Lord Harcourt snapped his fingers and a boy in the corner grasped a wooden bar and started turning a crank on the wall. Suddenly the basket of berries in front of him shifted to the left slowly and different plates of food moved into place of it in front of him. All the food rotated around so that each guest could eventually select what they wanted from the bounty in the center of the table.
This did not make Angelica put any food on her plate.
He whispered to her. “Lord Harcourt is taking food from various plates. I don’t think it’s poisoned.”
“I’m not taking any chances,” she whispered back, then added, “Is it just me or is this whole dinner the epitome of strange?”
“Yes. So just play along and put something on your plate. You don’t have to eat it. I suspect he’ll keep at us until we pretend to consume something.”
“Fine.” She reached out as a platter of bread went by, snagging two rolls and a slice of bread in one handful, depositing the now-squished baked goods onto her plate. The next choice was a bowl of tree nuts. She grabbed a handful and unceremoniously dumped them over the bread like adding misaligned sprinkles on a cake.
Vidarr and Sapphire spoke little and only to each other. Lord Harcourt was engrossed in a quiet conversation with his thin confidante, until four more guests entered the dining room.
They were dressed as regally as Lord Harcourt. One gentleman wore what looked like a bright, white general’s uniform with gold buttons running down his front and complete with stiff epilates extending out from his collar, ending in gold tassels dangling from his solid flat shoulder boards. The man seated himself at the end of the table opposite of Lord Harcourt. Each man nodded at each other as if in greeting. The other three guests filled in the table, leaving only one open chair across from Jeremy’s seat.
Another young boy soon entered, carrying a pitcher filled with what Jeremy discovered was wine. Soon each of the guests at the table had an elegant, clear glass filled with dark red fluid.
Angelica frowned, looking at the wine like pure poison wafted from its surface. Having just dropped some small red grapes—the juice of which still stained her fingers—over the mess of food on her plate, it was looking more and more unappetizing.
Jeremy stroked a hand down her thigh, hoping to change her unhappy expression.
“A toast,” Lord Harcourt said, seemingly ignoring Angelica’s attitude. He lifted his wineglass. They all dutifully grabbed the wine-filled flutes. “To the best performers in my stable.”
“Here. Here,” the man in the white uniform said, lifting his glass high, and then drank the entire contents in one swallow. Jeremy allowed the wine to touch his lips, but didn’t drink any. He didn’t think it was poisoned, but also didn’t want to be the least inebriated when they made their exit. They had a long walk ahead of them into the desolation.
William leaned in closer to Angelica. “Maybe you should eat a little. We have a journey ahead.”
She gave him a look that said she’d rather be boiled in oil than take a single morsel of food from his lordship, following it with a sharp shake of her head. Not to mention her plate of squished food was a hot mess.
The plethora of platters containing every kind of food continued to move past him. It wasn’t going very fast, but was dizzying nonetheless. As he then contemplated what foods he might snag to fill his pocket with, just in case they needed it for their coming journey.
He carefully snagged a handful of shelled tree nuts, slipping the treasure unnoticed into his jacket pocket as a final guest entered the room.
Jeremy looked up and an overwhelming bout of dread plunged all the way to his bones when he saw the smiling face of the newcomer headed toward the huge dining table.
Lord Harcourt noticed the latest guest approach the table as well. “You made it, my friend. I know your voyage was long. Please have a seat. We’ve only just started.”
“Thank you, my lord,” the man said quietly. “It was a bit of a journey to get here.” The man nodded once at Jeremy, grinning as if they shared an inside joke, but the amusement never reach his eyes. In fact, only the taint of betrayal filled this man’s odious expression, and he looked slightly perturbed to find Jeremy still here. Bastard traitor.
Jeremy mentally shook his head in disbelief, careful not to show his true feelings outwardly. Fuck. We are all totally fucked.
The final guest sat down across from Jeremy, his gaze turning toward and instantly feasting on Angelica like he wished she was being served on one of the plates circling endlessly around the center of the table.
