by Liz Craven
Lia’s smile disappeared when her gaze found Ilexa settling into a chair. The sovereign’s lips compressed and her nostrils flared. She jerked her attention to Thane and demanded, “What did you do to her?”
Confused, Ilexa paused a beat before she gathered her wits to greet her sister-in-law. “It’s wonderful to see you, too. You look beautiful. Pregnancy agrees with you. How are you feeling?”
Lia snarled. How in the universe did the woman manage to screw up her face and still look beautiful?
“I feel like a beached whale and your niece or nephew is playing Nitze squares with my bladder and kidneys.”
“That’s normal.”
“I know it’s normal. Everyone keeps telling me it’s normal. That doesn’t make it any better.”
“Blame Talon.”
“I do. Believe me, I do.” Lia shifted on her seat and narrowed her eyes at Ilexa. “You distracted me. This baby is making it impossible to hold a thought, and you’re taking advantage.”
“Sorry.”
“Liar.” Lia’s reply held no heat until she turned back to Thane. “What did you do to her? She looks like shit.”
Ilexa fought back a laugh. Lia’s harsh mining background often clashed with her royal status. “Thank you for the kind words.”
“Thane,” Lia growled, ignoring her sister-in-law.
“We have done nothing to her. She has done it to herself. You should have sent a babysitter with a blaster to keep her in line.”
“Hey!” Ilexa protested. Deciding she couldn’t rely on such a witty rejoinder, she added, “I don’t look that bad.”
“You’re so pale I can almost see right through you. You could store loose credits in the bags under your eyes—and how much weight have you lost?”
She had noticed her clothing seemed looser, but she hadn’t given it much thought. “Things have been a little hectic. Once I catch up on my sleep, I’ll be fine.”
Lia worried her lower lip. “Lex, if Talon laid eyes on you right now, he’d commandeer the nearest warship and tax the engines to get there and bring you home.”
“I expected to see him with you.”
“Since you’re avoiding him, I thought if I talked to you, he’d quit fretting. He’s in a budget meeting.”
“I thought the budget had passed.”
“It should have, but one of the delegates held it up over the health education allocation. Talon may—Oh no you don’t! I’m worried about you.”
Fright shone in Lia’s eyes and guilt crashed onto Ilexa’s shoulders. Lia had spent the majority of her life alone. She cherished her newfound family with a ferocity Ilexa had never seen. Fear was the natural twin of such ferociousness. Having only recently discovered what it was to love and be loved in return, the thought that she could lose someone she loved terrorized Lia.
No pregnant woman benefited from terror.
“I’m fine,” Ilexa swore without any trace of lightheartedness. “I’m still adjusting to being the only healer available. Things are settling down.”
“I find it frightening that you consider starting a war settling down. It makes me wonder what else is happening.”
It was Ilexa’s turn to snarl. She rounded on Thane. “What? Are you giving them a play-by-play? Detailing every move I make? Who I talk to? What I had for dinner?”
“I have not spoken to anyone on N’yota since your…healing of Tafari.”
“Come on, Lex. You don’t think Talon would let you leave without having a network of people to watch over you and report to him?” Lia interjected, sounding too amused to suit Ilexa.
“Big Brother—”
“Loves and worries about you. Don’t take that for granted.”
“Lia—”
A chirp interrupted the conversation. Lia glanced down at the com panel below her viewscreen.
“Talon’s home.” Lia raised her eyes to meet her sister-in-law’s. “I’ll tell him I spoke to you and you’re well but tired. Contact me a week from today. If you don’t—or I’m not satisfied you’re better—I’ll tell Talon I need you for the birth.”
“I’m not an OB specialist.”
Lia raised a brow in a perfect imitation of Talon. “Do you think that will matter? Your brother will give me anything I want to make me more comfortable during the birth. Plus, it will allow him to do what he desperately wants and force you home.”
“You fight dirty.”
“You have no idea how dirty I can fight. I’ll talk to you in a week.”
