Release (17 page)

In the next room, the woman was alone and asleep. Risciter crept close to her. There were so many of them here, it was like a buffet table of delights. He pulled the covers back from the whore’s body.

But he needed to keep his strength for Ariana, didn’t he? He couldn’t let himself be distracted by every pretty face in the brothel, could he?

Risciter put his knife to the woman’s throat. She stirred and murmured in her sleep.

If only he had time, the things he could do here. The way he could indulge... But he mustn’t. He had to remember why he was here. Ariana.

In a quick motion, he slit the whore’s throat.

She woke up at once, trying to scream, but it was too late.

Her hot blood spilled onto the pillows of her bed, onto Risciter’s hands. He gasped at the feel of it.

* * *

“See,” said Keirth, gesturing at the area above the doorway to the bridge, “there’s nothing there.” Keirth had ripped away the covering the minute they’d gotten on the ship.

Ariana chewed on her lip. There wasn’t a tracking device, then. She should feel relieved. But for some reason, she couldn’t explain it, she was sure she’d seen something in her room. And she had this feeling, this overwhelming feeling of dread.

“I don’t even think a ship this old can support one,” said Keirth. “There’s no place for it to connect to the ship’s infrastructure up here.” He fiddled with some wires.

Right. So they hadn’t been followed. So, then, who had been in her room? “I know we made a deal, but couldn’t you stay with me anyway?”

He turned to face her. “What’s going on, Ariana?”

“I’m scared,” she said. And she was. She didn’t know why, exactly, and probably in the light of morning, this would all seem stupid, but right now, she was absolutely positive that she didn’t want to be alone.

“So, this is about you being scared? It’s not about something else?”

“What else could it be about?”

Keirth began to put the casing back above the doorway and screw it in. “You’ve been through an absolutely horrible experience these past few days. I’ve been there. Sometimes, when people have dangerous experiences together, they begin to become closer. A bond forms.” He glanced at her. “I’m afraid you’re confusing that bond with something else.”

She just looked at him. She wasn’t really sure what he was talking about.

“You realize, don’t you,” Keirth continued, “that the most important thing for me is getting revenge on Risciter? I’m not exactly the kind of person who you can count on. Revenge comes first. Maybe you’re seeing me in the wrong light.”

“You’re a good man, Keirth,” she said. And she had to admit that she was enjoying the way his muscles were moving underneath his shirt as he replaced the casing. “I see you in completely the right light.”

“So, you aren’t angling for something else with trying to get me to sleep in the bed?”

That was what he thought? “No, of course not. I meant it to be exactly like it was on Trioth. We’d sleep there, but nothing more.”

He was finished putting up the casing. He looked at her. “And what makes you think that it was so easy for me to only sleep next to you, anyway?”

She wasn’t sure what he meant. But suddenly, he seemed very close. She could smell his scent. It was pleasant, a sort of musky, earthy smell. She had a funny urge to put her hand on his bicep and run her fingers over the muscle there. Gulping, she took a step back. “You said that you chose not to lie with women, so I thought...”

Keirth stepped closer to her. “I’m not a monk, you know? It’s not as if I don’t have any desire to be with a woman. You understand that?”

She took another step back. She felt overwhelmed by his presence, suddenly, as if it triggered the very feelings she wanted to deny that she felt for him. He was so very close now, and she was still fighting back that funny urge to touch him. She took another step away, and collided with the wall of the ship. “You desire me?” The thought made her heart thump.

Keirth closed the distance between them. “Who wouldn’t desire you?”

Her breath was shallow. “Keirth, when I think about you sometimes—”

“No, that’s what I mean. You’re confused. You don’t really have any feelings for me, and I don’t have any for you.”

He was so close, it was driving her crazy. To keep herself from touching him, she put her hands flat against the wall of the ship. “But you just said—”

“I said I desired you. That’s not the same thing. It’s lust, only lust, and if you don’t protect yourself, I’ll...”

“You’ll what?” She searched his eyes with her own. He was gazing down at her, and there were only inches between them.

“I won’t be able to stop myself.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to stop yourself.” That was bold. What was she thinking? She was a member of the nobility. This was highly inappropriate. But maybe she didn’t want to stop herself either.

