It all confused her. Though Leo had been directly behind Xandros, it was both her mate and Shaun who bore a dragon brand. And what Princess Sera had done to her still caused Carina's blood to zing. It wasn't just the sex or even the domination. Somehow, it had been connected to what Leo had done to Xandros. She couldn't explain it, even to herself, but she felt as branded as Xandros had been.
Leo and Sera had taken them in, more than family, bonded in a way Carina didn't understand. Perhaps it had to do with this messenger thing.
She rose from the bed and covered her naked body with a robe the princess had given her. A computer console on the table leaped to life under her fingers. It looked like Leo had considered that Carina might need access to information about the prophecy.
Sindar's words were written in the usual mystical manner, and most of it didn't make much sense. Leo had thoughtfully provided a vid of the prophet.
Still, it was startling to see a four-armed, four-eyed Dormrelian warrior on the screen, his dark green scales gleaming. He didn't wear priest's robes or religious icons. The only decoration on the warrior was a heavy gold necklace with three concentric circles interlaced. It seemed that Sindar had allowed himself to be interviewed.
"Sindar, you have claimed to have a vision of the future. Can you tell me where this power comes from?"
The Dormrelian interviewer was offscreen, but her voice was laced with skepticism.
Sindar's smile exuded tolerance.
"My mother is directly descended from the Paquels. They were a family of great power."
"Clearly. So your visions come from your genetics?"
Again, the almost mocking tone had no effect on Sindar.
He leaned forward and stared intently at the interviewer.
"I don't know why I see the future. I only know that someday it will be very important."
Suddenly, his four eyes swerved to look directly into the cam.
"I see the comet pass. I see the three that loom in the future, that must save the universe from a black shadow."
He flicked a glance at the interviewer.
"Even the Dormrela won't escape this darkness. It will take power and faith to defeat it."
The interviewer lost all pretense of objectivity.
"How typically cryptic. You have many followers, but you give them no specifics."
Sindar focused on the woman behind the cam.
"The future doesn't unfold in straight lines. But I will be as specific as I can."
His blue eyes were focused and shining.
"The bond of mating, the connection between these people who save us all in the future, it goes beyond family. It's as close as one can be with another being. Only the Ardasians, with their psychic bonds, could be closer. These people hold back the darkness, but they don't do it through violence, though they have to fight."
His hand reached out and touched the interviewer offscreen.
"It's their bond, marked by a dragon, a bird, and a knife, that will hold against one of the most diabolical beings ever created."
The interviewer was silent for a moment, and then she asked him,
"What makes this being so evil?"
Sindar leaned back, a somber, dangerous expression on his face.
"This being doesn't just degrade the people under his power. He works to unravel civilization on all worlds. And he will come close to gaining the power to do it."
Again, he faced the cam.
"The true innovation of the future will not be technological but organic, evolutionary."
He used his hand to show a flow, like water.
"The ability of any being to transform, to be a conduit for change, gives them tremendous power."
When he smiled, Carina gasped. He was handsome, sexy. His gaze focused on the unseen interviewer.
"Like a sexual submissive that bows to the will of her Master, yet holds the key to power in her hands, power is disguised by a perceived meekness."
"How will we know these beings who will save us?"
The woman sounded less hostile but still doubtful.
"We won't even know we need rescuing,"
Sindar said with a grin.
"But we will know them by their deeds. I name them, but the names are not uncommon. Many with the name Eyler, Tao, and Fenway will come and go."
The smile dropped from his face, and he leaned forward, his stare fixed intently on the female interviewer.
"Mark my words. The future is never set. I see a fulcrum, a point on which several possibilities rest. Only two possible outcomes remain. A universe where freedom reigns and a universe where only slavery exists."
He shook his head.
"The decisions made by the three players I've named are crucial."
"Sindar, why do you only see this future? This time?"
the interviewer asked.
"Why can't you see a solution to the problems we have now?"
Sindar's tender expression showed his feelings for the unseen woman. Damn! Carina thought. He loves her. She doubts the very purpose of his existence, but he loves her. Wow.
