by Roxie Ray
Catching himself, Haelian cleared his throat again. “Well, Kloran and Bria will keep you safe once we are back on Lunaria. The hospitality you will be provided there will surely make anything offered to you here on the ship pale in comparison. There are, ah, hot springs for bathing in, and luxurious meals unlike anything the food articulators can create. I imagine you will have quite the busy social schedule, too, being one of so few single females in the capital…”
I let myself hold his gaze for a moment, then sighed. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, Haelian? My social schedule?” I rolled my lips between my teeth, trying to fight back the question I’d been avoiding asking—and knowing that once I asked it, he’d give me exactly the answer everyone else had been avoiding telling me. “I’m not going to be able to return to Earth now, am I?”
For a second, he looked like he might lie to me. Tell me that no, of course I’d be able to go home. He would find some kind of way to make it right. He always did. But then, his shoulders slumped slightly and he shook his head.
“No, Sawyer. I am aware that returning home is what you wanted, but now that your family and government believes you to be dead…”
I nodded. “Yeah. I figured. Just wanted someone to finally admit it, I guess.”
“I am sorry that I am the one who had to break the news, then.” He squeezed my hand and I watched his eyes change color. They weren’t purple anymore—they were that stormy, dull color that I was beginning to associate with sadness. “And unfortunately, I do not know that we will see much of each other after landing. You will want to meet with Bria, I am sure, and I have no doubt that members of all the High Houses will come courting you for parties and events. As I have said, there is a shortage of females on Lunaria, and you are so beautiful—”
This time, when I laughed, it was genuine. “I think you mean exotic, Haelian. Leonix is beautiful, and I’m sure Bria must be, but me…” My own fiancé hadn’t even liked me enough to stop cheating on me. Beauty wasn’t exactly something I felt like I had in spades right now.
But Kloran shook his head. “No. I did not mean to say that, forgive me—but of course you are beautiful, Sawyer. This you must have realized by now.”
“Whatever you say, big guy.” I wasn’t really buying it, but there was no point in fighting with him over a compliment. “I’m sure, beautiful or not, I’ll manage okay on Lunaria. I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“I suppose not.” Haelian opened his mouth like he wanted to say something else, but he closed his lips again before he could. A low growl of frustration bubbled up from his throat. “I hope you will be able to see Lunaria as a suitable home for yourself regardless, though. It will be…I am sure you will come to be happy there.”
He dropped my hand abruptly, then turned and walked down the hall away from me. I stood there, frozen as I watched him go. I kind of hoped that he’d glance back over his shoulder at me, but he didn’t.
So I supposed that was that, then. One kiss, a squeeze of my hand and a I hope you’ll be happy. He’d been the first person I’d met here, and now, from the sounds of things, there wasn’t even much of a chance that I’d see him again.
And he didn’t even stop to say goodbye.
12
Haelian
Upon landing, I did not linger to see Sawyer taken away to the golden palace in the center of the capital. It was difficult enough to attempt to say goodbye to her. I knew it would only pain me more if I forced myself to watch her go.
“Your blonde human and Bria are, as the humans say, wide as criminals,” Kloran told me when we met a few days later to address the high council. I had spent the days since landing preparing a projection report on other potential human victims of illegal trafficking, but apparently Kloran had simply been spending his time mislearning more human sayings.
“Do not let Sawyer or Bria hear you saying that,” I warned him with a dark chuckle. “I believe the phrase is thick as thieves—if you call Bria wide, I fear she might strike you with her shoe again.”
“Perhaps,” Kloran said with a sly smile. “But then again, soon it may be true.”
I raised an eyebrow, then matched his grin. “Pregnant? Again? So soon?”
He shrugged, looking pleased with himself. “She seems to enjoy it. And I am certainly not going to complain.”
We entered the high council hall together, side by side. News of Bria’s second pregnancy had put Kloran in high spirits, so I allowed him to do most of the talking. Normally, the news would have made me a little happier as well—but to my annoyance, I found it tinged with a strange sort of envy.
Of course, Bria had chosen Kloran. They worked well together, and he had been her primary contact during her time on the Avant Lupinia. There had been no time for any other male to swoop in and vie for her affections. She had fallen for Kloran hard and fast and without struggle. Unlike Sawyer, who had been given full roam of the ship and made use of it to the best of her abilities. Already, I knew, she and Nion were close. And now, with all of the charms and thrills of the capital being laid at her feet, who else might be courting her? I yearned to ask Kloran if she had entertained any male visitors since we had landed, but through the onslaught of the high council’s questions for us, I had to struggle just to keep my numbers and projections in line.
Luckily, Kloran provided the charisma. I only needed to provide data and look authoritative. The Council was dismayed to learn that two of the females we had rescued were needing such great physical and psychiatric assistance after their time with the Rutharians, but I heard a rumble of pleased noises when Kloran announced that one female—Sawyer—had arrived in good enough physical and mental health to begin to make a life on Lunaria. Those pleased noises amplified when he added that she had every intention of doing so. I saw the patriarchs of both High Houses Saliz and Brixta send their footmen running at the news.
