Kyron liked the feel of her soft little fingers as she slipped the first greenish-blue nugget between his lips. Gods, she was gorgeous! And the way the damp red dress clung to her full curves made it damn hard to keep his eyes on her face instead of her luscious body. The see-through dress thing must be normal for her people, he speculated, since he’d seen her dressed this way twice now. He just wished the water she’d spilled didn’t cause the wet fabric to mold so perfectly to her full breasts and ripe nipples…
No, stop thinking like that, he told himself firmly, trying not to remember how it had felt to have his cheek pressed against the soft curve of her left breast…how the hard little point of her nipple had felt against his cheek, so close to his mouth…
She was so soft but there was strength in her too—he’d felt it when she supported both his head and the tall vase, which couldn’t be light if it was made of solid gold as it appeared to be.
You’re trying to win her over—to make an ally, Ky reminded himself. Concentrate on the food she’s giving you, not on her body.
He tried to take his own advice, biting down on the small, squishy bundle she’d placed in his mouth and ignoring the throbbing of his shaft which was pressing hard against his flight leathers.
He chewed, doubtfully at first but then with enthusiasm. The little candy was actually quite delicious. The outer skin had the flavor of the Earth confection called “peanut butter” and the soft, juicy interior tasted like strawberries.
“Mmm,” he said, showing his appreciation. “These are delicious! Tastes like peanut butter and jelly.”
Dani frowned. “What is that?”
“It’s an Earth food—well, a combination of Earth foods—which I had back on the Mother Ship.”
“Earth food?” She frowned as she fed him another green and blue nugget. “I thought you were Kindred.”
“I am but right now we’re protecting a planet called Earth from the Hive.”
This led to a discussion of both Earth and its inhabitants and the Hive which left Dani wide-eyed with horror.
“And they really steal away females to lay their eggs in them?” she asked, looking faintly ill. “This is terrible!”
“Yes, it fucking is,” Ky said grimly. “Which is why I was sent by Commander Sylvan—the head of our High Council—to study their home planet and see if I could find any weaknesses or clues. Knowing your enemy is the best way to defeat them.”
“That’s why I’m trying to get to know you,” Dani remarked lightly. She held another nugget up to his lips but Ky didn’t open his mouth for it.
“I’m not your enemy, Dani,” he said softly. “Please, if you could just believe that…if I could make your father see it too…”
She looked away in evident confusion.
“I…my father is a reasonable man. I wish I could tell him you are too but then I’d have to admit I’m able to get into this cell. I’m not supposed to, you know—I’d be severely punished if it was found out.”
Thinking of the way the males “punished” the females on this planet, made Ky frown.
“Don’t risk yourself in any way, little girl,” he said. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Maybe I can at least bring it up in a round about way,” Dani said thoughtfully. “I could ask him if the rumors of a prisoner are true and if he’s been to see you yet.”
“Just don’t get into trouble.” Ky couldn’t help being worried about her. She had inner strength and a fierce spirit but she was so small. Though he had only seen her twice, he could feel a growl of protectiveness rise in his throat at the thought of anyone hurting her.
Don’t get attached, he told himself. She may be beautiful but she belongs here. It’s not like you can take her with you, even if you can talk your way out of this mess. She’s a princess and you’re just a pilot. So keep your damn emotions in check.
If only it was as easy to take his own advice as it was to give it…
* * * * *
“I’ll be fine,” Dani assured him, though she was somewhat surprised that he was so concerned for her safety. “I know how to talk to my father.”
His worried frown relaxed into an easy smile.
“I just bet you do, little girl. Tell the truth—I was right, wasn’t I? You are his favorite.”
Dani lifted her chin.
“I believe I am, even though my little sister is much prettier than I am.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute,” he objected and those piercing green eyes roamed over her body briefly, making Dani’s cheeks feel hot. “How could she be?”
“She’s so much smaller than I am,” Dani explained. “Males like to treat her like a little doll. I would hate that but she loves it.” She shrugged. “It makes her happy. Any kind of male attention makes her happy.”
“Maybe because you’re your father’s favorite,” Ky suggested thoughtfully.
“Maybe.” Dani sighed. “But that is only because he wishes I was a son instead of a daughter. That’s the reason he allows me to come into the throne room and discuss matters of state with him and his councilors. Well, he did until recently…” She sighed again. “If I really was a son, I could rule after him.”
“Why shouldn’t you rule after him anyway?” Ky asked, frowning. “Females are just as capable as males of ruling wisely.”
Dani couldn’t help the incredulous laugh that broke from her lips.
“What? You really believe that?”
“Why else would my people worship a female deity?” he pointed out. “Our Goddess—the Mother of All Life—rules over us all and we love her for it.”
