Free Chained (Brides of the Kindred) by Evangeline Anderson Page A

thought you were a warrior. A,
uh, gladiator kind of guy.”
    Kor shrugged. “Don’t know what a gladiator
is.”
    “It’s…basically it’s a slave that fights
in the arena for the entertainment of a bloodthirsty crowd. There were people
like that—gladiators—in the past on my planet. In ancient Rome. You wouldn’t
know where that is but it was a city where everyone was trying to sleep with or
assassinate everyone else. If the prime time cable shows are right, anyway.”
    Kor nodded thoughtfully. “That sounds
about right. If it makes you feel better then, yes, I was a kind of
‘gladiator.’”
    “It doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better,” she said, frowning as he started on her other foot. “But I guess
it’s better than you being just a straight out cold blooded murderer.”
    “Not all of my kills took place in the
arena. I killed my old master, as I’m sure Lady Pope’nose told you,” Kor said
neutrally. “And I would do it again in a heartbeat.” He didn’t want to frighten
her but there was no point in her making false assumptions or romanticizing his
past life. Much of his former existence had been nasty and brutish—there was no
hiding or denying it and Kor didn’t intend to try.
    “You…” She shook her head. “Why? Did he
torture you like Lady Pope’nose did?”
    “He treated me well as long as I was
winning—which I generally always was,” Kor said. “He never beat or starved me
or forced me to service him sexually.”
    Maggie shivered. “Well, that’s good, at
least. So then why…”
    Kor looked down, concentrating on her
foot. “You don’t need to know why. Not now,” he said roughly. “It should be
enough that I admitted it to you—that I didn’t try to hide it.” He looked back
up at her. “Can you just trust me when I said I had a damn good reason and
leave it at that? Is that enough?”
    “I…guess so,” she said hesitantly. “I
guess it will have to be.”
    “Thank you,” Kor said simply. He felt
relieved. The reason behind the death of his master was still too fresh—too
raw. Talking about it would have been like poking an open wound with a stick.
He was glad she wasn't demanding a full explanation right this instant.
    “So, uh, are we doing true confessions
then?” Maggie sounded uncertain. “Because I cheated on a spelling test in sixth
grade.”
    Kor looked up at her swiftly. “You cheated? On a test?”
    Her cheeks got red at once. “Yes. I knew
it was wrong but I…see, I’ve always been strong in math and science but spelling
just isn’t my thing and it was going to hurt my final grade and I, well, I…”
    “I’m kidding.” Kor almost laughed at the
guilt on her face. What was it about this little female? She was so innocent
that she was almost completely transparent—every emotion she felt showed on her
face. He liked that about her. “I admitted to you that I murdered my old master
and you come back at me with a falsified test,” he pointed out. “Those don’t
exactly measure up.”
    “Sorry,” she muttered. “I can’t help it
I’ve lived a boring life up until now. I mean, I’ve never killed anyone or
stolen anything other than a pair of pantyhose I accidentally tucked under my
arm at the store and I took those back immediately. I’ve basically just
been living the life of a sequestered academic, up in my ivory tower doing
nothing but research and writing papers to get grants.”
    “Well, I’m glad you came down from your
ivory tower to save me,” Kor remarked.
    Maggie’s face got even redder. “That’s
just it—I didn’t come for you. I’m not even supposed to be on
this planet. I was going to wait in the ship. I should be on my way to Gaia
right now—the new Super Earth world the Kindred discovered—to catalogue all the
new species of flora and fauna.”
    “The Kindred, hmm?” Kor frowned.
    “Yes, do you know of them? They saved my
planet from the Scourge attack and they’re still orbiting our moon.