Authors: Amanda Ashley
When Ashlynne woke the next morning, the maid, Kerolena,
informed her that Niklaus had left for Hodore. Her first thought was that she
was free. Sitting up, she raised her arms over her head and stretched. Free!
She bounded out of bed, not wanting to waste a minute of the
precious few days she would be alone.
“What will you be wanting for breakfast?” Kerolena asked.
“I don’t care. Anything!”
With a nod, Kerolena left the room.
Ashlynne took a long hot shower, dressed quickly in a pair
of dun-colored riding pants and a lavender silk shirt. She slipped on a pair of
thick socks, pulled on her boots, and hurried downstairs for breakfast. She
hardly tasted what was placed before her and when she was finished, she left
the house and went to the barn. A short time later, she was riding toward the mine.
* * * * *
He didn’t think, didn’t feel. Ignoring the dull, nagging
pain in his back and shoulders, he dug in the hard dark earth. It was about
eleven, as far as he could tell. He’d been at work for five hours and had
another hour or so to go before he’d get a break. And then another six hours
after that.
He glanced at the men laboring beside him. The one on his
left was from Daccar. From whispered conversations over the last week and half,
Falkon had learned that there was increasing unrest on Daccar, that the people
were starting to put their petty wars behind them, finally realizing that if
they didn’t stand together, Romariz would destroy them. There were rumors that
Hassrick had made some sort of alliance with Brezor, the ambassador of Cenia.
Falkon had been unable to hide his skepticism when he heard the news. Cenia was
a distant planet of strange yellow-skinned people, though it wasn’t the color
of their skin that set them apart, but the fact that they followed a religion
that had been outlawed in every other known galaxy, a religion that practiced
human sacrifice.
But that was not his problem, not now.
“Number Four.”
Stifling a groan, he rose to his feet and glanced over his
shoulder.
“You’re wanted outside.”
Outside. The slaves were never summoned outside before dark.
The manacles on his wrists snapped shut as he made his way
along the narrow shaft that led up, up, to the mouth of the cavern.
He emerged, squinting against the sunlight.
“Here he is, Lady Hassrick.”
Ashlynne? Here?
“Thank you.”
He blinked against the sunlight, wondering what she was
doing there, in the middle of the day, alone.
“I’m taking him with me.”
“I have no clearance for that.”
“I do.”
The guard shook his head. “I can’t release him without
written authorization from Lord Hassrick or Commander Drade.”
“Of course you can’t.” She smiled as she reached into her
pocket and withdrew a sheet of paper. “And here it is.”
The guard took the paper and read it quickly. “Very well, my
lady. When will you be bringing him back?”
“In a few days. I have some work for him to do up at the
house.”
“Yes, ma’am. Here.” He handed her a controller. “You’ll be
needing this.
“Thank you.” She dropped the controller into her pocket.
“Come along, Number Four.”
Wordlessly, he fell into step behind her horse, admiring the
way the sun danced in her hair, wondering what miracle she had wrought to get
him out of the mine.
As soon as they were out of sight of the compound, she
reined her horse to a halt. Taking the controller from her pocket, she released
his hands, then took her foot from the stirrup. “Well, come on,” she said,
“unless you want to walk.”
He swung up behind her and she urged the horse into a lope,
riding down the beach until she came to a small sheltered cove.
When she reined the horse to a halt, Falkon slid over the
horse’s rump, then stood looking up at her.
“Aren’t you going to help me down?”
He looked at her, then shook his head. “I’m filthy.” He was
beyond filthy, he thought, covered with the dirt and sweat of five hours in the
mine.
“I don’t care.”
She held out her arms and he lifted her from the back of the
horse, letting her body slide slowly down his own as he lowered her to the
ground.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I missed you,” she
whispered.
There weren’t words enough to say what he was feeling.
Instead, he drew her close and kissed her, hard and quick, and then again, slow
and gentle, his mouth moving lightly over hers, his tongue teasing her lips.
“Falkon…” She moaned his name, her hands moving restlessly
up and down his bare back, reveling in the feel of his sun-warmed skin, the way
his muscles quivered at her touch.
