SurrendersMischief (5 page)

She glowered at him. “If that wasn’t bad enough, you expect
me to have no opinion.”

“You have no opinion. You are a slave.”

Her eyes sparked with rage.

A rage that threatened to burn him. Darias shifted his legs
under the desk as desire made his breeches too tight.

“A woman’s place is not to say anything but to accept and
learn from her transgressions,” she quoted, her voice tight. “I know, I know.
You’ve tried to get me to accept that drivel before.”

Darias shoved to his feet. He planted his hands on the desk.

She tossed her head, jolting her hair free of its confining
tie.

For a moment, he was distracted by the sight of her
burnished copper hair. He ached to bury his hands in the waterfall of curls,
letting it slide over his body. He’d bet his contract with the builders’ guild
it was softer than the finest spidersilk.

And that he wanted to so much was exactly why he hadn’t
touched it—or her—outside of punishment. He shoved aside that insane momentary
lapse in the cell.

Darias fought the aching need with anger. “Take care, Riana,
not to push me too far. Until now, I’ve tolerated many of your infractions.”

“‘Tolerated many of my infractions’? Is that what you tell
yourself, my lord? Is that how you appease your conscience? The truth is you
punish me for the slightest reason and then disappear. Do you do that so you
don’t have to face me? Do you fear having to look into my eyes and admit you
wronged me?” She jutted her chin out and waited. When he didn’t say anything,
she circled the desk and jabbed him in the chest with one finger.

I do it so I’m not tempted to take you to my bed and make
love to you until we both forget our positions.

The admission was like a shock of icy water over Darias.
Instinctively, he sought to deny it, to make excuses, but he couldn’t lie to
himself. He never had before, and he wouldn’t start now.

The truth was he made himself stay from her because he was
afraid she’d make him throw tradition to the wind and make love to her in ways
that were forbidden. The only safe way to feel her soft skin against his was
during punishment. It was also the reason he left afterward, he was weakest
then. Riana was bright. Once she figured it out, she’d seize the chance to use
his desire against him.

He grabbed her wrist and moved her hand away from his chest.
His men were right. She had too much power over him. If he let her, she would
make him, in fact, soft. These were perilous times, even a perceived weakness
could be dangerous.

To him…and to Nexar.

“Go to our garden and await me there.”

Pure fury flashed in her eyes before she shuttered her gaze.
“I thought you were many things, my lord, but I never took you for a coward.”
Her spine straight, her head held high, she turned and left the office,
slamming the door behind her with a force that made the solid planks shudder on
their hinges.

His resolve hardened. It was time Riana accepted her place
in Nexar society.

* * * * *

The sky filled with a last blaze of glory before darkness,
softening the garden with lengthening shadows. Riana rubbed her arms and paced
the graveled walk leading to the garden. She was under no delusions about what
was to come. Only this afternoon she’d learned about the Punishment Stone.
Punishment in the garden was reserved for serious offenses. Bryta had refused
to talk about all the details, but the strain in her friend’s eyes and her
obvious discomfort, even several hours later, spoke volumes.

She’d been outraged on Bryta’s behalf and tracked Gaith down
in Darias’ office. She gave an indelicate snort. Fat lot of good that had done.
Had she really expected the warrior to apologize to Bryta? To admit he’d
wronged his mate?

A wry smile twisted Riana’s lips. The sun circling Nexar
would go nova long before either of those things happened.

No, her anger had overruled her good sense.

Time and time again, she’d told Bryta and her other new
friends not to outright defy the system. That working quietly was much more
effective. So why couldn’t she heed her own advice and hold her tongue when
needed? She wiped her palms against her thighs.

Because she couldn’t resist the urge to make the
thick-skulled warriors, especially Darias, see that many aspects of Nexarian
society were archaic, not to mention downright barbarous.

Like their concept of punishment.

After listening to the women speak of trying to please their
mates and masters, seeing the resignation on their faces at their inability to
do so, the men’s refusal to even consider the possibility of change became even
more infuriating.

