Release

by V. J. Chambers

By the time there was another scream, Keirth was out of the bed and rushing up to the next level of the main house, where the scream had come from. He fingered his blaster as he ran, turning it on for easy access.

  The sound of the scream had alerted everyone. Doors opened on the main hall as he came through, and women’s heads poked out, some accompanied by men, some not.

  There was only one closed door. Keirth opened it. None of the doors in the main hall locked. It wasn’t considered safe. The women should always have a way out, that was what Lilla claimed.

  Inside the room, Keirth took in the scene. The woman was naked, curled up in the corner with her hands in front of her face for protection. The man stood over her. He was dressed, at least partly. He was wearing his trousers.

  “Back away from the girl,” said Keirth.

  The man turned to look at him. He had a grizzled beard and crooked teeth. “Who the hell are you?”

  Lilla appeared behind Keirth in the doorway, holding her rifle. It was one of the old-fashioned kinds, the kinds that used bullets. People on colony planets often found them more useful than blasters for hunting, since the blasters tended to cook the meat when they killed. Lilla had always had one for protection. Keirth had never considered asking her if she wanted him to get her a blaster. “I warned you, Rilf,” she said. “I had complaints about you the last time you were here. You can’t play nice with my girls, then you can’t come back here.”

  Rilf sneered. “Uppity whores is a thing I really can’t stand.” He started for Lilla, his hand on his holster, going for a blaster.

  Keirth was quicker. He had his out and pointed before Rilf could draw. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

  Rilf slowly took his hand off his blaster, giving Keirth a look of pure hate.

  Lilla had her rifle aimed at Rilf now. “You get out of here now.”

  Rilf glared at her. But he shrugged into his shirt and left the room.

  “I’ll make sure he gets on his ship and leaves,” Keirth told Lilla, following Rilf with his blaster drawn.

  Rilf didn’t cause him any more trouble besides spitting out a bunch of curses and nasty names for the women in the brothel. He boarded his ship and took off, still swearing.

  Keirth went back to the main house, where Lilla was sitting outside on the porch in a rocking chair, still holding her rifle.

  “Thanks,” said Lilla.

  “Not a problem,” said Keirth. “You know I can’t stand men like that.” He sat down opposite Lilla on another wooden chair on the porch. His didn’t rock. “You know, Lilla, I don’t understand why you and these women put up with this. There’s got to be safer ways to make a living.”

  “I think we had this conversation last time you visited, didn’t we, Keirth?” said Lilla. “If I remember correctly, this conversation is the reason you stormed off the planet.”

  Keirth sighed.

  “I know your mother got a raw deal,” said Lilla. “But that never would have happened here. I protect my girls. You know that.”

  It was exactly the thing he’d said to Ariana that afternoon. He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What happened tonight could have gone wrong. Rilf was a pretty stupid man, but they’re not all that stupid.”

  “This isn’t really about safety, though,” said Lilla. “This is about you not approving of what we do here, isn’t it? Keirth’s the high and mighty one. Claims he’s not bothered by the same urges as the rest of humanity.”

  Keirth shook his head. “That’s not what I said. I only think that people don’t have to give in to their urges. They could fight them.”

  “Why fight them? There’s nothing wrong with sex. You wouldn’t exist without it. It’s natural.”

  “What you do for a living is not natural,” he muttered.

  “It’s the most natural thing there is. They don’t call it the oldest profession for nothing.”

  He leaned back in his chair. The porch was nothing but dark outlines against the blue-black of the night sky. He gazed out at the hulking shapes of the ships in the docking bay. Everything was quiet and still.

  “That girl you brought here is in love with you.” Lilla didn’t sound like she was teasing anymore.

  “She’s not,” said Keirth. “She couldn’t be.”

  “You might feel like you’re so damaged inside that there’s no way anyone could find it in themselves to care about you, but that isn’t so. And you don’t seem damaged. You seem strong and confident. It’s not as if you don’t have anything to offer her, you know, even if you have been so stubborn about ‘fighting your urges’ that you wouldn’t know the first thing about pleasing her.”