It had been too long, too long. Desperate for his touch, she
pulled him down on the shimmering golden sand, her hands feverish as she tugged
at his breeches.
He removed his boots, then settled back on the sand,
grinning roguishly. “Gonna have your way with me, are you?”
“Just as soon as I can,” she retorted as she flung his
breeches aside.
He watched through heated eyes as she quickly shed her own
clothes, and then he gathered her into his arms and kissed her, his clever
hands moving over her, caressing, teasing, arousing her until she writhed
beneath him, lost in the wonder of his touch. Her hands roamed over his back,
his shoulders, delved into the silky soft hair at his nape. She was dying, she
thought, being devoured by the heat of his mouth moving over her flesh, a
hungry flame that left tiny fires of need burning in its wake.
She was ready, more than ready, when he rose over her, his
body merging with hers, filling her, completing her, as their hearts and
spirits blended, soaring toward that one moment when two were truly one.
Falkon brushed a kiss over her cheek. “How did you manage
this?”
They were lying in each other’s arms, sated. Content.
“Niklaus has gone to Hodore.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure. What difference does it make?”
Hassrick had gone to Hodore. Perhaps the rumors he’d heard
had some foundation of truth after all. And Drade was gone, too. Coincidence?
“We have a whole week to be together.”
“And how are you going to explain this to him when he gets
back?”
“I don’t know. I’ll worry about it when the time comes.”
He lifted up on one elbow, his hand splayed across her
belly. “Are you all right?”
“Fine. Well, mostly fine. I still get a little nauseous
sometime.”
“You’re beautiful. Do you know that?”
“You are.”
He laughed derisively. “Yeah.”
She lifted one hand, her fingers running over the thick
lynaziam collar at his neck. “Is it terribly uncomfortable?” She ran her
fingertips over the manacles on his wrists.
“Uncomfortable?” He snorted softly. “You could call it that,
I guess.”
“I wish I could remove it.”
“Yeah, me too.” He hated the collar, hated the way it felt
almost as much as what it stood for.
“Someday,” she murmured.
“Yeah,” he said bleakly. “Someday.” He looked down at her,
frankly admiring the soft curves of her body, the sweep of her lashes, the way
her hair looked spread over the sand, silver over gold. The warm satin
smoothness of her hip and thigh pressed intimately against his own. Her breasts
were full, her belly slightly rounded with new life. A child. His child. His
woman… He had a sudden, unwelcome image of Ashlynne in Hassrick’s bed, writhing
in pleasure in Hassrick’s embrace.
“What is it?” Ashlynne asked, alarmed by the sudden darkness
in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
“I was just thinking of you. With him.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Oh.” She caressed his cheek. “We don’t sleep together.”
He looked at her in disbelief. “Never?”
“Never. He said he didn’t want another man’s leavings.”
Falkon stared down at her. “Yet he still married you,
knowing about the baby,” he mused. Why? That was the question. And the mine was
the answer. Ashlynne owned the mine. If she had died in the attack, the mine
and its profits would have been taken over by the Confederation and Hassrick
would have lost his chance to be in control.
“Falkon?”
“Are you sure he didn’t say why he was going to Hodore?”
“He just said business. Oh, he did say he would have some
papers for me to sign when he got back.”
“What else did he say?”
“He wanted me to sign the mine over to him.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
He drew her close, in sudden fear for her life. If Hassrick
could convince Ashlynne to give him the mine, he would have no further need of
his wife. Especially a wife carrying another man’s child.
“Don’t sign anything that gives him control of the mine,
Ashlynne,” he said urgently. “Promise me.”
“I won’t.”
“Do you know if Drade went with him?”
“He didn’t say. Why?”
“I think the two of them must be plotting something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. But Drade craves power. He always has. That’s
why he allied himself with the Romarians. Because they’re the most powerful
influence in the galaxy. I think he was behind the attack on the mine.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would the Romarians want to
attack the mine?”
