AllFreeNovel
Share Us
In that split second that the intruder had to wonder about that same thing, I guess he decided to take his chances and hurl the short sword at my omak like a dagger. He pulled it back over his head, ready to let it fly, and that’s when I cried out and lunged for him. It upset his plans to spear my omak, but he pulled me against him with hands like iron, so strong I couldn’t get away. A hand like a vice clapped around my throat, as he pulled his sword up to press it against my skin.
“Let him go!” my omak shouted at him, but he only tightened his grip on my throat. That’s when some of my training finally kicked in, and I stomped down on the bastard’s foot as hard as I could. I had never undressed, so I was still wearing my boots, the ones with the fancy heel. I landed that foot hard. He cried out sharply and loosened his grip with a grunt of pain, for the second or so it took for me to tear myself away from him and hurl myself over to the bed beside him.
“Now, Omak! Shoot him!”
Yet he hesitated. Blake hadn’t been a soldier in a long, long time, and since I wasn’t in imminent danger at the moment, I suppose it was hard for him to shoot a man like that in cold blood.
That one bit of hesitation was all the Imperial needed. He pulled his other sword and began to brandish both it and the dagger at us, twirling them around in the air as he came rushing toward us. I yanked the disruptor from Omak’s hand and shot a hole right into his center mass, like I’d been taught to do in training. It may not have “blasted him into next week,” like my omak had threatened to do, but it was enough. It got the job done.
Disruptors aren’t exactly quiet, and with the whine and the little explosion following afterward, it wasn’t long until my bedroom was full of people. Guards and servants came running from every direction, and soon Mikol was striding in, with Kalen right behind him. Then Tariq arrived—his room was closest, so I wondered why it had taken him so long. He came right over to the bed where I was still huddled next to Omak and knelt down in front of me.
“Are you all right, nobyo?” he asked, his voice surprisingly gentle, and I nodded.
“He didn’t really hurt me. I’m fine.”
He reached up and wiped away a trickle of wetness from my throat, and when I saw the bright red blood on the tip of his finger, my stomach gave a lurch.
“On second thought…” I clapped my hand over my mouth, but before I could run for the toilet, he scooped me off the bed and carried me, far faster than I could have made it. He set me down on the floor beside it, and I was sick again. Miserably so.
He rubbed my back and waited patiently for it to be over. When it finally was, I fell back on my ass and leaned heavily against him. He gathered me in his arms and even pulled me closer.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
He gave my shoulders a little squeeze. “I threw up the first time I killed a man too, and I didn’t have the excuse of being…you know.”
“Pregnant? You can’t even say it, can you?”
“I can say it. I’m just having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I never thought I’d be a father.”
“It’s yours. No matter what you think.”
He squeezed me a little harder. A little too hard to be honest. “You have no idea what I think. I know it’s mine. Your omak told me.”
I sighed and leaned harder against him. He was so warm I just wanted to stay in his arms.
I hadn’t known for absolute sure the man I’d shot was dead. I figured he was—there was that big hole in his chest and all—but hearing the words made it more real. And then there was that name he’d called me. Nobyo. It was the word my father called Blake all the time, and what Mikos called Ryan. A totally traditional Tygerian word that meant something between lover and mate. It thrilled me to hear it coming from him and directed at me. Had he meant it?
He helped me to my feet and took me by the hand to go back in the bedroom.
Blake was shaken too—I could hear it in his voice as he was telling Mikol and Kalen what happened.
“Who is it?” I asked, interrupting his story. “It’s an Imperial Guard, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Mikol replied. “I’m afraid it is. His name is Major Bonnos.”
“What?” I turned to look at Tariq and saw the same shock on his face. “I don’t understand.”
“We’re looking into it. Tariq, please stay with me, while I send the consort and Rakkur to Omak’s room so they can be seen by a doctor. They don’t need to be here for this, but I’ll need your help and expertise.”
“It’s absolutely not necessary for me to see a doctor, Mikol,” Omak said.
“I disagree. That was a disturbing incident for you. Please humor me, Omak-ahn, or at least go along with Rakkur.”
“Oh, all right. I’ll do it for his sake,” he said, but I noticed when he took my arm that he leaned on it a bit heavily. On an impulse, I held out a hand to Tariq and was surprised when he immediately took it and kissed the back of it before letting me go. I was still blushing as I walked Omak down the hallway.
“Told you so,” my omak said, and gave me a little wink, as we made our way down to see the doctor. We were surrounded by servants and guards, but I still looked over my shoulder and into each dark alcove as we passed. It seemed that three separate attempts on your life can really wreck your nerves.
****
