by Autumn Dawn
One by one, the men inside reached out and signaled their readiness. The frameworks fell down dramatically with a few tugs, leaving the revealed couples looking rumpled and wearing each other’s robes.
The drums beat on, disguising any noise that might come from Ser’s booth. Moments slid by, lengthening the chances of Ser’s wedding going down in infamy. Finally, after even Dagon was raising a brow, Ser signaled his finish. Their curtains swished down, revealing a very flushed and rumpled looking pair, both dressed in the other’s robes.
Ser’s attendants laughed and clapped their red-cheeked friend on the back, offering teasing and congratulations. Jen they kissed on the forehead, offering rakish smiles and words that made the new bride redden like a cherry.
There were toasts and dancing. Vana did not see it.
Adoc was served. She did not taste it.
For when Dagon returned to his seat and heard Kynan quietly insisting on his right to visit Vana in the morning, Dagon said nothing. He just looked at them with a mildly interested expression and turned his attention back to the dancers as if his interest in her had never been.
Betrayed, Vana stared straight ahead and agreed to see Kynan. Obviously, she didn’t have a choice. After all, as he had reminded her, she was still unmarried, and unclaimed. Though he never said it, it was plain that he was going to check her out with an eye to changing that.
And Dagon didn’t care.
A dull throbbing began in the base of her throat as she sat there, unsmiling, the dust of her pretty delusions floating around her like chaff. Dagon didn’t want her.
Then fury replaced pain. That jerk! If he didn’t want her, then he shouldn’t play with her emotions. She shot a fast look at him and caught an expression of hot aggression on his face, directed at Kynan.
Surprised, she looked at Kynan, who was shouting encouragement to one of the grooms. The anger morphed into confusion. What was going on?
Dagon wanted to drag Kynan off by the hair and disembowel him. Never mind that the man was a friend. Never mind that he was just doing the council’s will, testing Vana to see if she could be seduced from Dagon’s side. He hated every minute of it, and as the celebration dragged on, he wanted to put an end to it. By the look on her face, Vana felt the same.
Taking a deep breath, Dagon forced himself not to glare. The betrayal on her face had hurt. From her point of view, he must seem as if he’d been playing with her. It was just the sort of ugly assumption that would drive her into another man’s arms, but he’d promised not to interfere with the test. If he acted on his instincts now, Kynan would be clutching a broken jaw and Vana would be over his shoulder.
His kingly decorum would be in tatters.
It hurt him to hear her inviting Kynan to a picnic with her sons in the morning. Never mind that she had little choice. His brothers had been jabbering on about it, excited because she’d promised to bring all their favorite foods. Originally Dagon had planned to charm an invitation from her, but now…she’d likely throw her adoc in his face if he tried.
As he watched Kynan trying to charm Vana out of her foul mood, Dagon promised himself that there would be no more of this kind of testing. He also gave Kynan one day. If she wasn’t charmed in the gardens, he wasn’t getting another chance. Let the council mutter; he’d been a fool to agree to this idiocy. She wasn’t Ellyn, and he wasn’t his father.
That decided, he tried to relax and enjoy the celebration. The sounds of laughter and party joy washed over him, alleviating some of his tension. Now if only he could resist the urge to crash her party in the morning long enough for Kynan to prove his point.
CHAPTER 6
“Wow! Kynan is coming? Yay!” The twins bounced as if they’d won an hour of free shopping at Toys R Us. Apparently the man was a warrior of some fame. He’d even been elected to participate in the trials for electing the Tzar, but had declined.
Vana wrinkled her nose. Big whoop. She still resented his unwanted interest. Why couldn’t he have taken a liking to that big-breasted Swede or the southern twins? Worse, she’d lost sleep wondering why Dagon had let Kynan horn in on his action. And why had he hidden his anger about it until he thought she wouldn’t see?
Frustrated again, she slammed the lid shut on the picnic box and drafted the mutinous Roac to carry it from the kitchens. The other boys were already loaded down with their share of drinks, dishes and toys. From the scowl on his face, Roac hated every minute of it.
