Ghost in Her Heart (13 page)

Kynan caught her before she could break for
the gate. Holding her trembling body, he said softly, “Easy. No
one’s going to hurt you. In a few minutes you’ll see Vana, and she
can reassure you.”

Vana. Nodding grimly, Kelsa jerked out of his
arms and stalked up the stairs. She just hoped the nightmare wasn’t
about to get worse.

***

Vana blinked as Kelsa walked into her room,
closely guarded by Kynan. By the aggrieved expression on Kelsa’s
face, it was obvious they were not getting along.

“Kelsa! What—” Uncertain whether to be
thrilled to see her friend or concerned about how she came to be
there, she started forward.

Kelsa wrapped her in a frantic hug. “Are you
all right?”

“Of course, but—”

Holding her away with urgent hands, Kelsa
scanned her face. “No, I mean are you all right?” Did anyone hurt
you?

Hearing the silent question, Vana gripped
Kelsa’s hands reassuringly. “I’m fine, really. Nobody would dare
hurt me.”

Peering at her, Kelsa demanded, “Why?”

A little blankly, Vana looked to Kynan for
help, only to find that he’d retreated and shut the door behind
him. “It’s complicated. But for one thing, I’m going to marry the
king here….” she trailed off at Kelsa’s sickly expression.

“Are you nuts?” She began to pace. “No way!
No. We are getting out of here and finding a way back home. I don’t
know what they’ve done to you—”

“They haven’t done anything.”

“Some kind of mind control or…or
something.”

Trying for patience, Vana shook her head.
“Kelsa, I’m in love.”

Unimpressed, Kelsa shook her finger at her.
“I’ve heard of this. It’s called the Stockholm syndrome or
something, isn’t it? Where you fall in love with your jailer? Don’t
worry, as soon as I get you home, you’ll get over it.”

“I don’t want to go home. There’s no way
home.” Vana was getting irritated, for a fearful part of her was
waking up and clambering that maybe Kelsa was right.

Going stock-still, Kelsa stared at her. “How
can you be in love? You haven’t been gone that long.”

Letting out a quivering breath, Vana nodded.
“True, but I am. It just happened.”

Eyes narrowed, Kelsa grilled her. “What’s he
done to prove his love?”

Caught, Vana bit her lip. “Well…he wants to
marry me.”

“And?”

The girl was merciless. “He’s told you he
loves you?”

Crushed under that hard stare, Vana dropped
her eyes. “Not in so many words.”

Kelsa began to pace. “Why did they bring you
here?”

Hating the truth, Vana admitted softly, “They
have a woman shortage.” The truth she’d been trying to ignore
flashed before her eyes, taunting her. “They needed wives,” she
whispered.

Pain and compassion shimmered in Kelsa’s eyes
as she came and placed a gentle hand on Vana’s shoulder. “Well,
their shortage is about to get worse, by two. They never should
have taken you, Vana.”

Chapter 5

“You what?” Dagon couldn’t believe his ears.
Vana was refusing to marry him.

Looking as if she’d been sobbing all night,
she lifted her determined face toward him. “You don’t love me.
There’s only one thing you want from this marriage, and you can get
that anywhere.”

The few people who had been in the room
scattered, unwilling to witness the fallout.

Dagon stiffened. Before he spoke, he made
himself think. She hadn’t been this way yesterday. Yesterday Kynan
had brought that woman. He’d bet a fortune that they’d been up all
night, talking. Apparently, about him.

He made the mistake of saying so. “Where is
your friend, the traitor?”

Bristling like a wild animal with threatened
young, Vana snapped, “Don’t you touch her! It’s not her fault that
you have no feelings for me.”

Carefully, he ground out through a stiff jaw,
“I have feelings for you.”

“You don’t love me!”

His mood got blacker. What did she expect him
to say to that? “You’ll be my queen, won’t you? You’ll have my
honor, my fidelity—”

“But not your love.”

The broken way she said made his heart twist.
“You don’t know what time will bring.”

She turned her back to him. “I want to go
home.”

A soft growl rumbled from the back of his
throat. “Guards!” he shouted, louder than needed. “Take the lady
back to her room. And bring me Kynan!” He had some choice words to
say to his good friend.

Kynan blinked at him. “You seem to have a
problem.”