Lia cut the communication, and Ilexa dropped her forehead to the table with a loud groan. She began to lightly pound her head against it.
“I don’t think that constitutes taking care of yourself,” Thane said, as her head made contact with his palm rather than the smooth wood of the conference table.
She left her head against the warm skin of his hand. “I’m the only IMEP participant who has to worry about starting an interplanetary incident if she doesn’t get a good night’s sleep.”
“It’s more than lack of sleep. You are making yourself ill.”
With effort, she sat upright. “I’ve managed my own life quite well for a while now.”
Thane’s expression said more clearly than words that he found her claim questionable. “Regardless, you need to recover. The Malkia informed medical you would not work today. You are not to set foot in there.”
Temper sparked. “You can’t just decide my schedule or change it on a whim.”
“If you’d take care of yourself, I wouldn’t have to.”
She didn’t miss the fact that he admitted he was the one dictating to her. She shoved it away in favor of an argument he couldn’t contradict. “Do you know how healing works? What happens to a patient when a session is missed? Especially when healing requires multiple complex treatments? What would have happened to Zavian?”
“I know you will be no help to any of your patients if you work yourself to death.”
His arrogance had her grinding her teeth. She would have to make an appointment with a dentist soon. “I promised Drea I would be there for her exam today. I gave her my word. Enough people have failed her. I won’t be one of them.”
She had the satisfaction of seeing Thane jerk in response. Her accusatory tone was brutal, but she’d be damned before allowing Drea to go through that alone.
“I thought she’d already seen the doctor.”
Righteous indignation withered in light of the widow’s suffering. “The baby is healthy. The doctor is going to perform a detailed exam of Drea. Some of the…things…her husband subjected her to scarred her birth canal and cervix. There is also some problem with the alignment of her pelvis due to improperly healed breaks. Doctor Eiverin is going to evaluate treatment options.”
Thane pulled her chair out as she rose. “What time is her appointment?”
Ilexa looked at the chronometer again. “It’s in forty-five minutes. I’d like to get there early to review her chart.”
“I’ll escort you to medical on the condition you spend the remainder of the day resting.”
She was going to that appointment irrespective of Thane’s wishes, but despite what she’d implied, Ilexa had no afternoon appointments. She lost nothing by appearing to concede. Plus, it made her look reasonable. And she was tired. “Fine.”
As they left communications, Thane asked, “Will you be helping Drea psychologically?”
“No. That’s a very rare gift. There are only two Mindhealers on N’yota right now.” Ilexa burned with shame at the rush of relief that rose at not being chosen to carry the burden of a Mindhealer. She didn’t know how Mindhealers handled the emotional onslaught of the psychological trauma they treated. History was rife with tales of Mindhealers going insane. For that reason, those with the gift were carefully monitored, their freedoms restricted.
“What will you do for Drea?”
“I’ll be her friend.”
They walked a few steps in silence. “How did you know?”
“That she was being abused?” Ilexa reached up and fiddled with a loose hairpin, tightening the bun at the nape of her neck. “Abuse signs are obvious if you know what you are looking at. We showed up unannounced in the presence of the Malkia while her husband prepared for war. All she worried about was making sure everything was perfect. Her appearance, the appearance of her home, what she could serve us to eat. She couldn’t think beyond what he would expect of her in that moment. Coupled with her reaction to her husband’s death…”
“We should have known.” Thane’s blue eyes darkened almost black with emotion. “Her tribe should have known.”
“The lengths abusers—and the abused—go to hide what is happening… What’s important is that the tribe help Drea now. She blames herself and is ashamed. She needs to be encouraged to heal without judgment.”
“She needs to feel safe.”
“Emotionally as well as physically.”
They continued to medical, trailing a heavy silence in their wake.
