eyes, but he knew them well, ebony orbs, far darker than his own dark blue eyes, and imbued with an intensity that could penetrate a man’s soul to its center. When he saw the necklace, he shivered, his face reddening.
“Take that off!” he snapped.
She looked up at him. “I thought you would like the dress,” she said.
“Not that, Archer. Take off that necklace. You’re not some servant or slave and you don’t need a collar to tell the world who you belong to. I don’t want you to ever think that you belong to anyone but yourself.”
She looked confused for a moment and then said, “I would like to keep it on, if I can. I wear it in deference to you.” There were tears in her eyes.
Mathew melted instantly and cursed himself for his stupidity. He went to her and gently took her in his arms. Her touch was magic and he pressed her softly against him.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “All I could think of was Helson making you wear that emblem like some sort of brand. I couldn’t stand the thought of that.”
She took a deep breath and shuddered slightly. “I only meant to please you, My Lord.”
Mathew held her away from him so he could look into her eyes and smiled.
“You please me by being who you are. Nothing else is necessary. I need to explain what’s happened.”
He led her to the couch where she sat and he sat conspicuously at the opposite end, not trusting himself if he were closer. Even the fragrance she wore played havoc with his senses.
“Please do not call me My Lord. I am not your lord and I am not your master. You are free to go or stay as you will. Helson has released you. He thinks that he’s given you to me, but that’s impossible. I won’t own you. You know how much I care for you. I value your friendship for that. I hope you feel the same, but you are free to do as you will. For the next four days we’ll be on the Eastern Continent on the Bay of Naples. I’ve work to do there and you’re coming with me. On that I insist. While we’re there, we’ll talk about your future and what you want to do.”
Archer was busily trying to assimilate all this information, darting her eyes left and right as she did whenever she was trying to put new information in some sort of order. She seemed confused.
“I can be of help in that. With your father’s credentials, you can teach at any University in the Empire. If that doesn’t appeal to you, we can find something else, but I want you to be able to get on with your life, Archer. What my brother’s done is terrible. I can’t make that go away, but I can see to it that it never happens again.”
Archer was crying again, this time harder. She looked at Mathew with great pain in her eyes and he began to imagine what it must have been like for her being under the control of his brother. He seethed with anger inside, but hid it as best he could. There would come a day for Helson. What was it his brother Marcus said? No one ever really gets away with anything.
Archer gulped, wiping tears from her face and looking more beautiful and more vulnerable than ever. Mathew’s heart nearly broke with the pain of watching it.
“Are you trying to get rid of me, Mathew? Have I been such a burden?”
He didn’t remember how it happened but in the next moment she was in his arms again and he was holding her close, unwilling to let her go.
“I don’t want to ever let go of you, Archer, not now, not ever. I didn’t know if you’d want to stay.”
CHAPTER TWO
Samia Rhoedraegon snuggled comfortably into the deep cushions of the tube train, thankful to be the final leg of her trip from Rhoedraegon to the Bay Area Complex. It had been months now since her ordeal and she was finally back on an even keel. Six weeks. It seemed like such a short time to her, what with the rescue and the wedding, yet so much had happened in that time. Helson, her dear brother and rescuer, had been wonderful to her on the return trip to Rhoedraegon, though once there he had reverted to his usual bravado, and then left almost immediately for Paris. He left her with the threat of annihilation if she ever put him in the position of risking his life for her again. She knew full well that it was just his way of letting her know how worried he had been. It was a mere week since his marriage to the lady Winifred of McDowell, now lady Winifred Rhoedraegon, wife of the First Lord of the family and second only to their father, Skarda Rhoedraegon, and after a very short honeymoon, duty would call him back to the Fleet. How fun it had been, helping Wendy plan the wedding. How close they had come, and what an ass Mathew had made of himself, parading that commoner around to all the parties, and arranging for that lizard thing of his to be the ‘flower girl.’ He’d disgraced himself before the whole of the Nobility. Why Helson had found it so funny she couldn’t imagine.
Dear Helson, she thought. In just six weeks he had won the admiration of the entire Empire for his exploits into the wilderness and was back in the good graces of the Nobility for his staunch defense of the Empire. The Fleet had even given him command of a frigate and a place in the task force sent to deal with the piracy among the outer rim colonies once and for all. And as if that wasn’t enough, his marriage had cemented an alliance between two of the great Houses of the Nobility. Samia was so proud of him. He was dearer to her than nearly anyone, in spite of his fowl manners and gruff tone.
So much was happening. So much had changed. The whole planet was in an uproar over her abduction by the rebels, which she had finally come to accept as what actually happened. She had tried to explain that Louisa and the others were only scavengers in the wilderness, but the authorities would have none of it. Helson told her to keep quiet. It was good, he said, for the solidarity of the Empire to see the enemy so clearly. Hadn’t a rebel missile shot down her skimmer and killed Kurt Steiner, her lover? Hadn’t she been held prisoner and the security forces sent to find her fired upon without warning? Hadn’t they subsequently found three more pockets of rebels in the same mountains, including the one that fired on her skimmer? Was she going to say that Colonel de Palma, a national hero, had died in vain? After all this was explained to her, Samia could only concede that she was truly lucky to be alive and that they had all been enemies of the Empire after all.
She was fortunate to have such a loving family. Marcus was with her now and was her constant companion since her return to Rhoedraegon. He kept her company continually, being absent from her side only when she was with Helson, and he had gently brought her back to health. His manner was healing and as loving as anyone she had ever known. Her very thoughts were an opportunity for him to be of service to her. For days, he accompanied her, leading her among the gardens and beside the river when she refused to speak to anyone. He walked with her, telling her of the Faith and the strength it could bring her. He had philosophized, logically reasoning with her as to why this had all happened, and why she should bring herself back to the present, leaving those unhappy memories behind. “Hold on to the lessons,” he would say, “and forget the experience.” For her every objection he had an answer, for her every question, he had a reply.
She looked over at Marcus in the seat next to hers thinking back over his time with her and his efforts to heal her mind. He looked up and returned her affectionate smile.
“What are you thinking, little sister?”
“I was thinking how kind you are, Marcus. I really couldn’t have made it back without you.”
Marcus shook his head. “I did nothing. I only listened and waited. You did it all, Samia.”
“I’m
