Purity Read online

  The Empress’s expression went from deep despair to pure rage in an instant.

  “Why you insolent…I will bring you home with me and we will find a solution to this!” She took a step forward but Captain Hesler was suddenly between her and K. “Get out of my way you Tainted bastard!” she demanded.

  Hesler didn’t move an inch. “Sorry, Ma’am but that’s as far as I can let you go. Commander K obviously has no interest in going back to Eros with you,” he said evenly.

  “And since her DNA is changed beyond repair, I think you should just let her go,” Boone said quietly. “You lost her twice before, your Majesty. Maybe if you leave peacefully, the two of you might come to some kind of relationship in time. As long as that relationship doesn’t have anything to do with K ruling after you.”

  The Empress’s eyes blazed. She held herself regally erect, staring K down. Or rather, staring up at her—K had definitely grown a few inches—she was much taller than her mother now. K stared back, unmoving.

  “And this is your final decision?” the Empress demanded. “You truly don’t wish to claim your birthright and rule after me as is your right and royal destiny?”

  K stepped forward and reached for the Empress’s hand. She seemed to hesitate for a moment but then she took it, surprising Boone by her willingness to touch anyone but him.

  “Try to understand,” she said. “My destiny was changed the moment the High Sentinel stole me away when I was only five cycles old. It changed again when Boone captured me—changed for the better and for good. I’m sorry, Mother, but I spent most of my life leading others as a commander in the Purist army and, well…I’m tired of it. I’d just like to be in charge of my own life for awhile.”

  The Empress studied her daughter’s new blue-green eyes and then, finally, she nodded.

  “Very well. If that is how it must be…”

  “There’s no other way for me.” K squeezed her hand once and then relinquished it. “I’m going to stay with Boone.”

  The Empress looked up at him and then shook her head. “I suppose there is nothing more to do or to say.”

  Boone put an arm around K and pulled her close to him. “Nothing except to assure you that I’ll take good care of your daughter, your Majesty.”

  “Oh, you’ve taken care of her all right. You’ve ruined her.” The Empress gave him a withering look. “I will not forgive this, giant. Give me one reason I shouldn’t leave here and blast the lot of you out of the sky.”

  “I can give you at least five,” Captain Hesler growled. “That’s the number of blast cannons we have aimed at your ship, your Majesty. If you shoot at Commander K’s vessel, we will return fire in kind.” He spread his hands. “If, however, you choose to leave peacefully, well, that’s a different matter. We can all go our separate ways and forget this unpleasantness ever happened.”

  The Empress’s eyes flashed. “I never forget. And I will never forgive.” She glared at all of them. “None of you are ever welcome in my domain again. If I find any of you anywhere near Eros, you will be summarily executed.” She looked at Captain Hesler. “And that includes the Tainted. I will not forget that you came between me and my daughter, Captain. You may rely upon that.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” Hesler nodded stonily. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Goodbye,” Boone said stonily. “Have a safe journey back to Eros.”

  “Goodbye…Mother,” K echoed.

  The Empress did not deign to answer. Turning on her heel, she marched back to the airlock, head held high and two bright, angry spots of color high on her regal cheekbones. “Come,” she told her people. “We are going home. Without the princess. And if anyone so much as breathes a word of this, I’ll have his head mounted on my wall before he draws his next breath.”

  There was a long silence when she left but when the airlock finally cycled shut, Boone breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Whew, glad that’s over.”

  “It’s not,” K said, frowning.

  Hesler nodded. “The commander is right.” He looked at Boone. “I advise you to go back to Colossus and stay there, giant. The Empress is not the forgiving kind—she just handed all of us a death sentence if we stray too far into her territory.”

  “Well, then we won’t go there,” Boone said lightly.

  “Easy for you to say,” Loki grumbled. “You didn’t just get banished from your home planet on pain of death like Rolf and I did.”

  “It’s okay, sweetheart.” Rolf rubbed his shoulders. “We’ll be together in exile—it won’t be so bad.”

  “Yes, it will.” Loki crossed his arms over his chest, clearly pouting. “What about friends and family? What about the bathhouses? No place in the universe has such hot bathhouses as Eros filled with so many hot men…”

  Boone felt bad for his friend. “I’m sorry about that, Loki. I never meant for you to get banished too.”

  “Oh please,” Mom said in an uncharacteristic display if irritation. “It’s not like he ever gets home above once every few years. We’re always out flying missions. He’ll live.”

  “Only if I don’t go back to my own home planet!” Loki stormed out and Rolf followed him, trying to calm him down.

  “Wow.” Boone shook his head. “I’m never going to hear the end of that.”

  “Yes you will,” Mom said. “Just let him loose in the red light district on Colossus. He’ll be happy as a clam.”

  “I don’t know how Rolf would feel about sharing,” Boone murmured. “He strikes me as the monogamous type.”

  “Like us.” K smiled up at him and squeezed his hand.

  Boone kissed her cheek. “You know you’ve smiled more in the past few hours than in all the other time I’ve known you. Hell, you’ve even laughed. You’re all bright and shiny all of a sudden.”

  “I know. I just feel…good.” Her smile widened and she shrugged. “Strange, huh?”

  “Not really. It’s because you’ve finally broke the suit’s conditioning and gotten over your need for it that you’re able to show and feel real emotion.” Hesler sounded almost wistful.

  “But K was out of the suit before—when I first captured her,” Boone pointed out.

  “Yes, but she hadn’t broken the conditioning so the drugs lingered in her system. Until you reach that breaking point on your own, you’re not fully free of the suit’s influence. Now K is free to be who she really is—who she was always meant to be.”

  “What about you?” Boone asked him. “Did you break your suit’s conditioning?”

  “I did. My breaking point came when that old bastard, the High Sentinel, ordered me to purge myself and I decided I’d rather live than die. It was damn hard, but worth it to be in control of the suit instead of the other way around.”

  “True.” K nodded.

  “I’m envious of you, Commander K.” Hesler gave her a level look. “You’ve found what you were looking for and you no longer need the suit as a crutch.”

  “Boone’s solution could work for you, too,” K suggested. “If you want to get away from the suit.”

  “Only if I found someone I wanted to swap DNA with,” Hesler said dryly. “Finding your one true love isn’t easy when you’re on emo-supressors—even modified amounts like I am.”

  “Why not come off them?” Boone asked.

  Hesler shook his head. “As I told Commander K, I tried that once. Took off the suit and let my Erian nature exert itself. Even went though a cycle.”

  “And?”

  “Things…didn’t go well.” Hesler sighed. “Besides, I like the emotional distance the suit gives me. It keeps things from getting messy.”

  Boone nodded. “I understand. But take it from me, Captain—sometimes messy can be good.” He smiled down at K who smiled up at him.

  “And speaking of cycles…” She shifted from foot to foot restlessly. “Could I see you alone for a minute?”

  Boone got the hint. “Of course, darlin’.” He looked at Hesler. “We’d all be bla