Jeremy, hand on her thigh, squeezed once, partly to connect, partly to warn her that something terrible had just happened. Angelica straightened from her quiet chat with William, turning to look at the new guest.
She sucked in a shocked breath. “Bergeron?” she whispered.
* * * *
Angelica stared at Bergeron. She couldn’t see her own face but knew she couldn’t hide the utter shock that must be exposed there. Her last memory of Bergeron was of tricking him into the crew shuttle and launching it into space, so everyone would be safe in case she rocketed the Mirage into the Forbidden Zone or blew it up before she could fix it.
She’d lied to him so he’d go with the rest of the crew. She hadn’t wanted anyone to possibly forfeit their life if her plans to save the Mirage failed. His last expression had been one of shock and anger. He’d wanted to remain behind on the Mirage with her. He’d wanted to help her. But she hadn’t wanted any help. The captain goes down with the ship, or in this case, the captain goes alone if illegally drifting into District Six post sabotage.
On her journey into forbidden territory in her broken life pod she’d pondered the idea that if she’d let him stay with her, perhaps she wouldn’t have ended up in the Forbidden Zone. Given his presence here now, maybe he simply would have escorted her there even faster and more personally.
Jeremy squeezed her thigh again. His expression looked carved from granite.
“Angelica. Good to see you here at Lord Harcourt’s generous dining table. And, of course, I’m glad you’re alive.”
What could she possibly say to that? Thanks, I only had to lose my memory, survive forty battles in a gladiator ring, and then participate in a round or three of public sex?
“How did you get here?” she asked instead.
All other conversation stopped abruptly at the dining table. The singular noise remaining was sounds of the plates clanking together while the food continued circling around the table as the boy cranked the handle on the wall.
His gaze shifted to Jeremy briefly, and then returned to focus on her eyes. “I came to help rescue you, of course, on the Stargazer.”
“And what are you doing at this table?” she asked the more pointed question.
Bergeron’s amused gaze then shifted to the host of this awkward dinner party. He reached out, snagged a grape from a passing plate, and said, “Lord Harcourt invited me.” His expression was self-satisfied.
Angelica trembled from the rage she fought to suppress. He’d signed on with Jeremy’s ship to “rescue” her? Or was it to fulfill whatever plan he’d failed to accomplish when he served aboard her ship, the Mirage?
Indisputable bastard.
* * * *
Jeremy resisted the sudden and violent urge to bound out of his padded chair, climb over the table, body slam, then strangle the man he’d thought was a confidante. A friend. Someone who wanted Angelica’s safe return as much as he did. Bergeron. What the fuck was going on?
Had something happened to the shuttle? No. He’d been expected by Lord Harcourt for the evening. Apparently invited. How? He couldn’t even invent a good story for Bergeron’s sudden appearance.
Bergeron being friendly pals with Lord Harcourt could only mean one thing. The three of them—having just recently had amazing sex—were now totally and completely fucked.
Jeremy had never gone from feeling so high to feeling so low in such a rapid time fram
e. Exquisite double penetration sex with Angelica and William, followed quickly by betrayal courtesy of Bergeron. Fuck.
How can I possibly save Angelica now? was the singular question battering his brain. He’d pushed his search to the limit at every turn, found her, and now the bitter seed of betrayal nestled in his chest like a bomb waiting to go off to splinter his heart against his blasted ribs.
Before de-cloaking the Stargazer above the gladiator’s arena earlier in the day, he’d done a full scan of the planet. He didn’t have detailed plans of Lord Harcourt’s castle, but enough of an idea of the layout to gain access to the gladiator’s area and the slave’s quarters therein.
Jeremy’s initial strategy had been to come down to the surface in the other cloaked shuttle with Bergeron. He had planned to leave Bergeron as a guard at the shuttle, fetch Angelica from the arena, and spirit her away from the Forbidden Zone forever. It wasn’t like he didn’t have the skill set and the firepower necessary to pull it off. Once he got to the primitive arena and castle-like structure surrounding it, he had no doubts about his ability to infiltrate, locate, and rescue.
