Cursed: Brides of the Kindred 13 (26 page)

There was a tiny sink in the corner opposite the bathroom. She went over and brushed her teeth, noting that the toothpaste tasted and looked exactly like the Crest Ultrabrite she used back home on Earth. Was that a coincidence or had the cleansing pool read and recorded her preferences while she was playing in its clear, turquoise depths?

Either way, it didn’t really matter. Her teeth were brushed and she was dressed for bed. The thing to do now was to get up the courage to go back to the block of ice that passed for a mattress and try to get comfortable in it.

She’d been shivering steadily for some minutes now but she knew the bed was going to be harder to get used to than the chilly air. Still, she couldn’t wait forever. She went to the side of the bed, trying to get up her courage.
Oh my God, this is going to be so cold…
As she stood there, hesitating, the bathroom door slid open and Stavros came out.

With a little squeak, Charlie dived under the covers. She didn’t really want her partner to see her in the nightgown which was, if anything, more see-through than the novice robe.

The bed was, as she had expected, a block of ice. The thin, silky sheets which seemed to be made out of the same material as the novice robes, felt as cold as the tomb against her skin. Charlie huddled in the bed miserably as Stavros strode into the room, still dressed in his Pharaoh-skirt and nothing else. His long hair was down and slightly damp. There were also droplets of water on his chest and broad, bare shoulders. The added moisture should have made him even colder but the chilly temperature of the room didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“There are clothes and other things in the white pillars,” Charlotte volunteered, even though he hadn’t asked or even acknowledged her existence. “Just put your hand—” But Stavros was already placing one broad palm against the side of the left hand pillar and reaching inside for the clothing and toiletries it contained.

He turned to put his back to her as he changed from the white Pharaoh garment to a pair of white sleep pants. Charlie tried not to look at his muscular ass but it was difficult. It made her remember the obvious effort he had been making at dinner to look only at her face and not her breasts. Were they going to spend the whole time here trying not to ogle each other’s bodies?

Well, it doesn’t look like it’s a problem anymore—at least not for him. He won’t even make eye contact with me right now.

Indeed, Stavros was avoiding looking in her direction as he brushed his teeth with something that looked strange and different from and Earth toothbrush. Maybe the magic cabinets gave you whatever you were used to and this was a Kindred tooth-cleaning device, she reflected.

He moved with apparent ease, not shivering in the slightest even though he was still bare to the waist, ignoring her completely. It was as though she didn’t even exist.

Charlie just lay there getting colder and colder—her body heat didn’t seem to do a thing to warm the icy sheets she was lying between. Finally she couldn’t stand the heavy silence between them anymore.

“H-how come you’re n-not cold?” she demanded, frowning at him. “It’s f-freezing in here!”

“This?” He looked around the room as though assessing the temperature. “This is nothing.”

“How can you say that?” she demanded. “It’s like a meat locker in here!”

He shrugged. “I come from Tranq Prime—a world covered in ice and snow. We are used to such temperatures.”

“Really? I d-didn’t know that.” Charlie tried to keep her teeth from chattering. She was miserably cold and getting colder by the minute but at least her partner was speaking to her again. Maybe if she could just keep him talking… “T-tell me more,” she urged, half sitting up in bed to look at him.

But Stavros shook his head and she could see that the closed expression was still on his face.

“We are not permitted to speak of the past, remember? Besides, it is time to sleep. Doubtless we’ll have a busy day tomorrow.”

“But—” Charlie started to protest, but he had already climbed into his side of the bed and turned on his side so that his back was to her.

“Stavros…” She reached out to him timidly. But the moment her fingertips brushed his shoulder he flinched as though she’d burned him.

“
Don’t
touch me,” he growled.

“Fine, I won’t!” Fed up with his attitude and his refusal to tell her what was wrong, Charlie jumped out of bed, taking the sheets and blankets with her.

“What in the Seven Hells are you doing?” the big Kindred demanded, turning to face her.

“I’m going to go sleep on the couch,” she snapped. “And since you’re Mr. “I’m not cold a bit”, I’m taking the blankets
with
me. So you can lay here on a bare bed and pout for all I care.”

Stavros looked at her in apparent surprise but before he could reply, she flounced out of the room with the icy sheets and blankets trailing behind her like a long cape.
Two
could play the cold shoulder game and she was prepared to give every bit as good as she got—especially since
both
her shoulders were absolutely
freezing
.

She got settled on the tiny loveseat, which wasn’t really long enough to stretch out on. Not that she
wanted
to stretch out—she was too busy curling herself into a ball to try and conserve warmth. Huddled at one end, Charlie attempted to settle down and go to sleep. Sleep, however, was a long time in coming.

She’d had some cold nights before—living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, that was a given. She’d even had a couple of times when the power went out in her cabin due to heavy snow and she had been unable to get any heat at all except from her fireplace. Those had been some
cold
nights. But she’d had her flannel pjs and Granny’s quilt to keep warm. Sitting in front of the fire with a steaming cup of hot coco made using an antique kettle that heated over the flames, she’d been almost cozy once her body heat warmed a little pocket inside the quilt.

But here in the microbe cooled apartment of the alien resort, body heat didn’t seem to count at all. It never accumulated like it did back home, no matter how tightly she wrapped the covers around herself. In fact, Charlotte thought she could feel it being sucked out of her by the fabric that was supposed to be keeping her warm. It was
miserable
.

