Her Secret Champion, page 3
part #5 of Lunarian Warriors Series
“Of course.” Lieja nodded, apparently appeased by this explanation. “A pity that Idria’s orders do not allow you to work horizontally more often, is all.”
I bit back a groan. If Lieja did not drop this nonsense about having me in her bed soon, I feared I would be sick before this meal was done.
“Speaking of Idria’s orders…” I changed the subject as quickly as I could. “I have a boon to ask of you, Your Highness. May I?”
Lieja turned to me slowly, a pleased smile on her lips as she pulled the low neck of her gown slightly more to one side. “Of course, Apex. You may ask whatever you wish of me. For you, I am sure, I will be more than happy to grant you your desires.”
I made the rendezvous with Gallix and Ronan nearly half an hour late. Lieja had forced me to sit through six courses while she deliberated. Like all of her other feasts that I had attended out of necessity, it had been just short of torture.
But if I’d been a more jovial man, I would have arrived with a spring in my step.
I always got what I wanted in the end.
“Took you long enough!” Gallix puffed his chest out indignantly and threw his arms out wide. “We were about ready to give up waiting and go look for your body. Figured you must have gotten your throat slit! Blood!”
“It is not like you to be late,” Ronan added. He was leaned up against the wall outside the door to my quarters, three of his arms crossed over his chest, his fourth propped up on the others so he could rest his chin in his hand. “How was breakfast?”
“Long.” If I had eaten more than just a few bites of each course, I was sure my stomach would have burst. I had no idea how Lieja managed it. Every plate that had been set before her, she had devoured.
“And? Is the plan—”
“Gallix,” I said with a hint of warning in my voice. I looked around to ensure we were not overheard, then opened my door and waved them inside. “I do not think this is a conversation that should be held in the hall.”
Inside, Ronan stood serene at the foot of my bed while Gallix collapsed into the armchair in the corner. I closed the door behind us and locked it for good measure before I addressed them.
“The plan is in motion. Atlanta is being transferred out of the dungeons as we speak.”
Gallix’s face lit up and he clapped, then let out a triumphant holler. “Time for action, then! I can get the ship ready; Ronan can plot our course—”
Ronan stared at me for a moment, then sighed. “It will not be that easy, will it?”
“It will not,” I confirmed. “We must manage this carefully. Just because Atlanta is no longer in chains does not mean that she is free here—and neither are we. Until I can arrange for a suitable moment to evacuate her, we must all continue to play our parts. Yes, Gallix. Even you.”
Gallix closed his mouth and frowned. “Easy for you to say. You are the guest of honor here, Apex. Ronan and I, though…”
“You are unhappy with the roles you must play?” I arched an eyebrow. “If you would prefer to sit through Lieja’s half-witted jokes and innuendos while I march around the palace trying to look busy, then please, Gallix, by all means.”
“He is only trying to say that we are not used to sitting idle,” Ronan explained. “We are warriors, Apex. Not manservants, as you’ve told the queen. It is not in our nature to wait and wonder with nothing to do.”
“There will be plenty for you to do soon,” I assured them. “My attentions, unfortunately, will be focused on the courtly aspects of our ruse.”
“Focused on Queen Lieja’s tits, more like,” Gallix grumbled.
I chose to ignore him. “Meanwhile, I need the two of you to be my eyes and ears here. I cannot manage Atlanta, attend to Lieja’s nonsense, appease Idria and gather intelligence. If you want something to do, watch, listen.”
“What about fighting?” Gallix suggested. “We could do with some fighting. Lots of limp-wristed-looking males around here. They could probably do with being roughed up a little. You know, just for a bit of fun.”
“No fighting.” I gave the order to both of them, though it was only really Gallix who needed to hear it. “Keep your heads down and your senses alert. The last thing any of us needs is more attention right now. If our plan is to work, we need to remain covert until it is time to strike.”
“Perhaps you could enlighten us a little more on the particulars of this plan.” Ronan turned his chin up at me. Coming from him, those were practically fighting words. “We know we are here to rescue Atlanta. You have not told us any more than that. What are we listening for? What are we waiting for? With more information, we could be of more use.”
Warriors. They were a nuisance, even if they were a necessary one. I was unaccustomed to working with anyone other than my fellow specters in the field. At least a specter could be counted on to double-cross you as soon as he found the opportunity. Warriors, on the other hand…they were unpredictable.
Too unpredictable.
“I’ve given you all the information that I can for now,” I said honestly. “Any more than what you have…no. We are all safest if you do not know.”
Ronan and Gallix left my room looking like I had just doused them in water and insulted their mothers. I could not blame them. I would not have liked to be kept in the dark either.
But this was not their operation. It was mine, and there were things to be accounted for that even I could not control. To tell them everything, come clean completely, would only jeopardize our goals.
Things like my communicator, which trilled gently from its place on my desk only a few moments after I closed the door behind them.
I took it in my hand and waved my palm over it. It whirred to life in an instant, projecting the blue light of a hologram as a face took shape over the device’s surface.
