Captives of New Pompeii Read Free Page A

he swept her into his arms. “Damn. You’re a
tiny little thing. Aren’t you?”
    Too miserable to argue, she clutched the
blanket to her chest and rested her head on his shoulder. She’d
never thought of herself as particularly small, but she fit rather
well in the cradle of his strong arms. He brought her to the high
table and started to place her upon it. She wrapped her arms around
his neck and clung.
    “Please.” She sobbed. “I will do whatever
you ask. Do not slit my throat.”
    He stilled, holding her high against his
chest. “Why would I slit your throat?”
    It took her a moment to gather her composure
enough to meet his gaze. The amusement she found there only added
to her confusion. “Is this not an altar?”
    “This is not an altar.” Very slowly he sat
her down. “No one will hurt you, Felicia. I won’t let them.”
    He touched a marked area on the edge of the
table and the section behind her lifted, angling until it pressed
against her back. She tried not to react to the wondrous happening,
but she could feel her eyes rounding. “Are you a demigod?”
    A smile transformed his face. His common
features took on princely appeal and she felt surrounded by the
intensity of his gaze. Perfectly curved lips framed even, white
teeth. Had his mouth always appeared so enticing? She wanted to
touch his lips with hers and feel the heated rush of his breath as
they shared their first kiss.
    “I told you what I am.” His voice dropped as
he gazed into her eyes. He didn’t touch her, but the sudden heat in
his eyes told her his thoughts were not all that different from
hers.
    “I do not believe you.”
    He chuckled. “All right. You tell me. If I
am not here to usher your people to a new home, who am I and why
have I accosted you?”
     

Chapter Two
     
    “I have not yet decided what you are,”
Felicia told Aiden, her big blue eyes warm and guileless. “But I do
not sense any immediate danger from you.”
    “That’s something, I suppose.” Aiden smiled,
clasping his hands behind his back to keep from pulling her back
into his arms. She’d felt so damn good snuggled against his chest.
He hadn’t wanted to set her down. “Are the chills easing? Your
teeth have stopped chattering.”
    “I am feeling much warmer now.”
    Her smooth cheeks were slightly flushed and
her soft-looking lips had deepened from pink to rose. She opened
her mouth just a little and brushed her tongue over her lower lip.
Did his attention make her nervous, or was she wondering what it
would feel like to kiss him, to— He gave himself a firm mental
shake. She was his patient. He had no business imagining her in his
bed. Or on his desk. Or right there on the treatment table.
    With a self-reproaching smile, he took a
step back. He was spending too much time with Caleb. It wasn’t good
for his moral fortitude. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. I’ve been
returning everyone to stasis after a brief examination, but I’d
like to leave you conscious. I think it would be comforting for the
others to see a familiar face when they awaken to all these
changes.”
    “You want me to help you perpetuate these
lies upon my people?”
    She was a feisty little thing. Even
surrounded by wonders so inexplicable she’d thought he was a
demigod, she remained defiant when it came to her people. How could
he honor her dedication without abandoning his role entirely? “What
have I told you that was untrue? Pompeii was destroyed. I can show
you images of the destruction.”
    “I have no doubt it was destroyed. I saw it
in my dreams.” She looked down at her hands for a moment then
asked, “Are we really on a ship that moves across the sky?”
    “That’s easy enough to prove.” Then he
thought about the repercussions of being caught with a conscious
Pompeiian and sighed. “But I can’t take you out of this room
dressed like that. And we will have to be extremely careful.”
    She nodded and shrugged off the blanket, so
he helped her down