Charlotte Boyett-Compo- WIND VERSE- Hunger's Harmattan (17 page)

“How dare you!” Polemusa shouted.

“Vid-com off!” Ailyn ordered and the screen
went black. “Turn off for the evening.”

Completely stunned by her husband’s take-charge
attitude, Shanee just stared at him. He was sitting in the same position, his
eyes on her now instead of the vid-com screen, and his face was once again calm
and relaxed.

“You’ve made an enemy of her,
ehemann
,”
she predicted.

A slow smile turned his face even more
handsome. “Not at all. She’ll want to meet me face-to-face to size me up. She
knows I’ve put her on notice and she won’t dare ignore me again. If I have to
fight her, I will, but I’m warning you now, I will be the victor in the duel and
when I put her down, it won’t be easy and it won’t be pretty, but she will know
her place.”

She had no doubt of that. Her Reaper had
the strength of ten men, which meant he had at least that much strength against
an Amazeen.

“You’ve been so calm up until now,” she
said, amazed and intrigued by what she perceived as a remarkable transition—no
play on the word intended.

“There is an old Gaelachuan saying that
there is always calm before the storm,” he reminded her. “Well, little Amazeen,
you’re looking at a tornado in the making if your mother doesn’t back off and
leave you the hell alone.”

“But you…”

“You, my precious wife, are not the only
one whose persona changed the moment she stepped on this ship,” he said.
“Though there were many things you changed in me on Theristes, there was one I
would never have anticipated.” He uncrossed his legs and stood up, adjusting
the buckle of his belt, hitching up his black leather uniform pants. He put his
hands on his hips and gave her a solemn look. “This afternoon as I read all
there was to be found about my supposed death, what happened to us at R-9, I
came to understand that I have an obligation here. I am a Reaper. I now accept
what I am and the gods help any man—
or woman
—who dares challenge me.”

Chapter Nine

Shanee could not help but feel proud as she
walked beside her husband through the hallowed, secretive halls of Command
Central. Men stepped aside when they recognized that black uniform with its
silver raven insignia and the Reaper triangle. Women actually trembled as he
passed and many a door was hastily opened and shut.

“I believe you are scaring them,
ehemann
,”
she whispered to him.

The right side of Ailyn’s mouth twitched
upward in a quick grin. “That is my intention,
ionúin
.”

She had trouble accepting the change in her
man. He was no longer the calm, accepting male she had come to know on
Theristes. Here was a warrior with whom to reckon and she literally trembled at
the thought of what his presence here at Command Central was doing to the
people. Though in private he was the same loving, gentle, compassionate and
fiery lover, outside among the populace, his face was stony, his eyes hard and
his bearing rigid.

Damn but I’m as wet as a schoolgirl
, she thought, and knew he had intercepted that musing for he turned
his head and looked down at her, one dark brow lifted.

“Oh yeah?” he growled.

“Oh yeah,” she stated.

Miriam Quillan glanced up as they came into
her office, looked down and then snapped her head back up, her mouth dropping
open. She shot to her feet. “Milord!” she said, her face draining of color.

Before Shanee could gloat over the
secretary’s unease, Ailyn stepped forward.

“Miri, isn’t it?” he asked, holding out a
hand.

Miriam’s head bobbed up and down and she
slowly lowered her gaze to his outstretched hand. Timidly, she placed her hand
in his.

“Miri?” Shanee questioned, her eyes
narrowing dangerously.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, dearling,”
he said, and lifted her hand to his lips, his gaze never leaving Miriam’s.

Shanee wanted to scratch the other woman’s
eyes out and had to dig her fingernails into her palms to keep from throwing
herself on Quillan and doing just that.

“Thank you for all you’ve done. It is
greatly appreciated,” Ailyn said, and released the secretary’s hand.

“It was m-my honor, milord,” Miriam
replied. She cast Shanee a quick glance.

