Ascension Saga: 2. Grace Goodwin
them to be Queen Celene’s daughters… but could that be true? Was my Trinity actually Princess Trinity, as she had claimed? She was the eldest, and I’d seen the other two defer to her on more than one occasion. But a princess? The royal heir?
Heavy footfalls reverberated through my cheek and ear where I had them pressed to the floor as the giant followed his master out of the room. The cell door slid shut behind them. I was alone.
Earlier in my captivity, I’d checked out the small space for any means of escape. There was nothing of use. No cameras, no knobs. Smooth walls and floor, fortified door. There was nothing but the stark, white light that shined brightly to prevent me from truly resting. How long had I been trapped here? How long had Trinity been alone? I had no idea what day it was, how much time had passed since I’d been captured.
I used my feet to push myself across the floor to the thin mattress in the corner. It wasn’t soft, but it would keep the cold from seeping into my bones—my broken bones. I would spend the hours until dawn thinking of Trinity.
Reaching between my thighs, I gripped my cock through my pants, stroked it. It was hard… it would remain that way even beaten and bloody. For her. The slight hint of pleasure, of heat that sparked through me at my shifting grip, was my only sense of relief in all the misery.
“You just can’t stop playing with that big cock, can you?”
That voice. So sweet, so sassy. So mine.
“Trinity,” I whispered, stroked harder.
“Yeah, if I had that beast between my legs, I’d probably touch it, too.”
I blinked, tried to see, but the vision before me was blurry and my eyelids were still swollen. I saw the outline of a female, pale hair. I took a deep breath, even with the pain in my lungs. Flowers. She smelled like flowers.
“Trinity,” I repeated. I was dreaming of her now. Was I that close to death? Was the Goddess granting me a dying wish to see my mate before me once again?
“What did they do to you?” she asked, and I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder, down my cheek. I leaned into the heat of it, the softness.
Such a good dream.
“I won’t tell them. I promise, mate.”
“Oh, Leo. You’re so strong. So brave. You can stop now.”
I pushed to sit up, winced. “Never! I won’t stop until you are safe.”
I couldn’t see, couldn’t do anything but fight back. I would not die.
“Shhh,” she crooned to me. “That’s it. Lie back down. Yes, Leo, listen to me, your mate’s voice. Good. I’m going to put this little transport button on you and we’ll be out of here. You might have saved me back at that penthouse, but it’s my turn to save you right back.”
“Trinity?” I croaked.
“That’s it. Time to get out of here.”
I felt a hard press on my shoulder, then a soft, small hand in mine.
The familiar sizzle and pull of a transport tugged at me, but I wouldn’t believe it. I’d looked for an escape and knew there was none.
I was dreaming. I was dying. Yet my mate was here. My dream had come true.
When the ice-cold twisting of transport came to an end, I was awake. In agony, but more aware. Of her. “Trinity.” I reached for her, blindly. Found softness. Held tight.
“He needs help… now!” my mate shouted.
It was no longer cold, but I was still on a hard floor. I could hear the quick footfall of many people, the immediate ease of pain in my face, my leg. Blinking, I could see out of one eye now. The blue glow of a ReGen wand was my first sight, but as it passed back and forth, I saw Trinity. Really saw her.
Blonde hair. Blue eyes dark with worry. Pink lips. So kissable. Her clothes were different than I remembered. She wore a warrior’s uniform. Coalition Fleet issue. Armored. An ion blaster in her hand. And she looked beautiful. Perfect. Unharmed.
Fragile. Small. Weak. How dare she risk breaking into the cleric’s building?
“What have you done, mate? Why are you dressed as a warrior?”
“Shhh. Don’t worry about me. You’re the one in trouble here.”
“You,” I said. My throat was so dry, I was hoarse. “No. Get away from me. You’re in danger.”
She leaned down and kissed me on the lips, the touch like a sacred blessing. “It’s okay, Leo. I got you. We’re not on Alera. You’re on Battleship Karter, you’re safe. I’m safe. Jessica—Lady Deston—helped me get you out of there. She used your NPU to track you.”
Just like Prime Nial had used the forgotten technology buried in my skull to make contact with me, request my assistance in protecting Trinity and her sisters. I owed Nial a life debt, but he hadn’t needed to call in that favor. He was my friend. Protecting innocents was what I did. I would have helped them regardless. But thank fuck, he’d called on me. I never would have met my mate otherwise.
I turned my head slowly, reluctant to look away from her, half afraid she would vanish into thin air. A frowning Prillon warrior dressed in medical green was looming over her. The blue glow came from a ReGen wand in his hand, as well as that of a young assistant in a lighter green uniform, who was trying to heal the broken bones in my hand.
The doctor spoke. “Your majesty, he needs a ReGen pod immediately.”
“Yes, of course.” I felt the squeeze of her hand as I was lifted onto a gurney, wheeled down a hallway. I held onto her. She was here. She was safe. For now, that was enough.
“Were you really in that cell with me?” I was half convinced I’d been hallucinating. Was still hallucinating.
She walked quickly beside me, along with others who were still waving ReGen wands as we moved. The familiar walls of a Coalition battleship zoomed past, the colors changing from blue to cream to green as we neared the medical station. Others talked around us, but their voices blurred. Nothing was clear. Nothing but Trinity.
“Yes. Jessica gave me a miniature transport beacon and had her team send me directly into that prison cell to rescue you.”
I tried to sit up then, but big hands held me down. The doctor. Make that Prillon warrior. Huge Prillon warrior. “Lie down. Rest. Or you’ll cause additional injury.”
“You were transported into the cell to rescue me?” I asked.
“Yes, can you believe it?” A booming voice cut through everyone else’s as we continued down the hallway.
“Prime Nial,” I replied. The hands were still on me. I couldn’t sit up to bow or offer him deference of any kind.
“I’m glad to see you alive, friend. Your injuries are grave but will heal with a few hours in a ReGen pod.”
“Trinity,” I replied, squeezing her hand.
Prime Nial understood my request. “She will be under my personal protection while you are healing,” he vowed.
“As if I’m going to leave his side,” Trinity countered.
“You are well. Not injured?” I asked her.
“I’m fine. And I’m so sorry, Leo. If I’d known what they were going to do to you, I never would have—” Her voice cracked and I couldn’t bear to see her in pain.
“You were right to leave me,” I reassured. “I would never have allowed you to enter the citadel if you had told me your plan. It was reckless. Dangerous. There are better ways. Safer ways. You should have told me the truth.”
“I’m sorry. We had a plan, and I tried to keep you out of it. I didn’t think they would hurt you.”
“You