Woman Bewitched (3 page)

Artu stood and motioned to the chair he’d just vacated. “Sit, love. Maybe I can convince Kylar Gareth that we are not mad.”

The woman gave her husband a look that spoke volumes before she did as he asked. Sitting on the edge of the chair, she reached up and stroked the translator attached to the inside of her collar.

She wears a translator. That is interesting.
Everyone born within this galaxy spoke the universal language. They only spoke the tongue of their own planets when on their home world. The fact that the woman wore a translator spoke more about her being foreign than anything else ever could have done.

Kyl watched Artu approach. The other man tilted his head as their gazes met. “You have heard them speaking to you, haven’t you?”

Though phrased as a question, Kyl could tell by the other defender’s tone that he already knew the answer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kyl returned by way of a denial.

“The Fates, of course.” Artu smiled. “I know that feeling well. You think you have gone mad. Yet everything tells you that you have not. You look the same way I felt when they first spoke to me.” He paced away before shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I thought I had gone mad.” He shrugged. “Who in his right mind hears voices in their heads? I thought I had surely lost my mind. Either that, or I was well on my way to doing so.” Artu glanced back at his mate. “This happened just before they gifted me with Lena.” Turning back, he met Kyl’s gaze. “If you’ve heard them speaking to you, it could mean you are about to meet
your
mate.”

“I have no mate.”

That’s what
you
think,
a strange female voice said from behind him.

Kyl spun around and casually peered out the window when he found no one at his back. He didn’t want the others to know he heard the voices even now. How could he convince these people that he wasn’t going mad when he couldn’t even convince himself of the same? He stared down into the empty courtyard with a sigh. It wasn’t empty for long. At first the cobbled path was void of human presence and then a woman appeared, seemingly out of thin air.

“What the devil?” Kyl closed his eyes and shook his head before risking another look. The woman was still there, looking about her as though she had no idea in which direction to run.

Surprise!
That strange, young-sounding female singsong voice said into his mind.
What think you of that?

What he thought was that he was truly going mad. Where before there had been nothing more than an empty walkway, there was now a beautiful woman who looked as lost as Kyl’s mind.

Her dark gold hair all but glowed in the light of the two suns. Her too-thin frame looked sickly, but for some unknown reason he failed to deduce, she was the most fetching woman on whom he had ever set his gaze.

Kyl turned to face the others. Gesturing to a servant near the door, he barked, “There is a female in the courtyard. Bring her to us.” The man turned to go and Kyl felt the need to add, “Do not frighten or harm her. She appears…ill.”

The steward gave a short nod and slipped through the door.

Kyl turned back to the windows, unable to stop himself from keeping watch over the waif of a woman until his man reached her side. As he stood sentry from above, the woman faltered and then fell to the ground in a heap.

Without thinking, Kyl bolted from the room, using his defender’s speed. He knew he was nothing more than a blur when he passed the servant he’d sent for the woman. He believed the servant’s name was Durdor, but was unsure. It was of no consequence. He didn’t know why, but all that mattered to him now was reaching the woman before the cold flagstones chilled her already too-pale flesh.

Kyl reached the woman seconds later. Kneeling, he gathered her into his arms and lifted her slight weight, holding her close.

Thick, golden lashes formed golden crescents against her cheeks. Her breath even, she seemed to have no difficulty drawing in air. However, the light blue ring around her mouth gave him pause. He’d seen that before in people whose body temperature had reached dangerous lows. Full, red lips, cracked with dehydration, had that same blue tinge beneath them. They formed a slight moue even in her unconscious state.

Pulling her tighter against his chest, Kyl willed his warmth, his strength, into her as he carried her toward the consul, her head resting limply against his shoulder.

Some unnamed feeling came over him. Call it instinct, perhaps. Whatever it was within him wanted to know who had starved her and to whom he would teach some manners. On this world, one didn’t treat women with such blatant disrespect. If he could have his way, no one would treat this woman with anything but the upmost deference for the rest of her days.

