Crystal Fire (22 page)

And Marissa matched him, thrust for thrust, kiss for kiss, as their ardor flared to a brilliantly searing inferno. She stroked his back wildly, urging him on, clutching at his taut buttocks. Her breasts, achingly sensitive, were crushed against his straining chest. Ah, but she was on fire, her body ready to burst into flame! She couldn't fight it any longer, couldn't . . . fight . . . him!

With a strangled cry, Marissa surrendered to the hot, agonizing pleasure. She spiraled upward into a shimmering, rarefied place, carried to an intense self-awareness and vibrant freedom. Freedomwhere she'd thought there'd only be enslavement. Freedomand the man in her arms had brought her there.

He laughed hoarsely, the sound full of male triumph, then groaned and thrust deeper. Brace's momentum increased, becoming sharp, desperate. He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, then arched back, his body taut like a bow. Trembling spasms shook his body and, with a low cry, he spewed himself into her.

And all the while Marissa held Brace in her arms, murmuring words of encouragement, urging him on, until he finally collapsed atop her.

They lay there for a time, their sweat- sheened bodies pressed together, Brace still within her. Marissa's mind whirled, moved by the exquisite act she'd just experienced, thrilled at Brace's ineffable tendernessand twisted by guilt at her continued deception.

On the morrow, she vowed, just as soon as they both awakened, she'd tell him of Ferox's demand. It was the very least she could do, after the intimacy they'd just shared. For the first time since that sol she'd been abandoned on Mount Desolat, Marissa allowed herself to hope for some semblance of a normal existencean existence that now included a man to love.

Perhaps Brace really
did
want her for the woman she was, perhaps he really
did
care for her despite her being an outcast. Though it had been her first mating, Marissa sensed there'd been more than mere lust involved. The things Brace had said, the look in his eyes, the way he'd touched hereverything spoke of a deep, abiding affection.

No, it wasn't fair nor honest to hold back further secrets, Marissa decided drowsily as she snuggled against Brace's hard-muscled form. Not from a man like Brace. Not in the face of what they'd worked so hard to achieve.

On the morrow the final barriers would fall away. The trust, the sharing would be complete. Then they'd resume the quest, their future bright with hope and, perhapsjust perhapseven love.

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Something nudged Marissa, intruding on the warm, comforting thickness of slumber. She grumbled sleepily, then snuggled back against the hard body she lay beside. Distantly, Marissa knew it must be Brace. Her hand moved languidly to stroke his crisply furred, thick-muscled chest.

A touch, more sharply insistent, prodded Marissa again. Mild irritation pricked at her. She was so tired. The nocte had been filled with repeated, equally passionate bouts of lovemaking. Couldn't Brace let her rest just a few horas more?

Her eyes flickered open to gaze at him. He was still asleep, his breathing deep and even, his handsome features relaxed. Marissa frowned. It wasn't Brace after all. What had wakened her then?

Something hard, impatient, jabbed her backside. She froze, then turned slowly. Cruel, glittering eyes stared down at her. Marissa's hand moved, digging into Brace's arm.

Brace grunted in pain. ''By the live moons, Marissa!" he growled in a sleep-hoarsened voice. He propped himself on one elbow. "There was no reason to claw at me so. If you're hot again"

His voice faded as his gaze took in the hard-eyed man dressed all in black, a govern collar that marked him as a criminal of the prison planet Carcer about his neck. Surrounding him were ten or fifteen others, all with blasters pointed down at them. Brace tensed, ready for battle.

"Don't try it, Ardane," the tall, blond man in black snarled. "You'd never have a chance."

Ferox's gaze turned back to Marissa, appreciatively taking in the sight of her half-exposed breasts and the slender curve of her bare arms and shoulders. At his heated perusal, Marissa jerked the quilt up to cover her.

He smiled. "You're as lovely as your sister, though you do seem to possess more fire than she.

"Well, sweet femina, will you lie abed all sol?" Ferox made an impatient motion. "Get up and dress. There's still the rest of our agreement to fulfill."

Brace's glance shot from Marissa to Ferox. "What agreement?"

A dark blond brow arched in pitying amusement. "Didn't you know?" He chuckled. "Well, I suppose not. She'd have never gotten you to trail behind her otherwiseand right into my hands."

