Free The Captive by Amanda Ashley Page A

to be over an inch thick, was white.
There was a large round bed with a pink flowered spread and a matching canopy,
a desk and chair, a shelf that held books and trinkets. The room was as pretty
and feminine as the girl who lived there.
    He drew back a little when the door opened and Ashlynne
stepped inside. Closing the door, she sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off
her shoes, peeled off her stockings. She fell back on the bed, lifted her arms,
and stretched. Rising, she pulled her sweater over her head and tossed it on
the bed.
    Falkon felt his mouth go dry, thought he might fall out of
the tree when she started to remove her skirt.
    She turned abruptly, her eyes widening when she saw him
staring at her. With a little shriek, she grabbed her sweater and yanked it
over her head, then crossed the floor and opened the window.
    “What are you doing? How dare you spy on me! When I tell my
father, he’ll…”
    “I wouldn’t tell your father if I was you.”
    “Well, you’re not me! And I will tell him. And he’ll have
you whipped.”
    “No, you won’t.”
    She lifted her chin defiantly. “I will.”
    He shook his head. “I wonder what daddy would say if I was
to tell him that his daughter and her friend were sneaking around the mine
compound late one night.”
    She stared at him in horror. “You wouldn’t!” she exclaimed,
and then shrugged. “He wouldn’t believe you any way.”
    “No?”
    “No,” she replied firmly. But what if he did? She’d never be
able to see Magny again if her father found out what they had done.
    “I’ll keep your secret,” he said, grinning impudently, “if
you’ll keep mine.”
    “Oh! You are the most…the most, oh, I don’t have a word bad
enough for what you are!”
    “I could teach you one.”
    She glared at him. “I’ll just bet you could!”
    “In several languages.”
    “Oh, you are the most impossible man I’ve ever met.”
    “But handsome,” he said. “Don’t forget handsome.”
    Embarrassment washed over Ashlynne as she realized he had
heard them whispering about him outside the hut that night.
    “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Why don’t you go away?” And so saying,
she reached out the window and gave him a shove.
    She didn’t push very hard, but it was hard enough to make
him lose his balance. Muttering one of the words he had offered to teach her,
he fell out of the tree. She felt her heart fall with him, blew out a sigh of
relief when he landed on his feet.
    Falkon looked up to find her leaning out over the window
sill. For a moment, he thought she looked concerned, but then she began to
laugh.
    Someday, he thought, glaring up at her. Someday…

Chapter Seven
     
    Falkon prowled the confines of his room, as restless as any
caged beast. He had come to hate this place as much as he had hated his cell in
the mine, as he hated any place that walled him in. He yearned for his freedom,
for news of the war on Riga Twelve. Had the Romarians overtaken the planet? And
what of Daccar? Was his home still free, or had it fallen prey to the Romarian
hordes?
    He muttered a vicious oath. It seemed the leaders of Romariz
wouldn’t be content until they had enslaved the whole galaxy.
    He stared at the wall in front of him; then, with a savage
cry, he slammed his fist against it. His people were fighting for their lives
and he was trapped here, forced to do menial work for the Tierdian Royal family
and their spoiled daughter. Their spoiled beautiful daughter.
    Ashlynne, with hair the color of silver moonlight and eyes
the color of a turbulent sea. Ashlynne, who had not hesitated to use that
hellish controller.
    In spite of his threat to reveal her midnight stroll, he had
fully expected her to report his disobedience to her father. At best, he had
expected to be whipped for his insolent behavior. At the worst, he had expected
to be returned to the mine. Last night, he had paced his room, waiting for her
father to appear to mete out his punishment. But none had been