Mercenaries (23 page)

BEFORE they rounded another corner, they were met by a grim-faced contingent from the
Starrunner
in full boarding armor, Nathan in the lead. Zaria stumbled to a shocked halt.

“It's all right,” Sebastian told her as he moved to meet his crewmates.
“Where's the trauma team?”

“Here!”
The medical unit was already pushing its way through the crowd, towing a float stretcher behind them. Sebastian loaded Ferrau into the tube and watched as it closed around him, lights flashing as it began treatment.

Nathan walked over to join him. Sebastian saluted him with a grin, and the captain returned it crisply.

“Sorry it took us so long,” Nathan said, shaking his head. “Ran into a contingent of mounted troops coming back from some kind of patrol. Took longer to dispatch them than I expected.” He looked Sebastian over, then eyed Zaria as she hovered behind him. “In any case, you seem to have done pretty well. You managed to fight off that entire horde practically naked?”

“I had help.” Sebastian turned and took Zaria's hand. She looked up at him, her gaze searching and uncertain. “This is Domina Zaria Orva. She saved a lot of lives today.”

The smile that lit her face made something warm and sweet expand in Sebastian's chest.

ZARIA insisted on accompanying the medical team to the clinic to make sure Arnoux pulled through his injuries.

In the facility's waiting area, she and Sebastian sat together on one of the strange, Outworld couches that molded itself under them in a particularly disconcerting way. Zaria tried to ignore it as she clung to his hand. He seemed the only stable thing in her world.

“What are you going to do now?” Sebastian asked at last. “And what exactly did you mean when you told your mother you were done with her?”

Zaria shrugged, feeling more exhausted than she'd ever been in her life. It wasn't fair. She'd finally beaten her sister. So why did she feel so . . . defeated? “I have no idea what I'm going to do,” she admitted finally. “I just know I'm not going back to the palace.”

He hesitated. “You might want to give it time. Reconsider. Being Dominess sounds like a pretty good job.”

“Yes, but unfortunately it comes with the necessity of dealing with my family. And frankly, I've got no more interest in that.” She shrugged. “Besides, I don't really have the temperament. My brother will make a far better Dominor.”

“I don't think I've met him,” Sebastian said.

“You didn't. Brys is an army captain, and he's rarely home.” She grimaced. “I suspect he had some kind of run-in with Marcelle, but I don't know the details. I think when it came right down to it, though, Mother took Marcelle's side. And that was it as far as he was concerned.”

Sebastian frowned. “Given that, do you really think your mother will disinherit Marcelle and give the throne to him?”

“Oddly enough, yes.” She lifted a hand to rub at the knot of muscle between her shoulders. “The Dominess may be blind when it comes to Marcelle, but she's keenly aware of her duty to the dominality. When she saw what Marcelle had done to Arnoux, I think she finally realized just how . . . broken she is.” Zaria shook her head. “Marcelle is just not suited to be Dominess. That temper of hers would drive her to plunge the dominality into war until someone finally invaded and killed her.”

“I suspect you're right.” Sebastian nodded slowly. Then he gave her one of his wonderfully wicked smiles. “By the way, I saw some of your fight. I was impressed. Marcelle's a hell of a lot bigger than you, but you beat her anyway. That took both guts and skill.”

Zaria laughed. “Yes, well, she managed to make me mad, and the whole thing got surprisingly easy. Evidently she's not the only one in the family with a temper.”

He snorted. “Your temper's not that bad.”

“Oh, yes, it is.”

He lifted a blond brow. “She's alive, isn't she?”

She sighed. “Good point.” Silence fell between them. He held his arm out for her, and she settled into the curve of it to rest her head against his chest. A lock of his long hair lay under her cheek. It felt like raw silk.

Zaria listened to his heartbeat for a while before she said, “She threw the same thing in my face she always did. About my being a deviant. She said she knew I wanted to surrender because I have a taste for submission.” She laughed shortly. “That was when I went for her throat.”

Sebastian chuckled warmly. “Good for you.”

“What you said about my submitting to you being a game, not who I really am . . .” She looked up at him. “You were right. It really
doesn't
make me weak.”

“Yeah, you definitely proved that in spades with the way you dealt with Mommy and the Bitch.”

Zaria nodded thoughtfully. “On the other hand, Marcelle is weak. When she realized I had the advantage, she caved right in. I never knew that before.”

Sebastian shrugged. “But it's not all that surprising, Zaria. People like Marcelle dominate others because secretly, they
know
they're weak. Only by breaking someone else can they convince themselves they're strong.” He slanted her a wicked little smile. “Now, people like me, on the other hand”—he reached over and hauled her into his lap as she shrieked out a giggle of surprise—“are just kinky as hell.”

She lost the laughter when he claimed her mouth in a dark, devouring kiss. When he finally lifted his head again, he said, “Come to the
Starrunner
with me.”

Zaria blinked at him in surprise. “You mean—visit your ship?”

“No.” He met her eyes in a long, steady gaze. “I mean move in with me.”

