Rise of Winter Read online

  Rise of Winter

  By

  Charlotte A. Harper

  Copyright © 2020 by Charlotte A. Harper

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events 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.

  WARNING: This eBook contains adult situations and adult language that may be considered offensive by some readers.

  This eBook is for sale to adults ONLY.

  Please ensure this eBook is stored somewhere that cannot be accessed by underage readers.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 1

  Jane felt her breath grow tight in her throat as the Winter’s Edge flew over Cordovia, giving her a view of the planet she had grown up on. Tall white spires lifted into the sky which was a haze of purple and red and which marked the beginning of sunset. Below the spires were a sea of shining lights which Jane knew constituted the lower reaches of the planet where those who were too poor to live in Cordovia’s upper limits, made their home. They flew past the spires and not for the first time Jane found herself wondering what they were like. Having grown up in an orphanage in the lower reaches, she had never been to the other part of Cordovia where the rich and powerful resided. The lights of the lower reaches grew brighter as the ship drew closer and Jane took a step closer to the window, putting her hands up against the cold glass.

  My home, she thought. A place that I never wanted to go back to.

  She heard the sound of a purr and the brush of a tail against her leg. She looked down to see Achilles, his tail wrapped around one of her legs while his long pink tongue slid around her other. She smiled in spite of herself and reached a hand down to pat the top of his head.

  When Damion had told her that the client was from her home planet and that he insisted on them delivering the stone they had recovered to Cordovia, she had almost told him to go to hell. Then of course Damion had pulled her into his arms and put his face close to hers and her resistance had melted away. Despite that, the unease of returning home hadn’t left her in the following days and often she found her mind wandering to what she might find there when they landed. There was few people she had to go back to on the planet. Of course, there were friends that she had at the orphanage. But she had a feeling that they were long gone by now. All she and her friends had ever talked about was leaving that place and after she left, she guessed that they had followed suit. They had been reluctant to come with her when she first left. But she always had a feeling they would follow in her footsteps someday.

  Either way, friends or not, there was little that would cause her to reminisce fondly about the time she spent in the orphanage run by the Sisters, a group of women who believed more in punishment than reward.

  She heard the whoosh of the door opening and she turned to see her roommate Bry and her new lover who also happened to be the ship’s resident douchebag, Walter, locked in a tight embrace, their lips wrestling with one another, each trying to subdue the other into some kind of wet submission.

  “Um, Hello” she said as they continued to rub their bodies and faces against one another in front of her. Jane couldn’t believe that this was happening again. A few weeks ago, she had caught them in a similar position, albeit with less clothes on.

  “Oh,” said Bry. “I didn’t see you there.” Her face turned red as she spoke.

  “I saw you there,” said Walter. “I just didn’t care.”

  “Of courses you didn’t,” said Jane, her arms crossed. “There’s a bed right here. Why don’t you just go ahead and fuck in it. I won’t mind.”

  “Really? You’re a real sport Jane,” said Walter. “Try not to watch, but if you do…..well I won’t blame you.”

  “I think she was joking,” said Bry.

  “That’s a shame,” said Walter, already backing up to the door. “Till next time.” He gave Bry a wink and for Jane, he even offered a tight smile.

  “I think you’ve been a good influence on him” Jane said after he left.

  “You really think so?” said Bry, her round, oval face lighting up in delight.

  “Yeah. Before he was a sociopathic stuck up asshole.”

  “And now?” said Bry.

  “Now, he’s just an asshole. It’s a remarkable improvement.” Bry laughed and settled onto her bed as her eyes traveled to the sole window in their room. The one Jane had been staring out of.

  “So this is where you grew up,” she said, her voice thoughtful.

  “Yes.”

  “Is there anyone you’re planning on seeing while we’re here?”

  Jane lowered her head. “No.”

  At that moment, a strong masculine voice blared over the intercom, its tone formal and composed but with a little edge to it, like there was always some simmering anger being held in check. It was the voice of the ship’s captain, Damion Winter.

  “Attention,” he said. “We’ll be docking here in just a few minutes. Jane, Savannah and myself will be leaving the ship. The rest of you will stay here for the time being. Compared to our last few missions, this one should be easy. Just a simple drop off. Once that’s complete, we’re out of here.” The intercom switched off and Jane and Bry were left with silence once more.

  An easy one, huh? thought Jane. Somehow, she doubted it. She got up off her bed and blew a kiss to Bry as she left. Her feet carried her quickly down the ship’s corridor and as she made a hard right turn at the corner, she found herself slamming into a wall of muscle. She took a step back and looked up into the cold, hard face of Damion Winter.

  “Jane,” he said and all at once his features warmed and his eyes softened. He put both hands on her shoulder and pulled her close. She felt her heart flutter and her breath quicken as he did.

