Sons of Lyra: Slave Princess (2 page)

Clearly she didn’t
understand. He growled in frustration and she flinched, curling up
into a ball. He didn’t have time for this. He wanted to be out of
this system as soon as possible. There was no time for fooling
around with translators and women.

He grabbed her, restrained
her arms, and carried her through the room and into the bathroom.
He dumped her down under the shower and turned it on, keeping hold
of the chain that connected to the collar around her
neck.

She hunched up, the warm
water bouncing off her and plastering her hair against her
face.

“
Wash,” he said
and she gave him a confused look. He ran his fingers through his
hair, cursed under his breath, and then leaned towards her.
“Wash!”

He grabbed the soap dust
and shoved it into her hand.

She still looked
confused.

Hadn’t she ever showered
before? The amount of dirt on her said she probably hadn’t. He
wondered what she looked like underneath all that filth. Taking
some of the dust, he ran it under the water a moment, until it
became a gel and swelled up. He took a deep breath and then applied
it to her shoulder. She tried to get away from him, dragging him
into the shower and dousing him. He growled and tugged on the
chain, wrapping it around his hand until she was forced to remain
near him.

He rubbed a patch of her
shoulder with the gel and was surprised when pale skin was
revealed.

“
Wash,” he
said, glancing into her eyes to make sure she understood now. He
took her hand and poured some of the dust onto it. It swelled up.
She stared at it and then her gaze followed his hand and hers as he
made her wash herself. “Wash.”

She swallowed and
nodded.

He was getting somewhere
at least. He released his tight grip on her chain, letting it go
slack.

His eyes widened when she
stripped off her little tan coloured top and he turned his back on
her. He stared at the far wall, trying to erase the sight of her
round breasts from his mind. His cock twitched and his eyes slid to
the mirror on the wall. She’d turned her back too. He struggled to
keep his breathing level while he watched her washing, the soap
suds skimming down the luscious curve of her bare back.

Dropping the chain, he
left the bathroom and went straight to the door. He needed to get
out of this system. He hated these backwater ports.

He closed the door to her
room and locked it from the outside so she couldn’t escape. He’d
get one of the female officers to tend to her and bring her food
and clothes. The less he had to do with her the better. At the
first available and half-decent planet, he’d drop her off with a
few gold Lynans and she’d be out of his life.

He walked up to the bridge
and issued the order to leave as soon as they had everything
onboard.

Before a handful of
minutes had passed, they had blasted out of the atmosphere and were
heading into deep space. It was several days journey to the nearest
imperial army space station. Hopefully they could find somewhere to
set the girl down en route. He didn’t want to have to explain about
her to the admirals at the space station. He’d be the laughing
stock of the fleet. His brothers would never let it go.

He handed out orders to
the crew on the bridge and then walked down the corridor towards
the mess hall. The moment he entered, he looked around for a female
crew member. There was only one. He recognised her as one of the
co-pilots.

“
You,” he said
and stormed towards her. “I presume word has spread quickly and
you’re aware that we picked up more than spare parts at that
port?”

She nodded, her eyes
showing her smile even when her lips weren’t. He was already the
laughing stock of his crew. Great. By Iskara’s wings, the
scientific institute were in for a beating.

“
She’s in the
room by cargo bay three. Take some water to her, get her some
clothes, do whatever needs to be done. Lock the door on your way
out.” He turned away before the woman had a chance to protest and
went to his quarters.

The door slid shut behind
him with a sigh and he walked across the room to his desk. He
slumped into his chair, wiped his hands over his face as though
that action alone could erase all his stress, and then pressed the
button to open the shutters across the window. The black of deep
space greeted him, comforting and reassuring as always. It was just
a few days, possibly even less.

He poured himself a glass
of sapphire blue Lyran Aquan, the strongest liqueur in the Lyra
system, and leaned back into his seat.

His thoughts drifted to
the woman.

Would she understand when
he dumped her on some planet where she didn’t know
anyone?

Perhaps he should talk to
her. She didn’t look Sekarian or Minervan, and she didn’t appear to
be a Lyran. She hadn’t spoken a word to him so it was hard to tell
where in the universe she came from. She could be from any one of
the humanoid species. He wondered if she’d talk to him even if he
tried to talk to her. Could she talk?

In Iskara’s name, how had
she got herself stuck in that port as a slave anyway?

He remembered the Minervan
and hoped that he wasn’t going to be trouble. Even with running
repairs to the ship, it was in no state for a battle. All he wanted
was a quiet trip back to the nearest space station for maintenance
and a break. It had been three months since they’d left Lyra Seven,
the outermost planet in the system, and they’d faced nothing but
battle after battle. He was weary of them now, and longing for the
stretching blue skies and warm volcanic baths of his home
world.

A little pampering
wouldn’t go amiss either.

Sometimes he thought his
eldest brother, Sebastian, had things right. Stay at home on Lyra
Prime and live a life of luxury and safety.

Other times, he wanted
nothing more than to embrace the adventure and excitement that
being a captain in the Lyran Imperial Army offered him.

Today, he just wanted to
shut himself away until everything blew over, everything including
the woman.

The door intercom
buzzed.

“
What is it?”
he hollered.

“
Sir,” a female
voice came through the speaker and he realised it was the woman
he’d sent to check on their new guest. “I think you should come and
see this.”

