Victorious Star (14 page)

“Very well.” Seht looked at Victoria with a bleak but determined gaze. “The procedure imprints my DNA code onto yours. It’s how my people identify a
rekhyt’s
owner.”

Victoria bit her lip. “Can we do this without the procedure?”

“No.” Seht shook his head. “If they discover that you are unmarked, you will be taken and likely claimed.”

Victoria frowned. “If it’s only a DNA imprint, how will they know?”

“All they have to do is look at you.” Ravnos paced angrily before his desk. “Are you going to tell her the rest? Or do you want me to?”

Seht looked at the far wall. “The initial course of the procedure causes a breakdown in the human genetic structure. This allows my DNA to influence it, which triggers a physical transformation.”

Victoria’s voice came out in a tight whisper. “What kind of transformation?”

Seht looked down at the box framed by his hands. “It changes your skin color, eye color, and sometimes other things as well.”

Victoria tucked her icy hands under her arms. “You’re going to turn me into a
skeldhi?”

“No.” Seht smiled briefly. “The combined DNA structures make you something not quite either.”

Ravnos’s lip curled in a snarl. “The procedure makes you visibly and genetically a slave.”

Seht’s mouth tightened. “It’s designed to improve the human strain, to make them stronger, healthier.”

“Able to withstand brutal punishment.” Ravnos gave Seht a black scowl.

Seht shot Ravnos a narrow glance. “And perform sexually for hours.”

Ravnos turned away and swept his hands through his hair. “Victoria, this procedure is permanent. If you do this, you’ll carry his DNA code, the mark of his ownership, for the rest of your life.”

Victoria jerked back. “Does it affect my piloting augmentation?”

Seht shook his head and smiled wryly. “Not at all. The specific transformations are dependent on your current genetic structure. It doesn’t change the original genetic code, it adds to what is already present.”

Victoria wiped damp palms on her waistcoat. “As long as I can still pilot a ship, how bad can it be?”

Ravnos turned with blinding speed and towered over her chair. “You do not want to do this, Victoria. The procedure is legally binding. If you are seen and recognized by one of the
mahfdhyt,
their enforcers, you will be legally collected as an escaped slave. Nav-pilot or not, the Imperium won’t even try to stop them.”

Seht nodded at Victoria. “He’s right. If a
mahfdhyt
recognizes you as an
isfeht,
an outlaw or runaway
rehkyt
they will collect you. They are not just enforcers, they’re highly trained legal executioners; you cannot fight them and win.”

“Legal executioners? You mean assassins?” Victoria grabbed for the chair behind her and sat. “And there’s no other way to get me on that ship?”

Seht shook his head. “Ravnos was supposed to go, as captain of the
Hellsbreath,
while you remained here, but with Moraine on the station, it’s not possible.” He looked over at his pacing captain. “Shall I have the warheads armed for detonation?”

Ravnos nodded. “We may as well start up the main engines. We’ll need to get to that ship at top speed if we want to blow it before that station blows us.”

Victoria came back out of the chair. “No! We can’t blow the
Arcane!
I’ll do it.” She swallowed hard. “I’ll do the procedure.”

Ravnos shook his head. “No.”

Victoria set her jaw. “If there is any way I can save the
Arcane,
I want to try.”

Ravnos slammed his hands down on the desk. “You do and your career will only last as long as it takes for a
mahfdhyt
enforcer to take you in!”

Victoria raised her chin. “Seht can send me right back.”

“No, I can’t.” Seht shook his head. “Once you’ve been collected, the Imperium marks you as deceased. You cannot return.” He looked over at Victoria. “Not that I’ll mind keeping you.”

Ravnos scowled at Seht. “That was not even remotely funny.”

Seht turned away. “The only other option is to leave the procedure unfinished.” He turned to look at Ravnos. “If I don’t finalize the process, her genetic code will reassert itself, to some degree.”

Victoria sat up. “I’ll go back to being human again?”

Seht shook his head. “You’ll appear to be human; you will never
be
completely human again. A blood test will still show my genetic trace.”

Ravnos flashed a dark look at Victoria then glared at Seht. “There’s also a chance you won’t recover enough to pass for human.”

