“Of course not,” she said sharply. “What prisoner? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, don’t you know?” Lavi’s big eyes, as dark as Dani’s, widened even more. “There’s a foreign prisoner in Papa’s special cell—an alien who flew through the Blind and tried to attack us!”
“Really?” Dani made her own eyes wide, feigning surprise. “Tell me all about it.” She slipped her arm though her little sister’s and began walking naturally towards the entrance of the royal sleeping chamber. As she had hoped, Lavi came with her, babbling all the way.
“Well, he came in a big silver ship just bristling with weapons, or so Jontu says.”
Jontu was a highly-placed courtier in their father’s court—a handsome male with medium blue skin and melting brown eyes who was Lavi’s current obsession.
Dani frowned. She hadn’t seen any obvious weapons on the Kindred’s ship but maybe the guards had checked inside and seen something not visible from where she’d been hiding.
“What else?” she asked. Letting her little sister run on would mean getting all the latest gossip from the court. It might be good to know what the rest of the palace thought of the strange captive.
“Well, he’s huge—twenty hectares tall at least. A giant! And his skin isn’t blue—not even light blue!”
"What is it then?” Dani asked, remembering her own interest in the Kindred’s tan skin.
“It’s a tanish-pinkish color—so Jontu says. And so pale he looks like one of the spirits of the ancestors. If spirits could grow huge, at least.” She giggled.
“That’s amazing!” Dani exclaimed, still pretending ignorance. “But what kind of male is he? I mean, what people does he come from?”
She was hoping to hear more about the Kindred race and Lavi didn’t disappoint her.
“Oh—that’s the most shocking thing of all!” she whispered, as though someone in the mirrored glass corridor they were walking through might be listening. “He’s a Kindred.”
“A Kindred?” Dani frowned. “What’s that?”
“A race of barbarians who live on the other side of the Blind,” Lavi said. “Jontu says there used to be some in our part of the universe but they were almost all killed off. But get this…” She took Dani’s hand and squeezed it excitedly. “These barbarians—these Kindred—actually worship a female deity! And they treat their females as equals. There—what do you think of that?”
I think the Kindred was telling the truth, Dani thought. When he’d spoken of how the males of his race never lifted a hand in violence against a female she had thought he must be lying. Who ever heard of a people where the males refused to punish their females?
She herself had been lucky—her father was too busy governing the planet—most of it anyway—to punish or hit her. But she knew many girls and women who often wore the marks of their father’s and husband’s hands. It was simply the way of things on Goshan Prime—males demanded and commanded and females obeyed. If they didn’t, they were punished.
Of course, punishment wasn’t always physical. Maybe the Kindred had other ways of making their females behave.
I’ll have to ask him that, she thought and then realized she was making plans to go and see him again, which was incredibly risky. She would have gotten into a great deal of trouble if anyone had caught her in the cell alone with a strange male—even one who was manacled and helpless.
They’d think I was letting him change the color of my eyes, she thought and shivered suddenly, as though a cool wind had blown through the thin fabric of her dress.
“I said, what do you think of that?”
Lavi’s voice brought her back to the present and Dani realized she’d been lost in thought and hadn’t answered her little sister’s question.
“I think it’s…different,” she said slowly. “Males not punishing females if they do wrong. But after all,” she went on more strongly. “Why should they have the right to punish us? We are people too—we have intelligent minds, even if our bodies are not so strong as theirs.”
“Shhh! Lower your voice!” Lavi was clearly scandalized by Dani’s radical talk. “They can punish us because they are the superior sex—you know that. The best one can hope is to be married to a fine male like Jontu who will only punish you in the bedroom.” She giggled and twitched her hips meaningfully.
It was Dani’s turn to be scandalized.
“What do you know about such things?” she demanded.
“More than you, I’m sure,” Lavi teased. “Though Papa has always tried to keep us so sheltered, males talk. The things Jontu has told me…”
“Jontu, Jontu, Jontu,” Dani exclaimed. “If you’re not careful Jontu will change the color of your eyes and then where will you be?”
“I would never go that far.” Lavi sounded shocked. “He just…likes to talk, that’s all.” She blushed, her creamy brown cheeks getting rosy. “Do you know what else he told me?”
“Don’t tell me if it has to do with bedroom matters,” Dani said, frowning. She knew the basic facts of life—males had a scepter between their legs which fit into a female’s sacred channel. When a girl was married she must assume the Breeding Position and then the male who was her husband would then use his scepter to make her a woman and mark her as his own. He might also start a baby in her in this way.
Some girls liked to talk and giggle about the details of the act but Danny didn’t care to dwell on them. Mostly because trying to imagine it with any of the males she knew made her feel slightly ill. She didn’t want to be given to some stranger and be forced to assume the position for him. Better to just stay unmarried by her father's side. He was lenient and allowed her to lead her own life.
“There are different kinds of Kindred, you know,” Lavi said, catching her off guard. “That’s what else Jontu told me. There now—that has nothing to do with the bed chamber at least.”
