Prince of Luster (16 page)

The slug leader slowly walked around the table and moved closer.

Adaman backed up until he was against the far wall.

“If I didn’t need you alive to make contact with whatever communication comes from deep space, I’d kill you on the spot.”

“But you
do
need me,” Adaman quickly pointed out. “Without my presence to respond to supply-ship captains and any unexpected messages from enforcers, this planet would be under siege by the Constellation League in months or even weeks. Aside from their scheduled visits, we don’t know how close they might be. They surely suspect something is going on, or the king would never have sent his second-born.”

Prometheus drew a long dagger from his belt and held it against Forrell’s neck. “If this Wiccan girl is alive, I’ll find her and kill her. And if the second-born son of the king still lives by her aid or anyone else’s, he will disappear without a trace. The king would never barter for his child’s return. That would make every member of his family a target. He knows this. But that won’t keep him from unleashing his wrath. That’s why this prince has to die, and his presence here eradicated. Any other action from you, and I’ll take what gems my fleet can carry, scorch this planet and all who live here, then set a course for open space.” He came even closer. “I’ll make sure you’re the last to die. It will be the most horrifying death you can imagine.”

Adaman gulped. “I-I wasn’t going to cross you, I swear.”

“Then give me all the information you have. From now on, I command not only my men, but also yours. Those who disagree will end up in the pit. Make this clear to your people, Governor. Tell your constables and guards that if they want to see their families survive, they’ll do exactly as I say. Do you understand?”

“Y-Yes. Completely.”

Prometheus slowly placed the dagger back in its sheath, turned, and stalked out of the room.

As soon as his surveillance equipment indicated the slug leader was gone, Adaman quickly called his most trusted assistants. When they were assembled before him, he issued his instructions.

“Do everything the slug leader and his brawlers tell you. He’s threatened to take all the gems and kill us if we don’t. And for the love of the Creator, don’t get into the old computer records anymore. That damnable, slimy worm is watching us at every turn. He’s a lunatic! I fear he’ll eventually kill us all anyway.”

The lead guard stepped forward. “Sir, what can we do? What chance do we have?”

“Only a slim one. But the next time any Constellation League ship is close enough for contact, I must get a message to them quickly, and hope they can respond before we’re all slaughtered. I was insane to make a deal with that beastly savage.”

Adaman put one finger to his lips, paced a few steps, then turned to his man again. “If … if you can find the man I’m after and keep him safely hidden, all may not be lost. By working together, there might be a way for me to redeem our actions before Luster’s king. Just keep looking for him and that girl.” When several of the men simultaneously shot off questions asking who he was talking about, Adaman realized he couldn’t keep the secret from them any longer. “Take your orders from my lead man.” He gestured toward his most trusted minion. “He knows the description of the woman you’ll be looking for. We’re talking about Marcos Starlaw if anyone hasn’t figured it out yet.” He waited for the general, excited hubbub of his employees to die down before continuing. “Only by finding the prince alive and safely hiding him will we have any chance. Now get out and search as though your lives depend upon it, because they do. Bribe members of the population, tradesmen, or any human you can. Let them know we’ll be destroyed if we can’t convince the slugs that the prince still lives and that other enforcers are coming for him. Go now. I have to think.”

Forrell watched the men hastily walk from his chambers even as they beleaguered his best guard with questions concerning the prince’s presence on Delta Seven. The guard couldn’t answer because no one, including himself or Prometheus, knew the real reason. The answers would only come with finding Marcos Starlaw.

He prayed the next communication from the Constellation League would come far ahead of schedule. If not, the only thing the enforcers would find on their next visit would be a charred chunk of rock. And his skewered, half-eaten body would be hanging in the village marketplace as Prometheus’s last act of defiance.

• • •

Marcos carefully hung a blanket in one corner of the cave where there was a small outcrop of rock. On the outcrop, he’d built a little fire and dragged a large metal tub near. This would serve as a private bathing area for Nova, and the fire would be close at hand so she could heat water from a kettle. “There, milady. Now, you’ll have your privacy without worries. And you’ll have all the hot water you want.”