Seht leaned on the desk and closed his eyes. “It depends on the strength of your genetic code.”

Ravnos shook his head. “I don’t want to take that chance.”

Victoria took a step toward the desk. “But I do.”

Ravnos glared at her. “Absolutely not!”

Victoria glared right back. “What’s the point of forcing me to expose my skills with your dominance games, if you’re not going to let me use them?”

Ravnos paced angrily before her chair. “The plan was for me to go to the auction with Seht while you remained on the
Hellsbreath
to retrieve us if something went wrong.”

Seht looked over at Ravnos. “Then Moraine showed up.”

“Then Moraine showed up.” Ravnos stopped at looked at Victoria. “You were the best option to carry out the original plan out. I…” He looked at the deck. “I didn’t realize that Seht would have to go as himself.”

Seht rolled his eyes. “No, you let me sweat that out,” he grumbled.

“You asked if I was willing to save the
Arcane,
Captain.” Victoria raised her chin. “If this is the only way to do it, then I’ll do it.”

“You are willing to jeopardize your entire career for a ship?” Ravnos’s lip curled. “Are you out of your mind?”

Victoria bared her teeth. “I am just a nav-pilot. The
Arcane
is a war hero. It deserves to be saved.”

Seht snorted. “Yes, she
is
out of her mind.”

Seht frowned at her then looked over at Ravnos. “If we’re going to do this, we have to begin immediately.”

Ravnos folded his arms tightly around himself. “Victoria, are you absolutely sure you want to do this?”

Victoria stared at Seht, refusing to look at Ravnos. “How many times do I have to agree before you will believe me?”

Ravnos leaned both hands tiredly on his desktop. “Do what you need to do, Seht.”

Seht turned to the box and opened it. “Take off your waistcoat and cravat, Victoria.”

Victoria undid the buttons on her waistcoat while watching Seht with interest.

Seht pulled out an antique-looking syringe. He filled a cartridge with iridescent liquid and set it into the syringe with the ease of long practice. Then he attached a needle over six inches long.

Victoria pulled her cravat from her throat and stared at the needle in horror. “What are you going to do with that?”

Seht checked his syringe carefully. “This is the nanite solution that will allow my DNA to influence yours.” He turned to look at her. “Unbutton your shirt. I need to inject it directly into your heart.”

Victoria froze. “My heart?”

Seht nodded. “It’s normally injected into the arm and the entire process takes a week. We have two days.” He turned to Ravnos. “Do you want to hold her? This won’t be pleasant.”

Ravnos’s mouth was set in a tight line, but he nodded. He strode around the desk and sat down in the velvet chair.

Victoria’s shaking fingers fumbled badly on her shirt buttons.
He’s going to stab that huge needle into my heart? What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Ravnos pushed her hands away and undid her buttons with swift skill. “Sit.” He tugged her across his lap, lifting her legs until her knees were bent over the arm. “Put your hands on the back of your neck, and keep them there.” He reached into his breast pocket for something.

Victoria lifted her hands to the back of her neck then felt a shimmer in her augmentations. She wiggled her fingers and realized that her wrist cuffs had been activated. “Hey!”

Ravnos sighed. “It’s for your own good. If he misses, he could kill you.”

Seht walked over to her side and knelt. “I won’t miss,” he said grimly.

Ravnos pressed her back, supporting her head and neck on one arm. “Hold very still.” He pulled her shirt apart, baring her breasts then looked up at Seht. “Do it.”

Seht placed two fingers at the base of her sternum and set the tip of the needle between his fingers, tilting the syringe so that the needle would stab upward and under her breastbone. “Hold her.”

Ravnos wrapped an arm around her hips.

Victoria stared up at Seht.
They’re right. I am out of my mind.

He looked briefly into her eyes and his expression was deadly serious. He punched in and up.

Victoria didn’t feel it at first, and then her heart gave a stuttering and painful jump. She gasped. Something burned inside her heart and then froze it solid. Cold fire burst from her heart and raced outward, burning her lungs.

Ravnos’s arm closed on her hips with crushing strength.

Frost erupted in the center of her head and the inside of her mouth. She tasted the bright copper of blood. She felt Seht’s hand on her forehead, pressing her down.

