She took a couple of steps back, her movement an effortless glide over the smooth stone. Now she began to assess and contemplate him as a whole, her blue-black eyes making it easy to follow where she was studying him from one moment to the next. Vejhon was overcome by a mixture of confusing emotions as her gaze moved liked a warm, physical touch over his skin. Impotent fury, total bafflement, and now an unexpected response of pride and stimulation as he watched the contented pleasure that altered her expression. She was vastly satisfied with his body, according to that look, and for some reason he was glad of it. So much so that, as her eyes stroked toward his groin, his cock began to respond to her inspection. Vejhon cursed himself for the hot-blooded reaction, not understanding how he could betray himself by growing hard before someone who had bought him. He most certainly was not going to perform for this woman like the good little slave boy behind her. Gods only knew what all of Najir’s duties entailed. He probably fucked her pretty brains out twice daily, getting hard on command just as he had been trained to do.
Like a pet. Sit. Stay. Fuck.
His disgust and anger at the thought helped him get his body back under his control. For the moment. She was looking dead into his eyes again now and he knew she was fully aware of his momentary response. After all, he was chained naked to the damn wall; it was pretty hard to hide. What he didn’t understand is why she didn’t gloat or take obvious pleasure in the small victory over him. This was a war. They were going to be battling one another for some time to come, didn’t she see that?
“Very well,” she said at last. “Let’s start with the basics. What is your name?”
“Colonel Vejhon Mach, commander of the Valiant Forces in the army of Wite.”
“Here you are only Vejhon,” she said, actually sounding regretful. “Perhaps Jhon for short, if you like it.”
“Why do you bother asking me my opinion on things after you remind me that I have no choice to begin with!” Vejhon rattled his bonds, shuddering with outrage and straining toward his captor as though force of will alone would free him. “You’ll call me what you want to call me and you won’t give a damn what I think of it!”
Her dark eyes watched him, looking almost a little sad, until suddenly she moved forward and came right up to him. She reached out, her hands graceful and elegantly manicured, her slightly pointed nails painted to match her gown. Vejhon was completely taken off guard, not only that she went to touch him in spite of his rage, but because her light blue skin gave him the false illusion that she would be cold to the touch.
Instead, as her fingertips skimmed his temples and her palms moved to cup his face, he found her to be incredibly warm. She smelled of a rich perfume, something probably blended solely for her that enhanced both scent and pheromones. It reminded him of the aromas of chocolate and sex, a deadly sweet combination both sultry and inviting.
She moved close, her body near enough to radiate warmth against him. She angled his head to assure he was looking down into her eyes. “Things”—she breathed softly against him—“are not always what we assume. I would think as a trained warrior you would know this.” He felt her thumb stroke over his lower lip, the caress so oddly disturbing to him in its intimacy. She felt as though she were radiating into him, like a sun he must soak in for warmth and life. His rage, so pure and powerful only a moment ago, dissipated like an out-washing tide.
“Vejhon, I’m sorry your life was taken from you. I regret so deeply what you have lost in the process of ending up here. However, if you can bring yourself to accept that you can have a new life here with us, I promise you it will be just as fulfilling if not more so than that which you have left behind.”
“If you regret it so badly,” he countered roughly, “then why not simply send me back? Why do you do this? You perpetuate this misery when you buy flesh off of peddlers like some bauble or a new dress! You make the market that encourages them to steal people from their worlds and lives! From their families!”
“I did not make this market, Jhon, and even if I never bought another slave, it would not impact a trade spanning thousands of cultures on dozens of worlds.”
“One less culture on one less world can be a beginning to an end,” he rasped in frustration.
“Oh, I have no doubt of that,” she agreed. “But we are discussing one slave, in one household, in one room at the moment. When you were taken from your world, your captors injected you with a pestilent deterrent. A dormant genetic virus that, once it is released, cannot be recalled. This virus will only become active when brought into contact with something common and uniquely indigenous to your homeworld. If you ever step foot on your planet again, you will die within hours of doing so. So when I say you cannot go back, I am not speaking with my personal gain in mind.”
He had known this. He had been told this again and again, from captor to captor, as they encouraged him to give up his fight to be free and return to the world he loved and defended. But he had never believed them.
He believed her.
It struck him like a physical blow, sucking all the oxygen out of his body.
“It is a cruel practice, as is a great deal of what slave traders do to others like you. I do not deny that.” Vejhon felt her stroking him along his temples, the caress soothing the shock from his system. She leaned in and gently touched her mouth to his, kissing him softly. It was completely non-sexual, like a sister or a mother might do to comfort a loved one. It only made his head ring with more confusion, even though it eased him physically. “I will make you this promise, Vejhon,” she murmured. “If you invest your trust in me, I will help you to become a part of your new world. I will help you replace what you have lost as best I am able.”
“I have lost my freedom, my Lady,” he growled, stressing the title with contempt. “Will you replace that?”
“As best as I am able,” she agreed with a nod, amazing him with the sincerity she managed to put behind the vague remark.
“How stupid do you think I am?” he bit out, jerking his head out of her hands since it was the only thing he was truly free enough to do. “Your approach is sweet as sugar, but your promises are as bitter and incomplete as a wine turned to vinegar.”
She stepped away from him the instant he began to balk against her touch, and Vejhon tried not to miss the warmth of her closeness to his bare skin. The ambient temperature of the room kept him from being chilled, but her absence made him want to shiver nonetheless. Yet another reaction he couldn’t understand any more than he could control it.
“Very well,” she said with resignation and a sigh. “We shall have to come about this by a more difficult route.”
“Lady, if you thought this was going to be easy, then you aren’t near as smart as I thought you were.”
The insult did not affect her, but it certainly didn’t sit well with her boy toy behind her. The other slave was clearly so inured and enamored of his mistress that he took offense whenever she was insulted and threatened. How had she taken a man of such obvious power and managed to mold him into this disgusting display of obedient loyalty? Vejhon couldn’t escape the tendril of dread working through him that told him that if he didn’t entrench himself against this woman with every last cell of resistance and strength in his body, looking at Najir was as good as looking at himself in the future.
“Najir, you are dismissed.”
3
The directive was soft spoken and almost matter of fact. Yet, Vejhon watched with surprise as Najir hesitated to obey his mistress as instantly as he had been doing up until then. Clearly he feared for her safety and disliked the idea of leaving her alone with a barbarian warrior who insulted her, with one who would not care anything about her health or safety should the opportunity to escape arise.
“Najir?”
A simple name spoken, but the layers of tone and intent within it radiated from the single word. It was a scold and a reassurance all at once. There