Unity

by Kim Knox

  He stepped off onto a small, circular landing and palmed the entrance panel on the nearest door. With a slow grind, it swung inward, and weak lighting flashed over the ceiling. Vadim waved her inside and then closed the door and locked it.

  The almost-triangular room held a narrow, neatly made bed, a communications screen, a desk, and a couch. Windowless, it pressed against her mind with bleak cold.

  “Well, it’s a step down,” she said, sinking onto the couch and finding no give in the padding. She twisted her spine, trying to find some comfort. “Is there nothing you won’t do to get me alone?”

  A smile pulled at Vadim’s mouth as he unbuckled his sword and settled on the end of the bed. The Zahlta sat on the cover beside him. “I already know you can’t resist me.”

  Alena let out a tired laugh, and her head fell back against the hard edge of the couch.

  She stared up at the ceiling, the soft lights sparking against her retinas. Her eyes closed.

  “I’ve never seen anyone killed before. Not like that.”

  Vadim remained silent. She heard the soft slide of skin as he rubbed his palms together. “I regret you had to see it.”

  “It’s something I can live with, Vadim, don’t worry.” She opened her eyes and sat forward. Vadim stared at his hands. Light shone over his dark hair, splashed white over his strong shoulders. A hollow feeling spread out from her stomach. He could have died … and the ache inside wasn’t only for the loss of her strength-giver. In a few short hours, she literally trusted the man with her life. That and probably more. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  He looked up, and the flicker of warmth in his expression caught her breath. His voice was soft. “I made a promise to keep you safe, Alena.”

  Her hands curled hard over her knees. Damn the man. They shared a mutual attraction, and he was protective of her? What chance did she have of lasting until the rise of the second moon? Her smile was to herself. “You’re doing it on purpose.”

  “What?”

  She rolled her eyes and changed to what should’ve been the more pressing subject.

  “The skin-mappers? They wanted me, seemed to think that access during the ritual would ensure victory.” She lifted her hair from her face as her thoughts whirled, making unexpected connections. “They knew about you … so they think a pure Talar would somehow make me malleable?”

  Vadim’s brow creased. “They use primitive flesh-tech. You are the key to the most sophisticated cyber-genetic systems in this quadrant.”

  A slow grin spread over her mouth, Vadim matching it. “Talar genes would give me access to their flesh-tech?”

  “That looks like a strong possibility, doesn’t it?”

  A buzz at the door had her gaze jumping to it. Vadim pointed to the corner, and Alena followed his silent instruction. She pressed her palms against the cool wall and willed her breathing to slow. She wasn’t stupid enough to ignore his caution. For over a month, she had obeyed the orders of her Guard. They’d kept her safe—she winced—even as they failed her sister Vana.

  The door opened, and she heard the startled yelp. “Sir?”

  Vadim primed the Zahlta-9-40 in his hands, the whine harsh against Alena’s ears.

  “Put the food on the desk.”

  “Y-yes, sir.”

  The under-lieutenant, from his braids, inched into the room, his gaze fixed on the stubby, black barrel of Vadim’s weapon. Alena pushed herself away from the wall and straightened. She couldn’t be seen to be cowering in a corner from a boy bringing her breakfast.

  He dumped the tray on the table with a clatter. His face burned red, and belatedly, he met her gaze. Dropping a low bow, he stumbled over his words. “Ma-Majesty, your breakfast. It has been tested.”

  She ignored the slip in protocol as he spoke first. The boy was terrified. “Thank you…”

  He blinked. “Under-lieutenant Gorsky, Majesty.”

  “Gorsky. Could you have clothes and toiletries brought for me, please?”

  “Yes, Majesty.”

  Vadim followed him with his weapon as he edged out of the room, the boy’s hands held out open in front of him. “For future reference, Gorsky. The empress was being polite. Remember, you are not to speak until you’re spoken to.”

  The young under-lieutenant’s face grew redder. “Yes, sir.”

  With a grind of the mechanism, the door slid shut. Vadim put his gun on the table and pulled up the tray’s silver lid. Lifting the individual lids, he breathed in the hot steam.

  “Eating my breakfast, Vadim?”

