He paced back and forth, his rich robes of green and purple encrusted with jewels and stiff with gold embroidery rustling as he walked. Around him his advisors and generals—all males of course—waited also, to hear what he would say. Every word out of the mouth of the Monarch was sacred and must be obeyed without question.
“A strange ship,” he mused as he walked, his golden sandals slapping against the lavishly decorated mosaic floor. “No, do not destroy it out of hand. If it came from the Blind, we must examine it and find out why it is here. Force it to land and extract the pilot,” he told the communications officer who had reported it in the first place. “Put him in my private interrogation chamber. I will deal with him at my leisure.”
“Yes, your Majesty! Your word is law!” The officer gave an elaborate salute with his right hand to his breast and the other tucked behind his back. This signified that his heart was completely given to his Monarch and his hand would never be raised against him. Then he touched the mouthpiece implanted under his lower lip and repeated the order to the listening pilots.
It didn’t take long after that. Dani had rushed through the passages, heedless of the dust and knowing her way in the darkness, until she reached a panel behind the main wall of the docking area.
The intruder’s ship was long and sleek and silver, unlike the blunt and snub-nosed Goshan ships which were uniformly black. It seemed to shine like a star when it landed and Dani’s eyes went wide as she watched the Goshan warriors surround it, shouting for the foreign pilot’s surrender.
But the ship itself was nothing to what came out of it.
Dani bit back a gasp as the silver door slid open and the biggest male she had ever seen descended from the cockpit. He looked like a giant—a full head and shoulders taller than even the tallest of the warriors surrounding him.
But his size was not the only striking thing about the prisoner. He had thick brown hair that rippled back from his high forehead in waves and his skin was not blue but tan—several shades lighter than Dani’s own creamy brown color. His eyes were the most striking thing about him—a pale, piercing green ringed with black, they seemed to penetrate her very soul when he glanced in her direction.
Dani put a hand to her beating heart. Those eyes…they seemed like something she had seen before, but she couldn’t place where. Maybe from some half-forgotten dream…
He can’t see me, she reminded herself as the prisoner stared in her direction. No one can. No one knows I’m watching.
But she couldn’t help the feeling of unease when those piercing eyes swept over her hiding place once more before the guards dragged him away.
She knew exactly where they were taking him and she ran ahead, taking a shortcut through a little used conference room and several royal bedchambers before she slipped into her father’s own private suite.
Once inside, she went directly to the corner where a heavy brocade tapestry hung over a seemingly black wall. Once the tapestry was pulled aside, however, Dani knew the exact combination of knocks to cause the locking mechanism within the wall to release.
With a low but audible click, a section of the wall—which was covered in blue velvety wall moss—swung open, admitting her to yet another secret corridor.
Dani went along the corridor, soft and silent in her little slippers, until she got to the door which led into the private interrogation cell. This passage was supposedly only for the use of the Monarch and only his touch could unlock the door.
That was what was widely believed, anyway. But Dani knew, from trying the door herself, that the palm-pad would respond to her own touch as well. It was based on outdated technology, which read DNA signatures. Since she had much of the same DNA as her father, the mechanism mistook her for the Monarch himself and let her pass.
Dani wasn’t worried about anyone finding this out. She was reasonably certain no one else ever tried the door besides her father, so no one else knew of the mechanism’s deficiency.
She peered through the glass panel at the top of the door which would have been too high for any other women to look out of. Dani, being too tall, however, was well able to watch as the guards shoved the giant into the interrogation cell and forced his hands above his head. He had on a kind of uniform shirt made of some brilliant deep blue fabric that looked heavy and shiny. It stretched tight across his broad chest and rippled when he flexed his muscular biceps, straining to break free.
It was a wasted effort, as Dani well knew. The force of the shielded magnetic field holding the magno-locks in place was so strong that even a herd of wild jorex beasts all pulling together couldn’t have broken free of it, let alone a solitary male.
Still, it was interesting to watch him try.
Dani watched him silently, her eyes wide with interest. She had never seen a male with skin that wasn’t blue. Even the savage Thuggors who lived on the Southern continent—the one place on the planet where her father did not have dominion—had skin which was blue, even if it was tinged with gray. Who was this male and why had he come here? She’d heard the guards calling him “Kindred” but she knew very little about that people. She would have to find out more, she told herself.
Aside from his uniform shirt, the Kindred was wearing a pair of tight black leather trousers and high black leather boots which hugged his muscular calves and went up to his knee.
Dani frowned—in Goshan society males wore long robes—she had never seen a male’s legs so openly displayed before. It was…strange. His bizarre wardrobe taken together with his wavy brown hair and those piercing green eyes and of course, his strange tan skin, made him the most interesting male she had ever seen. He looked nothing like anyone she had ever met before—she found she could not stop looking at him.
And then he spoke.
“Whoever you are, stop staring at me and come out and talk.”
Dani bit back a gasp. How did he know she was watching? The window in the cell door was one-way glass—there was no way the Kindred giant could know she was there. And yet somehow…he knew.
“Come out,” he said again. Or are you too fucking cowardly to face a chained male with no weapons?”
