Read Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) Online

Authors: Bevan Greer

Tags: #Science Fiction Romance

Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) (7 page)

BOOK: Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2)
13.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

The door to the cell burst open and Jace flew through the doorway to land at her feet. The door closed behind him with a solid thump, leaving them alone in solitude, the flickering torch on the rock wall the only source of light or warmth in the cell.

“Are you all right?” she asked as he picked himself up and approached her.

“Just fine,” he said bitterly, staring behind him at the closed door. She saw his fists curled by his sides and gasped when he turned his head. He had bruises along the right side of his face, as well as a split lip.

“Truly, you look terrible,” Naria said with all honesty.

He walked toward her, favoring his ribs with an arm around his midsection. He sat slowly and locked gazes with her.

After a moment, he said, “You don’t look too bad.”

“Lord Demise dragged me in here and then left me alone.” She ran a hand through her natty hair. “They don’t seem to believe in bathing on this world.”

“That isn’t the worst of it.” Jace frowned. “So you haven’t seen anyone or anything aside from Lord Demise since you and I last spoke?”

“No.”

“Too bad. I was hoping you might know something about my crewmates.”

“You are not alone here?”

He stared at her before speaking, as if weighing his words. “I landed with four others. But almost as soon as we met Lord Demise, I was whisked away to that damn cell. I can only hope my crew are still alive.”

“You care for them, then?”

He blinked. “I’m responsible for them. And I won’t let them be used as leverage against me.”

Naria wondered at the firmness of his words, directed at her. “O-kay,” she said slowly.

“My crewmates are strong men, each able to take care of himself. Though on this world, I can see why very few make it out alive, or sane for that matter.”

“I’ve never met anyone that escaped the planet.”

“I met a man once. He wasn’t too rational, and not many believed his strange tales about Dark World. But having been here, I now believe he was once a prisoner of Dark World.” He stared at her, his gaze roaming over her face to land on her lips. His perusal made her feel funny, and Naria did her best to ignore the quiver in her belly.

“Tell me about yourself. I know almost nothing about you.”

Naria had gone over what she would say when she next met Jace. She had to gain his trust and she needed to do it soon. “I’m originally from Seven. I’m a librarian there,” she said with pride, wishing that were indeed the case.

“A librarian, eh? You must know something about this place then.”

“Actually the libraries on Seven, though comprehensive, don’t say much about Dark World. I don’t think much is known about this place in the System. And I can see why.”

Jace smiled, soothing her nerves. She had never been very good at lying, but she’d studied enough about the System to sound convincing about planet Seven.

“Well, having been here, I think the more unknown about this place the better,” Jace said. “What of your family? Aren’t they missing you?”

“I have a father and a sister. They are still on Seven and won’t think to miss me for a while. I had been planning my trip for some time, hoping to see the libraries on a few of the Motherworlds, Rovi in particular.” She mixed fact with fiction, confessing her dreams of a life outside this dreary existence. “But as we were nearing Dark World, something happened to our vessel. I remember an explosion and then nothing. I woke in a cell alone, with only Lord Demise for company until you.”

“Really?” Jace seemed lost in thought as he watched at her. “What do you think Demise wants with you?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps he wants my knowledge of Seven?”

“That or he wants you, period,” Jace said bluntly. “You’re a very beautiful woman, Naria.”

She couldn’t help a blush. She’d heard raw and lusty comments from her father’s warriors, but none had ever called her beautiful and sounded sincere. Flustered by his personal remark, she changed the subject.

“What of your background, Jace? Are you from a merchant vessel? Where do you come from?”

“I’m in trade, of a sort,” he said with a sly grin. “I come from all over, not claiming one planet over another as home. I’ve no family, only a speedy ship and a band of four crewmembers. We work well together, but I’m not that close to anyone or anything.”

“I know the feeling. My father and I aren’t close, and my sister is so occupied with her work on Seven that we don’t see each other often. My real love is books. I love my studies.”

“What do you study?”

“History, especially. Though I’m just as taken with the different cultures throughout the System. The Rovi are an interesting class of people, as are the Ocaians. And there are several Nearworlds I long to visit. But then, I suppose you’ve been to all of them.”

