Empress Game: The Empress Game Trilogy Book 1 (36 page)

He kissed her with strength and passion, and she met his force with her own, needing it. Their lips met over and over, parting only long enough to grab a rough breath before their next kiss. She couldn’t stand to be even that long from his mouth. She threaded her fingers into his hair, fingertips spearing along his scalp.

More.

She needed more.

This connection, their closeness, awakened every part of her. She’d craved it without knowing. Five years of isolation had burrowed into her and only Malkor could rid her of it.

Kayla pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. To see him, really see him, and let him see her. No defenses, no shields, just truth.

She needed him.

His fierceness stilled. He lifted his hand, hesitated, then gently stroked a finger down her cheek as if she were made of spun glass. The touch undid her and she kissed him again.

Kayla urged him backward by the shoulder, moving with him so they never lost contact. She pushed him to the ground, lying atop him with her knees along the outer sides of his thighs and her breasts crushed against his chest. She claimed his mouth again and his hands clamped on her waist. He slid her up his body until their hips met.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted you like this,” he said.

She flicked her tongue over the hollow of his throat. “Tell me.” A dozen images of him flashed through her mind, fantasies she’d woken to but hadn’t admitted to herself.

In answer he clutched her to him and rolled them both over. “I’d rather show you.” He worked a hand between them to grip the pull of her zip-up, opening her bodysuit to the waist. He peeled one edge open and half off her shoulder.

The door chime sounded.

“Ignore it,” she pleaded, pulling his mouth to hers. The chime rang again.

Again.

And again.

“Something’s wrong.” Malkor pulled her bodysuit back together and she tried to zip it as he leveraged himself off of her. She worked with shaking hands, suddenly adrift without him. Dread rose to the back of her throat as her thoughts coalesced. Something was definitely wrong.

He paused at the door as if collecting himself, then thumbed the control. Hekkar waited in the doorway.

“Report,” Malkor barked.

Hekkar wouldn’t look at her, couldn’t make eye contact. He focused his attention on Malkor and she knew what was wrong. Blood roared in her ears so that she barely heard his words.

“Corinth’s missing.”

“
W
hen?” Malkor asked.

Kayla’s heart stuttered, hearing the words replayed.

Corinth’s missing
.

“Some time in the last hour,” Hekkar said, still unable to look at her.

“How? Vid and Trinan watch him like he’s their kid.”

Worry sat heavy on Hekkar’s expression. “Trinan was running down leads on Dolan’s business associates. Vid was alone with Corinth in one of the outer gardens when it happened.” Just the way he said “it happened” froze her blood.

“Vid?” she asked.

“He’s hurt. Badly.” Hekkar made eye contact for the first time. “Burns on thirty percent of his body, seared tissue in his trachea and lungs, and two ion pulse wounds—shoulder and lower back. We don’t know how long he lay there until Trinan found him.”

“Prognosis?” Malkor asked.

“It’s not good, Malk.”

Malkor took a deep breath, clearly trying to absorb the information. “How is Trinan holding up?”

“He’s a mess. Won’t leave Vid’s side. I couldn’t even understand him when he first commed in.” Hekkar’s gaze darted briefly to Malkor’s discarded mobile comm lying under her still upended chair.

“Damnit.” Malkor kicked the chair out of the way and scooped up the mobile comm. He flipped it open. “That frutting bitch.”

“What is it?” Kayla asked.

He thumbed the screen and a familiar voice spoke.

Janeen.

“I’m sorry about Vid, I really am. If he’d just given up the kid none of this would have happened. Frutt!” Janeen took a shaky breath in the recording. “I never wanted any of this. You should have let me act as Isonde in the Empress Game, then I could have controlled things without having to hurt anyone.” The recording paused. When Janeen came back she sounded more composed. “I guess it’s gone past that now, hasn’t it? I don’t know how much you know about the new lines being drawn and the power shift within the IDC. Presumably something. In any case, I have my orders.

“The boy is of marginal use to us. We’re willing to trade him, but only for his sister. I know you’ve got plans for her so you’ll have to decide. His life for her. We don’t intend to kill her, she’ll be safe with us.

“And Malkor, if the boy isn’t enough incentive for you to make the trade, we’ll find someone who is. Janeen out.”

