Broken Ties [The Darkest Star Saga 6] Read online

  “I thought you didn’t use your seer talents.”

  “I didn’t use them in order to keep me hidden from my family. Now that I have accessed the locked part of my mind, they will come to claim me. If you will keep the Trevis from taking me, I will give you what I can.”

  They walked through a large meeting hall, past the dining hall and finally a guard allowed them access to the commander’s chambers.

  A wide hall with more than five doors facing her and more in the distance made up the commander’s wing. Dreynar opened the third door on the left, and she sucked in a breath at the huge expanse of tastefully decorated space. “This is bigger than my entire office building.”

  “It should be. It is one-fifth of the space allocated to the garrison. Would you like a tour?” She smiled and nodded. “Please.” He showed her the entryway, the lounging area that was so important to the Adeel, a broad office, com unit included, the kitchen fully stocked will a variety of Adeel foods, the lav and finally the bedroom.

  The bed was wide, covered with dark sheets and was complete with curtains hanging from supports between the posts.

  Ibbi yawned. “Wow, this was a very long night.”

  Dreynar chuckled. “It was. I will not be sleeping with you tonight. Remove your clothing and get into bed. I will have your items tested for electronic devices, and you can get some sleep.” She looked up at him, surprised. “Really?”

  “Really. I don’t want you falling asleep halfway through. Now that I have you, our time together stretches into the distance. Tonight is soon enough. Get some rest. A physician will be sent late in the afternoon. Enjoy a carefree day.” Ibbi smiled and sat at the edge of the bed to remove her shoes. “Where will you sleep?”

  “I will nap in my office, and after that, I have a full day of work ahead of me. The garrison is still in transition.”

  He gave her a smile, and as she looked up at him, she noted a few small signs of fatigue but nothing near the heavy drag she was feeling.

  She unclasped her bodice and slid the gown from her shoulders. On sore feet, she got up and let the silk rush to the floor. She was left in the matching chemise, and she asked Dreynar, “Does this have to go too?”

  He swallowed and his hands trembled slightly.

  “I believe it would be best.”

  Watching him, she slipped the thin strap off one shoulder and then the other until the swell of her breasts was holding them in place. She gave a small shiver, and the chemise slid down to expose her breasts and most of her belly while it hung up on her hips.

  Dreynar let out a strangled noise, so she let the rest of the red silk fall with a whoosh and skinned out of the minute panties it had concealed. She dropped the small scrap of lace on the chemise and smiled. “There, you have everything.” Sweat was beaded on his brow and something bright and hot burned in his eyes.

  Ibbi stopped showing off and crawled between the sheets, tucking herself in before she pulled the clasps from her hair. “These are old. I bought them on Querial.”

  With her body covered, it seemed he could breathe again. “You are a cruel woman, Ibbi. Is that your true name, by the way?” He was gathering her clothing together.

  “Irbiathia Senial of the Trevis. High Seer and next matriarch if my mother had any say in the matter. Ibbi is just easier to pronounce.” He finished gathering her clothing and took one long look at her. “Have a good rest. We will speak more when you awake.”

  She smiled softly, but the dawn couldn’t keep her eyes open any further. Ibbi listened to the sound of drapes being drawn and nestled down in her warm cocoon. Even the threat of her family descending on her could not bring her to a waking state.

  * * * *

  High Matriarch Arberatia Senial smirked. “I am holding her under. She doesn’t realise it, but she will still be there when we arrive. No one will keep me from her.”

  Her husband nodded. “Yes, my dearest. She will return where she belongs.” Arberatia kept her mind linked to her daughter’s and kept Irbiathia’s mind in the still and quiet of sleep. It had been one of the only things to help her child through her night terrors, and as long as she didn’t realise what Arberatia was doing, she would not think to fight it.

  * * * *

  A hand was shaking her awake. “Ibbi! Ibbi!” She struggled from dreams of the Trevis mother ship and looked up into Dreynar’s worried eyes.

  “Why are you yelling?”

