Chapter Two

Waiting for morning to come can be kind of exciting when you have at least a reasonable expectation of being killed as soon as the aliens who kidnapped you finally showed up.

I glanced over at Rakkur, who was beside me, and unlike me, he had his eyes closed like he was falling asleep again. Come to think of it, that was probably a good thing, though I hoped it wasn’t because of that hit I saw him take to the head. The savage bastards who captured us and threw us in this cell inside their ship had been total assholes to us so far, so I didn’t have high hopes for humane treatment.

We still hadn’t seen or heard from their leader, though. At least I didn’t think so. I hadn’t had a chance to question anyone about it, because I’d just finished fighting one or two of them over the fact they had thrown a hunk of what looked like bread down on the filthy floor expecting us to grovel around and eat it. I’d buried my boot in the groin of the lead guard, and that put him in a less than talkative mood. He had jerked me up by my hair and thrown me across the full length of the cell in retaliation, in fact, which was taking me a moment or two to come back from.

I had heard Rakkur cry out, but by the time my vision finally cleared, my ears stopped ringing, and I’d wiped away most of the blood from a split lip, the guards had gone, slamming the door behind them. Rakkur was leaning over me, staring down with a worried look.

“Oh, thank the gods, I thought they’d kill you. You have to stop fighting them, Jago. It’s only making them worse.”

That was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but I nodded to humor him. “Take your own advice then, please, Rakkur. You have to think of the child.”

“I know.” His eyes welled up with tears that I knew he hated. The hormones were making him so emotional now and he’d been complaining about it. Though I thought he had plenty of reason to be emotional at the moment.

“All right, look,” I said. “Don’t upset yourself. Try to rest until they get back. Maybe they’ll tell us what they want with us then.”

He’d leaned back against the wall beside me, but he’d sighed, and I knew he was worried sick.

“We already know what they want, don’t we? No one else was taken but us. They know who we are, and they’ve taken us as hostages.”

“Then they need to start treating us better. But let’s not borrow trouble. We’ll wait and see. In the meantime, try to sit over there and rest.”

He nodded and I went back to pacing up and down the length of the cell and worrying for both of us.

I knew for sure by now that these were no pirates. I was sure that they were Pton, who had been the aforementioned “big threat,” though personally, I had always thought they should be the ones quaking in their boots at the idea of facing the Axis and my formidable grandfather, King Davos, not to mention his son, the Bloody Prince.

Of course, none of this occurred to me then, as I was too busy staring at the Pton soldiers who had just walked back into the cell. I thought this might be it and they were there to kill us, so I pulled the knife I kept strapped to my ankle, the one they’d completely overlooked before throwing us in this cell. But before I could swing it at them, the tall alien in front of the others launched himself at me and grabbed my hair again, like it was a handle. He whipped it around his fist, yanked me to the floor, and put a knee on my chest to sneer down at me, gibbering at me in that incomprehensible language of his. During the various struggles with the guards, my hair had come unpinned, and it had been getting on my nerves, hanging across my face and sliding around my shoulders whenever I moved. And now this bastard was using it to control me.

But I still had my hand on the other knife I’d strapped to my thigh, so I whipped it out and buried it in his neck as he screamed in agony and slapped me hard across my face. Some vein or artery was spurting, so when his eyes rolled back in his head, I shoved his unresisting body off me and rolled to the side just in time to meet the fist of another guard who had come running in. This time, I got hit so hard, I was stunned by the blow. I waited for them to kill me, but no killing blow ever came.

Maybe Rakkur was right, and I should just stop fighting them. My omak said I had a penchant for violence, which he blamed on my father, Renard, and he probably wasn’t wrong. The General was well known for his temper, but so were all my uncles and cousins, not to mention both sets of grandparents. I think a bad temper was well represented on all sides.

It was freezing cold in this cell they’d thrown us into, just this side of bearable. Rakkur started shivering, and I thought it might be from nerves, though it could be his human sensitivities to the cold. At least we were still together. It would be nice to have some company on what could be the last moments of my life. The soldiers stood there glaring down at us, looking mean and antagonistic, and I took Rakkur’s hand in mine. I figured if this was it, then we had to try and die well.

They say your life flashes before you in such a time, and maybe it’s true. I did think of my parents and how they would feel when they heard the news.

Then the cell door suddenly clanged open with a bang and a man strode in and stood by the door sneering down at me. Two more guards crowded in behind him and all of them stared at us.

I tossed my hair back over my shoulder. “Gods, what is it now? Go ahead and shoot us if you’re going to or else leave us alone.”

“Shh,” Rakkur, who had scrambled up to his knees beside me, whispered fiercely, squeezing my hand. “Don’t. Stop taunting them.”

The new alien pulled off the kerchief from around his forehead and threw it to the one I’d stabbed in the neck, so he could staunch the blood, I guess. And I gasped. I couldn’t help it.

