Hotter on the Edge (39 page)

He snarled at the other man. "You wanted to control the universe?"

"Just the important parts," Gallt spat back. "Nothing you could aspire to."

They grappled, and Benedetta cried a warning as they edged closer to a deeply excavated pit. They swayed on the verge, locked in combat. From the corner of Corso's eye, the jagged rubble in the pit looked liked gnashing teeth.

But his focus was on the Union commander in his grip. "Who sent you here? You aren't smart enough to have engineered the enslavement of the universe."

"Many want control of the sheerways," Gallt rasped. "But it would have been mine to give. For a price." His eyes—slightly bulging, as Corso's grip was on his neck—narrowed. "You can't run forever."

The tablet Benedetta had thrown at Gallt beeped a warning; the Union ship had launched another round.

Corso gave the other man a hard smile. "I'm not running. Not anymore." He opened his hands.

Startled, the Union commander took a step backward.

The chamber shuddered again under the bombardment from above. Unbalanced, Gallt fell backward with a scream that echoed nowhere in the last hall of dead crystal.

Benedetta grabbed Corso's hand. "Come on."

"Etta, it's too late—"

"Anything we want. Anywhere we want. That's what you told me."

He grinned at her. "Did I say that? And you believed me?"

Hand in hand, they raced for the exit through the dust that billowed through the air. With each moment, the chamber threatened to fall in on itself. Three soldiers with more determination than brains tried to stop them. After Corso dealt with them, they had less brains yet.

The carved path spiraling along the wall was disintegrating as they climbed. Chunks of the chamber crashed down to the floor far below, a warning of their fate should they take one wrong step. Nearly at the top, the path had sheered away to bare vertical rock, providing a sickening glimpse of the shattered stone and broken bodies below.

Without breaking stride, Corso took Benedetta in his arms and tossed her across the gap before narrowly making the leap himself. His boots slammed down, and the stone crumbled under his heels.

For a frozen heartbeat, he flailed, tilting backward toward certain death.

She grabbed his hand with irresistible strength and hauled him toward her. "Where do you think you're going?"

He paused long enough to kiss her. "Wherever you are."

They gained the upper landing of the path. They had not even a second to catch their breath when the chamber behind them detonated in a red flash as the raider sheership's misdirected plasma charges finally penetrated from the surface. The energy refracted through the ruined qva'avaq, and the crystal sang out in a thousand tones.

Benedetta hesitated, her anguished gaze sweeping back.

He might not have the l'auraly sensitivity, but Corso knew what was in her head. "It's ending. What you knew is over. But we're not."

They fled through the outer corridor ahead of the billowing of rock smoke and twinkling crystal dust as the mine chamber collapsed, and the melted qva'avaq was broken and silenced forever.

Coughing and gasping, they burst from the mouth of the mine. Above them, the cliff face was crumbling backward into the caved-in chamber, sending up one last silver cloud that turned to rainbows as the floating flecks of crystal caught the rising sun.

High above that glittering cloud, one more explosion bloomed. Crimson as blood, the fireball burned through the morning sky before rapidly darkening to a cinder-gray smear of smoke and atmospheric debris.

She raised her fingers to her lips as if she wanted to hold back the fearful words. "The
Asphodel
?"

His heart thudded hard; he'd given his comm link to Icere and Benedetta's tablet was crushed behind them. At the moment, he was captain of nothing.

The roar of a ship rising from behind the crumbled cliff swung them around. Was it one of the raider ships?

In the devastated landscape, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Corso clutched Benedetta under his arm. "Qv'auro lo, princess."

She spun within the circle of his embrace to face him. Her wide citrine gaze locked on him. "What did you say?"

He said it again, although she kissed him before he could quite finish.

He'd never be finished with her. He crushed her to him, his palms flattened against her bare spine.

"Corso..." She pulled back, leaning into his hands. "The ship."

He followed the curve of her body, his gaze tracing the curve of her smile. His dreams that had once been filled only with the darkness of space would always be lit now. "Whatever with the ship."

"It's the
Asphodel
. Look, she's scarred, but here."

"I'm the captain. She'll wait for us." He kissed her, hard, while winds from the engine blew all around them.

When he lifted his head, Benedetta laughed, her delight as bright as the glimmering crystal stirred in the air. Under his fingers, her crystal lines thrummed her pleasure.

And his hands sang in answer.

Benedetta's eyes widened. "Corso." She pushed him away with a grip on his wrists and turned his palms up. Traceries, even thinner than the lifelines, laced his skin in silver.

"When the torque shattered, it cut you," she said. "I remember the blood on your hands when you picked the shards out of my knees. The qva'avaq must have entered your bloodstream, just as it does during a l'auraly keying ceremony."

He fisted his hands and then splayed them again. The crystal glinted back at him. "I've been keyed? To you?"

She glanced at him uncertainly. "You have to believe me, I've never heard of this. I didn't know this could happen."

He studied his silver-laced palms another moment, then slowly closed his hand around hers and met her stricken gaze. "I didn't know
this
could happen either." He pulled her back into his arms. "You are mine, princess. But just as surely, I am yours."

And he kissed her again—locking breath to breath and heart to heart—letting all the stars and all the worlds between fall around them.

Epilogue

Benedetta curled against Corso's chest as they sprawled in late-night abandon. Although any time was late night in space, and they had been testing the outer limits of desire since they'd threaded into the sheerways after leaving Qv'arratz.

She trailed her fingers down his sweat-slicked chest toward his still-hard erection. He caught her hand with a groan and brought her palm to his lips for a kiss. She twisted in his grasp to echo the gesture, flicking her tongue along the faint silvery lines. His pleasure echoed in her crystal markings and she sighed.

