He hadn’t bothered to check the suite’s balcony that night, for the only way out was down—far down—and he believed that she wouldn’t even try to run. It was there that she must have eavesdropped. But, how much of his conversation with Darius had she heard? Certainly enough. When they had made love, he should have sensed that something was wrong. She was different—tense, and yet all too willing. He had let his guard down and she had taken advantage of his vulnerability, almost slipping away. When the elevator had opened, he saw her crouched down by an auto, and he leapt for cover, curious to see just how far she would get. As she ran onto the ship he stood akimbo, disgusted by her defiance. But then an idea came.
The traitor to the Revolutionaries cause had made keeping her on Myrrh too dangerous. He couldn’t trust anyone, since Darius still hadn’t a clue about the identity of the antagonist. They would be safe at Cronala’s warehouse for a while, but he needed to find another place to hide his stolen prize.
They’d go to Kan.
He knew the Kalcoons through Darius, the crew having their own grievances against King Ellis the Second; they could be trusted. He forgave the Arab for not locking the door, and told him to come to Kan when he had the news of the monarch’s compliance. The creatures would harbor the princess there until then, and he would leave her behind for the FAS to rescue.
Raine sighed, a frown knitting his brows.
He wanted to stay away from her to start adjusting to her absence, and to sort his emotions. Too often of late he saw her as a female—a fascinating, real and living woman and not just the princess royal, a symbol he so loathed. Such contradictions cut across a mind like a knife.
“Why does she have to be so damn beautiful!” he ground out.
Such a siren, one so fiery and wanton and yet so natural and naive, would bewitch any man. So tender a heart she had, and hearing him talk like that ... He had shocked not only Darius, he had surprised himself for how cold and cruel his words had come out. The more he contemplated about it, the more he was convinced that he had been overcompensating, striving too hard to dismiss his unnerving fondness for her.
She never would forgive him. Did it matter, anyway? They had no future together.
But they had tomorrow.
He concluded that she was far too tempting to leave be. Mere images of her in his head had an uncanny way of rousing his desire. But, he wanted her willing—not just physically, but emotionally. For only then would he know that maddening euphoria that no other woman had even come close to equaling—the intensity was beyond comparison.
He groaned and closed his eyes, concentrating, scheming about how to get that wild and sensual sorceress back in his arms.
***
Bewildered, Sarra woke—something was touching her!
“It’s only me,” Raine muttered.
His tall silhouette lowered onto the bed. Half asleep, she rolled away from him.
“No,” she moaned.
“Yes.”
His lips met hers and she was helpless, her drowsy senses beginning to reel while his tongue gained force. The kiss left her breathless, and her heart beat even faster when he drew back the bedding and impatiently slid her from her nightgown. Naked and defenseless, unable to see his expression in the darkness, Sarra understood what was happening—he would use her as his toy, again. As he glided his scorching hand over her breasts, instead of yielding to the fire, she fought.
“Awh—don’t!” he rasped.
She halfheartedly slapped at his face.
All Raine’s plans of seduction fled as his animalistic drives took over; it had been three days since he had had her. With a strangled sound he crushed her soft breasts against his bare chest and spread her thighs. Giving her no time to resist, he rammed himself within her. She vehemently struck his back until he pinned her forearms down ... and the rhythm of his hips came quicker, his passion feverish—the moment exquisitely violent ... and then he collapsed.
He sighed in his relief and bent his nose into her hair that flooded the pillow. An angry Sarra waited for him to release her, and when his grip slackened, she battled him in her wrath. He simply pressed her down again.
“Get off me!” she stormed.
“Can’t leave you like this. Hot ... wanting—that would be a sin.”
“Go die!”
“Someday. But not this one.”
Now wide-awake, her fists did more damage to his visage.
“Stop it!” he barked, and then his voice became like a plea. “Why fight it, Princess? We may not even like each other, but we’ve got this in common. Just lie back ... enjoy yourself.”
“Ooohhh—I hate you!”
“Hate me later. Love me now.”
