With the pendant pressed tight to my skin, I felt his senses whip out around us, tasting the man now standing witness to mymostdepraved moment.
The captain didn’t stop there, even as my spine stiffened in delayed horror, letting his ki-sense flick out. Going further. Flooding the surrounding area for signs of others lurking unseen.
But he’d come alone.
General Tilcot.
Arms crossed over a naked barrel chest, the general strode into the steamy room, wearing nothing but a plush white towel. Dark gaze pinned not to my face, but to that which was beneath the surface of the sudsy water.
Belatedly, I squealed, writhing in the captain’s arms—but his grip only tightened.
“I see our little devil is as willful as ever,” the general said, and dropped his towel without a shred of concern for the nudity staring me in the face. “Still unbroken.”
“You can tell all that just by looking at her, can you?”
Back arched, I strained against the captain, neck extended to its fullest, head laid against his shoulder for leverage. “Please—I need—” Air! I needed air! Goddess, how had I allowed this to happen? How had the general—of all people—managed to sneak up on us? The captain should have sensed him coming from the city limits!
“Be still,” he hissed, lips tracing the shell of my ear. He caught me behind the knees, slinging my legs to one side. Keeping his left arm tight about my waist while his free hand traced the outside of my hip. Indecently close to groping my bottom. Giving the appearance of a man at ease—but with the pendant trapped between his chest and the side of my breast, I could feel the lie as if it lived beneath my skin. “What do you want, Harper?”
“Come now. Don’t be like that, boy,” the general said, sinking into the bath with a low groan and evil smirk. “We’re family.”
My heart lurched.Family?I was bound to the blood of the man who’d murdered my father?
“Only when it suits you,” the captain said, and, shifting me higher on his lap, set me astride his softening erection.
My black-clad breasts popped above the waterline, upper torso exposed to air far cooler than the water was hot, though the action drew an unwanted eye.
“Like right now,” my parasite continued, collecting my hand. He set his teeth to my fingertips, nipping me, sucking my index finger past full lips. The very same digit that had been tracing those infernal circles only moments before. Ignoring my attempt to pull my hand free, the captain laughed, though it was a bitter, humorless sound. “You’ve interrupted what was sure to be an extremely enjoyable evening. What do you want?”
“Your slave cost me rebel blood today, Asher.”
The captain shrugged. “And I told you she wasn’t ready for such a display.” Making a low sound at the back of his throat, the captain wrapped my fingers about the pendant then cupped my breast, flooding the bond with forced calm. Pinching my nipple between forefinger and thumb, his beard rasped the delicate skin beneath my collarbone, lips chasing a drop fleeing toward my cleavage. “Ididtell you she hasn’t been trained—”
“Explain something to me,” the general mused, swirling his left index finger in a clump of purple bubbles. “How does a Triloth of moderate ability cause the Emperor’s Golden Boy to lose control of the SAG Turret?”
“If I knew that was going to happen, do you think I’d have taken such a risk?” He scoffed, chuckling while the bond screamed in tightly controlled panic. Playinghispart and letting me feel it. “She almost died on the field today, didn’t you, pet?”
“Ah, yes,” the general purred, eyes tracing every inch of my exposed skin. “Captain Rawlings. Golden Boy. Youngest Elite to rise through the ranks in known history… rendered impotent by a slip of a girl we found living in the woods.”
The captain stilled. Fingers stopped their wandering.
“Can’t use her without killing her?” Tilcot grinned. “I haven’t laughed so hard inyears. So thank you for that, cousin.”
“I’m not worried,” the captain returned, voice absent the tremor rippling through him. “I’ve trained my share of slaves.”
I stiffened, glancing at his profile. Had he now?
“How reassuring,” the general drawled. “And what doesthisslave have to say on the matter, hmm?”
Beneath the water, fingers tightened upon my hip, near to bruising.
Play the part.
“I—I don’t know, sir,” I whispered, eyes falling to the water. Demure. “All I remember is…pain.”
“Is that so?” The general stretched his arms across the lip of the pool, chest rippling. “You’ve no recollection at all of charging into enemy fire just this morning, brandishing a stolen gun and babbling nonsense about the fall of the Empire?”
“I”—I blinked, lips parting—“I didwhat?”
