Shattered Soul Read online

  Obviously she wasn’t going to be able to goad the blonde man into revealing his secrets today, but Rani had no doubt she’d be able to get him to spill them one day. Besides, it helped take her mind of her current concerns, namely that of working for The Overlord and being... well, damned.

  Annoying Fredrico held appeal.

  “I’ll find out.” She followed on his heels.

  “Why bother?”

  “Know your enemies.”

  “Who says I’m your enemy?” He continued walking down the wide, barren corridor.

  “Who says you’re not?”

  Pausing before a painting of an orgy, he tapped the toe of his boot against a stone at floor level and the wall beside it slid open. “I’m not your enemy.”

  She followed him into the narrow tunnel and the wall slid shut behind them. “You’re not my friend.”

  Torches flared to life and she found herself facing him. Oddly, he seemed a little taller, no doubt due to the uneven surface of the floor beneath their boots.

  When Fredrico studied her silently for several seconds, she arched her brow in query. His cold gaze drifted across her face once more, seeming to take in every detail, and it was almost a little disconcerting, which was odd, because no one had ever disconcerted her.

  “Rani,” he finally said softly, though his words seemed to cut through the silence. “I’m one of the few people you could ever even think of as a friend in this place.”

  “You?”

  “Yout si0">“Yre The Overlord’s personal worker, as am I, Veknor and Phemar. I’m telling you right now, because of our positions we four can only rely on each other.”

  Both of Rani’s eyebrows rose, this time in surprise. “You’d rely on the walking corpse?”

  “To a certain extent.” Fredrico regarded her steadily. “Veknor and I have been friends for years and I’d trust him with my life. Phemar is attached to The Overlord, and hence I have to trust him with my life. You...”

  “Yes?” Placing her hands on her hips, she angled her head to one side and eyed him back.

  “You I now trust with my life.”

  She gave a bark of surprised laughter. “Are you mad?”

  “No.” He was deadly serious.

  “You don’t know me, Freddy. I could beat the shit out of you and hang you out to dry.”

  “You could, but you won’t.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “Because we need each other to survive.”

  All teasing fled as she saw that he was serious. “Against The Overlord?”

  “Against everyone surrounding us.” Fredrico remained still. “The Overlord needs us, so he’ll protect us as long as we do his bidding. Phemar will do what The Overlord orders, so he’ll see to our safety as he can. Veknor, you and I will fight side-by-side, we will do The Overlord’s bidding, sometimes together, sometimes working alone. But we four only have each other. There is no other in the close circle of The Overlord. It’s just us, Rani. Just us.”

  She couldn’t think what else to say except, “The Fearsome Five.”

  A glimmer of a smile appeared on his face. “That’s about it.”

  Five people. Well, three people, one corpse and a weird alien-type. From now on, all she had to trust were those four. The thought echoed in her head. Fredrico and Veknor. The Overlord and Phemar. And herself.

  Suddenly she didn’t feel like teasing Fredrico anymore.

  The silence between them stretched out as he didn’t say anything but just continued to study her.

  It scraped through her like a knife on glass. This man and his friend, the creepy corpse and the Overlord, were all she could count on to watch her back.

  “Shit,” she finally said. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

  “Whatever you do,” he replied, “no one but I will know.”

  Looking deep into his eyes, the silence of the narrow tunnel hemming them into their own private world, Rani knew that he spoke the truth. Whatever she did, laugh or cry, rant or rave, he would say nothing to anyone else. What happened between them would never pass his lips.

  She waited for the shock to shiver through her, the dread, but nothing happened. Just a quiet acceptance. Maybe that was part of her insulation, not being able to feel this kind of shock.

  Or maybe it was just being part of the damned.

  “Oh crap.” Rubbing one hand over her face, she took a deep breath.

  Fredrico gave a small smile and turned away, continuing down the tunnel with a firm tread.

  Frowning, Rani followed. She should feel shock, maybe fear, but hell, the only thing she coul ">

  No, wait, insanity wasn’t an option anymore.

