“It’s your wedding day, my sweets! Both my sweet princesses getting married in the same ceremony this very evening! How wonderful is that?”
Yana was trying to put a happy face on things but it probably wasn’t easy for her. Lavi wore a face of woe and couldn’t stop crying while Dani herself was still in shock.
Over and over she kept seeing Ky’s ship being blown to smithereens—a slow-motion explosion that wouldn’t stop happening behind her eyes every time she closed them.
Gone, whispered a voice in her head. He’s gone and I never even told him I love him. Gods above, I want to die.
But that option had been taken from her. Apparently anticipating some kind of desperate gesture, her father had ordered that all sharp implements should be removed from the women’s quarters. Also, Yana and Geora were keeping a constant watch on herself and Lavi to prevent any “accidents.”
Dani didn’t care what they did—they couldn’t watch her forever. Somehow, after the wedding was over, she would find a way to get her hands on a knife or a blaster or some other weapon.
The minute she was alone with Councilor Tornk, she would kill him.
She would doubtless be stoned for such an act—she knew that. But now that Ky was gone, she didn’t want to live anyway. And killing the male who was responsible for the death of both her beloved mother and the male she had loved was worth it—worth any death the court could think up, no matter how painful or protracted.
“Come now, come now,” Yana coaxed, trying to get Lavi to stop crying. “You can’t cry through your whole wedding, my pet! You must be beautiful for your new husband!”
“I don’t want to be owned by Warro,” Lavi cried passionately. “He already has enough wives! Why does he need me too? Why can’t I be with Jontu?”
“You know why, my sweet—because that is not what your Royal father, may he live forever, has decided is best for you.”
“You mean it’s what that nasty old Councilor Bray-bray has decided!” Lavi exclaimed. “Oh, I hate him! He is the one who made the deal with Warro, he’s the reason I can’t be with the male I love. I know—Jontu told me so.”
“Now my pet, you haven’t been sneaking around speaking to that Jontu, have you?” Yana sounded nervous. “You’re engaged to another male now—to Warro. If you’re caught even looking at another male you could be in very serious trouble indeed.”
“I don’t care—let them stone me,” Lavi said, her tears starting to flow again. “My life is over anyway. I don’t want to live if I can’t be with Jontu,” she added, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of the delicate pale yellow wedding gown she was wearing. Dani was dressed similarly but her gown was a pale, shimmering lilac. Both gowns were sheer enough to be see-through, as befitted their status.
I wish I was wearing Ky’s shirt instead. Wish we were back in the bed chamber on his ship, loving each other, Dani thought and nearly started crying herself. But they had taken the big Kindred’s shirt from her when she returned home. Taken it and burned it, right before her eyes.
Tornk had done it with a mean smile pasted on his hateful face as he lit it up and watched it burn. Councilor Tornk…Councilor Bray-bray—their old funny nickname for him. But Dani found nothing funny about him now. He was disgusting—lecherous and greedy and deceitful and evil.
She wished him dead in the most painful way imaginable and she hoped to make that death a reality herself before too long.
* * * * *
“Here—over here! Hey! Help!”
Ky waved his hands frantically, hoping that the ship hovering in the dull gray sky of the Hive world could see him. It didn’t look exactly Kindred but he was desperate at this point. He’d been stuck on this gray world for days with nothing to eat. There was nothing to drink either, except for a stream of pinkish, sweet-tasting water that wound through the Hive’s lair. Ky hadn’t wanted to touch it but after a few days his thirst had grown too great and he’d been forced to sip from it.
The water made him feel strange—full of rage. Or maybe it was just the situation he found himself in that enraged him so. He was stuck here—marooned on a dead planet while the female he loved was being given to another.
The thought of that Councilor Tornk—that old bastard—putting his hands on Dani, hurting her…taking her… It was enough to curl his hands into fists as he imagined squeezing the other male’s throat until his breath stopped and his eyes bugged out.
I’ll kill him—kill him if he hurts her, if he takes what she isn’t willing to give!
It had been days of those thoughts, days of rage and worry and fear for Dani. But now, finally, here was a ship. If it would only see him…
The ship hovered lower and then landed, bringing a hoarse shout of joy from his lips. Thank the Goddess!
