Watcher's Web (28 page)

What
the. . . ?

Jessica pushed
an elbow under her. Her stomach gave a protesting growl, bringing
with it a surge of bile. Sweaty skin puckered into gooseflesh as a
heavy and warm weight slid off her thigh: a male arm, which
twitched with her movement.

Daya. His
eyelids relaxed and closed, his long eyelashes arranged in perfect
sliver-moon crescents. Bluish light silvered the curve of his
shoulder, moving slowly up-down-up-down with his deep breaths.

A black tattoo
of thorned branches encircled his upper arm. She hadn’t seen that
last night. Then again, she hadn’t seen much at all.

Hell, she
didn’t remember half of what had happened last night. Only shards
of images and fragments of conversation. They had gone inside the
house, where a group of Pengali silently retreated. Daya had
offered her a drink. The blue stuff was called zixas and its acrid
smell hit her face like a cloud of chloroform. He had downed it in
one gulp. Laughing with the effects of his maddening scent, she had
tried to copy him, but the stuff was so strong she couldn’t help
coughing. He had licked the coughed-up splatters from her face and
chest. Hell, when had her shirt disappeared? It lay in the dust on
the floor.

The images.
There was something about images they shared. Images in his mind,
and hers. Something about soaring through clouds and thundering
rivers, and her face, her hair backlit by golden sun.

How had she
ended up on her back on the mattress, his skin sweaty against
hers?

She breathed
with him; her heart beat against his; his lips explored her naked
skin.

How
could this have happened?
I don’t even know who he is.

And what were
all the Pengali doing here, sleeping curled up on mats along the
walls?

A shiver went
through her.

She
reached for her tunic, but as the fabric unfolded, an empty bottle
tumbled out and rolled
clang, clang, clang
over the stone floor.

Shit.

Daya’s eyelids
fluttered and opened. He looked around, confused, and smiled as his
eyes met hers. Warmth flooded through her. Not her warmth.

That’s how it
happened. His mind addled hers. His smell clouded her senses. His
blue drink had completed the task. She’d been his for the taking,
and he had taken her.

He pulled her
closer. His mouth still tasted of that vile liquid. She wanted to
push him away, but stroked his hair instead. Soft, gorgeous.

If he noticed
the confusion in her, he didn’t show it. His lips glistened when he
broke the kiss. “Let’s get dressed and go.”

Jessica
stiffened and wanted to ask
go where?
But she was afraid of waking up the Pengali. She scrambled
to her feet and yanked on her tunic.

Even the
corridor was full of Pengali, sleeping two or three to a mat.
Seeing them brought uncomfortable memories. The Pengali featured in
the happenings of last night. They’d come in,
worshipped
her; they had
watched.
In the dark, Jessica stepped across legs and bundles of
clothes. Somewhere outside, a gutter overflowed.

Daya opened
the door to the courtyard.

Raindrops made
concentric circles in puddles. Clouds scudded over the city like
grey-purple fluffs of cotton wool.

The door
rolled shut behind them.

Only then did
Jessica dare speak. “Where are we going?”

“Out of here.”
He sloshed through the puddles. “I have a unit at Hedron. You can
stay with me.”

A feeling of
discomfort crept over her. “But I need a permit. That’s why I
haven’t been able to leave so far. I was going to—”

“Don’t worry
about permits. I’ve got an override code.”

“
You . . .” Jessica gulped. This was all
going way too fast for her. She still didn’t understand the rules
that kept her here.
If there were any such rules at all.
Her brain felt as thick as porridge. That
damn drink.

Now at the
door into the alley, he beckoned. “Come on, let’s go. There won’t
be much time before we’re discovered. We really should have left
last night, but . . .” A sheepish grin crossed his
face. God, he looked gorgeous like that. His scent, the love in his
eyes, the warmth in her mind that possessed her, soothed
her . . .

She shook it
away and clamped her arms around herself. Get real. A man who said
he’d known her all her life, but had never talked to her, who said
he knew her parents, but lied to them, and then fed her some sort
of drug so he could sleep with her.