  Oh goody.

  “I’m taking you up to the tower,” Fredrico said.

  “I’m honoured.” Shaking her head at the things she was accepting, Rani followed him up the staircase.

  The tunnel opened out into yet another dismal, cold corridor, only this time it was short. Fredrico opened the door at the end and stood aside with a gesture to enter.

  Rani walked inside and started as the door slammed shut behind her. But before she could even look around, four creatures emerged from the darkened corners of the big chamber.

  Four creatures with twisted, leering, drooling faces. In their knobby hands they held upraised swords, and their shuffling steps were done on big, muscle-bulging legs, each foot tipped with wickedly curving claws.

  Their foul breaths misted the air and one started to cackle as it tossed a sword to land in a clatter at her feet. “Fight, warrior.”

  “Uh…Fredrico?” Rani glanced behind her when no one answered, to find herself alone.

  With four armed monsters.

  One word only came to mind.

  Traitor.

  Friend indeed. Huh.

  Picking up the sword, Rani tested its weight as she watched the creatures, who watched her in turn.

  “Who are you?” she asked. “I have no fight with you. I - ”

  “Fight or die, we don’t care,” one rasped with a wet spatter of saliva in the air. “Now.”

  There was no time to think further and she sprang instinctively into action, lunging forward to meet the first creature.

  Its sword swung with more force than she’d ever met before, and she had to fight hard, parrying and thrusting, twisting and turning, dodging one blade to meet the other with her own sword, the clash of metal slamming into metal harsh in the air.

  The creatures showed no mercy, coming for her at every turn, but Rani fought with every instinct honed during the outlaw years. She ignored the slash of a blade as it glanced off her upper arm, ignored the sting of an open cut.

  She plunged her sword blade in deep to one creature’s chest, jerking the blade free to swing and block another’s killing blow.

  And where the hell was her new friend? The one meant to watch her back?

  “Fredrico!” she yelled, as a clawed foot whisked past her skin with millimetres only to spare. “You bastard!”

  Falling to the floor, she curled and rolled, coming to a stop directly under the second creature’s spread legs, and she jabbed the sword up hard and fast. The blade buried deep between its legs. The creature screamed and tried to stamp down, but she rolled swiftly, coming up on one knee to swipe the blade across the hamstrings of the creature’s legs. It went down screaming.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw dim figures, but when she snapped a quick look, there was nothing but the shadowed walls beyond.

  A monstrous hand curled into her hair, dragging her back as a fourth creature approached her from the front.

  There wasing0">Ther no time to waste. As she was dragged painfully upright, Rani gripped the sword in both hands and swung it over her head point first.

  She heard a muffled gasp of pain, the hand in her hair released its grip and she pushed to her feet to face the fourth creature.

  It charged at her, swinging its sword arm back, mocking laughter on it
s twisted features as it towered above her.

  Rani bent and then sprang upward, driving through from her thigh muscles, springing into the air and swing her sword forward over her head and down as she did so.

  The sharp, red-smeared blade hit the creature in the head and kept slicing down with the force of the movement behind it, the power with which Rani swung it. It sliced through flesh and bone, cleaving the monster in half from his head to his upper chest.

  The creature stopped, blinked, and then the top part of itself started to split in half, one to each side, stopped only by the fact that it wasn’t completely halved. It fell to its knees and stayed there.

  “Oh, for stars sake,” Rani muttered, and she shoved it hard in the chest with one foot.

  The creature toppled over and lay still.

  Breathing a little harder than normal, Rani swung around, the sword in her hand, her gaze searching the chamber. Nothing else moved in the room. It was empty except for her, the four dead creatures... and Fredrico, who was leaning against the wall in the corner with that same damned, calm expression on his face.

  “You bastard!” Rani exploded, storming towards him, sword upheld. “You set me up!”

  “It was a little test,” he replied. “Set by Phemar.”

