Bonds of Blood [Lords of the Expanse] (Siren Publishing Classic) (3 page)

“My lord.” The chancellor cleared his throat as the doors were closed, shutting in the lady, the dark lord before him, and all the chancellors of the Alliance in the room.

Turning, Andries looked to the little man and heaved a quiet sigh before moving toward the two at the center of the room. “Fernando,” he said in a less-than-pleased tone conveying his lack of pleasure at this farce that the chancellors and his father had pushed him into.

“My lord Mauricio, may I present the lady Xandra Ripley,” Fernando said formally, avoiding the yellow gaze of the devil himself as he made the introductions. “My lady, may I present to you the Lord Colonel Andries Mauricio,” he finished and then stepped back before practically running to join his fellow chancellors. He’d survived, by the gods he’d survived, but never again would he ever draw attention to himself from the lord and, may the gods be merciful, the Colonel would forget Fernando’s name.

Bowing formally, Andries straightened to his full height before her. “My lady,” he greeted quietly and simply, fully aware of how others disliked hearing his voice. Since she had never before met him, he felt he should at least be considerate to her ears and keep his responses short.

She bowed to him, her hair down so that he wouldn’t see her earlobe and know he was getting a defective bride. “My lord,” she murmured and rose to her full height, nearly eight inches shorter than him. “It is a pleasure and an honor to meet you, my lord.” Her voice was soft, quickly putting everyone at ease, a skill she’d learned long ago and worked on everyone but her father. “It is an honor and a privilege to be promised to someone whom my father holds in such high regards.”

Lifting a brow at her words, Andries looked toward the chancellors for an explanation and got blank stares that told him they had no idea. “I have never met your father, my lady, so I am not sure how the man could hold me in any sort of regard, let alone high,” he told her.

Fernando was pushed forth once more and he winced, having to put himself in the Colonel’s sights yet again. “Pardon, my lord, if I may?” he said in a respectful tone. At his nod Fernando looked to the lady. “I am not sure what you have been told of this union, but my lord Mauricio has placed a stipulation upon it. We require to know if you come into this union of your own free will without any coercion of any kind. If there is any coercion, we will have to nullify the possibility of the union, but if there is none, we can proceed at your ladyship’s leisure.”

She looked from the Chancellor to the lord and back again. Her mind simply wasn’t working right. He had said he didn’t know her father. However, her father had said he knew the lord. She didn’t doubt for a moment her father could and would lie, but the why was the question.

Did she have coercion to join with the lord before her? Yes. Could she voice it? No. To voice such would enrage her father and, potentially, have him go off on another of his murderous rampages, the innocents of her world his targets. “And what of you, my lord?” she whispered softly, looking to the large man standing before the banks of windows. “Would you wish to marry a woman you don’t even know? A woman who isn’t one of your people?” She shouldn’t ask these things. It wasn’t her place, and she knew as soon as her father found out…well that was for later. “I stand here now alone, my lord. There are no guns to my head.” Just her heart and her people’s heads. “So I believe the question is back to you. Do you have someone coercing you into this marriage?”

Oh, now there was a bunch of loaded questions. Eyeing her, Andries knew he’d have to watch his tongue around her. Anything he said could and likely would come back upon him. Noting how the chancellors all suddenly had other things to look at, he let them suffer for a moment longer before he shook his head. “There is no one that could or would dare”—slight lie—“coerce me into anything, my lady. As to marrying you or one of my people as you called it, there really is no one that has ever caught my eye or my interest. While I know naught of you, I see no reason not to proceed if you are still of the mind to do so.” And that was probably the most he’d ever said in the whole of his life at one time.

The sound of his voice wrapped around her, made her feel strange, and she heard herself asking, “Can you tell me of yourself, my lord? Tell me of the place we will call home?” She suddenly found it imperative to know if that would always be the way his voice affected her. “Will we live together, or separate? Will you send me home?” Her voice quivered in fear at the thoughts of being wed and then sent back home. The only reason she hadn’t been sexually used for her father’s joys was because she was a virgin, and he had known that was a commodity that was easily bartered with. However, if she made it home after being wed and no longer had that small defense, she would be one of the whores used for whatever her father wished.

