He leaned down and suckled her nipples, gently at first, then with more and more pressure. Her hands pressed on his head as he curled down, tasting her wetness. Her body shuddered, and he rose up once more and drove into her slit with the force of his passion. She cried out, gripping his hips with her legs. In and out, in and out—by the heavens, there could be nothing so sweet.
Elise groaned.
Ki and Fari groaned almost at the same moment, and then his shanna trembled with her forceful release. Her bucking and cries of pleasure brought Ki’s explosion soon after, and he knew Fari had also been relieved—though not so completely.
Too late, Ki realized some of this thought had trickled to his beloved.
“Ki.” Elise’s nails dug into his shoulders as he gently left the warmth of her sex. “Ki! Your brother’s in the room!”
Her tone conveyed shock and horror, even dismay.
Fari hesitated, but on Ki’s psi command, came to the bed, entering the curtains on the opposite side from Ki. He was still clothed, though his breeches and tunic bore the stain of his arousal and release.
“I meant no disrespect,” Fari said in a husky voice. “Out of honor for your culture, I scarcely intruded on your first-mating time—but it has been torture, Elise.”
Elise had claws full into Ki’s flesh. “What is he talking about? I don’t—this isn’t—Ki!”
Ki cradled Elise, certain he was bleeding on the sheets from her panicked nail-stabbings. “Our ways are different from yours, shanna. It is the mind-talking, the pa we share. Everything flows like water between siblings, and my brother and sister—”
“Sister?” Elise sat straight up and pushed Ki back, giving Fari an agonizing view of her nakedness. “There’s been a sister knowing all this, too?”
“Not all,” murmured Fari. “She is back home, on Arda. But no doubt she has tasted some of Ki’s immense joy. One would have to be psi-blind to ignore it.”
Elise shot Ki a look of humiliated betrayal. She gathered the little-used sheet to her, covering most of her tantalizing freckles and curves. Her thoughts were of love and sharing, and Ki’s heart ached as he understood her belief—that if he was willing to share her with anyone else, he did not love her as she had come to love him.
She felt less than, exposed, and—the word was difficult, but it was akin to “bargain.” Cheap. At lower cost. The concept confused him, but he thought he understood.
“I love you, shanna. I adore you, everything about you!” He tried to gather her in his arms, but she turned away, nearly bumping right into Fari. “You are not a bargain. You are not!”
This statement clearly perplexed Fari, who was taking great pains to contain his growing erection.
Ki’s words failed to have the desired effect on Elise, for she began to cry. “Leave me alone.”
“Beloved.” Ki reached for her again, but she hit him in the chest. This time hard, with both a punch and kick. It was enough to drive him out of the bed.
He landed on his back, air whistling from his lungs in a rush.
Fari scrambled up before Elise could round on him.
“Get out,” she sobbed. “Both of you. Get out.”
Ki hesitated, as did Fari. Neither wished to leave Elise in her current state of upset.
She grabbed a pillow and launched it at Fari. It struck him hard in the chest, and fergilla hair burst from the seams and floated like fuzzy snow. Ki got to his feet and found his clothes, keeping his head low to ward off another such missile.
Fari joined him, staying a bit to his side and slightly behind as Ki put on his shirt.
Coward.
“Akad will be here shortly,” Ki offered, sounding more hopeful than he felt. His tunic laces felt thick in his fingers, and he left them loose.
Elise threw another pillow at him as hard as she could, but missed. “Does he have a right to screw me too? Am I your whole ship’s fuck-buddy now?”
“No!” It was Ki’s turn to be horrified. He started back to Elise, to grab her and make her understand, but she tugged at a carved ivory spindle in the headboard. It popped free, giving her a fair weapon.
Fari grabbed Ki’s arm. “Anon, brother. Leave her to the priest.”
“But—” Ki tugged toward his shanna, who hissed and wielded the spindle like an OrTan pain stick.
“To the deck, Ki.” This time, Fari’s tone was amused, yet wary. “We can do no more here, for now.”
