Purity Read online

  Boone could be silent no longer.

  “Which is why she was taken and subjected to a life of unspeakable cruelty in the first place,” he said, stepping up beside K. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I don’t think K wants anything to do with ruling right now. She’s just trying to get over what was done to her by the Purists.”

  “What was done to her will be nothing compared to what I do to you, giant.” The Empress glared at him and Boone looked stonily back. “You have no business with my daughter. She is a princess and you’re nothing but a peasant. She must come back and complete her cycle to find a mate of proper lineage to rule by her side.”

  “Even if I wanted to complete my cycle, I couldn’t,” K said calmly. “I have only a few hours before my current skinsuit loses its power to control my hormones. If I don’t start training my suit to accommodate my needs by then, I’ll be dead.”

  “A few hours it all we need,” the Empress responded coolly. “I still have all the candidates assembled here on Eros. You can choose between them the minute you step off the ship.”

  “Um, excuse me, Your Majesty,” Loki cut in apologetically. “But we’re days out from Eros at this point. Even with our hyperdrive going full blast—”

  “That will be unnecessary,” the Empress cut in. “Simply stay where you are and we will come to you.”

  “But how—?” Loki began.

  “Never you mind how, commoner,” the Empress snapped. “I already have the position of the Tainted ship serving as your escort. Just give me your coordinates and we will come to you at once.”

  “No!” Boone shook his head sharply. “Loki, don’t tell her a thing!”

  “Boone’s right, don’t send the coordinates,” K said, her voice sounding choked. “I don’t want to go back. If I can’t…can’t be with Boone, I don’t want to be with anyone.”

  Boone’s heart thumped painfully. “Aw, darlin’…”

  “You will come back,” the Empress interrupted, still glaring at K. “You’ll come back and fulfill your royal destiny and duty at once!”

  “You don’t own K,” Boone told her, fighting to keep his voice calm. “If she says she’d rather live an emotionless life than go back to Eros and be with a bunch of strange men, you have to respect that. You can’t take over her life just because she happens to share the same bloodline as you.”

  “I most certainly can,” the Empress snapped. “Krissana will take off that ridiculous suit and pass through her first cycle this very solar day. She will choose a proper consort and her daughter will be of royal blood.”

  “Hate to pop your bubble, Your Highness,” Boone said dryly, “But K’s not coming back to you to choose a consort or anything else. You seem to have a bad case of selective deafness but let me spell it out for you—she doesn’t want to go back to Eros.”

  The Empress narrowed her eyes. “She will come whether she wants to or not.”

  “How dare you?” K seemed to be fighting tears of rage. “I called you to warn you—to save your life. How can you act like this?”

  The Empress gave her a level look. “In time, when you have a daughter of your own, you will understand, Krissana. I’m simply doing this for your own good.”

  “My good or your own good?” K said bitterly. “You know, Mother, you’re as bad as the Purists, refusing to think anyone but your own people are fit to live. I’ve had enough of that way of thinking—I reject it—and you. You’ll never hear from me again.”

  “Oh yes I will, in a very short time,” the Empress said grimly.

  She looked at Loki and Rolf, who were sitting close together, sharing the pilot’s chair and trying to look inconspicuous. Slowly, hypnotically, the golden rings in her purple eyes began to spin. “Loyal citizens of Eros, do you hear me?” she asked in a low, powerful voice.

  Boone watched in alarm as a glazed look came over both men’s eyes.

  “Yesss, Empresss…” Loki slurred, sounding like a zombie. Rolf mumbled assent as well.

  “Send me the coordinates of your ship! At once!” she demanded. “And you will stay in your current position until I get to you.”

  “Yesss, Empresss.” Loki’s fingers were already flying over the keyboard.

  “No!” Boone reached over to slap the kill switch to the viewscreen but it was too late. By the time the angry Empress faded from sight, the damage was done.

  “Huh?” Rolf blinked his eyes and looked around in obvious confusion.

  “What’s going on? What did I miss?” Loki demanded.

  “Well, now we can see that the Purists’ plot to take over Eros would definitely have worked,” Boone grumbled, looking at the pair of touch partners who were still blinking owlishly, as though they’d just awakened from a long nap. He looked at K. “I wonder why it doesn’t work on you?”

  She shrugged angrily. “Maybe because the Empress and I have the same blood.”

  “What happened?” Loki demanded. “What did she say?”

  “She asked for the coordinates of our ship and you gave them to her before Boone could hit the kill switch,” Mom said. “Is there anyway to tell if she got it all?”

  Loki looked down at the control panel. “I’m afraid so. She did get it all.”

  Boone swore loudly. “Can we take evasive maneuvers?”

  Loki shook his head. “Afraid not, Boone. Once they’re locked onto our position, they’ll be able to follow us anywhere.”

  “This is it, then,” K said dully. “I’ll have to go right away—back to the Tainted ship. It’s the only way to be free of her.”

  “Didn’t you hear what Her Majesty said earlier?” Loki demanded. “She’s already got the Tainted position pinned down too. Probably she had ours as well and just wanted a confirmation before her pilots set a course.”

  Boone swore again. “I don’t accept this—K can’t be trapped into a life she loathes so easily. There has to be something we can do—someplace we can go.”

  Loki spread his hands. “Unless you can manufacture a black hole to suck us all to infinity, I’m afraid there isn’t.”

  K winced and put a hand to her abdomen. “How long before we can expect them? And how do they expect to get to us so quickly, anyway?”

  “Must be the new wormhole technology I heard being bruited about in mechanical circles,” Rolf said thoughtfully. “It would make travel that would normally take days with a hyperdrive take hours instead.”

  “A few hours?” K looked hopeful. “Maybe I have time to start training my suit.”

  “But what happens if she makes you take it off anyway, after you start?” Boone demanded. “Her Highness doesn’t strike me as the type to take no for an answer. Or believe you when you say you can’t take off the suit.”

  “I’ll die,” K said dully. “If I start the training and I’m forced to take off the suit, I’ll die.”

  “I won’t let that happen,” Boone said fiercely. “I swear, darlin’. I’ll kill whoever comes for you with my bare hands if I have to. But no one is going to force you to take off that damn suit.”

  “Do you realize what you’re saying? You’re the one who wanted me out of my suit in the first place and now you’re willing to fight to keep me in it.” K laughed weakly but the laugh turned into a soft moan of pain. She pressed a hand to her side. “Purity…”

  “I’m not the only one who will fight,” Boone protested, looking at her anxiously. “I’m sure Hesler and his Tainted will join in if it comes to that.”

  K shook her head. “It’s not fair to ask that of them. They already rescued me once. No, this isn’t their fight or yours, Boone. It’s mine and mine alone.”

  “Bullshit,” Boone exploded angrily. “You’re the woman I love. Even if I can’t be with you, I’ll be damned if I stand to one side and let someone force you into a life you hate.”

  K sighed. “It’s my royal blood, you know. It’s ruined everything. It got me kidnapped by the Purists in the first place, made it impossible for me to be with you, and now