All at once, the burning cold was gone. She felt herself drop and panted. She blinked at them. “Is it over?”

“No, that was just the beginning.” Seht smiled grimly. “You have two more to go.”

Victoria grimaced. “Great.” She felt her wrists released and dropped her hands gratefully.

Ravnos pushed her upright. “What now?”

Victoria looked around and squinted. Everything seemed a little bright and sparkly on the edges.

Seht stood up. “We need to get her to down to the hold where my
barque
is. You’ll need your sword.”

Seht closed the box then knelt to button Victoria’s blouse. “You’ll like this part. You get to chase us around with a blade.”

Victoria frowned. She couldn’t have heard that right. “A blade?”

Seht nodded. “Of course we’ll be armed too.” He pushed her toward the captain’s door.

Ravnos met them with his sword sheathed at his side. “Are you sure you want to do it this way? She’s not anywhere near an amateur with a sword.”

Victoria focused on the compliment and felt a warm rush in her veins.

“I figured she wasn’t.” Seht opened the door. “I have a practice blade ready for her.”

Victoria gasped “A practice blade?”

Ravnos’s mouth was set in a grim line. “You’re the one who has to bleed, not us.”

“What do you mean, I bleed?”

Seht led them toward the far end of the bay, toward a solitary ship unlike any of the fighters docked. “When you bleed under duress, it forces the nanites I injected into your body to heal you, accelerating the entire process. A duel will accomplish this very well.”

Victoria suddenly had the urge to bite one of them. “How long do we do this?”

Seht gave her a long look. “Until you drop.”

“What?”

Ravnos scowled at Seht. “That’s why it’s going to take both of us to do it.”

They stopped at the side of a small, solid black craft designed for both space and atmospheric flight in long, sleek and aggressive lines. A small stepladder was shoved against the featureless side. There was no sign of a door or porthole windows anywhere on it.

Seht climbed the stepladder and set his palm against the mirror-smooth hull. An oval appeared around his palm, then irised outward to become a door. He stepped into the dark hole.

Victoria’s brows rose. The
barque
was a mimetic craft.

Ravnos turned to Victoria. “Next time I tell you that you don’t want to do something -- listen to me!”

Victoria felt her temper bubbling at the edges and glared at him. “You are not blowing the
Arcane.”

Ravnos glared right back. “I’d punish the hell out of your ass for defying me like this, but what Seht has in mind is going to brutal enough.”

Victoria flinched back from his anger. “I’m not changing my mind.”

Ravnos caught her chin and stared into her eyes. “Can you see all right?”

“Huh?” Victoria frowned at the sudden topic change. “I can see just fine, it’s just a little sparkly.”

Ravnos released a breath. “Your eyes have already started to change.”

Victoria stilled. “Oh.”

Seht came back out of the
barque
carrying a sheathed blade, the dull length of a practice sword, a knife as long as his entire forearm and something coiled around his hand. His long silver mane was tightly braided into a single long tail and he had removed his coat, waistcoat, and shirt. His pale chest and muscular arms glistened.

Victoria stared in surprise.
He’s wearing oil?

Seht came down the stairs and handed Ravnos the parrying knife and then handed Victoria the dull gray practice sword.

Victoria took the somewhat heavy blade with a sour grimace. “Terrific. You get live steel, I get this.”

Ravnos flipped the parrying knife with expert skill. “Remember, you’re the one who bleeds in this exercise, not us.”

Seht unsheathed his blade, tossing the scabbard on the deck. “Because we are using live steel, we’re going to restrict our cuts to nicks and slices only, no thrusts. Also, no knee or joint attacks so as not to hamstring you, and no head attacks.” Seht raised a brow. “You, on the other hand are perfectly free to attack as you choose, though I would ask that you avoid head attacks of any kind.”

Victoria nodded. “No head attacks. All right.” Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

He glanced at Ravnos. “I’ll start so you can get out of that coat.” He snapped his wrist and the coil unwrapped with sinister speed. It was a short, four-foot whip.

Victoria automatically backed away, eyeing both weapons. “You’re using a whip?”

“Yes.” Seht smiled briefly. “It’s traditional.” His wrist flicked in the tiniest motion and the whip snaked out with a loud crack.

