“All humans are created equal!” Adams finally burst out after keeping quiet as long as he could. “Ancestry is irrelevant!”
“I can’t argue with that,” Zoe said.
“I can!” Morgan said.
“I don’t care about bloodlines,” Everard said. “More about the Byzants, Zoe. What happened after they found the Ark?”
She smiled at Everard. “I’m glad this isn’t boring you. After he found the Ark on Terra the first emperor made the homeworld the center of his empire. Michael decided to build a fortress and scientific facility on a part of the planet that hadn’t been as affected by the Long Winter as other places. This just happened to be in an area where the capital of the first Byzant empire had been located two thousand years before. So Michael named the place New Constanz, founding the capital city of the Byzant Empire. He had the planet restored using the recovered genetic material from the Ark and established the legal code from the wisdom of the Library.”
“But he didn’t establish a democracy!”
“Nope,” she answered Adams. “And nobody asked him to.” She ignored Adams’s derisive snort. “Within a generation the human species once more had a world where they could stand unshielded and free, despite Mr. Adams’s opinion, with fresh open air to breathe.”
“And taxes to pay!” Adams called.
Zoe continued. “Along with fixing Earth, humans were able to return to terraforming Mars and the Jovian moons. Those were exciting times.”
“But what about the aliens?” Adams burst out. “What about the dead race humans stole technology from? Ow!”
Rumi had slapped him on the back of the head.
“I was getting there,” Zoe replied. “And technology wasn’t stolen from a dead race.”
“That’s not what I heard. Ow!”
“Shush. You should keep your promises,” Rumi said.
Zoe laughed. The man simply couldn’t help himself. She looked around at the rest of the audience, and saw that Raven was now standing next to Professor Cauley, who had moved to stretch his long legs at the rear of the group.
Her heart raced at the sight of Raven, and she couldn’t help but stare at him for a moment, everybody else forgotten.
How could he have gotten so much better looking in only a few cycles? He actually looked tired and worried. She wanted to hug him and ask to help. Had he lost some weight? He was no prince charming, but he was still the best thing she’d ever seen.
“Oh, Zoe …” Maria called.
She forced her attention back on her now laughing and grinning audience. She looked at them with Imperial aplomb and waited for quiet before she spoke.
“After reclaiming the Sol System, humans began exploring beyond it. The Byzant Empire expanded by building a long string of space stations as they went. We didn’t have jump technology yet, and we’d only begun experimenting with spacefold engines. Still, our ancestors kept moving outside the Sol System, they kept the species’ territory expanding.
“We’d gotten about two light-years outside the home system when the exploration ship Condor came across the Dead Fleet.”
“Are you sure the aliens in the fleet were actually dead when humans found them? Ow!”
Adams and Rumi again. The crowd laughed.
“That’s the way I learned history,” she said. “The Dead Fleet was humanity’s first contact with aliens, but there weren’t any living aliens on board any of the found ships. It was determined that the fleet had been caught by the same energy pulse that hit Terra. Everything organic on those ships was destroyed, but the technology was self-repairing and self-replicating. Most of the ship’s systems repaired themselves but their organically powered engines were destroyed. Humans learned how to use some of the alien technology and we used it to find and colonize nearby star systems, and the Empire grew. Eventually, Empress Eugenia sent the ships of the Dead Fleet back to their homeworld. She also sent along a diplomatic mission with the fleet. This was to the home system of the Wolasere. The Wolasere became the humans’ first alien allies and trading partners. The Byzant Empire was built on settlement and trade,” she reminded them sternly, “not conquest.”
She crossed her arms and looked at Adams. “I will now take questions from the floor.”
29
Doc left the infirmary because Zoe was nearby. He’d been avoiding the way she always called to him, but this time she was amused and he couldn’t help but follow her feelings to where she was. Her delightful mood rippled through him like bubbles in champagne and he simply had to find out what was going on.
He saw her standing in the full light from the top shield as soon as he reached the plaza. The sight took his breath away. He hadn’t seen her for several cycles and she’d grown more alluring to him in that small span of time. Everything about her was thrown into sharp focus, as though she was standing in the glare of a blazing spotlight instead of the heavily filtered illumination from high overhead. While this light was as bright as daylight on a double-star world to Doc’s Primal vision, he didn’t need to use that sense to appreciate the glow she showed him—he saw Zoe in so many other ways.
Sensuality strongly burned in her, clear to him, for him. Her intelligence was bright, her practicality was a steady glow. Her compassion was a steady flame, while her humor was dancing fire.
But one way he didn’t want to see her was as who she really was. That woman in the center of the plaza wasn’t really Zoe Pappas having a fine time entertaining a group of friends, but a practiced actress playing to a crowd—fooling herself as much as them. Zoe didn’t exist, although he was certain she didn’t always remember this.
He moved closer to watch her. As he stopped next to Professor Cauley he couldn’t help but overhear a sudden intense thought from the mortal.
Where have I seen Zoe before?
“Oh, shit!”
