Trained in Blood [Lords of the Expanse 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Honor James

  She pulled back from him when she realized she had touched him. That was one of the biggest things they had been teaching her at the time, was that Vampires do not touch. It was not so common knowledge that many of the eldest couples no longer physically consummated marriages and in fact when they wanted to have a child it was clinical and scientific. “I’m sorry,” she said as she completely pulled back from him. “I won’t touch you again.” She did stand this time. “Thank you for everything, Colonel, but I believe you’re right. I should lie down.” Bowing her head respectfully she withdrew from him and went to the bedroom before he could utter a word.

  Frowning after her Titan sat back in his chair and drew his hand back to him. When he was sure she would not return he lifted it and inhaled her scent from his fingers. In the next instant a flash of heat whipped through him and he knew he’d be able to find her anywhere on the ship from her scent alone. But now that he had her scent he wondered what she tasted like. Shaking his head at his unproductive thoughts he dropped his hand and began to work again. He had a lot to finish before they reached home port which, after his confirmation from the Alliance in the early hours, he’d ordered his ship to head back to.

  For several hours he went through report after report and had nearly finished when he realized he was starting to doze at the table. Shaking his head sharply he got to his feet to pace the room and try to wake properly. He was used to less sleep than he’d had last evening and for even longer durations than a single night, but it had been a long mission and his body knew it. Giving in he settled on the low-lying long and plushly padded bench along a wall after removing his uniform jacket and lay on his back, one wrist braced on his forehead, his other hand on his chest. He didn’t stay awake long and soon slipped off into the Vampire equivalent of sleep.

  Violet came out and seeing him as he was lying there had her heart softening. She had slept more than she had intended so she pulled a cushion over and close to him, close enough to feel the heat of his body, but not touching him. She had resigned herself to a loveless marriage, one where her husband wouldn’t even be able to stand her touch. She had done it willingly and somehow deep inside she had known the whole time it was him that he had been talking about for her husband. She sighed and dropped her chin to rest on her knees drawn up and watched him. She had been trained to be an assassin, and she was. She was very good at killing, but they never killed off the parts of her that didn’t believe in killing, the soft places in her heart and soul where she craved others to be in her life. She craved love, something she now would never have. However, knowing her luck she wouldn’t get pregnant at all. Knowing her luck that wasn’t to be for her, and that hurt for more reasons than her possible death, but more because she would never hold a child of her own.

  He’d woken as soon as the first of her feet had hit the carpet of the outer room. But he remained still and breathing as he had been to see what she would do. When she had settled at his side he’d been stunned and the heat of her body practically burned his arm. Lifting a lid he looked to her and watched for a moment, the forlorn look on her face a sharp blade to his heart. That in itself was a shock. Titan had always believed his heart long dead, but around her it seemed to have found new life, disturbing to say the least. Moving his arm he brushed back some of her hair with a light finger. “What heavy thoughts are disturbing you so, my Lady?” he asked softly, meeting her shocked gaze as she looked to him.

  Another reminder of what their life was to be, “my Lady.” “Nothing to trouble you with, Colonel.” She rose slowly from the cushion she had sat upon and looked down at him. “Your bed is free if you wish to have a true sleep. It is I that should take the couch, not you,” she insisted. “You’ve given up enough as it is, Colonel.” He had given up a year of his life to be with her. He was to be her babysitter for one of the Vampire years until she was marched forth and executed because she wasn’t with child. “You have such a promising career ahead of you, Colonel.” She spoke softly, breaking the silence. “You are going to one day take over your father’s house and become a great Lord, one of the seven,” she whispered. “You, Colonel Mauricio, and Colonel Reichart are already the three younger Lords. Soon you will be three of the four older, more powerful Lords.” She was speaking through a vision, but not one that hurt. It was a simple telling of what was to come. “Colonel Mauricio’s son is strong. Your friend Colonel Reichart’s daughter will align Colonel Mauricio’s house and his through marriage.” She looked up at him and smiled softly. “And your son will align the house of the fourth Lord and your house.” She shrugged. “He is born of a Vampire mother. The pregnancy will be hard on her, Colonel. Take care of her when you find her.” She was thinking that he would find her very shortly after her year was up. Of that she was sure.

  Shifting he sat up and, without thought, took her hand in his and pulled her to sit on his knee. Wrapping his arms around her before she could move he justified it in his mind as wanting her to sit still and listen instead of running as she was likely to do otherwise. “My name is Titan, Titan Rostam, not Colonel.” Though when she said his station he kept having the oddest urge to duck and cup himself out of a need for safety. “If you are so certain that you are not going to be here in a year and that you are not the woman to give my house this son, why did you even bother agreeing to what you obviously perceive as nothing more than a farce, my Lady? If you are so sure that you will be executed at the end of the year as the terms state, why not walk to the Alliance with dignity and ask for death? With the power my house holds we could have staved off the torture and given you a warrior’s death, Violet.” He asked his questions softly, knowing that sometimes the softest of words held the greatest impact.

