The state she’d arrived in was... dangerous. The things she’d done to herself, horrendous. But it was the claw buried millimeters from her carotid artery that forced Sovereign to concede as if she were the victor. In a voice soft and generous, he asked her to speak. “What do you desire, precious Sigil?”

  “Que.” So much fear lay on one battered expression, so much fatigue. The way the skin crinkled sadly at her eyes, Quinn knew she could not fight him, knew she couldn’t win. With things as they were, the only thing she could do was die. “I will keep my friend, forever. And you will keep us safe.”

  The answer was breathless, “You seek to force me?”

  She did, choking on the words, “And if you do this, I will submit to you.”

  Dark hair swung forward, hanging past his jaw when he lowered his chin. “I want you to love me, to love us all.”

  “I WOULD NEVER LOVE YOU IF YOU TOOK MY QUE!” Her shriek cost Quinn a great deal of energy, making every male in the room tense to see her doubled over. Panting, bracing against her grip on Arden, she looked from under her brows and grunted, “You think you know the mind of their kind? You think he would abandon me? You have been too long with humans to understand. And I will never abandon him either.”

  Karhl raised his chin, calling her attention. “Young one, please calm yourself. You are too damaged for such displays.”

  Arden, soothing her with a careful tone, smiled into her eyes as if all were well. “Let’s not exasperate her, shall we?”

  “Silence.” One word, spoken temperately was enough to make the Herald straightened to attention. Sovereign moved so fast it was a blur Quinn’s muddled vision could not follow. One second he was across the room, another and his hand gripped Arden’s shoulder, forcing the Herald away like a puppy tossed by its nape.

  Sovereign made no move to force submission. Instead he helped support her in the Herald’s place. Collaring her throat in a careful grip so her jagged nails could not tear at it, Sovereign reasoned, “What you propose, do you not see why it will cause discord in your life when what you need is consonance, peace?”

  “You will give me Que.” Her eyes welled, but Sigil remained determined no matter how badly her voice shook. “Prove that it is as you said. There need not be conflict between us.”

  Leaning nearer, Sovereign’s eyes were dark, his expression so impassive it implied great fury. “Can you feel my thoughts, Sigil?”

  Resting her head against the wall, sweat beading at her temple, she warned, “Do you want to spend eternity wondering when I will find my next escape? That day will come; there is no perfect prison.”

  A careful thumb stroked along her jaw, Sovereign exercising great will. “If I offered such a consolation, you will understand that much will be expected in return. You will never show him affection where any eyes can see. ANY EYES. You may not lay with him, ever!” Every word was growled through clenched teeth, spat as if soaked in venom. “And for my forbearance, you will love me. You will love your brothers.”

  Nodding as her lip trembled, she agreed. “I will.” Her enthusiasm grew, bloodshot eyes widening. “I will, if you promise me.”

  Those eyes could grow so threatening so quickly. “You have my word.” The second he put his arms around her, she braced as if to flee. Sovereign amended, “So long as you keep yours. Submit now. Your wounds must be tended.” He got her from the door, moving her cautiously deeper into the net.

  With her mission done, she was already wilting, her bravado having fled in place of intense pain. Quinn made out the white hair and the musical sound of chimes when the Lord Commander followed, the giant placing a knee to her mattress once Quinn was laid upon it.

  Things were done to her that made her very unhappy, her eyes screwed shut so unlike a warrior and far more like a child. Sovereign measured her raging fever while maintaining continuous, soothing touch, and listening to Arden detail his account of her capture.

  Even with her superior healing, the amount of decay the med cuff syphoned from her system had been grotesque. Jars of black poison fed from tubes into the portable console, emptied down the drain over and over so they might be refilled.

  In one cycle her fever broke; she stopped raving in her sleep, the woman convalescing altered significantly from the broken thing that had dared challenge an emperor.

  Resigned, her icy irises drained of the false lavender dye, she stared off into space.

  Sovereign had given her time to recover; now he wanted her attention.

  A warm palm flowed over her and gently cradled her belly; the swelling gone, only unmarred skin remaining. “Sweet Sigil, everything that was done can be undone. I swear it to you. Desolation is unnecessary.”

