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  “The color of the fire-berry?” Nyoki’s chin notched up. “I can spin the jewels to be an exact match.”

  “Really?”

  “’Tis a vow amongst Galians.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “The gemstones I require must be bartered from one of the far sectors before it can be spun.” She pursed her lips in thought. “’Mayhap one moon-month? Leastways, two at most.”

  “I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be in Crystal City. If I pay extra credits can you send it by yoma when it’s finished?”

  Nyoki waved a hand. “I have never charged a customer more credits for delivery do they dwell within Galis. For a certainty I shan’t start now.” She grinned. “’Tis true then that The Gy’at Lis still rely upon the yoma for travel and deliveries?”

  “Klykka insists on keeping everything as utilitarian and basic as possible. She doesn’t believe warriors should ever rely on technology so very little in our sector is based on it.” Kari grinned back. “So yeah, we still use the flying monkeys.”

  “There’s no method of instant transport available in your sector?”

  “We have holo-ports for humanoids coming to and going from our sector, but no transporters once you’re inside. From there it’s all done by yoma.”

  “I may just deliver the zokas myself. In all my moon-risings I’ve yet to see a yoma in person.”

  “They are much bigger standing next to you than they look in the sky.”

  “Now I know ‘twill be I who makes the delivery. I needs must see this!”

  They chatted for a few more minutes after which Kari paid the necessary credits for her purchases. “It’s been a pleasure, Nyoki.” Kari smiled. “If I don’t see you again before I leave Crystal City then I hope to see you in my sector.”

  “You will, galishi. ‘Tis a vow, that.”

  Kari admired Klykka more after her conversation with Nyoki Zha’Ri than she had before, which was saying a lot. She’d never understood her adoptive sister’s insistence on retaining such Spartan ways, but she got it now. Klykka was actually quite genius. If Galis ever came under attack, the Gy’at Li sector would be the toughest to breach let alone conquer. Technology couldn’t be used against them, making the yoma the only available transportation system. More loyal than dogs to their humans, the flying monkeys of Gy’at Li would defend their humanoids to the death.

  Kari strolled back toward the purple, crystal dwelling that was her temporary abode. Lost in thought, she didn’t realize she was being tracked.

  Or that the one hunting her could barely contain his fury.

  Chapter Ten

  Kari walked into the nearest entrance pod of the purple, crystal edifice. The doors to the pod whisked shut behind her. She held up her palm so the transporter could identify her and instantaneously spit her out on the 700th floor. Stepping out of the transport, she heard the pod whizz shut.

  “You permitted another warrior to touch you.”

  Kari yelped. Her eyes round and heart racing, she whirled around to face the intruder.

  Her breath caught in the back of her throat. It was him. He hadn’t forgotten her after all. Half elated to see him and half wary about his presence in Klykka’s penthouse, she latched onto the latter. “How did you get in here?”

  “Why did you permit another warrior to taste you?”

  “I asked you a question.”

  “Why?” he barked.

  Kari’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  His golden gaze was frightening in its intensity. His musculature, intimidating on a normal day, was increasingly so tonight. She could see his vein-roped arms cording and tensing, which only served to exaggerate her wariness. He looked ready to kill her where she stood. Swallowing roughly, Kari instinctively took a step back.

  “You permitted another warrior to lick your channel.”

  She blinked. “My channel?”

  “Aye. Your channel.”

  She ran a shaky hand through her hair. “I don’t even know what a channel is and you never answered my question.” She forced her chin up and feigned a sense of control over the situation she didn’t feel. “Until you answer it, I’m done listening to this.”

  “I have my ways,” the giant murmured. “Leastways, you paid no heed to your surroundings when trekking back from the bartering stalls. ‘Twas not difficult to enter the transport behind you.”

  How did a man so large walk so quietly? There she went swallowing again.

  For some reason, until this moment, Kari hadn’t noticed all his tattoos. There was more than the skull on his forehead—his chiseled arms were covered in them. The effect would have been arousing under normal conditions, but in this circumstance it only added further intimidation to his already commanding presence.

  “A channel,” the warrior grimly instructed Kari, “is what Galians call a pussy.” He took a single step, putting him directly in front of her. “For a certainty you let another warrior touch and lick upon it.”

  Kari’s mouth worked up and down, but nothing came out.

  “Never lie to me, pani.”

  Pani. The Trystonni word for “baby” that differed in meaning upon its context. Since she wasn’t his child, Kari safely assumed he’d just called her by an intimate term of endearment. Channel must have been Trystonni slang for she’d never heard the word before, but pani she definitely knew. She didn’t know whether to feel honored or terrified.

  “You mean during one of my last shows?”

  “Aye.”

  She flung her arm out. “You weren’t there and I had a job to do!” She took another step back so she could glare up at his face. Her eyes narrowed. “I looked for you. Every night I looked! Finally Arista started getting suspicious and asked why I hadn’t let another patron bring me to peak.” Her lips turned down. “I did what I had to do.”

  His glowing, gold gaze searched her silvery-blue one. “You looked for me?”

  Kari’s face blanched. She shouldn’t be encouraging him. She knew what his kind did to women. She broke his stare and cast her eyes downward.

  “You looked for me?” His hand, massive enough to crush her skull like a tin can, cradled her chin and gently prodded it up. “Answer me,” he murmured.

  “Yes,” she quietly admitted, “I did.”

  His gaze searched hers. She wanted him so bad she could cry.

  “You should go.” Kari pulled away and walked toward the doors, preparing to press the button that would summon the pod. She had to remain strong and keep her promise to Klykka. “This can’t happen. This can never happen.”

  He didn’t move, just watched her. “I can smell your arousal, wee one.”

  Kari blew out a breath. She didn’t know if he meant that literally, but suspected he did. Either way, his thickly murmured words made her arousal a thousand times worse.

  “I don’t even know your name,” Kari said feebly. She regained her self-control long enough to wave a dismissive hand. “Not that it matters because this can’t happen!”

  “It can. And for a certainty, it will.”

  Her eyes widened. “You mean to rape me?”

  “I won’t have to rape you.”

  She wished her mouth wasn’t cotton-dry because the need to gulp yet again was paramount. “This,” she shakily repeated, “can never happen.” She steeled herself against any argument the warlord might make. She raised a palm. “I know what your kind do to women and it won’t be done to me. You need to leave. Please.”

  “What do we do?” he asked. His expression was stoic, but his eyes were amused.

  Her jaw tightened. “You steal women. You put those weird necklaces around their necks—” She pointed toward the bridal necklace he wore. “And throw them into harems where they’re never heard from again.”

  The amusement didn’t leave his eyes. “Death.”

  “Huh?”

  “My name is Death.”

  Chills worked up and down Kari’s