He groaned again. "You had years to learn to control this. Give me at least a few nights."

"We have many nights." She blew a breath across the remnants of the key embedded in his skin.

In one strong motion, he rolled her over. He centered himself at her delta. "Never mind. I'm ready for my next lesson."

There was actually a few more lessons before they both surrendered to exhaustion.

He kept his arm locked around her as they settled. "Did you have a chance to talk to the contacts for our next potential jobs?"

She nodded. "Two sounded good, eager to know this Captain Deynah Corso of the
Asphodel
who is stopped by nothing. The third stuttered when he spoke of payment and could not meet my eyes despite numerous visual cues; he was obviously thinking to cheat you."

"Doesn't he know the latest addition to my crew is practically a mind reader? How dare he?"

"He won't dare again."

Corso chuckled, and the amusement bounced between them, resonating partly in the crystal but also in their new shared purpose.

Benedetta sighed as she tucked herself into the crook of his scarred shoulder. "I wish we'd been able to capture a raider alive. I would have liked to try my l'auraly tricks on one of them."

"Finding out who was behind the plot would be easier with a confession," Corso agreed, "but Icere is doing what he can to piece together clues from the very small remnants."

She peered up at him. "I almost forgot to tell you; Icere also decoded the last transmission Gallt sent to Rislla. It's blood money, and the Universalist Union can never trace it back since the operation wouldn't have been officially acknowledged. I had him transfer most to the Qv'arratz coffers. But you finally have your payment, as promised. We would not want the legend of the last l'auraly tarnished with accusations of oath breaking."

"Definitely not, when you have promised yourself to me." Corso squeezed her. "It will be hard for Qv'arratz to rebuild on their own sweat and blood without the crystal. I hope they make the most of it. As for my payment..." His grip tightened another unyielding notch and he pressed his lips into her tumbled dark braids. "I will make the most of mine. But you
are
a felon, my mercenary princess, for you have stolen my heart from the stars."

She raised herself on one elbow to trace the curve of his lip with a silvery fingertip. "Then kiss me, captain of my pleasure, and I will take you there again."

The last l’auralyo finds his heart’s desire
in HOTTER ON THE EDGE 2...

Available now!

PRINCE OF PASSION

Jessa Slade

When mercenary raiders targeted the empathic crystals that imbue the legendary l’auraly lovers with extraordinary sensual prowess, Icere, the last male l’auralyo, helped destroy the crystals. Rather than let the source of uninhibited pleasure be corrupted into a mind-controlling drug, he allowed his passionate destiny to remain forever unfulfilled. Now, Icere channels his fury into revenge. Tracking the raiders through the interstellar sheerways to a watery world infamous for its aphrodisiac liqueur, he finds a queen—as adrift and alone as he—forced for years into a fate she never desired.

Saya-Rynn inherited duty, command and control from her cruel grandfather and fought to transform her dangerous planet into a paradise for her people—but the price was literally a poison that runs through her veins. Though she feels as ancient as the seas, she finds herself awash in the hot male potency of the young Icere. Still, she resists the chance for indulgence she thinks has passed by her. But when the raiders strike again, Rynn must embrace her troubled legacy, and Icere will find his place as a lover and a fighter. Together, the reluctant ruler and the deposed prince of passion find common purpose, combating the mysterious entity seeking to rule the sheerways, and claim a love as bright as the infinite stars.

***

Rynn approved the last of the festival plans—everything under crunch deadlines with the early arrival of the spring storm season. She’d had no time to review the cruiseliner manifests, so she asked one of her assistants to run down details on the newly arrived Icere. While she welcomed outworld ideas along with outworld credits, she knew too well that outsiders could also bring trouble.

If pretty Icere was nothing worse than the usual sycophant, making himself comfortable as a suckerfish around another world’s aristocracy, she could let that pass. If he was a threat to those she loved…

Despite its swelled festival populace, the barge had quieted for the night when she left her office. Though her primary residence was on one of the central atolls, she enjoyed the time on the barge. It was large enough to rival some of the islands for square footage and was stable in all but the worst seas, but she sensed the subtle rocking of the waves beneath the plasteel and it soothed her as nothing else could.

Nothing else…

Her restless steps took her down one of the guest room corridors: one with the room assigned to the stranger. She should have asked her assistant to stay until Rynn had confirmed that this Icere was harmless. She wouldn’t be able to rest wondering if her son’s latest companion was anything besides what he’d shown the world.

Not that he’d shown much, considering the high-necked tunic and mysterious gloves.

Without another moment’s hesitation, she went to his room and knocked. It was late, she was being rude—even for a reigning monarch—but she didn’t care. She would see what he was when he wasn’t expecting to be attacked.

“Yes?” His voice through the comm sounded sleepy.

She entered the override code and the door slid open.

He took a step back, blinking. “Saya. To what do I owe this…visit?”

A quick glance showed her that the common area was empty. The bedroom and bath were enclosed separately, out of sight, but no other voice called out in curiosity. Still, she asked for confirmation, “You are alone?”

The corner of his mouth kicked up in a lazy smile, showing off that dimple again. “Not now that you are here.” He canted one hip against the door jamb.

“Save it for my son.” She gathered the flowing lengths of her long, sleeveless vest-gown and walked past him.

In the compact kitchen—the festival barge held open feasts at every meal, so there was not much call for in-room options—she prepared two cups of teaweed. Behind her, she heard Icere slide the door closed and pad toward her.