Dani had only meant to stand there and watch him but his words put her on the defensive. Her honor would be tarnished if she allowed him to talk to her in such a way and she would be proving she was a coward if she didn’t take his challenge.
Taking a deep breath, she pressed her hand to the palm-pad and listened to the hiss of compressed air and the click as the mechanism unlocked. Pushing the door open, she stepped into the room.
Chapter Two
She was the most beautiful female Kyron had ever seen but for a moment he was so surprised to see her standing there he just stared. His Touch sense, which made him more sensitive to those around him, had been tingling warningly, but he’d never expected his silent watcher to be a female.
She was a petite little thing, though not much smaller than the guards who had locked him up. Perhaps all the people on this planet were miniature. Though short, she was curvy. And tiny or not, she had a beauty which transfixed him from the first.
Instead of blue like the males, she had creamy brown skin which complimented large, dark, exotically tilted eyes. Eyes which looked at him with obvious curiosity and perhaps hostility as well. She had thick, black hair which fell around her shoulders and she was wearing a dress which was a bizarre mixture of the modest and the erotic.
It buttoned up to her throat and fell all the way to the toes of the small, sateen slippers he could see peeking out from beneath the hem. But though it covered her completely, it was made of a white fabric so sheer he could clearly see the full curves of her breasts and the dark shadow of her berry dark nipples. The triangle of neatly trimmed curls between her thighs was likewise on display.
Gods, she’s fucking gorgeous! Why is she dressed like that—to torture me?
Ky shifted uncomfortably on the stone bench, suddenly aware that he was staring and his shaft was more than half hard
in his black flight leathers. Gods, he had to get hold of himself!
He made an effort to look away from her lush body and up into her lovely face instead.
“Who…” His voice came out in a hoarse growl. He had to clear his throat and try again. “Who are you?” he asked at last.
The girl frowned, an expression which drew down her delicate eyebrows and made her look stern and somehow even more beautiful.
“I could ask the same of you, Kindred. Who are you and why did you try to invade our planet?”
She had a low, feminine voice that sounded musical in the echoing confines of the stone cell.
“I wasn’t trying to fucking invade you,” Ky growled, feeling irritated all over again. “I didn’t even know your planet was here. I was pushed off-course by a meteor field in the Blind and came through it further over on the other side than I meant to.”
“Why should I believe you?” she demanded, hands on her hips.
Ky shrugged, as much as the magno-locks allowed him to.
“Why would I lie?”
She didn’t appear to have an answer for that.
Ky sighed. “I’m Commander Kyron of the Kindred of the Mother Ship. I come in peace and I don’t mean you any harm.” he said. “And you are…?”
He let the question hang, wondering if she would answer it. For a moment she seemed to debate, then she lifted her chin and looked him in the eyes.
“I am Dannella Tagenia Yorva of Goshahl Prime, princess of the Blood Royal and Everlasting, daughter to the Monarch, He who shall live forever.” Her tone was formal and tinged with pride.
“Princess? You’re a princess?” Ky could well believe it. She had a regal bearing about her that practically shouted royalty.
“I am.” She inclined her head. “And you are a prisoner. I should not even be talking to you.”
“Don’t go!” Ky exclaimed when she turned towards the small door in the corner of the stone wall. “You’re a princess—you could talk to the Monarch for me!”
“Why would I do that?” The girl—Dannella, he reminded himself—turned back to him, frowning again.
“Why wouldn’t you?” Ky smiled at her coaxingly. “Come on, princess I bet you’re your father’s favorite daughter—his little girl.”
Dannella’s spine stiffened and her hands curled into fists.
“Don’t condescend to me, Kindred. And don’t insinuate that I would manipulate my father on your behalf—I don’t even know you!”
“I’m sorry.” He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He wished his hands were free so he could rub his aching temples. “Sorry if that came across as fucking sexist, I just—”
“Sexist?” She raised an eyebrow inquiringly. “What’s that?”
“Treating someone in a demeaning or condescending way just because they’re a different gender,” Ky explained. “I didn’t mean to treat you as less because you’re female.”
She looked surprised at his words.
“You…apologize for treating me as males treat females?”
“Only males that are jerks,” Ky said, using an Earth term he’d heard from several of the Kindred brides aboard the Mother Ship. “Males who condescend to women,” he explained, seeing her uncertain frown.
For a moment, Dannella seemed at a loss. Then she drew herself up and crossed her arms over her full breasts.
“Anyway, your statement that I’m a “little girl” is inaccurate in more ways than one. I am not little. In fact, I am the exact opposite—I’m nearly as tall as a male.”
“One of your males, sure.” Ky shrugged, wishing again that his arms were free so he could put them down by his side—his shoulders were beginning to ache from having his hands over his head. “But compared to me you’re tiny…little girl,” he couldn’t resist adding.
She stiffened but ignored his gentle jibe.
“Because you’re some kind of giant.” She sounded half accusatory, half curious.
“I’m well over two meters tall—about six feet, eleven inches in Earth measurements,” Ky acknowledged. “But that’s not unusual for a Kindred male. Even the shortest of us is never less than six foot six.” He squinted at her, measuring her short, curvy figure with his eyes. “Whereas I’d say you’re around five foot four yourself.”