  Quinn had endured decades under the guidance of a wise companion and knew Sovereign was wrong. She spoke for the first time since he’d mounted her sick form. “If such a thing were possible I would have been undone a long time ago. Just like you, I’m a monster, Sovereign. I can admit that.”

  He cut her off. “Is that what the Axirlan told you?”

  Yes, and Que was right, had dedicated his life to helping her cage the nightmare inside her so it might not pollute the undeserving. But she’d slipped so many times. There was no need to lie to herself about what she’d done and what she was capable of.

  And she needed Que, needed proof she had not made the biggest mistake of her life. “How much longer must we stay here? It’s pointless now... so why isn’t the station vibrating? Why isn’t the byway open?”

  Sovereign stretched over her like a shield, whispering in her ear. “Now that you are mostly recovered, we must see to your preparation. Together we go to Drinta, where I am going to present you and kill her.”

  She honestly could not believe that was going to work... “Only Drinta has the power to open the byway. If she’s dead, you’re stranded.”

  Sovereign’s smirk was pure evil. “That is the general rumor, and one that is entirely untrue. There is a great amount of careful deception involved in leadership, but her deceptions are as outdated as she is. She sees lies all around her, foolish enough not to expect my literal hands on her throat. This station has been fully infiltrated, a subtle infection that has been festering for years. Pax is in my control down to the very last power relay. Once Drinta is publically executed, I will have the only override to open the byway.”

  “Drinta will be prepared. Marching up to her balcony won’t work. Even if it did, the mercenaries she mustered would revolt. Pax would fall apart.”

  As if educating her, Sovereign explained. “Which is why she must be murdered publically where the masses can see. The byway will open where a fleet of imperial ships wait on the other side so large they will dwarf this station and swallow any fool enough to attempt sedition.”

  There was more he was not telling her, that much was obvious. And why should he? Sovereign was wise enough to know Quinn would use it to her advantage if she could. “And you want to flaunt me in front of her...”

  A kiss, simple and non-threatening, then he answered. “Before battle begins, you must be protected. Her enclosure is fortified, the safest place on this station.”

  He was taking quite a risk exposing her to Drinta. Quinn understood the insane Tessan. There was a reason Drinta had grown so powerful—she was always prepared and enjoyed the kill. “The Tessan Authority would never allow you to control an extended byway on the other side of their empire. It would start an intergalactic war.”

  Sovereign’s internal pleasure at her interest was not shown in his expression. “The politics are far more complicated than we have time to discuss at present.”

  “What about Pax?”

  Tracing over a cheekbone, his fingers playing with the lobe of her ear, Sovereign said, “Pax is to be converted into something more useful to me.”

  A strange sort of regret itched under her skin. “You can’t convert non-humans.”

  “I know you are fond of this place, the same cannot be said for the majority of the lives that inhabit it. I have watched you kill on a whim with no thought for whose neck you snapped. You have no friends here. Even the slaves you avoided.” Sovereign could see she was going to speak, that Quinn was ready to defend her actions, and he saved her the effort. “I understand why you did these things. I understand what pushed you to the point of living violence. Once you’re back in the empire—”

  “With Que...” Quinn insisted, the woman finding it difficult to look him in the eye when he held her so close and touched her so freely.

  Doing his best to keep his jaw from ticking, Sovereign nodded that he’d heard her. “Once you are back in the Empire, you will know what it means to feel safe. There will be no urge for you to hide, no impulse you have to fight. The drastic change in your environment will alter your responses. You will be happy.”

  “I was happy here...”

  He shook his head, eyes absolutely burning. “You do not know what that word means and your alien lacks the empathy to teach it to you. All you know is ‘pain’ or ‘no pain’ in a stunted understanding of survival.”

  She’d made her oaths, and so had he. But Sovereign had witnessed hours of Quinn’s struggle to keep the dread out of her expression. He knew the female already second-guessed her decision to obey. Rebellion hinted in her slander, in her unhappiness at what was to be done to her home, “You are beginning to sound as verbose as Arden, but not nearly as subtle.”