Cauley gave him a curious glance before he looked at Zoe again. For the Porphyrgia’s protection, Doc shamelessly eavesdropped on the man’s thoughts.
Maybe we met in New Constanz. At the university? A party? Diplomatic reception? Her family has something to do with politics, don’t they?
Doc clamped a hand on Cauley’s shoulder. A wince of pain interrupted the man’s train of thought.
“Sorry,” Doc said. “I forgot you’re still recovering from the Itch.”
There was a round of applause when Zoe finished speaking. Most of the audience got up and wandered away as Adams jumped up to continue debating with her. Doc noted that Everard and Rumi stayed in the plaza, fading into the shadows while unobtrusively carrying out their guard duty. Cauley gave Zoe one last look and walked away, looking thoughtful.
Doc wondered what to do about Cauley but decided to leave the man alone for now. Even if he telepathically made the scientist forget any suspicions about Zoe, that might only be a temporary measure. There was nothing to keep Cauley from thinking she looked familiar the next time he saw Zoe—then Doc would just have to make him forget about her all over again.
As long as the man didn’t blurt out “Your Highness!” and kneel before the Porphyrgia there was no harm done.
Doc knew he should walk away but he kept watching Zoe as Adams hogged her attention. He couldn’t move away while another man stood beside her. He cursed the possessive resentment of the young man that grew by the second. Instinct had nothing to do with his awareness of who Adams was talking to.
Not because she was a princess, at least.
The Primal part of Matthias Raven had a claim on Zoe Pappas. He was hungry for her in a way he’d never been for another female. She was his mate and no other male had any business being near her.
He fought off the red rage. He had to.
Doc shook his head and forced himself to turn away. His body was tied in knots and his mind was on fire, but he would walk away.
“Sir! Wait!” Zoe called after him.
The sound of her voice nearly drove him to his knees, but he stopped dead still instead. He supposed the
re were other people in the plaza, but he was aware only of the woman rushing toward him.
Rushing toward their dark fate? His mouth twisted in a grimace. Goddess, but Primes could be dramatic!
Zoe caught up with him a second later. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright.
It made him too aware of her heat, and the blood beneath her fine skin. He wanted to kiss her. And so much more.
“Yes, Lieutenant?” he asked. He heard the hunger in his voice but hoped it sounded like annoyance to her.
Fat chance. The girl was an empath.
“And not stupid,” she mouthed.
She looked around before she took a step closer.
He wished she wouldn’t do that.
“Can’t we talk in private?” she whispered.
He took a deep breath of her warm scent but managed to cock an eyebrow and say coolly, “I’m busy right now. Dismissed.”
He found the strength to step around her.
When Doc walked away Zoe let him take a few steps before she followed him toward the infirmary. She didn’t understand why the general had chosen to pull rank on the lieutenant, but she certainly wasn’t going to challenge the camp commander in public.
She pretended not to notice when Everard and Rumi followed her. Even though they tried to use the intermittent light and scattered groups of people to shield themselves from her awareness, she was used to the ways of bodyguards.
“Thanks, Doc,“she grumbled in annoyance at this show of concern.
She supposed it was inevitable that she be assigned guards now that he knew the truth about her, even if she didn’t think it was a good idea. She could deal with it.
And him.
“Didn’t I dismiss you?” Doc asked when she followed him past Alwyn in the reception area and into his office in the rear of the infirmary.
“You did dismiss me. But where else did you expect me to go but with you?” She hadn’t meant to blurt that out. “I’ll go visit the Asi now.”
He grabbed her arm before she could turn. “Stay!” Doc ran a hand over his shaved scalp and groaned. “Woman, don’t you know how tempted I am to bite you again?”
A flutter of surprised pleasure went through her. Heat simmered deep inside. “Really?”
“You shouldn’t want to hear that.”
“What girl can resist such a romantic declaration?”
“Don’t tease. And don’t be naïve,” he grumbled.
She took offense. “I’ve never been called naïve before. I don’t mean to tease … I don’t know what I mean, really.”
They looked into each other’s eyes. The moment filled her with pleasure.
But she couldn’t afford to be pleased, or surprised at how being near him eased her loneliness. She certainly couldn’t afford desire, so she ignored all these things and concentrated on what worried her.
“You don’t look well,” she told him. “And you’re grumpy. Did you get the Itch? Can you get sick?”
“I’m grumpy,” he answered, putting the desk between them, “because I’ve got the heir to the throne to worry about.”
“I was the heir to the throne last week and you weren’t grumpy with me then. I haven’t changed overnight into somebody else.”
He laughed. “You’re being naïve again, only this time it’s deliberate. Stop it.”
She held up her hands. “Fine. If you won’t let me worry about you, I won’t.”
He gave her an assessing look. “Are you trying to make a bargain—you won’t bother me if I don’t bother you?”
She smiled. “Oh, no. Such a deal would be naïve.” She sighed and made herself remember duty, honor, and all the things her role forced her to be. “I had a reason for coming in here besides just wanting to be near you. I didn’t come to talk about us—since there isn’t any ‘us’ to talk about—”
She shook her head while his expression got even harder. This only emphasized the pain in his eyes and the new hollowness in his cheeks.
