Read Online Chained (Brides of the Kindred) by Evangeline Anderson - Free Book Online

and revenge had been the uppermost thought on
his mind. But one word from Maggie and he had softened, allowing his evil
former mistress off with no more than a week’s punishment. Why?
    Was it because he didn’t want Maggie to be
afraid of him? Was she afraid
of him now? He cast a sidelong look at her and saw that she was looking at him
too. She looked quickly away.
    “You all right?” he asked roughly.
    “Um, fine. Just…just nervous,” she said
and gave a jagged little laugh. “I’ve never been a…a criminal before.”
    “Take it from me,” Kor said dryly. “It’s
not so bad unless you’re caught.”
    “I don’t want to be caught!”
    “As long as we put enough distance between
Pope’nose and us, we’ll be fine,” he said, taking her hand. He was pleased when
she allowed it and didn’t pull away. “We just have to steal a car and get
off-planet.”
    “What?” Her eyes widened and she yanked
her hand out of his. “I told you, I’m not going that far with you. I just need
to get to the chasm and then we can go our separate ways.”
    Kor frowned. Fine, she wanted to leave—why
should it bother him? Except it did—a hell of a lot. He still wanted to keep
her with him at all costs. Not that he would let her know that.
    “All right,” he said, stalling. “Say that
we part ways right now. How do you feel about that?”
    “I…I feel fine.” Maggie lifted her chin.
“After all, it’s not like we really know each other. Not like we—”
    “Dreamed of each other night after night?”
Kor asked softly. “Not like you risked your life to save me?”
    “I…” She looked down, biting her lip in a
most distracting way and then pushed up the oculars which kept sliding down her
adorable little nose.
    Oh yeah—there was no way in all the Seven
Hells Kor was letting her go.
    “I’ll let you go on one condition,” he
told her. “If you can tell me the way to the chasm. Prove you know the way back
and I’ll leave you here and now and we’ll never see each other again.”
    “I…um…” Maggie frowned. “That’s hardly
fair. I’ve never been in this city—never even been on this planet —before
yesterday.”
    “Exactly.” He crossed his arms over his
chest. “So tell me the way. You know what—no,” he continued. “Just point in the
general direction of the chasm so I know you won’t get lost. That’s all I’m
asking.”
    “Fine.” Maggie threw out an arm, pointing
down the long street outside the huge, opulent building they had just exited.
“It’s that way.”
    “Yes.” Kor nodded, trying to suppress a
smile. “Yes, it is.”
    “See, I told you I know where I’m going!”
Maggie sounded so triumphant he hated to burst her bubble.
    “It’s that way as long as you don’t mind
circumnavigating the entire planet to get there,” Kor said.
    Her face fell. “You mean…”
    “The shortest route to the chasm is that way.” He pointed in the exact opposite direction she had. “But I’m afraid it
leads through the prosti and porno district. I don’t think you’d be safe going
by yourself, blondie.”
    “How do you even know all this? Yonnie Six
isn’t your home planet, is it?”
    “No. But the Blood Circuit stops here.
That’s how Lady Pope’nose saw me the first time. She watched me kill six males
in a row in one match—it’s the reason she bought me.”
    “You killed…six men in a row?” Maggie’s
voice was weak.
    Kor shrugged. “I killed for a living. I
was a slave tied to the Circuit—winning matches made my master credit. Losing
them meant losing my life. I wanted to survive.” He hoped she could understand
but from the uncertain look on her face, she didn’t much like what she was
hearing.
    “I—” she began but just then a voice
interrupted.
    “Excuse me? Lady Pope’nose?” someone said.
    “What? Where?” Maggie looked around her
wildly until Kor took her hand, more firmly this time, and whispered,
    “I think it’s talking to