Rion

by Susan Kearney

  “You haven’t seen any Unari on the ground?” Lex asked.

  Rion shook his head. “And I hid our trail, walking for miles through a creek. I would not bring trouble into camp.”

  “Trouble can come from any direction,” Mendle mumbled, then clamped his lips tightly shut.

  “Sir,” Lex said hesitantly, “your cousin Erik has recently joined us.”

  “Erik’s here?” Rion broke into a wide smile. “I was told he was a Unari prisoner.”

  “He escaped. We usually don’t accept recruits, but with his claim to the Chivalri throne we allowed him to stay.”

  “Praise the Goddess, this is good news.” Rion stepped forward, clearly eager to meet his cousin. “The day I escaped Honor, Erik was captured in my stead. I owe him a debt I can never repay.”

  The men wound through the woods, choosing their steps with care not to snap branches or leave a trail. With their movements skilled, graceful, and easy, they made good time.

  Marisa was determined to keep up. So what if her head throbbed? She didn’t want these men or Erik to think her weak. Or helpless.

  Lex walked at Rion’s right shoulder. He glanced at Rion and raised an eyebrow. Clearly, he had questions but was unsure of protocol. While the men treated Rion with deference and respect, they were obviously uneasy around him.

  “Sir, why haven’t you come forward before now?” Lex asked.

  Rion clapped Lex on the shoulder, his mood cheerful since he’d heard news of his cousin. “We’re going to work together. There’s no need to stand on ceremony.”

  Lex’s men looked down, as if they realized the question carried a hint of disrespect, but they also seemed curious.

  Rion sighed. “The day the Unari invaded our capital, my aunt and uncle gave their lives so Erik and I could escape. We fled through the city toward the museum. I thought if I could fly the spaceship—”

  “That old relic?” Lex whistled. “It’s a wonder you didn’t kill yourself.”

  “Thanks to Erik, I got away. I lifted off and made it to Tor, where I made some hasty repairs but again had to flee before Enforcers caught and imprisoned me. Later, I ended up crashing on another world, called Pendragon. I’ve been trying to return ever since.”

  “I’ll bet you have some adventurous tales to tell.” Darian grinned and pulled aside a branch so it wouldn’t whip Marisa’s face.

  She walked past. “Thanks.”

  “What’s amazing is that you’ve all remained free.” Rion returned the compliment.

  Mendle shook his head. “None of us are free. Not when we must dragonshape to eat… and the pain…”

  “We’re also running out of platinum,” Lex told them.

  Rion’s eyes widened in surprise. “You aren’t mining the mountain platinum?”

  “I’ve sent men up to the mountains,” Lex told him. “None have come back.”

  * * *

  RION’S VISION TOOK him to a place he didn’t recognize. A man sat in a chair, his arms chained behind his back. Rion couldn’t see the prisoner’s face; his view was only of his back. And before him, a Unari torturer shone a brilliant light into the prisoner’s eyes.

  “How many rebels are there?”

  “I don’t know.” The man’s voice was low, racked with pain.

  A whip descended and the prisoner shrieked.

  “Where do the rebels hide?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The whip descended again. “Tell me what you do know.”

  “About what?”

  The whip descended repeatedly. “Tell me how to kill the rebels.”

  “I’ve already told you. Take away their food. Don’t let them reach the platinum in the mountains. There is nothing more I can tell you.”

  “Nothing?”

  “I’ve told you everything.” The man raised his head and spoke defiantly. “It’s you who doesn’t keep your word.”

  “Why would we keep our word to a traitor?”

  Traitor? The vision faded. But Rion’s mind kept sifting the new information.

  It didn’t surprise or shock or even disappoint him that men under torture would give up information. But was the man really a traitor?

  And if so, was he a Unari traitor? Or an Honorian traitor?

  MARISA KEPT A careful watch on Rion. He’d just had this glazed look in his eyes that she recognized as another flash. But he said nothing, and Lex didn’t seem to notice.

