallyn.”
“Fallyn is currently on the jump deck.”
“Fallyn. I need you in the Medlab.”
Again, there was no response.
He pressed his hand to Aleea’s chest. It didn’t move. It felt like someone was squeezing his heart. He was losing her.
“Incom. Tilby. Get to the Medlab immediately.”
“Hello and please to you, too.”
He slowly unfisted his hands. “Just get here Tilby. There isn’t time for your sarcasm. Aleea’s dying.”
“Again?” Her tone was incredulous.
Teeth clenched, he slammed his fist into the wall. “Tilby.” His voice held the promise of mayhem.
“As if breaking your hand will do the girl any good.”
He glared at Tilby as she walked through the portal into the Medlab. He fought the urge to catch the old woman and shake her. “Help Aleea. I’m going to find Fallyn.”
Tilby ignored him as she caught sight of Aleea. Her features pinched into a mass of worry lines. “Find Fallyn. This is going to take the two of us.” There was no touch of censure in her voice.
He couldn’t lose her. “Keep her alive. I’ll get Fallyn.”
Hands pressed to Aleea’s chest, eyes closed, Tilby ignored him.
He activated the translocator and stepped through onto the jump deck. The outer hull was clear, the jump deck lit by the first golden rays of sun glowing around the eastern curve of the planet.
Eyes narrowed, he turned to the aqua-run
Fallyn lay unmoving, her sightless eyes staring at Allouria. The bright fingers of light reached out to wrap around the planet, found nothing in her eyes to reflect.
Raeder ran to the aqua-run. “Fallyn.”
She didn’t respond.
“Fallyn! Answer me.” He pushed his hands against the wall until they sank in, kept pushing until his arms were through as well. He grabbed Fallyn’s arms and pulled her toward him. Slowly, he eased her through the wall, out of her world of water and into the insubstantial atmosphere of air.
He went to his knees, Fallyn limp and draped in his arms.
“What happened, Fallyn?” He opened his mind, touched hers. What had happened to her? Who had done this?
Huge black eyes, once clear and bright, were cloudy and dull.
“Fallyn. What happened?” He tried to keep his tone gentle but it emerged harsh.
She looked beyond him at the glowing planet on the view-screen. “Do you know…” her resonant voice sounded hollow, faded into nothing. Her head fin lay flat and colorless against her skull. How did she explain her love for a man she could never have, the desperation to keep what she could of him?
“Do I know what, Fallyn?” He had to have answers. What had happened to her? Was it the same thing that was wrong with Aleea?
“Do you know what it is to live in a cage?” Her words were broken and ragged as she fought for breath.
He frowned. “What are you talking about? The aqua-run?”
Her mouth opened and closed. No sound emerged.
“What is it, Fallyn? What are you telling me?”
She gulped at the air, making a gasping sound.
He had to lean close to hear her nearly soundless voice. “Who did this to you?”
“She stole the only part of you that was mine. She can walk with you. Love you. Link with you.” Her voice faded away.
Jaw clenched, Raeder stared at Fallyn. Whatever was wrong with Aleea, Fallyn had done it. He had trusted her, called her friend. She hadn’t only betrayed him, she had betrayed Allouria and all of the Allourian alliance. “What did you do? What did you do?!”
Fast, shallow breaths raised her chest in an uneven rhythm. Her eyes opened wide. She sucked in a deep breath. All movement stilled.
“Fallyn! Blasted hell! What did you do?” He yelled at her, wanted to shake her. What had she done?
She didn’t answer. She was limp, lifeless in his arms.
Jaw tight, he laid her on the floor. There was no remorse in him that she was dead. If she hadn’t died, he would have killed her himself.
Her fisted hand lay on his foot, white against the black of his boots. She was gone. What she had done and why she’d done it were gone with her. If Aleea died, Allouria died with her. Without the Rilirian Field, another Sharakan attack would decimate the planet. They didn’t have the Striders to fight and survive.
He stood up and turned away.
Fallyn’s clenched hand fell to the floor. Her fingers uncurled and a gray-green vial fell and rolled across the floor.
The clink of glass caught Raeder’s attention. He turned, bent and picked up the tiny container. It wasn’t pretty, could be nothing. Or it could be everything. Poison or cure, it wouldn’t matter. If it was either one, Tilby could use it to save Aleea.
He looked at Fallyn, motionless on the floor. Even if the vial saved Aleea’s life, he would never forgive the Merwoman for what she’d done.
Turning, he strode away. The only thing he was going to worry about was Aleea. She was all that mattered.
* * * * *
He ran into the Medlab and to Aleea’s side. Tilby had one hand pressed to Aleea’s chest, the other over her forehead.
“Check this. It may tell you what’s wrong.” He held the vial out to Tilby.
Tilby opened her eyes which widened when she saw the vial. “Fallyn?”
Raeder’s jaw tightened. Tilby loved Fallyn like a daughter. There was no way to soften the blows that were coming. “She’s dead, Tilby. I believe she poisoned Aleea. Check the vial.”
