Enslaved (Space Mage Book 2) Read online

  Enslaved

  Book Two of the Space Mage Series

  Izzy Shows

  Copyright © 2017 Izzy Shows

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Mailing List

  Also by Izzy Shows

  1. Xiva

  2. Kaidan

  3. Kaidan

  4. Xiva

  5. Xiva

  6. Kaidan

  7. Kaidan

  8. Kaidan

  9. Xiva

  10. Xiva

  11. Kaidan

  12. Kaidan

  13. Xiva

  14. Kaidan

  15. Xiva

  16. Xiva

  17. Kaidan

  18. Kaidan

  19. Xiva

  20. Xiva

  21. Kaidan

  22. Kaidan

  23. Xiva

  24. Xiva

  25. Xiva

  26. Kaidan

  27. Kaidan

  28. Kaidan

  29. Xiva

  30. Xiva

  Also by Izzy Shows

  About the Author

  Don’t forget to join my VIP list and my Facebook group to find out about new releases, promotions, special sneak peeks and engage in titillating conversation!

  You’ll even get a free book! The Fallen’s Crime is normally $2.99 and a special lead in to my Codex Blair universe!

  Also by Izzy Shows

  The Codex Blair Series

  Grave Mistake

  Blood Hunt

  Dark Descent

  Wild Game

  Grim Fate

  High Stakes

  Other Books in The Codex Blair Universe

  The Fallen’s Crime

  The Fallen Hunter

  Ruled by Blood

  Blood Captive: Origin

  Blood Huntress

  Blood Slave

  Blood Exile

  Space Mage

  Provoked

  Enslaved

  Recalled

  Xiva

  I regarded the intricate devices on the ship's control panel with wide eyes, still unable to adjust to how amazing all of this was. I was on a ship, traveling through space to gods only knew where.

  Walter was piloting the ship—one of his many skills, as I was learning. The young man was well-learned, far outpacing his peers by their standards and even pushing the limits of what I would have expected by the standards of my people.

  I didn't know what a 'doctorate' was, but apparently he had earned several of them. And he was only twenty-three—to me, he was still a child, but according to Kaidan. he was a fully-grown adult.

  Still, even Kaidan had admitted that Walter's possession of these 'doctorates' was impressive for his age.

  I shifted my gaze from the control panel of the ship to Walter, unable to hide my wonder at what he was doing. He had an intense look of concentration on his face, but it was clear to see that he was enjoying what he was doing.

  How they are so comfortable displaying their emotions is a mystery.

  My people, the Stryx, valued control of the mind and body above all things; to show emotion was a very strange and improper thing to do. But these people—humans, they called themselves—seemed to think it was perfectly all right to display their anger as well as their pleasure without so much as an attempt to hide it. I couldn't quite fathom that yet, and I doubted I would ever be comfortable doing so, but it was quite intriguing to observe.

  "What are you doing now?" I asked as I took a seat beside Walter, leaning forward to observe the vid screens he was manipulating.

  "I'm searching for stable wormholes," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  "And what is a wormhole?"

  He glanced at me, the corners of his lips curling up into a smile. "It's a, uh, sort of a rip in space. It allows you to travel through the universe without having to coast along at the speed of light. If we had to do that, we wouldn't be able to get anywhere before we died."

  "Fascinating," I murmured, more to myself than to him. "And you are dependent on finding these rips throughout the universe in order to travel? That must be quite tiresome."

  He shook his head. "Not everyone, actually. Earth, my home planet, has technology that enables us to fold space. We can create a tear in the universe much larger than the rip that wormholes create, essentially folding it as you would a cloth, to make it smaller. You fly into the fold just as you would into a wormhole, and you come out the other end at your intended destination. It's a much cleaner form of travel than the wormholes, but it requires a massive amount of energy. Only planets and very large stations are capable of it, and most planets don't have the resources to do it."

  Pure joy coursed through me from the information he was giving me, the opportunity to learn, but I managed to temper my expression so it couldn't be seen.

  Balance, Xiva. You must maintain balance.

  "Will we be able to see or experience such a thing? I would love to see what this fold in space looks like."

  He grimaced. "Not anytime soon. We have to be careful—Kaidan can't be seen on any stations right now. He's supposed to be on your planet protecting the terraforming mission. We'll have to report the failure of the mission soon, but, well, you wanted to see some of the universe first." He smiled at me as if to say that this was all right, but I got a nasty ping in my gut at his words.

  Guilt. I was feeling guilt.

  "Am I endangering you with my request?"

  "Don't worry about it, Xiva." Kaidan's voice was strong and clear behind me, and his hand on my shoulder provided a sense of comfort. Normally, I would have shied away from his touch. It was forbidden for someone of my standing—a High Priestess of the Aelodhari—to allow proximity with a male outside the fold, but I had come to allow some of these instances with Kaidan over the week we had spent preparing the ship for travel.