After all, I’d never seen a devil before in real life.

My omak, Anarr, practiced the Tygerian religion, though the General and I didn’t actually practice much of anything at all. In that religion, there was no such personage as the actual devil, though there were various demons. In my grandfather Blake’s religion, however, there definitely was a main devil called Satan, and the old Bible stories he used to tell me were what I immediately thought of when I looked at this newcomer. The horns were a dead giveaway.

They were black and cut off to a kind of nub right past the hairline. His hair was long and black and looked like it had rarely seen a comb before in its life. The man had pale skin, marred only by some green scales, which covered one entire arm—along with a large patch in the same color that angled down from his jaw but was soon lost under his sleeveless vest. I hadn’t noticed scales on any of these other jokers.

After staring at us for a few seconds, he lifted his nose in the air and sniffed at us, which I thought was rather extraordinary. He thought we smelled, huh? He should get a whiff of himself.

He reached down and jerked the front of my robe into his hand and dragged me out the door to the corridor outside. I could hear Rakkur protesting loudly behind me, but the guards had swarmed over to block him from trying to help.

Once outside, I was shoved against a wall, and the devil person leaned in close.

“What are you?” he demanded, in a growly voice. This time he was speaking heavily accented Tygerian. His breath smelled of some spicy food he’d recently eaten.

“I might ask the same of you,” I said, jerking away from his hands and trying to sound bored. I still felt like I might be only moments from death, so why not?

His lips quirked as he continued to stare at me. “No, I mean I don’t recognize your species. Neither of you is Tygerian. And you both look like a cross between male and female.”

I just continued to stare at him, feeling highly insulted, and he frowned. “Answer me!” he shouted, little specks of spittle flying from the corners of his mouth. I gave him back the same frown he’d graced me with.

“You didn’t ask me a fucking question yet!” I yelled back at him, channeling the General more than a little by using Earthan curse words. General Renard had colorful language, after being captured by the Alliance during the war and spending a year or so in a cell with an Alliance marine. I wasn’t sure where Blake got his curse words from, though they were similar, but I had picked them up from both of them, because sometimes those words seemed to fit every occasion.

“Who. Are. You?” he shouted again, shoving his face a few menacing inches closer.

“Who are you ?”

He scowled at me but surprised me by answering. “My name is Major Aelius. Now tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“Who and what you are,” he shouted, getting way too excited in my opinion.

“I’m Jago Ballenescu, and I’m a Second Lieutenant in His Majesty’s Royal Guard. My serial number is 65497543. That’s all you’re getting from me—name, rank and serial number.”

I was lying, of course. I didn’t have either rank or serial number, and I sure wasn’t in the Royal Guard, but I didn’t owe this asshole a damn thing, so fuck him.

“What is this? Why do you refuse to answer my questions?”

“My name, rank and serial number are all you’re getting out of me, so fuck off.”

“What does that mean, this ‘fuck off?’ What are you talking about? And why did you ask me to repeat my question if you had no intention of answering?”

“Jago Ballenescu. Second Lieutenant, 65497543.”

“And now you’re saying it again.” He rolled his eyes and shoved himself closer to me.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” he asked me.

I raised my chin in the air. “No, and what’s more, I don’t give a fuck.”

“What is that word you keep using?”

He snatched me up by the front of my robe and struck me hard across the face. Then he immediately dropped me, when a hoarse and menacing voice echoed down the corridor behind him, calling his name. He looked as if someone had struck him, and we both immediately whirled around to face the newcomer. Whoever the new guy was, he scared the shit out of my tormentor, so I already approved. The man fell to his knees, prostrating himself on the floor, and as I gazed up at the new man, I could see why.

He was…magnificent.

Tall—even taller than the rest of them—and powerfully built. He had horns too, but his were a burnished gold color and not cut off like these other men. They were maybe six inches long and curled back over his head, disappearing into his thick, wavy, dark hair. His skin wasn’t pale at all, but golden tan and his eyes were an extraordinary shade of green, which matched the scales that swirled down one side of his throat in an intricate pattern before disappearing inside his shirt. He looked young, though he was older than I was.

He walked past the man on the floor with a sharp, one-word rebuke, spoken in his language. Then he was walking up to me and gazing down at me with interest. “What is your name?” he asked in perfect Tygerian, his voice soft and a bit sibilant.

“I am Jago Ballenescu, Sec…”

“Second Lieutenant, 65497543. Yes, yes, I heard you say.” His lips quirked. “Quite a mouthful. Is that your everyday name or do you only use it on special occasions?”

“It’s my name, rank and serial number, but you’ll get nothing more out of me. Not even if you torture me!”

“Oh, I see. Then will you at least answer the major’s question and tell us your species and whether or not you’re male or female?”