Reluctantly, Ki followed his brother to the door. As the two men strode out of the portal, the ivory spindle struck the pa-covered wood beside Ki’s right ear.
The clatter made him jump.
As he pulled the door closed, the last thing he heard was his precious shanna yelling, “And stay out!”
Ki and Fari stood and stared at the closed door. Behind them, the crew worked to keep the sails and riggings flawless, oiled, and properly turned on the largest ship in the Fleet. For that, the brothers were glad. Above them, the heavens offered thousands of twinkling stars, light to feed the pa and strengthen Ardani warriors. For that, the brothers were appreciative.
But in that cabin, behind that closed door, lay a sobbing creature they both had come to cherish. A woman they would give ship and life and even honor to nurture and protect. She hated them fiercely at the moment, seemingly because they both loved her. For that, the brothers felt strangely cursed.
“Do you think Akad understands enough about Earth culture to—” Fari began, but Ki cut him off with a wave.
His anguish at Elise’s rejection and his anger over the circumstance mingled into one long growl of pain. “Females are females, no matter the culture. This is why I never wanted a soul’s mate. Nothing but pain from here—that I can foresee, even without our sister Krysta’s sharp and guarding eyes.”
He started to stalk away, but Fari grabbed his arm. “Elise is alone, brother. Confused and hurt. She has been torn from her home, her family—”
“We are her family now!” Ki snatched his elbow from Fari’s grasp.
On the decks behind them, men murmured and chuckled. Such was the first-mating time, when outworlder women were involved.
Ki, however, was not amused. He strode toward the main deck, intending to spend some time behind the hand-turned wheel. Exercise and a direct connection with his ship would do him good.
“Brother,” Fari tried again, keeping pace. “We can ill afford this dissension. While you have been abed these last stellar days, we have taken three full OrTan assaults.”
“What?” Ki stopped and whirled around. “Attacks? I thought those were regular battle dockings—slaver chasing. Why did you not fetch me?”
Your mind was elsewhere. Fari took the conversation private for the good of the crew, which Ki knew. The fact that his brother thought to do it first, however, only rankled him further. In mating fervor, you would have been no use to me, even drugged.
Do you so badly want the helm of this ship? Ki clenched his fists. If I am no fit Sailmaster, then take it. When we dock on Arda, I will turn Astoria over to you and head into the hills. My madness would be better spent dashing rock against stone!
You are overreacting. Fari’s voice and expression were infuriatingly calm. We all go mad when we first find our soul’s mate. It settles with time, but—
Ki cut him off by drawing his diamond blade. There is no excuse for neglecting my ship. Either I am Sailmaster, or I am not.
As you wish. Fari drew his blade as well. His was of sapphire, and made differently than Ki’s, with barbs and spikes sprouting from every edge. What it lacked in strength, it made up for in treachery. One slice from that jagged blade, and an enemy would be rent and properly tortured.
Fari launched the first blow, catching Ki’s blade full across. The sound was deafening, and even the pa in the sails flinched. In response, the ship lurched, throwing most deckhands to their backsides.
Grumbling broke out, then cheers as the brothers sparred. Ki’s muscles roared, releasing his hurt and worry ove
r Elise with each resounding clash.
Would she come to understand Ardani ways?
Would she forgive him all she had yet to learn?
Fari dodged in, then out—always quicker, but never stronger. It had always been this way when they exchanged jabs. Sometimes force won out, and sometimes speed. Usually, it was a contest of concentration. Ki intended to prove that Elise had not destroyed his focus.
He narrowed his eyes, slashing toward Fari with brute precision. Fari dodged, grabbing a rigging and swinging hard to the right.
“The OrTans are attacking because of your shanna,” he said. “They are intent on taking her back to Lord Gith.”
With another powerful slash, Ki nearly caught Fari by the seat of his pants. “Then they are mad. Gith has no claim to her.”
Fari swung again on the riggings, landing close to Ki and scoring a scratch on Ki’s thigh. “They assert they do, that she was pleasured at Gith’s will.”
