by Kate Rudolph
Those were that easy ones, the ones who needed time to think while they were fighting. Now it was only the best of the best left.
Kayde thought that he could hear Quinn yelling through the veil of flames, but he didn’t look back, shutting off his heart to her cries of distress. He had to take care of the rest of the would-be assassins before he could get to her, and she would need to survive long enough for him to make it.
THE HEAT PARCHED HER throat dry as a desert. For two seconds there, Quinn had really thought they were home free. With Kayde sprinting across the arena towards her, leaving all of the terrifying warriors in the dust behind him, she had trusted that the two of them would find their way out without getting hurt or delayed much further.
She hadn’t realized that she was still capable of deluding herself like that. The fire had shot up around her in a giant circle, and though it hurt to stare into the flames, Quinn kept her eyes trained on where it met the ground, watching to see if it moved in any closer. There was a spot in the center of the circle that was just wide enough for her to stretch her arms out where she could breathe and not feel like she was immolating her lungs.
The reckless impulse to sprint for the fire and jump through it kept trying to take hold of her. As if her troubles would be any easier if the fire were keeping all of those dangerous aliens from her. What had Mara said? Choose a champion and bring him to heel? How could she bring a champion to heel if she was stuck behind a fence of fire? Not that getting one of them to cooperate would be that difficult, not when she was sure that Kayde would be her champion, would be the victor of all of them. She didn’t let herself contemplate what would happen if Kayde fell. They had come so far, even if they had known they were heading in the same direction. They couldn’t be torn apart now, the injustice of that might just destroy her.
With nothing else to do, Quinn was forced to watch the battle as it played out. If she looked high enough and abandoned staring at the base of the flames, she could just make out the heart of the battle in the center of the arena. The battle that Kayde was running headfirst into. By the time he made it there, it looked like only five of the original twelve warriors were left to battle among themselves. Two had teamed up. A short orange beast that would only come up to her chest and an Oscavian were taking on an alien that looked like a mix between a tree and a dog. Every time they hacked at him, he kept coming. And when the Oscavian broke off a limb, it didn’t seem to slow the treedog down.
Kayde threw himself into the melee, and if Quinn hadn’t known him she would’ve been terrified to find out that this was her champion. He was a hurricane of action, his movements unstoppable as he took out the Oscavian from behind before flattening the orange alien and then ripping the treedog to shreds. It happened in seconds, those three hadn’t seen it coming.
Excitement began to overpower the fear flowing through her veins. Quinn had never found violence a turn on, but knowing that Kayde was taking on all of these beasts for her, knowing that freedom was within their grasp as soon as he won, she found herself a little bit attracted to the danger. To his danger.
By the time Kayde had taken out the three aliens, only one was left. They faced off, snarling and growling and sizing one another up. Quinn didn’t recognize the species of alien Kayde was up against. It had four arms and the fingers on all of its hands were tipped with wicked looking claws that looked even sharper than Kayde’s. It was taller than Kayde, too. At least by half a head, and twice as wide as he was.
Quinn didn’t want to look, but she couldn’t look away. They met in a giant clash and Quinn could almost imagine the sound of bodies slapping together, could practically taste the blood that they drew in their ruthless battle to the death. Kayde’s opponent was good, that was obvious even to her untrained eye. But she had to believe that Kayde was better. The crowd let out a chorus of gasps as the four-armed beast got in a particularly vicious hit, sending Kayde sprawling to the ground. Her alien, her champion kicked up to his feet just as quickly as he’d fallen and he spat on the ground, wiping dust from his face and ready for another round.
She was too far away to make out his expression, though she knew exactly how he would look. It was the same infuriatingly neutral way he looked every day. And she would pay almost anything to have him look at her that way again when they were free of the bonds that held them.
In a final flurry of blows, it was over. Kayde sent his opponent to the floor in a limp pile and at the same moment she realized he was the only one left, the flames extinguished as if they were never there, only a hint of heat reminding her of their presence. Quinn took off running, her need to see Kayde, to prove that he was all right, overriding any instinct for caution. She had to dodge two of the bodies, something that might have horrified her under other circumstances, but she was so far beyond petty concerns like that at the moment.
Kayde was breathing heavily, and his tattered shirt was covered in a dark substance that might have been his blood. When he saw her his eyes flared red, something she thought she’d seen them do once on the ship, but this time she was sure.
Raze sometimes looked at his mate, Sierra, like that.
It was a stray thought, something that normally she wouldn’t pay any attention to, but with the heat of battle riding high, and the uncertainty of how they were going to get out of this mess still surrounding them, the idea that Kayde would look at her like another man looked at his mate practically brought her to her knees.
But then he blinked and his eyes were once more their normal dark color.
The crowd was as quiet as a crowd of that size could ever be, only the rustling of movement and the murmur of distant voices whispering around them. Quinn held out a hand and found that it was shaking. “My champion.”
“My queen,” Kayde said as he reached for her.