  “Which you dutifully carried out, of course.” Placing the tip of the bloodied sword blade against his white shirt, she snarled, “You could have warned me.”

  “One doesn’t get warned about a test.”

  “Some friend you are.”

  “I was here all the time.”

  “Be a bit late if I’d been stabbed to death.”

  “No chance of that.”

  “Such faith in me,” she mocked.

  He grinned slightly.

  Rani gave a snort of disgust. “Anything else I should be ready for?”

  “You think there’s more?”

  “I think you’re an arse.”

  “You’d be right.” That smile widened a little more. “But a friendly arse.”

  “Huh.” That grin lent him a sudden roguish air and it should have annoyed her. Instead, it made him appear a bit more attractive.

  Can’t have that. Angling the sword blade, she neatly wiped both sides on his shirt. It was petty but it gave her a measure of satisfaction. Childish, true, but satisfying nevertheless.

  Give the man credit, he didn’t move as the flat of the blade pressed against his hard abdomen through the shirt, and when she’d finished he merely raised one brow as he looked down at the crimson lines. “Now I’ll have to change.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry.” Tossing the sword aside, she folded her arms and eyed him up and down, feeling a little spark of satisfaction. “Did I upset you?”

  Instead of answering, he just arched /p>just arhis brow a little higher and left the room.

  Following him, she glanced around the stone passage as it angled higher. Steps appeared and they started climbing them.

  “You know,” she observed, “The Overlord could have some kind of elevator installed. Like some of the bigger space ships.”

  “He doesn’t believe in a lot of technology. If it goes wrong, it can leave you stranded.”

  “If the tunnels cave in, it can leave you a hell of a lot more than stranded.”

  “Why don’t you take that up with him?” Fredrico glanced back down at her over his shoulder. “At a convenient time.”

  “What’s a convenient time?”

  “When he’s not in a bad mood.”

  “You think I’d mention it to him when he’s in a bad mood?”

  “Oh yes.” He faced front again, but she saw the full smile that curved his lips.

  It was a damned nice smile. And the man had a damned nice arse, too, she thought, as she followed him up the steps, her gaze on level with his backside in the tight pants. And she shouldn’t be looking at his backside or noticing his smile.

  Disgruntled, she stepped up her pace until she climbed the steps beside him. He glanced sideways at her as she paced beside him, but he didn’t say anything. There was no way he could miss her scowl but he didn’t comment.

  Coming to a stop partway up the curving steps, Fredrico reached behind her and rapped sharply on one of the stone blocks. The wall slid open to a narrow gap.

  “Is this another test?” Rani asked dryly. “Do I need a sword, dagger, laser? Say my prayers?”

  “Trust me.”

  She gave a bark of surprised laughter.

  “I need to change my shirt,” he said.

  “Oh. All right then.” Stepping down a step, she gestured. “After you.”

  Amusement glinted suddenly in his pale blue eyes and he stepped past her, turned sideways and moved through the narrow gap.

  Rani followed, expecting to come out into another corridor. Instead, she was surprised to find herself in a bed chamber identical to her own. “Where are we?”

  “My chambers.” Moving across to the door in the side wall, Fredrico unbuttoned his shirt. “I need to change my shirt, remember?”

  “Oh.” She watched him disappear through the door before looking around the large room.

  It was furnished with the same furnishings and colours as her own room, except for his personal items and belongings proclaiming it as his—an open book lying face down on the big armchair, lasers in a belt hanging on a hook by the door, a sheathed sword leaned against the chest of drawers beside the bed. Several empty mugs sat on the table. The bed covers were neatly pulled up, but an indent in the pillow showed which side was his. Oddly, the other pillow was flat. There was no sign of a woman’s belongings anywhere. Maybe he didn’t bring his lovers here.

  Crossing to the window, Rani looked out to find the view the same as from her own room. A suspicion crossed her mind and she started to cross the room, stopping only when Fredrico appeared in the doorway with a clean shirt in his hand and an inquiring look on his face.

