Unbound Read online

  “If you’ll join me,” Brynn said, seeing the greedy way the other girl was eyeing the contents of the tray. “And keep talking.”

  “Oh, of course. Well, let me see—this is how it goes…”

  Chapter Five

  For several days after the incident at the Arena, Varin stood at his new post—on guard outside the princess’s apartments. After hours of intensely painful testing and multiple explanations on his part, it had been determined to the King’s satisfaction that his obedience cuff was indeed working, so it was safe to allow him to be near Princess Brynnalla.

  As if he would ever hurt her! His whole life was devoted to protecting her. But the King—who had bought and trained him for this very purpose—seemed unable to understand the purity of his devotion. In the end, Varin had given up trying to explain and just let the technicians shock him over and over to prove the effectiveness of his cuff.

  Now he stood at his post stoically keeping guard, though whenever the princess went in or out with her ladies in waiting, they giggled and whispered, pointing at him and throwing awed glances over their shoulders. Brynnalla, however, simply looked at him—her quiet gray eyes filled with questions.

  Varin had the feeling she was trying to get up the nerve to ask those questions soon, but he hoped she never would. It was torture enough to see her every day without being able to touch her—speaking to her, getting close to her in anything but his dreams—would be too much to bear.

  It had been different when she was at the convent of the Sisters of Chastity and Obedience. She had been far from him then—a beautiful dream he was always aware of but never able to get close to. Now, every day it felt like his bond pulled him closer to her—a bond he could never truly fulfill.

  She would never be his. Like the sun above, it was better to worship from afar than to risk being burned by trying to get too close to her.

  But soon the night came when Brynnalla came to him, wanting answers to those questions filling her lovely eyes…

  She waited until the hour was late and her ladies were gone—waited until it was dark and silent and there was no one but Varin alone, standing guard in the short hallway that led to her private chamber.

  She began by opening the door just a crack. No doubt she thought she was being very quiet but Varin’s sharp Kindred ears caught the slight sound and he felt the tiny breeze that blew from her room’s ventilation unit. Still, he stayed quiet, arms crossed over his chest, gaze straight ahead, giving her time to study him—which she was, avidly. He could feel her soft gray eyes on him almost like a physical touch.

  At last she spoke.

  “Kindred?” she said, hesitantly. And then, with more force when he didn’t answer her, “Kindred, do you hear me?”

  Still he stayed as he was, frozen like a statue, refusing to look at her, refusing to speak. Ignore her, he told himself—as though his throbbing heart would let him do that! Don’t speak to her. It’s better that way. Silence is better.

  But the little princess clearly wasn’t in the mood to be ignored. Putting her hands on her slim hips, she marched out of her doorway and came around to stand directly in front of Varin. Tilting her chin back, she looked up at him defiantly.

  “Kindred, I am addressing you!”

  Varin simply nodded.

  The princess took a short, irritated breath and frowned at him. “Then why do you not speak to me?”

  Varin shook his head. Silence was better. He would not speak to her—would not allow himself to know her outside of his dreams.

  “Kindred,” she said. “I order you to talk to me.” And added, “Please…Varin.”

  It wasn’t her order so much as her use of his name—the only name he had ever known, anyway—that finally broke down his resistance. With a sense of bitter-sweet defeat, Varin allowed himself to look at her.

  “What would you have me say, your Majesty?” he murmured at last.

  “Talk to me!” she exclaimed, clearly gratified to have finally gotten a response. “Tell me things—answer my questions.”

  “What questions are those?” Varin asked warily.

  “Anything I ask.” She lifted her chin again. “Anything at all. I want you to answer fully and truthfully. Do you swear you will?”

  “You might not like the answers,” Varin warned her.

  “I don’t care. I want to know the truth.”

  “Very well.” He nodded. “I’ll do my best to answer.”

  “Good. Now first—are you really a slave?”

  “I am.” He nodded.

  “But you wear no collar. All the other slaves have pain collars.”

  “Don’t need a collar,” Varin growled softly. “I have this…” He lifted his left wrist, showing her the black obedience band circling his wrist, just under the heel of his hand. “And a chip in my back. If it’s not changed once every solar year I’ll die.”

  “Oh!” She sucked in her breath, her eyes wide. “Is that…that what keeps you from running off?”

  “No.” Varin shook his head. “That’s not the only thing that keeps me here.”

  “What, then?” the princess demanded.

  Varin sighed. He felt compelled to tell the truth, though he didn’t want to.

  “You,” he said simply. There was no use trying to hide it—she wouldn’t stop until he answered her completely. “I stay because of you, Princess. Because I’m yours.”

  “Oh…” Her pale cheeks colored prettily and Varin thought how beautiful and fresh and lovely she looked, especially compared with all the ridiculously bejeweled, over-dressed and over-done ladies of the Court. She wore no makeup and her hair was loose around her slim shoulders instead of up on top of her head in a huge, frizzy poof. And her eyes held an innocence he’d never seen in the jaded gazes of her ladies in waiting. Those wide, gray eyes, still so full of questions…

  “So it’s true?” she asked at last. “It’s true my father bought you for me when I was just a baby?”

  “Yes.” He nodded.

  “And you’ve been waiting for me ever since?”

  He nodded again. “Waiting to guard you. Yes.”

  She looked up at him, biting her lush lower lip in a way that was distractingly erotic. A long pause fell. It was silent in the corridor—so silent Varin could hear her heart pounding.

  “So nervous, little Princess,” he murmured gently. “Ask me what you want to know—I told you I’d answer.”

  “Is it true it hurts you when you…when you touch me?” she whispered at last. “When you caught me after I fell—did that pain you?”

  “Yes,” he said simply. “But I would do it again.”

  “You would?” She put a hand to her heart, her eyes wide and uncertain. “But…why?”

  “I would do anything to keep you from harm. No matter how painful. No matter how deadly,” Varin told her softly. “As I told you, princess, I…am…yours.”

  “Oh…” Princess Brynnalla seemed to wilt for a moment, uncertainty overtaking her.

  “I told you that you might not like the answers,” Varin reminded her harshly. No doubt as a royal, she didn’t care for the idea of a mere slave being so devoted to her.

  “It’s not that,” she said quickly, looking up again. “It’s just…I’ve hardly even ever seen a male before let alone one so…so…” She coughed and blushed. “I mean you’re so big.”

  “My size and strength are only to protect you,” he tried to reassure her. “I would never, ever harm you. I hope you can believe me.”

  “I do,” she said softly. “I just…I’m trying to understand something.”

  “What?” He cocked his head at her.

  “Open your vest,” she said suddenly, ignoring his question. “I want to see your chest. Your…” she blushed, her cheeks going rosy red. “Your bare chest,” she finished in a rush.

  Silently, Varin complied. When he spread open the black leather to show the broad planes of his bare chest, Princess Brynnalla put her small hands to her mouth