Good; a new member to her Bad Mood club. Like he’d been having fun dicing veggies, anyway, she thought in grumpy satisfaction.
The gardens were planted in raised beds of gray-veined red stone, and covered several acres. Flowers bloomed in every conceivable corner, and the area was littered generously with arbors and gazebos. The boys chose one formed of living tree trunks, plunking their burdens down on a polished round table cut from the cross section of a single tree. Without regard to their amazing surroundings, they immediately set up a game of tag.
Vana backed away from the living canopy of pink and white blossoms to gape. Never had she seen such a beautiful spot. And the scent! At first she thought it came only from the fuchsia-like blooms, then she realized that every step she took on the mossy groundcover released a heady perfume. A closer inspection revealed tiny blue flowers among the mossy leaves.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” a male voice drawled.
Vana turned and frowned at Kynan. “It has its charms. But then, so does Earth.”
He smiled at little at her barb and waved his hand at the table. Roac must have set it up and sneaked off, for he was nowhere in sight. “Shall we sit? By the vigorous way your sons are splashing in that pool, I don’t think we’ll see them for a few minutes.”
A glance showed the boys hard at play in the shallow water. From the way they were splashing, they’d be lucky if any was left in the stone basin by the time they were done.
Just as well. She had some things to say to her would-be suitor.
They were barely seated on the polished wooden seats when she demanded, “What’s going on? I know Dagon was angry with you last night, and from what the boys say, you two are supposed to be friends. So why are you here with me instead of him?”
His brows shot up. “Direct, aren’t you?”
She stared him down. “I’m not in the mood to jerked around, no.”
Kynan took his time selecting a slice of fruit before he spoke. “Do you want so badly to be Tzara?”
“You can take your titles and stick it in your craw. What I want is between me and Dagon.”
A naughty smile curved his mouth. “Then you lust for him? From all reports, I’d thought you were still panting after a chance to run back to Earth.”
Now that made her chin go up. Of course she hadn’t given up on returning…probably. It depended. And she’d been busy. It wasn’t that easy to pry information from her squirmy sons. So far she was still in the dark as to exactly how she’d gotten there, let alone how she would get home. And as for using Roac to get the information she wanted…somehow the opportunity hadn’t come up. Or she hadn’t wanted it to. Every time she thought about using him, a lump formed in her throat and she couldn’t do it. Maybe it made her a fool, but she was beginning to care about these people and how they felt about her.
“I tell you what,” Kynan said at her hesitation, “I’ll make it easy for you. I’m a man of rank here. I have the means to see you returned. Lie with me, and I’ll take you home. My word on it.”
Shocked, she gaped at him. He just sat there, as calm as if he hadn’t just proposed she whore for him. “No! Never! I don’t do that kind of thing.” Some friend. What would his buddy think?
He gave a tiny shrug. “Is it not the thing you want most in the world? To go home? What is lying with me to that? You can be free.”
She didn’t want to be free. Not if it meant becoming that. “No. And I really wish Dagon were here make you suffer for that.”
“Do you think he would?” Seriou
s now, there was nonetheless a mocking look in his eyes.
Not about to be intimidated, she snapped with growing anger, “The man leaves the door open to prevent us being alone, or surrounds us with his brothers. Not a woman leaves the harem alone with a man, and partly by his orders. Yes, I do think he’d stomp you into a pile of slime if he ever heard you talk like that to me.”
A wide grin split Kynan’s face as he sat back. “I’m going to enjoy seeing you become queen. You’re more loyal to him than he deserves, but I salute you for it. I’ll be certain to tell him that you passed the test.”
Test? What test? She stared at him suspiciously, wondering if he was serious, or seriously calculating. “Did he put you up to this?”
“No.” The way he said it invited her to ask more questions.
“Would he stop you if he knew?”
His smile got wider. “No.”
“Are you really his friend?”
“Since our youth.”
