AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gerik spat an obscenity that had Rance laughing as he stepped in close for another swing. He lifted his blade—
The pain came out of nowhere in a blinding, sickening explosion that cut Rance’s legs out from under him. He went down hard, shooting a terrified look at the legs that must have been hacked off at the knee.
They were whole. No sign of blood, no wet slash in his armor. But sweet God, the pain—
He threw himself into a roll to avoid Gerik’s savage downward chop at his head. The sword st
ruck the deck with a grating shriek.
Fresh agony detonated in the center of his chest, freezing his lungs, tearing a strangled gasp from his lips.
A big, booted foot smashed down on the center of his cuirass, pinning him to the floor. Gerik’s sword pressed against the side of his throat before he could knock it aside.
“Surrender, Zarifa!” the cyborg bellowed. “Or I’ll cut off your mutt’s head!”
Rance lay writhing on the deck under Gerik’s armored boot, pain twisting his lupine muzzle in a grimace.
Zarifa looked frantically for blood on his armor but saw nothing. Then again, the armor was black and red…
“Throw it down, or he dies,” Edin snarled, thrusting his sword at her.
“Don’t you dare!” Rance yelled, his voice hoarse. “Don’t let these bastards win!”
Block his pain, she ordered her nanos. Get him up!
Unable to comply. We have been locked out of his system.
Horrible understanding flooded her. Oh, sweet Lady—they’d seized control of his collar!
Casus swaggered out of the shadows, one of his ’borg bodyguards at his heels. “I told you there isn’t a slave’s system Captain Aaren can’t hack,” he told the big man beside him.
“So you did,” Umar said. He gave Zarifa a terrifying smile, looking massive in the gold and black nanotium armor of the Imperial House. A cadre of bodyguards in the same armor trailed behind him. “Assuming you want to keep your furry friend alive, isn’t it about time to surrender?”
NINE
Fangs gritted, Rance surged under the boot that held him down, trying with everything in him to throw Gerik off. Though he was stronger than the cyborg in wolf form, whatever they’d done to him had drained his strength. He could barely lift his head, much less heave this armored monster off himself.
“You’re not going anywhere, puppy.” Gerik’s blade dug deeper into Rance’s throat as he lifted his voice. “Except to hell, if Zarifa doesn’t drop that sword.”
Steel clattered on the deck. “Don’t hurt him.”
Rance tried to wrench free again. Failed. “They’re going to kill me anyway, dammit!”
“No, they’re not.” Her voice sounded surprisingly steady, surprisingly calm. “Not if they expect me to marry Gerik.”
His despair turned to sick horror. “Zarifa!”
She turned her back on Edin and strode toward the regent, wrapped in royal arrogance like a cloak. “You don’t control me anymore, Umar. If you expect me to cooperate, you’re going to have to give me what I want.”
Umar lifted a sooty brow. “And what would that be?”
“Remove Rance’s collar and let him go.”
Rance grabbed Gerik’s boot, but his fingers had no strength. “They’ll kill you the day after the wedding!”
Gerik grinned maliciously and said in a low, suggestive voice, “Oh, not quite that soon. It would look bad.”
Rance stared up at the man as a tide of raw hate rolled over him. “I’m going to rip out your throat.”