“I don’t know these measurements,” Dannella said stiffly. “And if you truly have no knowledge of my people or my planet, how can you speak my language?”
It was a good question, Ky had to admit—one none of the guards had bothered to ask. This curvy little girl was fucking smart.
“Kindred are genetic traders—we go from planet to planet looking for mates and people to trade with,” he explained. “So we learn new languages almost immediately. But in your case, your dialect is just a variation of Standard, which most of the galaxy speaks. So picking up your language wasn’t difficult at all.”
“Genetic traders? Mates?” Dannella frowned. “Is that why you came here—looking for a mate? Because I tell you, Kindred, most Goshan females won’t want anything to do with you. You’re too big—most of them would find you frightening.”
“You’re not afraid of me though, little girl,” Ky pointed out. He liked that—courage in a female was admirable and very fucking attractive.
“You’re locked up,” Dannella said stiffly. “If you weren’t, I would be very foolish not to fear you. You’re nearly twice my size and clearly very strong.” Her dark eyes flickered over his biceps and his large hands, held above his head. “You could hurt me badly if you decided to punish me. Not that you lawfully could, as you are not my male relation or my husband,” she added quickly.
It was Ky’s turn to frown.
“To answer your question, I’m not here to find a mate. I have other business on this side of the Blind. But even if I was your mate, I would never ‘punish’ you. We Kindred don’t believe in lifting a hand to a female in violence.”
Her large, dark eyes narrowed in obvious disbelief.
“The Kindred are a race where the males do not punish their females? What kind of people are you?”
“The kind who respects women,” Ky assured her. He frowned. “Only the lowest kind of male would hit or hurt a female.”
“I don’t—”
“Dani?” called a voice. It seemed to come from the open doorway but it sounded hollow, as though it was echoing down a long corridor. “Dani? Where are you?”
Dannella stiffened at once.
“I must go. I cannot be caught here,” she exclaimed in a low voice.
“Don’t go,” Ky said desperately. “Or if you have to, please promise you’ll talk to your father for me. I didn’t come here to invade—I’m trying to find information on the Hive.”
“The what?” Dannella frowned.
“Dani! If you’re snooping around in Papa’s rooms again I’m going to tell!” The high, chirping voice was clearly female.
Dannella—Dani—made a face.
“I have to go. I’ll try to come back later. But I can’t talk to my father. I’d have to admit I’d been in here with you and that’s not allowed.”
“But—” Before Ky could say more, she had fled. Running lightly across the rough stone floor, she slipped through the mysterious door in the corner, shutting it quickly and quietly behind her.
He was left to wonder if he would ever see her again and how he was going to get out of there.
* * * * *
Dani waited until her little sister was facing the other direction before slipping out from behind the tapestry and noiselessly closing the door which led to the interrogation cell. Only when she was several feet from the area where the hidden door was concealed did she speak.
“What do you want, Lavi?”
“Oh!” Her younger half-sister whirled around, a hand on her heart. “Dani, you scared me! Where were you anyway?” She frowned, her pretty face turning into a spoiled pout. “I’ve been searching everywhere ever since you didn’t show up for needlepoint
lessons.”
Dani frowned. “I had better things to do.”
“Like going to the throne room? I thought you weren’t allowed in there anymore?” Lavi flashed her a naughty smile. “I heard they kicked you out last time you tried to get in.”
Dani bit back a nasty retort. There was no point in getting into a fight with her annoying little sister. Lavi would only run crying to their nurse, Yana and make trouble—something she excelled at.
“I was busy,” she repeated instead. “But I’ll go to needlework with you now if you’ll just be quiet.”
Lavi pouted again. “Needlework is over—it’s time for dancing lessons now. And you’ve already made me miss half of them! Instructor Porvath will be so angry with me—and I’m always his favorite. Not that that’s hard, considering you’re his only other pupil.” She made a face at Dani who only sighed.
“All right, well let’s go before you miss the other half.”
“No.” Lavi frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. She was wearing a pale pink, transparent silk dress with sleeves which showed a shocking amount of her wrists and forearms but then that was Lavi—she was an incurable flirt. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me exactly where you were and what you were doing!”
“Fine.” Dani shrugged. “Then you can stay here in Papa’s rooms all night for all I care.”
She stepped past her sister but Lavi’s little hand shot out and caught her by the arm. She had tiny, sharp fingers that pinched, making Dani wince.
“Where you spying on the prisoner?” she hissed. “Is that where you came from? Did you slip in from the side door in the back of Papa’s bathing room and peek into his cell when the guards left?”
Dani felt a simultaneous surge of fear and relief. Fear that her sister, who was prone to tattle-telling, had guessed accurately as to where she had been and what she’d been doing. Relief that Lavi had no idea of the secret door and passageway which led to the cell. She thought Dani had just been sneaking along behind the guards.
For a moment she wished she could talk to her sister about the strange Kindred male who was manacled in their father’s personal interrogation cell. But Lavi would only tell and get her in trouble. Dani’s policy with her little sister was the same as always—admit nothing.