***
Ilexa left the exam room a good twenty minutes after the patient. The medic, Quatres, left the room at the same time, one of his arms around Ilexa’s slumped shoulders. Thane refrained, through sheer effort of will, from throwing the medic through the wall. He couldn’t wait for Quatres to show up for his mandatory hand-to-hand training. Thane intended to take a personal interest in helping the young man better his fighting skills.
Quatres gave her shoulders a squeeze, released her and walked away in the opposite direction. Thane fell into step beside her.
They had almost reached Ilexa’s room when he finally asked, “Are you unwell? Should you return to medical?”
The most pathetic excuse for a reassuring smile he’d ever seen appeared on her face. “I’m fine.”
“How’s Drea?”
“Her recovery will be slow.”
Physically or just mentally? Guilt ate at Thane. Granted he’d barely known who Borys was, but he still blamed himself. He should have seen the monster lurking beneath the man’s subpar skills. Drea should have known she could have sought protection from the tribal leaders. They would have protected her, as would Rhys, the Malkia, or any other warrior.
How could he be trusted to protect the tribe as a whole if he couldn’t protect one small woman?
They reached Ilexa’s hallway when something suddenly occurred to Thane. “You missed lunch.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat.”
“I can’t. Not after hearing Drea explain her injuries.”
“I thought you medical people had lead-lined stomachs.”
“It’s not the injuries…it’s how she got them.”
They reached Ilexa’s door. Before he could figure out what he wanted to say, Ilexa murmured, “I’ll see you at dinner,” and disappeared into her room.
Feeling like an idiot, Thane stared at the closed door. He couldn’t tear himself away. A feeling, an intuition, kept him rooted in place. Finally, he gave in. He rapped on the door once before throwing it open without waiting for a response.
Thane drew up short. Ilexa sat on the floor beside the bed with her knees drawn up, a pillow resting on them. She sobbed—great shoulder-shaking sobs—into the pillow.
He shut the door before anyone could walk by and see her crying. He doubted her pride could stand that. He crossed the room and sat next to her, dropping a gentle hand onto her shoulder.
She bolted upwards with a startled screech only partially muffled by the falling pillow. Her feet tangled, and she would have landed on her side if he hadn’t caught her, pulling her against his side.
“Lex, it’s me,” he soothed, using the nickname he hadn’t uttered in years.
She took two shuddering breaths and lifted liquid silver eyes to his. Tears tracked along her cheeks and he wanted to howl with the agony the sight of her pain brought.
“How could he do that to her? To two innocent babies?” She began to shake like a sapling in a hurricane. “He raped her with a knife and with—”
Gulping sobs cut her off. Thane knew she wasn’t actually asking him about Drea. She probably understood Borys’s psychology—pathology—better than he did. Her innocent, gentle soul was demanding the answer to the ultimate question. Why is there evil?
He couldn’t answer that question, but he gave her what comfort he could, pulling her into his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered, “I don’t know, baby. I don’t know.”
She cried against his neck as he rocked her gently, wishing he could make all the evil in the universe go away just to bring her peace. He continued rocking Ilexa until she finally succumbed to the exhaustion plaguing her. She released a trembling sigh and went boneless in his arms.
Once convinced she’d reached a deep sleep, Thane rose and deposited her on the bed. He dried his neck on the edge of the sheet before crawling into bed next to her. She rolled immediately into his arms and snuggled against him. Where she belonged.
Pleased that at least her subconscious understood his place in her life, Thane settled comfortably onto her mattress. If she had a nightmare, he’d be there to comfort her.
Thane awoke to the sensation of falling. Only his quick reflexes honed by years of fighting enabled him to get his legs underneath him before landing on his ass.
“What are you doing?” Ilexa shrieked.
“Comforting you?”
Ilexa scrambled across the bed, eyes bleary with sleep. He watched with some amusement as she pitched face first into the mattress three times before reaching the edge of the bed. She would have tumbled headfirst to the floor if he hadn’t caught her.
Righting her on the bed, Thane couldn’t resist teasing her. “Easy Lex. I’m already off the bed. Your virtue’s safe.”
