Briannas Prophecy (28 page)

“There’s a difference?” Brianna asked, looking a little
too
innocent. She knew it was a loaded question.

Niklas turned onto his side. He wanted to look into her eyes when he said this, so there would be no misunderstanding. “Yes,
Laharra
. There
is
a difference. Sex can be gratifying if you don’t want or need a commitment. It can relax you, help you vent frustrations.” He closed his eyes, looking for the right words. “What we have is different. I have had sex, Brianna, I can tell the difference.
We
make love.”

She frowned. “How is it different, Niklas?” Her hand skimmed down his chest to his stomach. She felt the involuntary clenching of his already firm stomach muscles. He must be ticklish there. She filed that bit of information away to think about later. Right now, she had a different kind of mischief on her mind. Her hand slid lower. Oh, yes. Her husband was a
very
virile man.

* * * *

Niklas swallowed convulsively, trying to keep his voice even and his body under control while she teased him. “Sex is two people coming together to release sexual tension for the sheer pleasure of it.” He tried to shrug, but the movement was beyond him. She was driving him mad.

“There are many reasons for it. They are usually concerned with their own pleasure, their own release.” He reached up, cupping her face between his hands. “Making love is between two people who love each other, who want nothing more than to please each other.”

Brianna bit her lip. “And were you this way, Niklas? You had sex, primarily for your own pleasure?”

Niklas dropped his hand after a moment, thoughtful. She made it sound so base.
Had
he been that way? He frowned. If he were to be truthful, could he say he’d cared at all, for any of the women he’d lain with before her? Niklas closed his eyes and nodded. “Until recently.” He wasn’t sure if he could explain the change in himself, but he
had
changed. She needed to know that. He didn’t have to read her thoughts. He could see it in her eyes.

“What happened recently?” She stopped fondling him, and bringing her palm to his chest, rested her chin on the back of her hand.

“About eighteen months ago, I began to have strange dreams. Dreams of a woman I never met. I wanted her, needed her, but I could never see who she was.” Niklas looked at her, a tortured expression in his eyes. “Since that first night, I had been unable to…perform. I tried a few times, but I couldn’t. No woman could hold my attraction once I got them alone.”

“But I did,” she said with a smile, moving her chin to rest on his chest. “As I recall, you couldn’t keep your hands off of me.”

Niklas squeezed her, rocked her back and forth. Thankful she was able to tease him at least. “I think
you
were the woman in my dreams. I was looking for you. In more ways than I could possibly have imagined.”

“Hmm… I think I like the idea of you not having had sex for so long.”

Niklas threw her a mock glare. “You can joke about it, but my pride didn’t care for it at all. It was embarrassing, to say the least.”

She was instantly contrite and hugged him to her. “Oh, you poor baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it that way. You must have been mortified.”

He nodded. “I questioned my manhood once or twice. It humbled me. And after a while, sex no longer appealed. Until I met you.” He kissed her deeply. “Believe it or not, the black wig and hairy growth didn’t deter my libido a bit when I saw you.”

She snorted her disbelief. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. That must have
really
been love.”

“It was,
Laharra
. Now, let me continue to teach you the difference between having sex and making love,” Niklas whispered into her ear just before he kissed her.

“Oh, I’m going to show you what a good student I can be,” she said with a smile. “I intend to follow your instruction for the rest of the night.”

Chapter Eighteen

Brianna bolted upright. “What in the world is that?”Ripped from sleep, she looked up toward the ceiling. The shrieking noise that came from the speakers over the bed was almost deafening.

Niklas was already out of bed, struggling into a flight suit. He threw a smaller one at her. “Put this on. Hurry!” He rushed to the security console, pushed a button and spoke into it quickly.

He spoke in his own language too quickly for her to follow.

“We have to get to the bridge. Now!”

He was by her side in a flash, helping her into the jumpsuit he’d thrown at her and a pair of boots he seemed to have pulled out of midair. She was surprised to see that they fit. There was no time to ask. He was rushing her out through the door.

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?” She trotted by his side. His pace was so fast, walking was out of the question.

“We’re under attack.” His face was grim, a muscle jumped in his jaw. Niklas approached the door to the bridge, pushed it open and disappeared to the other side.

Brianna paused, watching as the door closed behind him. She placed her trembling hand on the smooth surface. What in the world was
she
doing here? What could she possibly do? It wasn’t even as if she actually knew how to do anything on board this monster of a ship. No one would let her do anything! She shrugged. One thing was certain, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything hiding here in the corridor like a chicken. She needed to show Niklas and his people that their Queen was no coward.

Brianna took a deep breath and pushed through the door entering the bridge. When she got her first glance at the viewscreen, her mouth dropped open. “My Gods, it’s huge!”

Niklas threw a glance her way. His expression unreadable, his mind closed to her. This couldn’t be good if he’d resorted to blocking his thoughts.

Spearing Niklas with a terror-filled glance, she pointed at the viewer, her hand shaking with fear. “Is
this
ship that big?”

Niklas sighed, running a hand through his hair. “No,
Laharra
, she is ten times our size and ten times our strength. There is only one purpose for a ship like that, war. She is a Leviathan.” He looked around the bridge. “The Conquest was build for speed and defense, but not for war.”

“But isn’t there anything we can do? Any way we can fight?” Her eyes were wide with terror.