“No, she doesn’t know but I will inform her
later,” the Reaper said softly.

“Know what?” Shanee demanded then blinked
as full realization hit her. “You? You are the…?”

“Is General Strom ready to meet with us?”
Ailyn interrupted his wife.

Shanee snapped her mouth shut and blushed,
realizing she had been about to blurt out something that could cause untold
ripples of trouble.

“Aye, milord. He…” Miriam began.

“Ailyn,” he said. “My name is Ailyn and
that is what my friends call me.”

Miriam smiled. “Ailyn,” she repeated. “I am
honored to be considered a friend.”

“Husband,” Shanee barked. “Ailyn is my
husband so don’t you be getting any ideas,
Miri
!”

Miriam frowned. “You two are Joined?” she
asked.

“Aye, dearling,” Ailyn replied. “Now would
you let the general know we’re here?”

As soon as Miriam informed General Strom of
Ailyn and Shanee’s arrival, he came hurrying out of his office, his face
breaking into a wide grin. He thrust his hand toward Ailyn. “Welcome home,
Commander,” he said. “It’s good to have you here!”

“Commander?” Shanee queried, her voice rife
with shock.

Strom shook Ailyn’s hand then turned to his
Primary. “He was on the rolls all this time and if he’d been around for
promotions, that rank is what he would have been given long before now. Hell,
he might even be an admiral if things had been different.” He swept an arm
toward his office door. “Come on in and make yourselves comfortable.” He
glanced at Miriam. “Bring us a bottle of that Chrystallusian brandy the Burgon
sent when I took over Command. We’ve finally got something to celebrate with
it!”

Shanee took one look at her husband’s
impassive face and knew he had known what was awaiting him at Command Central.
He politely held her chair for her as she seated herself then sat down beside
her.

“I was infuriated by the assassination
attempt on the
Midian
,” Strom said as he walked around behind his desk
and took his seat. “Any news at all on who the assailant was?”

Ailyn looked to his wife for her to answer
the general’s question.

“Retinal scan did not identify him but he
was Storian,” Shanee replied.

“If those Storian assassins would put even
a third of their energy into helping instead of killing, Leveche wouldn’t be
having such a hard time rebuilding his homeland.” He shook his head. “His
father did so much damage and he let those bastards run wild, unchecked. Now I
fear they are on O’Shay’s payroll.”

“Any word on Bakari?” Ailyn inquired.

“Last report I got he was on Iosrael.” He
shook his head. “Missed O’Shay by mere minutes, I heard.”

“He’ll catch him,” Ailyn said.

“I’ve no doubt of that,” Strom said.

Miriam brought in a black lacquered tray
that held the expensive plum brandy and three snifters. She placed the tray on
Strom’s desk, removed the stopper on the bottle and poured small amounts of the
fiery amber liquid into the snifters.

“Make sure we aren’t interrupted,” Strom
ordered. “And if that pest comes by—he’ll have heard by now the commander is
here—tell him he’d best not come knocking on my door. As a matter of fact, just
lock the door and take the rest of the day off.”

Miriam smiled. “That might be best, Sir.”

After she was gone, Shanee asked if the
pest was Jost.

“The man has made such a gods-be-damned
nuisance of himself I had to involve the arch-counselor,” Strom said with
disgust. “He managed to get himself censored by the Conclave but still he
persists in annoying the hell out of me.”

“I’ll handle Jost,” Ailyn said, a muscle
flexing in his lean jaw. “Any news on his lady-wife?”

“She is failing more each day to hear the
vice-counselor talk but my informants tell me though she has gotten
progressively worse, she is not as close to dying as she or her husband would
have us believe,” Strom replied.

“With my appearance here on Riezell,
Colonel Iphito’s mission has been accomplished,” Ailyn stated. “Have you a new
assignment for her?”

Shanee threw her husband an irritated look.
“I don’t imagine that’s any of your concern,
ehemann
,” she snapped.

