Forbidden Worlds - Box Set (52 page)

Chapter 3

When the morning bell rang, Renna woke at the table with the sewing needle in her stiff fingers and only a few stitches taken. Exasperated, she put the garment aside and made her way to breakfast.

The priestesses gathered as usual at the long table in the main hall. They welcomed the female acolytes with silent nods and wan smiles as they did each day. When their benevolent gazes fell on Renna, there was sadness in their eyes.

Her heart lurched. Could they know already that she’d spent the night in Benar’s arms? The thought that someone may have followed her, spied on her intimate time with her lover, made Renna more angry than afraid.

She met the stares of the priestesses with bold defiance and smiled broadly at their shocked expressions. She refused to allow them to shame her.

When morning meal was over, she rose and waited as the others did, for the acolytes to clear the plates and cups. When the students were gone, Renna bowed her head in prayer and waited for the Sisters to dismiss her.

To her chagrin, they gathered around her instead. Renna’s breakfast formed a hard lump in the pit of her stomach when Medea, the High Priestess, placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Renna, today is a sad day.” Medea said. There was a tremor in her melodious voice. Renna kept her eyes on the scarred surface of the table where her thoughts raced along the cracks and indentations in the ancient wood. Should she apologize and beg their forgiveness or should she turn and walk away, leaving behind the archaic rules by which she had never chosen to live?

“Renna, today we must prepare you for the purpose for which you were bred.”

Air escaped Renna’s lungs in a whoosh. “What?”

She brought her eyes up to Medea’s and the High Priestess guided her gently back to her seat. The others clustered around her, murmuring among themselves. Some stroked her hair and Dejel, Renna’s favorite and the closest to her age, actually began to sob.

Panic lanced through Renna at Medea’s expression. “What do you mean, ‘the purpose for which I’ve been bred’?”

“Renna, you’ve long believed you came to the Refuge as an orphan and grew up as our ward. That is the truth, but not all of it,” Medea said. “You are different. A child born to a special woman, a High Priestess who, twenty-one years ago, sacrificed herself to the Temple of the Sun God so there would be peace between the Sisters of the Moons and the Brothers of the Sun.”

Renna said nothing. She could scarcely believe this new knowledge.

“Now, on the last day of your twentieth year, you must make the same sacrifice.”

Renna stilled. Medea’s words blurred in her mind. “What kind of sacrifice?”

Dejel wept.

“You will be delivered to the Temple and given to the High Priest. You will...receive his seed.”

Renna raised one pale brow. “His...?”

“Let us explain.”

Renna listened with her lips clamped tightly shut. She twisted the hem of her day dress in her hands while Medea gently explained the process by which the High Priest of the Brothers of the Sun would implant his seed within her.

Images of Benar and the things they’d done by the silver pond played through her mind in vivid detail. Renna battled the urge to laugh at Medea’s flowery words and suddenly timid voice as she explained everything Renna had experienced with Benar. But she also battled tears at the thought that now she must allow another man to use her body thus. She belonged to Benar and only to him.

The thought of allowing the Sun God’s High Priest to impregnate her, perhaps while Benar stood chanting above them, made her dizzy and sick.

When tears leaked from her closed eyes, Dejel took Renna in her arms. “It’s all right to cry, little Renna. We know this is a terrible day, a frightening sacrifice, but you will endure as your mother did and you will bring forth a beautiful child whose destiny will be to keep the peace just as yours is.”

“What happened to my mother?” Renna cried. It was a question she’d asked often while growing up. The Sisters had long told her that her mother was with The Great One, the Mother of All Things. The answer had always comforted her. Today, Renna would not accept it. “How did she die?”

There was a choked silence and Renna turned to glare at Medea.

“She gave her life for you. She died giving birth.”

Medea’s confession frightened Renna and made her feel terribly responsible. Perhaps that’s why they had never told her before.

“Don’t fear, Renna. It’s a rare thing. The same will not happen to you.” Dejel’s voice shook as she rubbed warmth into Renna’s cold fingers with her own.

“Will I ever come back to you?” she asked. “Or will I now live among the Brothers of the Sun?”

“You will stay with them, if the High Priest desires it.” Medea bowed her head as if the answer shamed her.

“Why was I not told of this sooner?” Renna rose and flung herself away from the throng of women. “Why was I not given a choice?”

“There is no choice. If a sacrifice is not made, the Brothers of the Sun will come for us all. We have kept the peace this way for thousands of years, since the first settlers came here from the blue planet.”

“Perhaps they should come for you all.” Renna’s voice was low. Her limbs shook with fatigue and anger when she turned back to the Sisters. “What must I do?” Her heart ached, but she was determined to uphold the honor of her mother’s sacrifice.

Medea wiped guilty tears from her eyes and reached out a trembling hand to Renna. “Come, we will do everything we can to ease your way.”

Chapter 4

At sunset the following day, Renna knelt on the warm stone altar at the apex of the Temple of the Sun God. The robe she wore was pure white and flowed along the lines of her body like cool cream. A hot wind rippled the fabric and stirred her hair, which had been set free of its plaiting and hung in waves around her face.