Hm. Maybe she could trust him, or maybe not. Though she was still annoyed with him, he was answering her questions, so maybe she’d be bold while she had the chance. “Ellyn claimed that women aren’t allowed to practice martial arts here. Why hasn’t he said anything to me about it?”
Kynan tossed a nut in the air and swallowed it. “No doubt he expects the nonsense will stop once you get big with a child.” He laughed at her expression of outrage. “Besides, did you ever think he’d allow you to get in a situation where you would have the chance to use your meager abilities? Trust me, you pose no threat to a man who has trained since his boyhood in the art of war. In truth, he thinks your obsession is rather cute.”
“Cute,” she said, deadpan.
Baiting her, he said, “And I think he likes what it does for your body. Why would he forbid your exercise, given that?”
Grrr…Hostile now, she said through tight lips, “Since you are so knowing and all-powerful, maybe you’d like to tell me how you Beasts managed to bring us here. I’ve often wondered.” Not that he would explain, but she was so angry now that she was on autopilot, demanding answers, since she didn’t have the ability to get up and successfully attack him.
He jumped up. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll show you. Boys, come here! I have something to show your mother.”
It was like a dream. Vana couldn’t believe it as he led them deep into the Bride House, passing them through armed checkpoints as if he did it all the time. She kept expecting someone to stop them, to refuse to open the many doors, but it never happened.
At last they stopped at the head of a set of steel grate steps leading down to a busy laboratory. Technicians wandered everywhere, and several fully armored Beasts stood at the perimeters, guarding the area. More interesting, two stood before a huge oval frame. It pulsed with blue light, interspersed with white flashes of lightning.
Vana’s pulse quickened. Kynan didn’t have to tell her what it was.
Kynan looked at her and smirked, waving her ahead of him. “Go on. You wanted so badly to see it.”
Adrenaline made her shake as she slowly descended the stairs, her eyes fixed on the gate. Instinct demanded that she run and throw herself through it, but good sense kept her pace slow. They could stop her too easily. It might not even be pointed to her planet at the moment.
But oh, what if it where? Hope rose up and choked her.
No longer smiling, Kynan stopped before the portal and looked at her. Leisurely, he reached out and keyed in a code on the control panel next to it. The familiar golden arches of her neighborhood restaurant flashed into view. It stayed there, taunting her with the longing for the familiar. People came and went, cars drove by, all unaware of the drama taking place just out of sight.
Calculating male eyes fixed on her. “You want it, don’t you? You’re shaking. Step through. Go on. I’ll walk in there with you. It will only cost you what I asked before.” His voice was encouraging, softly persuasive. Kind.
Horror sickened the pit of her stomach as her eyes whipped to his. He still wanted to collect. He offered all this, and all it would cost her was her honor.
She stared through the portal…and fought to remember what that world also held: cheap apartments and unfulfilling jobs; a slow death of loneliness. And somewhere, a father who had never loved her.
Slowly, she straightened. Her sight was wavy with annoying moisture, but her vision had never been clearer. She glanced at her sons, whom she had forgotten until that moment. They stared back at her with solemn eyes.
With a hard glance for Kynan, she said with contempt, “Your price is too high.” Slinging an arm around each twin, she walked with dignity from the room, ignoring the shards of glass lodged in the region of her heart.
Dagon massaged the tension in his jaw while his council droned on. At times like this it was tempting to chuck the whole kingship and stalk off into the night. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with this newest problem.
“With the way you’ve been reassuring them that they will not come to harm, it’s natural that they would start to test their limits. Your woman has set a bad example with her freedom,” Xcallion said grimly. “Now there are others among them demanding increased rights and protesting the courting process. I say we skip this foolish testing and let Dagon make her his queen. Settling that one down will calm the rest.”
Dagon perked up. Now this was promising.
