Two fought and struggled but he was no match for the huge Havoc. As Trin watched dispassionately, Thrace forced the third drink of passion berry wine past the other male’s thin, liver-colored lips. Then he clamped one broad palm over Two’s mouth and nose until, with a convulsive swallow, the wine went down Two’s skinny throat.
“Ahhh!” Two’s eyes rolled back in his head and he shivered all over, his skeletal frame quivering with what Trin hoped was unbearable pain.
Good, she thought. Let him suffer. I hope it hurts—hurts a hell of a lot. Because whatever he was feeling, was nothing to what he had condemned her to endure.
And Trin knew she would have to endure it alone.
“Now what, Mistress?” Thrace asked, breaking her morbid train of thought. He looked down at the writhing, twitching heap that was Two. “Are you finally ready for me to shoot him?”
“No.” Trin frowned. “Bring him and come with me.”
She led the way out of the control area and down the metal corridor leaving the rest of her crew standing there stunned behind her. Thrace hooked one hand under the back collar of Two’s black coat and dragged him like a reluctant pet after her. When they got to the exit for the nearest life pod, Trin stopped and he did as well.
“Now what?” he asked again, frowning. “You want to shoot him and flush his body out the airlock? It would serve the bastard right.”
“No.” Trin was still feeling cold and dispassionate—removed from the situation. It was like she was standing outside of herself, watching this scene as an observer. “No, I want him to suffer. The way he made me suffer.”
“You’re not just talking about the pain and need you felt after he made you take the third drink are you?” Thrace murmured. “I know what you must have felt, having your mother see us like that—”
“How could you know?” Trin demanded. “You have no mother—you never did.”
“No, but I had a Sire and I valued his good opinion greatly—beyond anything else,” Thrace said quietly. “I’m just trying to say that I’m sorry for your pain and humiliation.”
Trin waved a hand. “That’s nothing compared to what—” She stopped abruptly but Thrace stared at her sharply.
“Nothing compared to what?” he demanded and she could feel him trying to find the answer in her thoughts through the strange new link they’d somehow forged while making love.
“Stop it!” She put a hand to her forehead as though to keep him out. “Don’t do that! Stay out of my mind!”
“Sorry.” He had the grace to look ashamed. “I’m just worried about you. I won’t do it again.”
“You’d better not.” Trin shook her head. “Look, let’s dispose of this piece of waste and then we can talk. Out loud—not in our heads.”
Her offer to talk later seemed to placate the big Havoc somewhat.
“All right,” he growled. “Well that’s what I’ve been asking you—how do you want to dispose of him?”
Trin pretended to consider but what she was really doing was imagining a wall—a huge, thick, tall wall to guard her mind from Thrace’s probing. She had no idea if the mental barrier she was picturing would keep him out or not but she hoped so—she couldn’t have him eavesdropping on her now. Not with what she was planning.
“I want you to take him down to the planet—to Yonnie Six,” she said at last, handing Thrace the blaster which he took automatically and tucked into his belt. “Deliver him to Lord X with my compliments. They seem to be in league with each other somehow—let X take care of Two.”
“What? No…no!” Two howled. “I told you, I cannot end myself! I cannot.”
“Nobody’s asking you to, you piece of slime.” Thrace shook him briefly. “Be silent.”
But Two continued to howl and contort, continuing to insist that Thrace was meant to be his “doom.” Trin didn’t mind—all of the crying and carrying on Two was doing was obviously distracting Thrace too much to try using their new link.
“Just take him,” she said, gesturing at the door to the life pod. “Get him out of here. See how well Lady Tam-tam likes having Lord X as a guest when he’s got a moaning, crying wretch of a male to deal with.”
Thrace nodded, a corner of his mouth quirking up.
“Sounds like justice to me. I’ll take him down to X and come directly back.”
“You do that.” Trin nodded and smiled, hoping the expression didn’t look fake. “I…I’ll see you when you get back.”
“All right.” Thrace opened the life pod door and pushed the moaning Two into it. He was about to climb in himself but then he turned back, studying Trin with a frown on his face. “Are you sure you’re okay, baby?” he asked in a low voice.
“No,” Trin said truthfully. “But I’ll manage.”
Thrace sighed. “I know what happened was bad and I know things aren’t resolved between us…” He reached out a hand to cup her cheek but Trin evaded it just as Two voiced a particularly loud howl.
“And they won’t be until you get rid of that piece of trash,” she said, nodding at the open door to the life pod. “Drop him off with Lord X and then we can talk.”
The big Havoc hesitated, as though he wanted to protest or say something else. But Two howled again and he only nodded his head.
“All right, Mistress. As you command, so shall it be done.”
Trin didn’t miss his formal speech or the implications it carried. He was doing this for her as a slave but the other part of him—the male who had claimed her heart and body—wanted to stay and talk.
There’s nothing to talk about. Not anymore, she thought and was glad for the layer of ice which seemed to have formed around her emotions. It was the only thing that made what she had to do bearable.
“Goodbye, Thrace,” she said aloud. “I’ll see you…later. When you get back.”
“All right.” But he still didn’t go. Instead he leaned down and kissed her—just letting his mouth brush hers. A feather-light touch that sent a shiver through her entire body.
“Oh…” Trin whispered. “Thrace, I—”
He pulled back and looked into her eyes.
“You own me,” he murmured. Then, at last he turned and left, shutting the door of the life pod behind him and cutting off Two’s anguished cries abruptly.
Trin watched until the life pod left the ship’s side, disappearing to a tiny silver dot in the small round airlock window. Then she bowed her head.
It was done—Thrace was gone.
Chapter Thirty-one
“What’s this?” The slave tending to the shuttle parking area looked truly startled when Thrace climbed out of the pod, dragging the writhing, crying Two behind him.
“This is payback,” Thrace growled at him. “Now go get Lord X for me and make it quick. Bring him here at once.”
“Bring him here? But he’s an important visitor—Lady Tam-tam’s special guest. I can’t just demand he drop everything and come out to the landing field!”
“You can and you will.” Thrace gave the attendant a menacing stare. “Just tell him his old friend Two is here to see him. I’m sure he’ll come right away.”
“I…but I…”
“Go!” Thrace roared and at last the attendant stopped dithering and raced away to get X. “Now shut up,” he added, nudging Two none too gently with his boot. The constant screaming, howling, and crying had gotten on his nerves on the way down to the planet’s surface.
But instead of shutting up, Two began to cackle madly—a shrill, high-pitched noise which was at least as bad as his screams of pain had been.
“It’s too late,” he babbled, writhing on the ground. “Too late for her! A member of the Verrak has already been engaged. She has a target on her back—she’s as good as dead!”
Thrace felt a cold chill wash over him. He knew a little of the Verrak and everything he knew was bad—very bad.
“What? What the fuck are you talking about?” He grabbed Two by the black leather lapels of his strange coat and dragged him up to stare into his pale face. The stench of rot hung around him strongly, making Thrace’s stomach turn but he held him just the same. “What about the Verrak?” he demanded.