Ailyn didn’t even glance at her. He was
staring straight at Strom. “I am making it my business, Shanee,” he said, and
before she could say anything else, he told the general that he wanted to be
partnered with the general’s Primary.

“
What
?” Shanee gasped, she vaulted
out of her chair. “How dare you ask for me to be…”

Turning his head to give her a calm look,
Ailyn smiled. “Did you notice I said I wish to be partnered with you and not
the other way around,
ionúin
?

She snapped her mouth shut and narrowed her
eyes into lethal slits before speaking. “I am a Primary Riezell Guardian,
Commander. I…”

“Sit down and listen to my proposal to the
general before getting your hackles up, Shanee.”

“I will not! I…”

“He outranks you, Colonel,” the general
said. “I suggest you do as he ordered.”

Hissing, Shanee slammed back into the chair
and glared at her husband.

“I am not questioning your abilities,”
Ailyn said. “You are more than capable of taking care of yourself as you proved
on the
Midian
. I am merely suggesting that you need someone at your back
and since I would never allow another male to fill that position, I have every
intention of doing so myself.”

“I don’t need a partner,” Shanee snapped
from between clenched teeth. “And even if I did, I’d ask for a female.”

“Actually for the next assignment I have,
it would be extremely helpful, Colonel, for there to be a female and a male on
the team,” Strom said, and almost flinched when the Amazeen’s head snapped
around and she gave him a killing look.

“He’s influencing you,” Shanee accused.
“He’s using his gods-be-damned sublims on you, General!”

Ailyn sighed. “No, I’m not.”

There came a heavy pounding beyond the
general’s office door. It was muted for it was being delivered against the door
to the outer office.

“Jost,” the general grumbled. He reached
over and flicked on the vid-com. He ordered the camera in the corridor
accessed.

Ailyn was staring at the large vid-com
screen that sat to one side of the general’s office. As the image came up,
Shanee heard a low growl coming from her husband’s throat. When she glanced his
way, she saw an expression on the Reaper’s face that made the hair stand up on
the back of her neck.

“Vice-Counselor Jost and your brother
Felix,” Storm reported softly.

Though there was no sound, it was obvious
Jost was shouting. His face was red with anger as he pummeled the door with his
fists. The young man beside him looked almost as angry as his stepfather. And
then Jost kicked the door.

“That man is an idiot,” Shanee commented.

“He hired the assassin on the
Midian
,”
Ailyn said, his fingers on the arms of the chair digging into the leather.

Strom looked away from the screen. “Are you
sure?”

Ailyn nodded without speaking.

“Why would he do that?” Shanee asked. She
had considered the vice-counselor to be nothing more than the nuisance Strom
had labeled him.

The Reaper studied the irate man. “His mind
is a quagmire of wickedness,” Ailyn said quietly. “He wants his wife dead so he
can gain access to her fortune. It wasn’t your death he contracted for but
mine.”

“So the Storian wasn’t after Shanee after
all,” Strom said.

“No, he was,” Ailyn said. “I read it in his
mind during the attack but he was being paid by Jost as well as whoever hired
him for O’Shay. I just didn’t know that until now.”

“So what do we do?” Shanee asked. “Other
than arrest Jost.”

“Not just yet. We don’t want to let him
know we are aware of what he tried to do,” Ailyn said. “As I said, I’ll handle
Jost.” He swiveled his attention to the general. “Let him in.”

Without a comment Strom got up out of the
chair and walked to the door, opened it and went out into Miriam’s office.

“What are you going to do?” Shanee asked
her husband.

“Keep quiet and listen,
ionúin
,” he
answered, and then vanished before her eyes.

Shanee popped out of her chair like a
jack-in-the-box, twisting her head this way and that trying to find her
husband. Her heart was suddenly thudding in her chest for even though she’d
seen Rory Quinn disappear on many occasions, she had not seen Ailyn do so.