Fenturi Fate (Spacestalker Saga Book 1) (32 page)

Ren stared around them. “It’s odd, but I don’t see any trace of our water trail on the deck. And speaking of water, we need to leave the planet. Do you know what to do?”

“I think so.” She approached the rectangular panel and felt her heart race with excitement. Placing her hand upon the panel, she closed her eyes and did as her mother instructed in her memory.

Dare recalled every good thing she had ever dreamed of and pushed that positive energy through her hand into the Thrax.
She felt a burst of energy run through her and opened her eyes to see a blue tongue of flame lick through her palm into the panel.

The Thrax shuddered under her touch and seemed to bobble, the first sign of physical life the ship had yet to show them.
She opened her eyes and stared out the front view of the ship.

Instead of sinking into the soft ground underneath it, the ship glided forward back into the water.

“Well, at least it’s moving.” Ren stood by her side.

“We need to battle the Horde,” Dare said to the ship, willing it to understand their need for it once again.
But the ship refused to move any faster. It seemed to gently sway through the water as if content to caress the world of Ocaia. Adapting once more to the water’s breath, she imagined.

Dare spent more energy, but the ship refused to heed her verbal or mental commands.

After some time and effort, Ren ordered her to stop. “You’re wet and tired and shivering.
We still have time to make this work.
W
e need to be clearly in control of the Thrax before we put it up against the Horde.
Maybe this thing needs time to charge.
I don’t know.
But I do know you need some rest.”

Ren guided her toward the immense lav off the sleeping quarters.
“First we’ll dry out and clean up.
Then we’ll get some much-needed rest.
I have a feeling the Thrax isn’t going to be as easy to control as you might think.
I get the feeling we’re missing something vital here.”

Ren continued to speak of them as a team, and she couldn’t help liking his use of the word
we
.
 

He glanced over her face and settled on her lips, a stillness coming over him.
“Remember what I told you before we left the
Eyshan6
?”

“Wait. Now?” Yet her body heated at the thought.

“Exactly. Now. Time to satisfy my ache, you little Fenturi witch,” he murmured before he leaned down to kiss her.

Ren closed his eyes and followed his feelings.
His lips lingered over hers, tasting the salty drops of Ocaian water that dripped from her hair, clinging to the red petals of her mouth.

He felt her shiver and couldn’t tell if it was from desire or cold.
He removed her clothing and did the same with his, then pushed them both into the solar bath.

Dare sighed as warm rays of light cleansed them both of grime and water, freeing them from remnants of Isus.
As he watched the woman he’d come to care for more than he should, Ren’s heart raced at the thought of losing her.

All through the day, when he’d worked with the twins to pilot through to Ocaia, thoughts of Dare continued to creep unbidden into his mind.
The sight of her head thrown back in passion when she climaxed around him, her eyes narrowed in anger when he’d ordered her his prisoner, the wounded look she’d worn when she recalled her parents’ deaths.

Fear had taken hold of his heart.
To think that she might die fighting the Horde didn’t bear considering. He stared down at her glowing eyes and felt the last wall of his resistance slowly give way to the love that had been burning to be freed, to claim her finally as his own.

Ren stopped the solar bath and swept Dare into his arms, all the while his eyes remained locked on hers.
He smiled tenderly down at her and placed her on the bed.

“You are so beautiful you nearly stop my heart,” he whispered as he leaned over her to possess her body, mind and soul.

He kissed her with a hunger he needed to share and stiffened all over when she kissed him back.
His body slid over hers, and he swallowed her gasps of delight and relished her nipples peaking against his chest.

His hard length nestled in the wet apex of her thighs, a visceral need for the woman undeniable.

But he wanted her writhing beneath him, so he took his time, laving attention on her golden skin as it were the finest Vembi wine he’d yet to sample.

He fastened his lips to hers and answered the hungry sweeping of her tongue, groaning at the feel of her questing flesh.
He needed to join with her, yet stretching out the aching pleasure made it so much better.

His hands moved over her curves, and his lips trailed down her mouth to her ear.

