Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
“Very good.” She stepped closer and placed the fingertips of her right hand lightly against his temple. “Now look at me Warrior. Open yourself and let me see.”
Baird tried to do as she asked. As their eyes locked, he felt a soft fluttering inside his head like a thousand wings beating. Then the sensation changed and there were fingers sliding through the cracks in his mind, prying, invading his brain and sifting through his memories like someone might sift through sand at a beach.
He saw his childhood, growing up first on Rageron and then Twin Moons, the loss of his mother and his close bond with Sylvan. His confirmation as a warrior, witnessing his half brother’s pain and rejection on Tranq Prime and their subsequent decision to join the new trade on Earth. Then…the fateful mission when his scout ship had been captured by the Scourge.
Gods, no, don’t want to think about…
But it was too late. He was plunged into darkness, the sour stench of the Fathership filling his nostrils. “Such an interesting flavor this one has. His pain is so unique.” The voice of the AllFather filled his head, harsh and discordant and once again he felt the agony. Sensors all over me, wires coming out of my skin like some kinda damn machine. Leave me alone—let me go! And then the draining pull of the AllFather’s mind focused solely on his own. The overwhelming despair that threatened to drown him as all his memories were twisted, love turned to hatred, pleasure to pain. The huge lighted screen above his head showing him things that had happened in the past but wrong, distorted. He saw himself shouting at his father, killing his brother, and other things too horrible to think of. No, I never did those things. I love them, I wouldn’t…would never…
“Are you sure?” The insidious grating of the AllFather’s voice in his mind was implacable. Slowly but surely Baird could feel himself losing all sense of reality, losing his sanity. Everything was upside down. Every precious memory was warped into something hideous and strange and wrong. He told himself to resist, tried to keep his mental shields strong. But there was nothing the AllFather couldn’t distort. Nothing except…
Olivia… Her mind had found his in the dark pit where the Scourge had chained him. To Baird it had been like looking up into a pitch black sky and seeing the light of a single, brilliant star shining down. He began to dream-share with her, watched her go about her day. The normalcy of her life and her radiant beauty fed him and helped him control the intense pain he felt when the AllFather focused on him. Helped keep his shields strong so that he never let them all the way in, never broke completely. Watching Olivia, feeling her mind linked to his was all that kept him sane.
Baird knew she was seeing him too—he could feel her compassion through their mind link when she saw what was being done to him. And he knew then that he had to escape, had to get away from the Fathership or he would never meet her. Never hold her in his arms and claim her as his bride.
He saw himself waiting for the perfect opportunity. Watched as he ripped the wires that were sucking the life out of him from his skin and used them to strangle the guard who had gotten too close. The desperate game of hide and seek he had played with his captors until he was able to steal a ship and fly away, get back to the Kindred ship where Sylvan waited anxiously, wondering if he would ever be able to function again. Few escaped the clutches of the Scourge and if they did, their minds were usually full of holes and broken memories afterwards. Almost none of them was able to resume their place as a fully functioning member of society.
But Baird had been lucky—he’d had Olivia to pull him through. Because of her he had never given up hope. Because of her he had retained his sanity, his strength. And now that he was free, he needed her. Needed her in his arms, in his bed.
He watched as their claiming ceremony played out, saw the entire last week of his life in fast-forward as he pursued his new bride and she resisted and retreated. He relived the feel of her in his arms, the delicious sensation of having her under him, the heat her soft fingers had raised in him as she caressed his shaft and mating fist. And then their fight, his pain when she refused to let him touch her. Olivia, I love you…Need you so much…my life, my mate, my bride…
And suddenly he was back in the sacred grove kneeling before the priestess of the Mother of Life, knowing she had seen it all.