  “Because I am a coward and afraid to die,” she whispered softly but felt her body relaxing against his. “I am not a Warrior, Titan. I never was one.” Using his first name was an oddity, but one she very much liked. “They tried to make me into one and I guess in some ways they succeeded because I can certainly take care of myself and I did take lives in order to escape but I hate to fight, I can’t stand to battle.” She was actually a very peaceful woman, one of the reasons they wanted her. “And I’m sure I won’t be the one to give your house a son because you can’t even touch me without hurting. I know why, and I even understand it and while I know that so many of the older Lords and Ladies use scientific means to conceive, I know that I never could. I need the little things.” Like touch, caresses, kisses. The feel of his skin to hers called out to her like a siren’s song. “And you aren’t able to do that. I don’t blame you, or any of your people but I want more than just a lab-created child. I want one born of passion, of caring.” And that was why she wasn’t to be the one to give him a son.

  “It’s true that touch does cause me pain, but it can be overcome, Violet,” he said, quietly lifting one of her hands up with the one of his not wrapped around her back. Gently he toyed with her fingers. “I am able, if I believe the person is worthy of such a thing, of giving touch and more. You should not judge all my people by what you have been told by those trying to control you. If you want to know more about me, ask me, Violet. If you want to know about my people you can also ask me or I can get you a data pad with our full history for you to read through.” Leaning in just to throw her off he pressed a light kiss to the soft skin just under her ear. “Don’t judge us by our reputation,” he whispered softly against her skin, “We are not all what we appear to be.”

  “I want to know everything about you, Titan. Later I will learn about your people but it’s you, you that I want and need to know about,” she whispered softly and then looked up again. “You kissed me.” It wasn’t an accusation but a statement of wonder as she lifted her hand and touched the gentle mark on her neck behind her ear.

  “And it worked in getting your mind off the dark thoughts you seemed to be circling about,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I’m also holding you and touching your skin if it had escaped your notice and I’m
not on the floor writhing in pain.” That held the tiniest amount of humor in it. “You may ask anything you wish to know and I will try and tell you everything I can on the topic. But if you ask me to tell you all about me again in such a general manner I may just decide I have work to do instead.”

  She grinned at him and shook her head. “Are you teasing me?” she asked with laughter dancing in her eyes. “All right, I will have to think about what I would like to ask you in particular. However, right now, Titan…” She liked his name. It was strong and fit the man, she decided. “For now you really should go and lie down in a real bed. I will just grab something to read while you sleep.”

  Shaking his head he looked to her. “I do not require as much rest as you do, my Lady. A few hours is all that is necessary to have me fit for duty. I have work that needs to be done before we return to home port which, because of events outside our control is two weeks earlier than normal. So ask some questions if you wish or I will get you a data pad to read from while I continue working,” he said softly.

  “You mean because you found me you will be in home port two weeks earlier, right?” Violet shook her head and smiled up at him. “All right then, so you will be home earlier and while I know that you can work on less sleep than what I need, I still say that you shouldn’t give up your bed for me.”

  “It’s not a hardship, believe me, my Lady,” Titan told her quietly. “Yes, we will be home early because we found you and because we are also not stopping by your mother’s home world. Another ship will be going to her and finding out just what her excuses might be for your treatment. But with the shorter trip I am behind schedule on my reports as they need to be completed before we reach port. We’ve slowed as much as we dare to buy us all additional time, but we will still be there in four days since the only way we could go any slower would be in reverse,” he said in a dry tone.

  Again a joke from him. He was proving to be the surprise wrapped up in an enigma. “How can I help you, Titan? I refuse to simply sit in this room for four days, so tell me how it is that I can help you? I know I can’t do your reports, but there has to be something that I can do?”

  “Read and learn about my…our,” he changed quickly, “world, Violet. Some of what you have been taught is true, but some is lies plain and simple. You need to know the customs and unfortunately you do not have a lot of time to learn the laws or about our world. From the moment you step foot onto the ground you will be watched, you will be tested, and you will be probed with questions wrapped in lies and twisted with truths. You will need to know what is and what is not fact.”

  “I will do this for you, Titan.” She smiled softly up at him and nodded. “All right, I need to know where to find the data pads that I will need for this learning process, Titan. I want to make sure that when I step off of this ship I will make you proud.” There was a pause. “Why did you save me, Titan? And don’t say you didn’t because we both know you did, so why did you?”

  “Because it was the right thing to do, Violet,” he told her simply. Lifting her off his knee to her feet he stood and went to a cabinet on one wall. Pulling out a data pad he looked at it for a moment and then passed it to her. “You can access anything and everything about our world via this. If there’s something you can’t find or anything that is blocked let me know. My codes will get through any of the security checks.”

  “If there is security blocking something it is likely for a good reason. I will only read what I can and then I will ask you to fill in the blanks for me.” She smiled down at the pad and nodded. “Thank you for this.” She moved with him and then frowned. “Is it all right if I go to the training gym and walk as I read?” They had the tracks built for walking in the gym, and it was somewhere where she knew that she wouldn’t have to worry about having a guard on her all the time.

