No Words Alone (10 page)

There it was again, that tension. She tried
to be careful with her words. “I’m not comfortable with this
subject. Our people are at odds.”

“I was speaking of us.”

It was hard to look at him. “I don’t want to
have a relationship with you.”

He looked thoughtful rather than offended.
“It’s like a council for peace talks, isn’t it? Neither side wants
to give away their concessions too early. The pace is slow and
drags on for days. Sometimes a man can go mad from the
tension.”

She glanced up, surprised at his
admission.

He stepped forward. “I’ve never had much
patience for delays, so I’ll see if we have one goal in common
right now.” He took her in his arms and kissed her.

Xera stiffened. His kiss dispensed with the
formalities and cut right to the heart of the matter. There was no
power struggle, only acceptance or denial.

Her body chose acceptance: Without her mind’s
input, it softened for him, opened and received. She’d moaned her
need into his mouth before she’d even had a chance to alert her
defenses.

And then it was over. Meeting adjourned.

His eyes burned into her as his chest rose
and fell against hers. “That was all I needed to know.”

They didn’t say anything else. She was too
shaken and he was too aroused. Together they left the garden, two
adversaries who had met their match.

Chapter 8

Xera spent much of the afternoon in turmoil.
She hadn’t wanted Ryven to kiss her. She was afraid of what would
happen now.

He hadn’t given her any hints when he’d taken
her back to her apartment and left her there, and he hadn’t tried
to touch her. Whatever his plans were, they didn’t involve leaping
on her the instant they were near a bed.

She hated that she’d responded to his kiss.
Was she so desperately lonely that she’d give in to the first man
who touched her? Would she have been the same if Toosun had done
it, or Captain Khan?

Okay, she thought with a return of sanity,
she definitely wouldn’t have encouraged Khan. She had no good
answer for Toosun, partly because she had the feeling that she
wasn’t going to have any choice even if he had been the one to pick
her. Whatever was going to happen with Ryven was going to be his
will. She wasn’t going to be consulted.

The horrible thing was, she wanted what he
wanted to do with her, but she never would have chosen him. She
didn’t know him enough to trust that he wouldn’t hurt her. And what
about her heart? She’d die of shame if he tried to make her his
mistress. She’d been raised in a very conservative society and
hadn’t shaken the moral convictions she’d been taught. She couldn’t
sleep with a man who wasn’t her husband.

But she couldn’t marry him! She was already
courting disaster for having attacked her captain. If he were
traded back in negotiations, his story of events would get out. If
she became married to Ryven she’d definitely be branded a traitor.
She didn’t want her sisters to believe that of her.

Namae rescued Xera from her agonizing
self-absorption that afternoon with another intense grooming
session. This one included a massage, some painless and permanent
hair removal, a facial and more hand and foot therapy. It was a
marvelous distraction and ate up what might have been a horrendous
wait. She started to get a clue that Namae knew more about her
schedule than she did when the young woman pulled out an
apple-green gown of heavy, embroidered silk and said it would be
perfect to wear to dinner with the Lord Governor.

“Dinner?” Xera asked uncertainly. “We just
had lunch.”

Namae smiled. “It is an honor, and an
excellent sign. It’s good that he likes you.”

Xera supposed it was better than being stored
in the dungeon, but she still worried. “Are married couples here
monogamous?”
She didn’t know the Scorpio word for monogamous
and used her own.

Namae frowned over the unfamiliar word.

Annoyed at herself, Xera tried again. “On my
world, married couples are faithful to each other. They don’t share
themselves with anyone else.”

A startling pallor iced Namae’s cheeks. She
wouldn’t meet Xera’s eyes. “It is that way here also, mistress,”
she said quietly.

Concerned, Xera got to her feet and put a
supporting arm around the servant. “What is it? Are you ill? Here,
sit down.” She sat the reluctant woman down in her vacated
chair.

“I...I shouldn’t be here. I should go,” Namae
protested. “You are right; I have no business being in a
respectable home.”

