“She’s speaking, that’s a good sign,” Rick said. “Right?”
Evan couldn’t answer.
“Ago pugna quod intereo per veneration,” she whispered again.
Her blue and cream gown was two parts. The blue overtunic was edged with lighter embroidery and had wide sleeves that only went to her elbows. Her cream-colored undertunic hugged tight at the wrists, showing along with the bottom hem of the skirt from beneath the overtunic. A rounded neckline fit across her breasts, exposing the tops of them to view. Evan swallowed, his body tightening more, only this time not in fear but desire. The bodice was snug, fitted tight down to her hips, showing every feminine curve to perfection. The skirt swung out over her slender hips to rest just above her ankles. She was so frail and he knew if he touched her renewing flesh it would be soft and warm. A quiver worked over her as the smoke went down her dress.
“Ago pugna—” Suddenly, her words stopped. Her eyes opened and the wide, blue-grey orbs stared directly through him. For a moment, he felt only her. There was sorrow and rage, ripping at his soul and tearing at his heart. Beneath that anger was a sense of betrayal and defeat. His stomach hurt, nausea unsettling him. And then sharp, agonizing pain stabbed his ribs and shoulder. That’s when he saw beyond her beauty, to the bruises growing over her eyes and cheek. Scratches opened along her neck, a deep, angry welt, as if it had lain dormant with her body, just waiting for its chance to seep. Blood marred one palm, completely covering her fingers, almost glossy as if it would still be wet to the touch. Her gown was ripped, torn as if she’d struggled before being put into her prison. The woman took a deep breath, a high-pitched sound wheezing from her throat.
“The shot,” Evan demanded, fumbling for Rick’s hand. The pain was intense and he knew he was connected to her. He’d dropped his guard, let too much of her in. It hurt to breathe. He couldn’t grab the shot away from his friend, so instead, ordered, “Give her the injection now.”
The woman’s mouth opened wider and he was sure she was going to scream. How could she not? There was so much heartache and pain. Her arms stayed locked, as if held. Instead, she blinked, her blue-grey eyes still staring through him, as she said, “Do it, Jack. I’m not afraid of death.”
Jack? Did she mean Jackson? Something told Evan she was speaking of someone else, someone the rest of them couldn’t see.
Rick put the metal unit to her arm, pressing a button. She jerked as the needle entered her flesh. Evan knew because he felt it, too.
Her eyes cleared for the briefest of moments and Evan knew she saw him. Confusion rushed into him before her whole body weakened and she collapsed forward into Rick’s arms.
Evan couldn’t move. Her lingering feelings stayed inside of him, as if they were his own. He finally managed a deep breath and then another until all that sounded from his throat was ragged, panting gasps for air. Betrayal. Defeat. Anguish. Disgust. Pain. Pride. Honor. Acceptance. Death. He shook his head, trying to force the feelings out. They weren’t his to feel. He didn’t want them and yet he didn’t want her to take them back. He spent so much of his energies blocking people out, not letting them in too deep, and not daring to go too deeply into them. But this woman broke his guard. She felt too much and Evan knew he’d read too many of her emotions. And, just like Captain Samantha, just like his long dead sister, it would be so very hard to get her out.
Chapter 5
Josselyn had a vague sense of being carried, of being wrapped in a musty coverlet, of unbearable cold, of amazing warmth, of tender hands on her body, of a strangely accented voice inside her mind telling her to relax, to not fight, to be careful lest she injure herself more.
More? How could she injure herself more? And what had happened to Jack? To the men who held her? Did the others send a rescue party? But they were late. Too late. Everyone was gone, her brothers, her father, all dead. She would have wept if her eyes weren’t already filled with tears of pain.
“Easy. Careful not to jostle her...badly hurt,” the soft voice said, more like a thought than a whisper. Though she could translate enough of the star language dialect they used, it was not her native tongue and not a language she used often. It was a universal language known by almost all planets within the charted universes. Her father had insisted they learn it as children, so that they may always speak to traveling dignitaries.