It made my lip pull back in half a snarl as I realized what the footmen had likely been sent running for, though. There was a great chance that the princes of both houses would soon be calling on Sawyer. After, I was sure, there would be no end to the dead flowers sent to her rooms in the palace and blankets laid out in the gardens so they might woo her over courting meals.
When the council broke, I meant to catch Kloran to warn him of these impending advances. Sawyer had improved since we had saved her from the Rutharians, yes, but surely she was still too weak to deal with the affections of the Princes Jorgon or Calix. Jorgon Saliz, after all, was a blowhard and a drunkard, and Calix Brixta was old enough to be Sawyer’s father. I did not want her to be forced to endure either of their companies—nor did I want either of them sniffing around the pretty blonde I had already spent far too much time fantasizing about making my own.
But before I could speak to Kloran, my own father caught my elbow and pulled me aside.
“Well done, Haelian!” he whispered to me, casting anxious glances at the other high council members as they passed. “You have done House Mihor proud in this mission. In fact, I believe with this newfound clout you have earned us, perhaps at the next meeting you could speak on my behalf and request—”
“I am not asking the high council to imprison Mother,” I growled at him. I did not need him to finish his sentence to know what he wanted from me. “You should be ashamed of yourself for even desiring such a thing.”
Father snorted and jerked his head to the side in frustration, sending his silver-laced red hair tossing to one side like a haughty saddle-beast’s mane. “Ashamed! Pah. What I am ashamed of, Haelian, is the way your mother makes eyes at every man in our employ. I saw her flirting with my own guards just yesterday—would you believe that! Throwing herself at my own men, in my own house, like some common—”
“If mother is throwing anything, in my recollections, it is generally her antique vases at your head, Father,” I reminded him. “If you were kinder to her—starting with, I think, ceasing this paranoia about her flirting with any man that she spe
aks to…”
I let the sentence die off without finishing it. In this regard, at least, I had the presence of mind to know I was not one to talk. Had I not been just as frustrated with Nion for going to Sawyer’s rooms to comfort her? Had I not been just as jealous when I saw the way my own men had stared at her aboard the ship?
As if he was reading my mind, my father took a step back and smiled. “Perhaps you would understand my frustration better if you had a wife of your own to concern yourself with. Kloran’s former betrothed has yet to choose a new mate, as you may remember. Or, if you prefer, Lady Helenia of High House Brixta has spoken quite fondly of you to Hasina of late…”
I shook my head immediately. I had dealt with Lady Helenia plenty in my youth, and I had no more intention of entertaining this notion of my father’s than I had of entertaining Helenia herself. Helenia was beautiful, yes, but as far as females went, she was more viper than she was lady. It was said that, no matter who was currently heading the Lunarian intelligence division, Lady Helenia was truly in control of their agents. House Brixta was in control of the selection and training of Lunaria’s espionage experts, covert operatives, and spies—and Lady Helenia oversaw the system with such ferocity, for every agent who emerged from the program it was said that ten more were killed in the process.
And that was not even mentioning the number of Lady Helenia’s perceived rivals who had been mysteriously—and quite publicly—embarrassed, shamed, and socially ruined after Helenia set her sights on them. The last female who had dared to dance with one of Helenia’s suitors at a state ball had mysteriously taken ill only a little later that same night. It was still laughed about how Lady Seleste had stripped out of her formal wear in the middle of the ballroom, only to run nude and vomiting into the street.
“Hasina should not be socializing with Lady Helenia at all,” I informed my father. “And you already know my stance on choosing a mate. I will not have it.”
“In that case…then there is the matter of the little human female that you rescued.” His smile broadened. “Your sister ran into her at the palace just yesterday, or so I hear. Hasina found her to be quite pretty, and from what I hear, the men she has encountered have said much of the same. Perhaps, if you wished, I could arrange a meeting of some sort—”
I held a hand up to stop him—even as I fought back a light flush at the memory of the softness of Sawyer’s perfect lower lip beneath my fangs. “I do not need a matchmaker, Father—nor do I have the time to entertain such ridiculous ideas.” Sighing, I gave him a hug in parting then moved for the door. “Be kind to Mother. I shall hear about it if you are not.”
I took the long walk back to the villa where I was staying until the Avant Lupinia was finished being cleaned and refueled—or at least, I meant to. But with every step I took, I found myself glowering at the cobblestones beneath my feet.
First, Nion had invoked my jealousy and wrath simply by attempting to befriend Sawyer. Now, every eligible bachelor in the capital—and there were many—had their eyes set on her and their hearts set on owning her. I knew it was wrong of me to feel entitled to Sawyer in any way—but I felt it just the same. When I looked upon her, my heart pounded a little harder in my chest and my breaths grew shorter, sharper, more imperative. When she spoke to me, I often found myself at a loss for words—or worse, saying things that I knew I should not have said. And when I had killed for her—blood. If I had not stopped myself, I would have claimed more than a kiss from her. I would have claimed every inch of her perfect, slim body. Conquered the broad flair of her hips with my tongue. Nipped at her long, shapely thighs with my fangs. Torn her clothing from her flesh, mounted her, bred her and brought her back to the capital as my own bride, already quickening with my child.