"Mya, our problems are not universe ending. Yes, we have difficulties—conflicts that we would all like to see resolved. But this is about the enslavement of billions of beings. I don't know why I was given this vision. I only know it was given to me. I can fight it. I can run away from it. But it will always be there."
"You could ignore it. Live a life that isn't about prophesying the future,"
the woman said, and Carina thought she sounded almost desperate.
Sindar shook his head.
"I tried."
His gaze was intense, burning.
"Have you ever loved another being with an insatiable passion? A passion that was so frightening that you tried to run away from it, tried to ignore it?"
The interviewer didn't answer the question, but the silence was charged with feeling that Carina could sense even over the distance of time.
The man continued.
"You couldn't run or ignore it. That's what this is, Mya. It's my love for the universe, for all the myriad of beings that inhabit it that makes me accept what I've been given."
"Even to your death?
“ The woman's voice was thick with emotion.
Sindar reached out and touched the woman offscreen as if he'd forgotten the cam, forgotten the interview.
"Even to my death."
The screen faded, and Carina stared at the blankness for a moment. For some reason, she'd believed these prophecies had been about religion, about power. Sindar didn't seem to be some holy-rolling preacher.
None of it seemed connected to her.
"In the end, it did cost him,” Xandros said. He stood behind her, and she hadn't even realized he'd gotten out of bed.
Carina glanced at him and then rose to her feet. “I won't do it,” she said abruptly. “I won't play the prophecy game."
"Good,” he snapped and gripped her arm. “Come with me. We'll find a hidey-hole in the universe and stay there. I'll worship you, you kneel at my feet, and we'll make our own religion."
The tension in her chest relaxed, and she broke into a giggle. She buried her face in his neck. “No. I know that's foolish."
His arms wrapped around her. “It isn't foolish.” He stroked her hair. “You deserve to be happy, machinka."
She tipped her head back and stared at him. “Do I?” Her stomach rolled. “Why? I killed hundreds of people to gain one objective: to kill the head of the Brotherhood. Maybe happiness was never my destiny."
His hands cupped her face. “I want to make you happy, Carina. Let me do that."
It would be so easy. Just walk away from the prophecy, from the expectation that she would save the universe, from everything. But it wasn't who she was, and she and Xandros knew it. “I have to do this,” she said. Hearing it out loud, she had a sense of purpose, of need. In her mind, the whole thing seemed impossible and frightening. But when she spoke the words, she realized this was what she had to do.
She had to rescue Finn and Aron and strike a blow to the heart of the hated Blueshift Brotherhood.
"Then I will do it with you,” Xandros said simply. “We will do our part."
Tears blurred her vision, and she buried her face in his shoulder again. “This is mine to do, Xandros. Mine. You should—"
Xandros jerked her back to him and devoured her mouth, cutting off the words. When he lifted his head, Carina was breathless. “Don't even suggest it. This is yours to do, and you belong to me."
The mark on her arm throbbed with painful need. “Xandros,” she moaned, her voice husky.
With clear intent, he backed her toward the bed. “You are mine, Carina. You have always been mine."
She put her hand out and stopped him. “Xandros, I love you. I have always loved you. Even when I was sixteen and foolish."
The fire that leaped in his gaze made her shudder. He stepped closer and crushed her hand between them. “And I love you, Carina. Without you, I'm empty. Fill me up, machinka."
When his mouth touched her, it was like coming home, like those rare moments when Carina's direction was clear. This man, this mark, this moment, were supposed to happen. She clung to him, reveling in his power over her and delighting in the power she had over him. He wanted her, loved her.
His touch burned over her skin, and he stripped her of her clothes and her sanity with his wicked hands. Yet every slide of his fingers, every stroke of his tongue was reverent, as if he was savoring her.
He pressed her into the mattress of the bed, looming over her like the destiny she'd wanted to deny. Stars! Carina had no idea that the crease under her arm or the gentle dip along her rib cage was an erogenous zone, but Xandros's mouth touched those places, and she trembled. He nipped and bit her flesh, arousing every nerve until she thought she'd scream.
When he finally bent down to sweep his tongue over her engorged clit, she was completely mindless, the mark on her arm glowing and burning. She arched off the bed as he rhythmically sucked on that sensitive bundle of nerves. He drove her higher, torturing her.
