After their lovemaking, Mikolaus slept, but Hannah could find no such peace.
She thought of all the ways she’d described the allure of Lurra to herself: addictive, intoxicating, seductive.
Those weren’t terms of approbation.
She’d been here barely a week and look how quickly she’d adopted Lurran customs—traipsing around half-naked and bedding a local.
Her metamorphosis was alarming.
Hannah put her hands to her face. She wanted to cuddle up next to Mikolaus until he woke and made love to her again.
Part of her was embarrassed and wanted to run. But another part of her wanted to stay on Lurra forever.
Yet another part of her worried about the effects of such a life.
What’s happening to me?
She peeked at Mikolaus.
He is spectacular, she thought. No blame in wanting to touch that, as Ambassador Urkiza had so explicitly worded it.
Hannah crawled from the bed and slipped into the bathing room to dress. Her undergarments were in a heap on the corner, but at least they weren’t torn. She pulled on her tunic before daring to look at her reflection—slowly she brought her eyes up to her face. The reflection disturbed Hannah.
Who are you?
The woman gazing back was a goddess. Her hair was a red gold halo surrounding a face relaxed, satisfied, and confident.
I don’t know you.
She walked softly to the door, then turned to look at Mikolaus one last time.
How can I face him when I can barely face myself?
She slipped out.
The hallways were vacant, the building quiet. She found the pit and climbed the stairs, ashamed to look where she and Mikolaus danced so provocatively mere hours before. She pushed out the front door and walked into the last darkness of night.
Which way? Hannah wondered. She turned and looked both directions, but recognized neither. “Well, how lost can I get?” she said aloud, and started walking.
Behind her footsteps echoed between the buildings. Hannah stopped as a man caught up with her.
“Hello,” she said, greeting the stranger as she might in a similar situation on E2. “I’m not from here and I’m a little lost. Can you tell me how to get to the delegation headquarters?”
The man smiled. His eyes were blue, his face friendly and open as he listened to her. “You’re part of the EDA delegation?” he asked.
“Yes, I―”
“Then you are not lost at all.”
Hannah frowned. The man stepped closer and it suddenly occurred to her to be afraid. Before she could move, though, he grabbed her by the neck. He pulled a cloth out from a pocket and clamped it over her mouth.
She inhaled to scream.
* * *
Hannah rocked back and forth, gently wrapped in a cocoon of fuzzy memory.
Mikolaus. How I love being in his arms.
She felt herself smile as she reached out for him. Her hand met hard wood, and the smile puckered with worry.
“She’s coming around, Kazen.”
A woman’s voice. But not the ambassador’s. Not one of the other delegates’ voices, either.
Something worrisome wiggled in the back of Hannah’s mind. She rapped a knuckle on the hard wood again, and then opened her eyes.
“Hello, dearie,” came the voice again. A woman bent over Hannah, a look of concern in her eyes.
Hannah sat up slowly. Her mouth felt like she’d eaten chalk and her head pounded. She rode in some kind of wooden conveyance, unable to see outside the covering. “Where am I? Who are you?” She looked the woman over, suddenly remembering the man on the street.
“You drugged me?” Hannah blurted. A panic began to stir—nothing like this would ever happen on E2. “Who are you people? What do you want with me?”
The conveyance stopped rocking. “We’re here,” the woman told Hannah. “Kazen will answer all your questions.”
A flap was pulled back and the man who drugged her looked in. He smiled, not threatening at all. “I’m Kazen, and I welcome you to the Outlands.” He stepped back and extended his arm in invitation.
Hannah relaxed, her rising panic subsided.
“I’m Osana,” the woman said. “You are?”
“Hannah.”
Osana rose and stepped back. “Come, Hannah. Met the Outlanders.” She climbed down and waited.
Hannah looked out and saw a primitive encampment situated alongside—perhaps in conjunction with—several rundown buildings on the edge of what looked to her like wildlands.