* * *

Two hours later Vid still wasn’t out of surgery and they had no new information. Malkor had reluctantly left Kayla to rework their plans for tonight’s raid on Dolan’s facility with Hekkar. He’d intended to be by Kayla’s side when they rescued her family, but now Corinth needed him and Malkor was the only person in a position to help.

New plans laid, he returned to Kayla’s room to find her pacing.

“I need to find him,” Kayla said, as soon as he entered.

“We will.” They had to, Kayla wouldn’t survive otherwise.

“You don’t understand. I
need
to find him. Now.”

“Kayla,” he gently cupped her arms, “I understand. I know what he means to you.”

“No, you don’t.” She brushed off his hands, pacing away. “He’s my
il’haar
, I should never have let this happen.” She stopped, her eyes full of fear. “How could I let this happen?”

“It wasn’t your fault—” he started, but she ignored him. She went to her tactical pack, checking and rechecking the contents. He had provided her and the others with standard IDC gear for covert operations, including weapons. She had her daggers, an ion pistol, stun grenades, electromag cuffs, a stunner and a few other tricks in the lightweight pack she strapped to her back. They were due to meet the Ilmenans in bay 21 where they’d change into tac-suits and head out.

“I’m going after him,” she said, heading for the door.

“You can’t.”

“You said you had a lead on where Janeen might be hiding him.”

“I need you on the Ordochian mission.” And he’d take an ion pulse to the brain before he let her walk into Janeen’s trap. He played the card he knew would stop her. “You have another
il’haar
to think about.”

Her face twisted, pain flashing openly across her features.

“You can’t help them both, Kayla.” He felt like a jerk for pointing out what she’d see as her greatest failing. “I need you to go after Vayne.”

“The octet—”

“Vayne knows you, he trusts you. The other Ordochians will also.” Malkor prayed she saw his logic. “I need you to convince them we’re there to help them.” And he needed her as far away from Janeen as possible.

“How can you ask me to choose between them?” Her whisper shot him straight through. “I am their
ro’haar
.”

She was so on edge he couldn’t tell what she might do and that scared him. There was only one thing he could offer, but he knew it was right as soon as he spoke the words. “I will be Corinth’s
ro’haar.
”

Her blue gaze locked onto him. “What did you say?”

“You can’t be in two places at once. Let me become Corinth’s
ro’haar
.” He didn’t think twice about what he offered. “I’ll rescue him while you save Vayne.”

She said nothing, only stared at him.

“Let me do this for you. I’ll bring him back safe.”
Please, Kayla
, he silently begged. “Corinth is likely being held in a safehouse in Shimville. It will take stealth and covert ops training to get in without raising alarm and get him out before we’re captured. That’s training I have. You’re an excellent bodyguard, but I’m better suited to the mission.”

He could see he was getting through to her. Her need to do the best for her
il’haars
would convince her to leave the mission to him. She had to.

“You will protect Corinth with your life?”

“Yes.” Nothing would stop him from keeping this promise to her.

He held his breath while she searched his face. The moment stretched out and the length of their relationship, from the Blood Pit until now, ran through his mind. Had he earned her trust? Could she depend on another person, when she had been alone for so long?

“I hereby relinquish my right as
ro’haar
of Corinth Reinumon to you, Senior Agent Malkor Rua. He is yours to protect at any cost.”

Malkor bowed his head. “I am honored to take my place as his
ro’haar
.”

She nodded to herself, then again, as if confirming something. “He will be lucky to have you.” Her voice gained strength and her focus seemed to crystallize. She tightened the straps on her pack. “Let’s rescue our
il’haars
.”

* * *

Kayla leaned against the side of the building, sweating in the comfortable evening air.

The tac-suit she wore covered her with flexible microarmor. It was agile, responsive and as hot as Altair’s sun. At least she had daggers strapped to her thighs again. That and the ion pistol at her hip made her feel secure. She waited alongside Tia’tan, Luliana and Noar on one corner of Dolan’s laboratory, keeping watch on the street out front while Hekkar, Aronse and Gio watched the back. Meanwhile Rigger sabotaged the window leading into the facilities area of the building. Something about resonant frequencies and harmonics compromising the integrity of the otherwise shatter-proof window.