But everything had changed when he saw Angelica about to die in the gladiator’s ring. After he’d destroyed the robotic beasts with the laser barrage, he’d sprinted to the transport bay to launch the two person pod, drop down, and grab her.
Bergeron had met him at the small shuttle. “In case something happens, I’ll still take the cloaked shuttle like we planned and rendezvous within three days.”
Jeremy had nodded, only barely paying attention. His only regret as he’d launched involved not having his premium weapons along, but having instant access to Angelica was better anyway. He’d snap her up and go.
He’d been shocked that she wouldn’t leave with him initially, but understood when she didn’t seem to recognize him. Jeremy hadn’t been worried at all. He had a backup plan still in place.
Bergeron was at the shuttle, waiting for them. He could still save her. He’d been in plenty of really bad situations over the course of many years while still in the military. Hell, he’d barely survived his childhood. He’d adapted and overcome lots of seemingly hopeless situations. But he’d never been betrayed by a fellow member of his team before.
That little prick, Bergeron, had lured them here. He’d probably also been the one who sent Angelica’s ship headed toward the Forbidden Zone in the first goddamned place.
Back on Bravura, in the quiet space of quarantine, the engineer, Kerchner, had told him the story of Angelica tricking Bergeron into the Mirage’s escape shuttle before launching it without her inside. Bergeron had been incredibly unhappy not to have Angelica all to himself with the rest of the crew gone. Kerchner had thought he only wanted to romance her by working side by side to save the Mirage.
But in fact, Bergeron must have been crazed when Angelica locked him out of the command deck and sent him with the other crew. Likely he’d planned to escort her personally to Lord Harcourt.
Fucking bastard betrayer.
“What’s going on?” William whispered, leaning near Angelica. He frowned over at Lord Harcourt and Bergeron, but he obviously didn’t yet understand the significance of the newcomer’s presence.
Jeremy had ordered Bergeron to wait only three days with the hidden shuttle at prearranged coordinates a few klicks into the wilderness behind the gladiator’s arena. If Jeremy didn’t show up with Angelica at or before the appointed time, he was supposed to leave and rendezvous with the Stargazer well out of Forbidden Zone territory. But not until tomorrow night.
There was never a plan for him to meet them here. Obviously, there had never been a plan to meet at the shuttle. Jeremy cursed his foolish trust in a man he’d had second thoughts about since the moment he’d offered to bring him along.
Given the current timeline, Bergeron must not have waited very long after landing the shuttle before promptly deserting it to get here in time for a late dinner with his lordship.
Bergeron had obviously concocted his own set of plans. And he’d done it long before they’d ever arrived at Lord Harcourt’s planet courtesy of the Stargazer.
Jeremy turned and caught Vidarr’s narrowed, unhappy gaze. From his lap he moved his fingers and sent a signal to Jeremy meaning trouble. Jeremy sent one back that said, No. Big trouble.
Angelica moved her arms, slinging each around both his and William’s shoulders. Bergeron hadn’t shifted his view from her body except to glare at him a couple of times. Now he took turns glaring at first William and then Jeremy caught what looked like a fiercely jealous gaze. What had Lord Harcourt promised Bergeron if he succeeded?
The urge to covet and protect Angelica almost overwhelmed him. He’d come so far, risked so much, that it was difficult to lose everything so close to the finish line.
“How long have you been associated with Lord Harcourt?” Angelica asked, in a wrathful tone of voice Jeremy always took care to avoid. Her gaze remained fastened on Bergeron. Jeremy could almost feel the waves of her hatred directed across the table.
Bergeron smiled, glancing over at Lord Harcourt for a moment before turning back to her. “About a year and a half.”
“Interesting,” she remarked passively, but Jeremy wasn’t fooled. She was merely looking for a good opportunity to launch over the table and strangle him with her bare hands. “I don’t remember that being a part of your resume when you were hired on at the Dalton Prime Corporation.”
Bergeron laughed too loudly to be believed when he said, “You have no idea what my true resume is made up of. You might even be impressed, Angelica.”