  “Yes,” he said, taking small scoops and cuts of her food. “Young Gorsky there may have said the food was safe…” He chewed on a strip of softened okata root and pulled a face, almost gagging.

  Alena’s stomach dropped. “Is that…?”

  “I hate okata roots.”

  “Has Sacha been giving you lessons?”

  He laughed. “Maybe?” Cutting through a slice of bekor, he chewed and swallowed.

  “My post on Beta-Arietis-4 was precarious at best. I’m used to tainted food.”

  “Your staff tried to poison you?”

  “They didn’t see themselves as ‘my staff.’ I was the Talar half-breed.” He poured himself a cup of black tea and stepped back from the tray. Sipping from the little white cup, he swilled his mouth, obviously to rid himself of the taste. “All yours,” he said.

  “Thank you.” Alena poured herself tea and took her first sip. Hot and slightly tart.

  She expelled a slow sigh. She wasn’t herself until her first cup of tea of the day. Pulling out the stool tucked under the desk, she sat on its hard cushion. “You can share more than a mouthful.”

  “After you, Majesty.”

  She eyed him over the cup. “I thought we agreed on Alena?”

  “It’s a long time until the second moon’s rise.” He sank onto the bed. “And if we’re going to be stuck together in this little room, then I think I should observe some protocol.”

  Alena stabbed a fork into an okata root. “Is it my turn to be flattered?” She ate the spicy, green root in three bites. “Or should I just eat all of these … and have you run from me?”

  Vadim bit back a smile. He ran his finger around the smooth rim of the cup. “No planet would be far enough away. Believe me.”

  “Ah.” She waved a second stubby root at him. “One of the most fearsome and feared men in the Imperial Guard afraid of a vegetable.”

  Vadim wiped a hand across his mouth, and his silver eyes gleamed. “A shame I must carry to my grave.”

  Alena grinned and ate the second okata root. It was hard for her to believe that the night before she had argued against him. The last thing she had ever expected was to like the man.

  “I didn’t expect you to be like this.”

  She looked up from buttering toast as Vadim almost echoed her thoughts. “Like what?”

  Vadim’s expression turned wry. “Human, I suppose. You’re a Dubov. I didn’t put the two together.”

  “For that, I’m eating both slices of toast.”

  “See? Very human.”

  Alena bit into her toast and chewed. “I have to be mythic, Vadim. It’s a part of the job.” She waved a slice around the small room. “I will become the heart, mind, almost the soul of this place. Being human? Not really allowed.”

  Vadim’s eyes narrowed. “Then you’ll change?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. My mother…” Alena picked at her toast. How could she explain the relationship she’d had with her mother? Yet, she wanted him to understand.

  She didn’t want to question why, why she wanted Vadim Caethes to know her. “I was the fourth daughter. The ultimate spare from the three Spares. But the others saw the same distant, powerful woman who treated her children like they were a product to be prepared.”

  “And that’s what you’ll become? The centre of this organic city?”

  “After Vana … died … my mother started to prepare both Antonina and I for
rule.”

  She dropped the toast back onto the platter, her appetite deserting her. “She said it would change us.”

  He reached across the narrow space to brush his fingers over her knee. “I’m sorry, Alena.”

  “Not your fault.” She patted his hand, and the warmth of his touch seared her palm.

  Her fingers arched away, and she gripped her cup again in both hands. “And she didn’t warn me about a possible reaction like this.”

  Another buzz at the door rolled them into action. Alena clattered her cup back onto the tray and stood hard against the wall. Vadim grabbed his Zahlta. The door ground back, and Gorsky had a leather box and clothes draped over his arm. The boy stepped forward, always facing the weapon Vadim pointed unerringly at him.

  “On the couch,” Vadim said.

  Gorsky laid the clothes over the high arm and then placed the box on the hard cushions.

  “Open it.”

  He snapped the locks and lifted the lid. Alena recognised her personal toiletries from her own cabinet. “Thank you, Gorsky.”

  “My pleasure, Majesty,” the boy murmured, giving her a low bow. He flicked a look at the flight-captain and the Zahlta and backed out of the narrow door. Vadim palmed the door shut and put his weapon on the desk beside the tray.