It was what I wanted. I could deny it all I liked, but I knew it to be true.
But just because it was true didn’t make it wrong.
I came to a stop as I saw a set of gates ahead of me. Not the gates of House Mihor’s villa, though—no, these were the gates to the palace where Kloran and Bria were residing with Sawyer in their care. I paused as I stared up at the long, golden steps. Steps that I should have known better than to climb.
My feet had brought me here, even as my mind struggled to come to terms with my lust. My body wanted Sawyer badly enough to defy my own will. My brain was too busy fantasizing about her to stop my legs from taking me to where she lived. And my heart—
My heart thrummed like the engine of a ship leaving the atmosphere as I passed through the palace gates and began to ascend the steps. My heart yearned for her, ached for her, pulled me to her like one end of a golden string had been wrapped around it, with the other end twined around Sawyer’s little finger.
Sawyer could have beckoned me and, like a mutt, I would have gone bounding to her side. She could have whistled and I would have come running.
And even now, when I had no contact with her at all, I was sniffing around the place I knew her to be, hoping for just another sight of her again.
It would not do. This could go on no longer.
If I wanted her this badly, then I would deny myself no more—lest someone else get to her first.
As I strode through the gardens in search of a glimpse of Sawyer’s golden hair, I entertained the notion that perhaps, though I wanted her, she did not desire me in the same way. It was a significant notion. The possibility that I had always most feared. Did I really want to turn into my father, obsessing over the way my bride spoke to the servants, the labor slaves, the guards and seeking to lock her away for even the slightest hint of impropriety? Or my mother—did I want to see Sawyer furious at me, flinging vases and calling me the foulest names her lips could summon up? I had seen the results of a poorly matched marriage. They had haunted my childhood and driven me away from both of my parents now that I was a man grown.
If Sawyer did not want me, then I knew I could not have her. I would not force her like a Rutharian snake, nor would I try to claim her through marriage as my father had done to my mother.
But if I could not have her…
My heart stopped cold as I saw her. Just there, across the courtyard, reclining by one of the pools. She was lying out on a lounge chair, curled on her side. It was a beautiful position for her, emphasizing the fullness of her breasts and the steep slope of her hip up from her diminutive waist. Her top hugged her tight, pushing her breasts together in a way that made my mouth water. The sarong she had tied around her waist dipped downward from where it was tied, revealing a long, pale length of thigh so delicious-looking I found myself testing the tips of my fangs against my tongue with need.
If I could not have her, I knew I would go mad with longing. I would have to leave Lunaria, possibly never to return. I would hunt the stars without end for her fellow humans in her name, kill every Rutharian I encountered with the memory of the single kiss we had shared searing on my snarling lips. She would never leave my mind. Not until the day I died—and perhaps, not even then.
And so, it only made sense to make my move now. If she rebuked me, then she would never have to see me again. I would be certain of that. And if she did not…
I strode toward her, shoulders back, chest light.
If nothing else, at least I was going into this as a man with nothing to lose.
“Sawyer.” Even just saying her name made my ribs flood with warmth.
Her blue eyes popped open and she looked up at me with surprise. A little smile flashed on her lips suddenly—one that she was quick to rid herself of.
I wondered, why?
“General Haelian.” She straightened and pulled her sarong a little more carefully over her thigh to shield it from my gaze. That disappointed me—it was a bad sign. “I never thought I would see you again.”
“I, ah…” I rubbed the back of my neck, stopping a few feet away from her lounge. “The business I had to attend to wrapped up more quickly than I thought it would. I thought, perhaps, I would see how you were settling in
.”
“Well, it’s not Sector Two,” she said with a little laugh. “But now that I’m really considering it, that might be a good thing.”
“Is it?” I understood that one of the larger continents of Sawyer’s planet had been broken up into these various sectors. Sector Two must have been where she had lived before her abduction. “I am…glad to hear that. I think.”
She laughed again. It brought me joy to hear her so happy—joy, and more tentatively, hope as well.
“You’re thinking right. This place is…magical, really.” She ran her fingers through her hair, raking it back away from her neck and shoulders. The sunlight made her skin glisten and her hair glow in the heat. “The skies here are so clear and the air is so fresh… it’s nothing like Earth at all.”
“And this is…a good thing?” I had read much of the pollution on Earth. Many, it seemed, contracted diseases from breathing in its air and drinking its water. It pleased me greatly to know that I had taken Sawyer from such a confusing, awful place—though, I doubted that everything from Earth had been so bad. After all, she had initially wanted nothing more than to return. “Do you not miss your family? Your friends and your, ah…your betrothed?”
She tilted her head at me as though I had caused her confusion, then shrugged and sighed. “I thought I did at first, I guess. My family, anyway. But I never really had friends there, and Aiden—my fiancé—he wasn’t exactly the best guy for me. I was, um…” Her cheeks were tinged with pink as she looked away from me, staring instead into the waters of the pool just behind me. “I was kind of trying to leave him when I was taken. It’s a long story, but…now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I don’t know what kind of life I would have even had there, even if I were able to go back.”