  “Why wouldn’t you wake up?”

  She sat up, and another male was in the room with them, the inquiring expression linked to his occupation gave her no doubt that it was the physician.

  “I don’t know. I must have been really tired. I think I still am actually.” She rubbed her hair.

  “That isn’t right.”

  The physician perked up. “Commander, if you will allow me to do some basic blood work, I am sure we can get to the bottom of this.” Dreynar snorted. “You just want to see what a Trevis bloodline looks like, Sarthin.” The physician smiled. “Yes, that too.” Ibbi smiled, but her mind was doing a self-diagnostic. Dreams of her old home were not her normal night-time entertainment. She normally dreamed of her escape, the heart-pounding panic of being mind-blind by her own doing for the first time in her life.

  “Full work up it is.” She looked around. “Is there something I can wear?”

  Dreynar nodded and went to his wardrobe. He pulled out a familiar piece of fabric, and she whistled softly. “You work really fast.” She slipped on her light robe that had been in her apartment before she left for work on the day of the ball.

  Dreynar shook his head. “Not really. You have been asleep for three days.”

  Ibbi cursed and flipped the covers back and got to her feet. “It’s the matriarch. She is trying to sedate me to keep me in place.” She swayed dramatically, and Dreynar gripped her arm. “Easy. You have not moved an inch since you went down, and Sarthin could not give you a stimulant without knowing more about the Trevis.”

  “Perhaps I should do a quick exam, and we can get some food and fluids into you.” Sarthin smiled. He was wearing a white tunic that wrapped in front and the hint of a mark starting was in the open vee on his chest.

  She jotted it down to another Asku tattoo, and he walked with her and Dreynar to a dressing table that she didn’t recall from her first entrance into the bedroom.

  Sarthin brought in another chair from the outer rooms and set about taking hair samples, blood samples and a saliva sample.

  Sarthin gave Dreynar a cautious look. “The commander informs me that your mother had biological difficulty bringing children to term. May I do an exam?”

  It took her a while to realise what he was referring to. “Oh, an exam. I have never had one of those.”

  “Will you lie on the bed?”

  She grumped. “I just got out of bed.” He smiled politely, and she got to her feet.

  Dreynar was fidgeting in the background as Sarthin directed her to lie at the edge of the bed with her thighs at the edge and her feet dangling.

  Sarthin began with a palm scanner and took images of her internal workings. Ibbi looked at the monitor as he worked on her. It was quite interesting to see how her body worked. The Trevis were not big on medical care. They had healers for that sort of thing.

  “Now, the part that most husbands want to kill me for.”

  He helped her set her feet on the edge of the bed and inserted a visual probe that displayed her from the inside out. She felt a tiny pinch as a sample of tissue was taken.

  Sarthin nodded and withdrew the probe, and Ibbi slammed her knees shut out of reflex.

  “Well, your reflexes are in keeping with most females I have seen.” Sarthin chuckled as he helped her to sit up, and Dreynar elbowed him aside.

  Ibbi was in his arms with his face to her neck in a moment. “I am sorry for that.”

  “It didn’t hurt…much.”

  Sarthin put all the samples into a case that all physicians around the sectors seemed to o
wn. He bowed and left the room with a murmured, “I will keep you apprised of any difficulties.” Dreynar cuddled her for a moment before he said, “What would you like to eat?” Ibbi frowned. “I am not really hungry, but do you have any soup?”

  He nodded and got to his feet with her still in his arms. “We have a fully stocked kitchen, and my mother made sure that we could all cook.”

  “That sounds like a bit of effort.”

  “It was. Not all of us wanted to learn, but there is no arguing with her when she has her mind set on something.” He settled her so that she could continue to talk to him.

  She kicked her feet on the tall chair and watched as he assembled a stock from dehydrated tabs and water. He minced up some vegetables and slid them into the broth as it came to a boil.

  As the soup cooked, he made a pot of tea and filled a glass with water for her. “Here, now, tell me. Is there anything that you can do to not fall asleep like that again?”

