Page 12

Benet brought Marushka to her feet, his anger rising all over again as she winced when he touched her arm and he noticed more bruises from where the prince had forcibly dragged her to the library. He carried her and the damn dress to the limousine and got her inside.

She caught his sleeve as he turned to close the door. “Please, sit with me?”

He slid into the seat and Dmitri had the groundcar reversing and roaring away from the mansion while the door was still closing.

“I sent a message to the prince’s mother in your name,” he said, keeping his attention on the controls. “I said you had a migraine and were indisposed.”

“I’ll follow up with her tomorrow. Thank you.”

Not another word was said for the entire trip to her home.

Marushka leaned her head on Benet’s shoulder and he put his arm around her, hoping he could offer silent comfort at least. When they arrived at the estate the housekeeper and Marushka’s maid were waiting on the steps and the older women took charge of the duchess immediately, leading her inside.

Benet stared after her, his mind whirling.

He hoped the women would take good care of her and he wished he could talk to her further.

Dmitri tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m leaving the groundcar here,” the Badari said, waving a hand at the vehicle.

“Not my problem to solve. We’d better get back to my house and get some sleep. ”

“What’s going to happen next?” Benet asked as they walked across the manicured lawns in the direction of Dmitri’s dwelling. “Is the engagement broken now?”

“We’ll see. I expect there to be quite a bit of activity tomorrow,” Dmitri said ominously, “But don’t expect too much, my friend.

This is Outlier and the aristocracy is old and rotten at the heart.

I can attest to that after all these years living here.

Individuals might be worthy, like my devochka, but give her a few years as the prince’s wife and she’ll become as hard and jaded as the rest of them.

Or she’ll die. Survival in the imperial circles drains one of whatever gentle and good qualities might have been in your heart at the beginning. ”

“You’ve stayed true to your Badari code of honor as far as I can see,” Benet said while he waited for Dmitri to unlock the door.

His Badari companion gave him a smile with fangs revealed.

“Ah, but remember I’m not a person to them.

I’m an asset of the crown. I go where the woman who is Empress sends me, I observe, I listen, I do other things as commanded but I’m not now nor have I ever been a member of their society.

I’ve done things which bent my honor but I prayed to the Great Mother for forgiveness. ” Dmitri yawned. “I’m for bed.”

“I think I’ll grab a sandwich and a feelgood and go sit outside,” Benet said.

He was too keyed up to sleep right now. What had happened to Marushka infuriated him and brought up all kinds of bad memories from his own childhood.

He had no regrets about knocking the prince out but he knew the situation wasn’t over and he suspected he was going to be powerless to care for the woman at the heart of it.

His adrenaline rush was crashing now and as he sat in the garden he stared at the stars and prayed to Lords of Space to help Marushka.

Usually after action or after the arena he’d seek out female companionship, to take the edge off and there were willing women on the estate, since several had made their interest in him quite clear as he did his morning run and his workouts later.

But his thoughts were only for Marushka.

He kept seeing her pale face, disfigured by the ugly purple bruise, and he wished he could take her pain away.

He shouldn’t indulge his growing attraction to her—she was an aristocrat and engaged and he was a kidnapped gladiator, bent on escaping as soon as he could and between the two of them nothing was possible.

His heart and his cock weren’t listening to cold logic tonight though.

He decided to go see her first thing in the morning if she didn’t come for breakfast as per her usual routine.

But his intentions were thwarted as soon as he descended the stairs in Dmitri’s house and entered the kitchen.

“No Marushka today?” he said.

Dmitri handed him a cup of coffee and motioned him to the table. “Sit down. I need to update you on a few overnight developments.”

“All right.” Benet seated himself and blew on the coffee but apprehension made his gut tighten. “She’s doing okay though?”

“I haven’t seen her yet but there’s been no word otherwise.

The housekeeper is an old ally of mine and she would let me know.

” The Badari sat, the chair creaking a bit under his weight.

“You’ve been sequestered on the estate until the games.

No more bodyguarding and you’re forbidden to set foot outside the property line.

” He drew a deep breath. “The Grand Duke is flying in later this morning and he and Marushka will be attending a sort of summit meeting at the prince’s estate, chaired by his mother, who is a formidable dowager and a lady in waiting to the empress.

I’ll attend with them.” Dmitri raised one hand.

“I’ll find a moment to relay your concern to Marushka and I’ll tell you what transpires at the meeting when I return. ”

“I’m grateful. But she can’t be in the same room with the bastard.”

“You have no power to convert your bold statement into reality,” Dmitri said.

“Her father will be with her and the Dowager is fully invested in quashing this scandal and preserving the engagement. All the parties involved want to keep it from the Empress but of course there was a great deal of talk about Marushka leaving the gala before dinner with her migraine and her two bodyguards but not her chauffeur and then the prince falling downstairs and breaking two ribs as well as his nose at roughly the same time.”

Benet chuckled. “Is that the story he’s going with? Lame. I should have killed him.”

“Be glad you didn’t and be grateful the prince’s family is trying to minimize the embarrassment of admitting the truth of the evening’s events or you’d be in shackles and on your way to the Empress’s torture chambers already. I wouldn’t be able to save you.”

“If she was my daughter, I’d be breaking the engagement, not getting together for a sit down, whether the old lady is going to mediate or not,” Benet said.

“I feel the same,” Dmitri admitted. “She’s like a daughter to me, since I was assigned to her when she was so little.

Devochka means daughter in Outlier. But the Duke is in debt—he could lose everything if he’s not careful.

He already spent her bride price to hire a crack team of mercenaries to go to the Five Sectors and kidnap you, among other things.

He needs this alliance of families desperately and Marushka is his pawn.

It’ll only stave off the inevitable for a while, in my opinion.

Gambling is a sickness with him and unfortunately luck isn’t on his side.

He must have done something to piss Lady Luck off in fact because his outcomes are usually so disastrous.

” Dmitri’s laugh was ironic. “Take you for example. He spent all those credits and ended up with a human not a Badari, although he doesn’t suspect the truth.

Do I think you can win the obstacle course event at the Games?

Yes, if luck shines her smile on you. But the odds won’t be in his favor because people won’t bet against you, believing you to be a Badari like me and I won five times. ”

“We’re getting off the subject a bit,” Benet said.

“So there’s no way Marushka can get out of this marriage?

” The idea bothered him immensely. Having seen how his mother had fared with her abusive boyfriend all those years ago, he couldn’t bear the idea of the duchess being forced into the arms of the prince.

“None. I’m hoping her father can negotiate an agreement where Vasili doesn’t put his hands on her in anger again.”

Benet thought that was next to useless as protection for Marushka.

He made a vow to himself to find a way to talk to her in private as soon as possible.

If only he could escape to the Five Systems, he could take her with him.

The instant the idea occurred to him he admitted it was off the charts wild and unlikely but not totally impossible.

He could pilot a ship and he was determined not to spend the rest of his life here as a glorified prisoner.

Kyden and Elara would take Marushka in and help her find her way.

He knew better than to say any of this to Dmitri, who would throw more cold water on the idea.

I have to get to the capital and then figure out a way to get to the spaceport and steal a ship.

He had access to various information sources here in Dmitri’s house and he figured he could do careful research under the guise of trying to learn more about Throne and Outlier.

He could pretend he was accepting his fate and wanting to assimilate into the culture.

Gathering intel had been part of his mission when he was in his system’s Special Forces.

Maybe his skills were rusty but he was highly motivated.