Exiled Read online

  He also told me I was beautiful. He cared for me even though I was different. Lissa wrapped her arms around herself and sighed. If she closed her eyes, she could almost remember the way he had hugged her, feel the forbidden press of his lips against her forehead, which was the only place Saber had ever dared kiss her. But even those embraces, which would seem chaste and tame to an outsider, were forbidden on their home world of Tarsia. Forbidden but oh, so sweet.

  And now here we are together again and we’re on a planet where I have to treat him like a slave…like some kind of pet! Lissa felt ill when she remembered the way Llewelyn had groveled before the ambassador and kissed her offered foot even after she had slapped his face. Lissa knew she couldn’t treat Saber like that. She just couldn’t.

  Not to mention the fact that she also couldn’t let him suck pain and pleasure elixirs off her nipples.

  The thought brought a hot blush to Lissa’s face and she stopped fiddling with her hair and stared instead at the small leather case containing the two compounds and the soothing salve. Should she put them on tonight? Would Lady Sha’rak notice if she didn’t? It seemed like a pointless gesture—after all, Lissa had absolutely no intention of using the elixirs for their intended purpose of punishing her “slave”. But was the lace that covered her breasts thin enough to reveal if she skipped what the ambassador seemed to consider an all important step in her evening dress? After studying herself in the oval viewer attached to the dressing table for a long moment, Lissa reluctantly decided that it was.

  Sighing, she opened the case and took out the little red bottle. She frowned at it, lying so innocently in the palm of her hand. She didn’t want to offend their hostess, but she was still extremely reluctant to paint her nipples in what amounted to red hot chili pepper sauce. Maybe she ought to take a closer look before she started recklessly slathering herself in the stuff.

  Very carefully, she unscrewed the tiny lid and pulled it off. Attached to it was a long thin wand with a tiny brush at the end. It reminded Lissa very much of the little bottles of polish she had seen Kat using from time to time to paint her fingernails different colors.

  Only fingernail polish didn’t have fumes that smelled like fire and pepper rising from it. Lissa took a careful sniff and winced. Goddess that’s strong! And she expects me to put it on my nipples?

  Just then there was a knocking at the door.

  “Lissa, we need to talk,” Saber’s deep voice sounded a little muffled through the thick bathroom door. “Lissa? Are you all right in there?” he asked.

  Lissa called back something about being fine and added that she needed a little more time to get dressed for dinner. There was no way she was going to tell him what was taking so long was that she was trying to decide whether to paint her nipples or not.

  She took one more look at the little red vial and its crimson coated brush. She’d jumped when Saber first knocked and had nearly spilled the entire contents of the bottle all over herself—what a mess that would have been!

  No, she told herself firmly. I can’t do this—I just can’t. I’ll have to think up some excuse to give the ambassador but I just can’t.

  Delicately, she began to replace the lid…and that was when one single tiny ruby drop fell from the brush and landed directly between her breasts.

  The pain was immediate and devastating—like someone had aimed a blowtorch at her chest. A breathless cry of agony was torn from her lips before she could stop it. Goddess, it hurts…it burns!

  Outside the door, Lissa heard Saber demanding to know what was going on. Forcing herself to sound normal, she called back, “Nothing.” He said something else but she couldn’t answer again. All she could think about was the pain and how to stop it.

  She had the presence of mind to set the red bottle down on the dressing table and then ripped off the band of black lace. Balling it in her hand, she scrubbed madly at the tiny red drop between her now bare breasts. But though she wiped away the ruby droplet easily with the lace, the pain continued. Indeed, it seemed to be increasing. It felt like someone had dripped acid on her sternum and it was eating a hole through her skin, trying to reach her heart.

  Lissa whimpered in pain. What could she do? Then her eyes fell on the blue vial which had spilled out of the case when she jumped in pain. The antidote! Of course!

  Hurriedly, she unscrewed the blue cap and pulled out the tiny brush. With trembling fingers, she painted a line of icy sapphire blue between her breasts, right where the droplet had fallen.

  For a moment she thought she felt the pain ease just a little. But before she could breathe a sigh of relief, it blazed back to life, the fire between her breasts burning even hotter than before.

  Oh my Goddess! What’s wrong? Why didn’t it work? Vaguely she remembered Lady Sha’rak saying something about how the antidote didn’t work if the burning blossom elixir got onto bare skin.

  But what else can I do? I’m on fire! Wait—fire, that’s it! Lissa’s eyes were drawn to the gold and silver taps that crowned the deep marble basin in the center of the room. She wasn’t sure if it was some kind of shallow bathtub or maybe just a very deep sink but at this point she didn’t care. Water—I need water!

  She was in so much agony by now she could barely think but somehow she managed to stagger over to the basin and turn on one of the taps full force. Water blasted out and Lissa scooped up handfuls of the icy liquid to splash it on her chest. The stiff red fabric of her dress became saturated and drooped but Lissa didn’t care. She didn’t give a damn if her dress for the evening got ruined—she just wanted the fire between her breasts to be put out!

  But the water wasn’t helping either. In fact, Lissa was very much afraid that it might be spreading the fire around. It wasn’t just the spot between her breasts that was burning now—the sides of her breasts were also hot and when she looked down, she could see what looked like a red, angry blush spreading across her skin from her throat almost to her navel. The red blush throbbed like a live thing—her inflamed skin screaming that she was burning. Burning up…

  Goddess, what was she going to do?

  Just then the bathroom door burst open and Saber came rushing in.

  “What in the seven hells is going on in here?” he roared.

  Lissa turned from the water basin, no longer able to hide her panic. “It was just a drop,” she cried, rubbing futilely between her breasts where the burning was growing by the second. “Just a drop but it keeps spreading and burning and the antidote doesn’t work and water just makes it worse—”

  “A drop? A drop of what?” Saber’s eyes followed hers to the dressing table where the little red bottle sat innocently, as though denying the pain and destruction it had unleashed. “Seven hells!” he growled. Rushing forward, he took Lissa by her upper arms and glared at her anxiously. “Where? Where did it get on you?”

  “Here.” Heedless of her bare breasts, she nodded down at the red patch growing between them.

  Without hesitation, Saber leaned down and licked her exposed skin.

  Lissa was so shocked at first she couldn’t say or do anything. Then, as he licked her again, his warm tongue blazing a trail through the fiery pain, she suddenly came back to herself.

  “Saber, no!” she gaped, trying to push him away. But there seemed to be no stopping him.

  “Hold still.” His deep voice was a growl, rumbling through her as he continued to lap her exposed skin. He ignored Lissa’s efforts to get away and bent her over his arm, the better to expose her injured areas as he continued to lick and suck.

  Lissa finally stopped struggling and went limp. There was clearly no stopping him and besides, what he was doing was actually working. The horrible burning between her breasts was easing at last. It was as though Saber was actually licking away the pain—erasing it with the broad, leisurely strokes of his warm, wet tongue.

  But though he was easing one kind of burning, he was leaving another in its place. As her pain eased, Lissa found that her heart was beatin