Sarra tried hard to resist and keep her resolve ... but her will become lost as his searing tongue needled her breasts. Tears sprang into her eyes.
Raine tested his suspicions, reaching up to feel the wetness on her velvety cheek. “Dammit. Don’t cry.”
“I can’t help it.”
He sighed deeply and pulled her into his embrace, becoming as somber as her weeping.
“How could you?” she choked.
“I didn’t mean it. I told you I wasn’t telling the truth. You ... misunderstood me. I’d never hurt you.”
Comfortingly, he held her until she was calm and meek. Then he kissed her, able now to attempt seduction. It wasn’t long before he started losing his control, when her hands moved so warmly upon him and she writhed wantonly. Still, he waited, caressing her until her beautiful desire made her silken skin hot. He intended to be slow and affectionate, yet passion struck them like a tempest, sweeping them off into the clouds.
In the following lull, Raine hoped that she would let him stay the night. Satiated, Sarra’s torment began anew and she was vengeful once more. As she smacked his face with the back of her hand, he grunted but made no move for retaliation.
“Stubborn,” he muttered.
He rose, dressed, and left her alone to cry herself to sleep.
***
The next day Sarra hated her womanliness almost as much as she hated him. She paced her small cell, agitated enough to carry on an argument with herself.
“It isn’t fair! How dare he come to me when I’m dreaming—when my defenses are down! Coward! He knows I can’t fight then! It’s not my fault—yes it is! I should have clawed him to pieces!”
Sarra passed the day conjuring up excuses for her loose virtue; nothing helped. The moments were long and dull, making her testy and listless. When her eyelids grew heavy, she retreated to the bunk.
“Dare I fall asleep? What if he comes back?”
She slammed her fist into her palm. “I’ll fight until the end! He won’t get away with it again!”
Only a few hours later, she stirred and he was there. Raine proved that his will was more than a match for hers. Feud she did, but a few ardent kisses from him and she was lost and eager. And she surrendered, loving his calculated brutality that made the sensations explode within her softness. Twice he had his pleasure ... many times she had hers ... and then he was a shadow leaving the room.
She lie there, lonely in the darkness, struggling.
“You’ve changed, Sarra.”
Changed.
Chapter 15
For the first time in her life, Her Royal Highness The Princess Sarra of Adriel felt that she wasn’t worthy of her title. She didn’t care. Even though she had all the facts, she willingly gave herself to the enemy, letting Raine stay with her in her cabin. He didn’t say much and neither did she, since it was safer to simply abandon troublesome words and let their primal instincts rule. Why fight it? What was the point in being moral—she was already spoiled. By far, it was easier to pretend that he wasn’t a beast than to let her hatred eat her up on the inside. She always had had a reputation of being wayward and rather selfish—shouldn’t she do her best to live up to it? Shouldn’t she start making her life her own—instead of Adriel’s—and enjoy what it means to be a s
hameless and skilled sexual adventuress? What was the use in worrying about the future? Who knew what was to come? Perhaps this day would be her last.
Sarra was indeed aware of her mortality on the fifth day of flight when the ship was on approach to Kan. She donned her black dress, and Raine slipped a pair of boots made of pelts onto her feet, laid a black cloak around her shoulders, and escorted her to the bridge where the Kalcoonian crew waited. He strapped her in a chair and took the one beside her. She peered out the port and saw the ashen, barren globe coming nearer. She shivered delicately, certain that the frigid climate would be a challenge not fitted for the small and meek.
She spotted one of Kan’s two moons—a little, grayish orb. The sun, being a great distance away, cast its light dimly on the lunar satellite and on the planet, the space between them shrouded in dark shadows.
“How can life exist on such a desolate world?” she pondered aloud.
Raine smiled. “Kan is not all a wasteland,” he said amiably while admiring the view. “It has oceans, vegetation, flocks and herds ... The Kalcoons began evolving at their equator eons ago, being mammals like us for almost a million years. But, nothing would survive if not for the volcanic eruptions that warm the atmosphere, and the unique ozone that lets most of the sun’s spectrum through, trapping the warmth in. Without these, Kan would be a floating chunk of ice.”