Between her brows, a blue jewel hung from a silver cord that encircled her head. A matching jewel hung between her breasts, heavy and warm on her tingling skin.

Beneath her robe, she wore nothing but a silver chain around her waist. It suspended a third blue jewel just below her navel. Medea explained the jewels were meant to channel the power of the sun to her mind, her heart and her womb. Renna wore them with pride, for they had touched the skin of no other woman since the day of her mother’s sacrifice.

The drums began to beat a rhythm that Renna felt in her very core. Like her own heartbeat, the tempo was consistent and perfect. The sound grew louder as the disciples of the Sun God, both male and female, climbed the steps to the altar.

Renna peeked at their faces as they gathered around her. Even in the waning light, she could see that, so far, Benar was not among them.

Perhaps he waited in vain for her by the silver pool. Or perhaps, having learned she was the vessel for the High Priest’s seed, he had refused to attend the ritual. She prayed to the Mother of All Things that Benar would not have to watch while another man claimed her body. She could not bear to see Benar’s face.

When all the disciples had assembled, they filled the platform around the altar. Men and women alike smiled at Renna. They bowed their heads to her as she rose and stood straight upon the altar.

The Sisters had explained to her that the ritual took place at night, because eons ago it was thought to bring the sun back from oblivion. To perform it during the day, would banish the sun from the sky.

The chanting began as a low hum. Then words Renna didn’t understand filled the night air. One by one, stars appeared in the sky and Renna shivered as she opened her robe and let it drop. A female disciple stepped forward and collected the garment from the rough stone of the altar floor.

“May the Great One bless you this night,” she murmured reverently.

Renna nodded and dropped gracefully to her knees again. Naked now, she stretched out on the altar. The stone was warm against her back and buttocks. A disciple that she couldn’t see slipped a pillow beneath her head.

She took a deep breath and forced her body to relax by concentrating on how comfortable the huge stone slab actually was.

Her heart fluttered when the drumming stopped, leaving a fulminate silence in its wake. The disciples all turned their backs to her and stepped away in unison, widening the circle of bodies around her.

Renna turned her head reluctantly when the circle parted and a figure stepped up to the altar.

He wore a mask of feathers that obscured all but his mouth. He raised a hand and held it over Renna’s abdomen. She felt a sudden heat in the jewel that rested there.

Despite her fear, her nipples hardened as the High Priest brought his hand flat against her skin. He bowed his head and mumbled a quiet prayer. His voice was so low she couldn’t hear the words. The pounding of her blood in her ears drowned out all else.

The High Priest threw off his own white robe, exposing his muscled body and engorged cock. He was ready to perform his solemn ritual.

Renna closed her eyes. Oh, Benar. I’m sorry.

In a swift movement the man mounted the altar and knelt between Renna’s legs. She spread them willingly for him but kept her eyes on the sky where the stars seemed to dance in dizzy circles above her.

He bent his head low and the feathers of his beautiful mask touched her skin. She drew herself up slightly as the frisson of sensation made her muscles tense. Guilt overwhelmed Renna at the pleasure she felt as the hot tip of the High Priest’s erection found the moist entrance to her body. She closed her eyes against the swirl of stars and held her breath against the heady scent of his richly oiled skin.

She cursed silently at her body’s reaction when his cock slid within her. Her nerves tensed and her nipples tingled. Instinctively, she thrust her hips forward and jutted her breasts into the air to meet his eager hands as his body bore down on hers.

Hot silk. Raw power. She felt the length of him but she ached inside for Benar even as her muscles drew him deeper. She clasped his hips, urging him to complete his task.

Renna sighed and gasped. She rose to meet him, wishing all the while she’d had the courage to run away and leave the fulfillment of destiny to others.

His hands on her body warmed her even as she longed for Benar. His movements drove the ache within her to new heights until the pressure built to a taut peak. Renna cried out as she came, clenching her legs tightly around his waist. As she rocked back and forth beneath him, she felt him stiffen in her arms. His rough palm cupped her hard against him and with a low moan of pleasure, he delivered his seed into her. The liquid heat spread through her and the blue jewel pressed tightly between their slick bodies burned like a spark against her skin.

Renna gasped at the sudden discomfort and when she did, the High Priest brought his mouth down to hers. She tried to turn her head away. Taking his erection within her and accepting his seed was part of her duty to the Sisters of the Moons. Taking his tongue into her mouth was not.

He grasped her chin and turned her head firmly. Despite her protests, he kissed her.

Renna struggled for a moment, her body growing cold until she realized the taste of him was familiar. Rich. Sweet. She moaned and suckled and clasped his hips to keep him inside her for a moment longer.

He broke the kiss and reached up to draw away the feathered mask. His dark eyes held hers and caressed her face gently, wiping away the tears that spilled there.

“My Renna. I told you, you’re mine forever,” Benar said as he drew Renna into his embrace.

“Did you know that I was the sacrifice?” Renna asked as her body began to shiver. The evening breeze had cooled now and her limbs began to tremble with the cold as Benar helped her climb down from the altar.

The female disciple who had taken Renna’s robe stepped forward and gave the garment back to her before Benar answered.

