“I know, but this woman may cost us a brother. You’re going to have to fix this.”
“Where do I look for him?”
“Check Edariak. And you’re not going to like it,” Luken warned.
Hannah heard another heavy exhalation. Mikolaus said, “If Hannah wakes before I get back, will you—?”
“Of course. Someone has to take care of her while you two run around in circles.”
Hannah sank back against the stairwell as footsteps approached. The front door opened. Before it closed, Luken called out, “And I’m coming with you tomorrow!”
There was another pause, another huff of distress before the door closed.
“I know you’re there, Hannah. Come on out,” Luken said.
Hannah walked into the kitchen where Luken stood, calmly stirring food in a pot.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I’ve been cooking all day.”
“Sounds like you’ve been cooking more than a pot of stew,” Hannah said drily. “But yes, I’m hungry.”
“How much did you hear?” He took a taste from the end of the spoon, nodded, and stirred again.
“Enough to know there’s trouble and I’m part of it,” Hannah answered. “Not enough to really understand why.”
“And still you’re here. Good.” He pointed his spoon at her. “I believe you have a sense of humor. You’re going to need it.”
Hannah sat at the table and Luken brought her a steaming bowl of stew. Her stomach growled. She picked up a spoonful and sniffed the mixture with a long inhale. “Please tell me you’re the triad’s usual cook.”
Luken sat across from her, smiling. “Domi and Mikolaus can cook. But if you want something actually edible, I’m the one you need.” He passed her a basket. “Meal cakes made with—”
“Butter and corn,” Hannah finished. “I had them in the Outlands.” She picked out one of the cakes. “Okay. Tell me why I’ll need a sense of humor.”
“The Outlands,” Luken murmured. “The land of misfits and outlaws.” He picked up a cake and took a bite. “You’re going to need a sense of humor to deal with my brothers.”
“Do you really think Domi wants out?”
“Domiku…” Luken paused, shaking his head. “Domi needs a woman, and you’re perfect for him.”
Hannah scooped up the last of her stew. Softly, she said, “Not if I decide not to stay.” She popped the morsel into her mouth and waited for Luken’s reaction.
She didn’t expect him to laugh—his outburst was surprising, and his eyes sparkled with mischief, making his young face even more boyish.
“What’s funny about that?”
“My thick-headed brothers,” he said, “have just met their match.” He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. “May I court you, Hannah?”
“Even though I’m considering not staying? I’m not sure—”
“I am. I’m sure enough for all of us.” He kissed her palm, glancing up at her, lights dancing in his eyes. While Mikolaus’s words burned, and Domiku’s pain hurt, Luken’s light-hearted smile made her glow in return. She couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips.
“Is this standard procedure?”
“Yes,” he answered. “In my world, yes.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet. His arms drew her in so that his smile was inches from her face. Hannah admired the classic lines in his chiseled jaw, his handsome face softened by eyes that were, she suspected, prone to frequent mischief.
His lips came in and claimed hers, soft, teasing, searching her mouth as he stepped one leg in between hers. His hand came down her back to support her, but the play of his lips was mesmerizing, sending thrills shivering down her legs. She clung tighter, wanting more of his mouth, more of his hands on her back. More of all of him.
He drew his lips from hers, yet lingered, kissing her face, nipping at her chin, caressing her cheek with his. “Hannah,” he breathed against her skin. He pulled back enough for her to see him clearly.
“Don’t worry about Domiku. He’s a member of the triad. You’ll be courted by each of us. And you should court each of us in return.” He shrugged. “You’ll find your way with Domi. Until then, I plan to make your world indescribable.”
Hannah chuckled at Luken’s confidence. “You are a spectacular kisser,” she admitted. Suddenly, she frowned. “What did Mikolaus mean when he said he had no choice?”
Luken kissed the end of her nose and shrugged. “Ask him.”
“Do you think Domiku will leave?”
“If anyone can keep Domi in this triad, you can. Of that I’m certain.” He raised his eyebrows, seeming to dare her to question him further.