He spoke in a
whisper. “Come. I love you so much it hurts. I’ve waited so long
for this moment.”

“Then why
didn’t you tell me before?”

“You don’t
accept the apology I gave yesterday?”

Jessica
couldn’t remember an apology, just a lot of talk about things he
had done wrong; a lifetime covered in five minutes before that
smell had overwhelmed her senses.

He tugged her
arm. “Please come. If we’re to get out of here before anyone finds
you—”

Anyone. The
soldiers—Iztho, who was going to help her get Union citizenship and
then go home. The Pengali and the keihu women who still had a story
and knowledge to share. “Leave? Just like this?”

“Yes.”

“And can you
take me home, too?”

“Your home is
with me. Now come.”

“And then
what?” Where did he get the idea that because of one night spent
together—

“We’ll discuss
it later, when we’re out of here.”

“No—now. I
want to know what’s going on. You . . . took advantage of
me. You gave me this blue stuff that made me all dizzy and—”

He held out
his hands. “Don’t you feel the bond of kinship, the smell of
sharing, of being the same? Didn’t I share my memories in your
thoughts? Didn’t you ask me to take you? I didn’t fight you; you
wanted it, too.”

Memories of
his smell clouded her. Throwing back her head, casting sweaty hair
over her shoulders, while she sat astride him . . . She
shuddered. “I was drunk, for God’s sake.”

He crossed the
sodden courtyard and took her in his arms, stroking hair out of her
face. “I am still drunk. Drunk for you, drunk with happiness.”

While he
spoke, a string of memories assailed her: a metal door set in
stone, sliding the lid off the basin and finding the baby inside,
floating in a bath of green, his hands shaking as he dipped them in
the green fluid, her limp body enmeshed in arcs of life energy and
her piercing wail as she drew her first breath. That’s where he had
found her, and saved her, and hidden her away for his own use.

Clenching her jaw, Jessica gathered strands of energy and
pushed them down the mind link.
Stop that!
“And that is a reason to assume that I belong to you? Just
because you . . .” The words
raped me
were on her tongue, but he hadn’t really raped
her. This was something else, something much deeper than that, for
both of them. It scared her.

She stared up
into his eyes, their black depths swirling with longing. Just like
last night. She remembered his beastly cry of pleasure when he
spilled himself inside her. A cry of conquering, victory. Breath
tickled over her face. His earthy scent enveloped her before warm
lips met hers in a hungry kiss. For a moment, Jessica forgot her
objections. She pulled him closer, shivers of desire running down
her back.

He released
her, chest heaving. “We’ve got no time for this. You’ve got to
come. We’re in danger here.”

Jessica pushed
him away with all the strength she could muster. “See, you’re doing
it again!”

“Doing
what?”

God—he was so
addled he didn’t even notice. “Bewitching me with that smell. It
makes me want to . . .” Rip off her clothes, and
his, too. Throw him on the bed. Feel his tongue between her legs.
Hear his laughter. Be thrown on the floor. Scratch and hit and bite
him while he slammed deep into her. Revel in his conquering howl.
Again and again. Until she bled and he cried and begged for
forgiveness and they fell asleep in his other’s arms. And whatever
else had happened last night. No, it wasn’t rape; if anything, he
had more scratches and bruises than she did.

A look of
understanding came over his face. “It’s the scent. It’s hormonal
and it drives you mad. You’ll get used to it.”

And he
expected her to come with him? Like this? He’d kill her within
days, if she didn’t kill him first. “Please get away from me.”

He grabbed her
arm. “Come on! I swear you’ll get used to the scent. There is no
time for this. Miran is after us. I almost ended up a prisoner
there. Come with me before that Trader finds us here, or the
soldiers he’s sent. If they do they’ll lock us up, or kill us.”

Iztho, kill
her? “He told me they would take me home.”

“And you
believe his promises?”

