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  Everything, all of it came flooding back to him at once. And with the memories, came emotions. He hugged Brynn to him, his heart overflowing with love and desire and protectiveness.

  “Mine,” he whispered as he held her tight and she drank from him. “My Princess…my Mistress…my little one. Mine to protect…mine to cherish…mine to love. Oh, Brynn, how could I have ever forgotten you? You ARE my life.”

  At last Brynn finished drinking and her eyelids fluttered open.

  “Varin?” she whispered softly, reaching up one small hand to cup his rough cheek. “I mean, I’m sorry—Bereth.”

  “Don’t call me that,” he said in a low, choked voice. “My name is Varin—the bound one. Because I am bound to you forever, Princess. And I’ll never let you go again.”

  “Varin?” Her eyes grew bright with hope. “Do…do you mean that?” she whispered. “You remember?”

  “Everything,” he murmured. “Including what an ass I was. I’m so sorry, Brynn.”

  “It’s all right—you couldn’t help it. You didn’t remember me. But now you do—right?”

  He smiled a little. “You want me to tell you something from our past only I would know? How about the fact that you thought a male had to poke you in the belly button to start a baby?”

  “Oh Varin—you do remember!” She giggled and then both of them were laughing and hugging and crying at once and Varin was conscious of how precious and wonderful and perfect she was as he held her in his arms, hugging her to him as though to make sure she was really real…and really alive.

  At last he pulled back from her and looked her over critically.

  “How do you feel, little one? You lost a lot of blood.”

  To his surprise, his question caused her to burst into tears.

  “What is it? Are you hurt? Are you wounded someplace else?” He began to search frantically for another wound to heal and in fact, he found one—a long, wicked-looking slice that ran from her knee to her inner thigh.

  Must have been made by that bastard X'izith’s barb, he thought. Have to heal her. But is there something worse?

  But as he was in the process of searching, Brynn put a hand on his arm to stop him.

  “I’m all right,” she sniffed. “Really I am. I just…never thought I’d hear you call me by that nickname ever again. Or ‘Princess’ or ‘Mistress’ or anything but just plain ‘Brynnalla’ and you know how I hate my full name.”

  “Gods, I’ve been such an idiot.” He drew her close to him again. “Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Nothing to forgive,” she said simply. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he murmured into her hair. “And you’re still my Princess and the Mistress of my heart and my little one to protect and watch over. You’re still my Brynn.”

  “Oh, Varin…” She snuggled close to him and pressed her cheek to his. “Let’s go home—or go back to the Mother Ship anyway. I want to get away from this place. What if…” She shivered. “What if Sovereign X'izith isn’t dead?”

  Varin lifted an eyebrow. “After you gutted him like a Winter Feast gorst-bird and I ripped off his leg and shot out an eye? If he’s not dead by now he’s the toughest son-of-a-bitch in the known universe.”

  “I don’t care if he’s dead or alive—I just want to get away from here,” Brynn whispered. “He…he called me here and I couldn’t say no. I didn’t want to come but part of me…” She broke off, shaking her head.

  “At least you brought my knife with you,” Varin pointed out. “That was good thinking, Princess.”

  “It wasn’t thinking—more like instinct. I thought…there at the end, I thought: ‘I’m going to die…but why should I die alone?’ I guess I wanted to take him with me.” She shivered again. “I don’t even know how I stabbed him. It was…almost like an instinct. Maybe the last little bit of self-preservation I had left coming out.”

  “Whatever it was, it saved your life. That and the voice that shouted in my ear and woke me up to go looking for you,” he said seriously.

  “A voice? Shouting in your ear?” She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t fully either,” Varin admitted. “But it told me to come after you and afterwards it told me how to save you—by sealing your wound and giving you my blood.” He looked down at his wrist which had stopped bleeding and thought of the strong, female voice that had told him what to do. “Thank all the Gods that ever were…or maybe I should say thank the Goddess.”

  “I’ll be thankful when we get away from here,” Brynn said.

  “All right—we’re going. I’ll go start the lift-off sequence if you feel well enough to stand?”

  Brynn was still a little weak but with his help she managed to move to the passenger seat. Varin strapped her in securely and fired up the engines. They were going back to the Mother Ship, which he supposed was home. But really, it didn’t matter where they went as long as he had Brynn in his life—she was his home and his heart and that was never going to change.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  “Well, you seem fine. Except for some bruising and that nasty slice on your leg. Normally I would say it needs sutures but I understand that Bereth wants to heal you himself?” Commander Sylvan raised one eyebrow questioningly.

  “It’s Varin,” Varin corrected him. “And yes, thank you Commander Sylvan—I’ll heal Brynn myself when we get back to our suite.”

  “Varin again?” Sylvan looked surprised. “So then…”

  “Yes—he remembered!” Brynn couldn’t keep the joy out of her voice—she didn’t even try. “It all came back to him—all of it.”

  “And this was after he healed your wound—thus tasting your blood—and gave you some of his in return?” Sylvan looked intrigued.

  “Yes—that’s right.” Varin nodded. “It seemed to restore my bond to Brynn at once.”

  “I should have thought of recommending that earlier,” Sylvan murmured. “But then again, I don’t know if it would have worked earlier. You had to be in a dire situation that jogged your memories along with your love and possessiveness for your female.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Varin growled. “To walk in and see that bastard grabbing her…” He broke off, shaking his head. There was a shadowed look in his eyes and Brynn had the feeling he was wondering what would have happened if he’d been just a second later.

  “Don’t,” she murmured, reaching for his hand and giving it a squeeze. “You got to me in time, Varin. And you’re yourself again. Everything is going to be all right now.”

  She tried to believe her own words but there was a nagging feeling inside her that they might not be true. A sensation she wanted to bury which kept trying to press itself to the surface of her mind.

  With an effort she pushed it back down again and smiled at the male she loved.

  “You’re right.” He smiled back. “Everything will be all right now.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Commander Sylvan said. “And I hope you really did kill this Sovereign X'izith. We believe he had targeted us specifically—he’s been sending scouts to attack us for weeks.”

  “If he’s not dead now he will be soon,” Varin said confidently. “Commander Sylvan, can I have your leave to take my female back to our suite now? I think we could both use some time in the bathing pool.” He nodded down at his own grimy appearance. He’d only been wearing his black leather flight trousers when he came for her and his bare skin was smeared with her blood and X'izith’s black ichor.

  Brynn knew she didn’t’ look much better. In fact—she looked a great deal worse. The pristine white night dress she’d put on for bed what felt like a million years ago was in rags and tatters, stained with red and black and green and grimy with the gray dirt of the moon. There was nothing she wanted more than a bath at this point.

  Well, almost nothing…

  She pushed the worry back down again and looked up at Varin.

  “I really want to go back to the suite. I’m s