Illicit Desire: Outlawed Realm, Book 2 (9 page)

“You already have,” the older man said. Not unkindly, but with such indifference a chill ran through Lukan. “Each night you escape us, you’ll earn another day of life with food and water we’ll provide.”

“To give you strength,” the youngest informed.

“Turn off the beam,” one ruler shouted.

A guard obeyed, returning the scene to its previous gloom. The lights surrounding the Palace shone on the slave, revealing tears in his eyes.

“Go. Now,” Vakar ordered suddenly, moving from the rear of the group to stand before the unfortunate man. “Or die where you kneel.” He placed the butt of his crossbow on his shoulder and aimed the weapon.

Scrambling back, the slave pushed to his feet, running headlong into the vegetation and more danger.

The rulers chuckled. An animal howled. The slave screamed.

As one, the men rushed forward, taking aim with their crossbows.

“Turn it off, please,” Meelo asked.

Damir’s hands trembled as she did so. Regina’s face had drained of all color. She held her hand to her mouth as if she might be ill.

Her horror calmed Lukan more than any assurances or empty promises. Finally, she and Nikoli knew exactly what the slaves faced. “Those the rulers don’t hunt, they allow to starve,” he said. “They wait until the slaves are exhausted and hungry; then they push them from the Palace, leaving them to their fates.”

Regina lifted her hand, clearly wanting him to stop. She spoke to Nikoli. “Isn’t there some way you can speed up the process?”

He sagged in his chair. “Not without the proper materials.”

Quickly, Lukan countered, “You told Meelo your device is at a stage where it can at least open a portal for a short period. That’s all I need. As long as I can get to Arez, I’ll find a way to take her from the Palace. I’ll bring her to another location where we’ll wait until you perfect your instrument, finding us and opening a portal back to this side.”

“Lukan, no.” Damir went to him. “That would be madness. You have no idea what you’d face on that plane once you’re outside the Palace.”

Regina frowned. “What’s out there?”

“The jungle,” he said, then spoke to Damir. ”You’ve told me enough to know what to expect. I’ll use that to protect Arez.”

“It’s not only the jungle,” Damir argued, “but the life forms there. Subhumans…and the others. You can’t reason with them, Lukan. Some don’t even have language. They’re no different from the animals on that plane. They’ll sense your and Arez’s presence, and they’ll attack.”

“Sense, not see?” Regina asked.

Meelo answered, “E4’s a world with little light, as I explained earlier. The animals there are nearly blind.”

“Which allows me and Arez to use sight to our advantage,” Lukan said.

Damir took his hand. Her fingers were so icy he wanted to pull back but could not. She seemed old, suddenly, frail, not the powerful woman he’d gazed at as a young boy, wishing she’d return his smile.

Something inside him wanted to warm and comfort her. Lukan fought the urge. He was unwilling to give Damir what she needed now just as she’d failed to provide him with what he required in the past. “I have to cross over today.”

“It’s a mistake,” she warned. “The animals and subhumans have adapted to their lack of sight. They can still sense their prey. Will you put Arez at risk with them?”

He pulled his hand away and took several steps back, increasing his distance from her. “Are you asking me to leave her to Vakar?”

“No. Of course not.”

He frowned. “Of course not? Did you consider the risk Arez faced when you and Meelo created her?”

An anguished moan escaped Damir. She looked as though she might weep, something she never did.

Lukan’s anger evaporated, turning to quick remorse. However, he wouldn’t ask for her forgiveness. There simply wasn’t time to make amends or to discuss this any longer. He turned to Nikoli. “As your device stands now, can it locate the Pleasure Palace and Arez? Don’t lie to me,” he added quickly. “I’ll know. I’ve spent my life reading your rulers’ faces, so I knew whether to expect food, a beating or their demand for pleasure.”

Emotion seemed to drain Nikoli of any argument. His shoulders drooped. “It’ll be able to find her room.”

“Her cage,” Lukan corrected. “Her prison. The same as every captive there. I wish I could rescue them all, but I can’t.” He recalled the slave’s frightened screams from minutes before. The horrible memory brought a lump to his throat. Clearing it, he glimpsed at the windows. “The sun will be down in a few hours. At this time on E4, the slaves are allowed to rest so they’ll be alert for the coming night. Security is lax. What you call cameras monitor the cells, but the guards are lazy. They often sleep when their prisoners do. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to get Arez.”

Damir pressed her fingers to her mouth as though to keep from speaking.

Regina asked, “What if the guards aren’t asleep?”

“They mount their captives,” Lukan said, “using their cunts and anuses as E2’s rulers will later in the evening.”

She made a face, not attempting to hide her disgust. “What if they’re with Arez when you arrive?”

“They won’t be. She’s about to become Vakar’s property, if she isn’t already. No guard will risk his life to take her when she belongs to our highest master. The only one that might would be another slave who doesn’t know her fate.”

“You,” Regina said.

“Yes.”

“And after they watch, they’d kill you.”

“If they can catch me. I won’t allow that to happen.” He turned to Nikoli. “I have to use your instrument within the hour.” He spoke to Meelo. “Will you gather what I’ll need in the Palace and jungle?” At last, he faced Damir. “Will you prepare me so I can trick those on E4?”

“How?” Regina asked.

Not answering, Damir went to Lukan, once more taking his hand. “I don’t have what I need.”

“You do. I brought it.” He gestured to his backpack resting on one of the dining room chairs. Every time they’d come here, he’d been hoping to begin his journey back to Arez. “Change me now, or I’ll do it myself.”

“Wait a sec,” Regina blurted, betraying her alarm. “What are you talking about? Change how?”

This time, Damir stepped away from him. “His hair and eye color. Both have to be different before he returns so no one recognizes him as Lukan. The guards saw him leave with Meelo and me. An alarm will go up if he returns suddenly.”