  Keirth stood up and went to the railing of the porch. He gripped it with both hands. “She’s from the nobility, Lilla. A woman like that doesn’t see someone like me as an equal. You can’t love someone you don’t respect.”

  “You saved her from a man trying to kill her, didn’t you? She’d respect you for that.”

  “She kind of saved herself, actually. She hit him over the head and knocked him out.” But actually, referring to what happened to Risciter made him think of something else. He turned to face Lilla. “If she did feel anything, it would only be because she’s confused. She’s been through a lot in the past few days. She might have some silly ideas in her head, but given time, she’ll get over them.”

  Lilla got out of her rocking chair, leaving the rifle propped up against it. She put a hand on Keirth’s cheek. “You’re determined never to let anyone in again, aren’t you?”

  He pulled his face away.

  Lilla crossed her arms over her chest. “We could use you here, you know? I told you that the last time you were here too. You made things a heck of a lot easier with Rilf. Men respond better to men for some reason. They’ve always got to test me, and that means I shoot more of them than I’d like. Give up on chasing this mad man through the stars. Let your mother have peace. You and the girl you brought could stay. You could give her the time you think she needs to get over her feelings, see if they actually do go away.”

  “I can’t, Lilla. You know I can’t. I have to find Risciter.” Keirth looked out into the night again, at his ship. Once he was sure Ariana was settled in, he’d go.

  What Keirth didn’t know was that Risciter was standing in the shadows just beyond the edge of the porch, listening to every word he said.

  Chapter Eleven

  Keirth walked back into the main house. He strode through the kitchen and into the great room to make sure that everyone had calmed down after what had happened. To his surprise, he found Ariana, huddled inside a robe, perched on a couch, her hair mussed from sleeping.

  “What happened?” she asked, her eyes wide.

  “Someone got fresh with one of the girls,” Keirth explained. “It’s okay. Nothing to worry about. I took care of it.”

  The other girls in the room made sounds of relief.

  “You can go back to bed,” Keirth said.

  Ariana stood up, shaking her head. “I don’t want to go back there alone. I think there was someone in the cottage.”

  Keirth narrowed his eyes. “Did you see someone?”

  “I saw something. I don’t know. It was dark. But I’m not going back there alone.”

  She must have been awakened by the scream. Keirth remembered her bad dreams on the ship. The poor girl had probably been confused. He didn’t think there was actually anyone in her room. But after what had happened with Risciter, he figured it was normal for her to be frightened. “I’ll walk you back, then.”

  “Thanks.” Her eyes were full of gratitude.

  Once back in the cottage, Keirth turned on all the lights and, with Ariana watching, searched every nook and cranny of the small house. He looked in the wardrobe. He looked in the bathroom. He looked under the bed. “There’s no one else here.”

  Ariana was hugging herself. “There was, though. Maybe they’ll come back.”

  “I don’t think so.” Keirth patted h
er shoulder. “It’s understandable that you’d be a little jumpy after everything that’s happened. But you’re safe here.”

  She turned to face him. “Couldn’t you stay here with me?”

  What? Why was she asking him that? He took a step away from her.

  She stepped closer. “Please, Keirth, it isn’t as if we didn’t sleep in a bed together before. I’d feel so much better if you were here.”

  Could what Lilla said be true? Was this some kind of ploy to try to get him to lie with her? Perhaps she thought if she seduced him, his honor would keep him bound to her. But whatever she was thinking, she obviously wasn’t thinking clearly. He could see that she definitely was frightened. It was this fear that motivated her to want him, Keirth knew it. “It wouldn’t be right. I can’t.”

  “All right, fine,” she said. “Then I want to sleep somewhere else.”

  “You’d be the most comfortable here,” said Keirth. “There aren’t any other open beds where you’d have any privacy.”

  “I don’t care about privacy. I don’t want to be alone,” she said. “Why won’t you stay here with me?” She grabbed onto his shirt, turning her pitiful expression up at him.

