Page 25 of Dark Space
Anna swallowed, and burrowed further into Vesper’s chest. She said something, muffled against Vesper’s shirt.
‘That’s right. You’re safe now. It didn’t work. And that fucker will never touch anything ever again.’
I got to my feet. ‘I’ll leave you,’ I said awkwardly.
Anna rasped something.
‘She said thank you,’ Vesper said reluctantly. ‘And to tell the Prince the same.’
‘I’ll tell him.’
Vesper looked up. ‘She might thank you, but I don’t,’ he said, his voice low and furious. ‘You think being claimed by the Prince will stop the other males on this ship from thinking the same thing as your dead medic?Take her home to Earth, you selfish bastards.’
Anna looked up at Vesper and then across at me, her face pinched with worry.
‘I can’t,’ I told the starling. I turned away from their gaze and strode from the cell; the walls were golden with the furious glow of Vesper’s eyes. ‘I can’t.’
Alcide was in his bedroom. His uniform was crumpled in the corner and he was sitting on the floor shirtless, his sword over his knees. He was cleaning it by hand, and there were several bloody rags strewn around him.
‘Cide,’ I said softly.
He looked up; his brow was creased in pain. ‘He taught me how to count, Cal,’ he said, his voice hoarse.
‘I know, Prince.’ I paused. ‘What do you need?’
Alcide was a tall male, as tall as me, but sitting on the floor in nothing but the tight black pants we wore under our uniforms, he looked small. Lost. He dipped his head, staring at his sword. ‘Say no,’ he said at last. ‘Say no, but Cal … Can you … Will you …’
‘You can ask for a hug, Cide. Your father isn’t here.’ I dropped to my knees. ‘He’s not here, and he won’t know. I’ll give you whatever you need. Always.’
He gave a strangled half-sob and launched himself towards me, his sword clattering to the floor. He linked his arms around my waist and pressed his face into my neck.
I wrapped my arms around him and held on as tight as I could.
I’d held him like this once before, in our seventeenth year. His mother had died when he was born and he had no memories of her, but his maternal grandmother had raised him in every spare moment the King had allowed, had taught Alcide all the things he needed to know to grow into the worthy male he was. She’d seemed healthy enough to live forever, but just after Alcide’s seventeenth birthday, she’d died on a trip outside Scytha City.
He’d been devastated.
I’d held him like this for hours. I didn’t remember my parents – I’d been adopted by the military – but I could imagine well enough what it would be like to lose someone I loved. So I’d held on, and Alcide had held back, and after a long while he’d stopped sobbing, then stopped hiccupping, and his breathing evened out to match mine, and for a long time it had seemed as if we were sharing the same breath, and a strange, unfamiliar tension had risen, and Alcide had pulled back, and his eyes had been like the night sky, and something in my chest had wound tight like a spring as he stared at me.
Then Alcide’s father had walked in.
The King had torn us apart, roaring, and he’d ordered us both whipped. My punishment had been private, but Alcide’s hadn’t; his father’s Court was never told what it was Alcide had done, just that he’d transgressed.
The King almost killed him. Dainn had stepped in and convinced the King to stop, and had spent the next few months caring for Alcide’s wounds until the only thing left were thin grey stripes on Cide’s wide back.
I wasn’t so lucky – my back was still a mess of scars – but I didn’t care. I would have taken the punishment twice over to have Alcide look at me again that way, as if I’d suddenly answered a question he’d been asking for years.
His arms tightened on my waist, and I wondered if he was thinking the same as me.
‘Do you want to get off the floor, Prince?’
He gave a small shake of his head. ‘Don’t want to move.’
‘All right,’ I said mildly. ‘But you’re heavy as sin, Cide, and my knees are getting old. You don’t have to move, but I’m going to.’
‘Your knees aren’t –’ he started, then bit off the rest of the sentence as I hauled him up and onto his ridiculous bed with its canopy and four posts. It was big enough to sleep four males of my height and shoulder width, as if whoever designed it was expecting their Prince to entertain nightly orgies.
They clearly hadn’t met Alcide.
