Chapter 1
Leaving him was the hardestthing she’d ever had to do. Even now, nineYessat-Yearslater, her heart achedevery time he entered her thoughts. Unfortunately, that happened alot. Far too often in her exhausted opinion.
Kari Gy’at Li took a deep breath andexpelled it. Lying on the raised bed in her room aboard ship, shestared at the ceiling and wondered where Isar K’al Draji was atthis very moment. What was he doing? Who was he doing it with? Didhe think about her as often as she did him? Kari could barely findthe energy to blink, yet she could no sooner stop the intrusivequestions than she could stop time and space themselves fromexisting.
Despite everything, she knew she’d made theright decision all those years back. Isar was obsessed with findingthe very evil she and Princess Dari now chased. Knowing him asintimately as she did, Kari also feared he would have given up hisquest to stay with her—and eventually resented her for it.
She missed him. She missed everything abouthim. The way he worried over her, the way he looked at her, the wayhe fucked her…
Isar might be known as the ruthless HighLord Death to others, but to Kari he would always be the loving,doting warrior who could ignite fire inside her with his smolderinggolden gaze alone.
“I did the right thing,”she murmured to the ceiling. “So why doesn’t it feel likeit?”
* * * * *
The newly crowned King of Xaerja strode downthe corridor that would lead him to Kari Gy’at Li, nee the formerand newly restored Kara Summers. She would take great pleasure inknowing the Emperor had given her name back to her. Leastways,‘twould mayhap be the only event of the eve that she tookgratification in.
He shouldn’t have left her to her owndevices to do naught but track down a lead on the evil one. Of allmales, Isar more than anyone should have known that leaving Karaalone for a spell would not turn out for the better. Nothing turnedout passing fair when the evil one was involved. It might not havebeen directly responsible for her fleeing from him, but then mayhapit was. ‘Twas impossible to know for a certainty.
Isar’s jaw involuntarilytensed as memories of his childhood came flooding back. What hissire chose to do to him and hismaniwas mayhap unthinkable to mostmales, yet most freemen and warriors were nothajiaddicts.
Haji—a thick, green slime excreted byhaja-birdsand refined into ahallucinatory powder by criminals—was the only thing in this lifethat Hagör K’al Draji had a care for. When the coffers ran out andHagör had no means left to him with which to procure more of thedrug, he not only turned his back on his family, but outright soldthem into bondage. Isar could still remember the pleas for mercymade by his belovedmani. “Please, Hagör, do not do thisthing to our son! Sell me if you must, but let Isar go!”
Astrida K’ala Draji’sentreaties had but fallen on deaf, unfeeling ears. Hagör slappedher with his palm, the brute force that came so easily to him dueto his massive size sending her reeling. Hismani’shead would have hit a jaggedstone had Isar not caught her first. Leastways, he was mayhap achild, but he was nigh unto the size of a freeman—or even awarrior—already.
“If thehajidoes not kill you, I will,” Isarpromised, looking Hagör in the eyes. “’Tis a vow.”
His sire’s golden gaze had widened. Fromshock or fear Isar couldn’t say. “Take them!” Hagör spat out to theslavers. “Leastways, they are your problem now.”
The slavers were hesitant,as if afraid of Isar’s gigantic frame. They approached himcautiously, whips firmly in their grasps. He had wanted to fightthem with every bit of strength he could muster, yet hismani’swhimpering kepthis focus on her.
In the end, Isar had gonewith the slavers peacefully, hismaniat his side. For a certainty hewould not have done so had he been possessed of the sight and knewthe hell he and hismaniwere about to endure at the evil one’shands.
Isar continued walking downthegastrolight-cruiser’smain corridor, the entirety of his musculatureunconsciously tensed. He had failed one woman who’d meant more tohim than all the treasures in Trek Mi Q’an; he would not fail theother one.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, on Khan-Gor…
Fangs burst from his gums.Talons shot out from his fingers and toes. His eyes, once the colorof molten silver, turned an ominous red. Yorin F’al Vader roaredhis anguish into the night as wings exploded from his shoulderblades and he took flight. Now in hiskor-tarform, his senses were moreacute. He but prayed to the gods he found his Bloodmate intime.
Jana had run from himwhilst he’d been at market selling hisyenni. Verily, he knew hisvorahdidn’t have a carefor the creatures being near to him so he had rid himself of themto appease her—a fact she did not yet know.
He had tracked her for hours in his humanoidform so as not to frighten her, certain he’d be able to locate herby scent alone. All the while he sent her telepathic messages,urging her to return to their lair.
It had all been for naught. The trail on herscent had faded hours back and she had responded to none of hismental summons thus far.
His belovedvorah—his wife—could notbe dead. It had taken so many years to find her. The knowledge thatshe was pregnant made his torment all the moreunbearable.
I am coming for you,zya—little one.Make yourself known to me.
Chapter Two
Just Outside Khan-Gori Airspace
Zyrus Galaxy, Seventh Dimension
6049 Y.Y. (Yessat-Years)