"Xandros, please. Let me come."
He lifted his head, his gaze dark and demanding, his features tight with need. “Then you know what to say. You know how to ask me."
Just his words drove her closer to the brink. He'd told her his position with her, that the mark that Leo gave him changed only his status on Nylar, not with her.
"Master, please,” she said, her body shaking. “Master, let me come."
He studied her, two of his fingers sliding inside her pussy. Heat streaked through her, and she held on by a thread. But she wanted—no,
needed
—his permission.
"Whose pussy is this?” he demanded, his voice gritty and low.
"Yours. Yours,” she said and thrashed beneath him. Stars! She wanted to bathe his fingers in her cum.
"Again, Carina. Whose pussy is this?” His gaze burned into hers.
"Yours, Master. Please,” she whimpered.
He still didn't give her permission. He pulled his two fingers from her pussy, and they glistened with the evidence of her arousal. Those he thrust into the tight hole of her ass. She hissed from the pressure. His free hand was busy replacing those fingers, and he began to move inside her, filling her.
"You come for me. When my mouth touches your clit, I want you to come."
Anticipation almost killed her. She held her breath, her body filled with his touch, his voice, his command. When his teeth scored her clit, she exploded, her body twisting and thrusting into his waiting hands.
He jerked his hands free and slapped them on either side of her head. She was still quaking when he took possession, his cock driving deep inside her, touching every single nerve ending and sending her higher.
When he gripped her hips, she went wild, her climax rolling over her, flattening everything in its path. He shot his cum inside her, and she screamed. The orgasm burned through her, set her on fire, the mark of the herwalk bright red.
It went on and on as if it would never stop, as if this was the only thing that was real. The rest of the world didn't matter. Only this connection.
She had no sense of time, no idea how long it was before they came down from their explosive high.
Still buried inside her, Xandros fell asleep, and she followed soon after, connected to the man she loved in every way that mattered.
"Father Pestori has made his move."
Xandros and the others were gathered in the mess hall when Leo announced that time had run out. Instinctively, Xandros reached for Carina's hand and gripped it.
"He's announced to the universe that he will execute the two Nyral males publicly.” Leo's face was hard, grim.
"What is it about these two men?” Xandros asked.
Leo glanced at Shaun who stared at the tabletop. “When we inducted Shaun back into Nyral society, essentially granting him forgiveness and trust, the Brotherhood reacted by killing the hostages that kept the Nyral males in line.” Leo's nostrils flared. “The Brotherhood has kept the men alive to bargain with us."
"What do they want?” Carina asked sharply.
"Me,” Princess Sera answered. “They have offered to trade me for the two men."
Carina's hand closed into a fist within Xandros's grip. “You aren't considering it, are you?” Her eyes widened when the princess's gaze slid away. “You have. Are you insane? Without you, the Brotherhood wins."
"Not necessarily,” the princess said. “The prophecy only stated Leo and I would start a new religion. That part has been accomplished. Our established culture on Placido will continue no matter what happens to me."
Carina turned to Leo. “You are going along with that bullshit?"
The man shrugged. “No. But all we've done is negotiate."
"You can't negotiate with them,” Carina snapped. “They're evil with only one purpose.” She pointed her finger at the princess. “Her death."
"I know that,” Leo said, but it was hard to see what the man really thought.
Princess Sera stepped closer to Carina. “What do you care? You would have killed me in a heartbeat if it meant getting your revenge."
Xandros glanced at his mate. She would have done anything to avenge her sister's death. Her sole purpose was to kill the head of the Brotherhood, and nothing would have stood in her way. If killing the princess got her closer to that goal, then Carina would have done it. Carina's gaze touched Leo's and then met the princess's weighty stare. “Yes, I would have. Everything I've done had one goal, one thought: to get me into the presence of the Great Father.” Her lips pressed together, and Xandros longed to pull her into his arms. “But I watched that video Sindar made. I've seen the writings on the cave walls at Nariad. That Ardasian woman died to protect me.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I have to believe this is worth something, that all those people who have died are gone for a reason, not just my revenge."