Niklas smiled grimly. “I admire your courage,
Laharra
, but we are outmatched in every way.”

Brianna looked around the bridge, her gaze flying from one console to another. There was something, there had to be. “
Why
are they attacking us?”

Their eyes met. His were tortured. He looked at his crewmembers, his friends. Then his gaze turned back to Brianna. “Someone has been trying to stop us since we first left
Terrna
. This is just another attempt to keep us,” he shot her a glance, “to keep
you
from fulfilling your destiny.”

“But why? Who would want to see the destruction of your world?” She couldn’t keep herself from staring at the huge, terrifying ship.

Niklas’s eyes hardened. “I don’t know. The scroll written by Morwyyn only speaks of you and a great evil.”

“We need to find out.” She went to him, leaned against him needing the illusion of his strength.

Niklas wrapped his arm around her, grounding her to him, knowing she needed his comfort. He sent soothing thoughts to her as his heat seeped into her shivering body. “There is no way to find out without capturing one of our enemies, and they elude us at every turn.”

“Sure, there is,” Brianna pulled back to look up at him. “We can ask the faeries. They said they would help if we needed it. I would call this needing it.” Brianna chewed on her thumbnail, wondering if this was the right thing to do. Depending on Larin’s mood, he could either save them or feed them to the sharks, so to speak.

Niklas gave her an incredulous look. “The faeries? You have actually seen the Fae? Spoken to them?”

“Haven’t you? Doesn’t your world welcome them?”

Niklas nodded. “Well, yes, but there is only one left on
Terrna
. She resides with the witches of
Nasha
. The others of the FFae disappeared during the uprising. Perhaps they went to another world.” Perhaps they had gone to her world, followed Morwyyn there, to protect him.

Brianna looked thoughtful. “Or just maybe, like my world, man became jealous of their powers and immortality, and the faeries decided to remove themselves to prevent tempting the mortals.”

Niklas agreed. “Perhaps. But why would they not come now when our need is so great?”

She frowned. She didn’t have the answer to that question. “I was told that they sealed themselves away from mortals, to protect themselves and others.” She paced away from him, trying not to look at the huge ship looming on the viewscreen like the giant predator it was.

“When someone from this realm summoned them in such a manner that they could hear, they would be free to return. I summoned them. I have no idea how, but hey, what can I say?” She said with a tight smile, her hands held out to her sides.

Brianna took a deep breath, scrunched her eyes tight and thought hard.
Larin, please come to me. I need you.
She opened her eyes and looked around. Nothing. She turned and paced across the bridge. She hoped she was doing the right thing. Larin only came when she actually called him. So if he was going to be difficult, she could be, too. She grinned evilly just before she said, “Larin, I summon thee.”

“You don’t have to be so bossy, you know. You could just as easily say,
Larin, could you come here for a minute?
or
Larin, I really need to talk to you.
But no, you have to go and get all bossy about it,” he complained.

Larin seemed oblivious to the screams that erupted when he popped onto the bridge. He glanced nonchalantly over his shoulder, snapped his fingers and caught Minra in midair as she collapsed into a faint.

Brianna turned to see him sitting on the top of Minra’s console. His feet were dangling over the side, swinging back and forth.

“I’d be more careful calling on me in public places if I were you.” He smirked.

His right eyebrow was raised nearly to his hairline. One long braid hung in front of his left ear, tied with a leather thong. He threw her a petulant look. “Why is it you always manage to pull me from a party?”

Brianna put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “How does Morgaine stand that smart mouth of yours?”

Larin turned red. He actually looked embarrassed.

She shot him a sagacious look. “She can’t, can she? She can’t stand your mouth,” she guessed shrewdly. “That’s why she made you hang out near me, isn’t it? She most likely wanted to be rid of you for a while.”

Larin shrugged, his smile a bit strained. “Among other things, yes.” He hopped off the console and walked around the bridge. He pulled Cholo’s cap off and turned it around backward before putting it back on him. “She gets fed up with my pranks. So she sends me on these little errands.” He gave Brianna a bored look and yawned, patting his hand over his mouth. He gave Niklas a once over, leaned over and gave her a mischievous wink. “I hear he’s a good one. You did good for yourself.”

Brianna punched him in the arm and glared at him. “Why can’t you be serious for once?”

“I
was
being serious!” he said, appearing shocked that she would think otherwise. “The word among the ladies is that he’s a
hottie
.” He looked Niklas up and down, critically. “Personally I don’t see it, but,” he rolled his eyes. “
They
are simply drooling.”

Niklas, finally recovered from the shock of seeing Larin, grinned widely at that statement. “Did you hear that, you guys? The faery ladies like me. I’m famous.” He turned to look around the bridge and frowned when he saw all of them frozen in place.

Larin snorted. “They only think that because you are not blonde like we are.” He shrugged. “Apparently, they like variety,” he said, his lip curling.

Brianna paused, taking the time to look around. “Did you put everyone under some sort of spell or something? The alarms aren’t even going off anymore.” Looking at the viewscreen, she noticed the warship was still there, but the ominous weapons were no longer pulsing with power. It looked more like a picture. Or something from a TV show.

Larin waved a hand and shuddered. “Those annoying things? They were too loud. I could barely hear myself think. So, I paused everybody.”

“You
paused
everyone?” Brianna asked, bemused that he would use the word in that context.