Page 62 of Taken to Kor
“You didn’t get shot. You’re wearing your wedding ring.” I cuff her wrist, fingering the atomic metal.
She glances at it, then grins, then quickly tries to squash her expression as she turns her angry face back up to me. “This is a force field?”
I drop my mouth to hers and take her quickly before rasping against her lips, “You really think I’d let mywifewander the streets of Kor without a force field? I’m a pirate and, have you not heard what they call us?” I kiss her again, much more softly. “They call us lord and lady of Kor.”
Her head falls back and she laughs. “You’re crazy.”
“It’s why I’m perfect for you.”
She fingers her cuff with renewed interest and, when her eyes turn up to mine, they’re glossier than they were. “You could have told me that if someone tried to shoot at me, my bracelet would shoot back.”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
“Well, it was pretty scary when she fired. I thought that was it for us.”
She rubs her stomach. I place two of my hands over her one and hold our kits between us. “Never. We have access to the most advanced technology the Quadrants have to offer. I traded a small fortune to the princesses of Quadrant One for this one. They make these there in order to protect the royal family. I had to modify it of course. It also includes an anchor. If anyone tries to take you on board a non-Niahhorru ship off planet, the ship won’t rise.”
She chuckles at that and shakes her head. “Shoot. I should have let them take me then, I guess. They’d have been stuck planet-side.”
“They would have been. And Mathilda’s just lucky she only tried to fire on you with a blaster. If it had been anything with more power, the response would have leveled the entirety of Pleasure Alley. The Oosa wouldn’t be happy.”
“Let me guess — Nikkowerranorru modified this, not Gerannu.”
I grin at the image of Nikkowerranorru, Gerannu’s psychotic apprentice, as he explained the details of the modifications he made to this ring. I nod. “Which is why I had to test it.”
“You tested it?” She yelps. “On yourself?”
I nod again.
“Augh.” She rubs her face roughly and turns from me, shaking her head. “I don’t think I want any more gifts from you, Rhorkanterannu.”
I make a face. She only calls me my full name when she’s angry with me. “Don’t be angry.”
“Iamangry. I thought I was gonna die and meanwhile, youplannedfor me to be attacked and you knew Mathilda was here, didn’t you?” There is genuine hurt in her eyes now. They are glossier than they are ordinarily.
Panicked, my lower arms reach for her, but she evades my grasp. “Deena…”
“Don’t!” She shakes her head and gnaws on her bottom lip. “Don’t say anything else until she and Bo’Raku are dead.”
“Bo’Raku? Bo’Raku was never exiled to Kor.”
Her narrowed gaze returns to my face while my blood sings through my veins. “Don’t lie to me, you knew he was here.”
Ah. She does not mean the recent Bo’Raku, Peixal. She means his sire.I nod. “Ontte, I knew Pogar was here, on-planet, but the last I heard, he defaulted on gambling debts and was in an Egama prison. He was there? With Mathilda? You saw him?”
Deena’s anger cracks. She crosses her arms over her full breasts and raises one of her furry eyebrows. “Ontte. He was there. He spoke with Mathilda about a plan. They wanted to kidnap me, not kill me, and to use me to get off planet. You guys control the ports and they won’t be able to leave without your approval, right?”
“That’s right.” And Deena was the key to their entire operation. And now she’s here, safe, with me.
“So, they won’t be able to leave now without a bartering chip?”
That doesn’t sit right with me, either. The two of them working together…they are the most devious of all beings I’ve ever come across. It doesn’t seem likely that their plan would rely on something so easily disrupted. But perhaps, they were boxed into a corner. Perhaps the Egama have something to do with this. Perhaps, the rapist Pogar and the murdering Mathilda had no other allies…no other chips…no other options.
“What are you doing that for? I don’t like it.” She reaches up and grabs my hand massaging my jaw and pulls it away from my face. “Is there another way they might get off planet? Because if they do, we’re stardust.”
I frown. “Why?”
“Because they were talking about going after the humans. They wanted to use me as a chip to get off Kor, but also as a way to get onto the colony. They think that Svera and Miari won’t let the Voraxians fire on their ship if I’m on it.”