  Lex kept speaking, his voice even and thoughtful. “There are other rebel groups besides ours scattered around the capital. You were lucky we found you before the Unari did. It’s possible they know we’re at Winhaven, but so far they haven’t made forays out here.”

  “Why not?” Marisa asked.

  “Likely they know all they have to do is wait another season and we’ll starve.”

  “You stay in small groups to avoid detection?” Rion asked.

  “Yes. There’s some communication back and forth between us, but we don’t have the resources to feed and hide more than a few in this place. Your flash was correct. We’ve converted Winhaven’s basement into a giant nursery.”

  “The poor babies,” Marisa said. “How do they endure the pain?”

  “Fortunately,” Lex explained, “they feel it only when they dragonshape to feed on platinum.”

  Rion swore. “But babies and children must feed more frequently than adults.”

  Lex nodded grimly. “They have to dragonshape more often, but, thank the Goddess, only for the briefest of times.”

  “Are there women at Winhaven?” Marisa asked.

  “Not many. Sometimes, people who have escaped Unari enslavement beg us to take their children. But we don’t have enough food to feed everyone and must turn away most adults. We wouldn’t have let Erik stay, except he’s the king’s heir—or so we thought until you arrived.”

  “How do the babies’ parents find you?” Marisa asked.

  “There’s an underground network in the city, and rumors abound. Many parents stumble around in the woods blindly, and we find them like we found you.”

  “Are there rebels in the cities?” Rion asked.

  “Every building in Chivalri’s cities has been leveled. Disintegrated with giant lasers.”

  Rion winced. “All of them?”

  “Nothing is left. No cities, no towns, no villages, no farms. Only the royal palace in the capital and this lone building out in the country, and a few isolated others like it, have escaped destruction.”

  “So where are the Honorians and Unari living?”

  “Captured Honorians live outside like fenced-in animals. The Unari may live in parts of the old palace. There are rumors it still stands.”

  “What about other countries beyond Chivalri?” Marisa asked.

  “There are more rumors of rebel groups—but nothing solid.” Lex paused. “Let’s get you some food and a place to sleep, and tomorrow I’ll get you brought up-to-date.”

  “Sounds good.” Rion spoke quietly. “Have you any word of my parents? The last I heard was they were in the palace when the Unari invaded Chivalri.”

  “If they’re alive, it’s likely your father’s been enslaved by Cavus Prime.”

  “Cavus Prime?”

  “The Unari leader.” Lex spat into the bushes. “We’ve heard unsubstantiated reports that Cavus keeps our strongest warriors, including your father, right next to the Tyrannizer. It’s said Cavus enjoys watching the torture of our best leaders and warriors.”

  Rion scowled. “Our first task is to find the machine that broadcasts pain.”

  “Then what?”

  “We’ll mount a mission to shut down the Tyrannizer.”

  Lex shook his head. “Sir, I’m afraid you don’t fully understand.”

  “Explain.”

  “No Honorian can pass through the great walls the Unari have built around the city—not without giving up their freedom.”

  “Are the Unari planning to annihilate us, then colonize Honor with the
ir people?” Rion asked.

  Lex shook his head. “We don’t think so. The city no longer has living accommodations, except for the palace. Dragons work as beasts of burden, building high walls, but no one knows their purpose.”

  “What else can you tell me?” Rion prodded.

  “After the Unari capture our people, they don’t give them food or water until they dragonshape. After we take dragon form, they force us to work. The more a dragonshaper resists, the worse the pain grows. The Tyrannizer is so debilitating—even our strongest warriors succumb to Unari orders. Also, the closer one gets to the machine, the worse the pain and the more difficult it is to disobey orders.”

  “But if dragonshaping is so painful, why do they stay in dragon form?” Marisa asked, an ominous shiver making her cold.

  “When dragons are starved for platinum, we don’t have the energy to humanshape.”