“Where are we?” she asked Osana as she climbed down.
The buildings were broken but maintained. She peeked at the front of their conveyance, and gasped. “Oh, what animal is that?” She knew she stared bug-eyed, but she had never seen any creature outside of books.
She’d never expected to see one, either. Especially one bigger than her.
“This is a horse,” Osana said.
Hannah whipped around. “Where am I? Where’s Galicia? If you plan on keeping me here, Mikolaus will come for me.”
Kazen stepped up. “Perhaps that won’t be necessary.”
Osana held out her hand. “Come. You must be thirsty, and hungry.”
She stared at the other woman for a long, silent moment. But finally, sensing no imminent threat, Hannah saw no point in resisting.
The buildings were old and made of brick and mortar, or blocks of stone. While the roofs were intact, the window casings were empty of glass, and outside, animals far beyond Hannah’s experience roamed about.
Inside, Osana offered a chair, inviting Hannah to sit at a table where there was a pitcher and several cups.
Hannah stared at the drink suspiciously, but once Osana had gotten one, smiling as if she knew what Hannah must be thinking, she finally joined and poured her own drink to wash the chalkiness from her mouth.
“What do you people want with me?” She looked up as Osana set a plate of steaming food in front of her. It smelled delicious. “You drugged me once,” Hannah said. “How do I know this food isn’t drugged as well?”
Kazen came to the table with a basket and another plate and utensils. “We’ll share,” he said, setting down the basket. “Try these. Osana makes the best meal cakes.”
He scooped a portion of Hannah’s food onto his plate before taking two of the cakes. He nodded to her. “Eat. We mean you no harm.”
When she didn’t respond immediately, he laughed and took a bite of each portion of food. “You can have these, if you’re still concerned.”
Hannah’s mouth watered. The cakes were palm-sized and golden brown. She pulled one out of the basket and bit into it, tasting corn and butter, and then spooned up a bite of the stew. Again, her mouth watered, dissolving her fear. “You didn’t say why you kidnapped me.”
Osana sat with them at the table. “We’re not being treated fairly.”
Hannah paused. “How so?” she asked. A new anxiety bloomed in her chest. She set down her spoon.
“There is no place on Lurra for us,” said Kazen. “We’re the people who don’t fit into triad society. Officials ignore us, and we’re relegated to these outlands to live no better than animals, surviving on what we can scrape together.”
Since landing on Lurra, Hannah had thought over and over, this is too good to be true.
And here was the confirmation.
With a sinking sensation settling into her belly, she asked, “What do you mean you don’t fit in with the triad society?”
“Not all relationships,” Osana said, “not all quads, end in happy ever after, in spite of the constant programing the State promotes.” She shot a glance at Kazen.
He stared stiffly at his bowl of stew. Slowly, he looked up. “We want a place in the coming alliance between Lurra and the EDA, a right to live as Lurrans—actual citizens, not Outlanders. The Inlanders ignore us, so by taking you, we intend to get the EDA’s attention. We want them will listen to what we have to say.”
Hannah stared out the window.
What will Mikolaus do when he finds me gone?
* * *
“Hannah,” Mikolaus mumbled. He drifted awake and reached out for her.
His hand slid across empty sheets.
He sat up on the edge of the bed. “Hannah,” he called out softly. He tilted his head, listening. A glance around the room told him her tunic was not where he’d dropped it last night.
Looking over his shoulder at the bed, he recalled their night of lovemaking. She was more woman than he’d met in a long time.
Her hair was a silken sunset,her skin the color of summer moonlight—and when he kissed her, nothing else in the world mattered.
He’d been certain she’d felt something similar for him.
“Why would she leave?” he asked the empty room, mystified.
When they finished making love last night, he’d held her in his arms. She fit so perfectly against him, it was as though they were two pulled from matching molds.