“I knew. But like all the others, I was forbidden to tell you. The sacrifice comes in the form of your willingness to do your duty even though you thought you were betraying me. You could have run away. Others have. You could have refused me. But you didn’t because of your dedication to the Mother of All Things and her plan for peace on this world. You are truly a Blessed One, Renna. And so am I to have earned your love as well as your sacrifice.”

Renna took Benar’s hand. She blushed when he kissed her fingers. He then led her to the edge of the high platform to look out across the crimson sea that stretched toward the horizon.

“Mars awaits, my sweet Renna,” he told her as the red tide of the man-made sea swept in. “And you are its new Queen.”

THE END

Books by Bernadette Gardner

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Icarus Unbound (Icarus Reborn Book 2)

Now Available!

The Carnathian Chronicles

Crucible (Book 1)

Extinction could be only a breath away.

When life support engineer Lela Masters began her tour of duty on Deneb IV, she expected to help repair the massive, ancient machines that supply atmosphere to the habitat domes of the alien Carnathians. What she didn’t expect was to fall in love…twice.

Lela happily offers her heart to her two Carnathian lovers, but when fear turns their people against the humans who have always been their allies will she chose to help save their race from extinction even if it takes her final breath?

Chapter One

“It’s bigger than I thought it would be.” Lela Masters leaned her forehead against the cold glass of the shuttle’s starboard observation port. Her gaze tracked across the craggy western hemisphere of Deneb IV as the small ship turned toward the entrance of the space dock.

The planetoid, which would be her home for the next six months, wasn’t large enough to retain a natural atmosphere, but the softly glowing habitat domes that laced its dark, rocky surface housed more than a hundred million people in what most civilized races would have considered to be luxurious comfort.

Standing at the porthole next to Lela’s, her crewmate Kiyan grinned, her features reflecting in the window glass as the shuttle slipped inside the underground docking tunnel and the black sky and brilliant stars of the Milky Way disappeared. “It seems big at first, but after a few weeks, trust me, it’ll start to feel pretty cramped.”

Lela scoffed. “At least it’s roomier than a spaceship. It’ll be nice to spread out a little…and to actually meet a Carnathian in person.”

“That’s right—this is your first tour.”

Lela suppressed a nervous shiver. “Yeah. I’ve never met a non-human before.”

“Well, the most important thing to keep in mind is they may look like us, but they
are
different.” Kiyan’s tone held a note of warning that Lela hadn’t heard during her months of training on board the
Orion
.

She eyed her companion sidelong. “You say that like there’s something to be worried about.”

Kiyan’s distant expression cleared, and she shrugged. “Not if you’re careful. Come on. Grab your bag, and let’s get going. I don’t want to be the last one off the shuttle. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Eager to get to her post in engineering, Lela dismissed Kiyan’s cryptic words, and stepped into the queue of passengers now heading for the shuttle’s air lock.

The cargo runner, which had transported them from their home ship, the
Orion
, settled into its berth with hardly a bump thanks to the skill of the pilot. Red warning lights immediately replaced the soft blue glow of the interior illumination panels.

“Attention, all passengers, prepare for respiratory immunization. Attention, all passengers, prepare for respiratory immunization.” The canned recording played over speakers in the bulkheads above them as Lela, Kiyan, and a dozen other members of the
Orion’s
xeno-engineering team moved through the aisles to disembark.

Clutching her travel pack, Lela braced herself mentally. The immunization that would allow the human engineers from the
Orion
to breathe the Denebian atmosphere wasn’t painful, but it took a few unpleasant minutes for human lungs to adjust to the argon-rich mix of gases in the habitat domes. At the end of their assignment on the planetoid, another immunization would recondition them to breathing the higher oxygen content of a typical human atmosphere, but until then their metabolism would mimic that of the alien race that had claimed the long-abandoned subterranean station as their home over five hundred years ago.

“Ow!” Kiyan complained after the hypodermic hiss of her injection.

Lela ignored Kiyan’s outburst and tilted her head to the side so the medic stationed at the air lock could administer her shot. “You’ve done this before. I thought you said it wasn’t so bad,” she said, then winced as the chemicals that would temporarily restructure the lining of her lungs to allow her body to survive in the oxygen-poor Denebian atmosphere flooded her bloodstream.

A wave of dizziness overcame her, and she fought it long enough to hurry through the air lock into the space dock. After the shot, breathing the nitrogen-rich atmosphere of the shuttle could be deadly, so she had to exhale quickly, then hold her breath until she passed the green light station that signaled she was safely surrounded by a mix of 89 percent argon gas.

A few unsteady steps later, she caught up to Kiyan who was doubled over, looking pale. “Are you okay?” Lela asked, the words coming out with an explosive cough. The atmosphere smelled and tasted funny, a side effect of the injection not the odorless, tasteless argon. That would fade quickly enough, but for now it made her slightly nauseated.

“I’m…okay. Each time it takes a little longer to adjust,” Kiyan said.

“The air tastes like spicy metal,” Lela said. The metallic taste made swallowing unpleasant, and her mouth was watering a little too much.

“By tomorrow you won’t notice it,” Kiyan said, though she was still taking slow, deliberate breaths, and her eyes were closed.