Neh’sa passed through the fire and Thorn caught her. She felt the flames close around her and for a moment she couldn’t breathe she was so afraid.
Then she realized that though she could feel the warmth of the burning inferno surrounding her, it wasn’t unbearable. Indeed, it wasn’t nearly as hot as it had felt from the outside as she stood and watched the big Kindred burn.
“Told you you’d be all right, sweetheart.” Thorn cradled her to his chest as he glared defiantly at the Krine and his guards. “It’s like I said—you’re part of me now and I’m part of you. My flames can’t hurt my bonded mate.”
Neh’sa wasn’t sure how she felt about being bonded to him but there was no time to discuss the matter. They still had to get away from the palace in one piece.
And from the look on the Krine’s face, that wasn’t going to be easy.
“What manner of witchcraft is this?” he bellowed. “Is the female a Pyro too? How can she burn yet not be consumed?”
“She is bonded to me now—I have claimed her,” Thorn growled. “No other male can touch her or they will burn—burn with the fire of a thousand suns. I will see to it personally.”
“My Krine,” one of the guards said uneasily. “What if he speaks the truth? See—the Yonnite female flames as much as he does himself. What if he had transferred some of his powers to her?”
“Powers be damned,” the Krine shouted in a voice like thunder. “Kill them! If I cannot have the Mistress, none can have her! My will is being disobeyed—kill them both for this blasphemy!”
The guard raised his blaster but Thorn lifted a hand and a stream of fire that looked white-hot, like the plasma center of a star, shot out. The moment it hit the blaster, the weapon was transformed into a dripping, glowing mass of melted metal.
“Ah! My hand—my hand!” the guard shrieked, shaking his hand frantically. Droplets of the molten metal flew out, hitting the other guards in the face and eyes, causing some of them to drop their weapons as well.
“Stay back, I said,” Thorn roared. “I’m leaving now and I’m taking Neh’sa with me!”
“Never!” The Krine himself was suddenly blocking their path. “No male comes to my planet and refutes my will! Both of you will die.” He grabbed a thick, spiked cane from the nearest rack and raised it over his head.
He never got a chance to swing. Thorn shot out a hand again and this time the stream of white-hot plasma was aimed directly at the Krine.
This was no warning fireball to be put out by a few quick slaps. The plasma coated the Krine, sticking to him like glowing jelly. In a split second, the ruler of Berroff Prime was a shrieking, flailing torch.
Thorn dodged out of the way, keeping himself and Neh’sa out of reach, as the other male spun around wildly, seeking in vain to put himself out.
The Krine blundered into some of the heavy red velvet drapes which covered the walls of the dungeon room. They caught at once, the flames racing around the circular room until the entire space was bathed in flames.
The guards were shouting and scattering, trying to get away. Their shouting brought others running but when they got to the door, they stopped short, their eyes open wide in disbelief as they saw what had become of the dungeon.
The Krine, still screaming, had gotten himself entangled with the agony cross. He fell with the heavy piece of equipment on top of him and writhed like a burning bug beneath it, his bellowing wails filling the air and echoing over the hungry sound of the flames. The air was thick with smoke and the stench of roasting flesh, making Neh’sa want to gag.
She didn’t want to see anymore. She wasn’t one to turn away from a crisis, but in this case, there was literally nothing she could do. She had to trust Thorn to get them through this, to get them out of this awful situation without getting killed.
He still held her tightly to him as he approached the knot of guards who had gathered to stare helplessly into the dungeon room.
“Stand back,” he growled, glaring at them. “Let us pass or I swear by the Goddess you’ll all burn. Stand back!”
His threat seemed to make a big impression—the guards scattered, running away as if the demons of the Seven Hells were after them. Which might not be far from the truth, Neh’sa though faintly.
Thorn carried her through the long, twisting stone corridors of the palace, occasionally threatening someone to let them pass. At last, just when Neh’sa had been certain their journey would never end, she heard Thorn murmur through the strange, mental link they somehow had.
