Crystal Fire (23 page)

"You mean to kill him in the end anyway," Marissa snapped. "What does it matter what I say or do?"

"Very little," Ferox admitted. "He's the brother of my lifelong enemy, you know. I intend to make his death slow and exquisitely painful. And every excruciating secundae of his torture will be projected back to Aranea for Teran to watchuntil his brother dies, screaming for mercy, before his very eyes."

A cold emptiness filled Marissa. She didn't care. She didn't
dare
let herself care. All her efforts must be directed to freeing Candra and escaping Ferox's evil clutches. Yet the thought of leaving Brace to such cruel torment tore at her heart. There must be some way to free him as well, if only she could devise a plan.

Marissa knew now that there'd be no simple trade, Brace in exchange for Candra. As she and Brace had suspected all along, Ferox had a definite purpose for her sister. A purpose Marissa had yet to discover, but the wait wouldn't be long now.

She watched as Ferox signaled to his men. They yanked Brace to his feet and began to drag him forward. Then, grasping her arm, Ferox led Marissa behind them. Into the dark mouth of the cave they went, taking narrow, twisting turns until they were deep inside. At last they entered a large, brightly lit chamber.

Marissa scanned the room for sign of Candra. She wasn't there.

''Where's my sister?" she demanded, rounding on Ferox. "You've got Ardane. Now give me Candra."

He stepped closer until their bodies were a hairbreadth apart. "You want to see your sister, do you?" A perfectly formed finger raised to stroke her face. "A kiss might help arrange that."

Nausea roiled through Marissa. The thought of kissing those smugly leering lips was almost more than she could bear. Yet just to see Candra and ascertain that she was safe and well was worth almost anything.

She lifted her face to his. "If it's a kiss you want, take it and be done."

"Ah, and that's how it's to be?" Ferox chuckled. "A sacrifice on the altar of filial loyalty. No, sweet femina. I'll accept nothing less than a passionate offering on your part. We wouldn't want Ardane to get the wrong idea, would we?"

Marissa glanced at Brace. He was standing across the chamber, ensconced between two burly guards. His hot gaze, however, was riveted upon them.

Ferox wishes to twist the dagger of my betrayal yet deeper in Brace's heart
. The realization sickened her. By the Crystal Fires, would it never end?

"Well, femina," Ferox drawled, "isn't your sister worth a brief moment of intimacy? Take a chanceyou might be pleasantly surprised."

"And I say again, Ferox. You flatter yourself," Marissa muttered, forcing her attention back to him. "You're dead behind that handsome face, and I'm not particularly fond of kissing a rotting corpse."

Fury exploded in the blond man's eyes. "You'll pay for that, my
sweet
little femina. Now, kiss me and make it appear like I'm your long-lost lover, or you may never see your sister again!"

Marissa inhaled a deep breath and lifted on tiptoe to press against him. Her arms entwined about his neck. Clenching her eyes shut, she kissed Ferox.

At the first brush of her lips, he pulled her into him until she was molded to the full length of his hard-muscled body. Marissa struggled to put some space between them, but he only tightened his grip until she could barely breathe. She signaled her submission by relaxing in his arms, and he loosened his hold slightly.

His firm, sensual mouth slanted over hers, urgent, almost desperate. That realization startled Marissa. In spite of herself, she felt a fleeting stab of pity. There was
something
about him, something smoldering beneath his outward layer of crueltya tiny vestige of humanity, a need. Ah, if only she could reach it, find a way to fan it back to life!

Then a hot, wet tongue was prodding for entrance, shattering Marissa's brief, hopeful bout of compassion. When she refused, he pulled back to whisper, "Let me inor else!"

With a sobbing sigh, Marissa did as commanded. He plunged into her then, kissing her with hard, brutal passion, bruising her lips as he slammed them against her teeth. His hands slipped down her back to grasp her buttocks, rocking his thick erection against her. Muttered comments and suggestive laughter from the guards reached Marissa. She thought she'd die from the shame.

At last Ferox released her. "You're a hot little piece," he observed loudly. "But, until our business is finished, I must regretfully deny myself the pleasures of your lush body." He crooked her under the chin. ''You can wait, though, can't you? I'll make it worth your while."