“I want to join with you, Dare.
I want to taste your sweet essence on my tongue.
I want to feel your body tighten around mine as you take my seed into you,” he whispered and teased her ear with his tongue.

She groaned his name and pulled him closer to her, cradling his erection with her thighs and urging a hoarse groan from his throat.

“Oh, Dare.”
He kissed his way down her neck to her breasts, teasing her into mindless need as he sucked the ripe nipples into hard points.

He tenderly cradled her flesh and continued his mouth’s path down her stomach, toward the heated mound that wept for his seed.

Feeling how she needed him pitched his arousal higher, and unwilling to wait another moment, he spread her thighs wide and placed his mouth over her womanly core.

Her cries of desire excited him unbearably.

“You taste so good,” he whispered and licked the sweet cream from her body.
She writhed against him, begging for him to take her until Ren could no longer deny his own throbbing flesh.

He mounted her and watched her while he entered her. He thrust hard and deep, and as he did, she came violently around him.

“I can’t stop,” he groaned and thrust again and again as her body clenched his own until he lost himself in her. He shuddered inside of her, his orgasm all-consuming until all he could see was Dare’s face surrounded by blue light.

He remained inside her, more than content, more than satisfied.
Ren felt as if he had truly joined another, his love for Dare overwhelming.

“I love you,” he said, humbled by her beauty and generosity of spirit. He kissed her again and felt her smile under his lips.

When he pulled back to look down, he saw tears in her eyes and gently wiped them dry.

She urged his lips to hers once more and whispered against them, “And I love you.”
 

The beauty of the moment deeply moved Ren, and he blinked as his own vision blurred.
Then
Dare wiped a tear from his eye and smiled.
She brought it to her lips and drew the tear into her mouth, her eyes brighter than anything he’d ever seen.

He felt weightless, beyond happy, as if nothing existed except Dare and himself.
The Horde, the Fenturi, Zedrax, all the unhappiness of his past faded as he found himself caught in a blue web of love with the woman meant for him.

He withdrew from her body and rolled to his side, keeping Dare in his arms.
Closing his eyes to savor the moment, he didn’t notice when he and Dare drifted to sleep, nor did he feel the ship suddenly rocket through the water.

***

“I don’t care what you say, I will not separate my few remaining warriors under Bylaran command.
While your words may ring true, the will of your people may not.”
Mikhel stubbornly refused to bend to Zebram’s and Rorn’s attempts to explain their position.

Thela sighed.
She looked at Zebram and didn’t know how he found the patience to deal with the irrational minds at the large table where they now sat.
Mikhel remained unbending on his stance.
Rorn, Master of the Legionnaires, shook his head.
He at least didn’t seem to mirror the sentiments of many of the council and Legion Masters around him.
Castor watched the ongoings with frustration, knowing as she did that they had little time to spare.

The Horde had one more day, according to Myla, before they descended upon Bylar like a swarm of angry jungle flies.

Yet Thela knew of nothing to convince Mikhel otherwise.
In truth, since meeting and listening to the words of the Bylarans around her, she agreed that Mikhel was right to be so concerned.
Though
Rorn seemed open and eager to fight alongside the Fenturi, his Seconds Joran and Herm did not.

They stared at her brother with unease and anger.

“I will not fight next to the animal responsible for Ragnor’s death just a few weeks past,” Joran cried.

His words brought forth several nods and similar sentiment from three of the council members in attendance.

Jace said nothing, watching the proceedings with his fathomless eyes.
She wondered what he thought of them.
Having spent time with Shea and Roc, she felt comfortable around the two.
Shea had an immense talent that would be much needed when confronting the Horde.
And by the look of Roc, she’d be protected during the confrontation. The pair had a funny sense of humor and a comfort with each other that put her at ease as well.

Jace made her uneasy.
She had overheard the women in the palace raving about the handsome man.
They said his stare stirred them to mindless desire. Such nonsense.

The only man who did that to Thela sat to her right, annoyance pooling in his dark green gaze.

Zebram had yet to approach her in private after announcing he planned to marry her, though she knew he wanted to.
She could feel his eyes on her all the time and knew if matters about the kingdom weren’t so pressing, he would have sought to claim her attention.

