Ky had been missing her, wishing for her…living over their last encounter over and over in his head. He scarcely noticed the mocking of the guards or the way they cuffed and kicked him when they took him out for his break. At least they didn’t whip him this time and the head guard—Charo—grudgingly allowed him a few swallows of precious, life-giving water and a couple of nutrient pills which gave him new strength.
He wondered why the guards had ended his enforced period of starvation. Was it on orders from their Monarch? Did he feel bad for telling them to whip him earlier? Or was this the head guard’s own idea? Whatever the reason, Ky was grateful.
“I thank you,” he said gravely as he swallowed the pills with the last of the water.”
“Don’t know why I bother.” The head guard spat on the floor. “Clearly you Kindred are tough sons of whores. Seems like nothing kills you—hunger and thirst don’t bother you—even your whip wounds are almost healed.”
Kyron murmured something about Kindred healing fast but all the time he was waiting…waiting for the guards to leave and hoping as the evening hour approached that Dani would come to him again.
Finally she came but this time she was clearly agitated, pacing around his cell, one hand thrust in the pocket of her dress which was torn in places, Ky saw, frowning.
“Hey, what’s wrong, little girl?” he asked her. “What happened? How did your dress get torn?”
“This?” She stopped pacing and came closer to his end of the cell. Looking down at the tears in her dress, which showed her creamy brown skin clearly, she gave a rueful little laugh which turned into a sob. “This is the least of my problems,” she told Ky.
“What happened?” he asked, anxiety twisting his gut. If someone had hurt her… His sharp eyes detected a long cut along her back and shoulder which looked like it had been bleeding. “Who did that to you? Who cut you?” he asked sharply, a feeling of protective possessiveness overwhelming him. “Goddess-damn it, Dani, talk to me!”
“This?” She looked over her shoulder as though she had forgotten the wound. “I did this to myself—I scratched myself on a pain-spear running from my father’s throne room.”
“You what? Why were you running? Was someone chasing you?” Ky tensed his bound arms, wishing for the thousandth time to be free. If someone had hurt her he wanted to go kill the son of a bitch!
“I was running because I didn’t want to sign the Articles of Engagement and belong to that horrible Councilor Tornk,” Dani said passionately. “The same male who sold my little sister Lavi to a cruel dictator who will beat and maybe even kill her…the same one who got…got my own m-mother k-killed…”
Her voice broke on the last words and suddenly her big, dark eyes were filled with tears.
“Oh, Dani…” Ky felt helpless, not knowing what to say. He wanted more than ever to be free, this time so he could wrap his arms around her and comfort her. “Come here, little girl,” he told her gently. “Come here and sit on my lap. Let me hold you as best I can.”
Dani flew to him and straddled his lap. Flinging her arms around him, she buried her face in the side of his neck and Ky felt her hot tears as she sobbed out some pain she couldn’t yet share.
“Dani…oh, little girl,” he murmured, nuzzling her with his cheek, which was now scratchy with beard growth. Gods how he wished he could hold her! He wanted to cradle her in his arms and keep her safe, to comfort her and ease the terrible ache he felt inside her.
Though he couldn’t touch her with his real hands, he sent out his whisper hands, letting the invisible fingers card through her long black hair and rub her heaving shoulders and back, being careful to avoid the nasty scratch from the pain-spear.
“It’s all right,” he told her softly. “All right, little girl. You cry if you need to. Everything is going to be all right.”
“No…” Dani pulled back, her face a mask of misery. “No, Ky—everything is not going to be all right.”
“And why is that? Tell me, little girl.”
She swiped at her wet eyes with her torn sleeve and at last began to speak. She told Ky about how she’d tried to save her little sister but her father wouldn’t listen to her…wouldn’t listen to reason.
“Because I’m a female,” she said bitterly. “Because nothing I can say or do will overcome the dreadful handicap of my sex.”
“That’s bullshit, Dani,” Ky growled. “What in the Seven Hells is wrong with your people? Any male of the Kindred who acted like that would be cast out. It’s fucking sacrilege to treat a female so.”
“Well it’s clear the Kindred are different from the Goshans,” she said and swiped at her eyes again.
She went on with her story, telling how she’d been forced to flee the throne room to avoid being engaged to the lecherous old Councilor who was basically selling her sister for the rights to some kind of mines. And then how she’d hidden in her room and what her old nurse had told her. Here the story got so awful Ky could scarcely believe it.
“So…your own father had your mother killed?” he asked incredulously. “Did I hear you right?”
Dani nodded, her eyes filling again.
“They told me she died of a sudden fever—something so contagious she had to be taken away and buried at once to keep it from spreading. But that was a lie. She…” Her lips worked for a moment but no sound came out. “She was killed,” she whispered at last. “Stoned to death. And I never even got a chance to say goodbye!”
