Read Online Volk by Piers Anthony - Free Book Online Page A

he was doing under her skirt? Or both? He was about to have to concede defeat, because there was not much farther he could afford to go without hopelessly compromising himself as much as her.
    â€œThere is not much, and I think you know it already. I graduated from the Youth at age eighteen, and was ready for my national service. But then my father was transferred to America. That was a separate experience, and one I value.”
    â€œAnd now you are back, and I am so glad to have you back,” she said. “As I have been trying to show you.”
    She had indeed. “Now I am twenty, and am subject to military service,” he said. “Later I can complete my education at a University, perhaps at Frankfurt.” Actually the
Führer
despised those who studied as weaklings, unfit for the
Volk
, unless they specialized in something technical or agriculture. While Ernst would never criticize Hitler, he hoped that his own interest in higher education would not be considered too large a blemish on his character. “I will seek a term in the regular army or the SS. Unless my father is able to exert influence and get me into a university immediately. It is not that I am unpatriotic, but that I think I can best serve the Fatherland by completing my education first. So it seems likely that I will not be here at home long.”
    â€œIs this a polite riddance?” she asked.
    â€œI thought it might be,” he said, taken aback again by her candor.
    Krista turned her head to face him, and spoke with intensity. “I have gone as far as you dare, right here in your straight-laced uncle’s foyer. I have matched you in this game of touching, Ernst. I know you thought nothing of me before, and I knew I did not have much time to make an impression on you. But I have changed in everything but this: I still love you. I think I can be good for you, if you will let me. But I will let you go without a murmur, and not bother you again, if you can tell me right now that you will never, under any circumstances, love me back. Speak those words, Ernst, and you will be rid of me forever.” She gazed into his eyes, challenging him directly. Her thighs squeezed his hand.
    Ernst returned her gaze and opened his mouth. She had offered him exactly what he wanted. But he found that he could not speak the words. She was beautiful. She was ardent. His hand was captive between her legs, and his eyes were captive to hers. “You have not matched me, Krista, you have beaten me,” he confessed. “I am interested in you, now, and can not say I will never love you.”
    â€œThen will I be your
Mädchen
?”
    He shrugged, not because of indifference, but because he had no way to deny her. “If you wish. For now.”
    She leaned over and kissed him. “Then I am yours. For now.”
    He remained surprised at this development, but oddly satisfied. His family would be pleased at the success of their ploy, but that was the least of it.
    Then there was the tread of someone approaching the foyer. They sprang apart as if there had been an explosion between them, and were abruptly decorous.

CHAPTER 3
SPAIN
    â€œI’ve got to do it,” Lane said.
    â€œBut thee knows I can not support thee in this,” Quality protested. “To go needlessly to war—”
    â€œWould you prefer to have Hitler take over all of Europe and then threaten America?”
    â€œI have no liking for the Nazis, as I have said. But there must be a better way than war. Even should it come, thee has better things to do than to get involved in the quarrels of others. Thee has another year to go to obtain thy degree. With that, thee could do far more good in the world than thee could ever do by pointless fighting.”
    â€œNot if Hitler overruns the world while I’m studying!”
    She paced the floor of the lounge. “We do not know that Hitler truly seeks world conquest, or that he could be successful if