Page 59 of Star Mates

“Did you know I sang at a benefit concert on Dura?” she asked.

“No. Benefit for what?”

“For human awareness,” she replied. “It raised a lot of money to rebuild Sparta and made the upper class sympathetic to our cause. We’ve gotten their vote for human citizenship.”

“I was wondering why they were using hide glass,” he murmured. She felt his fingers run down the side of her neck.

Emmarie took a deep breath and turned to face him. She watched his face, his eyes, which smiled lovingly into hers before his gaze dropped and knew the moment he saw them. Under his fierce gaze, her branding scars began to itch, and she wished she could desperately cover them up.

“What is that?” he asked hoarsely.

“When I was caught, I was taken to a Merloni medical ship,” she said in a low, even tone. She had to stay calm and rational, for his sake. “The original Unarian who had commissioned the run in which I was taken, was on the ship. When he learned I was pregnant he had me branded with the markers of a breeding slave, which would change once I delivered.”

A myriad of emotions flittered across his face. He could not pull his eyes off the scars, and she self-consciously covered them with one of her hands. He yanked his gaze from them to stare into her eyes, tears battled the fury in his dark gaze.

“They hurt you,” he whispered in furious tone.

“Do you find them hideous?”

He groaned in mounting frustration and anger that went so deep, his body shook with it. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “The meaning behind them makes me furious,” he said thickly. “That they hurt you makes me furious. That you now bear the marks of their cruelty is almost more than I can stand. Yes, I find them hideous, but I don’t find you hideous.”

She remembered the time when she thought she might never feel his arms around her and she closed her eyes, relaxing into the embrace. He was so solid, so strong and so alive. Her world had aligned, the axis had stopped wobbling and now she was back in the one place she had dreamed to be.

“Who was it?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The Unarian? Who did this to you?” he asked as his fingers brushed over the puckered skin.

“His name was Lord Palazio from the First House of Galjani,” she answered. “I’ll never forget his name for as long as I live.”

Raiden frowned. “Palazio? Wait, General Nairan said-”

“You’ve talked with the General?”

Raiden nodded. “Briefly, when he found me on a medical barge.”

“Medical barge? Are you okay?”

“Yes, but I was unable to come back to you for a while.”

“I never lost hope,” she whispered, twining her fingers with his. “I knew you’d come back to me.”

“Right before I passed out General Nairan told me to tell you that you don’t have to worry about Palazio. I didn’t know what that meant.”

“I stayed with the General for a few weeks while preparing for the concert and he gave me his vow on two things. One, that he’d find you,” she said. “The other was that he would make sure Lord Palazio would never hurt me again.”

Raiden lips tightened. “It should have been me. I should have protected you, defended you. I should have been here!”

She covered his lips with her fingers. “If you’d have been here when the Kexians attacked then you might have been killed. Or taken like so many of us. You did what you had to do, and I understand, Pell. You couldn’t have prevented what happened to Sparta.”

“Logan could have,” he snapped.

“Yes. And he will get the punishment he deserves, but then again, if he hadn’t done what he did then the Durians wouldn’t have sided with us. Negotiations would be endless, and we’d be no closer to true freedom. But now, our baby will never be burdened with fear of slavery hanging over his head.”

“His?”

She nodded. “We’re going to have a son.”

He cupped her face. “You are amazing,” he told her tenderly. “And so very beautiful. I love you, Emmarie Tice.”

“I love you, Pell,” she whispered.

“There’s nothing in this universe I want more than you,” he said.

She knew that he had felt the same as she, that they were bound together by more than love. Their souls were mated.

“Did I tell you I have my own house now?” she murmured. “It’s a perfect place where we can resume our reunion.”

One of his eyebrows rose and his dark eyes glittered with masculine appreciation. “I like the sound of that.”

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