  “If you wish,” he told her. “Ask one of the guards outside to escort you,” he said as he moved back to the table to pick up the data pads laying there. “It’s for your safety, Violet,” he added when she made a noise in her throat. “The crew was only informed of your new station this morning and we’ve been out of a port for almost six months. Just do it please?” he asked quietly.

  “It’s all right, Titan, I understand,” she said with a smile and nodded. “Thank you for caring enough to want to keep me healthy and happy.” She leaned up and without considering the ramifications, brushed her lips over his cheek. “Now, get to work, husband.”

  Chapter Five

  Had he not been so tired he’d likely have reacted fast enough to catch her, but by the time everything clicked she was out the door and away with a guard in tow. Lifting a hand he lightly touched his cheek where her lips had pressed. Shaking his head sharply he snorted. “Fool,” he muttered. She was playing him, he was sure of it, but if she wasn’t…Pausing he shook his head again, impossible.

  For two hours he worked at a crazed pace but finally he couldn’t see straight any longer and, stumbling like a drunkard, he made it to his room. A quick sonic shower later he stripped down to a pair of exercise shorts and collapsed face-down on his bed. Scratching idly at the middle of his back where a small design rested he threw his arm out and tucked the other under his head and was asleep moments later.

  When she came back she noted the muted lights and smiled. “Silly man, not tired my big toe.” Walking into the bedroom she saw him draped there naked save for the sheet slung low on his back and had to bite her lip to stop herself from letting out a moan. She approached him slowly and what she saw there had her stopping completely. Leaning in she lightly touched the tattoo, her name. She knew his language in writing, speaking, and reading, and this, this was her name. Why had he marked himself with her name? And for a Vampire to hold a marking was a brutal and painful experience, so why had he done it?

  His hand came up before he was awake and rolled. He pulled on her wrist, tugging her body down as he continued to roll over to pin her body down, hands overhead. Blinking he frowned slightly as he seemed to become aware who he had trapped and, a moment later, eased his bruising hold on her wrists. “Violet.” He murmured her name, blinking quickly. “Is something wrong?” he asked, looking at her with concern.

  “You marked yourself with my name. You placed my name inside of your family’s crest, Titan, why?” she whispered and felt a moisture gathered at her eyes that had her brushing away at it with frustration. “No one has ever cared enough for me to even write my name in their blotter or appointment book, but you marked yourself, permanently.” There was a pause followed by, “Why?” She wasn’t complaining, just trying to realize why.

  Staring down at her for a moment he let out a breath, a shaky breath. Shifting off her he lay at her side and propped himself up on an arm, his other hand resting lightly across her midriff. “It is a tradition in my family, something that the men of my line do. When we come of age the crest is put into our flesh and, when we marry, our wife’s name is added for luck and prosperity upon our House and the hope of a child to bless us all. In my family we only marry once and we have long lives with those we take to wife. I don’t intend on changing that, Violet, so you’d better plan on sticking around,” he told her softly.

  She turned into him and placed her hand on his chest. “I want to stay around.” She found a smile deep inside of herself and then said, “But I guess for me to stick around for a while I have to give you a child, don’t I?” There was a pause before she said, “However, no matter how many children I give you, Titan, I am essentially human and I won’t live nearly as long as you do.”

  “There is a…” He stopped and sighed, moving his hand from her stomach to rub at his face. “My people can turn others into what we are,” he told her quietly. “It’s not common, it’s not easy, and on occasion it just doesn’t happen as it should, but it’s a possibility.”

  He was the sweetest thing ever. None of the “training” she had could have prepared her for him. Smiling she reached out and touched his cheek. “How about you
see if you can even deal with having me for one lifetime of mine before you promise me all of yours?”

  “We’ll give that a shot,” he said softly. He appeared to be forcing himself to remain still under her touch. Laying his hand back where he’d had it before he spread his fingers out slightly. “I’d stay awake and talk to you more but I’m fighting myself here. So you will have to forgive me but I’m going to sleep,” he murmured a moment before his head slid from his hand to hit his arm and he was out.

  She shook her head and adjusted herself on the bed. Moving to wrap her arms around his middle, she affixed her leg between his and laid her head on his chest. “Good night, husband, please don’t hurt me.” And the whisper-soft words didn’t mean physically. Physically she could handle her own self. Emotionally, however, was a completely different story she was finding as she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim her.

  Chapter Six

  Waking, who knew how much later, Titan lay still at the warm weight he felt pressed against his body. Sometime during his rest he had wrapped his arms around her and shifted to entwine his legs with hers. Shifting slightly he looked down at her face and, with a gentle hand, pushed her hair back. She was a beauty, in more than just her face. Her spirit was strong and pure but fragile at the same time. He ran a soft finger down her cheek, tracing the fine bone structure, his eyes following until there was the faintest of flutters at her cheek. Stilling again he waited as she let out a breath and then her eyes fluttered again.

  “Do you need anything, Titan?” she whispered before she finally opened her eyes. “Do you need me to move?” She pulled back slightly to look up at him and couldn’t resist touching him. “Did you get enough sleep or do you want to close your eyes and have more?”