Jace smiled. “Including Dark World, yes, I’ve been to all the planets in the System.” His smile faded and he looked grim for a moment, dwelling on something Naria couldn’t see. Then his expression lightened. “Tell me something of your fascinating studies. Take my mind off this place.”

Naria smiled back at him. Though her father was most likely gnashing his teeth at what he would consider a waste of time, Naria knew that this time spent with Jace would increase her chances of getting him to trust her. She just wished she knew how long that might take, or how much time her father would give her before he decided to take what he wanted from Jace, with or without Jace’s mind intact.

 

 

As Jace listened to her talk about the history of Seven, he couldn’t stop watching her. Her full lips curved as she spoke enthusiastically about Seven’s dark cycle, sounding as though she were reading from a textbook. The more he listened, the more he thought she might actually be telling the truth about her origins.

He’d wondered about their earlier meeting and had come to two conclusions. Either she was a Dark World spy sent in to glean more information from him, or Demise had inept demons working for him that had mistakenly thrown them into the same cell. Considering Demise had a cool control and immense mental powers, Jace figured on the former. But seeing her now, being with her, he found it hard to believe Naria might be in league with the demon lord.

She looked unkempt but still smelled flowery, feminine. Her deep violet eyes looked tired, yet they sparkled as she talked about Seven. Without conscious thought, he looked from her face, down her throat and lower, lingering on the soft contour of her full breasts covered by the coarse black garment she wore.

Nothing in her clothing should have aroused him, but imaginings of what she wore beneath it tugged at his pain-filled mind. His face felt aflame, his right cheek still throbbing from a thirst demon’s rock-like fist. He knew his ribs had been bruised, if not broken.

Yet seeing Naria made his aches fade as a sensual hunger encompassed him. Something in his eyes must have alerted her to his need, because when she met his gaze, she faltered into silence.

Unwilling to wait when Lord Demise could show anytime, Jace scooted his chair closer to her. She didn’t move, her eyes wide with curiosity but no hint of alarm.

“Jace? Are you all right?”

He cupped her cheek in his palm and drew in breath at the shock of connection.

Her breath hissed out of her, so he wasn’t alone in feeling something more than a physical desire. She blushed becomingly, and the contrast of innocence and carnal allure shook him to the quick. He wanted her more than anyone or anything he’d ever wanted before.

Ignoring inner warnings of caution, he bent his head and took a gentle kiss. She tasted like the sweetest berries, ripe and fresh for the taking. She didn’t move under his touch. Instead she sat still and watched him, her purple eyes wide, as if absorbing a new experience. Jace could
feel
the passion in her just under the surface, his psychic probe slipping beneath her barriers. Knowing she felt as he did encouraged him to deepen the kiss.

He watched as she closed her eyes, and he followed suit. Her lips softened under his and a soft moan escaped her. The pain in his body faded as a fiery heat overwhelmed him. He stroked her lips with his tongue, amazed at how much he wanted her. When she parted her lips in a gasp, he slipped his tongue inside.

She stilled, then returned his touch tentatively. The feel of her tongue on his stiffened him into a hard ball of need. Jace leaned into her, meaning to bring her closer when a sense of self-preservation stopped him.

He leaned back and put some distance between them. Staring at her, he couldn’t help the strong arousal pooling in his body, but it was mixed with a strong sense that all was not as it should be in Naria. He could feel her sensual curiosity mixed with a need greater than sex. The guarded woman had projected her feelings, though he sensed she remained unaware of it.

Before he could say anything, the door to the cell slammed open. He was roughly pulled from his chair and slammed against a wall, held in place by two gigantic thirst demons. Lord Demise stood behind them, staring in distaste at Naria.

“I had a feeling you two might like each other,” he said pleasantly, while an unholy gleam lit his eyes. “I’m rarely wrong.”

Naria stared at Demise with fire in her eyes. “What do you want with him? Why can’t you just let him go?”

She sounded more angry than scared, and Jace was conscious of strange undercurrents running between the demon lord and his beautiful prisoner.

Demise stared at her a moment, then struck her full in the face with one large, finely boned hand. Naria stumbled back but quickly righted herself. Jace opened his inner senses to help defend her but instead witnessed a tremendous mental display. Demise barraged Naria with a bombardment of mental strikes Jace could sense on the psychic plane, only to come up against her large mental shield.

