Victorious Star Read Free Page B

thinking?
    Seht smiled. “I see, by the cuffs, that you haven’t changed your method of procuring officers.” One of his hands brushed across her shoulder.
    Victoria stiffened. “What?”
    The skeldhi stopped at her elbow. “Oh, he grabbed me the same way.” His smile deepened. “It’s a habit of his.” A long nail traced a path along her jaw.
    Shivers followed his tracing fingertips. She took a sharp breath and jerked away. His touch was doing odd things to her already disturbed insides. “I can’t serve him. I’m an Imperial Officer.”
    The skeldhi snorted. “Not for long.” He turned and strode gracefully toward Ravnos.
    Ravnos tilted his head toward her. “We’re negotiating her terms of service now.”
    Victoria jerked at her cuffs. Negotiating, my ass. At least her head didn’t hurt so much. Whatever was in that needle worked fast.
    Ravnos focused on his executive officer. “Did you need something?”
    The skeldhi abruptly straightened and his expression lost its humor. “No, captain. I’m off duty at the moment. I thought I’d drop by to see your new acquisition.”
    Victoria focused on the commander in astonishment. Was that fear? As a skeldhi he was biologically far stronger and faster than the average human. Moreover, his body language spoke volumes about years of hand-to-hand fight training in addition to subtle physical augmentation. Technically, he should be able to twist even a heavy-weapons marine into a scrap. What did he have to be afraid of?
    “I see.” Ravnos nodded. “Very well then, you’re welcome to remain.”
    “Thank you, sir.” The skeldhi let out a soft breath.
    Ravnos turned back to Victoria. “I need you to fly this ship for a three-day mission. At the end of that time, if your orders have come through, I’ll return you to the station. If your orders have not come through, you will remain until they do. You will, of course, be paid for your services.”
    Victoria shook her head. “If I serve on your ship for even one flight, I will be court-martialed as soon as I get back.”
    Ravnos snorted. “This is not the Imperium. We do not keep those kinds of records. Trust me, no one will know you served on this ship.”
    Victoria gritted her teeth. Just what she needed, blackmail material. “You will.”
    Seht winced and took a subtle step back.
    Ravnos lunged to his feet with his sword naked in his fist so fast that even with her enhanced eyesight she hadn’t seen him draw it. “Do you doubt my honor?” His eyes blazed with frigid unholy violence. He looked like a dark avenging angel about to strike.
    Oh, that’s why the skeldhi was impressed. Victoria swallowed and dropped her gaze. She couldn’t look at his far too beautiful, far too frightening face. “No, sir, I do not.” If she’d said anything else, she had absolutely no doubt that he would have killed her right where she sat.
    Ravnos nodded. “Good.” The violence in his expression retreated as though it had never been there. He sheathed the sword and sat. “I already have your messages flagged at the station. As soon as your orders arrive, you will be returned.”
    Victoria stiffened her spine. “And if they arrive tomorrow?”
    His expression chilled. “Three days, Nav-Pilot Stark.”
    Victoria chewed on her bottom lip and shifted uncomfortably. Sometime during that last exchange, her crotch had gotten annoyingly moist. What the hell had brought that reaction on? She sighed in disgust. “I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
    Ravnos raised his brow and amusement flashed fleetingly though his expression. “No, you do not.” Moving with elegant grace, he rose from his chair and came to stand beside her, looming over the chair where she was bound. His boots didn’t make a sound. He drew the sword from his waist scabbard.
    Victoria barely stopped herself from flinching back.
    “I want your sworn word as an officer that you will serve me to the best of your abilities until you are returned.”
    He