  “Are you okay?” he said.

  “Oh yeah. I’m fine. Should really look where I’m going,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  “No, not that. Are you okay with…..this?” he said, gesturing to a nearby porthole window carved into the wall, the bright lights of Cordovia filling its glass frame.

  “As much as I can be,” she said.

  “How about coming with us down to the planet?”

  “If that’s where you want me” she said. She didn’t want to step foot on that planet again but she assumed he had a good reason for making her part of the team that would handle the drop off.

  “I want you there because of how you handled yourself back on Baravia.” She felt a swelling of pride at these words and she nodded.

  “Thank you.”

  “There’s one more thing,” said Damion.

  “What’s that?” she said, her heart starting to beat a little faster.

  “I need to see you back in my quarters.”

  “Alright,” she said, her voice breathless. When they had first started seeing one another, he had always taken her back to his office. Now, they had started going back to his quarters. A small but meaningful sign that their relationship was evolving as they grew closer.

  She followed him. As soon as they were inside
his quarters and he had closed the door, he grabbed her, picking her up and pushing her against the wall as she wrapped her arms and legs around his waist. They kissed. There was no foreplay this time like there often was. This time, it was nothing less than unmitigated passion right from the beginning. She felt him tearing off her clothes and while he did so, she slid her hands down the back of his shirt and felt the raw tension in his muscles. She squeezed him tight as he entered her. Just like with their kisses, there was no foreplay. His thrusts were deep and hard and he didn’t let up.

  “Oh Damion,” she whimpered as she felt her body engulfed in the throes of their passion until the heat that was gathering in her body coalesced into one pleasurable whole, her body shaking as she came. He joined her in this state minutes later and soon they had collapsed onto the floor together. He held her close while they let the aftershocks of pleasure wash through them. She buried her head into his chest and he pushed her head against it with his hand, letting her nuzzle his bare, magenta colored skin.

  After a while, Damion brought her face up to meet his.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he said and she knew exactly what he meant. Are you ready to go home?

  “Yes,” she said, but inside, all she could think was: I don’t know.

  ***

  One short hour later she was standing on the ramp of the Winter’s Edge with Damion and Savannah Tallbright, the lower reaches of Cordovia laying out in a sprawl before them.

  “Our mission here is simple,” said Damion. “Our client is one Victor Braggs. We’ll be delivering the stone to him. He’s an upper reaches resident but for reasons of discretion, he’ll be meeting us in the lower reaches. We’re set to rendezvous with him at the Morvow Universal Art Museum in several hours. Any questions?” The Morvow Universal Art Museum. Jane remembered it well. After all, she had been there more than a few times growing up.

  “Seems simple enough,” said Savannah, who Jane could tell just by looking at her bulky frame, was packing several different firearms. She leaned in close to Jane. “You smell like sex,” she whispered.

  “Yep,” was all she whispered back. There was no point in denying it. She had tried to hide the smell, but had only minor success in that regard. That sweaty, heavily scented mixture that could only come from a few hours of passionate sex didn’t rub off easily.

  As if on cue, Damion turned to look at her and Jane nodded her assent.

  “Alright then. Let’s go,” he said. They walked down the ramp, Jane counting every step. When her feet touched the paved runway of the landing strip, she stopped counting. She stood there for a few moments without taking another step, both of her feet standing on the planet Cordovia.

  “Welcome home,” she said in a quiet voice.

  Chapter 2

  “Is this how you remembered it?” said Savannah.

  “More or less.” Jane looked around her as the three of them walked through the streets. It was morning, the light from Cordovia’s two suns casting a glow over paneled wood and smooth stone. The buildings were a mixture of both and gave the place the feeling of having been removed from time. To put it another way, the lower reaches had the look of existing in another century which would have been charming if it hadn’t been for the rampant crime and poverty that pervaded it. There were people on the streets covered head to toe in woolen blankets, the only part of their body besides their heads emerging from the folds being their hands, which held small tin cups. Besides the abundance of homeless, there was also no shortage of merchants with makeshift stalls set up on every street corner, the vast majority of whom were selling useless trinkets. Looking at their faces, she recognized some of them. There was Cal Hobbs, an older gentlemen with several missing teeth, his voice a course wheezing sound that split the air every few seconds as he tried to draw people’s attention to the jewelry he was currently trying to sell. She had bought several items from Hobbs over the years and every time he would give her an unruly smile and tell her how pretty she looked.

  “You grew up not far from here, right?” said Savannah.

  “Savannah,” said Damion. The two had been childhood friends and so each of them knew enough to warn the other off a line of questioning with a single word.

  “It’s okay Damion,” she said. “Yes, I lived in an orphanage a little ways from here.” It was much closer than she was comfortable with. Walking for thirty minutes in the right direction would take them there.