Dagon sent him a murderous look.

He sighed. “I couldn’t leave her there, man.
She threatened to come back with others. You’ve said yourself that
the operation is closing down now. We’re drawing too much
interest.”

“That doesn’t solve my immediate problem,”
Dagon said coldly, with a commanding stare.

Kynan half-smiled. “I’ll take your problem in
hand, then. At least she has spirit. I was beginning to wonder if
you’d found the only woman who had any.”

“Just get the woman under control before I
have her gagged and sent to Nikon. And keep her away from Vana!
I’ll have enough trouble bringing her out of her snit without her
“friend” undoing my efforts.”

Kynan regarded him thoughtfully. “It’s
possible she would have been less susceptible to damage if you’d
courted her more. This might even be an opportunity to cement her
affection.”

“I don’t need advice on how to win my own
woman.”

“As you wish.” Kynan shrugged and made for
the door. “You have my best wishes, just the same.”

“I say we take a hostage. It’s the only
way.”

Vana listened to Kelsa talk and kept her
mouth shut. The other women in the harem, those known as
troublemakers by the Beasts, hadn’t wanted to include Vana in their
talks, but Kelsa was a fast talker. She’d insisted that Dagon’s
interest in Vana was not returned. The others had recognized a
fellow malcontent when they saw one and grudgingly accepted.

Cherry, the most persistent griper, scowled.
“How do you suggest we do that? They’re twice our size and armed to
the teeth.”

Clarissa, the chief troublemaker, shot Cherry
a quelling stare. “So we don’t tell them we’re going to do it.
Anybody can be taken by surprise.”

“Have you seen them workout?” Vana said
slowly, not liking this plan for reasons she didn’t care to dwell
on. “They’re dangerous, and fast. Experienced, too, since they’ve
been making war on Nikon and his bunch for a long time. It won’t be
easy.”

Clearly unwilling to take anything Vana had
to say as gospel, Clarissa stared her displeasure. “We can do
anything we put our minds to. There are men wandering in here all
the time. All we have to do is grab one when there aren’t others
around to help. Then we tie him up and use him to get out of
here.”

Barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes,
Vana looked away. They didn’t need her to jinx their work; with
plans like that they’d fail on their own. She frowned at herself as
she realized what she’d been thinking. When had she switched sides?
For while she wouldn’t betray these women’s plans—what passed for
plans, anyway—she didn’t want to help them escape, either. Had she
really come to feel that the Beast’s world offered so much?

It dawned on her that she didn’t want to
leave. True, Dagon hadn’t exactly courted her, but her instincts
said he felt something for her. That had to count for something.
Maybe she should talk to him, give him another chance—

“Stop mooning!” Kelsa hissed in her ear.
“He’s no good for you. We’ll go home and find you a nice
lawyer.”

Vana gave her the evil eye. She didn’t want a
lawyer!

Kelsa frowned at her, then addressed her
cohorts. “Look, I’ll be back later. I’ve got something to do.” She
took Vana’s arm and half drug her out of the room. “You need
something constructive to do,” she said with a worried look.
“Didn’t you tell me that creepy Dagon had given you a lab to work
in? Weren’t you supposed to fix his women’s fertility?”

“He’s not creepy,” Vana answered testily,
even as Kelsa steered her toward the lab she’d showed her.

Shivering, Kelsa shook her head. “Gave me the
creeps. How can you stand that scar? It makes him look like some
convict from death row.”

That earned her a black look. “He’s good
looking and you know it.”

“To each her own.” They arrived at the lab
and Kelsa opened the door. “Now be a good girl and go save the
world while I deal with the other things. You know you’re dying to
outsmart that bonehead medic. Besides, I know how you are. Once
you’ve got a book in front of you, you don’t see anything else.
It’ll be good for you—get your mind off what ails you.”

Vana favored her with a droll look, but
entered the lab.

Relieved, Kelsa ignored her guards and turned
back toward the harem. While she loved Vana like a sister, she
didn’t need her lovesick friend wreaking the plans she was making
with the others. She had a feeling that Vana would balk at some of
the more nefarious measures they might use. For her own good, Vana
needed to otherwise occupied.

Determined, Kelsa lengthened her stride,
eager to get to the harem.