He told her, “My triad-brothers are Domiku and Luken. Domiku is not a big talker, and Luken is shy and sweet. I think that all together, the three of us make the perfect mate.”
He kissed her deeply, inhaling her scent, sharing his warmth and his heart.
“When do I get to meet them?” she asked.
“As brothers, we are inseparable. Many triads who lose a brother before they become a quad are devastated, taking years to find a replacement. So, this makes us quite protective of each other.” He stroked her neck and deposited a kiss. “You’ll meet them very soon. You will love them, I know, and they will love you,” he whispered, before falling asleep.
Glancing about the empty room, Mikolaus rose and dressed, looking around for anything she might have left.
Did I frighten her with talk of my brothers?
With no answers, and finding he was alone except for his memories, he left for the delegation headquarters. Once outside Zerura, he noted he had slept well past sunrise.
When he reached the delegation headquarters and Hannah’s room, her door was not locked. Inside, her things were untouched.
Suddenly, his shoulders tightened and the hairs on the back of his neck stiffened. He frowned.
Something is wrong.
He went immediately to Ambassador Gray’s room and knocked.
“Mikolaus,” the ambassador said. He was in his night clothes and rubbed at his eyes. “A little early, do you think? What can I do for you at this hour?”
“Sir, I am sorry to disturb you. But Hannah is missing.”
Gray squinted at Mikolaus. “Missing, you say?”
Mikolaus tightened his lips, dreading what he had to say next. “We went out last night to a club, and we … we …”
“Yes?” the ambassador probed. He was alert now, and his searching look disarmed Mikolaus.
“We spent the night together and when I woke, she was gone. She is not in her room.”
Gray studied Mikolaus for a long moment. “Did you argue, or say something to upset her?” He opened the door wide and motioned Mikolaus in. “Do you suspect foul play? Or an accident perhaps?”
“Sir, Hannah and I are drawn to each other. Our coming together was a natural course of events. We did not argue.” Mikolaus hated to share anything of his and Hannah’s personal time with the ambassador. “I believe we should begin a search.”
“All right. I’ll notify Urkiza,” Gray said.
“I’ll collect my brothers. We’ll meet you out front.”
Mikolaus hurried to the home he and his triad shared. He burst through the door, shouting. “Luken. Domiku.”
Domiku appeared first, coming down the stairs. “What has you so loud this early in the day?” He eyed Mikolaus up and down. “You’ve been with a woman―the delegate?”
“Yes. But she’s missing,” Mikolaus blurted.
“You made love to her and then lost her?” Domiku lifted his brows with concern. “Are you losing your touch?”
Luken walked in and clapped Mikolaus on the back. “What’s all the noise about in here?” He gave Mikolaus the once over. “Evening clothes? Where were you last night?”
“Luken, she’s gone,” Mikolaus said.
“Your delegate―Hannah? You’ve lost a woman? How is that possible?”
“I’m afraid―” Mikolaus’s voice trailed off.
“We’ll find her, brother. Don’t worry,” Domiku said. “Come on, Luken. We have a woman to find.”
Mikolaus waited while they dressed. His brothers—how could she not love his triad? He paced until they came back down, dressed for the hunt.
Before they left, Luken asked, “What if the Outlanders have her?”
Mikolaus had tried not to let that fear invade his thoughts. “If they have her,” he said, his voice turning grim, “we will take her back.”
One glance at his brothers told him they were with him.
Luken, normally so peaceful and bookish, pulled his knife out and held up the blade so he could examine it. The early sun shining through the window glinted off its razor edge.
Domiku held his bow and shifted a quiver full of arrows onto his back. “They will not keep our woman. If she’s there, we’ll find her.”
Seeing his brothers so ready to defend their prospective mate, even before meeting her, gave Mikolaus a brief respite from his fear. He exhaled heavily, releasing the thread of anxiety that had gripped him since waking in an empty bed.
“We’ll bring her home,” he said. “If I have to kill every Outlander in existence.”