As the ruling family...
Josselyn moaned as her body was hefted and adjusted. Her mind grasped to random images, trying to remember what her father, Lord Craven, had said. His voice was as clear as the summer morning inside her mind. What he said about family?
Honor. Duty. Family. People.
They were random words, words that had meaning but whose sentences she could not put together. What had her father said to them? It seemed important. She couldn’t forget, never forget. Josselyn struggled, but the words swam around, unable to be caught.
“Don’t die. Blessed Stars, we did something wrong,” the voice whispered. It seemed to be getting louder, calling her back from her wandering thoughts.
She remembered the gun in Jack’s hand. Did he shoot her? Did these men stop him?
The movement stopped, and she felt as if she were propped up, standing tall even as her ribs throbbed and a trickle of blood ran along her neck from the wound on her throat. Thin lines of warmth danced along her flesh, drawing strange, random trails over her chilled skin. It found her ribs, concentrating its heat, and with each passing moment her breathing became easier. When she could no longer feel but an echo of pain in her side, the heat moved onto her shoulder and she heard a great ‘pop’. And so it went, from injury to injury, spreading its blessed numbness over her.
What was it her father had said?
As the ruling family...
Josselyn moaned. She just couldn’t remember.
Chapter 6
Evan frowned, his feet kicked up as he stared thoughtfully at the control panel to the medical booth. Hours had passed, but the woman was still asleep in the booth. He made sure of it by monitoring her life functions on the consul and injecting her with a sleep aid every time she would start to wake up. The room was small, only allowing enough space for the medical booth, the adjoined consul, and a couple chairs. The woman was sandwiched between two thick sides that made up the booth. They molded around her form as the machine ran a full diagnostic of her body. Technically, a full scan was rarely used, but Evan wanted to be sure she was all right. Plus, it did a full chemical breakdown of her species.
She was human. Pure, unaltered human. No strands of alien blood. No supernatural subspecies of humanoid. No apparent magical powers. No virus or illnesses. Not even an allergy. Just pure blooded human. But what he couldn’t gather is what the Federation wanted imprisoning a colony of humans. For if she was human, odds were the rest of the prisoners were as well. Humans weren’t exactly the most threatening race in the known galaxies.
They weren’t supposed to have the technology to do a specific species analysis, beyond what the unit needed to work. Such things were regulated and only authorized onboard the main Medical Alliance for Planetary Health ships. The MAPH was just a not-so-clever front for the Medical Mafia. Not so clever because it was pretty much common knowledge amongst anyone who traveled off their home planet, and didn’t have their head firmly shoved up the business end of a glarpenkot.
Absently pressing a series of buttons on the consul screen, he filed her health reports into the ship’s main computer for reference and urged the tests to continue. The rest of the crew had spread out after getting her onboard. Rick flew the ship toward the nearest safe space port for fuel. The captain rested with his wife and son in their quarters. Dev and Jackson were back in the VR training room. Lucien and Viktor were probably somewhere arguing over who would be the future Mr. Rescued Woman, or at least her lover. And Lochlann was most likely hiding out in his room after listening to Mei complain about being left behind, though Evan knew for a fact she preferred staying with her son on the ship. T
he protest was just to assert her strength and keep Jarek on his toes, so he didn’t get too overprotective and bossy.
Evan slowly stood, walking toward the medical booth. The tight black of his jumpsuit fit like a second skin. He hadn’t taken time to change out of the under-suit after they boarded the ship. As he looked at the woman, he wished he’d thought to put on something a little less revealing of his mood. The unmistakable arousal he felt for her threatened to press from his hips.
Already, her face looked better. Though still full, her lips were not so swollen. The bruises had faded to a yellow-green and would soon go away. He knew from the first moment that she was beautiful, but as the medical laser cleaned the blood from her skin, it left behind creamy flesh, wine-pink lips and long, shiny waves of brown hair. A beautiful woman on a ship full of sexually deprived males? She had nothing to fear, besides endless proposals and flirtations, but her presence would create tension, and tension made crewmen irritable.