  She sipped the water, her throat grateful for the liquid. “There are a few things I can do. The first is to not use my seer skill again until this matter is settled.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “It is possible. My guess is that when I woke up, my mother passed out with fatigue. She has to form a new link with me, and to do that, I have to use my talent. So, no seering, no link.” She smiled brightly.

  “What else could you do?”

  She sipped her tea and mumbled the response.

  He gripped her hand. “What?”

  “I could form a new link with someone that would supersede my familial link. It is why my family is so eager to see me with my cousin. A link to him would bind me to them forever.”

  “Can you link to me?”

  She looked into his gaze and saw the bright spark swirling in the peculiar blackness of his eyes. She knew her voice sounded breathy, but she didn’t care, “Oh, yes. That won’t be a problem.”

  Chapter Six

  She hopped off the chair and pattered toward him with a smile.

  “Are you attending to work this afternoon?” Ibbi bit her lip as she made her way to him.

  “No. The garrison has turned over. The newly mated men are on their way home.” He paused, and as she touched his chest, he inhaled sharply and flicked the soup onto warm.

  “It seems you have some catching up to do.” She smiled. “I think I need a quick shower. Will you wait?”

  He chuckled. “I will join you.” Ibbi felt her cheeks turn scarlet. She squeaked out, “Okay.”

  Dreynar framed her face with his hands. “I am not going to ravish you, Ibbi. We have time.” She put her hands on his. “No, Dreynar. We don’t.”

  He leaned in and lifted her in his arms. “Then, we will take advantage of this moment.”

  She shivered, and as they entered the lav, she gasped. “Wow. My apartment only had a shower.”

  There was a separate room for necessities and a huge tub at the base of a waterfall. She stared at the waterfall, and to her shock, it was the shower.

  “How did I miss that the first time?” He grinned. “You were focussed on me perhaps?”

  Ibbi snorted. “Perhaps. Now, shower please.” He set her on her feet and started the waterfall.

  Ibbi untied the silk of her robe and slipped it from her shoulders.

  Dreynar turned and froze in place. She walked up to him, pressed a heated kiss on his chest and stepped into the barrage of water.

  The water stung at first, but then, she relaxed into the pounding and her muscles loosened.

  She closed her eyes and braced her hands on the wall as the water worked her shoulders until they let their tension go.

  Large, wet hands wrapped around her hips and stroked up her back. “What are these marks?” She knew what he was looking at. “My ascent up the ladder to matriarch. When I had a child, the spiral would be continued, and it would be extended down both my arms after my mother died. What do your marks mean?” He rubbed his fingers along the double helix winding up her spine. “My arms bear the marks of battles and assignments. My face and neck have the names of my parents.”

  She turned and looked up at him with her hair blinding her for a moment. There was a mark on his chest, and she touched it without thinking.

  “What about this one?”

  He groaned, and she felt the flex of his cock against her belly. “That is your name. Even if you had never woken again, I would have worn your name for the rest of my life.” She traced the glyph. “I have not seen this language before.”

  “It’s High Asku. Now, stop caressing it unless you want me to take you against this wall.” He groaned again.

  She looked down, and his cock was weeping. It matched the heat that was seeping from her, but she hoped that the water was confusing the issue.

  “I am guessing that it would be a bad idea?” She blinked and stared up into his dark gaze.

  He reached past her and turned off the shower.

  “It would not be comfortable for you.” She shivered as the warm mist wrapped around them. “Comfort is not something I have ever heard of in reference to sex.” Dreynar’s chuckle reached into her and plucked nerves she didn’t know she had.

  They stepped to the side, and the drying vents blew warm air over their bodies. When her hair was fluffy and blowing around her in a wild halo, Dreynar lifted her with one arm and simply walked out into the bedroom with her plastered to him.

  He placed her gently on her back and leaned over her, his eyes intense. “My life for yours, Irbiathia.”

  She leaned up and kissed him, putting as much feeling into it as she could manage. “No one calls me Irbiathia, and if you ever want to have sex with me, forget the name.”