  “I raised Arden.” A small quirk came to the corner of Sovereign’s beautiful mouth. “I think, in time, you will find it quite the other way around. He copies my mannerisms and intonation almost to perfection.”

  “Why?”

  Sovereign’s restrained possessiveness ate at the softness of his reply. “Because you were designed to respond to me—chemically, physically, mentally. Mimicry simplified interrogation.” Gently, Sovereign pressed his fingers to her mouth when it looked like the woman might argue. “And now you are thinking he has fooled you, suspicion is all over your face. But you are wrong and I will prove it now. The bite,” he watched her blanch, felt Quinn wilt as if it might keep her spine safe from his teeth, “you claimed to hate it. But the truth is you fear it. Like a child’s fear of ghosts, you jump at every touch, anticipating this thing you misunderstand.”

  The whites of her eyes shone stark around abnormally pale irises.

  “I will not bite you so long as you continue to submit in good faith.” In counter to his claim, Sovereign slid his hand to cup her neck, pinching lightly, watching as her body twitched and her knees jerked just enough for him to comprehend the effect. “It is a very generous offer.” The smile he gave her, the way it slowly crawled up his cheeks was saturated in conceit. “Do you understand? Do you not see that I would rather suffer than see you afraid or sad? The thought of your hate has burned me for a century. I do not wish to earn more of it.”

  The pinch grew stronger, Quinn feeling the effect as Sovereign meant for her to feel it. He kissed her brow sweetly. “Our pairings have not been pleasant for you, but you enjoyed the feeling of Karhl’s hands and mouth while I fucked you. I can give you that. Imagine more; imagine four, ten, of our kind, their lips and hands all over your body. Imagine the way we’ll taste, how greedy they will be to earn your smiles. Or,” he took her lips, groaning as he licked the seam, “imagine you and I alone in the dark. Imagine how I could worship you, the pleasure of the struggle.” A deep breath of her neck and he shuddered, grinding hips to demonstrate intent. “You won’t understand right away—I grasp that—but I will make you want me more than any other. Desire, pleasure; we shall start simply.” And then in a fluid movement Sovereign stroked her crooked leg from ankle to hip. “But for now we must make the best of things. Trust me to keep you safe and allow me to prepare you. I cannot have you slip in Drinta’s presence.”

  Chapter 12

  Her last cry was wrung out until she convulsed, Quinn sloppy atop her sheets. Sovereign’s skill handling her body was the worst kind of intoxicant, surpassing even lupggag, the hallucinogenic drug bartered in Swelter. Nose tucked in the man’s dark hair, her breath grew drenched in a strangely familiar scent, a smell that quieted her brain to the point dread never existed, and nothing was left beyond the physical—his weight, the breadth of his hips spreading her thighs, the feel of what plunged inside her all-consuming, tempting her tongue to trace over the pulsing vein at his throat.

  How he’d bent her body back after that first lick, how he’d growled. Sovereign had been so fucking pleased.

  Her clit ached from too much attention; it was stiff and swollen, pert enough to be tormented each time Sovereign thrust in a downward scrape of movement.

  “Please...”

  “Gods yes, Sigil.” Another slow, measured intrusion of the man’s veiny dick stretched space purposely carved out for him.

  Again he dug into her mouth with his tongue.

  If orgasm could last into infinity, Quinn found it was not a sensation she found physically bearable. The grunting, panting man who watched her every expression offered too much—either too slow or too fast. Somewhere under the onslaught, that tiny sliver of cognizance almost longed for him to bite her, for the man to pound until his sack tightened and he spurt, ending the obliterating fucking she’d endured.

  Had it been days or hours? Quinn could hardly say.

  Her nipples chafed from having been sucked too long, the flesh sore from a flicking tongue and pinching fingers. Once or twice she thought Karhl might have been between them to lull the storm, but that cock had never left her, and even though Sovereign’s possession had been cautious, it had never been gentle in the way the white-haired warrior touched her.