  Rion stilled. His eyes darkened, and his voice threaded with steel. “We have to destroy the Tyrannizer.”

  Babies are cuddles and kisses on toes, the sweet scent of dragon’s breath, and a kiss on the nose.

  —LADY GUINEVERE

  19

  After a meager meal, Lex showed Marisa and Rion to their quarters in Winhaven. The royal home had been looted of furnishings, and a fire had destroyed most of the main building, but one of the guest wings had survived partially intact. Here the resistance, such as it was, had made its headquarters. She and Rion would sleep in the same room. The sensual awareness that had dogged her ever since he’d carried her through the forest rose on a gentle ripple of heat.

  Rion had been silent since Marisa and he had left the others in the dining area. Apparently Erik was off on a foraging mission with several of the rebels and not expected back until dawn.

  Standing at the bedroom window, Rion gazed past a shredded curtain toward the capital, his potent male presence dominating the room. “When I was here last, the city’s lights brightened the sky for miles. Now it’s so dark, it’s as if we’ve regressed to another age.”

  “But the knowledge to rebuild is still here,” Marisa said softly.

  She ached for him. Yearning to give him comfort, she joined him by the window and placed her hand on his arm.

  He stood stiff and tense, his head high, his eyes alert. She suspected his thoughts were gloomy and began to run her fingers lightly up and down the sculpted ridges of his forearm. Retaking this world from the Unari might be an impossible task. And although they were now stuck on this world, with no means to depart, every time she breathed in, her lungs filled with the delicious scent of his male musk and her thoughts turned to being with him again.

  Now was not the time to feel any attraction. He had to bring his people together, and she would cause strife. But that future seemed impossibly far away. And Rion was here right now. Totally within her reach.

  He turned from the window. His voice was low and filled with gravel. “How’s your head?”

  The throbbing in her head matched the beat of her heart. “The medic who looked at me after our meal said you did a good job. There’s no sign of infection.”

  “Good.” Rion walked her to the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room besides a broken table someone had propped in the corner. “You should rest. Tomorrow, I’ll talk with Erik, and Lex will show us a secret passage to the city walls.”

  “You should rest, too.” She patted the bed next to her, but he remained on his feet, every muscle rigid.

  She didn’t have to ask what was wrong. She knew. Conditions here weren’t just bad, they were terrible. Tomorrow he would see Erik, but he might also have his worst fears about his parents confirmed.

  Wrapping her arms around him, she said, “We’ll find a way. The Unari didn’t take this planet in a day. You can’t take it back overnight, either. Your people need you. And if you wear yourself ragged—”

  “You didn’t feel that pain… it’s like your bones have been dipped in acid. We’ll have to take out the Tyrannizer before you can dragonshape and use your abilities. And before that, you must feed on platinum.”

  She twined her fingers into his hair and rested her cheek against his chest. “You’ve found your cousin. We’ll find the machine, too. We’ll destroy it. Maybe we can do it from a distance, blow it up or something.”

  “While you were with the medic, Lex told me that he believes the Tyrannizer is kept running by the torture of Honorian dragonshapers.”

  She leaned back to look into his face. Moonlight filtered through the window and reflected in the hard blackness of his eyes. “You’ll find a way to save them.”

  “If Cavus Prime keeps our best warriors near the Tyrannizer”—he held his head high, but his voice choked—“if we have to knock it out from a distance, we’ll have to sacrifice our best people…”

  Oh, God. Lex believed Shepherd Jaqard, Rion’s father, was kept near the Tyrannizer. If Rion could take out the Tyrannizer only from a distance, he might have to sacrifice his own father.

  She tried to be optimistic. “Maybe I can use my telepathic skills to urge the dragonshapers near the Tyrannizer to break the Unari hold and fly away. I’d only have to link for a minute or two…”

  “No.” His tone was harsh. Firm. Sure. “We have to find another way.”

  Talking about it was stressing him out. And she knew only one way to distract him.