“Why the hell
shouldn’t I?”

“Because I’ve
seen what the Mirani are doing. I’ve just come from there. They use
weapons powered by life energy. I saw it. I fired one. And they’re
using us to get the energy. Please, for the last time: come with
me.”

“
And
what do
you
want
with me?”

If he caught
her sarcasm, he didn’t show it. “We are Aghyrian. We can study our
ancestors’ knowledge, rebuild our civilisation, our cities, rebuild
our race. All of the other known Aghyrians are men. With you—”

Blood
rose to Jessica’s face. “So that’s what it’s all about? You’ve been
following me all these years because you want me to be your
breeding cow?”
Wait
until I tell you I’m infertile.

He stared at
her, his mouth open. When he spoke, his voice was soft.

“Oh. I should
have left you to be examined by researchers on Asto? Left you to
die a painful death like Ivedra? Or I should have left you to face
a prison sentence for Stephen Fitzgerald’s death? Is that what you
wanted?”

Jessica reeled
back, choking. “You did—what?”

“When that boy
died because you lost control—”

“He tried to
rape me.”

“
You
lost control. He died. You don’t want to know what I did to fix it
up. That boy’s insides were cooked. The parents demanded a
postmortem. I falsified
all of it.
”

“
You—what?” A wave of dizziness took hold of her. Deep
inside, she’d always known that she’d been responsible.
But I had no idea what I was
doing.
She felt the
blood draining from her face.

“Now come.
There won’t be another chance to escape.”

Jessica ducked
to escape his grasping hand. Was he going to hold the threat to
reveal her guilt over her head whenever she disagreed with him?

“Regardless of
what you think, you don’t own me. Leave me alone and stop bothering
me.”

She turned on
her heel and ran out the gate.

Chapter
24

J
ESSICA SPLASHED
through ankle-deep puddles, kicking up sprays of water. The high
walls and doors on either side of the alley blurred before her
eyes. It was so dark today; with the thick cloud cover, everything
ran into shades of grey and black.

She charged
around a corner, almost crashing into a group of Pengali. Although
they sported the short haircuts of domestic servants, males and
females wore only skirts and wreaths of white flowers.

One of them
held out a hand and whispered, “Anmi.”

For a moment,
Jessica felt like joining them in whatever they were celebrating,
shoving a wreath of flowers on her head, stripping off her sodden
clothes and dancing in the rain, showing her bruised and scratched
body for all to see.

See what
he has done to me? He only wants me to be his breeding
cow.

But it wasn’t
that simple. What he had done to her was deeper than that, and he
was still there, in the core of her mind, a seed that would once
more grow into passion, or violence. He was still listening.

And I
invited him in.
It
was the truth, and if she had a chance to go back in time, she
would do it again. She’d had no other choice. His maddening scent
still lingered in her clothes, begging her to go back. She
wanted
to go back.

Tears flooded
her eyes.

The Pengali
male extended his hand further.

“Oh, just
leave me alone.” Jessica ran on, down the street where more Pengali
were setting up food stalls. Others had put out baskets with
garlands made from white flowers. Others still had climbed up trees
and were hanging out decorations.

In the shops,
young keihu women tried on white dresses. Pengali females sat on
benches re-braiding each other’s hair.

Some major
festivity was in the works.

In her mind,
Jessica heard the thumping drums and the shouts and yells of the
Pengali tribe. A small circle cleared in the heaving mass of
striped and spotted bodies where a young male danced with Maire,
bodies intertwined, moving to the beat.

A hot rush
came over her.

. . . wet lips pushing hers apart, her hands sliding
over soft skin, feeling the V-shaped depression in his back
. . . his memories flowing through her while the earthy
scent of his body enveloped her . . .

She wanted him
so badly.

He only
wants to use me.

Jessica sank
down on the pavement in an alley, knees drawn up against her chest.
Water seeped into her underwear, the only place of her that was
still dry. She didn’t care. She buried her face in her hands but
tears wouldn’t come.