Bunch of krikken weirdos.

He glanced at the half-empty bottle of whisky on his desk. It was tempting, especially given the throbbing pain in his head and back. A pain that wasn't helped by his eyesight dancing against his will.

But he didn't want to be numb right now.

He'd rather see a pair of amber eyes set in the face of the most beautiful woman he'd ever known. Even though he was still angry at her. Even though she'd betrayed him.

He still wanted to be with her.

I'm an effing idiot...

But before he could stop himself, he was headed out of his office and up the stairs to her room.

His body already on fire at just the thought of seeing her, he opened her door.

In the next instant, a fluffy slipper flew at his head. He dodged it, but not before another followed so close behind that it hit him in the arm. "What the hell?"

"You rotten bastard!"

Other things came flying at him so quickly that he couldn't even identify them. They slammed against the door and walls, many shattering while others made loud thuds before crashing to the floor.

Damn, she could aim. In fact, she was deadlier with a blaster at a distance than he was.

And with his limited vision, he wasn't as good at dodging projectiles as he used to be. Darling took cover behind the end table. "Zarya, what's gotten into you?"

Shrieking in outrage, she responded by throwing more things in his direction. Glass shattered all around him. It'd been a long time since anyone had ambushed him and all he could do was be grateful she wasn't armed with anything more than household objects.

Thankfully, she finally ran out of ammunition.

When she limped to find more, he bolted across the room toward her. He caught her arm as she seized a heavy lead vase. Yeah, that would really hurt if she hit him with it.

He gently twisted it out of her grip. "What's wrong?"

"You!" she snarled. "How dare you!"

Her anger baffled him. "How dare I what?"

"Lock me in here like I'm a criminal!"

It was probably a stupid idea, but he couldn't resist laughing at her. "Technically, you are a criminal."

Yeah, not the brightest comeback he'd ever made.

She raked him with a scathing glare. "Oh wait, Lord Sentella. My bounty is nothing compared to yours. You want to talk criminals? How many governments want you dead? I'm only wanted by one. And it happens to be yours."

He had to give her that, and it reminded him that he needed to put through a pardon for her.

You hate her, remember?

Yeah, but she'd been outlawed for no reason whatsoever, and he wasn't about to hold her accountable for her rebellion against his uncle's reign when he'd been the one who'd helped her pull off her most damaging attacks. His personal feelings for her shouldn't prevent him from doing what was right...

Her expression fuming she gestured toward the door behind him. "In spite of what you might think... man... I am not your pet or your toy. Why did you lock me in here, you bastard!"

He ignored her insult, which was mild compared to what others routinely called him. "I didn't know you were locked in."

Her gaze turned suspicious as if she didn't believe him. "What?"

"You heard me. I didn't do it. I knew nothing about it. Are you sure it's locked and not jammed or something?"

Zarya hated how reasonable he was being. It was beginning to make her feel like a hysterical child. "No, I'm too stupid to tell the difference between a locked door and a stuck one. Thanks." She pushed him toward it. "Go, try to open a door. Any door."

He went to the one in the middle of the wall and opened it with an ease that made her ill. "See. It's fine."

Zarya limped toward him to try it herself. But she'd only taken two steps before Darling recrossed the room and picked her up, then carried her to the door. She wanted to maintain her anger at him, but it was hard when he was being so nice.

Damn him for it!

She reached for the door. Once again, it refused to open. "See," she said triumphantly.

He scowled as he tried it again and once more, it opened easily for him. "It must have a bio sensor on it. Since they always open for me, I didn't think to check. Sorry. All you had to do was tell me calmly, and I'd have gotten it fixed. You didn't have to throw things at me."

She narrowed her gaze at him, still not quite ready to believe his easy explanation. "You didn't order me locked in?"

"Why would I? You're injured. Not like you're going to run. At least not for a week. I think I could have heard your limping gait across the floor and caught up to you before you made it down the stairs to the drive. Right now, an arthritic snail could catch you."

She suddenly felt like an idiot. But he'd brought up the first thing that had ticked her off at him. "How was I supposed to tell you I was locked in when I can't call you? Hmmm?"

He appeared completely perplexed by her question. "You can call me anytime you want. Hell, a call from you I'd actually welcome as opposed to the other assholes I've been dealing with all day."

She gestured around the room. "Please notice, Lord Governor, the lack of IT equipment in this room. All I have is that stupid pastel remote and I can't use that to call anyone, except the kitchen and Gera. She told me that I'd have to wait on you to call me at your leisure. When you felt like it."

He actually had the gall to look amused by that. The man really had no sense of self-preservation. "Gera's nine hundred years old. She can't conceive of a mistress being anything more than a play toy for the governor."

"Isn't that what I am to you?"

"It depends." The teasing light in his blue eyes charmed her against her will. "If I give you the wrong answer, are you going to hit me again?"

"Not while you're holding me. How stupid do you think I am?"

Darling heard her speaking, but he couldn't really focus on her words as he caught a whiff of something delectable. Without thinking, he nuzzled her neck where it was strongest and inhaled.

Ah yeah, that smelled good, and it set him on fire again.

Zarya's eyes widened as she felt Darling run his tongue along her collarbone, beneath her slave collar. "I'm still mad at you."

"It's okay," he breathed against her skin. "I'm still mad at you, too."

But she didn't hate him.

He hated her.