She had to admire his hubris. “Where is Mikolaus going tomorrow?”
“We’re all going to the Outlands. Kazen is taking us tomorrow, including Gray and Urkiza. And you.”
Hannah stepped back. “Oh? What else did I miss? I need to see Gray,” she said. “Will you take me back to the headquarters?”
Luken’s gentle smile turned to a mischievous grin. “What did you miss, you ask? Oh, dear Hannah, what you set in motion has just begun.”
* * *
Mikolaus walked into Edariak, surprised to find so much discontent in Galicia.
Broken triads, singles and couples.
I thought they all went into the Outlands.
He joined his triad-brother at the bar. “Domiku.”
Domiku had followed Mikolaus’s approach in the mirror behind the bar. He nodded. “Mikolaus.” He turned toward the bartender and raised two fingers, then handed one of two shot glasses to Mikolaus with a one-word explanation.
“Kastasha.”
They drank in brotherly silence for three rounds.
“Domi,” Mikolaus began.
“You don’t have to explain. I understand. You followed your heart. But Hannah looks so much like Zavia—and that’s my problem.”
Mikolaus caught his brother’s eyes in the mirror. “There is no problem the triad can’t take care of.”
Domiku snorted. “Look around you. Busted triads and broken hearts don’t go back in the box again.”
“Salute.” Domiku held up another drink and downed his shot.
Mikolaus stared at his drink, turning the glass between his fingers. “I know Hannah’s resemblance to Zavia stirs up memories you’d rather forget, but Hannah could—”
“Don’t.” Domiku held up his hand, cutting Mikolaus off.
Instead of arguing, Mikolaus raised his glass. “Salute.” He swallowed the burning Kastasha, placed coins on the bar and rose. He leaned over Domiku’s shoulder, and said, “One day, you’ll need to let go.”
He turned on his heel and left.
Domiku’s gaze followed Mikolaus’s exit.
“Let go, you say …” he whispered to himself.
Let go of my memories of Zavia.
He closed his eyes but the image persisted.
By the Goddess Jainkosa, how I wish the last memory of Zavia was washed from my mind.
* * *
Hannah walked into her room at the headquarters and turned on the water for a bath. I’ll clean up, and then I’ll go to talk to Ambassador Gray.
If only she could figure out what to say.
She groaned as she drew off the silver tunic and kicked away the black boots. The girdle dropped on top of the pile and she added the undergarments. Gratefully, she sank into the hot water.
How did I get into this?
She leaned her head back against the cool tiles of the edge and closed her eyes.
You couldn’t keep your knickers on, some other part of her answered.
Probably my conscience.
Hannah sank down in the water, letting it wash over her face and hair. She came up, rubbing her face.
“It’s not fair,” she complained aloud. I was seduced.
Mikolaus was spectacular.
“In fact, all three of them are off-the-scale gorgeous.”
She picked u
p a jar of bathing cream and slathered her legs.
I guess I could always go back to E2, or maybe some other crazy place.
But as she slathered her torso with suds and massaged her breasts, she remembered the heat spilling through her when Mikolaus touched her breasts.
She tapped one finger on the edge of the tub.
What was it he’d meant when he said he have no control over it? What was “it”?
She didn’t like the direction that line of thought led her.
Was he ordered to seduce me?
Hannah slid down in the tub, sluicing water through her hair.
And what about Domi? Did she really want to explore that one? She soaped up her head and remembered the smoldering look in Domi’s dark, hot eyes. Okay. Maybe it would be worth the potential trouble.
She ducked her head again and rinsed her hair, coming up out of the water, remembering Luken’s sweet lips. They’d call him the boy. She snorted aloud at the thought.
That’s a joke. He is a master seducer. She could still feel her bones seeming to melt beneath the onslaught of his kiss.
Hannah rose and grabbed a towel. Vigorously she rubbed down, shifting her thoughts away from the triad—my triad? —to Ambassador Gray.
Luken had said she had started this.
I hope Ambassador Gray doesn’t think so.