  She slipped her hands under his shirt, up his warm chest, and onto his broad shoulders. Beneath her palms, his flesh was smooth, firm, muscular.

  He hissed in a breath, and then, as if all that pent-up emotion sparked, his eyes glowed with the promise of raw sensuality. He brought his lips to hers and poured molten heat straight into her.

  He tasted of coffee and sweet cream, and as his tongue slipped into her mouth and danced with her own, she melted against him. He clutched her shoulders, not roughly, not with finesse, but with hot need. They fell backward against the wall, and he eagerly began to remove her clothing. She did the same as they shared an urgency to give and take pleasure. An urgency to banish the Unari for a few hours. At least here, at this moment, they had the freedom to do as they wished.

  And she wished for release from painful truths and an uncertain future. It meant shoving aside the past and her distrust, forgetting about the future, and living right now. Right here. Taking what this moment offered. Taking what Rion offered.

  And he offered a lot. He was a giving lover. Sensual. Erotic.

  Living in the present meant kissing him and touching him and breathing in his masculine scent. She focused on the taste of his tongue against her lips, sipped his fire, breathed in his eager murmurs that tingled like the electricity in the air before a summer storm—until the very air around them crackled with heat.

  His kiss was hypnotic, calling to her, pulling her into him, until she couldn’t think of anything but him. Or his kiss. Or his hard flesh against her softness.

  She shimmied out of her clothing, yanked off his. Naked, she pressed herself against his male heat.

  Her blood simmered, and she breathed in huge gasps. Drawing him against her, she arched her back, enjoyed his chest hairs tickling her breasts until her nipples hardened to tight nubs.

  He dipped his hands between them, skimmed his fingers up her waist until his hands cupped her breasts. His thumbs twirled around her areolas, and he used the pads of his fingertips to draw maddeningly exquisite circles that had her standing on her tippy toes to get more. More pressure. More friction. More Rion.

  He obliged, tweaking her nipples, and the zing of pleasure burned straight to her core. A soft moan tore from her throat.

  She clutched his shoulders, moving her hips in an urgent shimmy. She didn’t require more kisses. She didn’t require more caresses. Already moist and ready, she felt fire roar through her core.

  “Take me.” She parted her thighs. She was hot. So hot.

  He grabbed her buttocks and lifted her. She straddled him, took him straight inside, until he filled her while she brimm
ed with delicious desire.

  He was pure molten heat. And the wild passion in his eyes matched the frenzied thrusts of his hips. The taking was savage, reckless, and natural.

  He ravaged her mouth. She was ready, slick, tensed to explode. Hunger and a fierce possessive yearning lent her strength to ride him, hold on tight, and take what he offered.

  Like a cleansing wildfire, the flames burned so hot she exploded in a streak of molten gold with slashes of scalding scarlet. For long seconds the pleasure took her outside herself to a heavenly place where there was only Rion.

  When she finally found the strength to slide down his body and place weight back into her limbs, she opened her eyes and realized that someone was pounding on the door.

  Outside the closed door, Lex’s voice rose to a frantic shout. “Rion. There’s an emergency with the babies. We need everyone’s help.”

  “Just a minute.” Rion scooped up their clothes.

  “Hurry.”

  Quickly they sorted out their clothing in the darkness and dressed. Marisa was certain that Lex would know what they’d been doing, but at the panic in his tone she didn’t waste time straightening her hair, barely pulling down her top, and tucking it into her slacks.

  When Rion opened the door, she was still breathing heavily. Lex was already down the hall, running with a flashlight aimed toward steps that spiraled downward. Rion grabbed her hand, and together they sprinted after him. As they raced through the hall in the darkness, she could hear the squeals of baby dragons, and dread poured through her.

  Back on Earth, Rion had theorized that their intimacy had caused her to inadvertently send out telepathic waves of passion, thereby upsetting the adult dragons. She now feared his theory might have been right.

  “Rion,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have been so careless. I didn’t even think about how my telepathy might affect the baby dragons.”