Thrace told himself not to be a fool. Though it was truehe had actually chosen slavery this time, Trin was a far cry from hisold master. She wasn’t wantonly cruel and she didn’t delight in his pain orsubjugation. In fact, she treated him more like an equal than a slave. And hewas certain she would never put him through what his old master haddone. She would never hurt him that way.

She was more likely to pierce his heart by leavinghim after this deal was said and done than she was to penetrate his flesh inany way.

Ifshe wanted to though, would I let her? CouldI? Thrace shivered at the thought. The idea of anyone doing thatto him again made a mixture of emotions rise inside him—anger, fear, hurt,shame… They threatened to swamp him, to overwhelm his senses until he wanted toweep and rage and kill the male who had hurt him in the first place.

But you could only kill someone once. After that,you had to deal with what they had done. And their death didn’t erase thehorrors they’d committed when they were alive—that fact he knew only too well.

Stopit, he told himself roughly. Stopbringing up the past. Just bury it again and forget it. It’s over and done withand it’ll never happen again. I was young then—weak and tied up—defenseless.I’m a full grown male now and no one…noone will ever be able to use me that way again.

Brutally, he shoved the images from the dream andthe emotions they brought up, under the surface of his mind. He concentratedinstead on the girl in his arms—the one he would die to protect.

The one he had already lost his heart to.

** * * *

Charlie woke with a start, coming out of thestrange trance-like state she had fallen into when she touched Stavros. Ofcourse, she’d touched him because he was in another one of his trances.

Ever since the time they’d made love after he cameout of a particularly long trance, she had somehow gained a mental connectionas well—not that she wanted one. Of course, hers wasn’t as bad as his—he wasstill seeing most of what Two did and none of that was very nice. Charlie,however, had somehow become connected to Trin, the girl from Zetta Prime whohad bought the Havoc male, Thraceas a slave.

“Are you all right?” Stav was looking at her withconcern. They were sitting together on their bed, having just finished makinglove, which was when the trances most often seemed to occur.

“I think so.” Charlie shook her head and ran a handthrough her blonde hair. “I just had a bad one though—Trin had some kind of anightmare. Only it wasn’t just a nightmare—it was a memory and I sharedit.”

“Really?” Stavros looked uneasy. “Tell me about it.Because I think I know what caused it.”

“You do? What?”

“Just tell me what you saw.” He made a motion withone hand. “Ladies first, right?”

Charlie sighed. “All right. Well, it was weird.Trin was definitely the one having the dream but she was dreaming about Thrace.It was his memory. Of…something that happened to him when he wasyounger. It upset her a lot.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “Honestly, itupset the hell out of me too.”

“What was it?” Stav asked gently. “Just tellme—you’ll feel better when you do.”

“He was being…well, there’s no pretty way to dressit up,” Charlie said grimly. “He was being raped by his old master—back thefirst time when he was a slave.”

“What?” Stav asked blankly. “But I thought thatTrin established he wasn’t a slave before she bought him.”

“He wasn’t at the time she bought him—but he wascaptured by slavers before. Back when he was just a teenager. He and hisdad were both taken and his master…” Charlie shivered. “He must have been ahorrible man. He kept demanding that Thrace say some kind of oath—Ithink swearing his loyalty or something.”

“And did he?”

“You know Thrace. Of course not.”

“No, of course not. That male will bend for noone—other than Trin, that is,” Stav said thoughtfully. “I wonder if she knowsthat he loves her.”

“You think he does?”

“Why else would he willingly go back to being aslave just for her? Especially if he was one before and such horrible thingshappened to him?”

“You’re right,” Charlie said. “It’s the prophesy,you know. A free-born male, Tooproud to bend his knee, Enslaved of his own will—that’s Thrace.” She was quoting the words Twohimself had told them—the prophesy was the reason he believed he wasinvulnerable to any attack by the Kindred.

“It also says ‘Againsthis will set free’” Stav pointed out. “How do you explain that?”

“I don’t know.” Charlieshrugged. “Maybe it hasn’t happened yet. But I think we can tell why Two is sointerested in Thraceand Trin.”

“Other than the fact that he’stracking them for B’Rugh, you mean?” Stav asked. “Or he was before he took thatside trip back to the Dark Kindred home world.”

“I wish you could’ve seen whathe did there.” The idea made Charlie uneasy.

“I wish so too,” Stavros saidsoberly. “But ever since, he hasn’t come near Trin or Thrace. He’s been spending time ina ship—just orbiting Yonnie Six.”

“I wonder how he tracked themthere in the first place?” Charlie murmured.

“Well, it is the only place where there’s a demand for Jaxite crystals,” Stav pointed out. “And we know he has ways oftracking people.”

Charlie remembered the tiny,furry creature Two had used as a spy—seeing through its eyes to know where sheand Stav had gone during their trip to save Earth from the Dark Kindred.

“That’s true,” she murmured.“You think he planted one of his spy rats on their shuttle somehow?”

Stav shrugged. “Who knows? It’spossible. Anything is possible with Two.”

“True.” Charlie sighed. “Well,he obviously knows where they are. Which makes me worried—what’s going tohappen to Thraceand Trin?”

“I don’t know—I pray to theGoddess they will be well.”

Charlie stretched, trying to getrid of some of the tension in her shoulders.

“I guess it’s weird to talkabout them like we know them. But since we’ve been seeing all these differentpieces of their lives, I kind of feel like we do. It’s like…our own private soap opera playing out right in frontof us.”

“With some important piecesmissing,” Stav pointed out. “What did Two do when he visited his home world?What is he up to now, orbiting Yonnie Six? And what part of the future didB’Rugh See for him?”

“I guess we could go after himand try to find out,” Charlie suggested although the idea of seeing Twoface-to-face again made her stomach twist into knots.

Stavros shook his head. “No. Ihave the sense that we were given this link to Trin and Thrace and Twoto observe, not to act. I think the Goddess will let us know when and if weshould get involved.”

“Well, you started seeing themfirst so I guess you know best,” Charlie said. “Although you never did tell mewhat caused Trin’s bad dream.”

“It was what I saw in my ownvision. I couldn’t see much because the room was dark but there was some kindof control panel. It had a row of vid screens and one of them was showing Trinand Thrace’sroom,” Stav explained. “They were sleeping peacefully to start with. Then I sawa hand—I think it was a male hand—turning a knob on the panel. After that, akind of black, swirling mist filled the area above their bed. Thrace breathed in a lot of it—morethan Trin—but after that, she was the one who started thrashing around andmoaning.”

“Dream gas?” Charlie asked. “Ormaybe that nightmare vapor we saw coming out in some of the bubbles from thatweird silver fountain?”

“Possibly,” Stav said.

“But if Thrace breathed in more of it, whydid Trin have the nightmare? And who gassed them in the first place?”

“I don’t know.” He shook hishead. “But I do know that they are not clear of trouble yet. I pray the Goddesswill guide and protect them.”