So she’d encouraged the woman to quiet resistance.

Now she had to live with the fact that her meddling directly
caused Bryta’s punishment.

And the fact that Bryta did not hold her actions against her
only deepened her sense of guilt.

Riana scowled. Somehow, someway, she had to gain access to
her ship. Once inside the ship, recapture no longer became a concern—Bryta had
told her of Gaith’s complaints at how his warriors had been rendered
unconscious when they attempted to open the craft. Obviously, at least some of
the ship’s systems were starting to recover from both the ion storm and the
crash. Unlike the night Darias had taken her. So, even if the ship was too
damaged to be space worthy, she could still hold off the whole of Darias’ army
for the length of time it would take to contact Sharri and wait for rescue.

If Zethra were with her. And if damage to
Mischief
’s
life support systems was minimal or something she could fix herself.

The sun dropped below the horizon. A chill that had nothing
at all to do with cold slid down Riana’s back.
Think, you have to think.
There had to be a way to get past the guards and aboard her ship. Even more
importantly, she had to find a way to divert Darias’ attention.

He would leave as soon as he finished punishing her.

This time she would find a way to evade notice.

She had to.

Riana’s stomach tightened as tendrils of panic crawled
through her. The sheer humiliation of not being able to control her responses
filled her with repugnance. She’d always prided herself on her control. Yet
tonight’s punishment promised to be so much worse than the others. She couldn’t
get Bryta’s strained expression out of her mind.

She inhaled a deep, shuddering breath. So be it. She hadn’t
planned it this way, but she’d be a fool not to take advantage of the
opportunity being presented. Maybe her only opportunity.

All she had to do was endure tonight.

She scrubbed her palms against her trousers again. Once off
this benighted planet, she’d find some way to help Bryta and the other
women—and make Darias rue his decision to take her captive.

Riana inhaled again, hoping to calm her nerves. Myriad
sweet, spicy fragrances swirled around her, but they didn’t have their usual
calming effect. Tiny flutters of disquiet continued to play havoc with her
stomach.

Zethra, she hated waiting.

She heard the quiet snick of a latch closing and then
footsteps crunched on the gravel until they were directly behind her. She
tensed, knowing to whom they belonged. Steeling herself, she turned and faced
the royal chambers.

Darias took her by the arm, leading her deeper into the
garden. He turned into an alcove that Riana had thought a dead end. Now she saw
that a small path wound around the tall, shrub wall.

Disquiet became outright dread when what Bryta called the
Punishment Stone loomed into view. Hewn of a smooth, pure-white stone, it was
carved into the curved shape of a reclining bench. Her gaze landed on the sight
of thin leg supports, complete with stirrups and cuffs, sending her nerves
fluttering into hyper speed.

“Privacy shield.” An electronic crackle and a muted shower
of sparkles caused the fine hairs on her arms to stand up. Darias continued
walking until he was a meter in front of her. The crisp, controlled movements
of his lithe, muscular body spoke volumes about his determination to punish her
for her infractions.

“I thought the whole point of this exercise was to shame me
before all?” Riana cursed her quick tongue. Striking out when scared was a bad
habit of hers. Another thing that Sharri had warned her was going to get her
into trouble.

He waited a long heartbeat before answering. “It is against
custom for punishment to be observed by outsiders.” He paused again. “They will
hear you.”

A glint of light from around his neck caught and held her
gaze. Suspended on a leather thong, the carved fireice gemstone—his badge of
rank—caught the diluted light of the moon and gleamed like the eyes of a
panthra
cat. She shivered, that small wink of light nestled in the hollow of his throat
somehow ominous.

“Like Zethra they will,” Riana shot back, hoping it wasn’t
an idle boast. Nexarian punishment was all-too effective, she’d learned.

“Fight me and I will take your punishment into the daylight
hours.”

Pure panic unfurled and rose in her throat. His tone brooked
no argument. Her plans to use Darias’ absence after punishment flew to the four
winds. She had to escape now. “Shield down.” Nothing happened. Riana backed up
one step then another. “Shield down.” She hated the slight note of hysteria
creeping into her voice.