Ravnos scowled as he tugged his coat off. “It’s a slave whip. Get used to it. You’ll likely be seeing a lot of it on the
Mordred.”

Victoria held her blade up in an overhand defense. “Great.” She moved back into a reverse lunge and her skirt rode up to her crotch. She winced. This was not going to do at all. She jabbed a finger into the skirt’s side seam and ripped it open to the waist, then ripped open the other seam.

Seht raised a silver brow. “Comfortable?”

Victoria dropped back into her defensive crouch. “I need to be able to move properly.”

“I see.” He lunged at her, blade first, with breathtaking speed.

Victoria whirled, parrying his blade then closing in tight. He had height, reach, and weight on her. Her only defense was to stay in close and keep his blade busy.

The whip cracked and a line of fire erupted across her back. She hissed, shocked, and leaped away. “Son of a bitch!”

Seht smiled grimly. “Keep your distance. The whip is designed for close work.”

“How the hell am I supposed to combat that?” She could feel a breeze along her spine. The whip had cut right through her silk shirt.

“You’re not.” Ravnos walked into her line of sight, shirtless and glorious. He pulled his sword from its sheath and dropped the sword belt on the deck. “You’re supposed to lose.”

Victoria sneered. “Fuck that!”

Seht grinned. “That’s our girl.”

They both lunged into attack. Fine metal rang against plain blunted steel.

Victoria was hard pressed to keep their blades from her skin. She had fought two and sometimes three opponents in competition bouts during her academy days, but the last few years had all been station-side duels with drunk and woefully under-skilled idiots, like Richards.

On top of this, Seht’s style was exotic with sudden leaps and spins, something she wasn’t used to, and Ravnos’s style seemed to be a mix of the traditional style she used, plus the exotic jumps.

She smiled grimly. It was also the first time in years she could safely unleash the full extent of her skills. No innocent bystanders. They might very well slice her to pieces, but she’d make them work hard for it.

They circled and closed with incredible speed.

Victoria’s mouth tightened in grim concentration as she worked to keep both opponents at bay. Tiny nicks opened on her forearms as she learned their reach. Long but shallow cuts opened across her back as she remembered how to track two targets. She barely felt the keen slices, but then their blades were incredibly sharp and the endorphin rush of combat usually kept pain at bay. However, once she stopped, she knew for a fact that she would feel every single cut.

The whip cracked out and Seht shouted. “Faster!”

Victoria was forced to leap, using the full range of her leg augmentations to keep out of range, yet still they stayed on top of her. Shallow harrying cuts opened along her thighs, slicing her stockings to bloody rags.

Ravnos darted in and she spun away, right into Seht’s path. A sudden throbbing in her head and jaw made it difficult to concentrate. She could also feel her body trying to stiffen, but it wasn’t exhaustion, it was something interfering with her joints. She didn’t move out of Seht’s range fast enough and his whip carved a broad bloody welt across her belly. She felt that all right, and near doubled over in pain.

“Move that ass!” Seht snarled. The whip snaked out at her again.

She twisted under it and leapt out of range, putting her back into Ravnos’s path. She parried his blade but only barely.

She felt her mouth fill with liquid. She had to spit or drown. She leapt clear of them both and spat a mouthful of blood on the deck plates. Something hard and white sat in the crimson puddle. Shock froze her where she stood.
Is that a tooth?

The whip burned a line across her back. She turned in time to catch Seht’s descending blade and lunged back out of his range, and into Ravnos’s attack. Blood ran down her chin as she took a long sword cut on her thigh while parrying the dagger aiming for her breast.

She felt her mouth fill with blood again and spat. Another tooth hit the deck.
Son of a bitch!
She was losing her teeth. Fear jolted her into adding kicks to her fighting. Suddenly there was room to maneuver. Damn, should have started using kicks before.

The whip caught her around the thigh.

“Asshole!” She lunged at Seht, determined to take that whip if she could. It flashed out at her. She saw the path of descent as though in slow motion. She reached out and wrapped it around her hand. She yanked, but couldn’t pull it free.

Seht grinned. “Nice try.” He had it caught around his wrist.

She pulled, jerking him into foot range and landed a hard kick to his stomach.