“I don’t think the Romarians had anything to do with it. I
think it was a plan hatched by Drade and Hassrick.”
“But why?”
He shook his head. He had given it a lot of thought in the
last few weeks. “You were supposed to be visiting Hassrick the week the mine
was attacked. I think someone screwed up and attacked early.”
Ashlynne stared up at Falkon, remembering how surprised
Hassrick had been to hear from her. No wonder. He had been certain she was
dead, killed in the explosion that had destroyed the
jinan
. But that
would mean… She shook her head. “No, it can’t be true.” Yet even as she said
the words, she knew, deep inside, that it was.
“Be careful, Ashlynne.”
“I don’t want to think about that now.” She gazed up at him,
her heart swelling with such love she thought it might burst within her breast.
No matter that she was married to Niklaus, Falkon was the husband of her heart,
the other half of her soul. She saw him, and her spirit soared. The sound of
his voice thrilled her. The touch of his hand made her quiver with longing. He
was in her every thought, as much a part of her as her hands and feet, as the
child growing within her. How had she ever lived without him?
She held him close, giving thanks to whatever Fate it was
that had brought him to Tierde, and was immediately overcome with a wave of
guilt and remorse. How could she be so selfish? He had lost his wife and child,
spent months in captivity. Was still a prisoner. She would have spared him all
that, if she could, and yet…if his life had been different, they never would
have met.
She clung to him, afraid, so afraid, of losing him.
“Ashlynne, what is it?”
She buried her face in his shoulder, refusing to meet his
eyes.
“Ashlynne?”
She shook her head, unable to speak past the lump in her
throat, not wanting him to see the tears burning her eyes.
“What is it, princess?”
“I love you,” she whispered. “I love you so much, I’m…I’m
afraid.” She choked back a sob. Everything she had ever loved had been taken
from her, her parents, her best friend, her home. She couldn’t’ bear to lose
him, too.
Falkon slid one hand under her chin and tilted her head up
so he could see her face. The love shining through her tears reached deep into
his heart. “Ashlynne. Sweetheart.”
Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her gently,
tenderly. He didn’t have to ask what she was afraid of, didn’t have to wonder
what she’d been thinking. He knew her thoughts as well as he knew his own.
Hoping to distract her, he stood up. “Come on,” he said,
taking her by the hand and lifting her to her feet. “Let’s go for a swim.”
She glanced at the ocean, at the white tipped waves tumbling
over the shore, then she looked at Falkon. “You could use a bath,” she
remarked. “And so could I.” Bits of the fine black dust that covered him clung
to her skin.
“Second best idea you’ve had all day,” he said with a grin.
“Can’t catch me,” she cried, and letting go of his hand, she
sprinted toward the water.
He caught her where the surf met the sand and they landed in
the water together. She squealed as a wave broke over them.
On hands and knees, they faced each other, then Falkon
picked up a handful of sand and rubbed it over her left arm.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Washing you.”
“With sand?”
He nodded, picked up another handful of sand, and rubbed it
over her right arm. It felt surprisingly refreshing.
“My turn,” she said. They spent the next ten minutes washing
each other and then went for a swim.
They left the water hand in hand. Back on the beach, he drew
her into his arms for a quick kiss, and the fire between them sparked to life
once again.
Sinking down on the sand, he made love to her again, felt
her tears drip like rain on his face.
Wrapping her in his arms, he held her tight, one hand stroking
her hair. He shouldn’t have come here with her.
When Hassrick found out, there would be hell to pay for both
of them. For himself, he didn’t give a damn, but he didn’t want Ashlynne hurt.
She’d already suffered enough.
“Tell me,” she whispered.
“I love you.”
“Again.”
“I love you, more than my life.”
“Falkon, let’s leave here, now, today! Let’s run away!”
“How far do you think we’d get on that horse?”
“We’ll take the shuttle.”
“And then what?” He kept his voice light, but his mind was
already turning, planning. Enjine Base Nine was out of the question; they
couldn’t go there. But the shuttle would get them as far as Nardin. From there,
they could get transport to Cherlin Four.