After drying her hair, she braided it tightly and donned her regulation gray suit. She examined her appearance in the mirror, relieved to see she once again looked like Hannah James, Earth-2 citizen.
“Not the Hannah I want to be forever,” she said aloud, “but the one I need right now.” The one she needed to have this conversation.
With a deep breath, she set off through the consulate.
She walked the long way to Ambassador Gray’s suite and knocked soundly on his door.
“Hannah,” he said. He looked her up and down, approving of her attire with a single nod. “Come in, I wanted to speak with you.” He motioned her to a chair inside the sitting room of his own suite.
“I hear we’re going to the Outlands tomorrow.”
“Yes, and I want you there to back me up,” he said.
Surprised, Hannah asked, “To back you up?”
“Your liaison here with Mikolaus,” he said with a cough, “and your escapade with Kazen,” he added with a long look down his nose, “seem to have cast you in both their camps.”
She opened her mouth.
Gray raised his hand, silencing her. “As a cultural attaché, I need you in my camp.”
Hannah clapped her mouth shut and waited for him to say more. When he remained silent, she asked, “What precisely do mean, in your camp?”
“I expect you to make E2 and the mission of this delegation your primary focus. Above and beyond any personal gratification,” he added pointedly.
“And exactly what is the mission, sir?”
He gave her a sharp look. “To create a mutually beneficial arrangement between the EDA and Lurra.”
Suddenly, a vision shot through Hannah’s mind of everyone on Lurra wearing regulation suits.
Not if I can help it.
“I understand, sir,” she said.
“Good,” Gray said. “This business with the Outlanders has to be settled before, or as part of, any alliance with the EDA. You’ve been to the Outlands, so I want your input tomorrow. With all this business coming up here in Galicia, I sent Matthew over to Pasaia to sniff out any resistance to social modification there in the government seat there.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Social change is coming to Lurra. That’s not going to make everyone here happy.”
Chapter 3
The next morning, Hannah rose and donned her regulation suit for the trip out to the Outlands. Wearing her suit and with her hair braided tightly behind her, she was essentially genderless and featureless, a mass-produced product of E2.
On E2, she would have never experienced dancing half-naked with Mikolaus in public, nor would she have had their passion-filled night. On E2, she would not find Luken with the sweet lips, nor Domiku with the smoldering, sensual eyes.
On E2, I would die of unmitigated boredom.
“That is not going to happen,” she growled aloud at her reflection in the mirror. “How could I go back?”
The calm green eyes staring at her offered a silent answer.
You can never go back home.
Hannah snorted. “I always wondered what that meant.”
When she arrived out front of the headquarters, the group was assembled. Ambassador Gray wore his regulation suit, looking stern. Ambassador Urkiza wore leather pants and vest, and packed a short sword. Hannah remembered finding a sword in the closet as Urkiza said, and thought to run for it. But she had no idea how to use the weapon.
Besides, it doesn’t go with my suit. She smothered a snicker.
Anyway, there were plenty of weapons—the Lurrans were well armed.
Mikolaus stood in deep conversation with his brothers. The three parted and turned, looking directly at her. Mikolaus noted her appearance with a tightening of his lips. Domiku gave her a subtle nod. Luken smiled brightly and threw her a kiss.
Hannah looked down to hide her smile at Luken’s antics. She had to admit, their triad comprised a delightful package: strong and engaging; silent and sensual; young and entirely unabashed.
Kazen waved his arms, calling for attention. “I must say, I never thought this day would arrive.”
Ambassador Urkiza looked away from Kazen, her stiff back proclaiming her disapproval.
“I know how difficult this trip is for Ambassador Urkiza,” Kazen continued, “but I ask her—and all of you—to keep an open mind.”
Hannah glanced at her men. Luken, chatting with Ambassador Gray, wouldn’t object to social change.
Mikolaus stood with Ambassador Urkiza. The ambassador’s expression remained fixed in disapproval and Mikolaus wore a perpetual frown as he glanced between Domiku and Hannah. He didn’t want change. And he distrusts E2.
