The Rings Fighter (9 page)

But Trazen didn’t wait.

Without a wasted motion, he slid the curved blade across Agnon’s throat, slicing cleanly through the jugular. Blood sprayed out of the cut, as red as a human’s.

As red as Kiji’s had been.

Chloe stared, frozen in place, as Trazen then stepped back...

... and Agnon fell unceremoniously to the floor.

THE NIGHT

CHLOE FOUND HERSELF lying awake, staring up at a ceiling that shone back at her with glimmering stars. She hadn’t noticed the virtual panel that morning; the sun had been up and the ceiling reflecting back natural light, but now she found herself looking up at it, wondering how close the depiction was to the real sky beyond the Green Zone dome.

She couldn’t sleep.

Trazen hadn’t spoken a word to her on the trolley ride back from the restaurant. As soon as the vehicle slid to a stop in his circular driveway, he’d clicked open the sliding door and disappeared through the opening, leaving it ajar for Chloe to follow.

By the time she had, he’d already vanished.

Presumably into the house, but she had no idea really, where he’d gone.

He didn’t seem angry at her. She also strongly got the impression he didn’t regret Agnon’s death. Something else was bothering him.

She suspected it might have something to do with the warning he’d hissed to the Royal Guard who showed up at the restaurant not long after he slit Agnon’s throat. Chloe overheard Trazen ask them to keep the incident quiet. He’d practically threatened them not to let it hit the media stations, or reach the palace of the Royals through any means apart from him.

He’s been pretty intense when he expressed those things.

Borderline frightening.

Now Chloe wondered what that was about, too.

She strongly suspected she already knew, though.

Still, she hoped she might be able to ask Trazen that question himself. She waited by the pool until it got dark, hoping he might come to speak with her if she placed herself somewhere in plain sight. A few servants offered her dinner... then a bath... then simply their company... .before leaving her alone after she refused all three.

Trazen himself never appeared.

In the end, she’d returned to Trazen’s room.

He was there, which almost struck her as funny when she saw that he was also completely passed out. He lay on his stomach on the raised bed in the dimly-lit room, sprawled out and fast asleep on the bedspread cover, still wearing all of his clothes.

It looked as if he’d crashed not long after they returned.

Now she lay there, listening to him breathe.

She was trying to decide if she should just get up... go for a walk around his grounds or even for a swim in the pool... see if anyone else was awake... when she heard Trazen move and glanced up at the bed.

She watched as he rolled to his back, raising a hand to rub some part of his face or head. She couldn’t see all of that, of course, not from her angle, but she saw his elbow and part of his arm, and heard him sigh. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark well enough that she could see his tail flicker from where it stuck out from under him.

He was definitely awake.

Realizing that, she pressed her lips together. The resolve she’d felt earlier that day returned, and before she could second-guess herself, she sat up, swinging her legs over to the side of the bed. Feeling that resolve grow into a denser feeling in her chest, she got up and walked to the bed, sitting down next to him. She simply sat there, looking him in the face when he flinched a little then stared at her.

He lowered his hand from where it rested on his forehead a second later.

“Hello,” he said, surprise tingeing his voice. “You are awake?”

“Yes,” she said.

He blinked at her, as if trying to think, or maybe deciding what to say.

Before he could speak, she slid further up on the bed, climbing up over him and sitting astride his waist. She rested her weight there and waited.

He tensed but didn’t move apart from a flicker of his tail.

After a few seconds more of watching his face, she slid her hands up over his chest, massaging the muscles there deliberately.

“Chloe... no... .”

“You don’t want to?”

He hesitated, unmoving as she continued to massage him through the embroidered fabric. When he didn’t say anything for a few seconds more, she shifted her weight down his body, balancing on his muscular thighs. Once she’d repositioned herself, she began pushing the heavy cloth shirt up his body.

His muscles clenched under the bare skin of her hands and fingers, but he didn’t resist, and even moved his back and lower body to accommodate her as she pushed his shirt up his chest, yanking it high enough to get it over his head. He arched his back when she tugged harder, raising his arms so that she could pull it the rest of the way off his shoulders.

Then he was lying under her, bare chested, breathing harder as she went back to exploring his body with her hands. She ran her fingers over the watery silk of his skin, tracing out muscles and hard flesh. The longer she touched him the more that longing returned to her belly, pulling at her, bringing a heat that began to spread over her skin.

“Sting me,” she told him softly.

She felt him reacting to her words, in more ways than one.

He let out a low growl when she began unfastening the top of his pants.

“Gods above... you’re persistent...” he said, his voice holding a strained humor. “Why, Chloe? You don’t have to do this. I promise you, you don’t. I didn’t kill him to––”

“I know that,” she said, cutting him off. She leaned down, kissing him lingeringly on the neck. He let out a clenched breath when she ran her tongue in a light circle over his throat. “And I know it’s not really me you’re interested in,” she said, softer still. She slid a hand further down his body, massaging the erection now straining his pants. “I know all of that, Ringmaster... and it’s okay. It really is. I want this. And I’m pretty sure you do, too...”