Tipping his head at her question, no, not so much the question, it was the tone that caught him, Andries looked pointedly to Fernando, who quickly took off for the sidelines once more. Shifting, he indicated the windows and began walking toward them, glad that she followed without him having to say anything. Once there was enough space that the chancellors couldn’t hear them easily he turned to face her once more.

“I normally am aboard a vessel which I command,” he told her softly. “I have a home in the country in which I reside when I am not required within the city. As to living together or not, that would be your choice, my lady, though on my world husband and wife do not live separately unless they are separating.” Or if he was keeping a mistress. “Sending you home is not an option, and, this is something you should consider now as well, my lady. You will likely never return unless I am able to schedule it into a route of my ship.”

She shouldn’t have felt relief, she really shouldn’t, but she did. “I will admit that I haven’t traveled in space much at all.” She took a step closer to him, looking out the windows and seeing nothing but his reflection. They were a striking pair, he with his short blacker-than-endless-space hair and she with the unusual natural lavender color. The citron of his eyes made her want to have them watching her always, but she held her tongue. He was after all a man and as such…well she didn’t have too much trust in men. “I would rather not live away from a husband I had. When I wed, I would like it to be forever. I want to have one man only as the man who wakes at my side each day.” She shrugged and closed her eyes. “And of you, my lord? I have to admit to much ignorance where your people are concerned. Do you marry once, or as many wives as you can handle?”

“We marry once, though separations do occur,” he said to her, looking down at her face and wondering why she seemed so nervous. “There are cultures on our world where a second or third wife is not forbidden, all at the same time, but not here.” Turning slightly, he tipped his head to better see her face. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I don’t think I could be a second or third wife to any man.” She nodded and turned to face him. “If you had your choice, and please don’t give me the side speak and twisted words of a diplomat, if you had your choice, would you marry me?”

“I don’t know you well enough, my lady, to make an accurate determination, but based on what I’ve seen thus far I see no reason not to,” he told her honestly. “You appear healthy and with a strong will of your own. You don’t appear to be fragile in a way that would cause you any problems with living on our world or among the peoples here.” Raking a look down her form, he ticked off other criteria in his head as to her shape, her form, her stance, and the breadth of her hips. “I see no reason to cancel the wedding unless you have something you wish to bring to our attention, my lady.”

She shook her head. The relief was almost instantaneous as she looked at him. “No, there is nothing.” She bowed her head to him and turned back to the window. “When would you like to proceed? Will it be soon or would you rather send me back home and have it be at a later date more fitting your schedule?” She prayed to the moon and stars he wouldn’t send her home.

Signaling behind her back to the chancellors, he kept his eyes on her. “We are ready now, my lady. If you wish to change, feel free to go with my assistant to your chambers. We will reconvene at your convenience,” he added so that she wouldn’t feel rushed at all. “Or, if you wish, we can delay until another day if you wish for any of your people to be present.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to leave this room until I am safely married to you.” The whisper of fear was there because she knew if she walked out of that room, Diego would feel it his place to ensure that she was properly reprimanded for allowing them to keep him out of the chambers.

Stunned to hear her words, especially the tremor of fear, Andries nodded slowly. “If that is your wish, my lady, we can accommodate you.” Nodding to the chancellors, he offered her his hand. “We’ll need to go into the next chamber to meet with the minister. Do you wish for your assistant to be here as witness?” he asked, concerned that her father would not take their word on the marriage without a witness of his own.

“Only if you promise not to leave me alone with him,” was uttered before she could censor the words. “I’m sorry, that was unkind of me.” Truthful, but unkind. “However, you are right. He should be available so that he can see that we did indeed wed.” Even that wouldn’t stop her father if he chose to decide the validity of the wedding was off.