Are his orders to seduce the delegate disrupting his triad?
The thought that her time with Mikolaus might have been mandated rather than chosen sent a curl of anxiety twining through Hannah’s stomach.
And Domiku stood alone, his arms crossed, his dark eyes brooding. He’s afraid of what he wants. She suspected he would encourage social change, though.
How do I help him?
Mikolaus and Kazen set out to lead the procession, and Hannah exhaled heavily. “Here we go.”
The walk through the city went quickly in the cool morning; Hannah was grateful for the chance to work out the remaining stiffness in her legs from her first horse ride. They arrived at a government station on Galicia’s city limits where horses were readied and awaiting them.
Hannah hid her chuckle as Ambassador Gray sized up his animal. Mikolaus gave him a boost to get mounted. Ambassador Urkiza needed no help and swung up onto her horse with ease, leaving Hannah the last one to mount.
“Goddess, may I help you?” Hannah started at the sound of Mikolaus’s voice behind her. The compliment rolled across her skin, making her blush; she put a hand to her cheek, the heat flooding her skin.
His harsh words from yesterday still burned in her mind, but the engaging warmth of his presence overpowered the memory. “Thank you, yes,” she said.
With a slight hop, Hannah managed to get her foot in the stirrup, and Mikolaus placed his hands on her backside to push her up. She swung her leg over and settled into the saddle. He remained at her side, his hand on her lower thigh.
“Are you comfortable?” He ran his hand down her leg and stroked her calf, waiting long enough for her to nod.
“This suit is loathsome,” he declared. Without waiting for a response, he turned and tuned and walked away, mounting his horse and joining Kazen at the front of the small procession.
Hannah edged her horse into line. Ahead, the ambassadors rode side by side. Behind her Luken and Domiku brought up the
rear.
She settled into the rhythm of her horse’s gait, gazing at the countryside, wild and open, like nothing she’d ever seen on E2. She appreciated the armed escort more than ever.
The two ambassadors had been murmuring quietly to one another as they rode, but suddenly Ambassador Gray gestured at Ambassador Urkiza. Urkiza spit out what sounded like a Lurran epithet before drawing her horse away and riding up to join Mikolaus.
Hannah urged her own horse up alongside Ambassador Gray. “A bad day for diplomacy?”
“Indeed. Urkiza is immovable,” Gray lamented. “I fear this alliance is in trouble.”
“Kazen asked us to maintain an open mind,” Hannah urged. “That means you, as well as Urkiza. If the EDA can bring benefits to Lurra for these Outlanders and satisfy the mission, you can’t give up.”
Ambassador Gray grunted. “Aren’t you the diplomat.”
“We all have something to gain,” she answered. “Even if we can’t see it at the moment.”
They arrived at the ramshackle ruins that served as the Outland camp and entered past a badly crumbling fence. Hannah kept her eye on Urkiza, gauging the ambassador’s reactions.
The group dismounted. As her feet hit the ground, Hannah leaned heavily on her horse, expecting the numbness to strike her legs again—rather to her surprise, she was less affected from this second ride. She walked about, feeling sensation return to her lower limbs.
“Welcome, Inlanders, to our humble home,” Kazen announced.
Urkiza’s expression remained dark. Hannah stepped up beside her, speaking softly. “These families live under mean conditions.”
“They are criminals,” Urkiza stated flatly.
Hannah pulled back, blinking at the ambassador’s tone. Before she could respond, Kazen was speaking.
“Ambassadors, we are almost two hundred men, women and children living as you see here,” Kazen said, waving an arm. “Please, walk around and satisfy yourselves as to our conditions. We’ll prepare a light meal while you inspect the Outlands.”
Hannah walked with Ambassador Gray. “What’s your sense of these people?” he asked.
They passed from building to building, examining what the Outlanders had—and didn’t have. “Everything they possess, they make themselves—they’re self-sufficient,” Hannah said.
Luken (Seduced by the Gladiators Book 2) Page 2