“She was a healer.” Her voice was thick with disbelief.
There was no time to try and comfort her. She had to focus on Aleea. “What do I do to keep Aleea alive while you check this?”
Tilby’s lips trembled. She pressed them together, looked up and met Raeder’s gaze. “Put one hand over her forehead, the other over her heart like I have mine.”
Her hands trembled as she lifted them away from Aleea and took the vial.
Raeder put his hands where hers had been.
“Concentrate on her. Focus on her. Send your energy to her. What you do with the jump team, reverse it.”
Tilby’s hands, small, dry and wrinkled, settled over his. He felt her mind touch his, fought the urge to pull away. He touched others, they never touched him.
She pinched his hand hard. “Focus.” Her tone was piercing. “This isn’t about you. This is about Aleea.”
Nostrils flared, jaw tight, Raeder closed his eyes and reached out with his mind.
Tilby’
s mind brushed his. “Follow me.”
He wasn’t sure if she spoke aloud or in his mind. He felt the tug as she pulled him with her, sank into the black stillness of Aleea’s mind. They went deeper and deeper. There was nothing, not even a glimmer of thought.
Tilby sank deeper still. He wanted to move faster but didn’t. Tilby knew what she was doing. In this, he had to follow.
Tilby led him to Aleea, to the very depths of her soul. The faintest glimmer, a mere ember was all that kept her with him. A wrong breath would extinguish her life.
“Pay attention.” Tilby touched Aleea, mind to mind. Through her, Raeder felt the slow hush of power, energy being released in a slow steady trickle feeding Aleea’s dwindling life force.
“You do it.”
He gathered himself, focused and released energy.
“No!” His power slammed into Tilby’s indomitable will. “Slowly. Gently. A burst of energy like that will kill her.”
Fighting the urge to pull away, to strike out, Raeder focused once more on what he had to do. He gathered himself, touched Aleea and with painful slowness fed energy to her starving soul.
“Just like that. Don’t stop until I tell you.”
He focused his will, concentrated solely on Aleea. He wouldn’t let his woman die. She was his to share with his people. He protected and cared for his own.
* * * * *
Tayera activated the translocator in Fauvin Palace. Raeder’s voice had been as cold as she’d ever heard it when he’d ordered the jump team aboard The Summit. He was going after the people who had targeted Allouria and Aleea. He would make them pay for what they had done.
She translocated to The Summit. What she wanted to do was laugh out loud. Instead she would have to wear her sad face. She didn’t want to give away to any of the jump team that she wasn’t as upset as they were that Aleea was dead.
Raeder would need the team more than ever when he went after the Sharakan who had destroyed Mearyn and killed Aleea. And, of course, all the loyal members of his team would be there to help him.
She allowed herself one small smile and stepped through the portal to the jump deck.
The Medlab opened before her. What had gone wrong?
Frowning, she looked around and saw Aleea. She lay unmoving on a narrow bed, her face colorless.
She walked across the room. “You look quite lovely dead, Centeran bitch.” She reached out and stroked the golden-brown hair that framed the white, heart-shaped face. “For such a small woman, you were tenacious. But I won in the end, didn’t I? You’re dead and the royal family will fall.”
The woman’s expression was too serene. Blast her to hell, she hadn’t been better in life, she wasn’t going to be better in death. Wrapping her fingers in Aleea’s hair she yanked.
Aleea yelped and her eyes flew open. “Blast it. Raeder didn’t say I had to lose hair.” Aleea scowled at the man behind Tayera as she rubbed her head.
Tayera, her eyes huge, jumped back. “You’re dead.”
Hard hands closed on Tayera’s arms as she stood, open-mouthed, staring at Aleea.
“How could Raeder have known she’d pull a dead woman’s hair? Who goes up to a dead person and does that?” Zaen, Raeder’s brother, had a voice as dark and smooth as Griiliig whiskey. He wasn’t as handsome as Raeder, perfect like Kael or sensuous like Pantair, but he had an air of danger about him that made her shiver. No doubt he had women throwing themselves at him wherever he went. What was it with these men? Why couldn’t they be ordinary, average guys? Of course, if they were they wouldn’t hold the same appeal.
“You’re dead.” Tayera said it again, her tone was accusing.
“Apparently not.” Aleea turned her scowl on Tayera. She wanted to lie down and sleep for a week, not face the woman who had been behind her latest near-death experience. She was weak as a newborn and her stomach kept rolling.
Raeder stepped through the portal followed by Pantair and Kael. He looked at Tayera. “Take her to Allouria,” he ordered the others. “Father has requested the pleasure of dealing with her.” He had wanted to see justice done but his father had taken it out of his hands.
He turned to Aleea dismissing the traitor from his mind. “You need to rest. The joining ceremony has been postponed, not canceled.”