“I have been attempting to contact you all morning, Apex.” When Lady Idria’s visage appeared before me, she was already scowling. “It is not like you to ignore me—nor, in times like this, is it wise.”
“My apologies. I was busy entertaining Queen Lieja. It could not be avoided.”
“Queen Lieja.” Idria snorted. “I hope you kept your clothes on for this entertainment, Apex. I know how she is.”
“I did,” I assured her, even as I recalled the way Lieja had placed her hand dangerously far up my thigh during the final course. “Though not for lack of trying on her part.”
“Good. And how is your little plan coming along? Do your goons suspect your true intentions yet?”
“Not in the least.” In a way, it was a relief that Gallix and Ronan were so concerned with what they were doing, and not why they were doing it. They had questions, of course—but never the right ones. “The idiot warriors are all bluster, no brains. They suspect nothing. They are no threat to us.”
“Very good, Apex.” Finally, Idria smiled at me—wicked, red-lipped and smug. “If all goes well on Nightmoor, I believe you will be very pleased with how I will reward you after.”
“I am your loyal subject, Lady Idria. I always find your rewards to be more than sufficient.”
“Mm. And what of the human, Atlanta? Do you find her to be sufficient as well?”
My back teeth pressed together a little harder than normal, but I nodded. “She is pleasing to look upon, yes. She will be adequate for your intended uses…” I paused, uncertain of whether I should add the rest.
“But?”
“She remains unbroken despite her time in Lieja’s dungeons.” A memory flickered across my mind—the way she had refused my help, even when I had offered it to her in the most generous terms I could. Incredible. “The greatest risk she poses for your plans is her own insubordination.”
“Break her, then,” Idria said coldly. “That is within the realms of your abilities, is it not?”
“Of course, my lady.” I bowed my head to her as her hologram began to fade. “Whatever you wish—it is my command.”
3
Atlanta
The next time someone came down to my cell, it was to set me free.
Just like Apex promised. It was a big relief—maybe I could trust him after all.
I didn’t know why Apex was helping me, or even who he was. Or if he’d want something more from me than just that kiss on my hand later on. But as my collar was removed and I was taken to a private room with a big, bubble-filled tub of hot water in it, I was so grateful for a second that I wasn’t sure I cared.
A bath.
Maybe dreams really did come true.
The servants attending me, a gaggle of fussy alien women with powder-blue skin who barely came up to my hips, stripped me down so fast, I didn’t even have time to tell them that I could easily do it myself. They stood on ladders to help guide me into the bath. I was pushed and pulled in every direction by their surprisingly strong little hands. One minute, they were pushing my head under the water. The next, one of them was washing my feet while another worked sweet-smelling soap into my hair.
It was…admittedly, kind of nice. I hadn’t loved everything about my life back home, but it hadn’t been all bad. Spa days with Savannah had always been a treat after spending long, grueling hours on our feet schmoozing with politicians and signing pictures for fans. I was still worried about where Savannah had been taken, why we’d been separated and, maybe most importantly, what the point of all this was—but as one servant massaged my scalp and another rubbed the tension out of my arches, I couldn’t pretend like I wasn’t enjoying this a little.
I was still a prisoner, I knew, but at least I wasn’t in a cage anymore. I was one step closer to getting some control over my own life. Whatever Apex had said to Queen Lieja about me, it had obviously worked.
Just as I was starting to finally relax and ease into all the pampering, I heard the door open. I was hoping that it was just another servant with a fresh bucket of hot water, or maybe someone who knew how to do a pedicure—but then I caught sight of a tall, orange body out of the corner of my eye.
Apex.
Of course, now that he’d saved me from the dungeons, he felt more than entitled to walk in on me while I was bare-bum naked in a tub with only a fluffy layer of bubbles to cover my body from his ever-staring eyes.
“You seem to be enjoying your newfound freedom, Atlanta.” His voice was deep and cold as ever. As it hit my ears, it sent a shiver down my spine all over again. “I trust that you are happy with this new arrangement?”
“So far, so good.” I didn’t know Apex very well, but I had a sense of how he expected me to act. He’d caught me nude and helpless. Surprising me in the bath was a dirty trick, and he must have known it. I suspected he thought I’d blush and hurry to cover my breasts up while he stood over me and gawked. I was half-tempted to do it anyway. But I didn’t want to give him the pleasure. If he was going to intrude on me like this, he didn’t deserve to see me unsettled by it.
“You will not be returned to the dungeons when this is over, either. I have arranged for you to be given a room here in the palace, albeit a small one. It is not much, but I imagine it will be better than being collared and caged.”
“Great,” I said stiffly. I knew I should have thanked him, but…maybe now that my bath was coming to an end, I was starting to feel a little greedy. “So when do I get to leave?”
“I did not promise you that, Atlanta.”
I put on my best bitch face and stared him down. Thankfully, his eyes were on mine. If his gaze had been straying any lower…I might have actually blushed.
“You promised you’d help me, Apex. That means more than just getting me out of a dungeon I never should have been in in the first place. I didn’t ask to be kidnapped. I didn’t ask to be brought here. I want to find my sister, and I want to be taken home. Ideally, that would have happened weeks ago—but barring that, I’ll accept ASAP.”