Dani shook her head.
“That would never happen here. All our gods are male and females are supposed to be subservient to males and content with their lot.”
Ky cocked his head to one side.
“But I get the feeling you don’t like that very much, do you?”
“Of course I don’t!” Dani exclaimed. “Why should I be treated as less because I have breasts and a sacred channel instead of a scepter between my legs!”
Her own outburst left her shaken and blushing. Why had she said all that and in that way? She oughtn’t to be talking about things like sacred channels and scepters to a male she’d just met—or any male for that matter.
Maybe it was because the anger and resentment had been building in her for years and this was the first time she’d been able to talk to anyone about it. After all, talking to a Goshan male about her feelings would have resulted in disproval and punishment and it seemed useless to speak to another female—the ones she was closest to all seemed content with their fate.
Ky raised an eyebrow at her.
“Sacred channel?”
“That is what…what we call our female parts,” Dani said as primly as she could. “Just as the male…member is called a scepter.”
“Hmmm.” He nodded and Dani felt the blood rushing to her cheeks once more. Better to change the subject—any more discussion of this kind of thing would only lead to trouble.
“We’re getting off track,” she said, as lightly as she could. “I was supposed to ask you questions and find out about your people—not the other way round.”
He shrugged, his manacles clanking.
“Ask me anything.”
“What kind of Kindred are you?” Dani said, asking the question that had been nagging at her since Lavi had told her about the various kinds. “I have heard that some of you grow fangs and bite a female at the moment of…of breeding.” She blushed. “And that others share a female between them. And I had also heard that some of your kind turn into beasts.” She shivered at the thought and clutched the sud-stab in her right pocket. “So which are you?”
He gave a soft, low chuckle that seemed to warm her all over. He had a nice laugh.
“You seem to think we’re all some kind of monsters.”
“That is what others are saying about you. Can you deny it is true?” Dani demanded.
Ky’s piercing eyes sobered.
“I don’t deny there are many different kinds of Kindred. We’re genetic traders, as I told you, so we take on some of the physical characteristics of the peoples we mate and trade with. There are Beast Kindred from Rageron but they don’t turn into beasts, they just have some beast-like characteristics. And there are Blood Kindred—the kind with fangs. But they only bite their mates to pleasure or heal them. As for Twin Kindred—the males who share a female—that is the way the Goddess designed them. It takes two of them to mate with a woman and produce offspring but they are always gentle and protective with the females they choose.”
“Yes, but which kind are you?” Dani demanded. She felt tense and on edge, the sud-stab still clutched in one sweating hand. Would he suddenly turn into a beast, despite his words?
“I’m none of those kind,” Ky said simply. “I’m a Touch Kindred.”
“A what?” Dani frowned. “What does that mean?”
He took a deep breath, as though he was debating about the wisdom of explaining. Finally he said, “It means I’m able to Touch someone else not just physically but with my mind.”
“I don’t understand.” She shook her head. “How could you touch someone with your mind?”
“Like this…” His pale green eyes grew heavy lidded and suddenly unseen fingers whispered across her cheek and stroked a strand of hair from her face. At the same time, an invisible hand stroked over her shoulder and down her arm. It was as though the big Kindred was free of his bonds and standing in front of her touching her…only he wasn’t. His hands were still manacled and held immobile above his head. There was no way he could be touching her physically and yet, he was.
There was only one explanation for this—black magic.
A gasp caught in her throat and Dani drew out the sud-stab and thumbed the button on its side. A blade of wickedly sharp blue steel punched out and she gripped the handle tight.
Almost before he could draw another breath, she was on him. Putting a knee against his crotch, she grabbed a handful of his thick brown hair and yanked it back, baring the strong cords of his throat. Positioning the sharp tip of the sud-stab just below his ear, she glared into his surprised eyes.
“You didn’t tell me you were a shag-ra! Never touch me with your magic again or I will kill you.”
“Easy…easy, little girl!” His eyes were wide—not frightened so much as surprised, Dani thought. “I don’t know what a shag-ra is but it’s not magic—it’s just my Touch sense.”
“It must be magic—black magic,” Dani insisted. “And a shag-ra is a dark magician—one who uses his powers to hurt others for gain.”
“I’m not that—I wouldn’t do that,” he protested. “Look, if you’ll just let me explain you’ll see that it’s a natural part of me—of who I am.”
“What you are is a shag-ra,” Dani muttered but she took the sud-stab point from under his ear and stepped back, though she kept the small, sharp weapon ready in her hand if he tried anything else.
“Goddess…” Ky swallowed hard and eyed her with apparent admiration. “You’re fierce, little girl.”
