Abducted Read online

  His words made my stomach do that weird flip again and I took a step back.

  “If it’s that dangerous, why are you letting me go at all?”

  “Because, well…” He ground his teeth, looking irritated. “Because I need you to get the hydrogen scoop’s panel fixed,” he admitted at last.

  “What? Why would you need me to get your ship fixed?”

  He took a deep breath. “Remember I told you that the Majorans are in ascendancy and their Empress rules the galaxy?”

  “Yeah. So?” The idea of the galaxy having an Empress was still weird to me but so many strange things had happened in my life in the past forty-eight hours, it didn’t seem quite so shocking anymore.

  “So…” He ran a hand through his hair. “So the Majorans are a matrilineal society and Gallana is a strictly Majoran port.”

  “Oh…” I was beginning to get it. “So it’s all about girl power, huh? Females rule the roost and the men are at their beck and call?”

  “Not exactly. It isn’t as if the females own the males as slaves—nothing that extreme. It’s that Majoran males worship their females as goddesses.”

  “Wow!” I was beginning to like the idea of Majoran society—a lot. “That sounds pretty extreme to me,” I told Sarden. “They really worship their wives?”

  He nodded. “They believe in each female resides a small bit of divinity from the Goddess of Mercy and so they treat them like goddesses and refuse to do business without them. Also, they refuse to do business with a male who does not have his own personal goddess with him.”

  “Your own personal goddess,” I mused. It sounded like a song from the 80s. I put a hand on my hip and looked up at him. “And why should I agree to act as your goddess? What’s in it for me? I mean, you get that panel fixed and then it’s off to Giedi Prime to trade me to that Tazaxx guy. Why should I help you?”

  “Because it’s not just for me I’m doing this.” He ran both hands through his hair this time. “I’m doing it for my little sister. She’s been sold to Tazaxx and I have a limited time to get her back. That’s why I bought you—to trade for her.”

  “What?” Sold by who? How?” I was intensely interested and couldn’t quite hide it. I had been able to tell by his reaction to me touching his crystal picture cube how important his sister was to him. But to hear that all this was about her, that he hadn’t just kidnapped me to sell or trade for profit, put a whole new perspective on things.

  “I don’t like to talk about it,” Sarden growled.

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Well that’s too bad. You’d better talk if you need my help. And begin at the beginning.”

  “All right—I’ll tell you. Briefly.” He sighed. “You know that I am a half-breed—both Vorn and Eloim. My mother was the daughter of the Rae and Ria of Eloim—the rulers of the planet. She was kidnapped by a high ranking Vorn and taken back to Vorn 6. There she became pregnant with me. Then her parents—my grandparents, the Rae and Ria—paid her ransom and she was returned home to Eloim.”

  “Wow.” I nodded. “Okay. Go on.”

  He started pacing the kitchen. “In due time, I was born. My mother hid her pregnancy until it was too late to abort me although that was what my grandfather, the Rae, wanted when he finally found out. But she wouldn’t allow it, even though I was a half-breed and a product of rape she…” He shook his head. “She was always protective of me.”

  “Oh, Sarden…” I whispered but he shook his head and continued, his face stony.

  “My grandparents married my mother to a respectable Eloim male for a considerable sum of credit so that he would overlook the fact that she was ‘used goods.’ About seven cycles later, my sister, Sellah was born and my mother died shortly after from complications of childbirth.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I lost my mom too. I know how awful it is.”

  He shook his head, his face dark. “It was a long time ago. I do remember the last time I saw her though—she was holding Sellah in her arms. She introduced me to my little sister and made me promise to always take care of her and protect her.”

  “Oh…” His words caused a stabbing pain in my heart. I had to sink down into a chair because my knees suddenly felt wobbly.

  “You’re the oldest one—the one in charge,” I heard my mother’s voice whisper in my memory. “You have to look out for Angie. Sisters look after each other. The oldest looks after the youngest, remember that Zoe. Take care of your sister!”

  “It’s a promise I was unable to keep.” Sarden had his back to me so he couldn’t see my reaction—I was glad.

  “How…what happened?” I asked, my voice coming out hoarse and whispery.

  He sighed. “Normally the oldest male child of the Rae and Ria will grow up to become the Rae in his own right. His mate will be the Ria so that the planet is balanced. However, if he has no mate, he can choose a female relative to help him rule. Because I was a half-breed, I was…discouraged from claiming my birthright. And so the honor of being the next Rae fell to my cousin, Hurxx. He had no mate so he chose my little sister, Sellah as his Ria.”

  I remembered all the talk about her coronation on the crystal cube. So that was what it had been about. Sarden wasn’t just some common smuggler—he was the rightful heir to a whole freaking planet. Or would have been if he hadn’t been half Vorn. Also, his sister was a queen. Wow.

  “So what happened? Was there some kind of political coup?”

  “You could say that,” he remarked grimly. “Not three solar days after her coronation, Sellah was walking in the palace gardens when a band of pirates somehow got past security and took her.” He ran his hands through his hair again in a distracted, anxious way. “I traced them for months—so afraid of what might be happening to her. Then finally I found out she was with a male I already know.”

  “Tazaxx?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Tazaxx. He is a collector of rare and beautiful females which is why I bought you—there is no rarer female than one from a closed planet. Especially a La-ti-zal like yourself.” He looked at me and there was desperation on his strong features. “You’re so fucking gorgeous and unique, Zoe. I knew if I could get you to him in time, he wouldn’t be able to resist a trade—you for Sellah.” He lifted his hands, palm up. “And now you know why I need your help.”

  “Wow…” I didn’t know what else to say.

  “Of course,” Sarden went on. “I realize that my troubles are my own. Why should you care about helping to save my sister? Especially when her freedom means your own imprisonment? But there is something else I can promise you, Zoe—”

  “I’ll do it,” I said quietly.

  “I can go back to Earth when this is over and buy the contracts on your two best friends,” he went on. “That way no male searching for a mate can pick them from the AMI and take them away as I took you. It will guarantee their safety forever. It—”

  “I said, I’ll do it,” I said, louder this time.

  “It will—what?” Sarden looked at me uncertainly. “What did you say?”

  “I said I’ll do it. I’ll help you.” I looked up at him, letting him see the sincerity in my eyes.

  “You will? But…why?” He shook his head, puzzled.

  “Because family is important. And I know…” I cleared my throat. “I know about feeling responsible for them.”

  He bowed his head and looked down for a moment. When he looked back up, his golden eyes were suspiciously bright.

  “Thank you,” he said in a low, hoarse voice. “I…thank you.”

  “You did say that this Tazaxx guy just wants me to put me in some kind of display case?” I asked uneasily. “I assume I’ll still be alive, right? Not stuffed like some taxidermied gator hung up on a poacher’s wall?”

  “You’ll be alive and well, living in a place as close to your home as possible,” he promised me. “He’ll consult you about your home planet and build you a beautiful habitat which resem