Evan suppressed a groan. Already he could feel the tension winding its way down his chest, tightening his stomach and stirring the rod between his thighs to full attention. If he was already so aroused by her, what would happen when she looked at him? When she spoke?
Then he remembered Rick’s reaction. Could it be he felt Rick’s feelings for the woman? Feelings that were very uncharacteristic for his friend. Or was it that she’d sneaked inside him so he had no choice but to feel protective of her? He knew too much of her emotions.
And then all thoughts left him as a soft whisper of a moan filtered past her lips. Evan tensed, his hand reaching behind him as if to push the button to keep her asleep. He was too far from the consul and his hand hit air. The rest of his body didn’t follow and he merely stood, staring, breathless and waiting. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before her lashes fluttered. Blue-grey eyes stared at him, the color of the Storm Seas on the water planet of Palpaton.
She blinked several times, her lips parting even as lasers caressed her cheek, mending the last of the bruises and leaving perfect rose and cream flesh in its wake. Words whispered, slipping out of her mouth, but they weren’t in any star language he recognized.
“I can’t understand,” Evan told her.
“As the,” she hesitated, her words changing into the universal language he could recognize, “ruling family...”
When she didn’t continue, he leaned closer, trying to feel what she was going to say.
“I cannot remember,” she finished, her voice exuding overwhelming sadness, as if everything she was hinged on the lost thought.
“You don’t have to remember,” Evan said. “It’s all right. The memory will return.”
She blinked, moisture gathering in her blue-grey eyes. Then, a chilly calm came over her emotions. When she spoke again, her words were clear and unhalting as she continued to speak in the universal star language, even as some of her pronunciation seemed antiquated. “I am Lady Josselyn of the House of Craven and I would appreciate someone getting me out of this contraption.”
He searched her, trying to feel fear, the force behind the brave front.
“Afterwards, I would speak with your commanding officer. There has been a grave injustice and my mother, Lady Craven, must be warned before harm befalls her.” Though she was physically trapped within the medical unit, Evan had the impression she could command a whole planet with just the tone of her voice.
Ah, there it was. Her fear. He found it deep, a small grain bound so tight he doubted Josselyn even knew it was there inside her waiting to unfurl.
Then the truth struck him. She didn’t know about the stone prison she’d been in.
“What happened at the castle?” he asked.
Her chin lifted. “What ship is this?”
“The Conqueror.”
“And who is your allegiance to?”
Evan considered the question. Somehow, saying they owed allegiance only to themselves seemed too crass. Then, thinking of the captain’s family, he said, “The planet of Qurilixen, home of the Var race.”
“You are not a governmental ship?”
“We are,” again he hesitated, trying to sense her and the best way to answer, “connected to the royal Var family.”
“I don’t know this race. Are they of the Federation?”
“No.” Behind him, the consul beeped. She stiffened and he thought it best to treat her according to the apparent station she was used to. “You’re in a medical unit, my lady. When the lasers are finished working, it will open and you can step out. Inside, lasers are—”
“I’ve read about these.” Josselyn glanced down. “My father...” Her eyes drifted slowly up to his. “My father and brothers? Did you find them? There might still be time. If you have this unit…”
Evan shook his head. “It is way past the time for saving anyone. I’m sorry. You are the only one we found.”
He expected her to cry. Instead, she swallowed hard, closed her eyes and nodded once. “I knew as much. I did. I need to speak with your commander. I must intercept my mother’s ship. There isn’t much time. She’s to arrive back—”
“My lady, time has passed since you—”
“How long have I been in here?” Josselyn demanded. “A day? Week? How long since you rescued me? Have you had contact with my mother’s ship? Does she know what happened? Does she know they’re all...? Does she know?”