“Oh, sweetheart…” Ky sent his whisper lips to kiss her cheeks gently, wanting to kiss away her tears. “Baby, that’s terrible! No wonder you’re upset.”
To find out that her sister was to be given to a killer and she was slated to marry a filthy old male who was intent on taking her whether she wanted him or not was bad enough. But to further find out that the same male she was to marry had had a hand in her mother’s death—which had been ordered by her own father…well, Ky no longer wondered why she was upset.
He wondered how she was even functioning at all.
Dani sat up and swiped at her eyes again. She took a deep, trembling breath, clearly trying to calm herself.
“Yes, it’s terrible and yes I’m upset,” she said in a voice which trembled only a little. “But I won’t give up. I won’t.”
“That’s good, little girl,” Ky said approvingly. “You’re strong—one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. Somehow you’re going to get through this.”
“Yes, I am.” She sounded almost calm now and there was a look of determination in her big, black eyes. “I have a plan and you’re going to help me.”
“Help you? Help you how, little girl? Do you want—”
But the words died on his lips. Because instead of going to turn off the shielded magnetic field so they could run off together, which was what Ky had expected, Dani suddenly scooted back a little so she could reach the magno-tabs at his waist which held his black flight leathers together.
Before he could say another word, she had his trousers open and his shaft out and she was stroking it.
* * * * *
Dani couldn’t believe her own boldness. But she told herself there was no other way. She had to do this—she had to.
“Whoa, little girl—hold on. What do you think you’re doing?” Kyron growled softly. He seemed surprised at her actions but that didn’t stop his shaft from growing in her hands, Dani noticed. It was darker than the rest of his skin and tipped with a broad head with a tiny slit at one end. The intimate flesh felt heavy and hot and silky to her fingers—so much softer than she’d ever expected a male’s scepter to be—even as it grew firm and hard. This was, of course, the first one she’d seen and she wondered if it was different from a Goshan scepter.
The dark, spicy scent of his male musk drifted up to her, making her warm to her task. She stroked the long shaft intently and couldn’t help marveling at its size as it lengthened and thickened in her hands. Gods above and below, how was she going to fit this whole thing inside her? But somehow she had to—it was the only way.
“Dani, please…” Ky shifted his hips on the hard stone bench, causing the long, thick shaft to slide between her fingers. “Do you mind telling me what in the Seven Hells you’re doing and why you’re doing it?”
“I’m doing it because I have to.” She looked up at him briefly. “I’m sorry, Ky and I hope you don’t mind but I have to.”
She was already straddling him, her knees resting on the rough stone bench on either side of him. Now she lifted her dress to her waist, baring herself shamelessly, though she never would have dreamed of such a thing before.
“Gods, little girl…” Ky let out a groan and she saw he was looking at the V between her legs—the little mound of black curls she kept so neatly trimmed though she had never dared to touch herself there.
Remembering the way his whisper fingers had touched her there before and the way he had sucked her nipples made her feel wet and swollen. Gripping his shaft more firmly, she brought the broad head to her outer lips and rubbed him against her.
“Wait, little girl—wait a minute,” Ky groaned but Dani knew she couldn’t wait. As the wide head slipped along her slit and rubbed against her pleasure button, a spark of fire seemed to dance along her nerves, making her gasp with need.
Positioning the thick shaft at the tight, tiny entrance of her body, Dani began to lower herself down.
It wouldn’t fit.
She felt her outer lips part and the wide head begin to nudge inside her but though that first part—the tip—was soft enough to slip inside herself, the next part of his huge scepter definitely was not.
Tears came to Dani’s eyes as she attempted to force more of it—more of Ky—inside her. Tears of pain and desperation—what was she going to do if this didn’t work? How could Ky change the color of her eyes if he wouldn’t even fit inside her?
“Dani, stop!” She heard the concern in his deep voice as she tried unsuccessfully to get more of him in her sacred channel. It hurt—Gods above and below, how it hurt. But she had to…she had to.
“I have to,” she said aloud, through gritted teeth, but she didn’t see how. The desire she’d felt earlier seemed to have dried up and the inner walls of her sacred channel were clenched closed, resisting the stretching agony of the huge shaft she was trying to force into herself.
“Why?” Ky demanded, his voice harsh. “Why do you think you have to do this? Stop it, little girl—you’re hurting yourself!”
“It’s the only way,” Dani panted, forcing a fraction more of his thickness into her tight, resisting channel. “The only way to change the color of my eyes.” She looked up at Ky, feeling herself on the edge of tears. “But how can you change the color of my eyes if you can’t fit all the way inside me? I need you to pierce my maiden barrier and fill me with your seed—it’s the only way to do it.”
“Dani, listen to me—why do you want to change the color of your eyes?” he demanded. “Won’t that let everyone know you’re not a virgin anymore?”
