Seth’s eyes blazed with renewed anger and his jaw worked as though he was figuring out a reply. She had him dead to rights. Most of the nobility had courtesans; it was considered an honorable profession for the lower classes. But love? Love rarely, if ever, entered into the equation.

From the fury in his eyes, Seth didn’t like being reminded of that fact. Confusion reigned in her heart. He’d started this on the morning she’d run, offering her a whore’s silks instead of the betrothal band she had expected…hell, that she’d had every right to expect. Jaida wasn’t lower class; her blood was as noble as his. For him to take her to bed, to take her virginity, and then not to offer marriage was an insult of the highest order.

How could he have offered her marriage though? His valet had taken great pleasure in informing her Seth was already betrothed, or as good as. The arrangements for his marriage to Princess Amelia of the sixth princedom were already underway, started long before he started to woo Jaida. Something he had completely failed to mention to her.

Their eyes stayed locked. She refused to look away. She was right, and he knew it. None of the rules of polite society or the rules that governed courtesans applied here. He’d blown that rule book out of the sky five years ago.

He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he had been going to say was cut off by an insistent jingle from the main room. An incoming call, and if the three chirps repeated over and over again were any indication, an important one.

“I don’t fucking believe this,” he growled and pushed off from her. Shivering at the loss of his body heat, she pulled the silk that had been her gown back around her and lay still.

Hot tears prickled at the back of her eyes, but she ignored them. She’d thought she could do this, divorce herself from her emotions and let him have what he wanted…let him fuck her, spend his lust on her body until he tired of her. Then she could fade into the background, disappear to some backwater planet and live out her life without being chased. Maybe even one day find a man and have a family…

She closed down on the thought before it fully materialized. Plans like that weren’t going to work, because she couldn’t do this. She’d thought she could, but she couldn’t. As a child she’d dreamed of what her life would be like. A child’s dream of a perfect life complete with a romantic prince and a fairy-tale wedding.

Her dreams had been shattered along with her heart, but there was one thing left from her childhood she couldn’t shake. She couldn’t just have sex with Seth, with any man she didn’t love. It was a line she’d never crossed, no matter how desperate she’d been, even though the life of a whore would have provided her with enough money for a comfortable existence.

She bit her lip. If she lay with Seth then that was it, all the feelings buried deep, locked down in that part of her heart she’d sealed off five years ago, would be ripped out and exposed to the light. She didn’t know if she could survive that again…

Seth’s voice rumbled in the next room, carefully lowered so she couldn’t pick up what he was saying. Jaida didn’t bother to listen. She didn’t care what he had to say to his staff or the orders he gave. Someone else might have been bothered, and often courtesans were used as spies, but she was so far from a spy it was laughable. Unless, of course, there was a new breed of spy who couldn’t wait to get as far away from her target as possible.

Her eyes traced the pattern in the silk overhead. If her five-year flight had taught her anything, it had taught her to consider very move before she made it. Escaping from Seth now, when she was on his ship, was going to be difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish.

She’d never been one to back down from a challenge.

Seth appeared in the doorway to interrupt her musings but came no farther. Jaida turned her head to look at him. He appeared ill at ease, his normally immaculate hair tousled across his broad shoulders and a frown on his face. Her heart twisted a little more, her determination not to show emotion fighting the need to go to him and smooth the frown from his brow.

Cold, emotionless, she reminded herself. Seth wasn’t stupid; if she changed her attitude now, he was going to smell a rat. She rolled to her feet, wrapping the silk around her body toga style.

“My lord?” she asked, keeping her distance on the other side of the bed.

“I have to leave. We have a minor problem on the Alcarian border.” His explanation was clipped as his silver eyes swept over her. Gone was the heat she’d seen earlier, replaced with a cold professional look. In that moment she knew she’d gone from being the woman he wanted in his bed to a puzzle to be solved.

A shiver ran up her spine. She’d seen that look before, right before he’d started to woo her. Her jaw set a little in determination. If that was his game, then he was shit out of luck, because she wasn’t allowing him the chance to get past her defenses again.

“You’ll be comfortable in here,” he continued, oblivious to the thoughts running through her head and the plans beginning to form there. “If you need anything else, all you have to do is comm me and I’ll make sure you’re tended to. Is there anything you’d like in particular?”

She cocked an eyebrow, every inch the noble lady she’d been. “My freedom?”

His chuckle was a rich burr of sound around the plush room. “Anything but that. That’s the one thing you’ll never get from me, I told you that already.”

She shrugged. “Actually there is something…”

Seth looked at her in interest as he neared, his footsteps masked by the plush carpeting. Even without the carpet she knew she wouldn’t have heard his approach if he didn’t want her to. He was a warrior prince not only in name but in reality, going through the same harsh training as his men did. It was what made him one of the most feared of the Imperial Princes.

