Purity Read online

  “It seems perfectly fine to me,” K lied. In fact, it felt like a huge, heavy hand was pressing down on the top of her head, crushing her into the plasti-mat that covered the gym floor. Add that to the fact that her gut was churning in a most unhappy way and her muscles were beginning to feel tense and knotted and she was anything but fine. But she wasn’t about to admit that to Boone. A Paladin did not admit weakness. I fear nothing, I feel nothing.

  “You’re sure?” Boone looked at her doubtfully. It was obvious he felt completely comfortable in the crushing gravitational pull that was being exerted on both of them. Which made sense—it was what he was used to.

  “Absolutely.” K nodded. “I’ve been to heavy-g worlds before.” She didn’t add that her suit had compensated for her, protecting her from the majority of the added gravity when she’d visited those worlds.

  “Have you?” He looked surprised. “All right then, darlin’. If you really don’t mind I’ll leave it. I have to spend at least an hour a day in here hitting the weights or I start to lose bone mass from living in light grav.”

  Well that certainly explained his impressive musculature. Not that K cared about such things. “I’d like to work out too,” she heard herself saying, despite the way her stomach was protesting that what she really wanted was to go lie down and let it settle. But she couldn’t just sit against the wall and do nothing—that would be weak. She would have to work through her bodily discomfort—it was just another obstacle to overcome and that was how she intended to treat it.

  Boone was frowning as he lifted some adjustable weights. “You sure about that? It’s one thing to be able to stand being in a heavy-g environment but it’s something else entirely to work up a sweat in one. It tends to be hard on you littles.”

  K stiffened. “I am not little. For your information, I am considered quite tall on my home world.”

  Boone grinned. “Take it easy, K, that’s just what we Colossians call people from light-g worlds. The same way you call us 'giants.'”

  “Oh, well…” K felt silly. She knew she wouldn’t have been so much on the defensive if she didn’t already feel so small and weak around him. Insecurity wasn’t an emotion she was used to feeling and, like so many of the new feelings that were barraging her lately, she didn’t like it.

  “I can tell you’re tall for a little,” Boone went on, adjusting his weights to Purity only knew what ridiculous amount before turning to get a pair ready for her. “It’s nice to be around someone I don’t have to stoop over to see,” he continued, frowning as he worked with her weights. “Uh, how much do you want?”

  “How much are you lifting?” K asked.

  “Oh, come on now, darlin’.” Boone shook his head. “We don’t have to turn this into a pissing contest. I’m not Loki, you know.”

  “And I’m not a weak little girl you have to take care of. I can carry my own weight. You gave me the freedom of the ship despite your colleague’s complaints and I intend to prove I can handle it—all of it.”

  “By proving you can beat me on my own turf? I don’t think so, K. That’s not necessary.” Boone worked on the weights some more. “Tell you what—I’ll give you half of what I’ve got. That should be enough to make you break a sweat.”

  K wanted to protest but just then her stomach gave another lurch—complaining about the new and overly spicy food she’d crammed into it no doubt. It made her wonder if she was going to be able to keep standing upright in the horrible, heavy environment, let alone do a full workout. Still she lifted her chin and took the weights which Boone carefully handed to her. I can do this. I MUST do this. I fear nothing. I feel nothing.

  She was glad at once that he hadn’t acceded to her request and given her weights to match his own. These were heavy enough—too heavy, in fact, especially in the heavy-g environment. But she gritted her teeth and managed to do several reps before a cold sweat broke out on her forehead and her stomach lurched again.

  K wasn’t used to this part of her body talking to her—let alone relaying how extremely unhappy it was. Her midsection was well toned and well behaved, her core muscles developed to give her strength and speed. It wasn’t her muscles she was thinking of right now, though—it was her stomach. It felt really, really wrong. But she’d been stabbed, shot, shocked, and gassed during battle and had managed to keep going through all of it—this discomfort in her stomach should be no different.

  Except it was.

  With every rep she did, she could feel the alien food and liquid sloshing around inside her. The cold sweat was breaking out all over her body and her hands were shaking. Worse, her muscles were beginning to lock up on her. It had been over an hour since Boone had really touched her and the damn Erian cravings that Loki had taunted her about were obviously kicking in.

  The increasing unease in her stomach and the knotting in her muscles was a vile combination but K didn’t know what she could do about it. Boone was lifting easily, his gaze focused inward, obviously into his work out. He didn’t see her distress and she wasn’t about to reveal her weakness to him.

  Struggling, she tried to lift the right hand weight again…only to watch it fall from her nerveless fingers and bounce on the plasti-mat floor. The left one followed and then K did too, her stomach heaving as her muscles seized and her vision blurred.

  “K? K!” Boone was with her at once, gathering her into his arms and looking down into her face anxiously. “Is it the touch-cravings? You need to be held?”

  “Don’t need…to be contaminated,” K gritted out. It was a lie but she was damned if she’d admit her need for him. Besides, her stomach was actually the more pressing problem at the moment. “Wrong.” She motioned to her midsection where the green tie he’d given her to cinch the shirt-dress now felt much too tight. “Something’s…wrong inside.”

  Boone’s face darkened. “Fucking Loki and his fucking helikat,” he growled. “You’re just sick to your stomach, darlin’. Gonna get you to the fresher in case you have to throw up.”

  “Throw…up?” The alien concept eluded her but Boone explained, while he rapidly carried her to the nearest fresher which happened to be the one in his quarters. When she understood, K was horrified.

  “You mean everything, all the food inside me…it can all come back out?” Just the thought made her feel even sicker.

  “I’m afraid so, darlin’. But maybe it won’t. We just have to be on the safe side.” He sat her down on the fresher floor and gestured to the toilet. “There, if you have to—”

  Before he could finish K felt a sickening wave wash over her. She thought, he’s right. It’s all going to come out.

  And then it did.

  K lost count of how many times she retched. Everything she’d forced her stomach to accept—the pancakes, the bacon, the milk, and most of all the horribly hot and spicy eggs—came up in a rush. The eggs burned just as much coming up as they had going down—more, even.

  Boone knelt behind her as well as he could in the cramped space and kept her braid out of the way. Murmuring words of comfort, he rubbed between her shoulder blades. It wasn’t the skin-to-skin contact her body craved but it did help some—or would have if she wasn’t busy being so wretchedly sick.

  At last it seemed to be over. K groaned and collapsed only to be caught in Boone’s massive arms. “Here,” she heard him murmur. “Drink this.” She wanted to protest that she never wanted to eat or drink anything again but it was only water. He helped her wash out her mouth and the cool liquid felt soothing to her burning throat.

  “Thank…you,” she managed to croak. Her stomach felt more at ease now but her muscles were still tense and knotted.

  Boone seemed to know what she needed.

  “We need to get this out of the way,” K heard him say. She felt the shirt-dress being removed and then, with a little maneuvering, he took off his own shirt as well. Then he held her to his bare chest, cradling her carefully as though she was an infant. He draped the shirt-dress lightly over her shiverin