Nalini’s fingers had returned to his jaw as she spoke, which made him far more content than he should have been to lie there and listen. He would only let it go on for another minute. Soon, he would get up and survey their surroundings. He wouldn’t think about reaching up to pull her head down to kiss her. Definitely not.
“After my first legitimate deal,” Nalini went on, “where I made money, the first of his children to do so, he started paying a lot more attention to me. By then, I was fifteen and shouldn’t have been so eager to win my father’s approval, but I was. I wanted to stand out, to matter, among this snarl of children he’d sired. There are so many of us that hardly anyone but our own relatives knows all of our names.”
“That’s understandable,” Tristan said when she stopped talking.
“Do you get along with your own father?”
“Uh, my father was taken off to a penal asteroid for a life sentence when I was seven. All I remember of him was him yelling at my mother a lot and knocking us around. He was a robber, and in the end, he murdered someone when a theft went awry.”
Nalini formed a silent, “Oh,” with her mouth.
He immediately regretted admitting that. As if there wasn’t enough between them, he’d reminded her that they weren’t from the same social class. As far from it as possible.
But maybe it was for the best. A reminder to her that she was destined to marry a prince, not run around with some commoner born to a criminal.
“What made you want to become a knight?” Nalini asked. “Or was that always a ruse?”
A ruse? Oh, right. His cover story. How much could he say without risking giving it up?
“It was all I ever wanted. When I was little, and he was hitting my mother, I wanted to be strong enough to stop him. I grew up on stories of the knights, as all Kingdom boys and girls do, and how noble and chivalrous they’ve been throughout the centuries. I wanted to help people and be better than my father, and also to be…” He turned his face toward the bars. “Well, in the past, it’s always been hard for a commoner to become a knight, but if you made it, you’d make a good salary and have a safety net of colleagues to rely on for the rest of your life. Those in the knighthood are close, the kind of people who always have your back, no matter what.”
“You do sound like you belong with them. What happened? You lied about being noble?”
“It’s a long story.” One that was leading him perilously close to a truth he couldn’t tell. “Let’s see about getting out of here, eh?”
Reluctantly, he rolled away from Nalini. His ribs screamed a protest, and he gasped in pain as he came onto his hands and knees. Blackness edged his vision, and he had to pause to take several shallow breaths.
“You stay there. I’ll look around and tell you whatever you need to know.” Nalini rose and walked to the bars. “Your pertundo is still down there. No robot sweepers have come through to take it away.”
Despite her suggestion, Tristan used the bars to pull himself slowly to his feet. When he pressed his forehead against them, he could see his weapon on the deck below, about ten feet down, as she’d said. He felt a modicum of satisfaction at the pieces of destroyed drones littering the deck like leaves after a hurricane.
“I wonder how many drones are left?” he murmured.
If they could get free, was there a chance he could finish them off in a second fight? His ribs protested the idea of another battle, but he could tighten his galaxy suit to provide more support for them. One more fight he could handle. The computer console was only a few meters away, and he even saw what looked like a display and controls for the bay that held their yacht.
“The six that dumped you in the cage, and the three that dumped me in. They flew up there afterward.” Nalini waved to a corner where racks of drones hid in the shadows behind their cage. “Some of them are missing tentacles, but it would still be a very difficult fight.”
She gave him a worried look. It touched him.
“Yes.” Tristan spotted his DEW-Tek pistol over by his emergency kit and oxygen tank. The drones had torn everything off him while he’d been fighting them.
He slid his hand over one of the bars, trying to guess the material. He didn’t know if a sustained DEW-Tek bolt would have been able to melt one, but it didn’t matter since neither of them had pistols. He was positive his pertundo could cleave through the bars, but…
He stared down at the weapon, trying to drum up inspiration. “If we had something we could tie into a rope, maybe we could hook it. But it’s flat on the deck, so that would be a challenge.”
Nalini stepped up beside him and peered down. “Is it metal?”
“The pertundo? I don’t know the exact mix in the alloy, as it’s top secret, but the head, at least, is mostly metal.”
“Magnetic?”
“I haven’t checked. Maybe so.”
Nalini looked down at their feet, and he caught on. Of course. The soles of their boots could be magnetized to attach to the deck in zero-g.
“You may be getting naked for me, after all.” She smirked at him.
“I shouldn’t find it pleasing that the idea seems to excite you.”
“No?”
“Not since we can’t…” Tristan spread a hand, then sighed and finished with, “Can’t.”
“Well, take off your suit, anyway.” She peered between the bars. “And I guess I’ll have to as well. You’re tall, but I don’t think it will quite reach.”
The thought of her stripping off her galaxy suit right next to him sent his mind in dangerous directions. Like maybe they could have a secret affair without being found out…
But no, knights didn’t have secret affairs with soon-to-be-married women. Knights were noble.
Tristan turned his back to her and started undressing, not modest himself but wanting to give her some privacy. He would not ogle her, definitely not. Noble knights did not ogle. That wasn’t in the code, but he was sure it should be.
