Punished, Tana Stone [top reads .txt] 📗

Juliette shook her head, flipped back the cloth on her basket, and plucked out a brown, crusty roll dotted with black carley seeds. She shoved it into my hands as she shook her head. “Since when have you ever listened to what anyone else has said you could or couldn’t do? Never,” she answered for me. “Now is not the time to start worrying about what other people in the village might think. This is what you’ve been working for, Sienna. This is an actual fight.”

I stared at the roll in my hand, warm and soft, and then at my sister with a steely glint in her eyes. She was right. I’d always wanted a way to put my talents to use, which was almost impossible on a peaceful planet that didn’t allow females to fight. If there was ever a time, this was it.

For a moment, I thought about Corvak and how much I didn’t want to see him, but then I brushed that aside. No way was I letting some arrogant, moody alien warrior keep me from the fight. If he wanted to go hot and cold, that was his problem. I’d trained every night for something just like this—and had the bruises to show for it—and I wasn’t going to let my anger at the jerk who’d taught me ruin it.

“You’re right.” I took a bite of the roll, the combination of the savory yeast bread and the tang of the carley seeds making me almost moan out loud. I swallowed as I snagged my cloak from the hook beside the door and threw it over my shoulders. “I’ve gotta run.”

“Be careful,” she called after me with a tinge of worry in her voice, sounding much more like the sister I knew.

“You know it.” I ran through the living area where my father lay crumpled under a blanket and out the door. The suns were higher now and the village square was filling up below, a reminder that I’d wasted precious time arguing with my sister.

Hurrying down the stone path, I had to push past cloaked humans and Kimitherians who were also heading down to the square. It was clear from the snatches of whispered conversation I heard as I passed that everyone already knew about the Zagrath ship. Although some people sounded curious, no one seemed frightened, which told me they had no idea why the empire was here or what it could mean to our planet.

When I got stuck behind a large cluster of old Kimitherian females, I was forced to slow my pace. Glancing over the rock ledge, I scoured the square for any signs of Corvak, my heart beating nervously at the thought of seeing him again.

You should be nervous about the imperial soldiers, not some kiss, I told myself.

But it wasn’t just some kiss. It had been more than that, and it had almost been a lot more than that. Memories of Corvak grinding his cock into me had my cheeks burning, but I took another bite of my sister’s roll and scooted around the old ladies, breaking into a near run as I reached the bottom of the path and heard loud voices and nervous murmurs.

A crowd had assembled in the village square, but I could tell from the raised voices that something was happening outside the village. As I tried to push my way through to the other side the loud voices became shouts and then the crowd surged back, some people turning and running for the cave dwellings.

I managed to reach the obelisk, stepping up onto the slightly raised platform. I could still only see the tops of heads, but I did spot a glimpse of Corvak’s dark hair over the shorter fighters holding wooden shields. Then a shot of blaster fire tore through the air, followed by screams. More people rushed past me going away from the fight, but I ran forward—and straight into Donal.

He stared at me, his eyes ringed with purple and his nose covered in a brown bandage. For a second I thought he was going to have it out with me for kicking him in the face, but he only cast a terrifying look over his shoulder.

“They killed the Vandar,” he said, before stumbling away from me and running toward the path.

My stomach lurched, but I thought he was lying. I’d just seen Corvak standing at the front. Forcing my way through the panicking crowd, I finally reached the open space where a pair of soldiers in smoke-blue uniforms lay sprawled on the ground, blood seeping into the dusty ground around them.

And in front of them, lying on his stomach as if he was sleeping, was Corvak.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ch 23

Sienna

My knees buckled, and I fell to the ground. He couldn’t be dead. He was a Vandar raider, and the toughest individual I’d ever met. It wasn’t possible that he’d been killed by a stupid imperial scout. I pressed a hand to my mouth as the roll I’d so quickly eaten threatened to come back up.

Around me, people were still screaming and running but a few of the fighters with wooden shields gathered around Corvak, who lay unmoving. No blood pooled around him, but he was deathly still, and a black scorch mark covered one of his shoulders. His chest did not rise and fall, but his face was almost peaceful, his eyes closed and his scar nearly invisible. Our planet might provide long life, but it could not bring anyone back from the dead, or save them from being shot. Death, if it came in the form of an accident or violence, was still just as final.

I jerked my gaze away, unable to look upon him anymore without remembering him very alive, his heart thudding and his breath heavy as he’d pressed me against the wall the night before. I closed my eyes, forcing those memories away.