  “Plan to try on my cosmetics?”

  Vadim’s gaze slid to her. “I’ve been in the Guard a long time. There’s not much I haven’t done.”

  Alena gave an un-empress-like snort. “Don’t tempt me.”

  He seemed to be ignoring her as he sorted out the cosmetic synthesisers, testing them against the back of his hand.

  “Spoilsport.”

  He gave her a sharp little smile that had heat spiking low in her belly. The instant attraction kept catching her out. But the flirting, the flirting was … nice. Only Sacha felt comfortable enough with her to treat her like a woman anymore.

  Vadim handed her the clothes after he had searched them—he had, of course, smirked as he dropped her panties into her outstretched hand—and she headed into the cramped bathroom tucked at the back of the room.

  Shutting the door, she sat on the closed lid of the toilet. Washing, brushing her teeth, dressing, that was her plan. But she sat with the box at her feet, her clothes across her knees. She wanted Vadim. Alena doubted she’d ached as much for any man before. Even her teenage obsession with Sacha paled beside the surge of need that flared when she and Vadim touched.

  Alena stared unseeing at the tiled floor.

  Something he'd said reverberated through her thoughts. Then you’ll change?

  Would she? Would she become the emotionless shell her mother had, all feeling pulled from her and pumped into her beloved city, a … being … her mother had loved more than any man and so much more than her own children. Her hands tightened to fists in her clothes.

  “Is that who I’m destined to be?”

  Her gaze lifted to the low, curved ceiling. Of course, the Talar could break through the city shield, and her being an unfeeling husk wouldn’t matter a bean. A smile pulled at her mouth. Some in her administration—hell, most of them—would be glad to see the back of her sense of humour.

  Alena stood. While she had passion, she would enjoy it.

  And when the second moon rose … Vadim beware.

  Chapter Seven

  Alena rubbed her hands over her hips, smoothing down the thick fabric of her trousers. Showered and with cosmetics that disguised the strain in her face, she felt human again. Well, as human as a Dubov empress could feel. She shook out her tunic and pulled it on over her head. Gorsky had chosen something sensible, at least. Her usual black tunic fell to her knees. Not the imperial dress of an empress but much more sensible than silks and fripperies when her life was at stake.

  She opened the door to the wash facility. Vadim looked up from his interface pad and twitched a smile.

  “Feel more comfortable, Majesty?”

  Alena ran a hand through her damp hair, settling the still-damp strand back from her face. “I’ll admit to feeling washed and dressed.”

  Vadim’s smile grew, and he held up his hand to swear an oath. “I promise not to jump you.”

  Alena dropped onto the other end of the bed and wormed her way back until the wall supported her. She let out a slow sigh. “Ever the gentleman.”

  “Thank you, Majesty.”

  Her gaze slid to him. “You’ve already spent too much time with Sacha.”

  “I know. He’s like a disease.”

  Alena laughed. “Yes, far too much time.” She stared up at the smooth curve of the ceiling and tried to empty her mind. All her plans for the day had crumbled to dust. Her meeting with the Head of Services—cancelled. Her tour of the inner vaults—blocked.

  She just had to sit—maybe with a pad—and ignore Vadim Caethes.

  His scent didn’t help. A mix of unknown spices and a hint of flesh that drew her mind back to him damp and naked in her shower room. She swallowed and forced her eyes shut. It didn’t ease the sudden wetness of her flesh. Silent curses ran thick and fast through her mind.

  The city shield, now that she’d accepted Sacha into her body, ran in danger of collapsing. She could hardly risk opening Rodin to the waiting Talar fleet just for another taste of him…

  “Alena?”

  Her name eased over her hot skin, and she imagined his lips, his tongue, sliding across her bare shoulder…

  “Alena.”

  Vadim barked her name and jerked her out of her sudden daydream. “What?”

  “Stop it.”

  She blinked. “How did you…?”

  A smirk curled at the corners of his mouth, and he didn’t look up from his pad.

  “Heavy breathing.”

  Alena groaned and buried her face in her hands. “This is not supposed to be happening.”