Should take a hot shower,
she told herself, remembering the puff of steam that had escaped the bathroom when Stavros came out.
It would help bring up my core temperature.

But she couldn’t bear the thought of getting undressed and stepping into water, no matter how hot it was. And then, even if she could muster the courage to do that, there would be that inevitable moment when she had to step
out
of the heat and into the bitter, biting cold again. No—it was unthinkable.

“Just…unthinkable,” Charlie whispered and yawned. Despite the extreme cold or maybe because of it, she was finally feeling sleepy. Closing her eyes, she let herself drift off, still shivering as sleep finally claimed her.

* * * * *

Stavros tossed and turned on the bare bed for hours, angry with Charlotte and angry with himself. How dare she accuse him of
pouting
, of all things? And how dare she act as if what she had done during their evening class was of no consequence?
“It’s no big deal,”
she had said. Stav had wanted to tell her that it most certainly
was
a big deal. She had touched him in places that no female ought to touch a Cursed One. She had dishonored them both and she had the temerity to act as though it meant nothing.

Maybe you should tell her that then, instead of freezing her out,
whispered a practical little voice in his brain.
How can she know what is taboo on your home world when she comes from a completely different planet?

I tried to tell her—tried to let her know she shouldn’t touch my mark,
he argued back.
But she just went ahead anyway. She—

A high, frightened scream interrupted his thoughts. At once, every bit of anger he’d been feeling towards Charlotte was wiped away by an overwhelming wave of concern and protectiveness that crashed over him.

“Charlotte?” He was off the bed and into the small living area in an instant. He found her huddled into a tiny ball on the couch, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. Tears were leaking down her cheeks and her lush mouth was drawn into a trembling line of terror.

“Charlotte?” Stavros said again. “Charlie?” He put a hand on her arm and she jerked upright at once, her eyes suddenly wide open.

“Don’t let it, Missy,” she gasped, her voice choked with fright. “Don’t let that two headed thing get me! Please! I know we shouldn’t of watched that movie—Mamma said not to. I’m sorry but please don’t let it get me!”

Stav didn’t know who Missy was but it didn’t matter. Clearly Charlotte was having a nightmare—possibly brought on by the sight of the Joined One that had frightened her so much earlier.

“Charlie,” he said sharply, when she tried to get off the couch. “Stop it and come here—you’re all right. Everything is all right.”

“Wh-who…wh-what?” Her teeth were chattering and as he took her in his arms, Stav realized her skin was cold as ice. A stab of shame hit him right in the gut.

It’s my fault she’s cold and frightened and alone out here. We were supposed to keep each other warm but I turned my back on her. All because I was angry at her for committing an impropriety she didn’t even know about or understand.

“Come on,” he said, gathering her into his arms along with the blankets and sheets which were twisted around her. “Let’s go get you warm.”

But it was easier said than done. Though he held her close to his body in the center of the bed, her shivering wouldn’t stop and her chilly skin didn’t seem to thaw.

She’s chilled to the bone,
he realized at last.
Those Goddess-damned Hossans weren’t kidding when they said she could freeze to death if we didn’t stick together—she’s nearly frozen now!

Deciding that holding her wasn’t enough, he gathered her up again and took her into the fresher. There was a bathing tub with a shower attachment at the top. Stavros was tempted to put her in the shower but he didn’t think it would do any good. She needed to be submerged in the warm water to bring her body back to anything resembling a normal temperate. He turned on the tub and then sat and held her cradled against him as it filled.

Charlotte had become very sluggish now which worried him. And when he
was
able to provoke a response from her, she was delirious—either out of her head with cold or still gripped in the nightmare that she seemed unable to wake from.

She cried—the tears wetting her cheeks—and called for “Missy” over and over. Stav wondered who Missy was—an old lover? But it sounded like a female name. Was it someone who had once been dear to her then? Someone she had lost or left behind on Earth?

He wished he knew.

When the tub was filled with water, he placed her gently into it, fur gown and all. He didn’t want to upset her by trying to pull the too-tight gown off—what would she think if she came to her senses and found him stripping her naked? Nothing good, Stavros was sure.

He tried not to look at her body as she floated in the tub, the white fur gown now completely translucent. But the outlines of her full breasts and hips and the innocent slit of her pussy drew his eyes even though he didn’t want them too.

You don’t deserve to look at her,
he told himself angrily.
Not after the way you let her nearly freeze to death! You’re supposed to be protecting her—not abandoning her to the elements!

Still, the tight pink tips of her nipples, pushing against the see-through fabric made his fangs ache and his cock feel hot and heavy in the white sleep trousers he wore.

He tried to distract himself by running more water and holding her head gently above the lapping waves.

“Charlotte,” he murmured. “I’m sorry…so sorry. Please come back to me…”

Chapter Eighteen

The nightmare of the two-headed monster had finally turned into something more pleasant. She was rocking on a warm sea, floating above the waves as her hair swayed in the currents and a strong hand supported her.

Charlie thought about telling the owner of the hand that she was fine—that she was an excellent swimmer and didn’t need help. But she found she liked the feeling of being held and supported. It was…nice and so unexpected. She’d never had anyone she could depend on for support—not since Missy left. And she had the feeling that whoever was supporting her really cared—at least, if the gentleness of their touch was any indication.

The warm waves lapping in her ears obscured most other sounds. But after a little while, she became aware of a low, masculine voice murmuring something.