Punished by Tana Stone (best books to read for knowledge .TXT) 📕

I flinched at her assessment of my situation. “This is not about a few nights of fun, and who cares if we’re ruined?” I threw my hands up. “This planet is too uptight anyway.”

She shook her head, two fiery blotches of color appearing on her cheeks. “And you think you’re going to change that? The only thing that will happen is that you’ll be ruined, the Vandar will leave, and no one will ever marry either of us. It’s bad enough that I have to deal with our father, but now you’re making a mess of everything, too.”

Guilt stabbed at me like a blade. “You’re exaggerating things, Juls. I’m not making a mess of things because no one knows anything.”

She shook her head. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. You can’t hide that. Do you really want Donal to find out that you’ve been,” She fluttered a hand at me. “Doing I don’t know what with a Vandar?”

“Donal has nothing to do with this, and he has nothing to do with me. Not anymore.” I flashed back to his foul breath hot on my neck and his hands groping me roughly. No matter what happened with Corvak, I could never be with Donal. I could barely look at him without wanting to break his nose again. I guess I’d been lucky he’d been too embarrassed about getting his ass kicked by a girl to say anything to his father about that night, but that didn’t mean I was grateful for his cowardice.

Juliette studied me, her expression shrewd. “What do you mean? What’s happened?”

I didn’t want to relive the experience by telling her, so I shook my head. “Nothing. I’ve always said I wouldn’t marry him. That hasn’t changed.”

Her expression told me she didn’t believe me, but she loosed a heavy breath. “What hasn’t changed is our fortunes. We can’t spend the rest of our days living with our father, and you know we can’t live on our own.”

I scowled, hating the reminder that on Kimithion III females had to remain with their parents until they married. If a female chose not to marry, she couldn’t live independently, even if she had a job and could support herself. The idea of living with my father for the rest of a very long life made bile rise up in the back of my throat. Still, anything was better than having to submit to Donal.

“You’ll get married,” I said. “Any man would be lucky to pick you, and they’d be well fed.”

“And you?” Her forehead creased with worry.

I waved away her concern. “Don’t worry about me, little sister. You know I can take care of myself.”

“But will he take care of you?”

For a moment, I thought she was still talking about Donal. Then I realized she meant Corvak.

She continued, without waiting for my reply. “He isn’t one of us, Sienna. He never has been. I know his arrival has been the most exciting thing that’s ever happened on the planet, but it’s not real. He’s not real.”

“Trust me.” I fought back a laugh. “He’s real.”

Her frown deepened. “You’re so crazy about him you’ve lost your perspective. The Vandar warrior never intended to stay here. This is a pit stop for him, just another planet to defend from the empire, but he won’t stay. Our village will never be home for him.”

Even though I knew Corvak’s plan was to escape from the planet and return to his horde, I wondered how my sister knew. Was it really so obvious, as she said?

“You know I’m right,” she said. “He’s going to leave, and you’ll have nothing. And if anyone finds out that you gave yourself to him, we’ll all be shamed.”

“Maybe he won’t leave by himself,” I snapped back. wanting to inflict some of the same pain on her that she had on me. “Maybe I’ll go with him. Like you said, there’ll be nothing left for me but a long, torturous existence, living with a drunk and my spinster sister.”

She reared back as if she’d been slapped. “You’d leave us to go fly among the stars?”

While I’d always relished tales of space adventure, Juliette had never warmed to the idea. When I’d talked about space battles or stories of the Vandar, she’d dismissed them as dangerous and scary. My sister much preferred the familiarity of her small village and steady routine.

“I’ve never fit in here. You know that. I’m like Corvak. I don’t belong on Kimithion III.”

Her blue eyes shone with tears. “I always knew you didn’t have what it took to sacrifice for others, Sienna, but I never knew you were this selfish.”

“Me?” My voice rose. “You’re the one who wants me to give up my entire life, and the only chance for happiness I’ve ever had just because you can’t handle the thought of being alone.”

She pressed her lips together so hard they disappeared. “I changed my mind, sister. Being alone would be better than being with a person who’d rather abandon her family for someone who wouldn’t do the same for her.” She leveled a finger at me. “Has he even asked you to run off with him, or are you just assuming that he thinks this is more than a fling? I’d hate to have you planning your life around someone who’s just using you for a bit of fun.”

With that, she turned and stormed from my room, letting the door thud closed behind her. I whirled around, my cheeks flamed and my eyes burning with tears. She was wrong about Corvak. What we had was more than a fling. Wasn’t it?

I shook my head hard as I paced angrily back and forth in the compact room, trying to shake her barbed words from my brain. What had he actually promised me? Even though we’d spent every night together since the Zagrath scout ship came and he’d been shot, neither of us had ever made promises.

We’d been way too busy fucking each other’s