“Of course it will!” She clenched her teeth, still trying to get him in, not willing to give up. “And that’s the only thing that will keep that horrible Councilor Tornk from wanting me for his wife! If he thinks someone else has…has taken me, he won’t want used goods.” She pushed harder, tears of pain flowing down her cheeks. “Why isn’t this working? Is it because you’re Kindred and I’m Goshan? Or is it because I’m not in the Breeding Position?”
“It’s not working because you’re not ready,” Ky said earnestly. “Kindred have big shafts—too big to take unless you’ve been properly prepared.” His whisper fingers stroked her wet cheeks. “Stop now, little girl—I don’t want to cause you pain.”
“I can’t stop,” Dani told him. “Don’t you see? Do you know what’s going to happen to me if I stay here and my eyes don’t change?”
“And what’s going to happen to you if they do change?” he demanded softly. “What will they do to you if they find you’ve lost your virginity—which I’m guessing is very fucking important to your people? What will they do to you then?”
Dani bit her lip. “I…I might be sent to a women’s jail.”
“What do you mean you might?” Ky growled. “What else might happen?”
“I…I might be stoned,” Dani admitted. “But I don’t care,” she went on, recklessly. “I don’t care if I die—dying would be better than being married to Tornk!”
“I care if you die, Dani,” Ky said roughly. “Care a hell of a lot. And even if the consequences weren’t so severe, I still don’t want to change the color of your eyes—not like this.”
“You…you don’t?” Dani felt her heart sink. She’d been sure after their last encounter that the big Kindred would want her as much as she wanted him.
“Not like this,” he said firmly. “Making love is a serious business with the Kindred. We don’t do casual sex. I’d want to take my time with you—get you ready so it doesn’t hurt.” He looked at her seriously, his green eyes intent. “And I’d want to know you felt for me the way I’m starting to feel for you.”
“Oh…” Dani didn’t know what to say about that. Was he declaring his feelings for her?
I have feelings for him too, she realized suddenly. Though they hadn’t known each other long, she cared for the big Kindred—maybe was even beginning to love him. But what good did that do her—what good did it do either of them?
“You don’t have to do this, little girl,” Ky said softly, nodding down to where he was still barely piercing her. “Take me out of you—don’t hurt yourself anymore.”
“But if we don’t…I mean, what are we going to do?” Dani asked.
“What do you want to do?” he asked, still looking at her.
“I want—wanted—to follow my plan. I was going to have you change the color of my eyes and then…then show myself in the throne room so everyone could see I’d been used. That way Tornk wouldn’t want me anymore. And then…” Her breath hitched in her throat. “Then I would say goodbye to Lavi and take the consequences.”
“So everyone could see you’d been ‘used’?” Kyron frowned at her words. “Gods, your males have some fucked up ideas,” he muttered.
“Well I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, pulling away from him so that the thick shaft left her entrance, at last relieving the burning, stretching pain. “I’m sorry that the Kindred value females more but I’m not Kindred, I’m Goshan and it’s Goshan standards I have to live by!”
“Why?” he asked quietly.
“Why what?” Dani demanded.
“Why live by their standards?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Why not come with me and live by mine? Why not let me treat you the way you ought to be treated—like the princess you are.”
“Come…with you?” For some reason the idea hadn’t occurred to her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d been planning to offer him his freedom after he changed the color of her eyes. Maybe he might have a chance to get away while everyone was busy at the banquet—it was the only chance she could give him. But Dani had never expected the big Kindred might want to take her with him. No Goshan male would have, not after she was used goods—even if he had been the one to use her and make her so.
But Kyron was nodding.
“Turn off the magnetic field and set me free,” he told her. “Let’s leave this place together. I’ll take you back to the Mother Ship and you can live in freedom and respect, the way all females should.” His voice dropped lower. “We’ll get to know each other better and after a time, if you still want me to, then I’ll change the color of your eyes, little girl.”
Dani looked at him, still uncertain and only half-believing.
“You really want to take me away with you? You’re not just saying that so I’ll free you?”
“I won’t go without you.” His eyes flashed. “No way in all the Seven Hells, Dani.”
She frowned. “It’s very dangerous. I don’t think you’ll fit in the secret passageways. And we might meet guards—we might get killed trying to get to your ship.”
His eyes flashed. “Didn’t you just say you’d rather die than marry that fucking Tornk?” he demanded.
Dani nodded. “Yes. I’d much rather die than spend my life as his wife.”
“And I’d rather die than leave you here,” he said softly. “So come on, little girl—what’s it going to be? Do you want to take a chance and try to get out of here with me?”
Dani lifted her chin.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes if…if you really want me.”
“You have no idea how much I want you,” he swore softly. “Someday I’ll show you. But right now we need to leave.”