He frowned, downed his
drink, and was on his feet before she’d even finished her sentence.
He opened the door and stared hard at her. He just wanted a quiet
life.

“
See what?” he
said and then realised that the woman was holding her arm. There
was a gash in the sleeve of her tight blue flight suit and he could
see blood. “What happened?”

The woman looked at her
arm and then back at him. “It seems she doesn’t like me,
sir.”

“
What did you
do?” he said, unable to believe that such a slight girl could have
inflicted so much damage without intense provocation.

“
I offered her
some clothes... that’s all. She took the water I gave, but when I
tried to get her to dress, she turned wild. I had to run out of the
door... she...”

“
Enough,” he
said and walked past her, striding down through the corridors
towards the woman’s room. He’d find out firsthand what the problem
was. It was time he had a little talk with his slave girl. “Get me
two translators, quickly.”

The woman nodded and broke
away from him.

He opened the door to the
girl’s room and entered cautiously, his hand resting over his
pistol. He flicked the dial down so it would only stun her if he
was forced to use it. He didn’t want to. Judging by the scars on
her body, she’d suffered enough for several lifetimes. There was no
need for him to add to her trauma unless she became life
threatening.

The door closed behind
him.

He scanned the room. There
was no sign of her. The place was a mess. The blue silk covers had
been torn off the double bed, the pillows tossed across the room.
One of them had been split open, spilling the fine Friskin feathers
inside. He edged further into the room. The table and chairs were
tipped over. The vase near the window had been smashed, littering
blue glass across the pale grey floor. He leaned to the side and
peered towards the bathroom. She had to be in there. There was
nowhere else for her to hide.

His steps were slow and
measured, his breathing level and steady as he approached the
bathroom. He pressed his back into the wall that separated the room
from the corridor outside and slid towards the bathroom door. It
opened to reveal an even bigger mess than was in the main room.
Everything was scattered across the white glass floor—towels,
beauty products, even what little clothing she’d been wearing
before. Shards of the mirror created a dangerous assault course.
The soap dust container had been left in the wet of the shower and
had turned into a gelatinous blob. There was blood on the floor. He
presumed it belonged to the poor woman he’d sent in to tend to the
girl. The broken mirror explained how she’d got the cut. The girl
must have used it as a weapon.

He eased inside the small
room and frowned when he saw her.

She was curled up in the
corner holding her knees to her chest. The chain attached to her
collar snaked across the floor towards him, the end near his
foot.

“
Are you
alright?” he said and she tensed, pulling her knees tighter against
her chest. She looked so incredibly tiny.

Her black hair hid her
face. Her skin was milky now that she was clean, tainted only by
pinkish scars that hadn’t healed yet.

“
Are you
alright?” He tried again. She buried her face into her knees and
turned away so her side was facing him.

She couldn’t understand
him. She probably thought he was coming back to do all the terrible
things to her that the Sekarian had spoken of. He crouched down
near the door, keeping his distance. He had to get her out of the
bathroom and dressed. There was no way he could have a conversation
with her until she was in a decent state of dress. He’d never be
able to concentrate and he would definitely give her the wrong
impression, especially if his body kept reacting as it was now. He
stifled his urges and stood.

Moving across the room,
the shattered mirror pieces splintered under his heavy boots,
crunching against the glass floor tiles.

The second he went to
touch her arm, she launched herself at him, scratching down his
face and pushing him backwards into the shower area of the room. He
slipped on the wet tiles and went crashing to the ground. She
bolted.

He was on his feet before
she could make it halfway across the main room and grabbed her
around the waist, lifting her off the floor. Her legs flailed,
catching him hard in the crotch and killing any urges he might have
had. He gritted his teeth, swallowed hard and tightened his grip on
her.

She elbowed him in the
face.

He threw her onto the bed
and grappled with her until he was sitting astride her hips with
his hands pinning hers to the bed.

She breathed hard and
screwed her face up as she struggled again, trying to break
free.

His eyes raked over her
against his will. Her breasts heaved as she breathed and he tried
to look away from them but couldn’t. They were so tempting—luscious
mounds peaked with hard dusky nipples. The door opened.

He looked across the room
to see his first lieutenant standing in the doorway with the female
co-pilot he’d sent to get the translators.

“
I thought
there might be trouble,” the woman said in a quiet voice, a stunned
look on her face.

That stunned look was
echoed on his first lieutenant’s face.

He knew how bad it looked.
He was kneeling astride a naked woman after all. How good could it
look?

“
Just hurry up
with those,” he said to his first lieutenant when he saw the man
was holding the translators.

The man hurried over to
him and put the small device into his ear for him, and then into
the woman’s.

“
Now leave,” he
said and was thankful when they did.

The woman looked up at him
with wide green eyes. They sparkled at him. Beautiful.

“
If I let go,
will you behave yourself?” he said, hoping the translator would
pick up her language when she spoke.

“
I can
understand you,” she said with an air of disbelief.

“
The thing he
put in your ear is a translator. If I let you go?”

“
Yes,” she
whispered and he released her. He went to the clothes that lay on
the floor and picked them up.

“
Put these on.”
He tossed them across the room to her and kept his back
turned.

He tapped his toe
impatiently and stared at the dull grey wall while she dressed. She
was taking a long time. He wondered if it had been a while since
she’d worn clothes.

“
Done,” she
said and he turned back around to look at her.