“God, my babbling is just making this worse, isn’t it?” she blurted.
“What do you want?”
She might as well just come out and say what she was certain of.
“The Itch wasn’t an accidental alien infection. It was sent in on purpose to smoke me out.”
This didn’t take him by surprise. “I know. The Hajim are looking for a high-ranking Imperial official. They figure that we weak, soft humans aren’t going to allow someone important to be exposed to a dangerous illness.”
She hated that she’d been the cause of this. “I’m sure the Hajim tried the same thing at every human POW camp. Who knows how many people have been ill because of me?”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” he said coldly. “The Itch wasn’t serious.”
“But the next pathogen they infect humans with might be fatal. What if people die because of me?”
Worry gnawed at her but Matthias Raven showed no more emotion. It made her want to hit him. She hated that tears were threatening, and blurring her vision. But was it fear for her people or reaction to Raven? An hour ago she’d been giddy with joy while storytelling, and now she was sick with fear and confusion.
Why were her emotions so close to the surface lately, so connected to this man?
“It is an honor to die for the sake of the Empire.” His tone was as cold as ice.
His words ripped every defense from her. There was no stopping the tears or the shout. “Not for me! I don’t want anyone dying for me!”
30
Zoe spun away from the sight of him. She couldn’t let him see her like this. She couldn’t show this pain, or share it.
But his huge hands were on her shoulders within a second and he turned her so that her sobs were buried in his shoulder.
“Don’t cry,” he said. “Please don’t cry anymore, Zoe, sweet. Don’t hurt so. I can’t take seeing you like this.”
“I don’t like being like this,” she muttered. He was a big, solid wall, and she didn’t know how long she’d been leaning against his strength.
She rested her forehead against his broad chest a while longer, breathed in his scent a while longer. She took deep comfort from being within his embrace—but she had no right to take comfort from anyone. It wasn’t that he made her weak—but just what was it he did make her?
“Needy. Dependent,” she grumbled.
“On me? No, you’re not. You’re just tired, and afraid of the dark.”
“I hate it, and I’m sorry.”
Doc didn’t know what she had to feel sorry about. He only knew that protecting her was the most important thing in the universe. And not because of who and what she was to the Empire. It was because of who and what she was to him.
He couldn’t keep up any pretense with her. His feigned annoyance and indifference had lasted what? Five minutes?
All he could do was love her. Losing her would kill him, but he’d just have to live with that.
So he held on tight and said, “Don’t worry, princess, everything’s going to be all right.”
“Liar.”
“No,” he said. He ran a hand down her back and pulled her even closer. She was such a delightfully soft little thing. No one had ever felt so good against him. “I’m a bad actor but I’m not a liar.”
And a starving, horny bad actor at that. Growing desire was driving him crazy. Desire was such a tame word for this hunger. The woman had no idea how badly he needed her in every way, blood and body and—
“You have an erection,” she said. She looked up at him, tears sprinkled like diamonds on her dark lashes. “I want you, too, Matthias.”
There was nothing he could do but kiss her, first one eyelid, then the other, tasting her salty tears. This tang on his tongue only whetted his appetite. He kissed her cheeks and the tip of her nose, drawing amusement from her.
His lips touched Zoe’s as she smiled. Her mouth opened beneath his—as desperate as his.
She still tasted of tears and desperatio
n but desire was rising in her. He was gentle when he longed to let the wildness loose.
I want wild.
Her thought burned through him at the same instant her kiss turned hungry and demanding. Her hands clutched at his back and moved down to cup his ass. Her hips ground against him.
Desire took him so quickly his fangs popped out, sharply throbbing.
“Ow!” he shouted.
“What’s wrong?” Zoe asked when his head jerked up.
“I bit myself.” He touched the wound, smearing a drop of blood across his lower lip.
“Poor baby,” she cooed, coming closer.
She touched her tongue to the blood before he could stop her.
* * *
“Holy Mother and all the saints!” Zoe yelled as ecstasy tore her apart.
Doc caught her before she hit the floor from the volcanic orgasm that buckled her knees.
“Good God.” She wasn’t sure if she was blaspheming or praying as he cradled her in his arms. She only knew—“I need more of that.” Aftershocks of pleasure shot through her, along with the craving.
She craved blood—his blood—and didn’t care.
She put her arms around his neck. He turned his head when she tried to lick his lips again.
“No.”
She grabbed his ears and tried to pull his head down. “I need—”
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re delicious! Gimme.”
“Not another drop.”
Desire morphed into the edge of anger. “Don’t tease me, Doc!”
He forced her hands away from him and looked very serious. “This is bad,” he said. “Very bad.”
She didn’t understand him, maybe because she was giddy with lust. “No, it’s really good.”
She finally understood why so many mortals craved the thrill of tasting vampire blood. If one taste could cause such an addicting reaction …
Addicting.
Of course, that was what he was worried about. The general worried about the Porphyrgia’s mental state.
Dark Stranger Page 15