Vana sat down at a computer terminal and
began to read the translated texts on Beast fertility. She’d been
over several copies of the history of the war and the fertility
virus and was working her way through gestation and health texts in
her spare time, putting together the puzzle pieces of who, what,
where and how. It wasn’t bugs, but it fascinated her all the
same.

Due to the enormous volume of research on the
issue, she did a lot of skimming. The Beasts had tackled their
problem from several interesting angles, but she had the feeling
they were making it too difficult. She was reminded of scurvy and
pellagra, two deadly diseases from Earth’s past that turned out to
be simple deficiency diseases. The doctors at the time had been
stumped, trying all kinds of dangerous medicines to treat what had
turned out to be curable by a simple change of diet. The papers
looking into that subject were scanty to non-existent, so that was
where she focused her efforts.

Kelsa had been right—Vana never noticed the
passage of time when she was taking notes and dissecting a mystery.
She ignored her belly’s grumbling for lunch, more interested in the
pictures of the virus and scans of dead eggs. It wasn’t until Dagon
knocked on the door and entered that she realized it was past
dinner.

Still in a fog, she blinked at him.
“Yes?”

His expression was inscrutable. “You missed
dinner.”

She glanced at her wrist unit. “Hm.”

Annoyance crossed his face. “Why didn’t you
have something sent to you?”

Assuming he knew that the same way he knew
everything she did, she shrugged. “I was busy.”

His sigh was half growl. “Come and eat,
then.” He glanced at her computer screen and raised a brow. “Your
research isn’t urgent.”

Now that ticked her off. Flicking off the
computer, she rose and said acidly, “How is it you automatically
assume that what I’m doing isn’t important? Just because you don’t
care, it doesn’t mean that I don’t.” He was in her way, so she
moved around him to the door.

Silence radiated behind her, but he followed.
Once in the hall, she noticed that he’d dismissed her guards. Pity
she couldn’t do the same. “Has it occurred to you that we might not
be immune to this little virus of yours? What happens if someone
decides to drop a canister full of it into the harem, for example?
It would kind of ruin your plan.”

“No one would be that stupid,” he said with
such savagery that she checked. While she stared at him, he went on
same chilling tone, “You are carefully guarded for just that
reason. Anyone who tried such a thing would die a painful death.”
He took a deep breath and looked ahead as he started walking.
“Besides, no one from the other side would risk it, either. I’m
more worried about Nikon staging a raid.”

Reluctant to prod his temper, she nonetheless
said, “I think I’ll complete my research anyway. Just for my peace
of mind.” She recognized their hallway and was surprised when he
passed her room and opened the door to his. “What’s this? Didn’t
you eat?”

“I’ll keep you company.” He remained where he
was until she warily entered—then he shut the door.

Vana eyed it. “Isn’t that against the
rules?”

“I doubt anyone will break it down,” he
answered with a faintly challenging air. “You can always scream if
I try to eat you.”

Rolling her eyes, she followed his silent
invitation and sat down at his low table. While he reclined, she
filled her plate and tried to ignore the silence. He was going to
talk. Being fair minded, she’d listen and try to ignore the tension
between them.

“Tell me about your mother. What was she
like?”

Surprised at his opening question, she
answered easily enough. “She was quiet. Loved to sing and cook. She
made the best lasagna…I could never eat enough.” Slowly, he drew
her out, asking what her childhood was like, how she’d liked
school, what her favorite things were. After a while she turned the
questions around, probing into his past.

He made light of it. “I had my father and
brothers. We played sports when they were home and exchanged war
stories. I was happy enough.”

She ran a finger over the polished wood of
his table. “But your life wasn’t perfect, for all you became
king.”

Dagon propped his head on his fist. “No one’s
life is perfect. I‘m hopeful of the future, however.” Left unspoken
was his expectation that she would be in it.

“Are you in love, Dagon?” A risky question,
but one she needed an answer to.

“You’ll notice there’s a shortage of women
around here. I haven’t much practice with the emotion,” he said
mildly. “If you’re asking if I’ll be faithful, the answer is yes.
You’ll not be mistreated and I will provide for you, as you have
seen. I may not always grant your desires, but I will consider your
wishes before making decisions that affect us both. Is that not
fair?”