His cold glance impaled her, demanding a response. Marissa forced herself to nod, despising herself for the action.

Ferox gripped her arm. "Come then, my pretty femina. Allow me to escort you to your sister."

He led Marissa across the chamber, passing directly before Brace. Something drew her gaze to his. He glared back at her, his eyes black with painand a raw, primal anger. It squeezed the breath from Marissa's lungs, this sharp, sudden realization of his instinctive response to another male possessing her.

He still wants me
, she thought.
He still cares!

Wild joy surged through her. There was yet hope, if only she could regain his trust. Their gazes locked for an instant more. Tears filled Marissa's eyes. Then Ferox was leading her away, toward a tunnel angling off from the far end of the main chamber.

Save for the flickering light of perpetual torches, the narrow passage was dark. They walked for a short time. Finally Ferox paused outside a sturdy door. Retrieving the key control from his pocket, he unlocked the door and shoved it open.

With a mocking gesture, he indicated the room. "You've a half hora, no more. Then we'll
talk
."

A slight movement within caught Marissa's eye. She squinted in the dim light, struggling to make out face and form.

"M-Marissa?" a sweet, oh, so familiar voice quavered from the darkness. "Is it really you?"

With a low cry Marissa ran to Candra, engulfing her in a fierce embrace. "Yes. Yes, it's really me, Nuggin," she, breathed, falling back on her old term of endearment for her sister. "By the Crystal Fires, I feared I might never see you alive again!"

Marissa leaned back to critically study her. "You
are
all right, aren't you?"

Candra chuckled and clasped Marissa back to her. "Quite all right. Have you come to rescue me?"

"After a fashion," her sister replied dryly.

Trusting eyes lifted to hers. "Though I feared for you, I knew you'd come," Candra murmured. "You were always the strong, resourceful one. My sister, Marissa Laomede, the famous warrior."

Bitterness filled Marissa. There was nothing particularly strong or resourceful about her now. Instead, thanks to Ferox, she felt helpless and violated. Just like all the other women of her planet.

A sudden thought struck her. For all his wounded fury at what he saw as her betrayal of him, Brace had never made her feel as degraded or common as Ferox had. Never, not even in those moments of greatest anger and disdain. She knew now that those feelings had been but a shield to hide his deeper emotions.

Brace had always treated her as all equal, encouraging her when she dared reach beyond her fears, gently chiding her when she didn't. Brace, the tender lover and faithful friendand the man she, in the end, had unwillingly led into the clutches of a slime-rotted fiend.

With a violent shake of her head, Marissa flung the heart-rending memories aside. This was no time to be weakened by sentiment. Candra came first. Perhaps later, when her safety was assured, there'd be a chance to help Brace.

She stepped back from her sister. "We must talk fast and quietly. Do you have any idea why Ferox brought you here, what he wants from you?"

"He told me very little." A fretful tone tinged Candra's voice. "He's been hateful, keeping me looked up in this damp, dark cell all this time, and my only visitors the ones that brought me food, a bath, or fresh clothes. I thought you'd never get here. Yet, at the same time, I didn't want you to come."

"Is that why you refused to commune with me? Surely you heard my call?"

Candra sighed. "Yes, I heard you, and it nearly tore my heart out not to answer, but somehow I knew we were safe as long as we were apart. As fearful as Ferox is, I knew he'd never harm me. For some reason, he needs me too much to do that. Just as he seems to need you."

"It's not me he wants," Marissa muttered. "It's the male I brought with me."

"Ferox mentioned something about you bringing someone, someone with special powers. Is this male the one?"

"Yes."

"Good," Candra responded happily. "Ferox said I must help this male with a very special task, and then we'd be free to go. When can we begin, do you think?"

"On the morrow, probably."

Marissa's thoughts raced. They had only one more nocte to formulate a plan. And she needed desperately to learn more of this moun- tain fortress, its exits, how well it was guarded, and the best route to make their escape by.