“Name it, anything.” His lips curved into a small, indulgent smile as he pulled her into his arms.

Jaida schooled herself to go quietly, reminding herself not to fight him. If she was honest with herself, it was no hardship. Even though she told herself differently she wanted to be in his arms.

He pulled her closer, fitting her against the hard plains of his body as he studied her face. “So beautiful.” He traced the line of her cheekbone, then her jaw with his fingertip. “I promise I’ll always look after you, treasure you…anything you want you can have. Just don’t ask me to let you go, because I won’t.”

The moment stretched between them, awareness and tension spiraling out of control as his fingertip traced her lips. The need to relax against him, rest her head on his shoulder, and agree to anything he wanted grew until it was nearly overwhelming. She cleared her throat and looked away.

“It’s nothing much. I would like to use the hydroponics garden, please. If I recall, you have a temple to the Lady there…it’s been a long time since I paid my respects in a proper temple.”

She went for the jugular with a guilt trip. It was his fault that she hadn’t been able to pursue her faith at any of the mainstream temples. Any sighting of her would bring his men into town quicker than a market brought out bargain hunters.

As she expected, he winced but recovered quickly. “Of course, my lady. Feel free to wander this deck as you will. I would ask though that you do not try to enter any restricted areas. My guards can be somewhat vigilant in their duties and I wouldn’t want you to get hurt by accident.”

She inclined her head and extricated herself from his embrace as though his touch burned. “Of course my lord, I wouldn’t dream of it. I merely intend to spend my time in devotion.”

Devotion to getting herself out of here, that was.

* * *

Less than an hour later, Jaida’s plan was well under way. None of the guards who accompanied her commented on her all-concealing red robe as they made their way to the hydroponic garden. She hadn’t expected them to. Some men preferred their women covered up, which meant no one would guess she wasn’t wearing the silk gown of a fallen woman underneath, but a fitted ship suit instead.

It was one of Seth’s. In the black of Sector Seven, it even had the unit insignia embroidered at the collar. It was too long and baggy from mid-thigh down and virtually painted on across her hips, but it made no difference to her what she looked like. She didn’t plan on letting anyone see her wearing it, and paired with the heaviest boots she could find, too big but laced tightly to the top, she was all set for her escape.

She nodded to the guards as they reached the hydroponics bay and swept inside with a regal swish of her robe, careful not to let the toes of her boots peek out.

Everything in the dressing rooms Seth had provided for her had been her size. Why had he bothered? All the clothing she’d seen was expensive stuff, silks and satins from the far reaches of the galaxy. As much as men lavished gifts on their whores, it was a level of extravagance she hadn’t expected. The kind of spending a man would reserve for his wife.

Pausing in the doorway she looked around the bay. Compared to the sterile steel and flexi-glass of the ship corridors, she’d stepped into a scene from a nature program. She took a deep breath and savored the moment.

A rolling lawn filled the space in front of her, bordered by trees and formal gardens. The beds were filled with flowering plants, but nestled within them there would be other varieties with more serious uses. The art and design of hydroponic gardens was something far beyond her.

She walked up the path to the small temple on the rise, pebbles crunching under her feet. If she didn’t know better she could almost believe she was planet-side. The ceiling overhead was the finest flexi-glass, the support struts hidden, and she felt only the barest shimmer of a force field between her and the stars.

Jaida took a deep breath as she reached the marble columns of the temple at the top of the small hill. For a moment her plan was forgotten as she paused to center herself, allowing the tranquility of the temple to wash over her.

It had been so long since she’d prayed in a proper temple, even one of the huge public ones, and longer since she’d had the luxury of a private one. Most of the time she had to make do with an idol in the corner of her sleeping chamber. Silence surrounded her as she knelt before the altar, her knees pillowed by a purple velvet cushion.

“Lady in whom we place our trust…”

The familiar prayer was a balm to her wounded soul. Her lips formed the words by rote as the tang of the temple incense surrounded her, and she felt peace steal over her. Her lashes fluttered against her cheeks, then she opened her eyes and looked at the symbol in front of her on the wall. Three interlocking circles, the symbol of the mother-goddess, hung in hammered gold.

The same symbol was chiseled into the stone before her. As part of the ritual, her slender fingers traced the second circle in the group, that of the goddess in her fertile, motherly aspect rather than the circle of the maiden. She didn’t worship the maiden aspect, not since she’d become a woman. “…Lady’s will be done.”

Her prayer finished, Jaida stood. Swift footsteps took her to doorway of the small temple, and she looked out to check if any of the guards had followed her in. She didn’t expect any of them would have. One courtesan wasn’t exactly a threat to a bunch of big, mean commandos. Her lips quirked in amusement. Courtesans were pampered and spoiled, their only duties to warm their master’s beds and look pretty. “Not do a hard day’s work and then leave before getting your wages because you needed to split before they caught you.”