“I have told you before, I am not little not among my people.” Dani glared at him, though before she had rather liked his nickname for her.
“Our peoples are different,” Ky said gently, his deep voice a soft rumble. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t get along. People only fear what they don’t understand…let me explain to you.”
“Well…” Dani frowned, then nodded grudgingly. “All right. Speak but don’t work your magic on me again. My people believe that a shag-ra is evil and must die at once.”
“I promise, I mean you no harm,” Ky said earnestly. “I wouldn’t even have shown you my Touch sense except you asked what kind of Kindred I am.”
Dani lifted an eyebrow at him. “This ‘Touch sense’ of yours—can you use it to hurt someone?”
He sighed. “If I wanted to, sure. But I took an oath not to because it’s not for that. Using it that way would be barbaric—wrong.”
“What is it for then?” Dani demanded.
“For what I just did,” Ky said in a low voice. “For Touching a female I’m attracted to—for touching my mate.”
“You have a mate?” This had not occurred to her before though Dani now felt it should have been the first question she asked the big Kindred.
But he was already shaking his head.
“No, I’ve never been mated. But if I did claim a female as my mate, I would use my Touch sense on her—my whisper fingers and whisper lips—to pleasure her.”
Dani frowned. It must have been these “whisper fingers” he had used to touch her with. But…what about the other thing he had said?
“You have another set of lips?”
“It’s part of my Touch sense. It feels like a real mouth—warm and wet and soft—against your flesh. Or the flesh of a female I was claiming as my own,” he added quickly.
For a moment—just a moment—Dani imagined what it would be like to have that secret, invisible mouth on her flesh…to feel the lips pressing softly against her skin, the tongue tasting her body…
No! She pushed the thought away quickly. It was wrong—forbidden—to use such magic on anyone. And no matter what the Kindred said, being able to touch someone without using your body was magic. What else could you call it?
“I must go,” she said abruptly. “I have been here too long already.”
“I understand. I never should have Touched you.” A look of remorse came over his face. “I’m sorry, Dani. You’re just so beautiful. I’ve never…never wanted so badly to use my Touch sense on anyone. But I should have restrained myself—should have just explained my Touch sense to you without giving you a demonstration.”
“Yes, you should have,” she said shortly.
“Look—don’t go. I promise not to do it again.” His green eyes were pleading. “Please, we were just getting to know each other.”
“I must go—the banquet will be over soon and my father will return to his royal bedchamber. I must not get caught here when he returns,” Dani told him.
“Will you at least promise to come back and visit me again?” Ky asked. “It gets fucking lonely in here, little girl. And, well…I was hoping to get to know you better.”
Dani bit her lip. Should she promise to come back? It was a risk every time she came. And now that she knew he had witch powers, she ought to avoid him like the plague—Lavi would. Any self-respecting and decently cautious Goshan female would.
Perversely, it was that thought which made her decide to come again to the small, private cell. Why should she act as every other female acted? Why should she always obey the rules and believe everything she had been taught? Maybe the Kindred was not so bad—maybe he was even telling the truth about his “Touch sense.”
Maybe.
“All right,” she said at last. “I will try to come back. And I will try to nudge my father into coming to see you.” She crossed the room and held the sud-stab to his throat again. She glared into the big Kindred’s eyes. “But if I do, you must swear not to hurt him with your powers.”
“I told you…” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple working delicately against the point of her knife. “I told you, it’s not for that—not for hurting people. It’s for when I find a mate—a female I want to bond to me forever.”
“Well…” Dani thought of the gentle brush of the unseen hands across her cheek and shoulder. “All right,” she concluded at last and withdrew the sud-stab for the second time. “I’ll take your word for it.”
She picked up the heavy gold vase, now only half filled with water, and turned to go but Ky called her back.
“When will I see you again, Dani?” There was both uncertainty and hope in his deep voice.
“I don’t know. The next time I can be certain my father will be away from his royal chambers for some time.”
She turned to go again but as she slipped through the door in the corner of the cell she heard him speak once more.
“Goodbye, little girl. Be safe and may the Goddess watch over you.”
Dani turned her head to see him looking at her. Their eyes met and for an instant, it seemed his strange pale green eyes would pierce right through her soul. For a moment she wondered if he would try to Touch her again. But she felt no invisible fingers or hands or mouths—there was only the force of his eyes on hers, holding her to him, not wanting to let her go.
It seemed to last for an eternity, her heart drumming in her chest, her breath quick and light in her ears. At last she was able to drag her eyes from the Kindred’s and shut the door behind her. Clutching the heavy vase, she ran down the dark corridor as fast as she could, unable to forget the way he had looked at her.