“It is keyed to me alone. Try to go through it and it will
render you unconscious. Lights on.” Inside the dome formed by the shield,
darkness gave way to a diffuse glow.

Darias removed his heavy black cloak and slung the garment
over a bush.

Riana backed up a pace but was only too aware she had no
place to run.

He turned to her with a look of determination. “Remove your
clothes.”

Chapter Five

She stood there, panic in her ice-green eyes. Her hands
clenched and unclenched by her sides as if she wasn’t quite sure whether to
flee or lash out in a futile attempt to stop him.

Good. Finally she understood the enormity of her error.
Mayhap, his life could get back to normal.

Her gently rounded chin came up and determination filled her
eyes, replacing the fear.

Admiration for her strength of will caught Darias by
surprise.

He didn’t want to admire her willfulness. She disrupted the
lives of his men with her offworlder ways.

She disrupted his life.

All he could think about when he was around her was the
softness of her skin, her quick mind, the way she always smelled faintly of
flowers. He could not control his reaction to her. When he was away from her,
all he could think of was burying his face in her hair while he buried his cock
in her warm body.

The woman was dangerous. She had to learn to accept the ways
of Nexar. She had to learn to accept her place in his life. It was regretful
that meant subduing her fiery spirit, but temper it he would…for her own sake.

“Remove your clothes.”

Her fingers went to the clasp of the brassiere nestled
between her breasts.

An image of those long, slender fingers wrapping around his
cock stilled the breath in his chest. He banished the thought with enormous
effort.

“I didn’t take you for a coward or a weakling, Darias, but I
guess I was wrong on both counts.” Slowly, as if she were undressing for a
long-awaited lover instead of for a master intent on punishing her, she pushed
first one strap and then the other one off her shoulders. The provocative
garment slid down her arms and onto the ground.

“You fear what your warriors will think of you if you allow
a woman the freedom to express her opinion. You’re afraid they will believe you
weak. Worse, you believe it makes you weak. How is it that such strong
warriors…” Her fingers moved to her blouse and, one by one, she slipped each
tiny button free. “Such obviously superior warriors as the men of Nexar have
reason to fear the influence of such an obviously inferior species as woman?”

Darias caught tantalizing glimpses of her breasts from her
open blouse. His mouth went dry and he had to pry his gaze from the pale flesh.

“The men of Nexar treat women as if they possess no
feelings, no thoughts other than those of their masters.”

For a moment, the blouse caught on her elbows then it hit
the ground, a soft, silken puddle on top of the brassiere. His breath lodged in
his chest as the muted light of the Punishment Stone revealed her breasts in
all their glory—full, heavy, the tips darkly flushed. His lungs burned until he
finally remembered to breathe.

“Now, why do you suppose that is?”

He couldn’t even remember the question as she toed off the
soft leather sandals while one hand toyed with the tie at her waist. Against
all logic, his cock stirred. It was a moment before it sank in that she was
still speaking.

“Could it be because they are afraid of facing the fact that
women are every bit as intelligent as men?”

Darias couldn’t take his gaze from her hands as she slowly
tugged on the ends of the tie.

“Or maybe they don’t want to have to face the fact that
they’ve been abusing the entire opposite half of their race just so they can
get their jollies by dominating them? Just think of all those rules you men
make up on the spur of the moment. What chance does a woman stand of not
running afoul of them?”

The blood in his veins heated with a mixture of anger and lust.
How could she do this to him? And during punishment? “Mind your tongue.”

She gave him a patently fake innocent look. “Oh sorry. Did I
express an opinion? I forgot. Women have no thoughts of their own.” She
shimmied her hips and the silky material of her trousers slithered to the
ground, pooling around her feet. Riana stepped out of them, moving to stand
beside the inner-lit stone with an elegance not at all affected by her
nakedness. “I guess you are just going to have to punish me. Oh wait. You were
already going to punish me because I questioned the fairness of Nexar’s ways.”