She stripped off the red robe and stuffed it under the altar. Pulling the altar cloth smooth, she looked at the scene again. Nothing out of place, it looked as though no one had been there. Good. She needed to conceal her movements and appearance as long as possible. If they thought they were looking for a woman in a red robe, then this was going to be so much easier.

There was only one door to the temple, the one she’d come in. As it was in full view of the hydroponic bay, leaving that way wasn’t an option. Besides, the main bay was covered by the internal security net, so if she stepped out of here dressed like this, her cover was blown.

Turning back, she fixed her gaze on the small windows to either side of the altar. There had to be another way out, and she had an idea where to find it. Hurrying over she swept the voile away from the narrow openings and leaned out over the wide ledge.

As expected the temple structure backed onto the maintenance area. Below her, sheltered between the temple walls and concealing shrubs, were the pumps for the irrigation and sprinkler systems.

“Bingo.” In the middle of the small recess was what she was looking for: an access hatch.

She boosted herself onto the sill and wriggled through the window and dropped down the other side. The crunch of her boots hitting the deck plating sounded like a gunshot. Jaida froze in her crouch. The internal sensors had to have picked that up. Holding her breath, she waited for the thunder of feet heading toward her hiding place.

Long seconds passed, and the only thunder she heard was her own heart in her ears. Slowly she released the breath she’d been holding, and for a brief second, hope filled her. Ruthlessly she squashed it…she would make it or she wouldn’t; hope had nothing to do with it. Hope just made her want things she shouldn’t, and dream dreams she had no business even thinking about.

It only took her a few seconds to open the access hatch. Some thoughtful soul had scrawled the access code under the lock. She grinned as her fingers danced over the keypad; looked like someone had locked themselves out of the maintenance tubes one time too many.

As she climbed down, she lowered the hatch back into place behind her. The lock slid back with a metallic thunk as she dropped the last couple of feet. Unlike the deck above, this one wasn’t solid. The floor was made up of removable mesh panels suspended over the power lines, data cables, and other piping of the ship’s systems. Lighting was by way of luminescent cable running along the “ceiling”. It was low level and dim, not enough to work by, but more than enough to see.

After a quick check along the corridor, she headed toward the shuttle bay. Her experiences on the run had honed her sense of direction, so the twisting maze of tunnels posed no challenge, and before long she was kneeling behind a grate, looking at the entrance to the shuttle bay.

The guarded entrance to the shuttle bay.

Swearing under her breath, she drew back into the access tube. Two heavily built guards leaned either side of the double doors to the bay, right in her path. They looked bored as hell. One leaned against the wall, his head against the metal, while the other clicked coins from finger to finger, adding more each time. Curses filled the corridor as he lost control and the coins clattered across the corridor floor.

How the hell was she going to get past them? Crouched in the shaft she studied the problem from all sides and tried to work it out in her mind. She couldn’t just walk past them, and even though she knew how to take care of herself in a fight, these were Sector Seven commandos. They’d drop her to the floor and hog-tie her before she got the first punch in.

No, she needed an angle, the element of surprise, and a shit-load of luck.

* * *

“I’m freaking bored, man.”

Kelis sighed at the comment and concentrated on the coins he was flipping from finger to finger. He was up to five now and holding the rhythm. So far. He wasn’t very good at it yet, but the chicks really dug it. Plus it beat whining like Tamrin.

“You’re always bored, Tam.”

“Well, are you surprised? We’ve been staring at this bit of corridor for the last five hours. I mean, I know we’re “protecting His Highness” and all that, but I hardly think they’re gonna be stupid enough to try and get aboard a shuttle. That’s like…breaking in through the front door or something.”

Kelis flipped more coins. Tamrin had a point, but he wasn’t going to admit that. They were Sector Seven, and the unit motto was “put up and shut up”…well, the unofficial one anyway. Officially there was a motto about death and honor and all that, but most S-Seven personnel did what they were told, when they were told, regardless of the order. It was what had gained them their fearful reputation with the rest of the galaxy. They were the baddest of the bad, and not even the Imadian pirates could match them.

“Yeah well, there was that serving girl who poisoned the wine at that ball the other month and the aristo’s wife who tried with the stiletto. Actually she did come in through the front door, as I recall. Bitch was high on Tellaris root, needed seven to hold her. She was manic…it took that big bastard Jareth to take her down in the end.”

“Yeah, he’s freaking scary, man…those eyes. Manic like—what the fuck was that?”

Their heads whipped around as something clattered further down the hallway. In an instant both had pulse-pistols in their hands, eyes hard as they looked down the innocent looking corridor.