Chapter Eleven
THE SEARING PAIN THAT ripped through him as his hand touched Quinn’s could have been a remnant from his battle with his final opponent. He was covered in small cuts, and some deep enough to cause a distant worry, but that was all background noise to the pure relief of victory. There was no pain, not until he touched Quinn, and then it was almost enough to make him stagger and fall to his knees.
But he would not show weakness in front of this crowd, not when they were so close to their freedom.
Quinn’s eyes narrowed, as if she sensed something wrong, but when she opened her mouth to say something else, Kayde gave her a quick jerk of his head. She dropped his hand and the pain dissolved, as if it had never been there at all. He filed that mystery away for later. A single touch had never hurt him like that before, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“I’m glad you’re not dead,” Quinn whispered to him, the sound almost swallowed up by the crowd.
“The feeling is mutual.” His every action of the last several days had been to bring him to this moment where he found his companion. “But we are not out of danger yet.”
“No kidding.”
The sound of metal clanking set his nerves on edge, and he almost expected to see another monster burst out into the arena, another battle to face. But it was only the gate that Quinn had come through opening. No guards came out to threaten them with blasters, and no one shot darts at him to knock them out. It was already an improvement over his other times in the arena. If one discounted the number of opponents he’d had to face.
A light glowed inside the gate, beckoning them towards it. There was no other way out of the arena, and though Kayde hated to do as the Beznens were bidding them, they had no other choice. There was no way to get both him and Quinn over the walls and into the crowd and then through the crowd and out of the building without almost immediately being stopped and injured or killed. Some battles could only be won with patience.
He and Quinn walked side-by-side to the gate and were met by four Beznens that Quinn seemed to recognize.
“I am so glad to see you again,” said the central figure.
“Mara.”
Quinn greeted her.
Mara nodded at Kayde. “You have chosen to serve the Queen, rather than take your freedom.”
Quinn shot him a look, but Kayde didn’t look back. He could explain the particulars later. He kept silent and waited for the Beznen to say more.
“The coronation is not complete,” Mara continued. “But you are the first Queen among many to survive the choosing of the champions.”
“Yay for me,” she said, and even though Kayde didn’t have a soul, he could hear Quinn’s sarcasm. It was thick enough to choke them all.
Mara and her fellow Beznens led them down a narrow hall and into a room which opened with a soaring ceiling and huge doors that let out into a giant green forest. At her wave, one of the attendants removed Quinn’s manacles and they dropped to the floor with a loud thump. “Riches beyond your wildest imagination, and the heart of our planet lie at the end of this path. The way is dangerous, and your champion is tasked with keeping you safe. Claim your crown and return in three days and you shall take your rightful place as our Queen.”
“You’re letting us go... outside?” Quinn quickly tacked on the last word, and her face was screwed up in a confused expression.
“Of course, you must claim your crown. You may take your supplies from this room, and tend to any wounds. Once you exit the palace, you may not return without the crown. Any attempt and you will be slaughtered on sight.” She delivered this pronouncement as if she were giving them the weather forecast.
“Can we have a map?” Quinn asked.
Did she really mean to go after this treasure? Kayde would follow wherever she went, but he would not expect her to heed the siren call of riches.
“If you can find one in this room, it is yours,” Mara responded. She turned on her heel and exited the room, taking the other guards with her. The door slammed shut behind them and Quinn practically collapsed where she stood, falling onto a nearby chair and letting her shoulders slump forward.
“I thought you were dead.” It came out shaky, like she hadn’t let herself think about the possibility until just this moment. “I was afraid I would never see you again. I didn’t...” She trailed off, shaking her head, unable to finish the thought.
“I am not that easy to kill.” He didn’t know how to give her comfort. He thought he should touch her, pat her on the shoulder, to prove through physical contact that they were both alive and mostly well. But the outfit she was wearing exposed more than it covered, and he didn’t know what would happen if their skin touched a second time.
“Can I...” She huffed out a frustrated breath and leaned back until her chair was tipped at a precarious angle. “Never mind.”
“What is it?” There was no request that she could make that he would not try to fulfill.
“I think I need a hug.” It came out in a small voice, the words vulnerable and desperate and very lonely. “Would you hug me?”
Kayde was powerless to resist the request. He couldn’t remember the last time he had given someone a hug. Had he been a child? Had it been decades? It didn’t matter. He nodded at her, and Quinn was out of the chair, throwing her arms around him and clinging tight. Kayde claimed his own arms around her back, the flat of his palm pressed against her warm naked skin.
It stung for a moment, but the pain went away almost as quickly, even as the touch shook him to his foundations. He could feel something inside of him stretching out, something that shouldn’t be there trying to dig hooks deep into him and to bring him out of the shadows and into the light. The longer they touched, the more that sense grew, and the more Kayde’s survival instinct beat at him to pull away, to pull back, to stop touching Quinn.
But there were things more important than survival, and at this moment comforting Quinn was one of them.