She watched the three men, escorting Tayera, walk through the portal before looking back to Raeder. “And the crystal cavern consummation?” Was there a cavern any longer?
“And the consummation. You don’t get out of that either.” He lifted her off of the table, held her tight to his chest as he walked through the portal and to their chambers. He laid her on the bed. She looked right there. Perfect. When her color returned, he might even be able to forget he’d almost lost her.
“Incom. Clear view.”
He lay down beside her, pulled her into his arms and watched the stars. His whole world, everything that meant anything to him was in his arms and he would never let her go.
* * * * *
Aleea woke instantly but not happily. She felt weak, her insides shaky, but she was alive.
She tried to move, found herself pinned to Raeder’s side. She looked up and found him watching her, his crystal green eyes too serious.
“You need to smile more.” She reached up and smoothed the lines on his brow. She would never tire of looking at him. He was everything her dreams were made of.
“I almost lost you.” His voice was a ragged murmur.
“But you didn’t.”
Eyes closed, he pressed his forehead to hers. “I want to lock you in my chambers and never let anything touch you.”
“I don’t think I’d like that. I enjoy having you touch me too much.”
He lifted his head to frown down at her, one brow raised. “I should have said, never let anything but me touch you.”
She wrinkled her nose. He was way too serious. She was alive and she wanted to savor that. “You told me once, not to long ago, that I would get to taste you. I’ve never gotten to do that and I want to.”
“When you’re rested and well, you can do anything you wish. For now, until the healers say you’re strong enough, I want you to rest.”
“You could help me, couldn’t you?” Eyes wide and innocent, she reached between them and caught his hard, pulsing cock in her hand. She stroked and squeezed the broad length. He was velvet and steel. Perfection.
He frowned but didn’t take her hand from his penis. “What are you doing?”
“Playing.” She pushed at his chest with her free hand. “On your back.”
Raeder rolled over as she directed. His heart beat strong and loud in his chest. His cock throbbed in her hand. She was taking control and he liked it. He could take the upper hand if he needed to but for now he would let her believe she was in charge. And he needed to feel her, alive and his.
She grasped his cock in both hands and started to squeeze, alternating one hand with the other.
“How am I doing?”
He smiled. She looked so serious, her gaze trained on his cock and her stroking, squeezing hands.
“Good. Real good.” He groaned and his hips arched as she added pulling to her squeezing of his cock. “Blast, your hands are almost as good as your channel,” he hissed.
Her womb clenched at his words. “What else do you like?” Her voice was hoarse. She hadn’t expected pleasuring him would pleasure her as well.
“Your mouth on my cock. Sucking it.”
Moisture rained down from inside her. She loved the feel of him in her mouth, wanted to taste him again.
She licked her lips as she stared at the bulbous head that poked over the top of her hand. It was broad enough it more than filled her hand, its flared head wider than the shaft she grasped.
Raeder almost came out of his skin as he watched her looking at him. Her tongue licked her lips and he felt it in his gut. He wanted that tongue on him, licking him. He wanted her mouth sucking him, her teeth sheathed against him, a hint of the possible d
anger he could be in as he was caught in her mouth.
“Are you going to suck him or just stare at him?”
Her hands tightened around him. Her eyes didn’t leave the dark head that so fascinated her. “Don’t you like me to look?”
He growled low in his throat. His hips bucked up once. “I like your eyes on me. I would like your mouth better.”
“Would you?” She lowered her head, her hair brushing the sensitive head of his cock, curtaining her from his view.
He reached out and pulled her hair back so he could watch. Her mouth was a mere breath from his straining penis. If she puckered her lips, she’d be touching him.
“Do it.” He ordered gruffly. That she wanted him this much humbled him.
She looked up without lifting her head. “In my time,” she whispered, her breath a hot caress on his straining flesh.
His eyes closed and he grimaced. “Are you trying to kill me?”
A warm, moist, slightly rough tongue licked across the broad head of his cock. He jerked. His hands tightened in her hair. A low growl rumbled in his chest. He couldn’t take her tormenting him any longer.
He sat up, grasped her by the waist and lifted her off the bed.
Her eyes flew to his. Her hands left his cock and grasped his wrists.
“What are you doing?”
“You’ll have to play another time. Maybe in a hundred years I’ll be able to stand your teasing. Right now I need you. You teased me into coming with your mouth on the head of my cock before. This time I want you to take me deep. I want to fill your mouth with my shaft as well as the head of my cock. I want you to swallow as much of me as you can and then I want you to take another inch. I want you to suck the semen from my balls until I’m sure I’ll never produce another drop.
“And when you’re done, I want to eat your pussy until you faint again. I love to feel you shake and hear you scream as your orgasm quakes through you. You’re beautiful when your nipples get longer and redder as you come. Your pussy lips get redder, too; they match your lips.”
She got wetter and wetter as he talked. Her hips moved without conscious thought, reacting to her wants and his.
Darkeen Dynasty 1: Raeder's Woman Page 15