Seht gasped but didn’t release the whip. “Shit!”

Ravnos came at her from behind. “Mind your ass!”

“Oh no, you don’t!” She used the whip to jerk Seht into his path.

Ravnos moved out of Seht’s way. “Let it go.” He opened a cut on her forearm.

She hissed and released the whip. “Son of a bitch!”

Seht bared long teeth and re-coiled his whip. “That was naughty.”

They both closed on her, blades flying in glittering arcs.

Her mouth filled with more blood, but she didn’t have time to spit. She spun out of sword range and choked. An open-handed slap caught her on the side of her head. The blood exploded from her mouth. Two more teeth were gone.

Ravnos shot a narrow look at Seht. “She’s losing teeth.”

“I see it.” The whip cracked out. “Keep moving, Victoria!”

Victoria ducked under the whip and jabbed her sword out to catch Seht’s falling blade. Her knees tried to lock in place. She gasped and got her feet back under control. Someone grabbed the back of her shirt. She back-kicked and heard Ravnos woof in surprise. Her shirt ripped free.

Seht grabbed her ripped and sliced skirt, tearing it from her.

Naked, but for her boots and her shredded stockings, Victoria lashed out in a furious attack fueled by her embarrassment.

Both men jumped out of range.

Seht glanced over at Ravnos. “If we ever put her in a pit, we’ll have to make sure she’s naked.” He bared long teeth at Victoria. “She’s a lot meaner without clothes on.”

Ravnos snorted. “I noticed.”

Victoria lunged at one then the other, spitting blood and swearing viciously. Abruptly her vision went off; something was in her eyes. She wiped her hand across her face and it came away bloody. Her eyes were bleeding. She didn’t have time to wonder. Both men came at her fast. Victoria could barely see them.

She closed her eyes. It had been far too long since her classes in blind fighting, but she really didn’t have a choice.

Her augmentation processed the sounds of their movements and she was able to parry both swords, but missed the dagger. A line of fire opened across her breast. She heard the whip and stopped it with her dull blade.

Suddenly they stopped. Both men were breathing hard, so it was easy to tell where they were.

“Victoria, can you see?” It was Seht.

She turned to face his direction. “No.” She heard Ravnos behind her and brought up the blade. “I’m not down yet.”

“Very well then,” Seht said with amusement. “We’ll stop when you yield.”

They closed on her.

Victoria fought on but her body refused to cooperate, her joints kept trying to lock into place, and she ached to her bones. Their cuts landed with far more frequency, and they were getting physically closer; she could smell their sweat.

They pulled away.

“Seht, she’s a mess, we need to stop.”

“Victoria, do you yield?” Seht called out.

“No!” She brought up the blade, targeting on their voices. “I’m not down yet.”

“Shit…” Ravnos’s voice sounded harsh, almost breathless. “Finish it before one of us tires too much and we have an accident.”

“Agreed.”

She heard someone approach in front, then swerve to the side. He was too close. She couldn’t bring her sword around fast enough to catch him. An arm caught her around the waist. Her sword was suddenly ripped from her hand. She heard the clatter as it landed on the deck.

Seht’s scent washed over her, strong and thick with sweat, and arousal. “You gave us a good fight, but it’s over. Yield.”

“No, damn you!” Victoria twisted in his hold, trying to dig with her elbow or stomp with her heel. His arm went around her throat and tightened, choking her. She grabbed for his arm, and felt his knee slam into the back of her leg. Her knees suddenly gave out and she dropped. Held tight against him, she felt Seht go down with her.

She landed with her knees bent and splayed wide over his bent knees, somehow sitting on his lap. She gasped for breath past the arm around her throat.

He locked an arm around her hips and jerked his knees wider, spreading her open. His firm erections pressed against her back. “You’re down. Yield.”

“No, I won’t!” She twisted, sucked for air, and fought to get back up, but she couldn’t get her feet under her.

“Then we’ll do it the hard way.” He released her throat, clenched his hand in the braids of her hair, released her hips, and pushed.

She tipped forward, landing on her hands. She felt him moving his hand between them. His arm circled her hips, pulling her back and snug against him. She felt the hot flesh of his cocks pressing unrestrained against her naked backside.