Stolen Desire (Outlawed Realm) (21 page)

Urged on by Zekin’s threats and the male slaves wanting to use their whips, Wollum calibrated the device to reach Domm Zorr’s lab.

Paige still didn’t trust the man.

She chose a very small pod where prisoners were once held when beatings and threats hadn’t broken their spirits. A kind of solitary confinement. She and Eeete used bed linens to hide the area’s transparent walls so Domm Zorr couldn’t guess where they actually were.

“We should put sheets on the floor too,” she suggested. “To cut the light.” Once they had, the gloom was surprisingly acceptable, but not perfect. Paige thought back to that weird room in the outpost. “Were there candles in the Pleasure Palace?”

“Many.”

“Do you have candles here, in the colony?”

“No.”

Paige uncovered certain sections on the floor. The light poured inside, rippling slightly just as flames would, or water illuminated by a flow of lava. “Was there a place of bathing in the Pleasure Palace? Did it look anything like this?”

Taking in the scene, Eeete shook her head.

Paige sighed. It would have to do. Thankfully, Domm Zorr hadn’t been to the Pleasure Palace as yet, or so Zekin had said. From the doorway, he watched her and Eeete work. To Zekin’s side, Qatar stood, his arm around Wollum’s throat, one of the red guns to the man’s chest, ready to release a lethal dart straight into his heart if the portal opened on anything other than Domm Zorr’s lab. As an added precaution, Qatar had gagged Wollum so the guard couldn’t shout, alerting anyone on the other side.

“Go, please,” Paige urged Zekin and Qatar. “You can listen, but I don’t want Domm Zorr to be able to see either of you.”

Qatar obeyed immediately, pulling Wollum back. Zekin was clearly reluctant to move but finally backed up enough to avoid anyone seeing him through the portal. Taking a deep breath, Paige removed her shirt so she was as nude as Eeete—the same as any prisoner in the Pleasure Palace—then activated the device to open a gateway.

The linen in front of her shimmered slightly before seeming to disintegrate. Bright light flashed for a second, and then it was as though she were looking through a window into a colorless room. Everything was in varying shades of gray except for computer monitors that were similar to the ones here. Eerie green light, equally washed out, pulsed from them.

Minutes passed with no one around. Paige wasn’t certain what to do. She waited another few seconds, then got antsy, tempted to look over at Zekin to see if this was the right place. Before she could, Eeete grabbed her hand and tugged. Paige saw what the young woman did. The man who entered the room was identical in appearance to Zekin, Qatar and Bruda, except for his advanced age. He stared at her and Eeete.

“Domm Zorr,” Paige murmured.

He didn’t acknowledge her or admit to being the man.

Oh crud.
What if he was someone else? How could she be certain when everyone over there looked the same? Again, Paige was tempted to turn and check with Zekin, but didn’t. Afraid to let this man know Zekin was even here, she continued to face the portal.

“Are you Domm Zorr?” she asked.

He said nothing.

Eeete suddenly cried out in her language, words Paige couldn’t possibly understand. The young woman glanced behind them, her body recoiling in terror.

Paige frowned, not knowing what Eeete was doing, especially when Eeete threw her arms around her and continued jabbering.

“Wait,” Paige said, wanting to break free but afraid to. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Eeete blurted something else unintelligible, then with their cheeks pressed together, Eeete whispered in English, “Zekin’s nodding. This is Domm Zorr.”

Smart, smart girl.

Paige held back a smile at Eeete’s awesome performance and made a show of trying to calm her down.

With that quickly finished, Paige turned to Domm Zorr and spoke softly, pretending to be worried that one of the guards might be ready to pounce. “This young woman and I need your help. I was kidnapped from Seattle and brought to the Pleasure Palace.” She lifted the device. “I stole this from one of the guards. I overheard him speaking to the others like him. They used English, probably because the men and women here don’t understand it as I do. He said your son, Nikoli, built and used a device like this to open portals so he could speak to you after his escape to my side. He called it E1.”

Domm said nothing to her brazen lies. However, Paige did notice a slight increase in his blink rate. She’d been in enough depositions at her firm to read body language and recognize distress. Domm was definitely experiencing it.

“I don’t know how to use the device to get out of here,” she said. “Only to see into your lab. I overheard the guards saying they were going to spy on you, see if they could learn about Nikoli so they could tell Vakar and get extra privileges. This device is the only means I have to escape and help this young woman. I’m afraid the guards are going to take her away.” Paige wrapped her arm around Eeete’s shoulders, holding the young woman as tightly as Eeete held her. “The guards have done that with some of the others. I’ve never seen any of those people come back. If we can get to Nikoli, he can help keep us safe. He can tell us what to do to save the others here.”

Nothing. Not even rapid blinking this time. It was as though he were a statue, unaware or unconcerned with anything she’d say.

Paige didn’t panic. Instead, a growing fury at all this shit—the audacity of anyone to treat fellow humans like this—raged through her and made her calm. Reverting to her legal training, she grew as unemotional as Domm Zorr, as intent on winning.

“If I’m caught with this device and the guards torture me, they’ll know I contacted you about Nikoli. I overheard the guards saying that your people believe Nikoli is dead. I know he’s not. I can see it in your eyes. Do you want the guards to confirm that by beating the information out of me? Do you want them telling Vakar?”

Once more, his blink rate increased. Paige wanted to press on, to threaten, cajole. Whatever it took to get him to give her the information she needed. Deep inside, she figured that wouldn’t move him. With no other choice, she simply waited and prayed.

Perspiration drenched her. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

When he stepped back, she blurted, “Please.” If he turned off the transmission or left the room, she’d have no way to help Zekin. Quick tears filled her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. “I’m begging—”

“I’ll warn him you’re coming,” Domm interrupted with no inflection or seeming empathy for what she was going through. “He’ll be prepared for your arrival. To help you if you tell the truth. To eliminate you if you lie.”