Evan didn’t know how to answer her question. The unit beeped again and he went to it. His hand shaking as he felt the desperation within her start to spread, he pushed a button. She was still asking questions when the booth injected her, forcing her back to sleep. How could he answer her questions? They’d found old bones piled in the castle. Whatever had happened, there was nothing they could do to stop it.
“I thought I heard talking.” Jarek came around the corner. He glanced at Josselyn. “The computer told me her scan was done.”
“It is.”
“Then why is she still unconscious?” Jarek frowned.
“She doesn’t know what time she’s in.” Evan opened the medical booth manually, catching her as her body drooped. “Her scans are clean. She’ll be fine. There’s nothing but human in her blood.”
“Does she know what happened?” Jarek stood aside as Evan lifted her slight body into his arms. Her gown was torn, but still covered what it needed to.
“Something horrific, I discovered that much. I think those bones we found might have been her family. Brothers and a father from the sound of it.” Without thought, Evan walked her toward his own quarters, carrying her through the long metal corridor. The intermediate bands of light they passed under illuminated her face. “She asked to speak to you so we could go and rescue her mother. Lady Josselyn doesn’t even know she was imprisoned. She thinks we rescued her from whatever was happening at the time of her incarceration.”
“Lady Josselyn?” Jarek arched a brow.
“Her name,” Evan took a deep breath. He needed distance from her. Too much of her emotions clouded him, causing compassion and desire where he wasn’t sure it would be otherwise. Even unconscious, she invaded him. Well, desire, sure. He wasn’t dead. And compassion? He wasn’t a monster. Compassion wasn’t hard, but the level he felt reminded him of his sister and of Samantha. “Lady Josselyn of the House of Craven.”
“Like the family crest we saw.” Jarek eyed the woman, lifting her hand from where it hung toward the floor. He swiped a finger over her palm before setting it on her stomach. “It was probably her home we found her in. It makes sense. She looks like a lady. Her hand is smooth, not like you’d expect from anyone else in such a place as the village we found her in. It was a farming community, to be sure. You didn’t have the machine correct any scar tissue or calluses, did you?”
“No. Cuts, bruises, broken ribs and a toe, dislocated shoulder, a deeply ripped fingernail, nothing else really to mention.” Evan pulled the woman closer.
“You read her, didn’t you?” Jarek sighed. “I’m assuming that
is why she is unconscious right now. Anything I need to know?”
“She’s not a danger to anyone on this ship,” Evan assured him, stopping at his door. Running his hand over the wall, he activated the sensor, causing the door to slide up and open. “She has been through a lot, but she is tough.”
Jarek glanced inside Evan’s room and chuckled to himself.
“What is that look for?” Evan asked, defensively.
“You’re the psychic.” Jarek laughed harder, as he walked away. “You tell me.”
Chapter 7
‘As the ruling family, it is our duty to sacrifice ourselves for our people. We must protect them from this atrocity. We must fight the evil forces that infiltrate our government. These new laws they try to pass are about money, land and power. So help us all if the alliance with the Federation is signed. It’s about the Florencian government taking power from the individual moons, and offering shiny objects to get people to go along. Be assured they have moles in our very homes, politicians and liars who will try to sway votes. As the ruling family, we must fight back in secret when and however we can. We must rebel until the day comes when we can make our true selves known!’
Lady Josselyn opened her eyes, the sound of her father’s voice fading. She was not surprised to see the metal grate of the spaceship ceiling above her head. The bed beneath her was firm, more so that the stuffed feather mattress she had in her room. Nor were there birds singing or servants humming to greet her to the day. Her dreams had been of her family, scattered images that faded as she awakened to her new reality. She knew exactly where she was—on a ship called The Conqueror. She understood she was with the people who’d rescued her, who healed her. Her mind was clear, no more jumbled thoughts or words.
Pushing up, she wondered if she would see the strange man again watching over her. Somehow, when he was near she’d felt safe. Since the secure feeling was gone, Josselyn knew she was alone.
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