She smiled at him, and glanced at the makeshift bathing area. “That’s very ingenious. But I haven’t worried about privacy so far. I’ve always bathed while you slept.”

“Now, you won’t have to. And you can have a full bath instead of using a small basin and a cloth. You can undress instead of bathing yourself underneath that large robe you sleep in.”

She gasped, picked up a cloth, and threw it at him. “You’ve been watching.”

He laughed and ducked his head. “I must confess … I did awaken on several occasions while you were seeing to those needs. As to watching you, there wasn’t much to see. You cleanse while still clothed.”

“I always keep something on in the event I have to run.”

“I’ll keep watch while you bathe. It isn’t likely anyone would ever find you in this cave, but I can see where you’d be concerned. A woman on this planet can’t be too careful. That’s why I’m going with you to the market.”

Hearing the water boil, Nova picked up a bar of soap and a washcloth and crept behind the blanket.

“How is it? Do you need more water? If you do just call out and I’ll slip another kettle under the blanket.”

“Thank you. It’s wonderful,” she happily replied. “You might want to go to the entrance and gather some snow for your bath.”

“I’ll do that. And I’ll put our pallets closer to the fire. We should be quite warm.”

When she eventually emerged from their new bathing area with a large towel wrapped around her slender body, hugging a damp little pup in her arms, something in Marcos’s chest tightened. Even with the scars on her shoulders and head, Nova looked soft and inviting. She was a slender, tiny thing who looked so very vulnerable while holding her pet. But appearances could be deceiving. He knew her capabilities. She was a stealthy thief by necessity, a brave woman by choice. But she deserved so much more than she’d ever had on this rock in deep space.

When she saw him staring, Nova laughed. “I’ve never bathed Una before. Just brushed her. But the tub is all clean if you’re wondering.”

He shook his head in amusement. The little pup had been sleeping next to them for weeks. If Una bathed in the same tub it wasn’t going to make any difference to him.

He picked up a large blanket, and walked forward. When he draped it around Nova’s shoulders, she let Una jump from her arms. The little dog ran toward the fire and the pallets there and snuggled in for the night.

“I guess she’ll be sleeping very close,” Marcos jokingly replied.

Nova stood still while he wrapped the large blanket around her.

“You’re such a small thing,” he rambled as he pulled the blanket up to her neck.

“Marcos?”

He looped his arms around her body and held her for a long moment before responding. “Yes?”

“I know you’ll be so tired of hearing me ask. But will you tell me more about Avalon and your family? And about your life there?”

Lying to her was wrong on every level. He felt it down to the last cell in his body. But he didn’t want her to hate him. And she would if he told her who he really was.

He decided to take the coward’s way out and keep describing things as if he were a normal citizen of Luster. When she knew him better, and understood the politics of the situation, maybe she’d accept who and what he was. For now, he wanted this closeness between them to continue. It seemed very important that she respect him for who he was right now.

“Ask a thousand times, and I’ll talk about my home.” Just so long as she’d keep talking to him and treating him as an equal, not an enforcer and the son of the king.

“I’ll pass you water under the blanket if you’d like to bathe,” she offered.

“I don’t see the need to have the blanket hanging between us. You’ve seen every inch of me, little thief.”

She shrugged. “That’s true. I just thought you might like some privacy now that you’re healing so well.”

He shook his head, and pushed the hanging blanket separating their new bathing room to one side. “You can ask me questions, and pass me the buckets of snow at the same time. Then, when I’m done, we’ll snuggle under the blankets and I’ll tell you stories of Avalon until you fall asleep. You’ll have pleasant dreams of freedom.”

“What a wonderful thought,” Nova said as she quickly handed him a bucket of snow he’d gathered and watched as he undressed.

He didn’t miss the way she turned her face away when she believed she’d been caught staring.

As he soaped himself and finally rinsed, parts of his body began to tingle. Then the tingle became an outright itch as he dried.