Sarra eyed him with some distaste, for he always did have an answer for everything. “Yes, I know. It’s a strange place. It takes nearly two of our years for one rotation around the sun. The days are just over twenty-nine hours long,” she said, showing off her own knowledge. “And look—there’s the moon called ‘Tyran’.”
Raine saw where she pointed and shook his head. “No, I think that’s ‘Zorrn’, the other moon.”
“But, Zorrn means ‘blue star’ in Kalcoonian and this one is gray,” she considered.
“No,” he chuckled. “Both moons look this way in space, but Zorrn has a mineral that—when on Kan and the faint sunlight reflects off it—gives an illusion of blue. A person can usually tell them apart by their size—Tyran is much larger.”
She suspected that he was right but threw him a doubtful glance anyway.
“Zorrn?” he asked the Kalcoon nearest him.
The beast grunted an affirmative reply.
Sarra pouted, none-too-pleased about being wrong. She fell silent, thinking of a way to best him.
When the spacecraft met the turbulent atmosphere, she sat up straight, hoping to see all that she could. There was nothing but brilliance, the color white, even as the ship landed and rolled into a docking bay. Suddenly, everything became dark except for the tiny bright lights that blocked her normal vision. She blinked rapidly, beginning to fear that she had lost her sight.
“Snow blind,” Raine reassured. “It will leave in a moment.”
When she could see again, she watched him pick up his travel bag, the one he had taken from Myrrh. As he led her off of the bridge, she was disoriented and kept a tight hold on his arm while the crew ushered them down a long, enclosed tunnel. At its end were three more dissident Kalcoons who cheerily greeted the Revolutionary leader and his prisoner. They gave the gift of animal pelts, a pleasantry for Human guests.
Sarra frowned while Raine shrugged himself into the long, white and brown mosaic coat. She sighed, letting him help her into her heavy fur, grimacing as he lifted the hood onto her head. “It’s like wearing dead animals,” she grumbled.
“Be thankful. You’ll need it on Kan.”
She understood why when they all moved outdoors. Although she felt the weak sunlight on her face, she could see her breath, the ice-planet’s air being so thin and cold. Raine placed his arm snugly across her back, and she gave him the satisfaction of huddling closer to his warmth. Their footsteps crunched in the snow while they walked passed the pallid, oblong buildings that made up this bleak village.
When their hosts reached a tavern, their destination, her curiosity was high.
Raine paused. “The princess royal has no friends here. She has enemies.”
“What?” she asked, confused.
“You are to cause no trouble.”
Hesitantly she nodded, studying his somber face that was partially hidden by his hood. She was somewhat disappointed in herself, since escape hadn’t even been on her mind.
They followed the Kalcoons into the noisy, faintly lit room. Nearly a score of Kalcoons occupied the bar, their huge, apish physiques hazy in the swirling puffs of smoke that floated from the ‘sniffers’, an atmospheric enhancement pleasing only to Kan’s inhabitants. She gagged, holding a palm over her nose to ward off the acrid stink, and trailed behind Raine until he stopped at an immense corner bench. She slid onto the seat and he took the space beside her.
When a bartender set three stone cups out on the table, one of their escorts sat across from them and pulled a tiny rainbow gem out of his vest. The beastly waiter beamed, showing his jagged, pointed teeth before he took the treasure and strode off. Raine downed his drink with two swallows. She braved a sip, shuddered from the bitter and fiery taste of tamfonite, and pushed her cup away.
On the stage in the center of the floor, an orchestra—three Kalcoons—began blasting out a bawdy song. The singer growled out the gruff lyrics with the zest of one possessed, and the other two played their computer instruments with equal vigor. The sharp, screeching tones vibrated in her ears, and after a time brought an aching into her head. Still, seeing their bulky bodies writhing in a clumsy rhythm, a bemused smile crossed her lips. Finally, with a crescendo and stomping of feet, they quit. The audience boisterously hooted their respect—their way of applause—and the band leapt off the stage, seeking to amuse themselves with liquor. She sighed in her relief.