“He wants you to dye his hair?” Regina asked.

“And his eyes.”

“What?”

Damir stared at the backpack Lukan held out to her.

“Are you going to make me do this myself?” he asked.

With a heavy sigh, she accepted the canvas satchel, slipping her hand beneath its flap. “The dye isn’t toxic,” she explained, pulling out what those on this side called a hypodermic needle. “The coloring will last only a few hours. Enough time for Lukan and Arez to escape the Palace.”

Regina backed up. “You’re going to inject dye into his iris? Won’t it blind him? He already has trouble with the light.”

“On your plane, not E4,” he said. Turning away from the window, he removed his sunglasses and squinted at Damir. “Use the color violet, the same as Arez’s eyes. Turn my hair as black as hers. Change me now, or I’ll leave as I am.”

She seemed to grow smaller with each of his orders. With no further argument or plea, she gestured to a chair.

Lukan sat and tilted his chin up.

Regina fled to the kitchen just as the needle pierced his right eye.

Alone in her room, Arez lay on her side, knees drawn to her chest, her nudity protected. A position that should have resulted in punishment. She, like the other slaves, was required to display her body at all times, parting her legs in invitation, arching her back to expose her breasts to all who wanted to view or use her.

Everything had changed during these last weeks. She belonged to Vakar now.

Arez curled into a tighter ball, squeezing her lids, not knowing how to feel. In the beginning, he’d frightened her. Taller and more regal than the others, he’d stopped at the edge of her bed that first night, doing nothing more than staring at her.

An interminable amount of time passed, during which she feared breathing or swallowing.

“Part your legs farther,” he’d ordered at last. “Bend your knees.”

She’d done so immediately.

His attention lingered so long on her dark curls and cleft, offered for his use, Arez’s skin burned as if he’d whipped it.

At length, he studied her tightened nipples and ran his thumb across the length of her mouth.

She forced herself not to flinch or show anything except full submission. Oddly enough, it was an easy matter. His gentleness surprised Arez, reminding her of Lukan’s. Her memories of him brought a wave of sadness, making it difficult for her to breathe. Following it was another emotion Arez had never experienced before. She couldn’t put a name to it, but somehow she felt as though she’d betrayed Lukan by finding solace in Vakar.

“Are you hungry?” he’d asked. A question she hadn’t expected.

Too cowed to say no, Arez nodded meekly.

On the edge of her bed, he sat, slipping the fruit into her mouth, observing her as she chewed the sweet delicacy slaves weren’t often allowed to have.

Why was he offering it to her now?

The rulers behind him grew restless, shifting in their chairs, tapping their shoes against the hard floor.

To Vakar, they didn’t seem to exist. Arez had his full attention. In that, he again behaved like Lukan. Why? Had he observed them together and was now waiting for her to confess that they’d fallen in love? Did he and the others already know, and this was their way of toying with her?

Had they punished Lukan? Was he still alive?

The fruit stuck in Arez’s throat. She tried to maintain her composure but failed.

Vakar regarded her rough breathing. “Why are you afraid?”

She lied quickly, “You’ve never honored me by coming here before. I don’t want to displease you.”

His smile was more amused than delighted by her deference. “Then you’re pleased by my visit?”

“I’ve dreamed of it since I came to this part of the Palace.” She’d say whatever he wanted to hear. Do whatever was necessary to spare Lukan pain or death. “My caretakers told me it was a great privilege not many slaves would know.”

He no longer smiled. Arez’s body went cold with the worst kind of dread. She shouldn’t have spoken. Vakar hadn’t believed her. Worse, he knew she wanted Lukan.

Without comment, he raised his hand. Arez tensed, expecting his blow and the subsequent pain.

What happened next was another surprise. Rather than striking her, he rested his fingers on her torso, trailing them up her length to her breast. Cupping the globe in his smooth palm, Vakar drew his thumb over her nipple quite lazily. No different from Lukan’s remembered touch.

Arez didn’t understand how two men who were nothing alike could cull the same response from her. She moaned without meaning to, appalled at her response.

It delighted Vakar. In the sounds she made lay the truth he’d sought. Despite her initial fear, he had aroused her.

He swirled his tongue around her areola, then flicked it over the tip, making it even harder, causing her to whimper. The noise brought his hand to her cleft. Delicately, almost playfully, he ran his fingertips up the length of her cunt, separating those lips, further testing her response. Her opening was already slick with arousal, her body betraying its need for a man’s cock.

Lukan’s. Arez wanted him, no one else.

Vakar mounted her that night, slipping his stiffened rod into her with great care. Once their bodies were fully joined, he suckled her nipples, then licked the seam of her mouth, demanding entrance.

Arez gave it, more willingly than she wanted.

Her response fueled his. He took his pleasure in her every orifice, allowing neither of them rest until he was sated fully. Afterwards, as he lay panting, the other rulers remained seated, not daring to claim her.

During the next night and those that followed, Vakar returned alone. Arez didn’t know why or what to expect. She prepared herself for the worst.

Vakar delivered hours of pleasure and the choicest food. Not once did he harm her, treating her with compassion and respect as Lukan had.

“I want you lying beneath me on the finest silk or the softest velvet,” he whispered one evening, running his large hand down her body. “I want to give you all of your favorite foods, as much as you’d like.”

At the prospect, her stomach growled. Always, she feared hunger, knowing the guards would withhold meals if she disobeyed in the least.

Lukan had understood the same, telling her,
“It’s how the rulers control us.”

No matter Vakar’s kindness or promises, Lukan’s voice persisted in her mind. It was his hands and mouth she imagined on her breasts, between her legs.

Why hadn’t he come back? Didn’t he know they had so little time before she was gone?