“Ariana...”

And then he was kissing her. Keirth’s lips were hungry, his hands urgent, and Ariana found herself engulfed by his presence and the sensations that were ripping through her body. Keirth pressed against her, the wall of the ship behind her. Her hands fluttered against the ship’s wall for a moment, and then she gave into her urges and touched him. As his lips assaulted hers, she ran her hands over his shoulders and arms. He was firm and unyielding beneath his skin. He was strong and brawny.

Keirth’s hands were on her hips. He was holding her against him, and he was kissing her thoroughly, nudging her lips open so that his tongue could dart into her mouth. Ariana had never kissed with her mouth open. Her kisses had always been under the watchful eye of a chaperone, and they’d been chaste and perfunctory. When Keirth’s tongue touched hers, she felt as if a waterfall had crashed somewhere inside her, and that she was now being flooded with sweet heat, rushing out to the edges of her limbs. She felt weak, and she was glad to be supported by both the wall and Keirth. She wasn’t sure she could stand on her own.

Her fingers explored Keirth’s back, moving more frantically now, and Keirth’s hands were moving too. He sighed into her mouth, as his hands skimmed up her body, brushing the outside walls of her breasts, sending shivers rippling through her. She gasped, throwing her hands back against the wall of the ship as if she needed to steady herself, to find some kind of place to ground herself, as if she might tumble off into space if she didn’t.

But her hand hit something, and a piece of the ship’s wall sprung open on hinges.

The sound startled them both.

Keirth tore himself away from her, paling.

Ariana was finding it hard to catch her breath. She wished Keirth was still kissing her. She wanted to reach for him, but he was looking everywhere but at her.

Suddenly, he strode toward her again. Her heart leapt.

But he was examining the piece of the wall that had come undone. It opened on clusters of wires, all blinking and confusing. Keirth reached in, sorted through them, and then yanked something out. “Damn it,” he muttered.

“What?” she said.

He thrust a round metal ball in her face. Disconnected wires were trailing from the bottom of it. “Tracking device. On ships this old, they plug in differently. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Ariana felt cold all over. The heat and excitement of kissing was draining from her as she looked at the tracking device. “So, we were followed?”

Keirth shoved the device in his pocket. “Maybe. Maybe not. We could have been followed.”

She chewed on her lip, unsure of what to do.

Keirth took her by the elbow and led her out of the ship. “I’m going to scout the area around this place, see if a ship’s landed anywhere out of sight.”

“Let me come with you.” They were outside the ship, and Keirth was already dragging her down the path back to the brothel.

“You’ll slow me down,” said Keirth.

“But—”

“No.” His voice was cold and firm.

Ariana didn’t say anything. She shook off his grip on her arm. “I’m not going to run away if you let go of me.”

Keirth sighed. He took long strides as he walked.

Ariana struggled to keep up, glancing around in the darkness, wondering if a ship that had followed them was close by. “Do you think whoever followed us was in my bedroom?”

“Doesn’t make sense. We’d most likely be followed by bounty hunters. If someone was in your room, he would have taken you immediately. You got spooked is all.”

Ariana wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t argue with him. She could see the logic in what he’d said.

“To be safe, though, you shouldn’t stay in the cottage. It’s too remote. No one would hear you if something happened.”

At least that relieved her a little bit. She half-jogged to keep up with Keirth, who was walking really fast.

“I’m sorry I kissed you.”

“I’m not,” she found herself saying. She wasn’t either. It had been amazing. She’d never felt anything like it. And she liked touching Keirth too.

Keirth stopped abruptly. He turned round, and she nearly collided with him as she tried to stop walking too. “That’s exactly the problem. You think it meant something. It didn’t.”

She surveyed him for a second. His face was stone, and he’d clenched his hands into fists. What had he really thought about the kiss? Before he’d done it, he said all he felt for her was lust.

“I don’t want to take advantage of you, Ariana, but you’re not making it easy,” he said.

Take advantage? Oh. She shrugged. “I thought you said that men weren’t animals. I thought you said you could control yourself.” She stepped around him and started back down the path.