“Absolutely not! The girl has not begun to prove herself. We have yet to receive word on the fidelity test, and there are other issues,” protested Roos, another member. He was usually against doing anything useful or helpful for his Tzar. It seemed to be his life’s mission to make things difficult for Dagon, maybe because one of Dagon’s dead half-brothers was his offspring. No doubt he resented that his son had not lived to challenge Dagon for the position.
“Oh, glue your wind-hole shut, you fool,” Grimlin, the oldest consulate, ordered. “You’re just jiggery because the young bucks get a shot at the women and you don’t. Isn’t fair to wave all those ripe young bosoms under the boy’s nose and expect him to wait forever. The girl’s willing, or willing enough. Let him get on with things.”
“Here, here!”
“Aye! Let him have her,” another voice shouted.
Dagon tried to contain his pleasure. If this kept up he might have to shake Roos’s hand.
The council door opened, and the bickering slowed as everyone turned to see the newcomer. The messenger bowed and placed a holobox on the table. At the touch of a switch, the events of the latest testing played for all to see.
“Your price is too high,” Vana said with queenly disdain as she walked away, her arms around her adopted sons.
The holobox stopped playing, leaving silence in its wake. Someone coughed.
Dagon stared at the box. No one dared to ask him what he was thinking. Finally, he rose with one hand on the hilt of his dagger. “We will wed tomorrow.” It was not negotiable.
“Tzar,” Roos foolishly began.
A killing look silenced the fool. “I have had enough,” Dagon said with quiet menace. “And so has she. Your tests have proved what I already knew. We will wed tomorrow. We have complied long enough.”
No one else was stupid enough to stop him.
Curses flew through his head as Dagon went in search of Vana. Kynan had done his job too well. He’d be lucky if Dagon didn’t eviscerate him.
He found Vana alone in the gardens, lying on a blanket beside a still pool. She was on her stomach, and she didn’t comment as he sat down beside her.
Dagon stared off into the trees.
“I don’t like your friend,” she said after a time.
“Presently, neither do I.”
Silence. Then, “You know.” When he didn’t answer, she asked, with pain in her voice, “Did you set him up to it?”
“Not I, but I put a stop to it. There will be no more of that kind of testing. Those who started it didn’t realize how cruel it would become.”
; “It…hurt.”
There was so much tension in her voice. Slowly, he placed his hand on her back. She flinched.
He left his hand where it was. “I know.” Slowly, he rubbed his thumb gently over her spine while searching for some way to comfort her, to show her what she had gained without mentioning himself. He wasn’t certain she would view him as a great prize just then. “That boy you seem fond of…Roac. He found some trouble this afternoon.”
She rolled over and looked at him.
Dagon grimaced. “He and a friend of his were caught in the ducts above the women’s bathing chambers, spying on the women. More accurately, they were caught exiting. Someone had seen a loose grate and wondered about it.”
Vana laughed softly. “Boys will be boys. What did you do to them?”
He grinned, liking her reaction. “Had them stand naked in front of the women who were bathing. It seemed fair.”
Smiling, she shook her head. “I’ll bet the girls liked that. There’s a couple near his age.” She looked intently at him.
“He is too young for a wife.”
“Some might say they are too young to be wives,” she said softly.
Remembering a song he’d heard while on Earth, Dagon sang, “Strawberry wine. Seventeen. First taste of love…” and trailed off meaningfully. “You say one thing in your culture and do another. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel passion when you were their age. I saw the way they looked a Roac today; they’re ready.”
Vana looked down and traced the weave of the blanket. It was obvious that she had no answer to that. When his big hand covered hers, she looked up, startled.
“Adajah mene, do you feel passion?” he whispered, raising her hand for his kiss. His lips grazed over her soft skin, caressing, making her breathe harder.
“Adajah mene. What does that mean?” Her voice was breathy, and there was an unconscious invitation in her eyes.
His tongue flicked over her skin experimentally, making them both dizzy. “Adajah…one whom I admire, or adore. Mene is…more possessive. It intensifies the meaning, makes it personal,” he murmured, barely aware of what he was saying. The taste of her was electrifying, better than the finest adoc.