Ilexa blinked a few times and her eyes finally focused on him. “Thane?”
“Remind me not to sleep with a weapon under the pillow. You’d skewer me before you woke up.”
“Huh?”
Thane found her confusion adorable. “You slept almost five hours.”
He hadn’t. Instead, he’d savored the feel of her body against his, only dozing for the last half hour.
“I talked Drea into joining the communal meal.” Panic flashed in her eyes.
“Dinner doesn’t start for another ten minutes.”
Ilexa gasped when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, hands flying to her head. “You took my hair down?”
“I thought you’d be more comfortable.” He didn’t even blink at the lie. He’d taken her hair down because he wanted to see that magnificent mane spilling over the pillow and around that luscious body the IMEP uniform displayed.
Ilexa rushed across the room and pulled open a drawer. Snatching up a brush, she ripped it through her hair in punishing strokes. He watched her twist it up into a tight ball that seemed far too small to contain those brilliant locks. She shoved two long, thin sticks through the ball, and he was amazed to see the hair stay in place when she dropped her hands.
She bolted out the door, only to turn around and race back into the room. “Are you coming?” she demanded with impatience.
Thane hid a smile and followed her to the dining hall.
Chapter Eight
The mountain keep bustled in a flurry of activity preparing for the celebration. Ilexa tried to ignore the hubbub and settled into a routine. She set a schedule with medical, much to Doctor Eiverin’s annoyance. He wanted her on twenty-four-hour call to see the patients he alone chose.
Ilexa loathed working with the man. She felt like a bug under a microscope around him. Worse, the man focused so much attention on her that the patient was a secondary concern at best.
He didn’t balk when Ilexa laid out the criteria for being called in on emergencies. He looked as though someone was grating lemons against his teeth, but he held his tongue. Ilexa didn’t believe for a moment that he accepted her terms out of professional respect or courtesy. Either Thane or the Malkia had s
poken to him. Likely both.
She’d noticed the tribe seemed divided about her since Zavian had been discovered. Not that they’d ever been particularly warm and welcoming. Drea had explained the split fell between those in favor of the new peace and those who felt Ilexa had destroyed part of Hakimu sacred tradition. Drea hadn’t been able to explain why having an enemy constituted a sacrament.
She ignored the fallout from her actions as much as possible and concentrated on her healing gift.
Juggling several medical texts, Ilexa worked to free a hand to open the door to her room.
“I see the princess has returned. Couldn’t find a lackey to carry and fetch for you?”
Ilexa stifled a groan. Ignoring the hostile words, she turned with a perfunctory smile. “Good afternoon, Karia.”
“I suppose you are proud of yourself,” the other woman sneered. “You come to our world, into our tribe, and decide to remake us into what you think we should be.”
Even though she knew it was pointless, Ilexa tried. “I have no intention of trying to change the tribe.”
“Yet you bring our enemy into the very seat of the Hakimu tribe. You orchestrate a so-called peace. Tell me. Are you trying to set yourself up as our Messiah? Saving us from ourselves?”
Ilexa clenched her jaw and counted to five. “I’m trying to heal my patients.”
Karia continued as though Ilexa hadn’t spoken. “I’m sure you are quite proud of this ‘celebration’. The Malkia might be generous enough to tolerate your machinations, but the tribe sees you for what you are and knows this farce of a fête means nothing.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” And if the tribe sees me for what I am and this farce means nothing, why are you making such a scene? She refrained from kidney punching the annoying woman. And Talon said she lacked diplomacy.
“Not to mention the way you pant after Thane.” Karia tilted her head back to look down her nose at the taller woman. “He is a warrior of the highest rank, and will look for a wife worthy of bearing his sons—his warrior sons.”
Bingo. Ilexa’s smile became saccharine sweet. “I’m certain Thane is more discerning than you credit him. No doubt he wants more from a wife than a socially acceptable pair of ovaries.”