Marti woke in a man’s arms. After five years of captivity, she had managed to train herself to awaken without moving and hyper-aware of her surroundings. She had learned
that
trick quickly and well.

The men on Katkari liked spirited women who would fight them or play strange sexual games with them—as the guard she’d bribed had wanted. Marti had learned that early on from a seasoned slave. If she wanted to preserve her sanity, as well as what peace of mind she could, she would stay as still and limp as a doll made of damp rags.

The men, so intent on the spirit of their
ride
couldn’t perform when they thought a woman willing or asleep from too much wine or drugs. The practice had served her well the last five years. With luck, it would serve her yet again on this world.

Schooling her features to remain passive, she stayed still as the dead while he carried her into one of the structures that surrounded the square garden where the Gatekeeper had dumped her just moments ago.

The cool air inside told her this was a more civilized world than the one she’d just escaped. But how much more sophisticated were they? That was the important question.

Another question was, where was she? Eyes still closed, Marti strained to hear a language other than the universal tongue everyone in the galaxy spoke. However, to her disappointment she heard nothing more than the sound of the man’s footsteps as he easily navigated the spiraling staircase up two more floors.

Before her capture, the action would have convinced her that the man was a defender—someone she could trust. After all, who other than a protector could have had the strength to carry a healthy woman up two flights of steps without losing his breath? However, after years of too much work and too little sustenance, Marti feared that a man-child could carry her up
five
flights with little effort.

After a short pause, the man walked into a brightly lit chamber. It was all Marti could do to keep herself from squinting even though she kept her eyes closed. Years spent hiding in the dark, attempting to avoid the notice of the men of Katkari, had conditioned her eyes to seeing with less than optimal light. This brightness actually hurt her.

“By the Fates!” a man gasped.

It felt as though her heart leapt to her throat at the sound of that voice. She knew that voice! Throwing caution to the wind, Marti opened her eyes.

“Marteeka! My sister. This is my sister!”

Surely it wasn’t anguish she heard in her brother’s usually emotionless voice. And those certainly couldn’t be tears she saw glistening in his eyes. She looked on, her mouth agape as he rushed to gather her in his arms.

“Artu!” Marti wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck as her feet slid to the floor. This was the first time in years, centuries really, that he had shown her any emotion other than barely concealed contempt. “I never dared to hope that I would see you again.” For once, Marti didn’t care that tears ran down her cheeks unchecked or that she showed so much emotion to a brother who, up until now, had never even indicated he cared.

“Where have you been?” Artu asked as he gently set her on her feet. He held her at arm’s length and looked her up and down with a frown. “Why are you so thin?” A muscle jumped in his jaw as he studied her. “Who has mistreated you?”

A strange woman sidled next to Artu. She wrapped her arm around his waist and smiled at Marti, her strange blue-brown gaze staring deep into her own. “Hi.” She held out her free arm, her hand open. “I’m Lena. You must be my new sister-in-law.”

“Sister…” Marti felt her eyes widen as she glanced between them.
So that explains the change in him. Perhaps having a mate has softened him up a bit.
Smiling slowly, she glanced back to her brother. “I see you have finally found your mate.”
How fortuitous.

Marti glanced at the others in the room. The only man she didn’t exchange glances with stood behind her. He was the man who had carried her up the stairs. Was he a defender after all? She stared at those she could see, determining that everyone in the room was a defender—even the woman. What hurt was knowing that she could no longer add herself to that list. Prince Valko and the people of Katkari had robbed her of that right.

Resisting the impulse to turn and look at the man who stood silently behind her, Marti took a deep, calming breath. She felt him studying her, perhaps even judging her. The heat from his body radiated off him in waves, warming her inside and out when nothing else these past five years could have. Even living on an arid desert planet like Katkari hadn’t warmed her soul as easily as he did by merely standing behind her.
What’s happening? What does all of this mean?

Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps it could mean that he is your soul mate,
a strange, female voice said.

She knew it wasn’t Artu’s woman who said that. She’d been looking at her and the woman’s lips never moved. Perhaps she wasn’t immune to the madness their father spoke about after all. She heard voices from nowhere. That could only mean she had finally lost her mind.

Marti’s stomach clenched and her legs went weak. Artu moved to catch her, but he was too slow. The man at her back had already scooped her up, holding her tight against his chest. She fought the urge to relax into him as that delicious warmth of his seeped into her, melting her resolve to keep all men at arm’s length.

“Put me down, sir. I don’t know you and I am most certainly not a baby for you to carry about.”

“You may not be a baby, woman,” his voice was low, almost a growl, “but you are nearly as weak as an infant.” The look on the man’s face clearly expressed reluctance to release her.

“Artu,” she said, turning her head to meet her brother’s gaze. “Please tell him to put me down.”

“Let him help you,” Artu said as he gently brushed her hair from her face.

Marti crossed her arms and scowled at her brother. “You
would
side with a complete stranger over me. Why did I think you would do any differently?”
Of course he would side with a stranger. It is a direct reflection of his feelings for you, or lack of feelings to be more precise.

No.
Marti almost shook her head. He cared. She knew that now. He might not have shown it in the past, but he
had
shown her this day. He’d proven that he loved her today. Just the sight of her had brought him to tears.

She would never doubt his feelings again. Her biggest question now, was why he’d hidden his emotions from her for so long.

Kyl looked at Atru, wondering if the defender would force him to release the woman. He had no say in the matter and he knew it. She was Artu’s sister, after all. However, Kyl was lucky. The defender refused to tell him to put Marteeka down, and as defender of Torus, Kyl must see to the safety of everyone on the planet, including visitors. He would use that excuse to hold her as long as he could.

For some reason, holding her felt right. If someone should ask him why, he couldn’t tell them the answer. He looked down at her and willed his warmth into her. She looked so frail and weak, every protective instinct within him wanted to care for her.

He looked to another of the servants awaiting his order. “Bring food. Lots of it. I’m sure our visitors would appreciate a warm meal.” He looked at the others whom he suspected had eaten before they arrived. They said nothing, all of them casting concerned glances to the woman in his arms.

Moving to the long table in the center of the room, Kyl set the woman down and placed a glass of water in front of her. “Drink this. It’s obvious you’re dehydrated.”

Reaching out with an unsteady hand, Marteeka grasped the glass and brought it to her lips. “Thank you,” she said just before she took a sip.

Kyl fisted his hands when she closed her eyes as though the water was the best thing she’d ever tasted. “Who did this to you?”

“It was the Katkians.” She took another sip. “They have been marketing their world as an all-inclusive resort.”

“That can’t be. I’ve known many people who have vacationed there and returned.”

“They don’t kidnap all of the women who go to their world. They only capture those who travel alone. Sometimes, they even follow them to their world and take them after they check in through their customs system.” She rolled her eyes and gave him a look that told him she thought him dense. “After all, so many women going missing on their world would raise eyebrows, wouldn’t it?”

“Of course it would,” Lena said as she left her husband’s lap and urged Artu to take the seat on Marteeka’s other side. Taking the empty glass from Marteeka’s shaking hand, she refilled it and handed it back. “Take small sips now. You don’t want to make yourself ill.” She smiled. “Besides, if you drink too much, you won’t have any room for that food Kylar ordered for you.”

The door opened. Several servants entered the room carrying an assortment of dishes on large trays. Setting the trays down, they moved to stand against the wall, awaiting further orders.

“What’s the matter, Marti?” Artu asked as he covered his sister’s hand with his.

Eyes wide, Marti licked her lips as though tasting the food already. “There’s so much food here.”

Artu grasped the edge of a tray and dragged it close. “Look, it’s your favorite.” He frowned at her wide-eyed stare.