Paige swallowed. “I’m not lying. We need your help. Please, tell me how to use this to get to him.” Again, she showed him the device.

He never took his focus off her, nor did his intonation waver as he provided instructions on how to calibrate the thing to Nikoli’s location.

“My son won’t let you harm Regina,” Domm promised. “If you lie, he and the others on his side will see you dead.”

Chapter Fourteen

Zekin worked on the device in the dining hall, using the latitude and longitude Domm Zorr had provided. Male and female slaves stood nearby, curious enough to watch, too timid to ask questions.

Dressed in one of the camouflage shirts, Paige paced at Zekin’s side, no doubt eager to return to her realm, her home…away from all the trouble here. Reconciled, finally, to leaving him.

Within a few minutes, he’d never see her again.

The enormity of it hit Zekin too quickly. A spasm twisted his gut and chest, the pain deepening his grief. He clenched his jaw and forced himself to concentrate on the device. He had no tomorrows to look forward to, just as he’d told Paige earlier. This was his life now. Before long, it would be his death. He and the others here might have what her dimension referred to as a few months. Perhaps only days. Or mere hours. Who knew?

Did it really matter?

Zekin told himself it did not. His body refused to believe him, his neck and shoulders aching. Ignoring them, he continued to work and at last had the device calibrated perfectly. He stood and held it out to Paige.

Her steps slowed, then stopped. However, she didn’t take it.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” he assured. “It will bring you to Nikoli’s home.”

Her eyes filled with tears that sparkled in the ever-present light. She looked as lost and bereft as he felt.

Zekin’s pulse jumped, a thread of hope racing through him that she didn’t want to leave now that the time had actually come. Just as quickly, he reminded himself that if she remained, she’d be as doomed as the rest of them.

Zekin took her hand and placed the device in it. “You have to go back.”

“Come with me,” she murmured, cradling his face with her free hand.

Its softness and heat, her female scent undermined his resolve. He imagined starting a new life with her, living in a realm where there was true freedom, its rulers encouraging men to seek love and to celebrate it rather than burdening them with endless duty.

And honor.

That part of him was so deeply ingrained, Zekin knew he couldn’t save himself as others died. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can—listen to me,” she begged. “You can return here if that’s what you want. But at least come with me and talk to Nikoli. He may have a way to save everyone here. They can all cross over as we will.”

She still believed that. How nice it would have been if he’d been able to convince himself of the same. Zekin couldn’t. Reason told him it was impossible. He turned his face into her palm, kissing it, savoring her warmth, knowing it would be the last time he experienced anything so precious and soothing.

Reluctantly, he pulled her hand away. “What about the women from your realm that the guards are still bringing here? What about the pleasure slaves? Someone has to help them.”

“So they can come to this colony and die anyway?” she argued.

“It’s the best I can do.”

Paige looked stricken, then threw her arms around him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound like a criticism. There has to be a way we can help everyone. Nikoli may know how. If you don’t like what he has to say, you can come back here. I won’t stop you.”

She’d try, and he’d be tempted. He was only a man, imperfect, wanting.

“Please,” she whispered, kissing his cheek and throat.

He sighed noisily, helpless in her embrace. His mind drifted, his mother’s face filling his thoughts, the ice in her eyes and tone as she denounced him to the state, calling him a coward. He saw Vakar’s pleased smile, because he’d duped his people to believe everything he claimed. Zekin recalled Eeete’s terror shortly before he’d rescued her. She’d expected to die in the most horrible way possible. Stalked by Vakar and his men. Arrows piercing her throat, heart, belly. Zekin had given her a little longer to live. At last free, yet still trapped here.

She had no upcoming moments to anticipate or celebrate, certainly not the kind Paige had known in the past and would enjoy again. None of them had experienced that. None of them would. It was impossible. Too much to ask or hope for.

“Zekin—don’t.”

He took another step away from Paige.

She held out her arms, wanting him back in her embrace.

He rubbed his fingers over his mouth. Eeete stood to the side, watching. Despite her submissive demeanor, Zekin recognized her sorrow, the one emotion she’d known too well and for too long.

His skin burned with sudden rage at the unfairness of it all. How Vakar had doomed all of them.

“Zekin?” Paige said again.

He regarded the device and spoke before he knew he would. “I’ll talk to him, but I have to come back.”

She nodded quickly. “Eeete, come with us.” Paige held out her hand.

The young woman didn’t budge.

“It’s all right,” Paige coaxed. “You’ll be safe. Zekin and I will see to it.”

Eeete looked at him for confirmation.

He nodded, affirming what Paige had promised.

Eeete still didn’t join them.

“You have a question?” Zekin asked the young woman. “A concern? Ask it. Now.”

She obeyed immediately. “Will I return when you do?”

Zekin shook his head. “You’ll stay with Paige. You’ll be unharmed on her realm. You’ll be free.”

Eeete’s mouth trembled. Zekin wasn’t certain whether it was from fear of entering the portal or relief that her imprisonment was finally at an— “Eeete!” he shouted.

She tore down the hall.

“Don’t,” Paige said, holding his arm to stop him from following. “She doesn’t want to go. She wants to be here if you…that is, when you return. Eeete adores you, Zekin.”

He frowned. “She has a chance to be free. I won’t let her lose it.”

“If she’s really free, you can’t make the decision for her. I know. I want to do the same. But I won’t. I can’t.”

Paige’s reasoning surprised and angered him.

“We can always come back for her,” Paige promised. “Convince her then to cross over. Tell her what my realm has to offer.”