Let Candra think that Ferox meant to free them once he was finished with her services. There was no purpose served in distressing her. As much as she loved her sister, Marissa had always known that Candra was too gentle and sheltered to ever be more than a hindrance on this quest. It was up to her to handle things, and make certain Candra didn't get hurt in the process. It was the only way to ensure both their lives.

"Do you know any way out of here, besides that sheer cliff entrance?" Marissa asked.

Candra's smooth brow wrinkled in thought. "I once heard the guards talking outside. They mentioned something about a back way, through a tunnel off the main chamber."

Marissa recalled at least five, if not six, tunnels leading from the main room. "Which tunnel, Candra? I need to know exactly which one!"

"Well, you needn't be so sharp about it. It's not as if I were given free access here!"

Frustration filled Marissa. Had it come to this, that she was reduced to snapping at her own sister? Yet, how, by all that was sacred, was she going to obtain the freedom, much less unobserved opportunity, to examine all those tunnels? Well, at least there was another escape route
if
they could only find it in time.

"And have you heard anything about how many guards there are, and where they're stationed?"

Candra shook her head. "They hardly talk to me, you know, and I've never had a head for numbers at any rate." She studied Marissa. "I'm not much help, am I?"

"It doesn't matter," was her sister's glum reply. "We'll figure out something."

"I'm sorry, Marissa. I always depended on you to make the decisions, didn't I?"

"There was no need for anything else in those sols," Marissa hurried to assure her. "And there would never have been if I hadn't been cast out."

They exchanged an anguished, heartfelt look.

"You took my soul, my happiness with you when you left. Ah, Marissa, it's been so long since we last embraced!" Candra exclaimed, again hugging her sister tightly. "I always worried about you, though you soon sent word you were safe with the Sodalitas. And in my heart and mind you were always near, until that sol when Ferox abducted me."

She shuddered in remembrance. "He took me all over the Imperium, it seemed, before finally returning to Moraca. He had a strange stone in a box with him, which he used against an old man who refused to help him."

"You were there when Ferox visited Lord Ardane?"

"I don't know what the old man's name was, and I was never in the room with them. All I recall is that after Ferox was with him awhile, the old man began to scream. Then we left. Ferox sent me here and he stayed behind 'to wait for someone.' "

"That must have been us."

"It was indeed."

Both women whirled around. Ferox stood in the open doorway, a cynical grin twisting his face.

"Come, Marissa," he said, motioning her forward. "You've visited long enough. Time for our talk. You'll see your sister again on the morrow."

"Please, my lord," Candra pleaded. "Could she not spend the nocte with me? We've had so little time"

"Come, Marissa!" he repeated stonily. "No more trouble, or your sister will pay!"

Immediately, Marissa stepped forward. "I am at your command,
my lord
."

"Don't mock me, femina!"

She answered her captor with a sardonic arch of her brow, then brushed past him into the tunnel. Ferox grabbed her as she started back toward the main chamber, jerking Marissa to a halt.

"Time for our little talk, my pretty femina." He smiled as he began to lead her in the opposite direction. "And we have
so
much to discuss."

Marissa considered attempting to make a run for it, but a quick scan of the guards posted at short intervals down the corridor quashed that idea. Better to lull him into a false sense of security and bide her time, she decided. Gritting her teeth, Marissa allowed Ferox to escort her down the tunnel to yet another room.

The small chamber was a surprise. Lushly appointed, it held a couch and two chairs positioned before a quaintly wrought stone hearth lit by the smokeless flames of a perpetual fire. Vibrant tapestries covered the wall, making the chamber seem more like a snug little room than a cave. A low, ornately carved chest stood against one wall and on it was a tray set with a flask and several cups. A large bowl overflowing with cerasa fruit and uva berries sat nearby.

Ferox motioned for her to sit while he strode to the chest. "Care for some Moracan ale? I greatly prefer its rich tang to that of wine."

Marissa shook her head. "No. No, thank you."

She glanced about the room, distracted by the strange, sweet scent that lingered in the air. A small brazier stood in one corner, the sensuous curl of smoke rising from a single glowing coal. Incense, she thought. But laden with whata hypnotic, a mind probe, or even worse, a lust inducer?

That last possibility sickened her. By all that was sacred, she couldn't bear that! She just couldn't!