Her hands climbed up his back until she was clutching his shoulders and nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. Physical sensation washed over him, the echoes of something he hadn’t felt since he’d given up his soul. The soulless were incapable of physical desire, lust a forgotten remnant of their life before. But right now it echoed through him, not enough for him to do anything about it, but a strong enough reminder to make him question everything he knew was possible.
Was it possible to witness two miracles in a single lifetime? Even when Raze regained his soul, Kayde had known that such a thing could never happen to him. The time for him to meet his denya was long past, and hoping for something he couldn’t change would only make him deteriorate faster.
But with Quinn in his arms, a flutter of impossible hope flew through him. Could she be his denya? Could he be that lucky?
THIS WAS A COMFORT cuddle, a security snuggle. Yeah, Quinn was pretty sure that Kayde was going to get fed up with her and pull away at any minute, but she had to soak up as much of the contact as possible until then. She’d never understood touch hunger before. Who needed contact so bad that their body cried out for it? Outside of sex, of course. But now she was beginning to figure it out.
This connection right here, it wasn’t sexual. Well, not entirely sexual. This was about affirming they were alive and mostly safe. Though from the way her body was reacting and the way Kayde’s scent was sinking into Quinn’s pores and practically marking her, if they kept this up for much longer it would take a decidedly sensual bent.
Reluctantly she pulled back, and when she glanced up at Kayde, her breath caught. He was checking her out like he wanted to devour her, like he needed to worship her. His eyes had flared red again and the color held as the seconds ticked by. This wasn’t a trick of the light like back on the ship or a momentary slip in the heat of battle. No, this was all about her, and him, and them.
He reached a hand up tentatively and two fingers stroked the ridge of her cheek. It occurred to Quinn that this was the first time that Kayde had ever initiated contact between the two of them, but she kept that to herself, afraid to break this magical spell.
She leaned into his touch and her eyelids wanted to flutter closed, but she forced herself to keep eye contact with him. She didn’t want to miss a second of this.
Was he going to kiss her? All she had to do was lean in and close that tiny gap between them and all the mystery, all the anticipation would explode into one moment of pure perfection. But she held herself completely still, transfixed as if she were held in a spider’s web.
Was this some sort of Detyen power? To enchant women until they were held helpless in a warrior’s grasp? Maybe, but if they all had this power, then Quinn was only vulnerable when Kayde was using it. She didn’t want to stare at anyone else all day, didn’t want to dream of kissing and touching them until she was breathless with want. For her it was only Kayde NaDetya, and she was almost certain she saw that exact desire in his eyes.
And then he pulled back.
The spell wasn’t broken. She could feel a tenuous connection reaching out between the two of them, not quite physical nor quite spiritual, but there all the same. It anchored them to one another, but she was afraid that if either of them gave it the slightest resistance it would dissolve into nothing, just unmoored gossamer threads.
So how did they make that connection real? Permanent?
“We need to get back to the sh—”
“Shh!” Quinn cut Kayde off with a harsh sound. As she cleared her throat, she did her best to say “cameras” so that only Kayde could make it out. She didn’t know if the Beznens could hear them as well as see them, but she wasn’t going to risk whatever daring escape they were about to undertake on the hope that they couldn’t. “Let’s gather supplies like Mara told us to. I don’t know how long it is ‘til sunset.”
They worked quickly and stuffed two bags full with various protein bars and hydration packs. By the time they were done, they had enough for weeks of survival, along with waterproof blankets and sturdy shoes for each of them. Quinn was frustrated that she couldn’t find an outfit to replace what she’d been dressed in, but she satisfied herself by finding a sturdy jacket that
fell down to her thighs. It was better than nothing.
What neither of them found was a map. That wasn’t exactly surprising, and Quinn hoped that one of Kayde’s secret warrior skills would include finding their way back to their ship.
Quinn slung her pack over her shoulders and found Kayde waiting for her near the door. “Do you have everything you’ll need?” she asked him.
“We will make do,” he replied.
Quinn looked around the room one last time. It held no special significance to her, but she’d been forced to stay in this building for days and in a strange way it felt like her home on the planet, almost like it was safe. Now that had to be crazy. Kayde was still half-covered with blood and gore from the people he’d been forced to fight, to kill. And if he hadn’t been victorious, she would have been another body lying on that sand. There was no safety here, just the veneer of it, and not even a particularly good one.
And so they set out, stepping through the wide door and onto the soft grass of the meadow right outside the door. And just as soon as they were outside, Quinn could feel those same eyes looking at her that she’d felt in the market. Was there some kind of mass surveillance on this planet? Was it something in the atmosphere?
“I really don’t like this place.” Quinn couldn’t keep herself from saying it out loud. There was a chill in the air and she shivered despite her jacket.
“I am beginning to understand what you mean,” said Kayde. They both spoke quietly. The only way someone would hear them was if they were standing very close, and from the looks of it, she and Kayde were completely alone. But Quinn didn’t trust anything she saw on this planet.