Just then two tall Bylarans entered the room led by Cyka.
Twins, both rangy and powerful, they grinned at Castor and bowed to Zebram.

The room quieted as the newcomers approached.

“We apologize for the delay,” one of them started.

His twin continued, “But we cannot explain it.
As if a void sucked the time
—
”

“—from us, we do not know why it took us a day longer to reach Bylar than normal,” the first finished.

“Nesham, Nedham.”
Zebram nodded at the twins respectively.
“You already know our councilmen and the Legionnaires.
You have yet to meet Thela, my future bride. And her brother, Mikhel.” Zebram beamed with pride, which pleased Thela to no end.

The twins gaped at her, and she sensed something she shouldn’t have from the pair.

Mikhel stood as they approached, his eyes widening as he recognized what she’d just realized—Fenturi blood.

“They are Fenturi,” he said in shock.
“Yet you fight for Bylar?”

They frowned as Castor answered for them.
“Mikhel, many Bylarans have never even seen a Fenturi in the past twenty years since Zedrax systematically wiped your people out.
The twins’ mother died at their birth.
Their father, a Bylaran soldier, raised them.
Garen, my captain whom you’ve not yet met, took them on regardless of their heritage.
Their fighting skills were called for, not pure Bylaran blood.”

Zebram spoke up. “My brother, Garen, is both Bylaran and Fenturi as well.”
The others in the room gasped at the bold confession.
Thela thought their surprise overdone.
Everyone knew or speculated about Garen’s mother.
But during Zedrax’s time, no one ever spoke it aloud.

“Is this true?” Mikhel asked.

Thela nodded.
“It is.”

 
The twins studied Mikhel with wariness and also respect.
His
exploits had not been popular with the Legion, but his prowess as a hunter could not be overlooked.
As Fenturi, the twins obviously loved the hunt.

“That is your answer then.”
Zebram nodded.
“The three sections in which I want to place your warriors will be supervised not only by our officers, but by a Fenturi as well
—
you, Nesham and Nedham,” he said pointing to each of them.

“What of your brother?” Mikhel asked.

“We have yet to hear from him.”
Zebram frowned.
“Our last word was that he and the others had found Isus safely.”

Nesham nodded.
“He ordered us to return here with the ship.
We left them—”

“—underwater searching for the Thrax, at Aranthe’s insistence,” Nedham answered.

Mikhel looked shocked.
“You let the Mari go underwater?
She will drown!”

“No, she and Ren had some kind of protection.
Aranthe said they would not be harmed,” Nesham insisted.

“The Thrax wouldn’t let them be harmed,” Nedham agreed.

Zebram sighed.
“Then we wait and pray to the Goddess for their speedy return.”
He
rose to his feet and stared at the group, his eyes flinty with a hardness Thela hadn’t seen before.

“I do not have to tell you all how important it is that we fight together.
The Horde have conquered
systems
and now have a very large grudge against Bylar.
If we—as Bylaran and Fenturi—cannot work together, we are doomed.
You will put your differences aside, and we will defeat this threat.” He banged his fist on the table with a ferocity that made those near him jump in surprise.

“I will have no more talk of killing one another.
The next Bylaran or Fenturi caught saying such will be considered treasonous and sentenced immediately.
We cannot tolerate dissent, and I will not have it lead to our planet’s doom.
Am I clear?”
At that moment, silence reigned. Thela saw a man with Zedrax’s brutal strength, yet tempered with the compassion and wisdom of a man wanting peace.

Zebram scowled.
“I will be in my chamber resting.
I would have you all do the same.
It’s been a long day, and tomorrow will prove to be even longer.”

Thela and the others watched Zebram exit, followed by Koneru.
She saw the astonishment of the council clearly.

Rorn chuckled.
“Now that’s a king to be reckoned with.”
He turned to his Seconds and cuffed them each on the back of the head.
“I’d hate to lose you two, but as the king commands.
One more word about the Fenturi out of either one of you and I’ll strike you down myself,” he promised. “Now go spread the word throughout the Legion.”