“I doubt that very much.” She lowered her arms away from he and William, her head down, staring at her half-filled, hot mess of a dinner plate.
The entire table shuffled restlessly, but no one seemed to want to speak up and break the current spell of animosity.
Jeremy turned to Lord Harcourt. “Thank you for your hospitality, your lordship. However, I believe it’s time for us to go now.”
“So soon?” Lord Harcourt asked, his smile as devious as it was beguiling. Jeremy’s belly took another plunge. He didn’t actually believe the slaver was going to let them go, but he played the game, looking for any opportunity to his advantage.
“I’ll call Gruvat to show you the way out.”
Bergeron half stood from his seat, and said excitedly, “I’d like to show them out, if it’s permissible, my lord. May I?”
Lord Harcourt smiled broadly. “Of course, Bergeron. Show them the way. I’m certain we’ll all still be here enjoying this meal by the time you return.”
Jeremy fought the urge to grin wildly at the boon. Sure, Bergeron, show me the way. Then I can show you “my” gratitude and also what my fist against your face feels like.
Chapter Twenty-One
William was aware that the new guest, Bergeron, who’d arrived last to the table last, was a terrible surprise and a worrisome threat based solely on Angelica and Jeremy’s reaction. And if he’d truly been invited by Lord Harcourt, then William figured out all on his own that Bergeron was an enemy.
Everyone else, including Vidarr and Sapphire, seemed to be glued to their seats in shock simply by his appearance. William debated for only one second before he stood up. The sound of his wooden chair scraping loudly on the floor made everyone at the stunned table look his direction.
“Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Harcourt,” he said formally. “However, I believe Jeremy is correct, it’s time for us all to get going.”
Jeremy gave him a look of gratitude and also stood up. Angelica popped up, nearly knocking her chair to the ground in her haste to leave. “Will’s right. It’s time to go,” she said politely. He could practically feel the waves of urgency roiling off of her stiff body.
Lord Harcourt waved one hand as if giving careless permission. “Fine,” he said blandly, and turned right back to whispering with his skinny little right hand man.
William moved away from the table toward the door the
y’d come in. He didn’t know where he was going, but out of here seemed like the best option.
Bergeron raced to his side and barely beat him out of the door, taking a left, opposite of the way they’d come into the dining room. It was also the direction William had intended to go, so he followed the untrustworthy man, for now.
Angelica was on his heels. He grasped her hand as they moved quickly along the rich hallways. He looked back once to see Jeremy still at the doorway to the dining room, but he waved, presumably at Vidarr and Sapphire, then quickly caught up to them.
After a long journey down this one hallway, Bergeron suddenly took a left. William stopped and looked right. There was a short hallway leading to what looked like a kitchen He saw unprepared food stacked on a table. Jeremy had caught up to them. He also looked right, shrugged once, and promptly took the lead in following Bergeron.
William followed behind Angelica, wanting to keep her between him and Jeremy as much as possible.
Bergeron traveled straight down the hallway without speaking. He apparently just assumed they’d follow. William wasn’t certain this was the best idea, but he trusted Jeremy’s judgment. Eventually, he suspected Bergeron was in for a bit of reckoning whether he showed the three of them the exit or not.
Two seconds later, Bergeron turned right down a darkened hallway. At the end, William could see what looked like sunlight spilling around the edges of a large wooden door.
Had Bergeron actually led them outside? Interesting.
“This door leads outside,” Bergeron said over one shoulder. His enthusiasm to help them leave was disconcerting. Did he know Jeremy would beat his ass and that William would help him? Evidently not, based on his gleeful attitude.
Once they reached the door, William expected to see deadbolt locks or a barricade or something that kept people inside here from escaping. However, there was nothing like that, just a simple handle one could either push or pull to get out. Bergeron grasped the handle and pushed the ten foot tall door open easily. He walked out onto a sizable brick platform leading to a wide stone staircase headed down and away from the back exit of the structure.
Sexual Memory [Dark Colony 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 23