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Captive Dreams

"What..." The word came out as an embarrassing squeak that forced Celeste to clear her throat. "What are you going to do to me?"

"I think you already know the answer to that." His grin held absolutely no humor. "But just to clarify the point, you spent the past ten years making my life a living hell. Now I'm going to return the favor."

Her mind flashed to Varrain's Curse. Not to mention Varrain's War, Varrain's Vengeance, Varrain's Quest, and all the other books she'd written about Jarred over the past decade. She remembered his suffering when he'd been captured and tortured by the reptilian Zris, his rage when the woman he loved had betrayed him-and his agonized grief when he'd found his best friend's broken body after a Rekan general had murdered Garr for revenge.

Celeste's mouth went completely dry. Hastily, she scuttled back from his menacing approach. "Was there..." She licked her fear-parched lips as she looked up into those dark, furious eyes. "Was there a Garr?"

A muscle worked in his sculpted jaw. "Yes. There was a Garr."

She wanted to throw up again. "You think I made it happen."

"I know you made it happen." His handsome face went cold and rigid with an expression she'd described a dozen times.

It was his executioner's face.

"That's impossible," she whispered, feeling a scream of hopeless terror building deep in her mind. With his superhuman strength, he could literally tear her apart with his bare hands. "How could I influence events in another universe? Okay, maybe I...saw it somehow, but that doesn't mean..."

"You planned it before it happened, Celeste," he growled, stalking her. "I heard you discuss it all with that sister of yours. I listened to you lay out his death in detail. And when I tried to keep it from happening, you made sure it did anyway. You helped that bastard K'charit torture him to death."

Oh, God. I'm dead, she thought, as her knees threatened to buckle. He was going to kill her just as he had his murderous Rekan enemy.

A particularly vivid passage from Varrain's Vengeance flashed through her mind. Jarred had forced General K'charit into the airlock, then coldly blown him into space. She remembered the book's description of the villain's death as he drowned in his own freezing blood, lungs and eyeballs bursting in the pitiless vacuum.

Celeste stared hopelessly at Jarred. He was a good ten times stronger than an ordinary human male his size -- and given just how big he was, that was saying something. She didn't have a prayer in hell of fighting him off, especially with her hands bound. "I didn't know," she whispered, backing away again. "I thought I was making it up. I never would have... I liked Garr ..."

"Shut up." His big hands closed around her shoulders and pulled her against his hard, armored body. Instinctively she writhed in his hold, but his grip tightened until she had no choice except surrender.

Panting with fear, Celeste went still as she stared up into his face, desperate pleas for mercy gathering on her tongue. She bit them back. Begging always disgusted him. Besides, she didn't want to die a coward.

"Your pistol," she said hoarsely, blinking hard against the tears of pure terror she could feel gathering behind her lids. "If you're going to...do it, please use the pistol. I had nightmares about that airlock scene for weeks after I wrote it."

"Airlock?" He looked confused, then stiffened as he realized what she meant. Discomfort flickered in his eyes, but it quickly vanished into the hard, implacable mask he always wore with his enemies. "I have no intention of killing you. You won't pay your debt to me that quickly-or that easily."

She sagged against him in stunned relief before convulsively jerking herself upright again. "But if you're not going to execute me, what do you...?"

His mouth crushed down over hers.