"Is there a private area I can claim for my rest period?" Gallant asked.
"Of course," the Princess answered quickly. "It has been prepared for some time awaiting your arrival."
"Good. Take the woman there." He caught Cherry's eye for a brief moment. "Don't go to sleep. I'll expect you to make up for your lack of fighting passion when I join you."
The others around the table clearly approved of his disgusting attitude. If Cherry's mouth wasn't so dry, she would have spit at him. Before she even left the room, he was back in deep discussion with Josep.
The woman led her down the side corridor and made several turns. She finally stopped in front of an animal hide that hung on the rock wall from about Cherry's thigh level to the ground. Lifting a bottom corner, the woman motioned Cherry through an opening barely large enough for her to crawl through.
As small as she was, it was no problem, but she knew Gallant would have a difficult time squeezing in. She also realized that meant several of the barbarians would not make it through at all, which seemed to be a positive factor under the circumstances.
Before Cherry knelt down, she pantomimed to the woman that she needed something to drink.
"That is good," she responded. "You are not only a decent fighter, you learn quickly. There is a container of refreshment inside. Be sure to leave most of it for your master."
As soon as Cherry crawled through the opening, the hide flap was lowered behind her. She was relieved to discover the floor had been padded with plush furs. The dim blue light emanating from the walls allowed her to see that the niche was about the size of Gallant's room on his ship, though not high enough to stand in. More furs were folded in a pile against one wall, and a ledge on another wall bore a quart-size ceramic pitcher and a small bowl.
A peek inside the pitcher told her it was filled with liquid, undoubtedly the refreshment the woman had spoken of, and her nose said it didn't smell any worse than the cavern itself. Her thirst demanded she take at least one sip. She poured a bowlful and finished it all. It was neither good nor awful, and it was close enough to water to quench her dry mouth. She figured one more bowlful would do the trick.
She wished she knew what to think. Gallant had promised to be honest with her and had made her promise to trust him.
But Gallant had lied before.
He had seemed disgusted by his heritage when he had told her about it.
He also seemed to have become one of them without the least difficulty.
Which was the actor and which was the real man?
He had told the Princess he had known what he was for some time. Had he been referring to his planet of origin, or the fact that he was heir to a kingdom of warriors?
She took several more swallows of the liquid straight out of the pitcher. When a few drops dribbled down her chin and onto her chest, she was reminded of what a mess she was. There was nothing she could do about her stained, dirty jumpsuit, except to get out of it, so she did.
The woman had warned her to save the refreshment for her master and one glance inside the pitcher let her know there was less than one bowlful left. Her master! That'd be the day any man was her master.
She poured the remaining liquid into the bowl. Searching through the pile of furs, she found a linen sheet and dipped a corner of it into the liquid. A long soak in a hot bubble bath would have been her first preference but wiping the wet cloth over her skin was better than nothing. Strangely, the moisture evaporated almost as fast as she applied it. With each stroke she felt increasingly refreshed. In fact, she could feel herself smiling despite the lack of cleanliness, despite the brutal fight... even despite Gallant!
All of a sudden a wave of dizziness assailed her and she tossed aside the cloth to hold on to her head. It occurred to her that she might have been injured in the fight and not realized it at the time. Or she hadn't had enough to eat for how many calories she had burned. At least she was certain she had consumed enough liquid.
The moment she thought about the liquid, a possible reason for her dizziness and the smile came to mind. It had been ten years since she had consumed an alcoholic beverage but the memory of how her system responded to alcohol stayed with her. And the way the liquid had evaporated when it touched her skin certainly acted like alcohol as well.
She was drunk! And damned if it didn't feel great. Tomorrow morning she might have one hell of a headache, but for a short while, the pains and bruises were numbed. She looked down at the thigh Vella had chomped on. The teeth marks were distinct but the niche's blue cast prevented her from seeing if it was already discolored.
Why in the world had Gallant allowed that fight? Could he have really been as entertained by the raw violence as he had appeared? And why did he insist she be taken away afterward like a naughty child? Considering what she had just gone through, he could have at least allowed her to sit quietly in a corner and listen to the rest of Josep's story. Perhaps he knew what was coming and didn't want her to hear it.
Of course, she realized that she was somewhat to blame. There would have been no excuse to fight if she hadn't tripped Vella. But the girl had—
What had she done? She had tossed her a rib, in the same manner the others were doing with each other. No one at the table seemed to be aware that trays could be politely passed around any more than they would know what to do with plates or silverware. If she had simply caught the thrown rib, maybe nothing would have happened.
A little voice laughed at her rationale.
"It wasn't that." Cherry glanced around the area before realizing she was the one who had spoken.
You were jealous, the voice teased.
"That's stupid. I've never been jealous in my life."
You were.
With a disgusted frown, she decided to ignore the voice and make up a bed with the extra furs. Since he had ordered her to stay awake, she wanted to be certain she appeared to be sound asleep when he got there. Then she could pretend to wake up to deliver a tongue-lashing he'd never forget. As soon as she lay down, however, her eyelids drifted shut.
"I wasn't jealous," she mumbled to herself. Everyone knows you have to really care about someone to be jealous.
You care.
Cherry turned onto her uninjured side and, nestling into the furs, let the effects of the refreshment send her to a place where she couldn't hear the irritating little voice.
* * *
Gallant crawled through the small opening prepared to immediately hush Cherry until his escort was out of hearing range. The sight that awaited him swept away all such practical concerns.
By drek, she was a beauty. Stretched out naked on her back, her fair skin gleamed against the dark furs beneath and scattered around her. Her small breasts moved with each shallow breath and one knee was bent just enough to give him a full view of the private part of her that fitted him so perfectly.