He caught up to her easily, matching her stride. “Usually, I can. But you’re...” There was no sound for several seconds except the crunch of their feet on the path. “I need to see if there are any ships that followed us. I can’t think about this right now.”

They were quiet for the rest of the walk back to the brothel.

Ariana wasn’t sure if she felt flattered or frightened that she seemed to be the thing that broke Keirth’s resolve not to touch women. Either way, it was something she couldn’t deny that she wanted to pursue further. She liked the way Keirth had touched her. She loved the way his lips had felt on hers. She wasn’t sure if it mattered if Keirth was taking advantage of her or not. She craved the feel of him.

Once back inside the main house, Keirth led her through the kitchen and into the pantry. “You can sleep back here,” he told her.

“In the pantry?”

He pushed aside a part of the wall, which turned out to be a sliding door. “No, there’s a room back here.” And they emerged into a small room, lined with bunks. “This is where I stayed when I was a kid. It’s hidden so that we’d stay both out of the way and safe. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

* * *

Risciter looked up from the girl in the main room whose throat he’d just slashed. Voices. His gaze darted around the rest of the room. Had he gotten all of them? He’d drugged them all quietly first, and then made his rounds, cutting all of their pretty white necks in turn. He could see scarlet blood glinting in the scant light on each of their throats. He moved soundlessly through the room, in the direction of the voices.

“...there’s a room back here,” said a male voice. Ah, the meddling boy. He was here. Good. Risciter had big plans for him. One might, in fact, say that this was all being done for his benefit. The brothel of dead whores was Risciter’s finest work of art, and his lips curled into a smile as he thought of how the boy would react when he saw all of it. It would weaken him. He’d be too horrified to fight. This would destroy him.

The voices were still talking. “Once I see if there’s a ship here, see if someone followed the tracking devices, I’ll come back. If we’re safe, you can move back to the cottage.”

“I don’t like being alone,” said a female voice. Miss Gilit. So, she wasn’t in her little cottage anymore, was she? That was okay with Risciter. He knew where she was now. But the boy was going to look for a ship. Apparently, Risciter hadn’t quite been as stealthy as he thought, and they’d realized they’d been followed. Risciter considered. Should he stop the boy?

“You’ll be fine. You’re hidden back here.”

“Keirth, what if someone’s here?”

“They’d have shown themselves by now.” Keirth? Where had he heard that name before?

Ah, yes. He remembered now. The Duke of Tramet was looking for this boy. Strange. But it didn’t matter. Risciter would as soon never have known his name or wondered what Tramet could want with him. All that mattered was that Keirth had put a serious wrench in Risciter’s plans. He would pay for the inconvenience he’d caused. And he would definitely pay for taking Ariana away from Risciter before Risciter’d had a chance to make her special.

Risciter listened as Keirth tromped through the kitchen out of the house. He thought about following, springing on the boy from behind and drugging him again. But then he thought about Keirth stumbling on his ship, realizing Risciter was here, and the panic that would shoot through him. He imagined Keirth rushing back to the brothel in terror and agony. He’d feel guilt, too, wouldn’t he, realizing he’d left them unprotected? Oh, yes, Keirth would definitely suffer more if Risciter let him go.

Ariana, on the other hand...

But she thought she was hidden in that room. Risciter stepped into the kitchen quietly. He crept forward, just in time to see a door sliding closed in the pantry. Aha! So that’s where she was. He didn’t think she’d move from there, since she thought it was a safe hiding place. And Risciter had other things to finish before he got to her.

Risciter backed out of the kitchen and tiptoed through the main room, double checking to make sure he’d killed every whore in the room and the one man who’d been with them as well. He softly opened the front door and went outside. He’d been to each of the cottages as well, silencing the women inside, leaving them with gaping red smiles beneath their chins. There was only one cottage he had left.

He’d listened to Keirth talking to the madam. He believed she was called Lilla. Judging from their conversation, Risciter could tell Keirth saw this woman in a motherly light. He thought it would be fitting then, to destroy her as well, and to leave her as a message to Keirth. Finding the body of this woman would cause Keirth so much pain. And it would show Keirth that Risciter could take everything away from him. Risciter had the upper hand. It was a message the boy had failed to learn before. Risciter would make sure he learned it now.