Nalini peeled off her galaxy suit, the flexible material loosening its give for the task. “It’s a good thing the atmosphere is breathable here. The air is even decently warm.”
“Yes.” Tristan pulled off his suit more slowly, focusing on not hissing in pain as he eased the top off his shoulders and down his ribs. “Though I do wonder why. Why would they bother keeping the atmosphere breathable for humans when there aren’t any on board?”
“We’re on board.”
Tristan considered if it made sense that their captors would have prepared the mining ship for their sake. Lack of a breathable atmosphere might have encouraged them to stay on the yacht and out of trouble. Though—his gaze drifted to the bars of their cage—maybe Dubashi’s men had wanted them to venture out and be captured.
“It could mean someone else is coming,” Nalini added, kneeling and dangling her suit out between the bars to see how far down the boot reached.
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“If that’s the case, we should escape promptly. I need your pants.”
“I know. I’m working on it.” Feeling geriatric and wishing he had a bench to sit on, Tristan maneuvered his suit the rest of the way off. Despite his efforts, a hiss of pain escaped as he tugged the leg down.
“I’m sorry for being demanding. I wish I had a medical kit to give you a painkiller.”
“It’s fine.” Tristan forced a smile and handed his suit to her. “I’ll gladly let you drug me up if we succeed at getting out of here.”
He wasn’t too distracted by his pain to notice her gaze linger on his bare chest for a few seconds before she bowed her head and tied the suits together. He allowed himself to feel flattered and was tempted to examine what her lack of a suit revealed, but he resisted and instead lay flat on his stomach next to her, his forehead pressed to the bars, ready to assist if she needed help.
Something clinked onto the floor beside him. One of his utility pouch pockets had come open while she was tying the garments together, and a tube of r
ock dust he’d collected from one of the ore piles on the way in rolled across the cage floor.
His cheeks warmed as she peered curiously at it, and he groped for a way to explain his dirt collection. This was hardly the place to take souvenirs, but he hadn’t had a chance yet to gather a sample from this system, and he hadn’t been sure that he would get to visit anything except space stations and spaceships. Walking past all those piles of pulverized rock had been too tempting. He’d thought collecting dirt from an asteroid would be an exotic way to remember his time in this system.
“What’s this?” Nalini asked.
“Nothing.” Tristan reached for it.
But she thumbed the lid off first, peered inside, and sniffed. “It smells like dirt.”
“It is.” He drew the lid and tube gently but firmly from her hands, afraid she would tease him for stopping to take a sample and for having such a silly collection in the first place.
“Some precious mineral flakes?”
“I doubt it. I grabbed it from a pile of what looked like discarded dirt.”
Her forehead creased. “Why?”
“I just wanted something from this system. Like a souvenir.” There, souvenirs weren’t goofy, right? Everybody snagged them when they traveled.
“Souvenir dirt? When we escape, we can get you a nice mug from our palace gift shop.”
“That sounds good. Thanks.” He pulled over his suit’s utility belt, since it wouldn’t help with retrieving the pertundo, and tucked his sample inside.
As she lowered the suit legs toward the pertundo, she stole glances at him. As if he’d turned into a puzzle she wanted to solve.
“You’re almost there, Your Highness,” he said encouragingly, hoping she would focus on her task.
“Are you sure you can’t call me Nalini now that we’re naked together?”
“I’m still wearing my socks and underwear.”
“Which requires formality.” She stuck her arm farther out. “I think I can reach the blade part. How heavy is the overall weapon?” She shifted her arm to get one of the boots closer to the wide head of the pertundo. “I turned the magnetization up to maximum, but I’m not sure how strong that is.”
“Strong. It’ll be enough. The pertundo only weighs five pounds.”
She dangled the boot lower, the two suits tied together making a clumsy rope.
Tristan eyed the drones that had retreated to the rack near the ceiling. Accepting that he would have to fight them again, he contemplated the best way to do it without being injured further. After he had Nalini safely back at her palace, he could collapse in the infirmary, but for now, he was all she had to protect her.
“Got it,” she whispered.
Tristan glanced over as she knelt back, carefully pulling the weapon up, the flat of the blade hugging the magnetic sole of one boot. He got an eyeful of her chest doing interesting things as her arm muscles flexed, but jerked his gaze away. He stuck his arm between the bars, waiting for the weapon to come within reach.
It shifted and slid slightly. Nalini froze.
“Just a couple more feet and I can reach it.” He extended his arm as far as possible.
“I don’t want to drop it and have it bounce out of reach.” She inched the pertundo farther upward, grimacing as it slid again. “You should be able to call it by name and have it fly up into your hand. I seem to recall some mythological god’s weapon did that.”
“I’d have to name it first.”
“You haven’t named it? I thought warriors did things like that, especially for such special weapons.”
Tristan almost pointed out that the pertundo was on loan from the armory until he was truly accepted as a knight, but he caught himself. It saddened him that he couldn’t share his true story with her. He wanted to be her confidant, not someone spying on her.
“No,” he said, when she glanced at him. “I haven’t named any parts of my anatomy either.”
“You are an odd man.”
