Hers To Cherish (Verdantia Book 3) (20 page)

“This presents
Dominus
Narr with something of a diplomatic dilemma. My illustrious employer has, at great personal expense, hosted a number of dignitaries from various planets to meet the victor of this year’s games. It would be terribly embarrassing to my employer were he to fail to provide the promised introductions and vid-cast opportunities. He would lose all the political and business good-will garnered by this generous gesture.”

The Under-Secretary paused
and coughed delicately. “Though they’ve come for the winner, and though the request for your presence comes primarily from that winner, there is a certain interest in meeting the most valiant runner-up, Lord DeKieran from Verdantia. I have
...
ahem
...
been authorized to extend a generous, ah, gratuity, to Lord DeKieran should he grace our celebration.” The dainty man ended on a theatrical note of entreaty as false as any stage performance.

With a deferential bow of her head,
Steffania murmured in a low, throaty purr, “How very flattering to you,
Dominus
, surely you will reconsider?” {DeKieran, what the
fuck
are you doing? That blow to your head must have scrambled the few brains you possess. Agree to go, god-damn you!}

Ram
’s head cocked and a flicker of a smile quirked his lips then vanished. With a decisive about-face, he turned to Pansy.

“I have reconsidered
. Pansy, inform Niles Hunt, the Second Residential Under-Secretary for Social Function for the illustrious Veacon Narr, that I and my party will be pleased to have transportation to
Dominus
Narr’s estates at half-past eight this evening. Sooner than that will be inconvenient.”

A delighted Pansy repeated Ramsey’s
drawled statement to a relieved, Niles Hunt. The man made no quibble about the two-hour delay in departure.

“Thank you, Miss Pansy.” The little man
made a sketchy bow to the diminutive
slaaf
and then to Ramsey.

“Pansy, please stay with Under-Secretary Hunt while we finish our packing. Amuse him, entertain him in our absence.”

At
Ramsey’s instruction, Pansy nodded. The tiny beauty guided Under-Secretary Hunt to a comfortable sofa and sat beside him. Steffania wondered if Pansy realized how much her behavior had changed in the three weeks she’d been in Ramsey’s care; in the beginning, she’d have fallen to the floor in obeisance at such a command
.
This self-assured, intelligent woman would suffer under
any
dominus
. They had to find a way to take Pansy with them.

“Let me get you something to drink, Under-Sec
retary. We have some very fine, aged,
Pottsdim Likor
.” Pansy rose, unstopped the decanter and poured him two fingers of the potent spirits. She returned and placed the cut-crystal tumbler in his hand.

“
Thank you.” The Under-Secretary threw his head back and gulped the entire glass. The liquor had barely cleared his throat when he broke out in a wheeze and thumped his chest as tears streamed from the corners of his eyes.  “Thank you, dear lady. Prime
likor
.”

Pansy smiled and took the glass from his shaking hand. “May I offer you another, Sir?”

Steffania turned at Ramsey’s touch on her arm. He led her from the room in silence as Pansy refilled the Under-Secretary’s glass for him. Steffania laughed inwardly at the wicked enjoyment that shone from Pansy’s eyes. Steffania wondered how long it would take the violet-eyed
slaaf
to get Narr’s envoy falling down drunk on the potent alcohol.

{
Ram, what was your initial refusal of Narr’s invitation about?}

{
Didn’t want to seem too eager. Word that I initially refused will rapidly spread. I imagine few reject Narr’s invitations. It will deflect suspicion, somewhat. With this afternoon’s attempt on me in the arena, I’m fairly certain Narr suspects me of being more than a simple entrant.}

Steffania pursed her lips in consideration then shrugged
and nodded. {Makes sense.}

His dry voice
echoed in her brain. {I call the gods to witness and record this momentous occasion. The woman agrees with me.}

Steffania
snorted. “I will pack us as quickly as possible.” A stray thought meandered through her mind. {Ramsey.}

{
Hmm?}

{
You didn’t seem surprised – about the invitation. Did you know Tok would make Narr invite you?}

A crooked smile tilted his lips and he shrugged.
{Might have.}

{
Then it didn’t matter if you won or Tok won. Either result would achieve our aim.}

{Possibly.} Ramsey chuckled at her growing look of annoyance. {Tok has an agenda of his own, and one I think you’ll agree with: he’s working undercover for GAPS. Narr has been on their list of suspicious individuals for some time. Tok is here to find evidence that will shut Narr down and allow GAPS to prosecute Narr in galactic court. Though it made sense to combine forces, there was never any guarantee he could inveigle an invitation from Narr for me. I fought to win. I had to. Tok knew that.}

{When were you going to tell
me
?} He shrugged. His grin was
really
starting to piss her the hell off. {DeKieran
...
you
were
going to tell me?}

{Probably.}

Okay. Now it was official. She was beyond pissed. She clenched her fists, tempted to clock him right in the middle of that smug, irritating grin. She’d suffered through hell thinking Tok had killed him, and only
now
Ram thought to tell her it was largely a ruse?

She yelped at the
smart slap he planted on her buttocks.

“Get us packed, sweetheart – and don’t forget my black bag.”

With an irritating awareness that he’d toyed with her, Steffania watched Ramsey enter the room they had designated the office and collect the techno “toys” used in their planning. He nested them carefully into their waffle-insulated cases. For a man from a technologically disadvantaged planet, Ramsey had shown a decided facility for such devices. She snorted to herself.
Bad boys do love their toys.
She pondered his unexpected revelation about Tok, and she added another adjective to her mental picture of Lord Ramsey Melborn DeKieran: he was a
sneaky
,
possessive, horny bastard.