“He never touched her!” Ki lunged, ripping Fari’s shirt open and off. He flicked it over the railings.
Breathless, Fari scrambled up netting, over Ki’s head. It was a gasha bed, brother. The OrTans have a record of it in their visual history.
Ki blinked at his brother, then lowered his blade.
Fari let himself down from the riggings. “As you can see, we have a quandary.”
The two brothers fell silent as Ki’s mind turned over this new information.
Lord Gith did have a valid argument to the Council, then.
His fingers tightened on the hilt of his blade, and his teeth clenched. His shanna couldn’t have known the significance of a gasha bed, nor could she have resisted it if she tried. But the fact remained that Gith’s bed, at Gith’s behest, would have brought Elise to climax. No creature could withstand pleasuring by a gasha without reaching orgasm.
And since she had found pleasure at Gith’s command, however unwilling or unaware, OrTan law allowed Gith to claim her.
Or try to.
“I will never turn her over.” Ki’s voice was quiet, and it sounded mad even to him.
“I know, brother.” Fari’s tone was equally tense. He stood beside Ki, with the stars etching a pattern around his broad shoulders. “Nor would I. But you know where this likely leads.”
Ki sighed.
Arda could withstand any number of OrTan assaults, of course. The OrTans were cunning, but they possessed little power or technology beyond the sexual pleasure chambers aboard skull ships.
Galactic peace, however, was a fragile thing. The Galactic Council had forged so many hearty treaties, allowing for the differences among planets, species, and values. Sex-slaving was illegal and frowned upon, but rules had been made for the practice’s proper policing. Everyone knew the OrTans would never stop collecting populations for their pleasure, but at least they could be controlled, and no wars would erupt from the routine interception and defeat of skull ships.
When the time came for Ki to refuse Lord Gith’s claim to Elise once again, when it was revealed that Ki had claimed, bonded, and bedded Elise as his soul’s mate, Gith would fight him until death. If the OrTan high command so deigned it, there would be war. Any number of worlds might join on either side. All the damage, all the destruction—Ki had seen it before, when his father was Sailmaster, before the great peace.
War benefited no one.
Ki could not imagine losing the war, because Arda was too right and proud and powerful. Her allies would stand strong, but so many might die because of his folly. Because of his madness.
He shook his head. “I have traded sex for blood, brother.”
“No!” Fari raised his barbed blade and slammed it into a plank between them. “You have claimed your true soul’s mate, and ensured the survival of our line. You have done no more than any man would, no less than any Sailmaster should!”
Ki sheathed his diamond blade and looked at the stars. “I do love her.”
Yes, I know.
I would die for her.
Fari’s expression was serious. As would I, but I hope it will not come to that.
Until this conflict is settled, Elise will not be safe.
“Then we must protect her,” Fari said quietly.
Ki leaned back against the ship’s edge. He spread his arms along the soft pa-soaked wood. “Even if she wished to return to Earth, I could not allow it. She would be taken by the OrTans the moment we left her.”
Fari’s mouth fell open. “Return to Earth? But, the Law of Keeping—do you think she would ask that, even knowing what would happen to you?”
A fist of rage squeezed Ki’s heart, then let it go. He took slow breaths, trying to fight the insanity of his mating fervor, even now rushing through his every vessel and pore. “I have not told her about the Law.”
“You have gone mad.” Fari pulled his blade from the plank and jammed it into his scabbard. “Tell her immediately, or I will!”
Ki lunged forward and caught his brother around the neck. Fari offered no resistance as Ki pulled him closer, until they were nose to nose. “You will not. I do not wish her to know. I have forbidden the priest to mention a word of it—long ago, before I even found my mate.”
But, why, brother?
A movement behind them caught Ki’s eye. It was Akad, heading for the cabin where Elise waited. She was probably crouching with a sharpened bed spindle or galley knife.
Ki’s grip loosened, and he set Fari back on his feet. I have not told Elise of the Law because if she stays, I wish her to stay out of love for me, truly and fully. Not out of some sense of guilt or obligation.