Hey, as long as it worked.

“What’s the holdup?” Hekkar asked over their linked comms. He’d been put in charge of the mission with Malkor tracking down Corinth.

“This is more refined than just blowing it up. Give me a minute,” Rigger answered.

Less than a minute later she reported success and everyone converged on the window.

“Any word from Joffar?” Kayla asked Tia’tan.

“They’re just sitting down to dinner.” Joffar was tasked with keeping an eye on Dolan, and the two were having dinner with officials from Joop. Should take most of the evening, knowing Joop customs.

Rigger scanned the interior of the room. “Ultrasonic motion detector. There.” She pointed to a spot diagonal from the room’s door.

“On it,” Noar said. He climbed onto the window ledge with a leg-up from Aronse. He summoned a refractor shield, a technique Kayla used as a child to sneak around the palace on Ordoch. It refracted the motion detector’s ultrasonic waves away from him, thereby avoiding their pinging off his moving body.

Kayla’s thoughts turned to Malkor while Noar crept across the room. She couldn’t believe she’d abdicated her duty as Corinth’s
ro’haar
to Malkor… and she couldn’t believe how relieved she felt now. There was no one else, from her present or past, she would feel comfortable leaving Corinth’s safety to except Malkor. As soon as he had proposed becoming Corinth’s
ro’haar
, she knew it was right. And while worry for Corinth still loomed in her mind, she was able to focus more fully on Vayne and her mission.

Thank you, Malkor
.

“The motion detector’s down,” Noar reported. “I’m moving to the main control panel in the next room.”

Everyone waited in silence for the shriek of alarms.

Nothing.

Minutes passed, marked by drops of sweat rolling down between Kayla’s breasts.

Finally Noar’s voice broke the tension. “Should be all clear to here. Rigger, I could use your help disabling these other systems.”

Aronse helped Rigger up, then they followed one by one into the facilities room. Aronse pulled herself up last.

“Looks like the strongest security is on level seven.” Rigger tapped a section of the control panel’s display. “Right where we thought they’d be.”

Hekkar studied the schematic. “Double chamber doors on either end of the section, separate ventilation system… what’s this, here?”

“Piraphoric gas cylinders,” Rigger said. “Looks like they can anesthetize the entire unit with the push of a button and keep the air supply quarantined from the rest of the building.”

“Lovely.”

Rigger manipulated the console. “Okay, I’ve got the motion and IR detection systems deactivated everywhere, I’ve shut down the automatic lockdown features of the security doors, killed the circulation fans in case we need to climb through these ducts here, and managed to get the outer doors on each end of the prisoners’ ward unlocked. The inner doors are up to you.”

Hekkar clapped her on the shoulder. “Better than hoped for. The lab?”

“One floor down, but close by. Noar and I will head there.”

They had initially argued about who would go where, Tia’tan wanting all of her people with her, but Noar made the point that Dolan’s research systems would be a mishmash of Wyrd knowledge and imperial tech. It might take Rigger and Noar’s combined know-how to crack Dolan’s databanks.

“Gio, with them,” Hekkar said. “Aronse, monitor our signals from here and hold the egress. This will be our primary exit.”

“Kayla, Luliana, Tia’tan and I will head to the prisoners’ quarters. I want status reports every five minutes, and we’ll rendezvous here in forty-five. Anything goes to shit, you get out and we’ll meet at the safehouse. Understood?”

Everyone nodded.

Hekkar waited until Rigger’s group headed off before taking point in the other direction. They crept down the hallway and reached the entrance to the stairs without incident. That didn’t slow the racing of Kayla’s heart any. Her shallow breathing echoed in her ears as she took step after step, expecting any minute to be discovered. She wasn’t made for this kind of subtlety. Luckily, the IDC agents were. She wondered again what the Ilmenans’ plan would have been without the octet’s help.

They climbed the stairs on silent feet, preserving stealth at the sake of speed. Three flights up they heard men enter the stairwell one floor above them. Kayla drew her ion pistol but Hekkar put a hand on her wrist, stalling her. He shook his head, holding up the hand stunner he had. Tia’tan’s voice interrupted their wordless debate.