Kelis jerked his head toward the noise. Tamrin moved without a word, taking up a position on the other side of the corridor. Ghostlike, the two soldiers moved in the direction of the sound. It might just have been a coincidence, but like his old combat sergeant, Kelis didn’t believe in coincidence.

Still, it might be something as simple as a loose access hatch banging, so he didn’t call it in. Investigating with weapons drawn was more than enough. Despite what he’d said to Tamrin, this was the Prince’s flagship. Anyone who tried anything would have to be insane, or suicidal. Or both.

Their footsteps were soundless on the deck plating. Their eyes were sharp, concentration complete, both pistols aimed and unwavering.

Kel grumbled silently as they moved down the corridor, moving in a leapfrog maneuver to cover each other. If this was just something mundane, they were going to look stupid. They hit the corner, Tamrin covering Kel as he rolled to the opposite wall and to his knees. Snapping his pistol up, he looked for the target.

The corridor was empty.

Kelis swore and jerked his pistol down out of the aimed position.

“Fuck it. We’re clear. Those freaking engineers have left an access hatch loose again. I tell you man, I’m gonna bounce the duty chief for this. They’ve been told more than enough about this. You head back to the door, I’ll fix this.”

Kel stood and returned his pistol to the holster on his thigh with a vicious movement. Some engineer somewhere wasn’t going to be able to hear for a week—hell, possibly ever again—when Kelis was done with him.

“Sure man, have fun.” Tamrin didn’t argue, just put his weapon up and turned on his heel.

“Fucking engineers… If you want a job done, do it yourself,” Kelis muttered under his breath as he headed for the open access hatch. It was slightly open, the heavy door resting just against the rim.

Kel knew what had happened. Someone had come through the hatch quickly and just slammed it shut without making sure the lock engaged. Sighing, he reached out for the edge of the hatch to close it when it flew open and slammed into his gut.

“Oof!”

The blow knocked Kelis off his feet. Breathless curses about defective equipment exploded from his mouth as he rolled to his knees. He didn’t see the booted feet that emerged out of the open hatch behind him, or the crowbar that crashed down on the back of his combat helmet.

Thump…thud. Jaida winced as the guard went down. Had she hit him too hard? She didn’t want to hurt anyone, just get the hell out of here. Placing the crowbar within easy reach, she knelt by the fallen guard, and pushed her fingertips to his neck between the high collar and his helmet.

Relief flooded through her as his pulse beat strongly under her fingers. He was okay, but he’d have a hell of a headache when he woke up. She almost felt sorry for him. Conscience assuaged, she reached down and pulled the heavy pistol from its holster. Her movements were quick and precise as she checked the safety and the settings, betraying her hard won experience with this kind of weaponry. Lips pressed together, she set it to heavy stun and turned. Time to deal with the second guard.

On silent feet she padded to the corner and crouched to peep around it, her purloined pistol held loosely in her hand. Luck was with her. The second guard was kneeling down halfway along the corridor, tying his shoelaces. Jaida shook her head. It didn’t seem possible that these two were from Seth’s elite guard.

Praise the Lady for bored soldiers.

Silently she rose and stepped out from the corner. She raised the pistol and aimed. She moved her finger and clicked the laser sight on. A red dot appeared in the middle of the guards back. It wasn’t strictly necessary for the stun setting she was using but given the fact this guy was Sector Seven, she couldn’t afford to miss. He was the only thing that stood between her and a shuttle to freedom.

She pulled the trigger and watched as he slumped to the ground. She flicked a glance up, noting the security camera. It swept the corridor in a continuous arc. Even if she managed to keep out of its line of sight, someone would notice the unconscious guards. If she wanted to make it out of here, she was going to have to be fast.

Her hair swung about her shoulders as she checked behind her. She hadn’t expected to get this far, and every moment she expected to find armed men behind her.

Her lips compressed in determination. If she made it, then this time, she would get so far away he’d never find her, perhaps even the Imadian expanse. The place was riddled with pirate holdouts and fraught with clan wars, but it was the one place he’d never look for her.

First though, she had to get off this damn ship. Pistol held loosely by her side she trotted down the corridor toward the shuttle bay doors. Since she wasn’t wearing a suppression bracelet like the guards, the doors detected her life signs and slid open silently. She ducked to one side, just in case there were more guards inside, and then slowly peeked around the edge of the door.

Row upon row of sleek fighters and shuttlecraft met her eyes. At the other end of the cavernous bay, some were missing, and deckhands and mechanics milled about. That wasn’t a problem; she didn’t intend to head down to that end of the bay anyway.

She slid through the door on silent feet and took cover behind the nearest fighter. Her gaze was fixed on the shuttle bay launch doors. Opening like a massive maw, it was all that separated the bay from cold space, along with the faint shimmer of a force field. The deckhands weren’t going to be her biggest challenge; getting through that field was.