“Different kinds?” Dani frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, they have some that turn into beasts and claim their females like animals!” Lavi’s eyes widened. “And that’s not even the worst! Some of them grow fangs…” She used her index fingers to mime long sharp fangs hanging down from her front teeth. “And bite their females at the moment of breeding! And some…” She leaned in close to whisper to Dani. “Some actually take a woman in pairs—as in, there are two males who stay together and take the same female as a wife.”
“Well, the prisoner is alone so he can’t be one of that last kind,” Dani said dryly but inside her heart was pounding. What kind of Kindred was this male chained in her father's interrogation cell? She hadn’t seen any fangs on him, although his teeth were certainly very white and even. Could it be that he was the beast kind of Kindred? Would he turn into some kind of a monster if she got too near him?
I’ll have to be sure I’m armed the next time I go to see him, she thought and then realized how reckless she was being.
What’s wrong with you, Dani? asked a shocked little voice in her head. How can you even think of going back, knowing how dangerous he might be—and knowing how much trouble you’d be in if anyone found you there?
She had no answers but still she felt a pull towards the huge prisoner in his cell with his strange pale green eyes and tan skin. No matter how dangerous he might be, she had to see him again, though she didn’t know why.
I will go back, she decided. But I’ll be careful…very, very careful.
Chapter Three
A few hours after the princess left, the guards came back. They turned off the magnetic field and freed his hands—always keeping him at blaster-point. At first Kyron was hopeful that they were going to take him to see their Monarch. But they only gave him a short bathroom break before shoving him back in position on the stone bench.
“Hey, what about the Monarch?” he asked, frowning. “Or at least some food and water?” He wasn’t starving yet but it had been hours since he’d last had a drink and his mouth was so dry he was tasting cobwebs.
br /> The head guard laughed harshly.
“The Monarch will see you when he’s damn good and ready, Kindred.” He spat on the floor. “And we find that keeping our prisoners hungry makes them so much more cooperative.”
“You’re lucky you get a break to piss,” another guard said. “We only do it because Tanfo here doesn’t want to mop the floor.”
His remark was greeted with a roar of laughter—apparently this was the height of humor here. Kyron reflected that if he hadn’t met the little princess, Dani, he would think these people were complete fucking savages. But she was different, which told him that not all of his captors were ill-bred louts.
He said nothing aloud, but he eyed the ones holding weapons on him, wondering if he should make a break for it. This might be his best chance—he wasn’t yet weak from hunger and he was bigger and stronger than the males surrounding him. Yet there were six of them but only one of him and four of them had their blasters pointed directly at his head. Their fingers were on the triggers, clearly itching to blow him away.
No, he told himself reluctantly as they pushed his hands over his head again and engaged the ferromagnetic field so he was stuck fast with his manacles locked in place. No, better to wait. Maybe the girl—maybe Dani—can help me.
He didn’t want to admit to himself that he wanted to see her again, that his wish to see those large dark eyes once more had colored his decision about trying to escape. But deep down, she was all he could think about.
He hoped like hell she would come back.
* * * * *
Dani wondered again if it was safe to go back.
Well, it’s too late to wonder now, whispered a snarky little voice in her head. Because you’re going, aren’t you?
Yes, she was. But at least this time she was armed. She fingered the sharp little sudden-stab that was hidden in her pocket. Though most of her dress was see-through—as befitted a high born Goshan female—the extra folds of fabric in the pockets made concealment of small items possible. The sud-stab was no longer than her middle finger but when she pressed a button on the handle, a sharp length of cold blue steel punched suddenly out of it with the force of a stabbing blow.
With such a weapon a female might defend herself against even the largest attacker—if she knew where to place the sud-stab before she pressed the button.
Of course, Dani wasn’t supposed to have such a deadly instrument in her possession but she had found it in her dead mother’s things a few years ago. She doubted her mother had ever used it—it would have caused a dreadful scandal if she had. But it was clear that she’d known how to defend herself, which precious few Goshan females did.
Dani held her breath as she slipped behind the tapestry in the royal sleeping chamber and knocked lightly in the correct rhythm. She’d had to wait a night and a day for just the right opportunity but at least now she had no fear of her father coming back at the wrong time. There was a royal banquet going on right now to welcome Chief Warro, the ruler of the Thuggors. They occupied the fertile Southern continent on the far side of the planet—the only area her father did not rule over.
Dani knew that some of the councilors, Tornk in particular, lusted greedily after the Thuggors’ land which was rich in natural resources and mineral deposits. They would be doing everything in their power to ingratiate themselves with the Thuggor chief in order to make some sort of alliance.
She had faked sick to get out of the banquet—something she hadn’t done since childhood. Normally affairs of state interested her intensely—much more than they should since she was a female. But tonight the pull of the prisoner chained in her father’s private cell drew her more.
Her old nurse, Yana, had bemoaned the fact that the Monarch’s oldest daughter would not be in attendance at such an important event but Lavi had, surprisingly, come to her rescue.
“I will go, Yana,” she’d told the old woman who was wringing her hands in distress. “There are bound to be lots of interesting people to see.”
