Part 4 (2/2)
Inwardly, Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. ”Thank you.”
”Welcome. But if you let her go free, we'll never get out of here. So what do you suggest?”
”Well...” Maggie took a look around and her eyes happened to fall on the discarded pain collar and chains. ”I have an idea,” she said, smiling at Kor. ”What do you say we give her a taste of her own medicine?”
”I'm afraid Lady Pope'nose isn't going to be too happy for the next week,” Maggie remarked as they finally made their way (very quietly) out of the huge opulent building her hostess lived in. The busy street was quiet for once, almost devoid of traffic in the early morning dawn.
”She got what she deserved-and then some.” Kor smiled, remembering his former mistress's sputtered demands and protests as he had fitted her with the pain collar and chains and poured a scoop of verium on her head. The broken inhibitor he had folded up and put into the pocket of the new slave pants he now wore.
Maggie had wanted to get out of the house immediately but as the rest of the household appeared to be still asleep, Kor had taken a moment to survey Lady Pope'nose's a.s.sets and steal a new outfit from the slaves' laundry. His new pants were made of black leather and were uncomfortably tight in places-obviously he was bigger than most of his former mistress's slaves-but at least they didn't scream ”escaped slave.” His new black boots were likewise tight but the leather was stretching nicely.
”Hopefully her slaves will think she's at the spa. No one should find her before the week is out,” he remarked.
”They'd better not.” Maggie sounded anxious.
”You wis.h.i.+ng you'd let me kill her?” He cast a sidelong glance at her.
Maggie flinched. ”No-of course not!”
Kor shrugged. ”All right. But the dead don't talk.”
”What are you, from the Mob?” she demanded. ”Were you some kind of a.s.sa.s.sin? Did you go around 'whacking' people or something?”
”What?” Kor stared at her blankly. ”Nothing you just said made any d.a.m.n sense.”
”I'm just saying...never mind.” Her eyes flickered over him uncertainly and then she looked away.
Kor wondered what he'd said to upset her. He was a warrior-he killed people. Was it really that difficult to understand?
A new thought intruded. Maybe she's just upset because she's scared half to death after I nearly blasted Pope'nose to dust.
It was a sobering thought. Kor wasn't sure what the h.e.l.l had happened with his eyes-all he remembered was feeling so angry that he literally saw red. And then the blast of energy had come from him like a shout of pure rage. He had felt like that before, when he was fighting in the arena and he knew his eyes were said to glow when he was in a rage, but he supposed the inhibitor had stopped anything from happening. Now he was without it for the first time in years-what else might he be capable of?
But even more troubling than the situation with his eyes was the fact that he had let a prospective kill escape. True, he had never killed females-it was always males that he fought in the arenas of the Blood Circuit-but he had been more than willing to make an exception in Lady Pope'nose's case. The b.i.t.c.h had done nothing but torture and taunt him the entire time he was in her care and revenge had been the uppermost thought on his mind. But one word from Maggie and he had softened, allowing his evil former mistress off with no more than a week's punishment. Why?
Was it because he didn't want Maggie to be afraid of him? Was she afraid of him now? He cast a sidelong look at her and saw that she was looking at him too. She looked quickly away.
”You all right?” he asked roughly.
”Um, fine. Just...just nervous,” she said and gave a jagged little laugh. ”I've never been a...a criminal before.”
”Take it from me,” Kor said dryly. ”It's not so bad unless you're caught.”
”I don't want to be caught!”
”As long as we put enough distance between Pope'nose and us, we'll be fine,” he said, taking her hand. He was pleased when she allowed it and didn't pull away. ”We just have to steal a car and get off-planet.”
”What?” Her eyes widened and she yanked her hand out of his. ”I told you, I'm not going that far with you. I just need to get to the chasm and then we can go our separate ways.”
Kor frowned. Fine, she wanted to leave-why should it bother him? Except it did-a h.e.l.l of a lot. He still wanted to keep her with him at all costs. Not that he would let her know that.
”All right,” he said, stalling. ”Say that we part ways right now. How do you feel about that?”
”I...I feel fine.” Maggie lifted her chin. ”After all, it's not like we really know each other. Not like we-”
”Dreamed of each other night after night?” Kor asked softly. ”Not like you risked your life to save me?”
”I...” She looked down, biting her lip in a most distracting way and then pushed up the oculars which kept sliding down her adorable little nose.
Oh yeah-there was no way in all the Seven h.e.l.ls Kor was letting her go.
”I'll let you go on one condition,” he told her. ”If you can tell me the way to the chasm. Prove you know the way back and I'll leave you here and now and we'll never see each other again.”
”I...um...” Maggie frowned. ”That's hardly fair. I've never been in this city-never even been on this planet-before yesterday.”
”Exactly.” He crossed his arms over his chest. ”So tell me the way. You know what-no,” he continued. ”Just point in the general direction of the chasm so I know you won't get lost. That's all I'm asking.”
”Fine.” Maggie threw out an arm, pointing down the long street outside the huge, opulent building they had just exited. ”It's that way.”
”Yes.” Kor nodded, trying to suppress a smile. ”Yes, it is.”
”See, I told you I know where I'm going!” Maggie sounded so triumphant he hated to burst her bubble.
”It's that way as long as you don't mind circ.u.mnavigating the entire planet to get there,” Kor said.
Her face fell. ”You mean...”
”The shortest route to the chasm is that way.” He pointed in the exact opposite direction she had. ”But I'm afraid it leads through the prosti and p.o.r.no district. I don't think you'd be safe going by yourself, blondie.”
”How do you even know all this? Yonnie Six isn't your home planet, is it?”
”No. But the Blood Circuit stops here. That's how Lady Pope'nose saw me the first time. She watched me kill six males in a row in one match-it's the reason she bought me.”
”You killed...six men in a row?” Maggie's voice was weak.
Kor shrugged. ”I killed for a living. I was a slave tied to the Circuit-winning matches made my master credit. Losing them meant losing my life. I wanted to survive.” He hoped she could understand but from the uncertain look on her face, she didn't much like what she was hearing.
”I-” she began but just then a voice interrupted.
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