  He wrenched her off of him. Her robe slipped off her shoulder, exposing her white skin and a hint of the lacey shift she wore underneath. Involuntarily, Keirth found himself stiffening inside his pants. He turned away. This was precisely why he didn’t want to sleep in the same bed with her. He hadn’t forgotten how uncomfortable he’d been that night on Trioth, lying next to her with his body excited. He didn’t want to go through that kind of torture again. She didn’t understand that. He shut his eyes and took several deep breaths, willing himself to relax and hoping he could stop his arousal. But his cock only perked up further. Keirth shifted on his feet, trying to disguise it as he turned back around.

  She hadn’t fixed her robe, so he did it for her, yanking it back up.

  “I can’t stay with you,” Keirth said.

  “Why not?”

  “I’ve told you. It’s indecent.”

  “Just because we sleep in the same bed doesn’t mean anything will happen between us,” said Ariana.

  “And who’s going to keep it from happening? You?” He glared at her, because he wanted her, and because she had no idea how much her body taunted him.

  “Both of us,” she said.

  “It’s not exactly the easiest thing in the universe to sleep next to you.” Keirth started for the door. “I’m leaving. Go to bed.”

  “No.” She was behind him, tugging on his arm. “I’ve been thinking, Keirth. We stole the chief’s ship. He wanted to turn us in for money. We got away, but how do we know he didn’t track the ship. It was his, surely he’d know how.”

  “Triothians don’t know anything about ships.” She was being ridiculous.

  “You didn’t think they’d be in contact with the rest of the universe either, but the chief found out we were on the run. If he could give someone our location, wouldn’t they pay for that as well?”

  Maybe she was right to be concerned. He considered. “So, you think someone tracked us to Scranth and was stalking around your bedroom?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “But I don’t feel safe.”

  This was about her feeling safe, was it? “Well, let’s go look at the ship, then.”

  “The ship?”

  “Let’s go look for a tracking device,” said Keirth. “If there’s no tracking device, I want you to calm down and go to sleep in your cottage. By yourself. That a deal?”

  “I don’t know...”

  “Is this about your safety or not, Ariana? Because if there’s some other reason you’re trying to get me to sleep in your bed—”

  “No, I’m only frightened,” she protested.

  “All right then. Is it a deal?”

  She nodded.

  * * *

  Risciter eased into the darkened room upstairs in the main house. From the bed, he could hear gasps and grunts. He could see the shadowy forms locked together as he approached, his drugged handkerchief at the ready.

  They saw him at the moment he struck, but it was too late.

  The man was on top of the whore, and Risciter thrust his knife into the man’s neck at the same moment he covered the woman’s mouth with his handkerchief. She struggled, blood pouring out of the dying man onto body, but the drug worked quickly.

  She was senseless in moments. Risciter drew his knife across her throat.

  This whore was tainted by the attentions of the other man. He left the room in disgust.

  In the next room, the woman was alone and asleep. Risciter crept close to her. There were so many of them here, it was like a buffet table of delights. He pulled the covers back from the whore’s body.

  But he needed to keep his strength for Ariana, didn’t he? He couldn’t let himself be distracted by every pretty face in the brothel, could he?

  Risciter put his knife to the woman’s throat. She stirred and murmured in her sleep.

  If only he had time, the things he could do here. The way he could indulge... But he mustn’t. He had to remember why he was here. Ariana.

  In a quick motion, he slit the whore’s throat.

  She woke up at once, trying to scream, but it was too late.

  Her hot blood spilled onto the pillows of her bed, onto Risciter’s hands. He gasped at the feel of it.

  * * *

  “See,” said Keirth, gesturing at the area above the doorway to the bridge, “there’s nothing there.” Keirth had ripped away the covering the minute they’d gotten on the ship.

  Ariana chewed on her lip. There wasn’t a tracking device, then. She should feel relieved. But for some reason, she couldn’t explain it, she was sure she’d seen something in her room. And she had this feeling, this overwhelming feeling of dread.

  “I don’t even think a ship this old can support one,” said Keirth. “There’s no place for it to connect to the ship’s infrastructure up here.” He fiddled with some wires.