Raine chuckled. “Pathetic, wasn’t it?”
A commotion cut through the mingling guffaws and conversation. At the far end of the room there was a Kalcoonian woman who wore the same style raiment as the males, but with colorful rock ornaments around her large neck. The female suddenly took the chain off her and stripped from her pelts, leaving nothing to cover her three hairy breasts.
Sarra’s jaw dropped. The creature boldly snatched the loins of the male next to her, bringing low squeals of delight from him. He grasped her bosom and proceeded to knead her. Another one joined in, helping with the vulgar caressing. The others milled about, chanting and clapping.
Sarra’s belly twisted in her repulsion. “Ohhh, Lord! I don’t like this!”
“Relax,” Raine said, fighting an amused smile. “It’s perfectly natural here.”
Their escort couldn’t resist and went to join the action. Sarra blushed and shut her eyes, unable to watch the obscene ritual. She had studied the ways of Kan for when she must be queen, but had never imagined she’d ever have to witness this infuriating performance ...
Certain females in this male-dominant society were set on a pedestal above all others since their only purpose was to please the opposite sex. The woman would choose the place and time, but after that she must do anything the masculine miens wanted, making herself available to all.
Sarra cautiously opened her eyes and gawked as more behemoths came into the tavern to have their turn. The crowd blocked her view, and for that, at least, she was grateful.
Raine shook his head. “I’ve seen this once before and it’s still just as disgusting,” he commented. “Makes me thank God I wasn’t born a Kalcoon.”
She agreed. Who knew what God planned when He made these bizarre beings? Truly, she couldn’t comprehend their ways—and she didn’t want to.
“This is barbaric!” she cried, outraged and sickened by all the lusty screams and chants.
“Not to them. To them, it’s the celebration of the gift of ShaTee, or ‘woman’.”
“The gift!” she raged. “They’re nothing more than slaves here!”
Sarra was aware that Raine was speaking but she didn’t catch his words. Her eyes widened, spying the Dazens—thre
e Dazens hurried about the throng, excited and eager to see the free entertainment.
“Dazens,” Raine said. “Interesting, aren’t they?”
Sarra had never seen one in the flesh before, having only viewed the transmissions from the Dazen Star System that was about a light year away from Urania. They were about five feet tall and lanky, their heads bald and having no hair anywhere—at least, not that she could see. Although their skin was a whitish-blue, their faces looked somewhat like a Human's, but with thinner lips and smaller noses, their dark eyes slanting up at an angle. What she hadn’t noticed before—what the transmissions had failed to capture—was their glow, a candescent aura that was there but didn’t really seem to be there, at all. They had brought their pets with. The red, long and thin snakes, called ‘verrs’, slithered and wrapped around their owners’ gray, protective heat-suits. She stared, appalled.
Sarra was nearly hysterical, bewildered by all the chaos and feeling the effects of the planet’s air and gravity. Dizzy, she leaned against Raine, but straightened when spotting two newcomers—Humans!
Raine clapped his hand over her lips. “Don’t even think about it!” he whispered. “You scream, and there could be such a firefight that we’ll all be dead!”
She relaxed, and it took a few moments for him to trust her. Guardedly, he released her.
“I just want to leave!” she pleaded. “Get me out of here!”
It was only after the beastly whore fainted—what always happens to end the ritual—when the four jaunty and happy Kalcoons came to lead them out the back door. They had planned to lodge their guests here but it didn’t work out, and Sarra didn’t even bother asking why. She was silent, sitting beside Raine in the back of the vehicle that sped over the snowy wilderness. All the spooky events had made her feel like she had somehow been violated.
She was still quiet when alone with Raine in a primitive room, the walls and floor made from slabs of smooth dark stones. She immediately strode to the tall and wide hearth in the center of the room and thawed her hands before the raging fire. He went about inspecting the suite, testing the softness of the pelts on the huge, rectangular bed, before he disappeared into an adjoining room.
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