By the time he pulled a blanket around his body and sat next to her again, he almost had to remove the heavy covering altogether. Everywhere the fabric touched, his skin burned and felt tight. He lifted his hand and began to scratch at the scars on his chest.

“Don’t do that!” she told him as she covered his hands. “You’ll open new wounds that could become infected.”

“Can’t help it. I’m starting to itch so badly that I don’t think I’ll get any sleep.”

“That’s a good sign. It means you’re healing.”

Holding her blanket around her, Nova walked to the area where her herbs and medicinals were neatly arranged. She pulled a small bowl from a stack and began to mix some ingredients. “The cold, dry air is irritating the newly formed scar tissue. But I’ll mix something that will absorb into your skin and protect it. Until your exterior toughens, you’ll have to keep applying it.”

By now, Marcos had to toss the blanket aside entirely. The cold air from the cave’s entrance hit his back while the fire in front of him kept that half warm. But neither the heat nor the cold were helping his physical situation any.

“Did this intense scratching sensation happen to you?” he asked as he rubbed one shoulder and the inside of his thigh.

“Yes. Obviously, there wasn’t so much of my body that was burned.”

She approached him with a small glass bowl in one hand, grasping her blanket around her with the other. Marcos put both his hands to his bald, scarred head and began to aggressively scratch.

Once more, Nova sat beside him, pulled his hands away, and began to apply the cream to his head first. “Stop it!”

“I tell you I can’t help it,” he complained.

“The warm bath you took might not have helped. The hot water could have dried your skin even more than the cold air. Especially as your skin is still healing. But you needed it.” She began to lightly smooth the cream over his head, face, and neck as she spoke.

“Was I that rank?”

“No. Not any more than I was, I suppose. Living like this has some disadvantages. Now be still.”

Marcos let her apply the herbed cream. It quickly absorbed into his flesh. He didn’t think she could possibly have enough in that tiny bowl to do any good. At least not the way he was itching. But soon after she began to apply the remedy, the burning stopped. He sighed in relief, then did as she requested and kept his hands off his healing flesh.

Nova pulled the blanket away from his chest and began to smooth the mixture over his skin there as well as his arms and shoulders. “Turn around. I’ll get your back.”

He shifted his weight until his back faced her. The soothing ointment not only took away the painful tightness, but her hands were having an effect he hadn’t planned on at all. Something in his posture must have alerted her because she stopped and leaned forward to look at him.

“What’s wrong? This shouldn’t be hurting. Is it?”

“No. It isn’t … no.”

“If you’ll lie down I’ll take care of your legs.”

“Uh, I can do that myself,” he said and simultaneously reached for the bowl.

She pulled it out of reach and arched one brow. “I’m the healer here. Is there something wrong with your limbs you don’t want me to know about? Have you opened a wound?”

“No. It’s nothing like that. It’s just that you should be getting some rest. You walked all the way to the marketplace and back carrying supplies. You’ve got to be tired. I can start looking after myself now.” He reached for the bowl again and frowned when Nova moved back, pulling his blanket with her.

She stared at his nude form and put the bowl down between them. “I-I see you are getting better.”

Marcos tried to pull the blanket back over his erection, but she was sitting on most of the fabric. “For a time, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever achieve an erection again.”

She didn’t take her eyes off his swollen cock. He sighed heavily in response and pulled another blanket toward his lower half.

“Do you mind?” he muttered.

At any other time in his life he’d have welcomed the steady gaze of a woman in such a situation. But this was different. She wasn’t just any woman. And his opinions about life—at least his attitude about the way he’d led it—were quite different now. As he attempted to wrap the covering around himself, however, she put out her hand and stopped him. Then, her beautiful amethyst gaze roamed slowly over his body, finally meeting his.

There was hunger in her expression that quite astounded him. She’d seen him nude many times while tending his wounds. Her healing skills had probably required seeing a good many injured men whose clothing had been removed for one reason or another. “Nova?”

She simply blinked. “Th-the man I was to wed wasn’t half so endowed.” She briefly paused. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what made me say that.”