Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) (27 page)

“I thought I had a
family history of crazy from each generation to the next, a taint in my blood
that bred true.  Turns out it is just one man living forever.”  He turned back
to her and smiled without humor.  “Maybe there is hope for me after all.”

“And your sister.  He
will come for you both again, maybe not for a while but he still sees you both
as his to play with.  Eventually he will want to test you again.”

“Is that what he was
doing?  Testing me?”

Danika sighed, and then
moved carefully to lay her head on his shoulder and close her eyes.  “I think
that is all he does, plays his games and experiments, generation after
generation.  He will find others for a while, but from what I saw in the old lady’s
head, I think his own children are his preferred subjects.  He fears you so he
experiments on himself to make himself stronger.  I do not think he will come
for you again for many years, not unless he has an edge.  But I fear for our
children, should we have any, and your sister.  Eventually he will come for
her.”

Lucan turned and kissed
her forehead, staying there to smell her hair and press his lips along her
skin.  “Then we will make sure she is ready for him when he comes for her.”  He
rubbed his lips across her hair line, and ran his hand up behind her ear to
grasp the hair at her nape.  He leaned back.  “I evicted all of the moneyed
lords and ladies from PortSea.”

She blinked at the
change of subject, and then narrowed her eyes.  “Danvers?”

“And all of his ilk. 
It is likely that neither of his children survived the space station self-destruct
and he is claiming no knowledge of their actions.”

Danika thought of Briar
and the painful way she faced the end of her life.  She winced.  “My truth sense?”

“Unnecessary.  He would
be gone in any case.  I grow tired of their back stabbing and grand standing. 
I have offered the crew of the Jezebel a home port here, and Barnos and his
people as well.  They get their choice of all the fancy homes that now sit
vacant on the other islands.   It will give them and us a level of protection,
since my broth . . . my father is still out there.  They can conduct their
business as they see fit, and then return to the safety of PortSea.”

Danika smiled, then
kissed him full on the lips.  One side of his lips tipped up. “You like the
idea.”

“Yes,” she said her
eyes lighting, “I will have friends.”

He brushed his thumb down
her cheek.  “Most of the merchant pods will leave with no business to conduct. 
We will have visits periodically to resupply, but market square will be a small
smattering of the natives and service people.”

She smiled bigger.  “Are
you telling me I won’t have to shop?”

Lucan laughed at the
hopefulness behind the question.  “I suppose I am.”

She sighed through her
smile.  “Lovely.”

This time when he
kissed her he did it laughing, and then Danika lost herself for a while in his
lips and tongue, the sound of the ocean outside their open doors, and the fresh
scent of the sea on their skin.

Tolan Lark was
surprised to get an icom request from Barnos while he was resupplying the
Fire.  “You have a reason for wanting on my ship, pirate?” he asked mildly
still checking his supplies, his back to the room a subtle insult.

“Well, I am a man who
cannot walk away from a riddle,” Barnos said in his usual overloud voice.  “So,
I said to myself, why not just ask the kitty cat what he was doing on the space
shuttle while the rest of us sliced and diced cyborgs? So here I am, asking.” 

There was no bite to
the words that he could hear, and he turned to the other man and sized him up. 
He was surprised to discover he liked him, despite the overloud way he talked
and his brashness.  The pirate had the ability to be almost as irritating as he
was, and that was saying something.  Shakien cats liked to play with their
prey, so it was a trait they admired in others.  He decided to answer the
question without prevarication, or at least too much of it.

“I have been trying to
end the death games for years.  I have been unsuccessful in that endeavor as it
has been impossible to find them.  They were rumored to be on a floating space
station, whereabouts by invitation only.  I discovered recently that it was Cor
Warrung behind the games.”

“And?”  Barnos boomed
out the question, making his sensitive Shakien ears ring.  He winced.

“And nothing.  There were
signs of past activity, but it was obvious that Warrung has since moved the
games.  No one was there.  The place was deserted.”

“So, Warrung has
another station,” Barnos murmured, rubbing his stubbled chin so that Tolan
could hear the bristle twanging there.  Again he winced.  The man was an
affront to all his senses without even trying, but his next words were
interesting.  “So, Cor Warrung still has his money maker, and with the
destruction of his home station, he will be looking to recoup.”  Barnos slapped
his thighs and stood up.  “Well, guess we know what we have to do.”  Barnos’
loud voice echoed in the quite of the Fire.
 “When do we start?”

“Excuse me?” Tolan Lark
said, wondering when he lost all control of the conversation.

The big burly pirate
actually whopped him across the back in some kind of weird showing of
camaraderie, and worse, Tolan felt himself shift under the power of that fist. 
“We have to find these death games and take them down.”

Tolan Lark blinked, and
for the first time that he could remember, he was at a loss for words.  He
could only find one.  “We?”

The big pirate smiled
at him.  It was the scariest thing he had ever seen on a full human.  “We.”

<<<<>>>>