The door to the ship opened and a huge male—even by Kindred standards—climbed out. He was well over seven feet tall with skull cut hair and strange mismatched eyes—one blue and one gold. He had the look of a Beast Kindred about him but when he opened his mouth, the fangs of a Blood Kindred were apparent.
A hybrid.
Ky didn’t care what the male was or how many types of Kindred DNA swam in his blood—the strange warrior represented hope—if only he would help him get to Dani in time.
“Hey, Brother, are you Kyron of the Touch Kindred?” the male asked in a deep, gravelly voice.
“Yes!” Ky came forward eagerly. “Thank the Goddess! Are you from the Mother Ship?”
“Sort of. It’s not my home—I live on my space-hopper. But I was back there touching base with my old friend Sylvan and he told me how you were lost out here. Apparently your ship sent out a burst of scrambled data and then went dead. The Mother Ship thought you might have left the Hive world and been caught in some kind of temporal storm—nobody could pinpoint your location. Got a lot of pilots out there fucking tryin’ though. I’m Merrick, by the way.”
“I’m so glad you found me,” Ky exclaimed. “I just hope there’s still time. I have to go back—I have to get to Dani before he hurts her!”
“Whoa—go back where?” The male frowned. “Slow down, Brother.”
“Merrick? Is everything all right? Is it him?” A female climbed down the ship’s steps and came to stand at Merrick’s side. She was a tiny little thing, Ky saw—maybe even smaller than Dani—with pale skin and long dark hair.
“Yeah, this is him, baby.” Merrick put one muscular arm around her. “Kyron, meet Elise, my mate,” he said formally.
“Nice to meet you,” Ky said. “But please, we need to get going before it’s too late. I’ve been trapped here for days already. If he’s hurt her…if he’s raped her…”
Merrick’s mismatched eyes narrowed at the ugly word.
“All right, come on board and start at the beginning. You look half starved—you can have some protein stew while you talk.”
Ky followed the huge Merrick and his tiny mate into their ship. Once inside Elise served him a bowl of tasty-smelling stew and Merrick poured him a tall drink of Kribbian ale.
He drank thirstily but Ky had no time for eating. Instead he spoke rapidly, explaining his time spent as a prisoner, his escape with Dani’s help, and the way she had been recaptured while he was busy scanning the Hive’s lair.
“I never should have left her alone in the ship—not for a minute,” he finished, running a hand through his hair. And now it might be too late. If that bastard Tornk has hurt her…”
“You can’t blame yourself for the evil of others,” Elise said softly, reaching across the small table to pat his arm.
“I do though—it’s my fault. All my fault she was taken.” Ky looked up at the two of them, sitting across from him and listening sympathetically. “Please—can you help me? I wanted to go back with a whole squadron of warriors but there’s no time.”
Merrick nodded slowly, as though thinking.
“You know, Sylvan’s orders were to bring you back to the Mother Ship immediately. He wants a full report on what happened before we do anything else.”
Ky fought to keep his rage and worry under control.
“But that will take too much time. Going back to the Mother Ship, doing a debriefing, getting the Council’s permission to bring back a squadron to Goshan Prime…”
“Yeah, that’s a lot of fuckin’ red tape to go through,” Merrick growled. “And you need to get to your female now before something really bad happens to her.”
“Exactly!” Ky looked at him hopefully. “So…will you help me?”
The big hybrid grinned.
“Tell you what, Kyron of the Touch Kindred, you’re damn lucky I’m the one who found you and not any of the others out looking. Any other warrior in the fleet would take you back to the Mother Ship—gotta obey orders, you know?”
Ky nodded. “Yes, but—”
“Don’t worry—I’ve never been much for the fuckin’ rules.” Merrick’s grin widened, showing his fangs. “And we don’t have to go through that fucked up worm hole and get picked off in Goshan Prime air space either. I’ve got a worm hole generator on my space-hopper that’ll let us show up exactly where we need to be and cloaking tech to keep us invisible once we get there.”
“Thank you,” Ky said hoarsely. “ But I don’t know exactly where that is—I hope Dani's still in the Palace but I don’t have any idea how we’re going to get to her.”
“We’ll find a way,” Elise assured him. “Is there anyone besides Dani you can trust there? Anyone who might help us get to her?”
“No, no one. I—” Ky stopped. “Well, now that I think of it, there might be someone…”
He hoped.