“What are you talking about?” Xera demanded.
“There’s nothing wrong with you. At least, nothing a shot of brandy
won’t fix.” She looked around, mentally cursing the lack of liquor.
She hadn’t landed on a dry planet, had she? She’d grown up in a bar
that served the best liquor on her planet. To suddenly come against
a problem that clearly called for whiskey and be dry...her sisters
would be horrified.

Come to think of it, she could use a drink
herself. Maybe she’d have a request of old Ryven after all.

Namae was sobbing now, her face in her hands.
Desperate to help, Xera took charge the only way she knew how. She
said briskly, “All right, that’s enough! Sit up here and let’s talk
about this. Obviously you’ve kept it bottled up long enough.”

Namae obediently sat up. “I’m sorry. It’s
just that I feel so ashamed.” Tears threatened again.

“Just
talk
about it,” Xera urged her.
“Tears might make me dissolve into a clone of my sister, and trust
me, you don’t want to see that.” Not that there was anything wrong
with her sibling’s calm, take-charge attitude, but Xera had spent
years trying to be different from her older sister. The thought of
becoming her was truly abhorrent, like becoming a copy of one’s
mother.

Namae laughed at Xera’s desperation, then
sobered. “I was involved in adultery,” she explained.

“You, Namae? I just can’t picture that,” Xera
said, looking over the elegant young lady. “I can see how seriously
you take your duties. I can’t imagine you’d be any different in a
marriage.”

Namae gave a watery sigh. “It was not by
choice. My brother-in-law forced himself on me when my husband was
away. He came home as Myg was finishing. I...” Namae looked close
to weeping again. “Tovark would not believe me.”

Xera was outraged. “What! Was he stupid? They
were lucky you didn’t kill them both.”

A sound that was half-laugh, half sob broke
from her. “I am not a warrior like you, and I was hurt. My
heart...it
broke
. Myg said I had seduced him and my husband
believed him. He spit on me and walked away.”

Xera could only shake her head. “What about
your family?”

“I went to them for help,” Namae said,
valiantly calming herself. “My father and brothers were outraged,
and my mother and sisters held me. My brother took the matter to
the judges, who ruled against my brother-in-law. He was sentenced
to death. My husband was disgusted with me over the death of his
brother and still believed me to be a liar. The courts granted him
a divorce. My brothers cheered, and my father agreed it was for the
best, but—oh! The shame of it! To be a divorced woman is almost
unbearable. I have no more honor. I am treated as so lowly,
so….”

“Nonsense!” Xera cried, unable to stand the
woman belittling herself. “You were attacked! You were wronged!
This is not your fault.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Namae said in a choked
voice. “You do not understand my world.”

Xera stood up and gestured as she spoke. “I
understand what honor is! I understand that your family is behind
you, and that’s what matters. Better yet,
you
get behind
you, Namae! You’re somebody special, somebody important. You
deserve to walk down the street with your head high, and damn
anyone who looks down on you.”

“That’s what we’ve been telling her,” a voice spoke
into the pause.

Xera whipped her head up. Ryven stood in the
doorway, and in a flash, she understood. “You’re her brother.”

“Yes.”

Confused, she looked at Namae. “Then
why...?”

“It’s time to go,” Ryven said quietly. “I
like your hair down. The braids look nice.” Namae had braided
strings of milky crystals into the short hair, making it glow.

She’d also slipped away while Xera wasn’t
looking. Ryven answered her questioning look by gesturing her to
come to him. When she was close enough, he took her arm and
murmured softly, “She does not wish to be a part of the family
yet.”

Dismayed, Xera looked in question at him.

“We tried to force her at one time, but she
only withdrew more deeply. She has gotten better with time. I am
hopeful she will take her proper place again soon.”

“How long has it been?” Xera asked softly as
they left the room. The world didn’t need to know their
conversation.

A muscle in his jaw tightened. “Two
years.”

“Did you beat up her husband?” Xera asked,
feeling bloodthirsty. Poor Namae!

He looked straight ahead. “Something like
that.” She looked at him long enough that he finally answered. “We
broke him financially, gelded him socially. He will not be taking
another gentle girl to wife.”

Hm. Not as grisly as she’d envisioned, but
poetic. “It might’ve been nice to have brothers.”

He smiled at her. “You would keep a brother
busy. Who is in your family?”