  Right. So they hadn’t been followed. So, then, who had been in her room? “I know we made a deal, but couldn’t you stay with me anyway?”

  He turned to face her. “What’s going on, Ariana?”

  “I’m scared,” she said. And she was. She didn’t know why, exactly, and probably in the light of morning, this would all seem stupid, but right now, she was absolutely positive that she didn’t want to be alone.

  “So, this is about you being scared? It’s not about something else?”

  “What else could it be about?”

  Keirth began to put the casing back above the doorway and screw it in. “You’ve been through an absolutely horrible experience these past few days. I’ve been there. Sometimes, when people have dangerous experiences together, they begin to become closer. A bond forms.” He glanced at her. “I’m afraid you’re confusing that bond with something else.”

  She just looked at him. She wasn’t really sure what he was talking about.

  “You realize, don’t you,” Keirth continued, “that the most important thing for me is getting revenge on Risciter? I’m not exactly the kind of person who you can count on. Revenge comes first. Maybe you’re seeing me in the wrong light.”

  “You’re a good man, Keirth,” she said. And she had to admit that she was enjoying the way his muscles were moving underneath his shirt as he replaced the casing. “I see you in completely the right light.”

  “So, you aren’t angling for something else with trying to get me to sleep in the bed?”

  That was what he thought? “No, of course not. I meant it to be exactly like it was on Trioth. We’d sleep there, but nothing more.”

  He was finished putting up the casing. He looked at her. “And what makes you think that it was so easy for me to only sleep next to you, anyway?”

  She wasn’t sure what he meant. But suddenly, he seemed very close. She could smell his scent. It was pleasant, a sort of musky, earthy smell. She had a funny
urge to put her hand on his bicep and run her fingers over the muscle there. Gulping, she took a step back. “You said that you chose not to lie with women, so I thought...”

  Keirth stepped closer to her. “I’m not a monk, you know? It’s not as if I don’t have any desire to be with a woman. You understand that?”

  She took another step back. She felt overwhelmed by his presence, suddenly, as if it triggered the very feelings she wanted to deny that she felt for him. He was so very close now, and she was still fighting back that funny urge to touch him. She took another step away, and collided with the wall of the ship. “You desire me?” The thought made her heart thump.

  Keirth closed the distance between them. “Who wouldn’t desire you?”

  Her breath was shallow. “Keirth, when I think about you sometimes—”

  “No, that’s what I mean. You’re confused. You don’t really have any feelings for me, and I don’t have any for you.”

  He was so close, it was driving her crazy. To keep herself from touching him, she put her hands flat against the wall of the ship. “But you just said—”

  “I said I desired you. That’s not the same thing. It’s lust, only lust, and if you don’t protect yourself, I’ll...”

  “You’ll what?” She searched his eyes with her own. He was gazing down at her, and there were only inches between them.

  “I won’t be able to stop myself.”

  “Maybe I don’t want you to stop yourself.” That was bold. What was she thinking? She was a member of the nobility. This was highly inappropriate. But maybe she didn’t want to stop herself either.

  “Ariana...”

  And then he was kissing her. Keirth’s lips were hungry, his hands urgent, and Ariana found herself engulfed by his presence and the sensations that were ripping through her body. Keirth pressed against her, the wall of the ship behind her. Her hands fluttered against the ship’s wall for a moment, and then she gave into her urges and touched him. As his lips assaulted hers, she ran her hands over his shoulders and arms. He was firm and unyielding beneath his skin. He was strong and brawny.

  Keirth’s hands were on her hips. He was holding her against him, and he was kissing her thoroughly, nudging her lips open so that his tongue could dart into her mouth. Ariana had never kissed with her mouth open. Her kisses had always been under the watchful eye of a chaperone, and they’d been chaste and perfunctory. When Keirth’s tongue touched hers, she felt as if a waterfall had crashed somewhere inside her, and that she was now being flooded with sweet heat, rushing out to the edges of her limbs. She felt weak, and she was glad to be supported by both the wall and Keirth. She wasn’t sure she could stand on her own.