Empress Game: The Empress Game Trilogy Book 1 Read Free Page B

Corinth’s
ro’haar
, now that both of their twins were dead, and he was her
il’haar
. Her responsibility, her life’s purpose, was to protect her
il’haar
. And protect him she would.
    She clenched then shook her hands, trying to rid them of the numbness caused by a medstick’s ministrations. With quickness and skill Phoenix had landed several cuts on Kayla, mostly on her hands and arms, though one stung across her face. They’d needed healing and Kayla had no time to wait for her body to regenerate naturally. Still, she resented the numbness that could take up to a day to fade as it made her much less effective with her knives, which she couldn’t afford. A sonic shower would help with the numbness as well as flake the stage-paint from her body. The sooner she got home to Corinth, the better.
    She had the shower on her mind and a hand on her kris when she entered her dressing room. The lights didn’t come on with her first step in the room, which wasn’t unusual. Lumar was too cheap to replace faulty motion sensors. When they didn’t come on after a second step, the hair on the back of her neck rose. She tapped the pad by the door, bringing the lights up.
    A shadow uncurled itself from the corner.
    She had her kris out of its sheath before she recognized the man she’d kissed in the stands.
    “A word of advice, Shadow. Next time you intend to stand a man up, don’t agree to the meeting so easily. Makes a naturally cautious person like myself suspicious.”
    Kayla shrugged a shoulder in a careless gesture but didn’t sheath her knife. “You seemed pleased enough with my answer.”
    “The famously reclusive Shadow Panthe, who doesn’t even acknowledge her admirers—let alone speak to them—agrees to meet with me simply because I asked? If I seemed pleased it was only because I’d eliminated one exit from my search for you tonight. I knew you wouldn’t be where you’d said.”
    “Where’s your friend?”
    “Checking the most likely exits, in case I missed you here.”
    She tried to play it light. “You’ve gone to quite a lot of effort for one little Shadow Panthe.” Not that she qualified as “little” at her height, just shy of two meters. Did he have just the one man with him? Were they aware of Corinth, or was this truly about her pit whore persona? Could she make it home without being followed, or would she lead trouble right to her
il’haar
?
    He watched her, seeming to evaluate whether or not she intended to use the kris she held on him. Kayla considered it, fingering the hilt of her second dagger as she studied him. Unlike the men of her homeworld in Wyrd Space he was impressively tall, at least two meters, and built to be a threat. He stood with his weight balanced primarily on the balls of his feet and his hands loose at his sides, alert, prepared for anything.
    When he did nothing more than watch her, Kayla relaxed a fraction. If he’d meant to attack her he’d lost his best opportunity by not ambushing her when she entered her room. He looked like a man who understood that, so he must have something else in mind. She flipped her kris into its sheath and leaned against the wall beside the door, hands resting on the pommels of her daggers. The room was close quarters for a fight, should it come to that, and such a location favored the more agile fighter. She was safe enough, for the moment.
    “What do you want?”
    He hooked a booted foot under the single chair in the room and dragged it toward him. He flipped it around and straddled it, facing her. The hand he draped casually over the chair’s back didn’t fool her. She was sure that he could stand and lift the chair like a weapon in an instant, should he need to.
    Smart man.
    “I have a proposition for you,” he said.
    “Not interested.”
    “I assure you it is well worth it.”
    His boots were scuffed and well-worn, but not cheap. His clothes were a higher-quality synth fabric than typically seen in pit row. He wore a vest