She gaped at him in shock for a long moment before she was able to manage a reply. “But you just met me, Sebastian! You don't know anything about me.”

“I know I've never met another woman like you,” he said, his voice low and fierce. “And I know I don't want to ever let you go.”

Zaria didn't even have to think twice as a fierce, hot joy swept over her. “Yes,” she breathed. “Yes, I'll go with you!”

And then he was kissing her again. She had no idea what she'd just agreed to, or what it meant, or where they were going with their relationship.

As long as they were going together, nothing else mattered.

The Dominor Xarles Ferrau of Rabican arrived twenty minutes later. By the time Sebastian and Zaria had finished relating their rescue of Arnoux, Ferrau was feeling so generous he offered to give Zaria anything she wanted as a reward for helping save his son.

Zaria promptly extracted a promise he wouldn't go to war against Orva. He reluctantly gave his word, which was a good thing, because by then Outworlder medicine had seen to the regeneration of Arnoux's back, and the young man was conscious.

Once the Domince finished relating his experiences at Ila's hands, Ferrau was ready to go to war again.

With a sigh of resignation Zaria went back to work.

WHILE his lover conducted her passionate argument with the Dominor, Sebastian kept a watchful eye on the proceedings, half afraid Xarles would turn on her as the nearest representative of her family. To his relief, though, he quickly realized he'd underestimated her charm.

He was watching her work the Dominor and trying to keep the grin off his face when he heard a familiar voice over his com.
“Sweet gods, look at him. I told you he's smitten.”

Sebastian looked up just as Nathan and Trin strolled into the room. He tried out a mock-offended glare on his captain, though he strongly suspected he hadn't pulled it off.
“Smitten? Me?”

“You,”
Trinity agreed.
“I could almost hear the strains of an angelic chorus as you gazed at her.”

Nathan snorted.
“The word ‘angelic' has no business being applied to Sebastian Cole.”
The Captain tilted his head and studied him thoughtfully.
“He does look a little sappy though.”

“Sappy?”
Subastian glowered.
“I've never looked sappy in my life.”
He paused and cleared his throat.
“I would, however, like to make a formal request.”

“Yeah?”
Nathan folded his brawny arms with a this-should-be-good lift of his eyebrows.
“What kind of formal request?”

“Zaria's told me she's leaving the palace permanently. I'd like your permission to bring her aboard the
Starrunner.
I'll pay for her passage, of course.”

Trin and Nathan exchanged a look.
“Told you,”
she said.

The captain nodded.
“Smitten.”
He looked at Sebastian. “She's welcome.”

Grinning, Sebastian returned his attention to the conversation between Zaria and Ferrau. “Declaring war would actually be a less effective way to deal with my mother than a trade embargo,” she told the Dominor. “Ila would be stubbornly brave in the face of a physical threat, but hit her in her purse, and she'll yield to your demands.”

Ferrau nodded thoughtfully. “And you believe she'll name this brother of yours as her heir?”

Zaria shrugged. “She's halfway there now. The look on her face when she saw Arnoux's back . . . she was genuinely appalled. She's been lying to herself for a long time about how bad Marcelle is, but she won't be able to ignore what she saw. Anyone whose temper would drive her to such viciousness has no business being Dominess, and my mother knows it.”

“But you believe I will be able to deal with your brother?”

She nodded. “Brys has always had a profound sense of justice. When he learns what . . .”

“Damn,”
Sebastian commed,
“she's good. Isn't she good?”
He looked at his captain, a proud grin stretching over his face.

Nathan gave his wife a knowing smile.
“I give it a month.”

Which was the same thing Sebastian himself had said about Nathan and Trin when the captain had asked her to become his lover last year. Sebastian had predicted his friend would propose within the month, and he'd been right.

Now Sebastian looked at the woman he himself was falling for. Her beautiful face glowed with passion as she argued her case to the Dominor. He felt his smile fade. “That depends on Zaria, doesn't it?”

Z
ARIA started having second thoughts about moving in with Sebastian as she boarded the
Starrunner
with him and the combat contingent who'd mobilized to rescue them.

Though Captain Nathan August and his wife, Trinity, seemed to go out of their way to welcome her, the ship struck her as alien and intimidating with its warren of corridors and bewildering array of Outworlder technology. After all the rich fabrics and gleaming gold of her mother's palace, the
Starrunner
seemed a chill, too-professional place. Its curving bulkheads looked alien and artificial, despite the bright colored walls Sebastian said signified the different decks. Men and women hurried around, talking highly technical jargon at each other. Most disturbingly, computers sometimes joined in on the conversation, sounding far more human than machines had any business being.

By the time Sebastian ushered her into his quarters, she was having serious doubts. The cabin's walls curved, like those of every other room on the ship. Three-dimensional images hung on the bulkhead or stood displayed on furniture, depicting alien worlds she'd never even heard of.

Sinking down on the bed that looked wide enough for Sebastian and at least three partners, she gazed around in bewilderment. A gleaming weapon she vaguely recognized as some sort of gun hung on one wall, while one entire corner of the room was occupied by a massive console showing all kinds of bewildering displays.