Tara The Great [Nuworld 2] (39 page)

Polva yelped.

“Stay where you are,” Tara ordered, and the guard froze.

Tara realized these people weren’t accustomed to dealing with resistance among

their breeding stock—something else to use to her advantage. She softened her face,

trying for a motherly look. The woman looked terrified and desperate. Putty in her

hands. She let go of Polva’s shirt and put both electrical sticks in one hand as she

concealed the knife in the other.

Tara offered the two sticks to Polva with her injured arm. “I would like to speak to

you.”

Polva’s mouth opening slightly. Her eyes riveted to the black material tied around

Tara’s arm and her complexion paled.

Tara imagined the woman had just thought of the pain she had endured to remove

the disc from her arm.

Polva’s hands shook as she grabbed the weapons, pulling them from Tara as if she

feared a fatal disease. She held them upright in her hand, appearing to detest them as

much as she did Tara.

“I won’t hurt you,” Tara said again, smiling gently and adjusting the small knife in

her hand until its cool blade pressed against her wrist.

“You don’t need weapons to hurt me.” Polva’s voice cracked several times. “Why

are you doing this?”

“Polva, I want to help you.” Tara stood back now, crossing her arms, looking as

casual as she could. The last thing she wanted was the woman to become hysterical.

“But this,” she said, pointing to the cage, “isn’t the way. I have an idea, a proposition so

to speak. I just wanted to tell you first without others hearing.”

Tara leaned forward as if to tell a good secret. She’d watched the old Gothman

women assume this position so many times she knew it by heart. “I know how quickly

gossip can travel through servants and guards.”

Polva raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips as she studied Tara. Understanding

seemed to flutter across her face. Tara had appealed to her female curiosity, and it

worked.

Polva waved a hand to dismiss the guards. They looked at her, hesitating, then at

Tara.

“Stand outside the door,” Polva ordered. “I’ll call if I need you.”

“Good.” Tara smiled and turned her back on Polva as she walked to the cage. She

sat at its entrance, then crossed her legs and leaned forward to study Polva. “The first

step in establishing a relationship between two races is trust.”

“I have no desire to establish any kind of relationship, as you call it, with your

people.” Polva curled her lip in disgust. “And I certainly don’t trust you.”

“Well, I’ll work on softening your heart, if I can.” Tara maintained the gentle smile

she’d plastered to her face. The woman was despicable, and it would be so easy to kill

her and get out of this hellhole. Syra and the others needed to be rescued, though.

Patience. She needed patience. Her plan would work if she could force herself to see it

through.

“There is a problem I don’t think you’ve taken into consideration,” Tara began. “I

can’t speak for Neurians, but Runner women use birth control. You’ve stolen a lot of

our women, and they won’t be able to conceive for at least six cycles, depending on

when they took their last dosage. Now Gothman women aren’t that way, they have

strong beliefs about such things. They breed again and again. Still, it probably wouldn’t

take too long for you to run into the same problems with them that you’re having with

your current breeding stock. They will die from overuse before they really matured.

Gothman and Runner men, however, assuming you don’t care about mixing the races,

will be hard for you to keep in captivity. If you do manage to keep them confined in a

cage like this, I’m afraid you’ll break them. If you do that, you’ll run into impotency.

Don’t let any of them know I said that to you, though.” She paused and grinned,

allowing a small giggle at the thought, then turned to Tealah, encouraging her to smile

and thus support the statement’s accuracy.

Tealah grinned and her eyes danced as if she’d just heard a good joke.

She was a master, Tara thought to herself. This woman could convince anyone of

her sincerity to obtain what she wanted. It was a gift, or possibly a curse, depending on

how a person looked at it.

“I suppose you have a solution to this problem you’ve created,” Polva said, trying

to sound bored, but obviously interested.

“There are many cures for impotency. Our doctors—”

“We’ve already researched that, and our medical knowledge is far superior to

yours. The only problem you have described to me in your pretty, little fairy tale is that

your men can’t perform if held captive. I am guessing you wish to talk to me in order to

explain how to solve this.”

Tara wanted to smack her. “Neither one of us has time for me to attempt to explain

the nature of men to you, Polva.”

Polva gestured in frustration. “Then why are we having this conversation?”

“Our cultures are very different, you’ll get no argument from me there, but I don’t

think you’re that much more advanced than we are.” Tara fought not to sound

annoyed. “Besides, Polva, you’ll not get a child from me and Darius. I won’t allow it.”