Again and again he pried at her mind while Jace watched, unable to interfere without possibly hindering Naria’s defense. The sheer amount of power flowing in the cell made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Even the thirst demons let him go and backed away, watching their master but not moving to distract him.

Naria began to shake, then seized in great jerks. Jace longed to help her but knew he would only do more harm than good while she engaged so deeply with Demise. Her forehead beaded until rivulets of sweat ran down her face, marring her already dirty cheeks with a combination of sweat and tears. She cried out and clutched her head, then fell to the ground in a heap, finally losing consciousness.

Before Jace could reach her, Demise’s minions hauled Naria out of the cell.

Demise turned to Jace, a knowing look on his face. “She’s quite beautiful isn’t she?” Jace said nothing.

“You want her. Perhaps in exchange for some information, I could give her to you. I believe the foolish girl may actually be attracted to you.” Demise taunted, as he normally did. But Jace thought he caught a hint of some deeper feeling in Demise’s words.

“There is nothing to tell. I’m nobody.” Compassion for Naria warred with his need to remain a mystery. More than his life was at stake. The existence of Mystique must never be questioned or discovered, and not by a creature as evil and chaotic as Lord Demise.

“That really is too bad,” Demise said. “Because now I’ll be forced to terminate your crew’s lives that much sooner. I don’t think you realize how badly I want to know about you, Jace.”

Jace allowed nothing to show on his face, but inside he quaked with fear. He’d lied to Naria when saying he had no family or close ties. His crew was his
family
. He’d been with Castor longer than the others, but even though they were a fairly new crew, he’d bonded with them deeper than he’d thought possible.

“I’ll give you a little time to think things over, shall I? After all, it’s clear you’re not thinking straight after that heated bit of affection.” Demise gave him a knowing look.

Damn. Kissing her had been a foolish thing to do. Of course Demise had been watching them. What had he been thinking? And that was the problem. He hadn’t been thinking. Instead he’d followed his emotions, his instincts.

“She’s a beautiful woman.” Jace shrugged, as if Naria’s impact on his senses were no more than a physical response.

“That she is,” Demise said in a low voice. “Too bad you don’t want her enough. Such a waste to let a ripe piece of woman go to my men when you could have her instead.”

Jace felt torn but couldn’t let Demise win. Even at the expense of Naria’s life, of his crew’s, hell, his own, he couldn’t disclose information of Mystique or the Psi.

“Perhaps a visit to your crew might convince you to rethink things.” Demise blinked and four thirst demons appeared in the cell. They dragged Jace down the corridor and through a maze of passageways until they stopped in front of a wooden door like all the others they’d passed. At their master’s nod, they opened it and threw Jace inside.

“Think hard about my offer,” Demise’s voice floated through the narrow window of the door before it closed, shutting Jace in the dim cell, alone except for two lumps of flesh lying still on the floor.

 

Naria groaned as she lay on the cold floor of the cell. The guards had been violent, no doubt at her father’s command. Whether her father had played along to encourage her deception or whether he knew she truthfully rebelled against him, she didn’t yet know.

The door banged open, and he strode in, his expression uncompromising. He yanked her to her feet and threw her onto the cold stone bench along the wall.

“I see you’ve lost the reason behind your visits to the prisoner. Or is it that you intend to pursue life as a succubus and were merely trying your talents on the hapless male?”

Naria said nothing, striving to hold on to her mental shields.

“I sent you in for information. Instead you allowed him to ply you with compliments and lure you into sexual contact. Not that I mind, had you been intending to use sex to get the information. But Naria—” her father shook his head “—why did your barriers drop when he touched you?”

He slammed her head against the wall with a flick of his wrist. When she refused to answer him, tears pooling in her eyes and her jaw set in stubborn determination, he stopped his assault.

BOOK: Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2)
13.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Steel My Heart by Vivian Lux
Safeword Quinacridone by Candace Blevins
Westward Dreams by Linda Bridey
Five Fortunes by Beth Gutcheon
Best for the Baby by Ann Evans
Spain by Jan Morris
Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion by Howard, Jonathan L., Walker, Deborah, Morgan, Cheryl, Bigwood, Andy, Morgan, Christine, Rodman, Myfanwy
Divine Charity by Heather Rainier