  He chuckled, “Ibbi.”

  “Dreynar, my mind to yours, linked now and forever.” She leaned up to kiss him again and reached for his mind with her own.

  What she found was shocking, his mind was built in a way that she had never experience, even when she was a practicing seer. Ibbi looked for a hold in the bright maze of his mind, and she was scrambling for purchase when he reached out to her and gripped her mind with his.

  Dreynar smiled, “I don’t know what I am doing, but how long will I have to do it?” She ran her hands up his ribs and stroked his chest. “Only until we are completely linked. I will leave the details of that up to you, but if I fall asleep, my mother will join us, and I don’t know how long I can hold her out.”

  He nibbled at her neck, drawing a pattern with his tongue. “Oh, the pressure.” She surrendered to him and leaned her head back as he woke her body with an expert touch.

  She shivered, moaned and sighed as his tongue heated and cooled her skin at the same time.

  Her breasts ached, so she cupped them, and he pulled her hands away, replacing them with his own. He supported himself on his elbows and slowly moved down her body while gently stroking and kneading her breasts, pinching the nipples in a manner that caused a rush of heat from between her thighs.

  He lapped low on her belly above the gold fluff at the top of her thighs. She was confused when he parted her thighs and inhaled sharply as his tongue parted her heated sex and began to lap slowly at her with a rhythm that had her whimpering in desperation for surcease of the pounding tension growing inside her.

  He slid two fingers inside her, slow and deep.

  She felt a twinge where the doctor had taken the tissue sample, but as his fingers twisted slowly inside her, the twinge faded in a swell of pleasure.

  She was on the edge of screaming because of the unending tension that he had started inside her when he surged up her body and fitted his cock to her, pressing into her with a slow, rocking motion that stretched her to the limit.

  Ibbi stared into his eyes as he rocked into her until he was finally in as far as he could go. He withdrew and slid forward again, the discomfort of the stretch turning into a burn that made her want more. Friction had never been so pleasurable as it was when he withdrew and slid into her in a s
low beat. Ibbi clutched at him, and her mind found its own path through his thoughts as a place for her connection was being created as he surged into her body.

  She stroked her hand across his chest, across the mark of her name. He moved faster, thrusting and plunging as that small touch inflamed him.

  Dreynar reached between them, and Ibbi screamed as the tension snapped to clasp the moving cock inside her. Her body shook, felt alive and trembled as it rioted under the first orgasm of her life.

  Dreynar’s back bowed, and he shuddered, fully embedded within her. The low groan was guttural, and as he relaxed, he removed his flesh from hers, pressing his forehead to hers before giving her soft kiss. “Mine now and forever.” She caressed his forehead. “I am inside you, now and forever.”

  Pleasure had given her the foothold that she needed, and now, there was no parting them.

  * * * *

  The scream was heard throughout the ship. It echoed in the mind of every Trevis connected to the matriarch. She was not happy.

  “I will kill her for this.” Arberatia paced back and forth on her dais.

  Her husband nodded. “Of course, it is your right, but why?”

  She rounded on him and glared into his face, “Because your weak genes spawned a daughter with a will to betray her people.” Verin felt his wife’s touch on his mind, and he screamed as her rage turned into his pain. He held the joy that his daughter was still fighting far beneath his conscious mind. If his wife heard it, she would do more than torture, and he dearly wanted to see his Ibbi again.

  Chapter Seven

  Ibbi could feel him watching her, and she turned to face him, smiling shyly. “Hello.”

  “You still haven’t eaten. I think we should get something inside you.” Dreynar caressed her hip.

  She chuckled. “I thought that we did that and that it was why I didn’t eat. I had no interest in having my stomach gurgling during that delicate moment.”

  Ibbi ran a hand down his chest and the ridges of muscle.

  “I don’t think that I was that delicate. I am sorry if it was too rough.” He kissed her cheek.

  “It was wonderful. I had no idea that I could do…that.”