Chapter 11 #2
“I’m sure I don’t need to go into the details.
” She’d been used, shared, expected to service guests with a smile, endure pain.
“My duties were varied and they included acting as bodyguard to my master and mistress. To protect their lives with my own.” Even now, the thought burned her.
She had taken a laser for them once. “Nothing like having a beautiful slave who can suck cock and fight off an assassin at the same time.”
Niklas slammed his fist into the enviro-shelter wall. The clear dome wobbled under the impact.
She stared at him and swallowed. No one had ever been angry on her behalf before. “Niklas, I’m not telling this to upset you—”
“I want to go back and smash my fists into their faces. I want to kill them.”
Such vehemence from a man who, beneath the toughness, was really a scholar at heart.
“Well, you can’t. I beat you to it.” She drew in a breath.
“There was a party.” Guests. So many cruel guests who’d pinched, slapped, used, and hurt.
She’d been sixteen then, bleeding from various places and so lost. She’d not made a single choice for herself in years, and had not had a chance to discover herself.
“By then, I’d started taking drugs to…dull everything.
” Her mistress had fed her and the other slaves the stuff.
They’d liked her docile, obedient. “But during that party, I watched my mistress and master join in the abuse of another guest’s slave.
It was nothing out of the ordinary. I’d seen it a hundred times before.
” And suffered it herself. “But that night, the girl slit her wrists with a piece of jewelry.” So much blood.
The girl had been sleeping beside Nera in the harem.
All that red that soaked into Nera’s nightgown.
She still saw it in her dreams. “She was eleven.”
“Jesus.”
“Something ignited inside me. A desire, a burn. For freedom. For myself and for that girl.”
Nik made a sound and a shaft of moonlight illuminated his face.
Her stomach clenched. His face was contorted, his hands in tight fists.
She reached over and placed one hand over his fist, then cupped his strong face with the other.
“I got out. During a combat display to show off my skills the next morning, I beheaded them both with my sword.” And ran through a few of the other more sadistic guests.
Her memories were a little blurred by the drugs, but she remembered the strange sense of horror and freedom she’d felt.
“I ran. I stole a ship.” She took a deep breath. “And I went home to Luvanoi.”
“Your family. They helped you.”
His tone made her think he’d guessed the truth.
“They were horrified. I’d shamed them. I was no better than a criminal and I’d put them at risk by going back to them. They looked at me like I was a stranger who’d trekked dirt across their floor.”
Niklas cursed and hit the wall again.
She pressed her body into his. “I left. I survived. Please, put away the pity and anger.” She lifted her chin. “I don’t want it.”
He gripped her jaw, his blue eyes glittering. “I don’t pity you. I’d never pity you. When I look at you, I see—”
She licked her lips. “Yes?”
“Strength. You are so damned strong, Nera.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “Finish your story.”
“I changed my name. I got clean.” She still remembered the shivers and horrible pain of the drug withdrawal. “I was good at fighting, so I worked some freelance merc jobs for a while.” She wrinkled her nose. “I wasn’t very good at taking orders.”
“What a surprise.” There was a faint trace of humor in his voice. She thought his tense muscles might have relaxed, just a little.
“I was good at sneaking and stealing, too. I bounced around between a few different quadrants. For the first time in my life, I had choices to make, and I had no idea what I wanted to do.” She gave a little laugh. “Then one day I was sitting in the Institute’s museum on Beneer.”
“The Museum of Cultural Heritage.”
“Right. I was hungry for culture, to learn about different planets and their histories. I heard a couple of curators talking about the ‘damned Phoenix brothers’ and some crazy treasure hunt you’d just pulled off.
They also mentioned how many e-creds you’d made.
” She smiled. “They were cursing the three of you, but at the same time, I could tell they admired you as well. I think they were a little jealous.”
“Maybe,” he murmured.
“I decided to give treasure hunting a try.” She’d finally found something she liked, something that was her choice from start to finish.
He cupped her cheek. “I’m glad you visited that museum.”
“Despite everything I’ve stolen from you? Or how many times I’ve hurt you or your brothers?”
He leaned closer. “Yes. If we got hurt, it encouraged us to be faster, better. And every time you stole a hunt out from under us, it made us plan better.” He nipped her lips. “God, I want you, Nera. All of you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Oh, that wonderful taste of his. She could spend hours and hours kissing him.