“Yes.” Tristan flexed his fingers toward the weapon as it slid farther from the magnet, the weight of the shaft tugging it back toward the deck. A couple more inches…
It slid further, and Nalini cursed.
Tristan lunged, ramming his shoulder against the bar. His fingers snapped around the shaft just before it fell.
“Nice,” Nalini said. “You have dexterous fingers.”
“I’m going to nobly resist the urge,” Tristan said as he carefully drew his weapon between the bars, retracting the telescoping shaft to its shorter length, “to construe that as a sexual comment, since we’ve established that we have a professional relationship and such things wouldn’t be appropriate.”
She arched her eyebrows at him. “I don’t have to be noble, do I? I’m not a knight.”
He swallowed. Professional distance would be easier if she were as committed to it as he. It didn’t help that she didn’t seem to think fidelity to a man she hadn’t yet met was important. He couldn’t blame her for that, especially since he knew what kind of man Jorg was, but he couldn’t feel the same way.
“Do real-estate developers not have a code of chivalry?” Tristan used the bars to pull himself to his feet.
“It’s better for your reputation if you don’t lie and don’t back out of deals, but nobody’s going to be offended if you compliment their finger skills.”
“I’m not offended.” He looked at the bars so he wouldn’t look at her near-naked body. “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”
She hesitated, then rested a hand on his arm. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just… This sounds silly, since we’ve been locked in a cage by demented robots that broke your bones, but I’m enjoying being with you. I didn’t expect you—any bodyguard—to be… fun.”
He appreciated the sentiment and admitted that he also found her flirtations—her—fun, but he limited himself to saying, “If your only previous experience with bodyguards is your android, it’s understandable that you had that opinion.”
Nalini snorted. “Devi has her moments.”
Tristan stepped into the middle of the cage. “Get down in that corner, please. I’m going to have to take some big swings with my pertundo. I think it will cleave through the bars, but it won’t be easy.”
Nalini scooted into the corner and raised her hands to protect her head. “Let me know if you want me to try. I know your ribs must hurt.”
He wriggled his fingers in acknowledgment, even though he wouldn’t foist the task off on her. He doubted she had the strength—her arms and legs were feminine and appealing, not muscular.
He hefted the blade, grimacing as even that much movement made his ribs twinge, but he paused. “We should put our suits back on. For protection and in case this rouses the robots.”
“You go ahead and start on the bars. I’ll untie them.” Nalini pulled the garments into her lap.
Tristan didn’t think that would take long, but he went ahead and put his back to her, swinging at a bar near the far corner. If this didn’t work, he would try the roof door they had been forced through.
The pertundo bit into the bar, as if his target were made from wood rather than metal, and lightning streaked from the blade. An electrical charge wouldn’t do anything against the cage, but seeing it and the damage he made invigorated him. His muscles warmed as blood flowed to them, and some of the pain faded. Like a lumberjack, he cleaved into the bar again and again. He cut through it and worked on the next one. Then two more. He lowered his weapon, grabbed the broken bars, and heaved to bend them enough to make room for their escape.
Those motions brought fresh pain, but he snarled, trying to funnel it into the effort instead of letting it derail him. The bars bent with a satisfying creak. He stepped back, pleased for the moment, but he reminded himself they would still have to deal with the drones.
“Your Highness.” He spun back toward Nalini, bowing and gesturing toward their new door.
He caught her watching him with a rapt expression, her
gaze rolling down his body before he finished his bow. He thought she might blush and look away, but she met his eyes and arched a single brow.
“Are you sure you haven’t named any of your anatomy? It’s quite lovely and deserving of recognition.”
He was the one to blush. This wasn’t right.
“If you want to submit proposals, I’ll consider them.”
Her lips quirked into a lopsided smile. “Really? You’d trust my taste?”
He started to say certainly but remembered all the shoes of dubious design. “Enough to consider your proposal.”
“I suppose I should be honored.” Her smile turned a little sadder. “Sorry, I was going to stop flirting with you so you can more easily be noble.” Nalini rose to her feet and tossed him his suit. “Let me know if you need help dressing.”
“Er.” His mind snagged on the offer before he realized she’d made it because of his injury. “I’m sure I can manage, but thank you.”
He turned his back as she donned her own suit.
“I think if you stay in the cage,” Tristan said, “they might not attack you. I’m going to put my back to that corner down there. That way, they can only come at me from two sides. That was poor planning last time.”
Tristan had assumed the threat would come from the defender robots against the wall, not shadows in the back, but that was no excuse.
“Just let me know when I can go to the computer.”
“When all the drones are in pieces on the deck.”
Once he finished dressing, Tristan squeezed out through the opening and jumped down. He landed in a crouch, ready for an attack. He wasn’t disappointed.
The remaining drones swept toward him. He sprang for the corner, doing his best to ignore the pain that blasted him with each sharp movement, with each breath. He put his back to the walls and slashed and stabbed at the drones that swooped in at him.
Behind the fray, Nalini slithered out of the cage and dropped to the deck. What was she doing?
Knight Protector: a Star Kingdom novel Page 11