“Sisters.” She didn’t want to talk about them
right now, though. “Are things really as bad as Namae says? Could
she remarry?”

He frowned thoughtfully. “Could she? Yes.
Would her situation be forgotten if she did? Yes. It would take a
special man to woo her, though. I think she protects her heart by
hiding away. There are many who would have her, but she will not
see it. Also, there are few our family would countenance. Many
would marry her for the prestige of the social connection. After
the last time, Namae will look to us for guidance before she
chooses a man.”

“You didn’t like the first one?”

“Despised him. She was youngest, though, and
spoiled. She would not hear no.” He was quiet for a moment. “She
has matured much since then.”

Hoping to change the sad subject, Xera said,
“She mentioned a mother and sisters.”

“Our mother died of an illness some months
after Namae’s divorce. We have three sisters, all younger than
me.”

“Big family,” she said, impressed. “Toosun’s
younger than you, too. I hope they plagued you as children.”

His look was reproving, but a glint of humor sparked
those brimstone eyes. “Your hopes were fulfilled, but sadly, you
will not be meeting my sisters tonight. My aunt has come, though.
You will judge if she is torment enough.”

His words made her expect a dragon, and the
woman Ryven introduced her to was formidable. The Lady Tessla was a
silver-haired dowager with an upright carriage and a timelessly
beautiful face. Her teal and silver robes were immaculate and
draped a slender figure. Though obviously in her fifties (more
noticeable by bearing than any age in her skin), she moved like a
dancer, every move unconsciously graceful. She was gracious,
though, and quickly put Xera at ease.

They were seated across a low table with
cushions for chairs. Gauzy fabrics draped the ceilings, lending
colorful shadows to the inlaid stucco walls. Little globe oil lamps
in swirling, colored glass lent atmosphere to the party of four.
Xera was a little surprised to see Lord Atarus reclined on a
cushion. She hadn’t expected it of him, nor the informal
atmosphere.

“You are very beautiful to have been unmarried for so
long,” Tessla observed. “Is it common to remain unwed so late in
life on your planet?”

Xera blinked. It wasn’t often she was called
attractive, let alone beautiful, but the Lady also implied she was
a delicacy that had been held in the oven too long. It threw her.
“It can be. Even if I were considered more than average on my
world, I’d still have chosen to explore a career. I wasn’t happy in
the family business.”

“How did your mother and father feel about
letting you go?” Tessla asked curiously.

“My parents are dead. My eldest sister
resisted my leaving for a long time, but we had a rule about
dreams. She let me go to pursue mine.”

Tessla raised a brow. “Hm. Would she be happy
to see you here now?”

Xera considered that. “She’d have some words
for me. Ever since my middle sister ran off and got married without
her permission, she’s been a bit touchy about being out of the
loop; not informed,” she explained. “She made me promise not
to....” She trailed off, unwilling to complete the thought. Her
smile died.

“What did you promise?” Tessla prompted
gently.

Eyes still on the memory of her sister, Xera
said softly, “I swore I wouldn’t get married without telling
her.”

There was silence at the table. Xera took a
deep drink of her beverage. Turned out they did have booze here
after all.

“Well, then. You must keep your promise.”

Uncomprehending, Xera looked up. “What?”

The aunt looked at Ryven and his father. “She
must keep her promise. She has given her word.”

Lord Atarus frowned and opened his mouth.

“I agree.”

Xera looked at Ryven in shock. His eyes were
on his father. “It’s possible. She doesn’t have to meet in person.
A video conference would suffice.” He looked calmly at Xera. “It is
knowledge she needs, yes? You don’t require permission.”

“N-no,” she stuttered, shocked by this turn
of events. She never expected to be allowed to keep her word. That
they would go to this length to allow her to do so....she was going
to owe them. Big time. But… “I hadn’t planned to marry for some
years yet.” It was the closest she could come to a protest. By law
and custom, she was still a warprize. Though she’d been treated
very well, she still knew that Ryven considered her life his to do
with as he pleased. It was obvious that his father and aunt were of
the same mind. Pitching a fit over it would only demean her in
their eyes. She was being
honored,
she thought with inner
rebellion. She must
behave.