  “Huh, I guess you have no interest in going back” Savannah said. It was more of a statement than a question.

  “None at all.”

  “And you don’t need to. Whoever you were when you were here last, well that’s not you anymore.”

  Jane smiled. Savannah’s words had given her a certain amount of comfort. It was true. She wasn’t the same person that she had been. Too much had happened. Most of it good. Some of it dangerous. But either way, it had changed her.

  “Hopefully we won’t be here long enough to do anything other than the drop off,” said Damion, shouldering the bag he wore around his broad shoulders. Jane knew it contained the stone they had retrieved on Baravia.

  “So, how’s it going between you two?” said Savannah, a sly smile starting to form on her lips as she broached a subject that Jane knew would make Damion uncomfortable.

  “It’s going fine,” said Damion, his voice devoid of feeling.

  “Fine,” said Savannah, saying the word in such a way that it sounded like it rolled over her tongue. “Your thoughts Jane?”

  “Fine is a good word for it,” she said. She would have used the words spectacular or amazing, but she had grown more conscious of Damion’s feelings the longer they had been together and wanted to avoid any embarrassment that might be felt on his part. She also knew on some level that it was silly of him to hide his emotions the way he did, but she was also aware of his position as captain and what that entailed. She knew that he thought that his position meant that he needed to keep his emotions in check, even around someone like Savannah. He wanted to project an appearance of someone who was above such things. Who wasn’t rattled or afraid and while she understood this approach, she often wondered if it would be such a bad thing if he were to show at least a little emotion some of the time.

  “You’ve learned from the best,” said Savannah to Jane. “Just like Damion now, huh? Trying to play it cool.” Jane felt herself blush. Savannah had a way of seeing through the illusions people tried to put up. “You know, I’m surprised that you let the crew know in the first place Damion. Very unlike you” Savannah continued. Jane’s mind flashed back to the moment when Damion had kissed her in front of the crew, right after they had defeated Sabetha and Bill Saunter had escaped with the fake stone. It had been one of the best moments of her life.

  “I thought it prudent that everyone should know. It’s not good to keep secrets.”

  “Oh give me a break,” Savannah said with an eye roll. “You try to keep as many secrets as you can. I’m surprised they don’t just spill out of you, considering how many you try to hold in.”

  Jane laughed and even Damion smiled for a moment. “I just thought that honesty was the best course in this case.”

  “It’s because he cares about you,” said Savannah, giving Jane a nudge in her side. “He wanted people to know.”

  Jane and Damion shared a look and it was all that Jane needed to know that what Savannah was saying was true. He wanted people to know. The thought gave her no small amount of joy and she tried to hold in her smile as she dropped her eyes to her feet.

  “So, on another note. How’s the sex?”

  She saw Damion stiffen and Jane knew that if it wasn’t for his magenta skin color, a blush would be evident on his features. Since honesty was the watchword right now, Jane went for broke.

  “It’s amazing,” she said.

  Savannah raised an eyebrow as Damion seemed to tense further. So much for not embarrassing him, she thought.

  “Amazing. Alright
then. Wasn’t expecting that,” Savannah said, looking thoughtful. “Along those lines, is he gentle? Or does he like it rough?”

  “Oh for god’s sake Savannah,” said Damion whipping around so fast, that it startled Jane. “Just drop it okay?”

  Seemingly impervious to Damion’s outburst, Savannah jerked a thumb in his direction. “He’s always been a bit touchy about his sex life.”

  Jane decided that this was a good place to end the conversation and so gave a silent nod and kept walking. She wondered briefly if Damion was going to be mad at her for her honest assessment of his sexual performance.

  It was then that she saw it. A rather plain, ordinary, brick building on the next street corner. She knew as soon as she saw it that it was the Morvow Universal Art Museum. She had been there several times herself when she was younger, always in the company of the Sisters of course.

  “Well, here we are,” said Damion and all Jane could do at the moment was to wonder at the life that had taken her away from all of this, only to bring her back again.

  Chapter 3

  Jane looked at the picture in front of her: An unwashed starry landscape with a girl, her hair twisting around her like a curtain, looking up at the night sky with nothing more than a bronze telescope. The picture had been favorite of hers whenever she had visited the museum in the past. If she could have afforded a telescope and not have been under constant watch by the Sisters, then she would have been that girl in the painting.

  “Pretty picture,” said Savannah, who was standing next to her with barely concealed impatience. They were waiting for their client, Victor Braggs to show up. He was supposed to meet them on the 2nd floor in the section of the museum tilted “Dreams and Desires.” It was a small room with a handful of paintings, none of them a modern masterpiece by any stretch but each of them nice in their own quaint way.