“I do not know this aay-ess-aay-pee.” Apex blinked at me, then narrowed his eyes. “But I have done as I promised you. I said you would be released from the dungeons. The fact that you are here before me now, being doted upon by Lieja’s servants, instead of scrambling around that dark little cell, should suffice as proof that I kept my word.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but the servant who’d been washing my hair chose that moment to dump a bucket of water over my head. I spat and sputtered as my bangs were forced down over my eyes. There was a shuffling behind me, and by the time I cleared my vision again, all the servants were gone.
“Here.” Apex offered me a dark, fluffy towel from a rack by the fogged-up windows.
I sank beneath the water, tilting my head back on the way back up so that my hair wouldn’t be hanging in scraggly strings in front of my face, then snatched it from him and rubbed the water from my eyes.
“Thanks,” I said, a little half-heartedly.
Now, I had a different issue to face. The bath was over. If I stayed in any longer, I was going to look like a raisin pretty soon. But if I got out, then I’d be naked. Right in front of Apex, his muscle-bound black-clad body, and his ever-watching eyes. For a second, I thought about taking the towel beneath the bubbles and somehow wrapping it around my body, but…
Before I could, it was like my inner floozy took over.
If he wants to look, then let him look, she said flippantly, and she had me up out of the tub before I could try to push her back into her floozy-cage again.
I stood in the tub for a second, half-stunned with myself. What was I doing? I’d been in some pretty skimpy costumes before, but being naked in front of a member of the opposite sex…I’d always been a lot bolder than my sister, but even I knew that was going too far. A woman should only bare herself to her husband. The sectors and their puritanical beliefs about sex and marriage had been pretty clear about that.
But since I was already up…
And Apex was already staring, without even doing me the courtesy of lowering his gaze…
I pushed my shoulders back, held my head high and put my bitch gaze back on.
If he wants to look, then let him look.
I wasn’t an actress or anything, but I was a damn good dancer. On stage, the two weren’t so far apart as you might think. I imagined myself as a ballerina in some kind of dark, twisted, erotic ballet. If I was going to play a part here, I wasn’t going to come off as some kind of simpering, trembling virgin—even if I kind of was one. I was going to be elegant. I was going to be haughty.
And most importantly of all, I was going to be in control here. Not him.
Not by a long shot.
I climbed out of the tub gracefully, not even looking at Apex. I moved like I’d done this a thousand times before and completely ignored the way my heart was thundering in my chest like a scared little bunny’s. The water traveled down my breasts in little trickling rivers. Out here in the cold, without the heat of the water to protect me, my dark pink nipples were almost painfully hard. Bubbles clung to my shoulders and my hips, and when I carefully regarded the towel he’d handed me, I realized it wasn’t big enough to wrap myself in.
Crap. I should have checked that before I climbed out of the safety of the tub. Another freakin’ mistake.
“I don’t know what you’re doing in here,” I said in my best gold-class voice. It was the one my mother had used to order our cooks and cleaners around back home. It sounded authoritative, even coming out of my mouth. “But if you’re going to insist on staying, the least you can do is stop staring and make yourself useful.”
When I looked over my shoulder at him, I thought I almost caught a smirk on his lips.
“And what use could I be of to you?” he asked.
“I need a bigger towel. To dry off with,” I added, a little clumsily. I didn’t want him to know that I was trying to shield my body from his gaze, inner floozy be damned. “And some fresh clothes, too.”
I couldn’t tell if it was just my anxiousness, or some kind of personal screw-you to me on Apex’s part, but it felt like he moved incredibly slowly as he went to fetch the towel. At least when he brought me a bigger one, his eyes stayed on mine—much to my relief.
“Shall I towel you off too, my lady?”
I scowled at him, then grabbed the new towel from his hands. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
“As you wish.”
Apex turned again and moved to a cabinet across the room. While he wasn’t looking, I dried myself off as quickly as possible, then wrapped the towel around my body and let out a little sigh.
Safe again.
I knew there was nothing really dangerous about his stares. If he was going to be a pushy creep, he would have tried something by now. Like an idiot, I’d already given him his opening to take advantage of me when I’d been back in the dungeon. But he hadn’t taken it. Apart from looking at me with those relentless black eyes of his, he hadn’t done anything but kiss my hand and bargain for my release from my cage.
Still…having the towel around me was a brief respite from his gaze.
It didn’t last.
“You will need to drop that to dress,” Apex pointed out as he offered me a folded set of fresh clothes.
I took them gingerly and felt my bad-bitch attitude waning. Face to face like this, without bars or a bathtub between us, it quickly became apparent exactly how much bigger than me he was. I was five-foot-two on a good day. He must have been well over six-five.
Worse, he didn’t seem capable of just standing. He loomed.
Standing next to him like this, my act was quickly slipping away from me. I was losing my cool along with it.
“Are you just here to see me naked?” I blurted out.
Apex stared at me for a long moment, then shrugged. “You are the one who chose to get out of the tub.”
“What else was I supposed to do? Just stay in there all day until you finally left?”