  It had taken quite a lot of damage when my twin, Zvarr, decimated the base and the surrounding technology, but we had been able to get an escape pod from the massive ship they had travelled to Eyrus on up and working again. Over the week we had spent working on it, I had learned more and more about their culture and customs. The language barrier we had first struggled with was gone now, thanks to the yeva bond between Kaidan and me, so I was now able to communicate with them much more efficiently, which meant I could learn as much as I wanted.

  They had told me that these little things, handshakes and small touches, were normal in their culture. They were means of expressing affection, friendship, and comfort, and though they hadn't outright said so, I had gathered that it was something of an insult to reject these gestures. Which was why I had compromised somewhat, allowing these moments of contact, but ensuring that I kept my distance where it mattered.

  I turned to look up at Kaidan. Normally, we stood at about the same height, for he was very tall among his people, but I was sitting, which made him about a head taller than I. He was a giant man; I estimated him to be about seven feet tall, and he had darkly tanned skin and amber eyes. His hair, the color of sand, was cropped close to his head, and he kept his face clean of facial hair. It wasn't just his size that was massive; he was built of hard muscle, and he was as dangerous as any weapon could hope to be.
>
  But he was my yeva, my fighting partner, and I would never fear him.

  "But am I? Endangering you, I mean."

  He shook his head. "Not truly. We're just going to stop at a few planets to let you see some sights, and then we'll report back to Earth that the mission failed. It won't really matter in the grand scheme of things that we waited a week or two to do it."

  I frowned. "Why would that be a bad thing? And why do you have to avoid being seen?"

  He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck, a gesture I had learned he made when he was uncomfortable.

  "Because technically I'm AWOL—Absent Without Leave. I'm not supposed to leave your planet without permission from my commanding officer, and I'm supposed to report a situation like this immediately."

  "Then we should do that!"

  His eyes softened. "If we did, I wouldn't get to show you any of the universe, yeva. I want to see your face light up when you discover a new world."

  "Why wouldn't you be able to do that?"

  "I would either be assigned a new detail, or they would send new scientists and I would have to stay to protect them from any potential threats, especially considering what happened with Zvarr. I'm not free to do as I want throughout the universe. I'm not even free to do what I want on my own planet."

  His face had darkened while he spoke, and I could sense his disgust.

  "What is it, yeva? What are you not saying?" I asked him, using the special telepathic link that we shared from our yeva bond.

  "Nothing, really. It just bothers me that I don't have a say in what happens to me. Never really did before, but now…I don't know. It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it."

  I wanted to say more, but the look in his eyes said this conversation was over as far as he was concerned. I turned back to Walter.

  "I—"

  A robotic voice sounded from the control panel. "Wormhole identified. Lock course?"

  "Lock course and accelerate," Walter replied, then turned to look at Kaidan and me. "Best that you two buckle up now. We're going through the wormhole in about five minutes, and I don't want your brains getting scrambled."

  Kaidan grunted, and I stood up to follow him farther into the ship to take our seats and strap in. I wished I could stay at the front of the ship to see out the viewscreen and view the trip through the wormhole, but Walter had made it very clear that no one who wasn't properly trained could sit in the co-pilot's chair while such things were happening.

  I'll have him teach me how to pilot a ship next. It'll be a good skill to have.

  Yes, that sounded like a good course of action. I would have to ask Walter about it as soon as we were through the wormhole, I decided—and then there was a clenching sensation in my chest, as if I were being squeezed tightly by some powerful device. I gasped for air as stars burst in front of my eyes and felt real terror for a moment.

  What's happening? Am I dying? Oh, Vivoth, Nytoc, don't do this to me!

  But the crushing sensation was over as quickly as it had begun, and I could breathe again.

  "All right, we're through the wormhole. You can come back up now!" Walter called from the front of the ship.

  I disengaged the safety harness and stood up, swaying a bit on my feet. Kaidan touched a hand to my elbow.

  "You all right?" His voice was gruff, though no more so than usual. His language, Common had sounded very harsh and guttural before I could understand it, and even now it was hard on my ears.

  "I'm fine. I was just a little surprised," I said, breaking protocol and giving him a reassuring smile.

  "Good. Let's see where we ended up."

  Together, we walked back to the flight deck and came up behind Walter.

  "We're in the Vinous system," he said. "On the outer rim. Look—you can see some planets, Xiva."

  He was pointing to one side of the viewscreen, and I leaned over him to get a better look. Just as he'd said, there were several planets in view, all different sizes and colors.

  "That one is actually inhabited," he said, gesturing towards what seemed to be the closest one, which had a pink and green surface.

  "Oh, let's go there!"