That made her ache all over again, especially deep in her heart. I really want you back. She missed them as a couple. The nights where they'd stayed up until dawn talking about nothing important. The sound of his refined voice in the dark, soothing her with compliments, endearments, and support. The feel of his breath on the back of her neck as he held her until she fell asleep in his arms. The warmth of his body on hers, and the sound of his laughter in her ear. That had never failed to cheer her even during the worst moments of her life.

He'd been her best friend.

In many ways, even better than Ture or Sorche.

Desperate to find what she'd lost, she reached for his mask.

He pulled back and turned his head away from her. "Don't." The agony in that one single word made her eyes water.

"I want to see you."

"Why? There's nothing worth seeing that won't turn your stomach."

She blinked back her tears. The agony in his gruff voice made her heart pound. "You don't turn my stomach, Darling. I love to nibble your jaw and earlobe. I can't do that with the mask on. It covers them both."

Utter misery darkened his eyes and it caused guilt to scorch her. "They're not the same anymore. All you can feel are the scars under my beard. It's revolting."

She brushed the hair back from his mask and sank her hand in the soft dark auburn strands at the nape of his neck. "They're still you, Darling. That's all that matters to me."

This time when she reached for the mask, he allowed her to remove it.

His entire demeanor changed instantly. Instead of being the fierce, steadfast soldier she'd always known, whose confidence bled out through his pores, he was now bashful and quiet. Like he was embarrassed or afraid she'd shun or curse him for his looks. But what hurt her most was the self-loathing in his gaze.

No one should ever feel that way when they were alone with someone who loved them.

She dropped the mask to the floor, then laid her hand over his scarred cheek where Pip had carved his name. Damn those bastards. Someone had crosshatched lines all over Darling's face. The scars ran so deep that even with his thick auburn beard covering them, they showed through.

And they were nothing compared to the ones that marred his beautiful soul.

Please let me help you. She couldn't bear the thought of his suffering any longer.

Keeping her eyes wide open, she pulled his scarred lips to hers so that she could kiss him.

Darling's entire world shattered as he watched her watch him kiss her. How could she not be repulsed by him? He couldn't stand to look at himself. There wasn't enough whisky in the universe to blind him to his appearance.

"Your face is so hideous. Even if you were straight, there would be no chance of marriage or children now." His mother's first condemnation when she'd seen what had been done to him still stung.

Yet Zarya didn't seem to mind his hideousness in the least. And when she left his lips to kiss her way across his cheek so that she could breathe in his ear and tease his earlobe with her tongue, he forgot all about his damaged body.

Nothing mattered to him except the woman in his arms.

Sighing in peace, he sank down on the floor with her. Her transparent gown spread open, exposing her entire body to his hungry gaze. He skimmed his hand over the soft skin of her stomach, through the dark hair at the juncture of her thighs until he touched the wet part of her he craved most.

She cried out the moment he slid his fingers into her body.

A smile curled his lips. "Come for me, baby," he whispered to her as he quickened his rhythm. "I want to hear you scream from it." Dipping his head, he pulled open the tie between her breasts with his teeth, then nuzzled the silk aside so that he could taste her puckered nipple.

He jerked back at the unexpected taste. "Is that-"

Her laughter interrupted his question. "Gera said that red berries were your favorite fruit."

"And you're my favorite meat." Smiling at her, he returned to lave her breast.

Zarya rubbed herself against his hand and cupped his head to her while her senses reeled. She'd missed him so much. Her heart hammering, she stared down at his red hair while he played with her.

She finally knew his hair color. And how beautiful it was. While his looks were new to her, his touch wasn't. Biting her lip, she cried out as her pleasure overwhelmed her.

Darling gave her breast one long, savoring lick before he lifted his head to watch her climax.

Screaming from the sheer intensity of it, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and threw herself back, arching her body against his.

"That's my girl," he said proudly. He always took so much pride and pleasure whenever she came, especially when it was quick. His smile turning wicked with that thought, he slowly kissed his way down her body until his mouth replaced his hand.

Zarya cried out again as he did the most amazing things with his tongue. There was no way to describe it. It was as if he lived for no other reason than to taste her.

And she loved it.

She buried her hand in his hair, then realized that the ceiling above them was mirrored so that she could watch him as he tasted her.

But as her gaze dropped to his back, she frowned at the Sentella tattoo on his left shoulder.

It, like the rest of his body, bore those deep ugly scars.

She wanted to ask him why her soldiers had continued to torture him given that tattoo, but she didn't want him to stop what he was doing.

Later...

She cried out again as he plunged his tongue deep inside her.

Yeah, much later.

Darling laughed as he heard her screaming in the throes of another orgasm. In that moment, all he wanted was to be as deep inside her as he could get.

Rolling her over on the floor, he pulled a pillow off the chair next to them and elevated her hips with it. He snatched his shoes, shirt, and pants off as fast as he could, then nipped her buttocks gently before he laid himself over her and entered her from behind.

She growled out loud as he buried himself deep inside her body, then thrust himself against her hips. His heart pounding, he reached his hand around so that he could stroke both sides of her.

Bucking wildly against him, she screamed out again and again.

"Careful, sweet," he whispered in her ear. "You're going to throw me out."

"Not possible as large as you are."

It was more than possible as she'd done it to him before, and he knew from experience that it hurt her when she did. Which right now was the last thing he wanted.

So he held himself still and let her take control of their pleasure. He wanted to wait on her to come again, but it wasn't possible. She felt too good under him.