 
Steffania sat stiff and demure in Narr’s sleek
aerofoil
, his plush, chauffeured sky-limo. They flew above a landscape teeming with alien vistas and architecture. In addition to her, the luxurious
aerofoil
also held an excited though nervous Pansy, a decidedly intoxicated Niles Hunt and a grimly sober Ramsey. Steffania and Ramsey had given Pansy the opportunity to remain behind at the villa in Dominion but Pansy had insisted that where they went, she went. Steffania had to hand it to the
slaaf
. She didn’t lack courage.

Gleaming spires
spun from materials unfamiliar to Steffania circled miles into an atmosphere abuzz with the blinking lights of private aerofoils and public sky-trams. The clear roof of their vehicle displayed an endless expanse of black, broken with the pinpoint brilliance of far-off stars. Steffania observed Ramsey subtly take in what must be to him the fantastic images of a world completely alien to his experience. He studied the stars in the night sky so intently that she looked also, and realized not even the constellations were the same as those in the night skies of Verdantia. What must this man think? One more unfamiliar detail reminding him he was light years from all that he knew. His apparently assured confidence and impassive observation lured her into forgetting Ramsey sojourned in an alien land, exposed for the first time to many of the hi-tech marvels and conveniences of living never imagined on Verdantian soil.

His seamless absorption of the
technical details of Vxloncian life masked his lack of familiarity with anything other than Verdantia and confirmed her suspicion that Ramsey DeKieran coupled keen observation to a fine mind.
Strength and brains. So much more than a brawny body and a handsome face and yet emotionally unavailable. I’m so fucked.

Niles Hunt
sat in rigidly upright dignity in the farthest corner, lost in his own silent thoughts. Pansy curled on the seat next to Ramsey, the line of her hip flush against his, while Steffania faced Ramsey diagonally, as far from Niles Hunt as she could get.

An uneasy feeling of apprehension
, different from her normal adrenaline rush at the start of any action, roiled in her guts. The more she had examined Narr’s layout, the less she liked the odds of success if she and Ramsey had to break into the lower levels. Narr’s security was tighter than the virginal pussy of an acolyte in the temple of Era. If they got in, there were no guarantees they would get out. Narr had numbers, technology and armament on his side. She and Ramsey had a detailed, tightly timed plan, so full of holes they could fly an air-tram through it. The word “death trap” fluttered in her brain like a moth around a light.

For starters, they
didn’t know where DeAlbero was on Narr’s estate – or in what condition. According to Pansy, Alessa might be a mindless piece of vegetative flesh. Steffania shoved such defeatist ideas away with firm determination.
Just get the job done. Locate Alessa DeAlbero, get her to the rendezvous point and get out.

{
DeKieran, if Narr uses transmission jammers on his estate, that’ll limit our ability to establish communications with DeTano until I can set up a high-powered override signal.}

Ramsey’s seemingly intent observation of the night sky passing above didn’t flicker.
The light streaming into the limo outlined his elegant profile but cast the rest of his face in shadow. For the first time since arriving on Vxloncia, he wore full, hi-tech combat gear. The matte black absorbed the incoming light, leaving his body a shapeless dark mass.

{
Understood.}

{
I need at least an hour, perhaps more, of uninterrupted privacy. Preferably outside the main residence.}

Ramsey’s gaze followed a particularly
intricate spire as it flashed across his plexglass window. {I’ll see what can be done. What else?}

Steffania shifted
in her seat, unhappily aware of their vulnerabilities. {I want a squad of battle-hardened mercs on the ground and several League destroyers in stationary orbit above Narr’s estates with full combat array, online.}

His
sardonic gravel of a thought grated softly across their comm-linc. {Pansy and I will endeavor to fill their shoes.} Ram slumped against the vehicle door and, with a casual turn of his head, glanced toward her. 

She raised her eyes to meet his. A dark, masculine eyebrow arched and his impassive demeanor slipped for an instant, revealing grim humor. Steffania screwed her mouth into a scowl. {I’d rather have the destroyers.}

Ramsey exhaled with
a soft snort and returned his gaze to the phantasmagoria outside the plex-glass. Privately, he agreed with Steffania. He supposed he was a selfish bastard to have tunnel vision when it came to Alessa DeAlbero, but he wanted the pardon and the legitimacy that came with it. He wanted it bad. He wouldn’t allow the League to fuck this up for him.

A gentle, vertical
descent of the air-limo warned of their arrival and Ram surveyed the scene as they started their landing. The massive, old-Earth Greco-Roman villa with its sprawling grounds of lush plantings and outdoor baths didn’t surprise him. Any man who sponsored gladiator games in NT Solar 4656 was an ardent lover of anachronism. What sent every curse word he knew flooding to the tip of his tongue were the hulking shadows with glowing red eyes that slunk alongside the humanoid patrol.

Ram had rock-solid
confidence in Steffania’s ability to disarm any electronic system. Eluding observation from one of the numerous security guards patrolling the grounds would be difficult but do-able. But infinitely, horrendously worse, the guards held remote controls for the studded metal collars of gene-altered
fell-wolves
– quadrupeds of murky origin bred for their savagery and tracking ability. In the deep past, some enterprising geneticist combined a large, venomous lizard and a vicious canine to create a visual horror with an unparalleled ability to track and kill. These genetically enhanced monsters approached a sentient intelligence and possessed the nanotech ability to heal almost any wound in a matter of minutes. You could not disable them with flesh wounds. You killed them by decapitation or destruction of the central nervous system. Their presence explained the open – vacant – expanse of beautiful grounds.