He let out a low sound when she didn’t stop exploring him with her hands. It turned into a groan half-mixed with a gasp, right before he arched his body up to her fingers. When she started to let go of him, to sit up so she could finish taking off his clothes, he caught hold of her wrist, pressing her palm harder against his erection.

He let out another gasping sound when she massaged him harder.

“Sting me,” she said, softer.

“Chloe...” He let out another pained groan.

“Sting me.”

“It’s been awhile,” he confessed, his voice gruff. “Are you sure you want to start this? I can’t promise I’ll be––”

“I want you,” she said, her voice firm. “Make up your mind, Ringmaster. I’ve been utterly clear about mine...”

He fell silent at that, unmoving as she continued to stroke his skin.

Nirreth had the softest skin. She marveled at that softness now, stroking his muscular tail where it coiled lightly around her waist. The contrast struck her even more when she remembered what he’d done that afternoon with his hands and body.

Despite her words, she let him think, sitting up on his waist while he stared at the ceiling.

After a few seconds more, he looked at her.

“You’re right,” he said, gruff. “I like her. The fighter.”

Chloe smiled, rolling her eyes. “I know.”

“I don’t know her well, of course...” he added. “But... well...” He hesitated, and she swore she saw guilt in his eyes when they met hers next. “I
do
know her. In some respects. We get to know them. For the Rings. There are brain scans... we learn a lot. Emotions. Memories. Things they think about... what they fear. She is...”

He hesitated again, unmoving as Chloe stroked his skin.

Chloe got the feeling he was embarrassed, even as he seemed determined to tell her the truth.

“...She is like me,” he confessed finally. “There are... similarities. I felt you thinking that today, and you are right. I can... relate to her.”

Chloe nodded, keeping her expression still. “Is she the reason you wanted Agnon’s death hidden from the media?”

He blinked up at her, surprised.

“Yes.” Exhaling at her silence, he added, “She would not know the context. It would look like pointless murder to her. I know you think I was terrible to her... and I was... but murder. Murder would be different to her. I know this about her, too.”

He looked up, as if trying again to read her face with his eyes.

“You still would want to do this?” he said warily. “Given what I said?”

She grinned at him; she couldn’t help it.

“This isn’t a marriage proposal, Ringmaster,” she teased.

He smiled at that, then chuckled, as if unable to help himself, either. “So what is it then?” he said, teasing her back. “You just want my body for a night? Is that it?”

She shrugged, but didn’t deny it.

“Comfort,” she said. “I want comfort... and your body... for a night,” she added with a smile, stroking his soft skin. “I suspect you want those things, too. Maybe for different reasons.” She hesitated, caressing the flat planes of his stomach as she let her words grow more serious. “She’s got a lover. The Rings fighter. Obviously you’re not happy about that.”

Feeling him tense, she glanced at his face, wondering if she’d overstepped.

When he met her gaze, a slight frown touched his sculpted lips, but he didn’t look angry.

“I’m not,” he admitted. “...Happy about it.”

Still holding his gaze, she nodded. “And you’re not going to tell me why you were such a jerk to her?”

“No,” he said.

She nodded again, but smiled a little that time. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he said.

She nodded. “Okay. Can I have your body now?” she said, quirking an eyebrow at him. “Or do you want to talk some more?”

She sensed that indecision on him again, but not for long.

Abruptly, his fingers wrapped around her arms, tightening as he yanked her closer. Before she could catch her breath, she’d half-fallen onto his chest and he was stinging her, his tail pressed into her side as he let the venom go. He groaned when he stung her a second time, right before his hands were on the front of the soft blouse she wore, unfastening it roughly with his fingers. He stung her a third time before he finished getting it off, and then he was turning with her, rolling her to her back until he had her pinned to the top of his bed.

She was still reacting to the size of him, to his weight on her, his tail wrapped around her tightly as he began kissing the front of her body, when he stung her a fourth time.

She let out a longer-drawn cry as he began yanking down the soft pants she wore. After he finished he was hanging over her again, kissing her shoulder and then her breasts as he reached for his own pants, working one-handed to finish what she’d started. She tried to help him, but he wouldn’t wait for her now, his breath coming out in short groans as he fought with the catches, leaning most of his weight on her as he kissed and bit at her bare skin.

He got the pants undone and kicked them off as he clasped her wrist, right before he stung her again, letting out a heavier growl from a deeper part of his chest.

That time, she felt so much of him she was clasping his neck and back, her legs wrapped around his bare waist and coiling around his legs.

Inside me...
 
she thought at him, throwing images at him, desire, pulling on him.
I want you inside me... please... please... fuck me, please, please...

He groaned again, then he was trying to do what she asked, raising his weight on his arms. He stopped kissing her long enough to position himself over her, then hesitated, as if changing his mind. She felt drunk on his venom by then, nearly out of control and cried out when his fingers slid inside her instead of his cock.

Then he was leaning on her for real, coiling his tail around her and sliding his hand into her deeply enough that she let out a cry.

He stung her again while she was still reacting.