Hot, gut-twisting rage flared within Brace. He grasped Marissa by the arm.

"Marissa?"

"Unhand her, Ardane," Ferox snapped. "Haven't you figured it out yet? She was always on my side from the very start. And you, as much a love-besotted fool as your brother, allowed a woman to betray you."

Brace stared at Marissa as comprehension dawned. Then he grasped her arm in a viselike grip and pulled her to him.

"Are his words true?" he demanded tautly, savage fury flaring in his eyes. "Did you plan to betray me all along?"

Marissa choked down the gorge rising in her throat. "For a time, yes," she whispered. "He wanted you in exchange for Candra. But I meant to tell you. I tried to last nocte."

Pain and disbelief darkened his eyes. Then Brace's expression hardened into one of cold loathing. With a curse, he released her, flinging her arm aside as if burned.

"And was our mating just another of your ploys to lure me into Ferox's clutches, to trick me into trusting you?"

Tears filled Marissa's eyes. "No . . . never. Never that."

"Come, come," Ferox intruded bemusedly. "This is all quite sweet and tender, but I've neither the time nor patience for a lovers' spat. Get up and get dressed, Ardane. And don't try anything stupid." Brace eyed Marissa with a lingering stare. Then, with a bitter twist of his mouth, he rose and began to dress. Marissa watched him with anguished longing. Her gaze slid down his body, admiring his impossibly wide shoulders and the play of lithe brawn across his broad chest and back, the whipcord muscle and sinew of his powerful thighs and buttocks. He was so beautiful . . . so magnificent, and he'd never be hers again.

In the end, her intentions to tell him all didn't matter. Reality was now the hard-eyed man with his murderous band of followers. Reality was now that Brace was a captivejust as Ferox had always intendedand she had betrayed him by omission just as surely as if she'd planned it all along.

When his boots and breeches were on and his tunic laced together, Brace was bound hand and foot with beryllium shackles. He never once resisted. Fleetingly Marissa wondered if his submission was more from the shock of her betrayal than from the overwhelming odds. Whatever the reason, his eyes, burning with disgust, never left hers.

"Now it's your turn, my pretty femina," Ferox's smooth voice prodded, wrenching Marissa from her misery. "Time for you to get dressed."

She shot him a disbelieving look, hoping against hope he was jesting in his intent to have her rise from the bed naked and dress before them all. He wasn't. His glittering stare was tinged with a lustful anticipation, as were those of his men.

Nausea twisted her stomach into a tight little knot. By all that was sacred, to have to bare her body!

"Shall I have a few of my men help you, femina?"

The thought of strange male hands upon her moved Marissa to action. With a disdainful toss of her head, she rose from the pile of quilts, proudly naked.

"No, I think not," she replied haughtily. "I'm quite capable of dressing myself."

Hot, hungry eyes followed her every movement as Marissa proceeded to dress. Her face flushed and humiliation rose to choke her, but she refused to cringe or fumble hurriedly with her clothes. There was little left her in this moment of shamefor her nakedness as well as loss of Brace's trust and affectionbut she still had her dignity. No one would ever take that away.

At last she was dressed. Her glance snared Brace's as she defiantly lifted her head. An expression of excruciating distaste and cold indifference smoldered in his eyes.

Marissa faltered, cut to the quick. Didn't he care that all these men had seen what she had given only to him? Had their mating meant that little?

She hid her pain behind a mask of cool neutrality as a storm of emotions roiled within. She deserved his anger, his distrust, but she didn't deserve the utter loathingnot after the nocte they'd just shared. Not unless . . . not unless Brace Ardane had finally gotten what he'd sought, and now had no further use for her!

Confusion flooded Marissa. But how could that be? Had she been so blind, so driven by her own lust, not to have seen it until now?

By the Crystal Fires, it was too much to consider at a moment such as this! Marissa turned to face Ferox. He grinned wolfishly back at her.

"Not so happy with your lover anymore, are you? Well, no matter. You're exquisite. Once I've finished with Ardane, I must do us both a favor and mate with you." He glanced at Brace. "After him, I dare say you'll find me quite impressive."

"You flatter yourself!"

