Soul Dancer Read Online Free PDF Page B

eyes searching, analyzing, twisting the truth. “It’s not what you think.”
    Absar, a taller, thinner version of Jamar, punched him in the flat of his shoulder. “Banging a slave isn’t what it seems? Since when?” He hauled Jamar to his feet.
    Jamar leaped forward, shoved his brother away and strode toward the bathroom. “She is none of your business. She is no one’s business but my own,” he threw over his shoulder and slammed the door shut.
    Absar, who’d never given up easy, followed Jamar as he pulled on a pair of briefs. “Mother would be shocked, and Father, well, you do know what he’d do if he found out, right?”
    “You’re going to tell him?” Jamar flashed back, catching Kierra’s musky woman’s scent in the still air.
    “No, I’m not that callous. Father would have her punished then put to death. You want a piece of advice?”
    “Not particularly.” Jamar resented his brother’s intrusion into his private life, but that was nothing new. Absar had always known about Kierra, but as they’d matured into adults, Absar couldn’t understand Jamar’s fascination with the white woman.
    “Take her to Praadar, do her to your heart’s content then leave her there.” Absar lifted his palms in the air at shoulder level. “No repercussions to either of you. You get her out of your system, and she gets a few trinkets for lying on her back to accommodate you.”
    “You’re so fuckin’ callous,” Jamar told him. He’d never leave Kierra alone on a strange world. He was a gentleman, not a pirate of seduction. “You make us sound as if we’re robots without feelings.”
    “The kattanee don’t have feelings,” Absar reminded him. “The kattanee are slaves. They serve without question. No feelings.”
    “You’re a heartless bastard.” Rather than physically confronting his brother who was merely spewing the same crap Manitee-ans had for centuries, Jamar turned away. He felt no need to justify his love for Kierra or to explain that kattanee and Jaquill had the same red blood.
    “Give it some thought, bro, before someone finds out.” Absar left without a backward glance and left the door ajar.
    Live on Praadar with Kierra? That had been his idea since she’d told him he was a mistake, but would she accept that world as her home? Would she miss her family and friends? Did Jamar even need to worry about that? The one solid fact he held onto was that if he didn’t do something, not only Kierra but he himself would pay dearly.
    * * * *
    Kierra’s mother found her in the early morning hours sitting on a tree stump under the full moon. Turning to her with tears in her eyes, Kierra gave her a wan smile, hoping to hide the turmoil in mind.
    Eden sat down beside her on a shorter stump. She shared her daughter’s alabaster skin and vivid blonde hair. “He decided to take you, didn’t he?”
    Kierra nodded, slumping deeper against the old caya tree.
    “By force?”
    Kierra shook her head. In a whisper that barely carried to her mother’s ear, she said, “No. I wanted him as much as he wanted me. He loves me, mother.”
    Deep in thought, Eden nodded again.
    Kierra decided to tell her the truth. “He’s stuck in our childhood, and there’s no way to tell him we’re not kids anymore, that we’ve grown up.” She paused, her heart tearing in two again. “I told him we’re a mistake, but he can’t seem to stop this nonsense.”
    This thing, this love, is far from nonsense. I’ve never felt so complete, so desired, so feminine before.
    “Kierra, I know it’s hard, but you have to tell him no the next time he comes to you for sex.” Eden was not always kindly, but she gave good counsel. “You know very well what will happen if they find you.”
    Death. Kierra inclined her head. Yes, she knew very well.
    “I can spirit you away from Becutan to another villa,” Eden volunteered, smoothing her cotton dress over her knees nervously. “You’ll be safe in some other place, away from him,