Free The Blood Empress by Ken McConnell Page A

woman in months and stared like they had forgotten what they looked like. A few actually touched her in a lewd manner as she passed.
    She wanted to cut off their arms and more but instead kept her head down and made her way to Verrad's quarters. Standing before his cabin door she hesitated to enter. Was he going to ignore who she was and treat her like the xulsh she was pretending to be, or would he bow to her and do her bidding?
    Taking her chances, she pushed open the hatch and entered. The room was dark and empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, she quickly locked the door and turned to face Verrad's quarters. They were clean and sparsely furnished. A bed, a desk terminal, some drawers built into one wall and a tiny porthole that looked out into the black.
    Nothing like her royal bed chamber and no second bed or even a floor mattress that she could sleep on. Just his regulation sized bed with rough sheets and a thick blanket. He was right when he said he didn't have a concubine.
    There was barely enough room to change her mind much less her clothes. If this was a senior officer's berthing, she would hate to see what conditions the troops lived in. She sat down at the console and tried to access it. Without Verrad's consent she was locked out. Annoyed by that she laid down on his hard bed and waited for him to show. She had to stay out of sight until the ship was in tunnel space on its way to Sett.
    ***
    The cabin door slid open and Captain Verrad stepped inside. He looked down at the sleeping form of Empress Nykostra. Still dressed in her handmaid's clothes she was nearly unrecognizable. Not knowing how to awaken an Empress he moved to the console and started accessing the bridge controls. From there he could monitor the ship's position and status without being there in person.
    The computer beeped and sputtered with different audible notices and the Empress stirred behind him. He turned to face her and lowered his eyes when he saw that she was awake.
    "What kept you?"
    "I had to oversee our departure, my Empress."
    She frowned and stretched out on the bed to get her blood flowing. Then she sat up and rushed to the tiny porthole. The space outside was tinted red in the direction of travel but otherwise the stars were static.
    "Are we tunneling?"
    "Yes. We should arrive at Sett in nine hours."
    She looked at him with disappointment on her face. All her life on one planet and the first time she gotoff world she slept through her departure.
    "I can't stay cooped up in this horrible cabin the whole time."
    Verrad seemed to anticipate this from her. "You could safely come out now and take control of this ship. There is no chance of homeland security forces catching up to us now."
    Her lips parted in a sly grin. "You have successfully kidnapped an Empress, Captain. You would be the first to lose his head."
    "So be it, my Empress."
    She stood before him, so close he could see her chest rising and falling with every breath she took. "Have you communicated with Lord Kasaga?" she asked.
    He shook his head and looked down at her.
    "I hope not," she said.
    Nykostra put her hands on his wide shoulders and then moved them to cup his chin. He was completely swallowed up by her dark eyes.
    "Not so fast. We have business to attend, Verrad."
    He looked like he would have rather tossed her onto the bed and ravished her and part of her wanted him to, but Ketar was still too fresh in her mind. She pulled away from him and took a step back to cool her own heels.
    "I intend to pressure Sett into sending ships to the front. I will use this ship to do it. Are you prepared to fire on them if necessary?" Her tone was stern and businesslike.
    He was taken aback by the request, but recovered quickly.
    "Yes, my Empress."
    "Put us over their Capital city and be prepared to take it out on my command. If they cave before that, I want you to blast the nearest city as punishment for defying me."
    Verrad nodded. She was asserting her power and he was to be her