“And what makes you think I would want your child?” Polva rolled her eyes. “I

suppose you’re going to tell me you know that because of some vision, some

omnipotent being provided for you.”

Tara imagined wrapping her fingers around this pompous woman’s neck.

“Actually, Polva, when we first met you during our visit to your president, and the

explosion occurred, we overheard you tell Brev why you so desperately wanted Darius

and myself. It was no vision. You were on the other side of a capsized wall, and I heard

you clearly list the qualities you now act like I don’t have.” Tara closed her mouth and

grinned, haunting Polva with her own words.

“And if we explored your options and had your doctors offer their solutions, in

return I expect you’d want us to release your people.”

“Not exactly,” Tara said.

Polva’s eyebrow shot up.

“I want you to allow Darius and Dorn Gowsky of the council from Semore, to

rescue them.” Tara cocked her head to see the reaction.

“What?” Polva’s eyes opened wide. “Let those two rescue them?” She laughed.

“They haven’t done a very good job so far.”

Tara allowed herself to laugh, too. Oh, it was hard to humor this monster of a woman.

“Two reasons why I want you to do this. First of all, it will help feed those male egos of

theirs. They get difficult to live with if they don’t keep their ego blown way out of

proportion. And second, it will keep them busy.”

“Keep them busy?”

“Yes, so they won’t realize what I’m doing.”

“And what are you going to be doing?”

“I’m going to get you a baby.”

Both Polva and Tealah gasped. Now Tara had Polva hook, line and sinker. The

bitch of a woman almost started drooling. Polva checked herself and narrowed her

eyes, trying to look skeptical.

Tara leaned against the bars and smiled. She waved her hand in front of her as if to

dismiss any ideas Polva might have that it wasn’t a legitimate offer. “You can’t have a

child from me and Darius. I understand why you want one but, for those same reasons,

you can’t have one. But I can offer you the next best thing.”

Tara paused and Polva listened without batting an eye.

“He’s about five or six cycles old right now and in perfect health. He’s a beautiful

child, looks just like his papa.” Oh, it was hard to speak this way about a baby she detested.

“And who are the parents?”

Tara licked her lips and forced the calmness to remain intact. “Darius is his papa,”

She exhaled in spite of herself.

“Who is the mama?”

Again, Tara licked her lips. This was harder than she thought. She couldn’t even

talk about it without rage churning in her stomach. She blew out a breath involuntarily.

“My sister.”

Polva laughed out loud.

Tara almost jumped.

The woman smiled harshly and walked across the room, away from the door, then

back so she was standing directly in front of Tara.

Tara had just given Polva the upper hand, or at least she hoped that’s what the

woman thought.

The hatred Polva felt for Tara rose to a head in the look she gave her. The woman

grinned and her eyes sparkled, showing cruelty in their glint. It was all Tara could do

not to shove the look down the woman’s throat.

“Well, the reputation of your claim is accurate,” Polva snorted. “How terribly

painful that must be for you.”

Tara just stared. She wouldn’t be able to take this much longer.

“Did you allow your sister to live?” Polva asked between evil giggles.

“She’s in Southland.”

“So there is something in this for you too, isn’t there? I’d bet you’d do anything to

hurt your sister for the way she’s hurt you. I bet you live with pain from the knowledge

of this child every day.”

“Do you want the child or not?” Tara would allow the plan to bite the dust if this

woman didn’t shut up.

“Well, let me think.” Polva rubbed her chin and walked back and forth in front of

Tara, throwing glances every now and then. “You get yourself out of here and have that

child back to me by tomorrow—before midnight—and your people will manage to

escape.”

“Shake on it?” Tara held out her hand.

Polva reached out her hand and shook Tara’s, seemingly forgetting the repulsion

she’d had for her minutes ago. “You’ve got a deal. Just see if you can get yourself out of

here.” Polva smiled smugly and pulled her hand back.

“That won’t be a problem.” Tara stood up and punched Polva in the face, knocking

her out cold.

Chapter Twenty

“I can’t believe you waited this long to do that.” Tealah jumped up and stepped out

of the cage.

Neither can I. Tara stared at Polva lying unconscious on the floor. She moved to the

door and put her ear to it. The two guards talked quietly to each other, but Tara

couldn’t make out what they said.