I bared my teeth at him instead of answering and growled. I was small but I thought this man was being deliberately insulting. He smiled, though, lifting an eyebrow in inquiry. “I’m getting the definite impression that you prefer not to answer.” He held out a hand to me to help me off the floor. I rolled my eyes to show him I spurned his offer, and scrambled back up to my feet by myself, rubbing the side of my face.

“Are you injured? Do you need medical aid?”

I made a scoffing sound that made his smile broader.

“I’ll ask again. Are you male or female?”

“Why would you ask me such a stupid thing? It should be obvious.”

“Ah, but you see, it really isn’t. We were told you’d be royal princes. Or that was our understanding. Now that we have you on our ship, we see that you present yourself as a female, with your long hair and this dress you’re wearing.”

“It’s not a fucking dress! It’s a robe. The sapphire robe of a Tygerian royal.”

“Ah. What about the one captured with you, who wears men’s clothing but seems to be having a child? Like a female. Both of you are small and very pretty, but he’s a different species than you. So you’re telling me neither of you are princesses?”

I scowled at him but didn’t answer. Fuck him. Princesses, my ass.

He smiled over at one of his companions. “It seems I have to ascertain the gender for myself. Ah, the sacrifices I make for my country.”

He moved on me so fast then that I couldn’t react, or even get out of the way in time. I was so surprised, I went willingly, or at least I didn’t resist too much as he pushed me against the wall. He was so strong that it wouldn’t have helped me if I had. He was quite a bit larger than I was, so I let him do what he wanted.

I’d never been touched by a man before—not intimately, and I thought I might be perilously close to having it finally happening. I felt hot all over and little sparks were shooting off inside me at the idea of it, but at the same time, I was alarmed. This close, he had a scent that was strange and exotic and oddly inviting—like some kind of spice but unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. My breath was gusting out of me, and he stopped to look down at me.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to find out for myself.”

I gasped and thought, if my omak knew what was happening to me, he’d be appalled. He’d kept me innocent, just like his omak Blake had always kept him. This beautiful, powerful man was crowding me, pushing his hardness against me, and it seemed like nobody was going to stop him. Certainly not me.

“I-I’m not afraid of you,” I said, maybe trying to make myself believe it too.

He leaned closer, bracing his hands on either side of me now, holding my wrists and boxing me in. He looked down into my eyes and shook his head, murmuring to me in a soft voice.

“You shouldn’t be. As I said, I don’t intend to hurt you. But what are you?” he said again, pushing his body against mine and burying his face in my throat. “Tell me.”

“I-I could ask you the same question.”

He laughed softly, pulling one hand away and moving it over my flat stomach. He made an appreciative noise as his hand moved down and he groped me thoroughly. His other hand suddenly found its way up under my robe, baring my legs to anyone who wanted to see.

I let him press his wicked, lush lips against mine as he continued to fondle me, and I never resisted at all. I’d never had feelings such as he was causing me to have, and I didn’t know what to do with them. His kiss was aggressive and dominant, but he never really hurt me in any way. He was gentle and careful, almost as if he knew this might be my first kiss. My first everything.

He was so close to me that I could feel a hard ridge of flesh pressing against me, and I groaned at the same time he did. He slipped his tongue inside my mouth and my knees went out. His arm slipped around my waist, holding me up, as he brushed his lips against my ear.

“Sweet,” I thought I heard him say.

I moaned, afraid I would disgrace myself if he didn’t stop moving his hand, and he whispered to me again. “Gods, they had no business letting you out of their sight.”

His tongue began to probe at my lips, seeking entry again, but just as I opened up for him, a voice behind us made him quickly pull his hand away and straighten up. He held onto me though, and it was a good thing. His hand around my waist was all that was keeping me on my feet.

“Your Excellency, I’m sorry to disturb you…”

“Then don’t,” he snapped at someone behind him, never moving from in front of me. I buried my face against him, feeling the surprisingly soft, warm scales on his throat.

“Go away.”

“Yes, Excellency,” the soldier replied, and I heard him and the guards who had been with him scurry back down the corridor. The man who’d been fondling me gazed down right into my eyes, like he was searching for something, and I couldn’t read his expression.

I knew I should be furious. I’m sure I was supposed to be. So my pride made me say the first thing that came to mind. I tipped my chin up defiantly at him. It might have even worked if my words hadn’t come out so soft and breathless.

“Another minute or so of that and you’d have to marry me, sir.”

He smiled as he took his hand away from my groin and continued to gaze down at me.

“You have male genitals, but I think I need to inspect them more carefully later on just to be sure.”

“T-the hells you will.”

“Is that phrase supposed to express doubt? You and your friend in there are spoils of war now…little Prince. You’re my bounty and my hostages. You belong to me, and I’ll do with both of you just as I please. You may as well get used to that.”