Of course by “people” she no doubt meant Jontu but Dani didn’t care. For once she was grateful to her spoiled little sister for taking her place and easing the drama her absence would otherwise have caused.
“Thank you, Lavi,” she had said with sincere gratitude. “It’s sweet of you to take my place.”
“It means you’ll miss dinner though,” Lavi pointed out. “Here—take some of these.” She drew a handful of sweet-berry nuggets, wrapped in nutty-tasting raba leaf peels from her pocket.
“Candy for dinner?” Dani took them and looked down at the colorful little blue and green packets doubtfully.
“Not just candy, silly! These are new—they have four times as much protein in them. They’ll fill you up without making you fat.” She eyed Dani’s full hips significantly. “I’ve been meaning to give you some—I’ve been eating them for weeks myself.”
“Thanks. I might try some later but right now I just want to go lie down.” Dani shoved them in the pocket of her dress. “Have fun at the banquet.”
“You know I will!” Lavi said brightly. Turning to their old nurse she said, “Yana, I want to look beautiful tonight. I want to be the prettiest girl in the whole room.”
“Of course you will be, my sweet! You always are.” Yana started fussing about the proper dress and hairstyle for Lavi to wear—she had always liked Lavi better, considering that she was what a real princess ought to look like.
Dani didn’t care about the old nurse's favoritism. Relieved, she had slipped out of the room, pretending she was going to her own chambers to turn in for an early night. Instead, she had waited an hour until she knew the banquet was in full swing. Then she’d put on her darkest dress—a red so deep it was almost black—and snuck out the back door of her apartments to go gliding along the echoing mirrored glass hallways to the royal bedchamber.
Now she was in the drafty passage that led to the cell. What would she find when she got there? Would the Kindred truly turn into some kind of beast? Would she have to use the sud-stab on him?
She reached the end of the corridor and stood on tiptoe to peer in through the window. What she saw wasn’t threatening, though. It was more alarming, at least to Dani.
The huge Kindred was slumped on the stone bench, his head hanging tiredly, his chin resting on his broad chest. Dani felt a stab of unease—had the guards hurt him somehow? Was he wounded?
Quickly she pressed her palm to the scanner and the door clicked open. Forgetting to be careful, she rushed into the room and stood before him, much closer than was safe.
“Are you all right?” she exclaimed. “Kindred, speak to me!”
“Ky.” He looked up at her, his piercing green eyes smudged with shadows. “Call me…Ky.”
“Ky, then—what’s wrong with you? Why are you all slumped over like that?”
“Haven’t…” He coughed hoarsely, a hollow sound from his deep chest. “Haven’t had anything…to eat or drink in…over twenty-four…solar hours,” he rasped out at last. “So damn…thirsty.”
“What?” Dani was incensed. Why was he being treated in such a barbaric fashion? She turned for the door but he called her back.
“Dani—”
“I’ll be back,” she promised and fairly flew down the dark corridor back to the royal bedchamber. She ran to the bathing chamber and found the largest vessel she could—a decorative vase of gold with curling crimson scroll work. It was a bit dusty but she rinsed it in the shower-fall, heedless of the way the falling water droplets splashed her dress.
When it was nearly full, the vase was almost too heavy to carry but Dani bit her lip and went as quickly as she could with her burden, not minding that the water slopped over the sides and wet her even more.
Back in the cell, she saw the huge Kindred had slumped down again, his chin resting on his broad chest. It seemed he was hardly breathing. Again she felt a stab of panic.
“Ky? Are you all right? I brought you some water.” She went to stand in front of h
im and tried to give him water but this time he seemed so weak he could barely lift his head.
Heedless of the danger he presented, Dani did her best to help him. It wasn’t easy though—the vase was so heavy and his head wasn’t light either. Still, she managed to curl one arm around the sloshing ornamental vessel and the other around his neck. She ended up with his head resting heavily on her left breast but she managed to get the side of the vase to his lips, which were cracked and dry with the need for moisture.
“Here you go,” she said, dribbling some of the water against his mouth. “Try to help me, will you? This is heavy.”
“…trying,” he whispered. His lips parted and the next bit of water sloshed into his mouth. It seemed to revive him some and Dani watched in relief as the strong cords of his throat moved while he swallowed.
His head still rested against her breast but she barely noticed it, so intent was she on getting him to drink. He took the water in slow sips at first, then in big, thirsty gulps.
Dani watched him anxiously until he stopped for breath.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Better now, thanks to you, little girl.” He turned those piercing green eyes up to hers although he was so tall he didn’t have to look far. Even with him sitting and her standing, they were nearly the same height.
Dani became suddenly aware that she was much closer to him than was proper. In fact, his cheek was pressed against her left breast and she could feel the scratchiness of the black whiskers which had begun to grow on his jaw against her tender nipple right through the thin, wet fabric of her dress.
“I…um…” She suddenly didn’t know what to say. She only knew they had locked eyes and she couldn’t look away. His brown hair was soft against her arm and this close to him she could smell a warm, masculine musk that seemed to draw her like a distant strain of music—a low note that called her name and pulled her inexorably closer.