Chained Read online

  She wondered if he felt the same way but it was impossible to tell. Since the savage cutting scene last night, he’d been almost completely silent. But the red splotched bandage that wrapped around his forearm spoke more eloquently than any words could have. Clearly he cared about her, at least a little or he never would have wounded himself for her sake—right?

  I don’t know. I just don’t know…

  “I wish you’d talk to me!” she burst out, unable to help herself.

  “Talk to you?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “What is there to talk about?”

  “Your feelings for one thing.” Maggie couldn’t keep the exasperation out of her voice. “First you said you wanted to come with me to Gaia and then you changed your mind. Why?”

  He shrugged. “Decided it was better to put some space between me and Yonnie Six and it sounds like Gaia isn’t far enough.”

  Maggie put a hand on her hip. “That isn’t the real reason you’re not coming with me—admit it.”

  Kor had been standing there beside her, his arms crossed over his broad chest, his eyes on the sky. Now he suddenly rounded on her.

  “The real reason? You want to talk about the real reason?” he asked in a low, angry voice.

  “Well…yes.” Maggie lifted her chin, forcing herself to meet his eyes.

  “You know why, Maggie.” He looked at her so intensely it made her feel naked. “I don’t go where I’m not wanted.”

  “But you are wanted,” Maggie protested.

  “For what? To be your friend? Your bodyguard? That isn’t enough for me and you damn well know it. I want more—are you willing to give it to me?”

  “I…” Maggie didn’t know what to say. “Kor, we barely know each other and I’m engaged. We can’t just—”

  “That’s what I thought.” He turned away from her and went back to scanning the horizon. “I see a ship coming down—it’s time for me to go.”

  “What? Just like that?” Maggie couldn’t keep the hurt out of her voice. “Aren’t you going to wait and say goodbye to me when I leave?”

  “Goodbyes are bad luck,” he said shortly. “We never said goodbye on the Blood Circuit—it meant you’d never see the person you bid farewell to again.”

  “Oh,” Maggie said softly. “So you think we might…might meet again someday?”

  He turned his head and gave her a cool, distant stare. “The odds are about a trillion to one. The universe is a hell of a big place and we’re going in two different directions.”

  Maggie bit her lip. “I see. So what do you say instead of goodbye?”

  “Good luck. And may the Gods protect you.” Kor nodded at her briefly and turned away. Slowly, he paced down the white carpet, leaving her for good—walking out of her life forever.

  “Kor!” Maggie couldn’t help it—his name was torn from her lips.

  He paused and for a split second she thought he might come back. But he simply lifted one hand and gave her a brief wave without even turning his head. The next second he had turned off the carpet and lost himself among the ornamental white trees on either side of it. A second after that, he was gone.

  Maggie couldn’t help herself—she burst into tears. To think that after all they had been through together he could leave her so easily! How could he be so cruel? So heartless?

  And how could she stand to be without him?

  She was still crying twenty minutes later when the spacecraft, which had been making a very slow descent, finally landed at the end of the Grand Promenade.

  Maggie wiped her streaming eyes on the velvety red sleeve of the outfit she was wearing. It was one of the more modest ones Lady Popenose had packed which meant it at least covered her breasts and crotch. Also, it was stretchy which was good considering the other woman had the anatomy of a toothpick.

  She cleaned her glasses on the soft red material too, wishing she had a spare pair. Between being dunked in the pool and all the crying she’d been doing lately, the lenses on her current pair seemed to be permanently smeared. When she put them back on and got a closer look at the ship, though, she frowned.

  That doesn’t look like a Kindred ship. In fact, what it looked like was the long black hovercar which had brought her and Kor to the spa in the first place. Had Ratner and Ferna switched ships or were they running late? Maggie began to get a very bad feeling as the door slid open and a skinny, familiar looking man jumped out.

  Is that…it can’t be Jonas, can it?

  But sure enough, the next person out of the long black ship was a thin, familiar shape. Maggie was standing well back from the end of the carpet but she knew Nola Pope’nose when she saw her. And even if she hadn’t seen her, Maggie would have recognized her shrill, commanding voice anywhere. She ducked quickly behind one of the ornamental white trees that lined the carpet and watched the scene playing out.

  “Well? Come on, Jonas—don’t take all day! You know you have to carry me down the Grand Promenade,” Lady Pope’nose snapped at her cringing slave.

  “Yes, Mistress!” Jonas knelt in front of her and Lady Popenose clambered awkwardly onto his back and wrapped her skinny arms around his neck.

  “Hurry!” she commanded.

  Jonas stumbled to his feet and began staggering down the Grand Promenade, clearly struggling even with Lady Pope’nose’s light weight. It made Maggie feel a little better about the fact that he’d had a hard time carrying her back on Yonnie Six. Still, maybe Lady Pope’nose weighed more than she looked.

  She’s got to be carrying at least fifty pounds of pure meanness on that skinny stick body, Maggie thought. Then she realized what she was doing—she was just standing there waiting while the woman whose slave she had stolen—the woman she had chained up in her own dungeon—was coming toward her. True, she was hidden behind a tree but not very well hidden—it was time to beat a hasty retreat.

  Just then, Lady Pope’nose looked up and somehow saw Maggie—maybe because her velvet red dress stuck out like a sore thumb in all that white. Their eyes locked for a split second and then Lady Pope’nose began to howl.

  “That’s her! That’s her, right there! Guards of the spa, come get her! Jonas, hurry up!” And she began to flog the poor slave with some sort of a whip or flogger Maggie hadn’t seen earlier. She had the confused impression that Lady Pope’nose might have pulled it out of her elaborate hairdo but she didn’t know for sure—nor did she want to wait around to find out.

  “Hurry up!” Lady Pope’nose insisted, beating her poor, laboring slave even harder. “She’s going to get away!”

  At her urging, Jonas broke into a staggering run—a ridiculous sight with Lady Pope’nose still clinging to his back riding piggyback style and whipping his skinny buttocks with her short tasseled flogger.

  Maggie only had a second to watch, however, because her numb brain had finally unfrozen and was instructing her legs to turn and run. Whirling around, she kicked off the impractical high heels that went with the red outfit and began to sprint as fast as she could through the slender white trees.

  As she ran, Maggie couldn’t help looking over her shoulder. It occurred to her that if the other woman would only dismount, she might catch Maggie with no problem. After all, she was considerably thinner and she had much longer legs. But apparently it was beneath Lady Pope’nose’s dignity to set foot on the white carpet herself. She just kept flogging poor Jonas and screeching in his ear like some demented jockey in a race for sickly horses.

  She won’t get down—I’m going to make it, Maggie thought. I’ll find Kor and explain what’s happened. Surely he won’t be gone yet—he was looking for the perfect ship to steal—one that wouldn’t be missed for a long time. He’ll take me someplace safe and we can try to contact Ferna and Ratner again from there.

  Just the thought of seeing him again—of spending even a little more time together—lifted Maggie's spirits. She felt lighter than air as she sped through the white trees, casting the occasional glance behind her. Everything was going to be all ri