She stilled as she realized what she was doing, and as much as she didn’t want to, she said, “I shouldn’t marry you.” She was wedding him to get away from pain and fear. She was running and putting him into harm’s way. “I apologize, my lord. Perhaps I am being too hasty. Yes, maybe we should date so that we can learn if we even are anywhere close to being suited?”

Frowning at her abrupt turnaround and still trying to puzzle out her original position, he drew her to a stop, his hand light on her elbow, of that he made sure. “My lady, I know not what you refer to when you say we should ‘date,’” he told her quietly, aware of the others being close. “If you are not ready to wed, then perhaps you should let your father know this and have him retract his offer of your hand. It would seem that you are feeling a bit of pressure and mayhap are not quite as pleased by the choice given as you originally indicated.” In other words, she was having second thoughts about marrying him in particular and was now panicking with it so close to being completed.

As much as she knew she was going to regret her next words, she reached out and touched his cheek. “I think you’re right. I’m sorry, my lord, but this might be the safe thing for you.” Pulling her hand back, she stepped away from him and nodded. “It was a pleasure to meet you, my lord. Thank you for your kindness, but I believe it’s time for me to leave.” Lifting her hand in farewell, she turned to leave, knowing that the fight that was to come down shouldn’t have him in the middle. He didn’t deserve to be served up as a shield between her and her father.

Fernando stared in shock as he watched the lady heading for the door and the Colonel just standing there letting her move freely away. Dashing to her, he gave a quick bow. “A word, my lady?” he asked, indicating a corner where, hopefully, the Colonel would not hear their words.

Staring at her for a moment, Fernando twisted his hands together. “My lady, am I mistaken or are you leaving?” he asked, praying to the gods he was wrong.

“You are not mistaken, Chancellor. “If you will excuse me, please?” She wasn’t sure what had the little man so upset. He shouldn’t be, not when no one other than her father really wanted the marriage.

“My lady,” Fernando said and then stopped, passing a nervous glance to the man on the far side of the room staring out the windows. He appeared stoic in his stance, but Fernando knew that he was waiting to hear the doors shutting behind her and on his life. Because of the clause Andries’s father had placed on this wedding, if it did not come to pass, the Colonel would be no one as soon as she left. The fact the man had said nothing stunned Fernando, but the chancellor knew that Andries would never force anyone into a position if it could be avoided or if it wasn’t life or death.

“I should not tell you this but—” He winced, wondering if he’d die quickly or painfully and slowly when the Colonel found out. Lowering his voice even more, he moved a hair closer so she’d be able to hear. “If you return to your father, the agreement will be null and void. I don’t wish to apply further pressure upon you, but I feel you deserve to know everything before you make the final choice.” Swallowing hard, he decided it would be best to just say it quickly without any delay or he’d never get it out.

“If the wedding does not proceed, my lord will lose his position completely,” Fernando whispered to her. “I know that makes no sense to you,” he said gently. “Because of the circumstances of his birth, we the chancellors were less than kind in our ways of getting his agreement to be the husband for whatever woman was chosen by the Syndicate. What is even worse is that, because of who we spoke to in regards to encouraging him to step forth, there were conditions placed on him.” It was low and underhanded and the more he spoke, the worse Fernando felt.

“We know that you will see it as coercion, but on our world it is not. It is simply the way things are done,” he told her softly. “But if you nullify the agreement, my lord will lose his rank as an officer and his station. He will become even less than what your people refer to as a beggar. He will lose his name, his royal title, and his military commission. I don’t want you to alter your mind if you truly believe that you cannot be content with him, but I couldn’t let you leave without at least telling you what he will never admit to.” Bowing slightly, he stepped back and, though he wanted to say more, knew he’d said enough to die in the most painful of ways.

She looked at the man standing at the bank of windows and frowned. “Is this truth?” When the little man nodded, she swallowed and said, “I want to speak with him, completely alone. Alone with no one else in the room, no listening devices, just he and I.”

“You will have time.” The Chancellor said finally after what looked like an internal debate shining in his eyes. He moved from her side and made a subtle gesture that had the others out the door until it was just Andries and Xandra.