  Worse, the maelstrom inside Sovereign was beyond her reckoning, his emotions too full. So she tried not to sense him, engaging instead to prove she deserved her coming prize. He could have her if she could have Que—who would never have fucked her once her pussy ached. Who would never have squeezed further pleasure from swollen lips and a hardened, punished clit. He would have pressed her to sleep. But Sovereign, Sovereign punished for such thoughts by breaking her apart, nerve by nerve.

  Past coherent words, Quinn spoke in tongues, made any sound she thought her aggressor might find suiting in his quest to be begged—because it had to end. A rougher grind as his hips crashed into her. Her poor pierced clit took the brunt of the abuse and Quinn sought to fight back.

  That was what the man had searched for, that utter loss of control, the mindless wash of her eyes. He fed her madness with violence, taking and intruding deep into body and spirit. The invasion of his cock grew frantic, his lips returning to her bobbing breast to roughly chew a tender nipple.

  Her screams shrilled otherworldly until Quinn’s voice broke. The waste of worried thoughts hovering at the edge of her mind scattered. Her hand flashed forward, Sovereign’s throat in her grip. Somehow he was beneath her—like their battle cycles prior—and she furiously rode him, her circling hands squeezing his neck so hard it would have killed even Que. Relishing the sight of her tormentor so fucking pleased, so goddamn delirious, she came, gushing as he smiled.

  There was some pull—a strange thing she missed—and she was flipped on her back. The man jerked violently into her as he locked her violence in loving arms, Sovereign’s cock spitting ropes of burning perfection into her greedy little pussy.

  Disheveled and hungry, laying on a bed that had grown damp from sweat, Quinn stared at the ceiling. Another spasm hit her, her body trembling awkwardly just from the feel of Sovereign easing out.

  Panting, she whined. “No more.”

  “No more, sweet Sigil.” The lightest of kisses landed on each pebbled nipple. “You cannot handle anymore.”

  They had both been so gone in coitus, a part of her had wondered if their cries would call forth Drinta’s overseers, her tiny sliver of hope the bitch-queen would use the advantage to kill the Irdesian emperor in his distraction disappointed.

  Salvation had not come, only orgasm after orgasm, the man seeming never to tire as he wrung her out.

  Fingers tripped over her skull, the touch drawing out a relaxation so thorough Quinn put up no fight when she was pulled to stand. The oddity of what had happened was reinforced when her muddled mind found the emperor naked on display. Every other time he had fucked her it had been a clinical necessity in comparison: his clothing had remained on, his cock jutting out from an open fly to serve as the tool required to control her compulsion.

  There had been no objective insertion and ejaculation, no hurried spurt inside her, proven when Sovereign took his time, mounting her face to face. He’d left her boneless and rubbery, exhausted her into a state all would recognize when she was paraded before Drinta.

  She looked cowed, resplendent in her abject defeat. What a trophy for Swelter to gawk at.

  When she’d been fevered, Karhl had sponged the dried blood from her skin—the nearest thing to a bath she was going to find on a station infected with irradiated water. Now she reeked of Sovereign, thighs gritty where their fluids had crusted and smeared, purposefully made that way so others might see.

  Sovereign insisted on dressing her, Quinn standing submissive so the process might proceed. Stranger still, the two of them were left alone, no guard in sight, a thousand things within reach she could make into a weapon. Watching the emperor begin the task of unrolling a bolt of fabric, she chewed the nutrient bar he’d offered her, and sensed no suspicion—only warranted wariness and determination.

  Holding out a corner of fabric, he pressed it to the dip above her hip bone and ordered, “Hold here.”

  Obeying, she watched him build a gown around her. It was an intricate thing requiring so many steps, so much precision, her clothing would make a statement—only a prisoner meek and obedient could be dressed in such a delicately constructed manner.

  A finger hooked her chin, Sovereign tilting her head back to soothe her frown. “I viewed a sunset once, on the planet Yith-ji, over a battlefield where the corpses of my enemies were growing entwined with carnivorous plant life. The shade of the sky was just as this.” A finger teased at her fringe of Quinn’s lashes, Sovereign’s voice soft. “I put the beauty of that moment in you.”