And all of the Krave suffered her sick punishments. He’d even hinted that Valerie had been whipped at one time and Eve wondered if that was why the young woman was so afraid of her aunt. Was that what happened after she’d gone to the Earth Council to report her, after Madame Allegria found out it washer?
It only made Eve want to bring her down all the more. A couple days ago, she’d come across her father’s contact at the United Worlds, which she told Khiva once he confessed everything to her. A Gharatan named Phe’vee’ka.
“We need evidence,” she told Khiva. “Anything at all.”
“There is nothing,” he told her, shaking his head. “She will have false records showing she paid us the full amount of credits as stated in the contracts. There is no proof of the abuse. Keriv’i heal fast and she will say that the bottom room is for her own personal use. Every record will show she runs a viable, clean business.”
“Valerie must have something,” Eve tried.
“She is too frightened,” Khiva murmured. “You did not see the state she was in after her own punishment all those years ago. She was young. Too young. Unlike us, she still bears those scars.”
Eve’s chest clenched and she blew out a shaky breath. She couldn’t imagine the horrors that all of them had been witness to. Softly, she murmured to him, “We’ll find a way, Khiva. To help them all.”
Later that night, Eve lit the fire in the hearth of her room. It was chilly outside and Khiva still felt slightly cold from the amount of blood he’d lost. She changed his bandages with more healing salve, pleased that his back was in a much better state than it’d been the night before. He still felt pain and Eve feared he would bear the scars for the rest of his life, despite how quickly Keriv’i healed. It would always be a reminder for him.
When she returned to Khiva, who was still sprawled on his stomach in bed, she carefully slipped in beside him and turned so she was laying on her side.
As she looked at Khiva, a thought occurred to her.
“Valerie said last night that you’d started your Rut,” she said, studying him.
“I had, shortly after you left,” he murmured. “But I do not feel it now, like my body knows the energy is needed elsewhere.”
Eve nodded. Whispering, she teased softly, “Good. We wouldn’t want you to reopen some of your wounds.”
He groaned, but his gaze was calm as he said, “You have not seen me in a Rut yet,leeldra.”
“I will though,” she responded and Khiva trilled low in his throat at her words. “And I’ll be there to satisfy you during it. During all of your Ruts.”
Khiva closed his eyes, his voice ragged as he rasped, “You like to torment me when I cannot act upon what I wish to do to you.”
She bit her lip to keep from smiling. With gentleness, she touched his bottom lip with her thumb. “We have all the time in the universe for that.”
“Once I am recovered,leeldra,” he began, “once I can mate you properly and thoroughly, you might regret those words. Because I will be ravenous.”
She flushed but chuckled. “I would never regret something like that.”
He growled, “Evelyn.”
It still made her belly flutter whenever he said her name.Eva-leen.
They watched one another and listened to the gentle crackling of the fire in the hearth.
“We will leave in three days?” he eventually asked, the question soft.
“Two nights from now,” she corrected.
“What about my visa? Madame Allegria has my documents. She will not give them up.”
Yes, Eve had figured that. “I informed Gorkan this morning about our situation. I didn’t tell him specifics, but he knows enough.”
“Can he be trusted?”
“Yes,” Eve said, nodding. “He was my father’s oldest friend. I trust him.”
“Then I will too,” Khiva said, though she knew it wasn’t an easy thing for him to say.
“I was originally going to meet him at Port Lazo, but he will come here, to Everton. He has a trader vessel, much like my father’s, and because of it, he employs many beings, from all Quadrants. He has forged visas. He says that the Port Control does not look very closely at trader vessels because they simply do not have enough time to search every single one and verify all beings on board. No one seems to care anyways, as long as the shipments come through.”