  “Are our chambers on the same flooonthe samer?” Rani queried.

  “Our chambers are beside each other.” He pushed his arms through the sleeves of the shirt and she couldn’t help but notice that though lean, he had muscles that flexed with hidden strength.

  Rani had seen plenty of half naked men both in the peaceful times in the Reeka settlement, and in the Outlaw Sector when working amongst mercenaries. None of them caught her attention as much as did this quiet pirate’s smooth chest.

  Glancing away, she frowned. “Let me guess, there’s a hidden door between our rooms.”

  “Yes.” Buttoning the shirt, Fredrico stepped into the room.

  Folding her arms, she turned her frown to him. “Show me.”

  There went that damned brow again, arching up in quiet arrogance. Irritation flashed through her. She wanted to slap it right off his face.

  Not liking the little fissure of warmth that went through her at another glance at his naked abdomen, she took refuge in anger. “Show me, or I’ll make another hidden doorway using your head.”

  Tucking the shirt into his pants, he studied her thoughtfully. “Why the sudden angst?”

  “Why the sudden dodging of the request?”

  Moving forward, he leisurely rolled up one sleeve of his shirt to just below his elbow. “Going to block the door with something once you find out where it is?”

  “Why? You’re not going to come in and ravish me in my sleep, are you?”

  Stopping before her, he titled his head back slightly and studied her while rolling up the other sleeve, his long fingers deft in their movements. His gaze was deliberate as he slid it over her face. Then he dropped that damn cold gaze over her throat, over her shoulders, and damn, she could swear she felt it graze right over her breasts as he slowly took her measure before lifting his gaze back up to her face once more.

  There was a definite little flame of heat in his eyes when he met her gaze again. “Want me to?”

  Shocked, she stared at him. “What?”

  “I asked if you wanted me to.” His voice was calm.<
br />
  So bloody calm while he asked her if she wanted him to come into her room and ravish her while she was asleep!

  Just the thought of the lean pirate slipping into her bed, those cold blue eyes looking down at her while his hands, so long-fingered and skilful, slid over her body…Rani exploded in fury.

  Fisting both hands into his shirt, she dragged him up on tip-toes and snarled, “You ever lay one hand on me and I’ll bloody cut it off!”

  He didn’t even flinch. “Is that so?” And then he moved fast.

  She didn’t see it coming. Didn’t suspect a thing. One second she was standing with his shirt fisted in her grasp, the next he’d raised his arms and slammed the sides of his hands against the inside of her elbows, breaking her grip. Before she could recover he moved fast. Really fast. Swinging around behind her, he grasped one of her wrists and yanked her arm up behind her back, kicking her in the back of her knee as he did so, forcing her down onto her knees. His weight as he pressed against her back kept her down, the warning touch of pain in her shoulder stopping her from tugging forward.

  She felt his heat at her back, his chest against her as he leaned forward. Entwining his fingers in her hair, he pulp> hair, hled her head back against his shoulder, forcing her to look up into his face.

  It happened so fast that she didn’t quite realize what he’d done until she was in the humiliating position of being his prisoner.

  Fredrico looked down into her face. His face had the usual calm expression but the fire in his eyes was very real. “Don’t ever mistake me for anything but what I am, warrior.”

  “And what’s that? Not an angel?” She gritted out. Why was he so strong?

  “This is no joke.” His fingers tightened fractionally in her hair. “I’m a space pirate, The Overlord’s right hand man. I have darkness inside me. I’m not easy, I’m not nice. If I wanted your body, warrior, I could have it. If he wanted you dead, I’d be your executioner. Never make the mistake of thinking I won’t go further than you think.”

  “I thought you said I could trust you?” She sneered. “Friend.”

  “You can trust me to have your back against others. You can trust me to hold your secrets. But never mistake me for a weakling, a push-over, someone you can push beyond their limits because, warrior, I have limits you don’t know anything about.”