Free Everlasting by Iris Johansen

little drastic. Was all that really necessary?”
    He opened the door. “No, the kiss alone probably would have been sufficient to create the effectwe needed for our audience.” His eyes dropped compulsively to her full breasts pushing against the silk blouse. They were still swollen and taut and became even more so under his burning appraisal. “The rest was for me. I wanted to see you. I was hungry again. I think I'll always be hungry now. When we were in the throne room, all I could think of was how much I needed to have you on my lap as you were this morning, half-naked and wanting me, making those soft little sounds that—” He broke off, took a deep breath, and then let it out very slowly. “Later.” Then he closed the door behind them and nudged her gently forward into the highly polished oak hallway. “I think it would be a good idea if you led the way, Kira. I appear to have lost my sense of direction at the moment.”
    The two armed guards standing before the double doors of Marna's suite were garbed in the elaborate dark blue dress uniforms of the Tamrovian army and reminded Zack vaguely of stage extras he'd seen in an operetta he'd attendedin Paris. They failed to challenge Kira as she opened the door and gave Zack no more than a passing glance.
    “Not exactly razor-sharp security,” Zack murmured to Kira as he followed her into the elegant suite and closed the door. “This may be easier than I thought.”
    “Stefan lets me come and go as I please,” Kira said. “And everyone in the palace will have been told about you by now.” The door opposite the sitting room opened and she was suddenly running toward the tall woman dressed in black who stood quietly in the doorway. “Marna!”
    Kira was immediately folded in the woman's strong arms, her diminutive frame appearing even slighter in contrast with Marna Debuk's massive build. Zack hadn't remembered her as being that tall. The Gypsy towered over six feet and vaguely resembled a lady wrestler. The features of her face were harsh and blunt and her dark, shining hair was clubbed just below her ears. That impassive face didn't look any different from the way he remembered it over fifteen years ago. Her black eyes were just as snapping bright, her face as inscrutableand ageless as the day he'd first seen her when he was a boy of nineteen.
    Her arms were hugging Kira with the fierce maternal affection of a grizzly, but her eyes met Zack's over Kira's head. “You came.”
    He smiled faintly. “You knew I would.”
    “Yes. I knew.” She gave Kira one final embrace and slowly released her. “It is done?”
    “No.”
    Marna's expression sharpened. “Why not?”
    “Because I am not a
chitka,”
he said softly.
    Her face clouded with anger. “I wanted it d—” She broke off and then gave a deep, booming laugh. “No, you are not a
chitka,”
she said, shaking her head. “You never were, Zack. Though in this case I wish you had been. It would have been easier for me.”
    “And for me too. But the easy way is not always the best way.”
    Kira was looking from one to the other with exasperation. “I'm still in the room, you know,” she said pointedly. “I have the distinct feeling that I've just become invisible.”
    “Go sit down, Kira,” Marna said, not lookingat her. “I must talk to Zack for a minute. We have things to discuss.”
    Kira turned obediently away and then suddenly whirled back to face them. “The hell I will. I'm not an infant to be sent out to play while adults talk.”
    Marna's eyes widened in surprise and then darkened with a touch of sadness. “It has already begun then.”
    “Oh, Marna, I'm sorry,” Kira said, instantly contrite. “I didn't mean to snap. It's just that I don't understand any of this, and both you and Zack are treating me like a child.”
    “All right, stay,” Marna said with a shrug. “It will make no difference.” She faced Zack, her jaw set a trifle belligerently. “You accept