For a moment, Fari said nothing. His expression was first tense, then worried, then sad. Finally, he showed only a slack-jawed acceptance. “It is a brave thing you do. And kinder than I thought you capable of being.”
“It can be no other way, Fari. Elise must have true freedom to choose, and if she does not share the depth of my feelings—well, then.” Ki dropped his gaze to the deck. “The Law will be my friend.”
Chapter 5
Elise, now dressed in one of Ki’s white tunics and ready for battle, lowered the spindle she had wrenched off the bed. The priest had been nice to her, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to give him a rib-cracking kick when he quietly entered the cabin.
“What do you want?” she snarled.
Akad bowed his head once, then met her gaze. “I must begin your lessons, Grace. There is much for you to know before we dock on Arda.”
“Like the fact that you’re all perverts?”
“Per-verts?” The priest looked confused. His silver tattoos sparkled, and Elise could tell he was trying to work out the phrasing.
“Never mind.” She sighed as she dropped the spindles on the bed and tightened the rope around her tunic. “Ki’s a pig, and I want to go home. Will you help me escape?”
Akad’s head snapped back as if she had slapped him. He opened his mouth, then closed it and went pale. “You are not a prisoner. If you desire to leave, the Sailmaster will arrange transport after we reach our home port.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then you obviously fail to understand how much sway you have over your soul’s mate.” Akad slowly sat on the edge of the bed, keeping himself a reasonable distance from Elise’s bed-spikes. “I understand your mistrust, but you have far more power than you understand. You hold the Sailmaster’s heart, and his desire. He would do anything for you. If you do not wish to be mated with Ki Tul’Mar, he will help you return to Earth.”
“Fine.” Elise folded her arms. “The sooner the better.”
The priest shifted in his purple robes, seeming uncomfortable and frightened all at once. “You should know, however, that the OrTans will claim you within stellar minutes of your return.”
“What?” Elise sat straight up, and the priest flinched as the bed spindles clattered to the floor.
“Galactic politics are complicated, Grace.” Akad glanced at his hands, then back to her. His dar
k eyes were wide and compelling, and Elise sensed nothing but honesty emanating from the Ardani holy man.
In quiet tones, Akad explained Lord Gith’s suit to the Galactic Council, all the while keeping his gaze on his knuckles, especially as he discussed the part about the gasha being Lord Gith’s private sex toy.
Elise sank back on her pillows, eyes closed. Her face was on fire. She felt so humiliated she didn’t even care that there was an alien priest on her bed. “You’re telling me they have all that on tape? Me, watching that sex show, and—and—”
“You did what was natural,” Akad said earnestly. “No one can resist an OrTan sex machine. I assure you, every member of Council knows that, and—”
“But they’ll see me,” Elise moaned. “All those strangers—a whole planet of alligators can watch me—oh, no. I thought I was alone.”
“Is that what troubles you? That other people will see you unclothed and being pleasured?” Akad sounded shocked.
Elise opened her eyes, slack-jawed. “Of course that’s what troubles me!”
For a moment, Akad only stared. Then he took a slow breath and released it with a heavy sigh. “Your forgiveness, Grace. Your untrained psi-strength made me forget how little you understand of our culture. For us, pleasure is as natural as—as breathing, or sleeping. The body and its charms and capacities, these are things to be celebrated, not hidden.”
Elise briefly imagined Arda to be a beautiful Arthurian nudist colony, with giant orgies in progress around every corner, atop every hill and castle battlement.
“It isn’t like that. I assure you.” Akad actually smiled. “But we are a society of telepaths. Primitive concepts of modesty simply do not make sense for us.”
Elise flushed an even hotter red. “I broadcast my thoughts about the orgies, didn’t I?”
Akad nodded. “That is one of the reasons I am here, to teach you control and discretion. We find very few primitives with psi powers, but they must be trained. You must be trained, or you could harm others, or incite them to rage with your thoughts and impulses.”
Elise sat up and tried to convince herself she was composed again. Her body literally ached from Ki’s amorous handling, but she wasn’t about to say that in front of a priest.
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