“Now is actually a good time,” Dani said. “Everyone will be gathered at the banquet for Warro and…and Lavi…” She felt her eyes getting full again but she made herself stop. There was nothing she could do for Lavi right now. Nothing she could do but try to save herself and then maybe somehow, someday she could come back.
“We’ll try to come back for her.” It was as though Kyron was reading her mind. “I know she means a lot to you, Dani,” he said gently. “But I’m only one unarmed warrior against all the palace guards. I have to get the two of us out first, then I’ll try to convince Commander Sylvan to let me bring back a rescue party for your little sister.”
“All right.” Dani made her decision. “Yes, let’s do it.” She cupped his face, rough with stubble, in her hands and looked into his eyes. “Let’s run from here if we can, Ky. I’m going to set you free.”
Resolutely, she climbed off his lap and ran for the controls of the shielded magnetic field. The shielding around it kept the field from dragging every other ferromagnetic object within sight to the plate on the wall, which was the only way the guards were able to have their weapons in the cell without losing them. Dani knew because she’d heard the head guard, Charo, talking about it.
There was a key, presumably to the manacles Ky wore, which she pocketed. Then Dani threw a heavy switch and twisted a knob, turning off both the field and the shielding. The soft humming sound which had pervaded the cell suddenly ceased.
Ky’s hands dropped abruptly to his lap, the thick metal manacles clanging on the stone bench. He groaned and rolled his shoulders experimentally, as though trying to get blood circulation back in his arms.
“Gods, it feels good to put my arms down!” he growled. He tucked himself back into his strange black trousers and re-fastened them. “That’s taken care of,” he muttered. “Can’t make a run for it with my shaft hanging out.”
Then he stood and Dani gasped.
As large as he was sitting down, standing the Kindred was huge. He looked so big and rough and muscular with his unshaven face and wild hair and broad, bare chest…like a giant. The sight took her breath away.
He took a step towards her and a spike of fear stabbed her in the gut. Had she done a foolish thing? He was so big—what if he had only been saying what he thought she wanted to hear in order to get her to set him free? What if he didn’t care for her or want to take her with him at all? After all, no Goshan male would want her after the shameless way she’d been behaving. He would think her a low woman—one who deserved nothing but death or desertion for her wanton acts.
The big Kindred frowned, clearly seeing the look on her face.
“What’s wrong, Dani?” he rumbled. “You having second thoughts about this?”
“I…I just…you’re so big,” Dani managed to get out at last. She’d seen him through the spy hole surrounded by the guards that first day and had known he was large then. But she’d gotten used to him sitting down. And now he was up and so close to her and she didn’t know if he really felt for her the way he said he felt…
Her hand found her pocket and closed around the handle of her sud-stab again. Would she be forced to use it to defend herself? And could there be any defense against a male so huge his head nearly brushed the ceiling?
“Dani…” He took another step and reached for her.
Before Dani could pull the sud-stab from her pocket, she found herself lifted in his arms and swung around like a doll.
“Dani,” he said again. “Dani, Dani, Dani…”
And he kissed her.
Dani was so surprised and dizzy she hardly knew what to do. But at the feel of his mouth pressed to hers, the knot of fear and uncertainty that had been growing in the pit of her stomach from the moment he stood, suddenly melted. Somehow she found she was kissing him back, threading her fingers through his thick, brown hair and wrapping her legs around his waist to pull him closer.
Mine, she thought, moaning softly as she felt those strong, muscular arms close around her. Ky is mine now—I freed him. He’s mine. And now he’s going to take me away.
The thought brought a mixture of joy and fear that was almost overwhelming. What they were about to do was dangerous—probably fatally so. But she had no wish to do anything else.
At last Ky broke the kiss though he didn’t put her down just yet.
“Been wanting to do that from damn near the first minute I saw you, little girl,” he growled, stroking her back. “I want to do a lot more of it too but first we have to get out of here.”
“All right,” Dani said breathlessly. “Let’s go. But first…” Using the key she’d found near the magnetic field switch, she unlocked the bulky metal manacles from his wrists and let them fall to the floor. Then she went back to the wall where the controls were mounted and turned on the magnetic field but not the shielding. Instead, she broke the knob that controlled the shielding mechanism off and put it in her pocket.
“What are you—” Ky started to ask but just then the manacles he’d been wearing, which Dani had dropped on the floor, suddenly flew up into the air and attached themselves to the metal plate above the stone bench with a hollow clank-clank. The key that unlocked them followed right behind, also sticking fast to the plate.
Dani felt the sud-stab in her pocket give a tug, as though it too was trying to get free and fly to the plate. She took a firm grip on it and ran to Ky.
“There. Now if the guards show up before we get away, they’ll get a little surprise. The unshielded magnetic field will yank their weapons right out of their hands.”
“I see.” He gave her an admiring look. “You’re smart as hell, you know that little girl?”
“Let’s just hope I’m smart enough to get us out of here,” Dani told him. “Come on.”