  His interface pad hit the bed with a soft thump. “I’ve been thinking. Last night. At what point did the lights blow?”

  She looked up, and the feel of him against her skin seemed more than a mere memory. Alena held his silver gaze. Slow heat slid through her body. “Nakedness and you pushing up hard against my clit.”

  Vadim pinched the bridge of his nose. “All right, I will not let that image burn into my brain,” he muttered. “So. Clothed. But we could…”

  “Kiss.”

  Which one of them moved first, she wasn’t certain. Mouths met in a slow, hot, exploring kiss that had her groaning. Vadim eased her back, his weight pressing her into the mattress. She ran her hands down the strength of his back, tracing his spine though the thick material of his shirt.

  She ached for his skin, the hot slide of it against hers … but they were risking everything, even with their kiss.

  Vadim’s tongue stroked against hers, and all thought vacated her head. His hands shaped her waist, her hips, as he deepened the kiss. He tasted… The heady mix of alien spices, mint, and a flavour that simply was him had her body throbbing. Alena arched her spine, settling him between her thighs, the rub of his erection tantalising her.

  The slow, sweet rhythm of his hips, the push of his hard body, caught the fabric of her clothes and pressed the seam against her clitoris in a delicious slide of sensation.

  Alena groaned into his mouth. She hooked her calves behind his thighs, urging him harder against her.

  Vadim slid hot kisses over her jaw, her throat, and buried his face in her neck. His hot breath brushed her skin. Fingers digging into her hips, he ground himself hard, and they both moaned. “Damn it, Alena. We can’t do this.”

  “No.” She gripped his buttocks, wanting him, needing him. Fire scorched through her veins, and if he would just—

  The overhead lights flared stinging white. Flashes and the crack of thick glass burst over the narrow room.

  Alena shrieked and shoved Vadim from her, the man already scrambling away. He thumped hard against the door. Alena shot back, jamming her spine up against the wall, her legs still kicking at the mattress and sh
eets.

  “Alena…”

  What the hell had she done? For the sake of a dry screw she could have destroyed her home, her city. What kind of reckless, lust-filled idiot was she?

  “Alena.” Vadim reached out to touch her leg, and she yanked it away from him. He frowned. “The power’s still on.” He pointed upwards to the sockets. The lights over the bed had darkened, splinters running around the thick surface of the bulb. But beyond the bed, the soft light of the other sockets still shone down on the room. “I think we pulled back in time.”

  Alena slid off the bed and kept a wary distance from Vadim. She pressed her palm to the panel screen on the desk, and life flared. So far so good. At least the equipment still worked. “Give me readings on the power sustaining the city.”

  Schematic data flowed over the screen. Some of it made sense. The necessity of maintaining a maximum city shield drained massive amounts of power … but it still seemed to be holding. Alena let out a slow breath. She gripped the back of her chair, and her head fell. “Get out, Vadim.”

  He stood there in silence until she forced herself to look up. His face had become a mask of stone, but his silver eyes held his guilt.

  “I can’t trust myself around you, insane as it sounds. I will not risk everything my family built.”

  “We’ll move to another room…”

  “Vadim, my order was plain enough.” Her gaze flicked involuntarily over his lithe body, his dishevelled hair and creased shirt. Vadim’s lips were swollen from their slow, deep kisses… Alena’s stomach hollowed, and her skin flushed. Damn the man. She straightened her spine. “A change of scenery won’t stop me from making another monumental mistake.”

  “The lighting here is dangerous.”

  Something in his clipped voice told her she’d insulted him. Alena held down a wince, but she had to make it clear how deadly her need was. “Fine. But you are not to enter the room.”

  Vadim gave her a curt nod. He strapped on his sword belt and picked up the Zahlta from the desk. Opening the door, he scanned the landing before guiding her to the next auxiliary room. The door ground open, and Alena stepped through.

  Lights flicked on, revealing a copy of the room she had just left, even down to the bedding. She turned back to the open door and palmed it. The mechanism grated, and she realised that Vadim still held the panel on the other side. She lifted an eyebrow, presenting the imperial façade her mother had always shown her. Only she had never needed to fake it. “What?”