  "No," Kaidan said, his voice harsher than normal. " Vinous isn't safe. We'll go somewhere else."

  "But I want to see! Please, can't we go? It's right there!" I pleaded.

  I could see his internal debate in his eyes.

  "Please, Kaidan. I really want to see other people," I whispered, laying a hand on his upper arm. "Can't we just go for a minute?"

  "Fine," he relented, grimacing. He clearly wasn't happy about it. "We'll go."

  Kaidan

  It took two Earth hours for us to enter the atmosphere of the planet Walter had foolishly pointed out to Xiva, and as soon as we did, I got a bad feeling in my gut. This wasn't a good place to be, as I'd said, but there was something more, some instinct telling me that we should turn the ship around and chart a course for any other planet in the galaxy.

  We shouldn't have given in to her so easily. But she's like a kid with candy, and I didn't want to be the one to take it away from her.

  Besides, I'd learned there was no talking her out of something once she'd set her mind on it. I'd have to be on my guard, then, to make sure nothing bad happened.

  She can take care of herself, after all. She's a better warrior than I am. It's not like I have to worry about someone jumping her.

  That set my mind at ease somewhat. Xiva had kicked my ass when we fought one another, and she'd managed to best her brother, even though the man was possessed by one of her gods.

  I didn't know a whole hell of a lot about that, but I'd seen the destruction her twin was capable of, and I couldn't deny how impressive it was that she had taken him down. Even though I'd had helped her, I didn't try to kid myself that she couldn't have done it without me. She was a force of nature, more powerful than anything I'd ever seen before, and if anyone could take care of themselves, it was her.

  Hell, she had magic, after all. She could control the wind and rain at will; she could call giant blasts of energy to her hands and wield them however she saw fit. She didn't need a gun to be dangerous, although she was damned good with a blaster in her hand, too.

  It really wasn't fair when you thought about it that one person could be so lethal, but it was a fact of our lives now—and something I'd do well to remember. She was tall but slender, and she seemed fragile when you first looked at her. It was a very deceptive façade, considering what she was capable of.

  "I estimate we should be able to land in less than an hour," Walter said as we began our descent. "But we have to be careful with this atmosphere."

  "Why is that?" Xiva asked.

  "It's much more dense than Earth's, for one thing, and I'm not that accustomed to interplanetary flight. Most of my experience was practice, back home, but I've got the theoretics down pat enough to do just about anything, I would think. But it's nothing for us to worry about, not really. We should be on the ground in a short time."

  My gut clenched at that, reminding me yet again that this was a bad idea. Just the mention of being on the ground here made me anxious, and anxiousness wasn't something I was fond of feeling.

  "Are you all right?"

  It took me a minute to realize that Xiva was talking to me.

  "Of course," I said, frowning. "Why?"

  "I can feel your disquiet, Kaidan. Something's wrong," she said, her vibrant pink-purple eyes locked with mine.

  I shrugged. "I told you already that this planet is no good. We shouldn't be landing here. We should turn around and go somewhere else."

  She huffed, one of the strongest emotional reactions I'd gotten out of her as of late.

  "That again. I am sure this is going to be fine, Kaidan. What are you so worried about?"

  "Oh, I don't know. Pirates, for one."

  Her brow furrowed. "Pirates?"

  "You don't know what pirates are?"

  She shook her head.

  "They'
re pretty bad people. They generally attack lone ships in space to capture the people on board and take whatever valuables they can find, but some of them prowl planets as well."

  "And you think that they will somehow surprise us?" She arched a brow.

  It was a challenge, damn her. She knew she was playing me.

  "I think it would do to be cautious, and it's foolish to enter into a dangerous scenario when it isn't necessary."

  "But I'm sure it won't be dangerous," she said, shaking her head as if she could possibly know such a thing. "We're both quite capable of defending ourselves, and we both have the ability to sense what is around us. You have quite a sensitive ear, and I can feel the minds of others around me. It won't be a problem."

  "You can do what, now?" Walter squeaked.

  Xiva turned to him with a confused look on her face. "I can feel the minds of those around me."

  "What does that mean?"

  " I sense the presence of others, and if I choose to, I can hear their thoughts. But don't worry; I would never do that to either of you. It is an invasion of privacy that I take very seriously. Occasionally, though, someone thinks very loudly, and I cannot help but hear it."

  Walter's face had turned a bright pink, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

  "What's wrong, Walter? Afraid she heard something she shouldn't have?"

  Xiva didn't seem to understand that I was teasing him. She was already shaking her head.

  "Don't fear, Walter. I haven't heard any of your thoughts. Well, to be truthful, when I first awoke in the compound on Eyrus, I did attempt to read your mind so I could figure out your language, but I couldn't make any sense of it. I wasn't able to comprehend anything you were thinking."