Ferox quirked a brow. "Really, femina? You're such a little tease. But then, perhaps that's what makes you so desirable."

He motioned toward her. "Escort our compatriot out. It's past time we were on our way."

The storm had subsided, the cold winter winds having finally scoured the mountain clean of the heavy clouds. Outside, the mid-morning sun shown, bathing everything in sparkling, pristine light. It was a fairy land, from the white-capped summits to the thickly laden treessilent, serene, and beautiful.

But in the face of such bitter captivity and the painful realization of Brace's utter disdain, the scene only served to sicken Marissa. It was irony of the cruelest kind that her heart should feel so ugly and twisted, when just outside the little hut lay such breathtaking beauty.

It was life mocking her once again, Marissa decided glumly. Reminding her, in its brutally inexorable way, that she would never deserve nor have any lasting happiness.

She shot Brace a furtive glance. He, it seemed, was as doomed as she. Indeed, there'd never been any hope for either of them.

They loaded Brace upon a crudely wrought litter and carried him down the mountain to the skim crafts. In the largest of the crafts, he was pushed roughly to the back and wedged between two guards. He never once looked at Marissa. His gaze was riveted straight ahead, his features hard and frozen.

As Ferox led her to his skim craft, Marissa glanced at Brace one last, fleeting time. He was so handsome, Marissa thought achingly, and those eyes . . . eyes that could soften with tenderness until they glowed with an ineffable light. She'd once thought there'd been something special there for her, a deep affection, a caring. She'd been wrong. As wrong as her plan to betray him had always been.

Marissa turned away, the old hard, familiar shell settling back around her heart. Nothing mattered but her sister. She had to believe thatit was the only way to survive, to go on. Time to forget about Brace and his eventual fate. Time to turn all her efforts to rescuing Candra.

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They headed across the mountains to Tutela, arriving under cover of darkness. It became quickly apparent that their ultimate destination was the transport station. A sleepy technician was soon roused. This time, there was no mention of the usual transport fee as the man was forced to program the interplanetary gates to Ferox's destinationMoraca. Then, with an armed guard left behind to make sure that the entourage arrived safely, Marissa and Brace transported across the Imperium with Ferox and his men.

New skim craft were awaiting them at the receiving station on Moraca. Marissa had a brief glimpse of Vitreum, the Moracan capital, before being whisked away toward the distant mountains. She wondered where they were headed and if Candra awaited at the end of their journey. The possibility that she might soon be with her sister filled Marissa with a combination of anticipation and dreadanticipation at seeing her beloved sister at last, and dread at what she might find had happened to her.

She shot Ferox a furtive glance. If he'd laid even one finger on Candra, Marissa vowed she'd kill him in the most painful of ways.

They flew for over half the nocte, until they were well into the mountains' fastness. Sol rise was just pinkening the sky when the skim crafts began their long, gliding descent. They circled in ever lower passes, landing on a broad outcropping of rock adjoining a cave on the sheer face of the mountain.

With anxiously beating heart, Marissa climbed out of the craft. Ferox held her back when she made a move toward the cave.

"Allow our guest to enter first," he commanded. "It's the hospitable thing to do, wouldn't you say?"

Marissa's glance was scathing. "And have you treated my sister as hospitably?"

Ferox chuckled, but the sound was hollow. "She's quite safe, femina. A Traveler is far too valuable to mistreatat least until I've utilized her powers to the fullest. Afterwards . . ." He shrugged. "Afterwards, I'll savor her charms just as thoroughly as I plan to savor yours. Then, when I tire of you, I'll give you both to my men."

You'll be dead long before that sol rises
, Marissa thought savagely. She turned her attention to the guards who were pulling Brace from the skim craft.

He stumbled and fell to his knees. The guards snickered, not offering assistance as Brace struggled to rise. His shackles gouged into his wrists until they began to bleed, while those about his ankles prevented much movement of his legs. He fell several times in his attempt to stand, and still the guards stood there, cruel grins on their faces.

Anger flooded Marissa, but she refused to consider its source. She turned to Ferox. "Are we to wait out here all sol while your men are entertained at Ardane's expense?"

"Careful, femina," her blond companion drawled, "or your concern for our prisoner will drive me to jealousy. And that could go very badly for him."