“Its all right, sweetheart. We’re back to my ship. We’re safe now.”
She opened her eyes and saw he was telling the truth. They were standing in the docking area, a vast, U-shaped walkway of metal as big as a field but floating in the empty space between the two jagged peaks where the palace was located. Metal ramps connected various ships, which were docked around the silver metal U, to the surface of the floating platform.
Then she got another shock of fear.
Standing to their left, was the pirate crew who had kidnapped her and brought her here. Their leader—the one with the cybernetic patch—was looking at Thorn in awe.
“Brother,” he said at last, managing to recover his voice. “How…what happened in there?” He nodded at the palace behind them.
Looking over Thorn’s broad shoulder, Neh’sa saw the entire huge structure now had flames shooting from many of its windows. It might be made of stone but there were obviously plenty of flammable materials within.
“The same thing that’s going to happen to any male who tries to touch my female again,” Thorn growled, giving the captain a meaningful look. “The Krine and many of his guards are dead. I advise you to get the Seven Hells out of here before the rest of them mobilize and come looking for revenge.”
“But we didn’t even get paid!” one of the pirates complained.
The pirate with the eye-patch shook his head.
“Our pay this time is getting out with our lives. Come, lads—we’re leaving before this Pyro bastard decides to burn the whole fucking world down around us.”
Neh’sa didn’t understand how it wasn’t burning right now—specifically the metal platform they were standing on. She’d seen the way Thorn’s fire had melted the metal blaster in the guard’s hand—why wasn’t it melting through the U-shaped docking platform?
“Because I’m able to control how hot it is now—I was never able to do that before,” Thorn sent her and she realized he must have heard her thoughts through their strange new link. “And being able to control and direct my fire…I could never do that either. Not until we bonded.” He looked into her eyes as he carried her over to a ship which was presumably his. “You’ve changed me, Neh’sa.”
Neh’sa thought of the shameful way she’d submitted to him…and the way his seed might even now be taking root in her womb.
“You’ve changed me too, Thorn,” she said and couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of her voice. “I can’t go back home now—not until I know…” But she couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t say she wouldn’t be able to go home until she learned if she was pregnant or not and what the sex of the child might be if she was.
“I’m sorry.” They had reached the ship and his flame abruptly went out. He sat her on her feet as he reached to palm open the door-lock. “I didn’t plan to bond you to me. But there was no other way to extend my protection to you from my fire—no other way to get you out of there. And there was no way to bond you without filling you with my seed.”
Neh’sa looked away from his searching eyes.
“I’m grateful, of course. Grateful you came after me and rescued me. Though I still don’t know why you did it.”
“Don’t you?” he demanded. “Neh’sa, how could you think I would leave you to be taken by those bastards?”
“I don’t know—maybe the fact that you lied to me about your reasons for wanting to be my slave in the first place?” she shot back, feeling put on the defensive. She didn’t know who she was anymore—the cool, collected Mistress who had ruled her life for so long seemed to be gone. In her place was an uncertain woman, frightened of the future and shamed by her actions.
I begged him to take me—to dominate and use me, she thought, feeling a surge of humiliation rush through her. I offered myself in ways I never had before—not even with Heroth!
“Neh-sa—” Thorn began.
“Sscaners indicate a party is coming from the palace and they do not appear to be happy,” a low, hissing voice interrupted. “Logic dictatesss that the two of you should come aboard so that we can depart asss soon asss possible.”
“He’s right—come on.” Thorn led the way into the small space ship and Neh’sa saw the same Horvath who had declined to help her earlier sitting at the controls.
“What’s he doing here?” she asked, frowning.
“Flying the damn ship so we can get out of here. Go!” Thorn motioned at the lizard-like alien who licked one slitted eyeball with his forked tongue and gunned the engine of the little silver ship.
“Ssstrap down,” he advised them. “To evade pursuit I mussst use a wormhole that is lesss than stable. It isss apt to be a bumpy ride.”