When Vella had offered herself to him, he had purposely taken his time looking her over. She was young, voluptuous and would encourage him to be as forceful as his primitive nature demanded. Yet all he had found himself doing was comparing her attributes to Cherry's.
He was a bit surprised she hadn't stayed awake, if for no other reason than to argue with him.
The look on her face as she left the main room had promised swift retribution. He was certain his explanations would have calmed her... if he could have gotten her to listen at all. In a way, though, her falling asleep was the best thing that could have happened. He needed a few hours to digest all the information he had been given in the past hours and decide what he was going to do about it.
As he stripped off his clothes, he noticed the pitcher lying on its side and grinned. He had had one tankard of the brew served with dinner and his faculties had been dulled. Cherry would have had no way of knowing what she was drinking, until it was too late. If nothing else, she was guaranteed a sound night's sleep.
He lay down beside her, intending to leave her in peace. And he would have, if she hadn't immediat
ely turned toward him... or if she hadn't instinctively reached for him. His arms enveloped her and pulled her close. As usual, when he came in contact with her, he was instantly aroused. Yet when her fingers skimmed that part of him, he gently moved her hand to a less sensitive area.
Their couplings were always desperate and unbelievably satisfying, even when they were both half-asleep. But for tonight, the only thing he truly wanted was to hold her close.
Thinking he could have lost her made his chest tighten, as it had several times since they landed on Lore. Though he knew he would have to give her up eventually, at least it wasn't going to happen tonight.
* * *
Cherry felt Gallant's leg and arm weighing her down before she was fully awake, but she could also tell he wasn't the only thing keeping her from rising. There wasn't an inch of her body that wasn't aching. She parted her dry lips to tell him to get off her but all that came out was a cross between a groan and a croak.
"Lie still," he told her, moving away. He was back beside her in a moment, helping her to sit up and bracing her with his arm.
She felt him press something against her lips and she raised one eyelid to see what it was. The sight of a bowl filled with liquid only made her groan and reclose her eye.
Gallant chuckled. "It's only water, with some restorative herbs in it. Drink up."
Figuring she couldn't possibly feel any worse, she took one swallow then another, until the bowl was drained. But her voice still cracked when she tried to speak. "I hate you."
"Hush, woman," he said in a low whisper. "We can't let anyone hear you speaking to me. Anyway, between the drink and that wrestling match, you're in no condition to fight with me yet. I'll make you a deal. You let me talk while I take care of you, then when you feel better, you can call me any names you want... as long as you whisper them into my ear."
Her answer was another groan. Taking that as her assent, he insisted she drink another two bowlfuls of water. She could almost feel her dehydrated body tissues plumping back to normal as he lowered her to the furs again.
"I had a servant bring me a few items before you woke up. The water was one. This was another."
His fingers lightly rubbed something warm and slick onto her bruised thigh. She could only hope it had some magical healing power because the smell was nauseating. She let out a sharp gasp as he pressed a bit too hard on one spot.
"So, it feels as bad as it looks, huh? This stuff should help. Anywhere else?"
"Everywhere else," she whispered back, not even trying to be stoical about it.
"In that case, I'll just start at the bottom and work my way up."
As his hands smoothed the salve over one of her feet and his fingers massaged each toe, she decided she would let him do this service for her. Even though she was angry with him about the fight and didn't know whether to trust him or not, he owed her this much. "I can't believe I once said Illusians should be given a chance to prove they've changed. The Consociation should forget the barrier and just send them all to hell."
"Ho, would you kindly remember that you're including me in that condemnation?"
"I couldn't very well forget, Your Majesty."
He cleared his throat nervously. "I am sorry you had to fight."
"Hmmph."
"Anything I might have done to stop it could have put us both in serious jeopardy. You must realize that. And please note how I'm not blaming a certain injured party for causing the problem to begin with."
She opened one eye to glare at him but his fingers worked their way into her calf muscles and it felt too good to voice her annoyance.
"Someone at the table was communicating with me telepathically off and on the whole time, advising me how to behave to win the council's approval. In fact, it was that person's suggestion that I send you off the way I did."
Cherry opened both eyes and lifted her head to look at him. "Are you serious?"
"Sh-sh," he sounded, touching his index finger to his lips. "No talking, remember?"
She lowered her head but didn't close her eyes again. With the pounding in her head subsiding, plus the fact that he wasn't wearing the patch, she was able to note his expression as he spoke.
"I don't know who it was but I was warned not to show any concern for your welfare and ordered to let you fight your own battle. Otherwise, the council would consider me a weakling. You might have picked up on the fact that they don't tolerate weakness very well." His hands moved to her other foot to work on that leg next. "I don't think I've ever had to do anything quite so difficult."
He looked and sounded completely sincere but she reminded herself of how believable he had looked and sounded last night as well.
He winked at her. "But you did better than I ever expected. I'm thinking of exchanging one of my arms for one like yours."
This time she remembered to whisper her question. "If you weren't really ashamed of how I fought, why did you want them to take me away?"
"I suppose I could have let you fall on your face, which is what you were about to do. I only wanted to give you a chance to rest without embarrassing either one of us."
"Oh. But I would have liked to have heard more of Josep's explanations."
"I know and I meant to repeat every fascinating detail when I crawled in here last night."
She couldn't help but wonder if he honestly meant every detail or just those bits of information he wanted her to know about. "Then tell me now. The last thing I heard was how the poor, abused Illusians hid away the lovely Princess Honorbound in this ivory tower for safekeeping."
Chapter 16
Gallant chuckled and moved up to massage her left arm. "I did learn how that was accomplished. The people that were working on weapons also found a vulnerable spot in the barrier and discovered a way to poke a small hole through it. The special team that kept the Consociation believing things had changed on Illusia also became responsible for keeping the hole disguised."
"Why didn't they blast the whole barrier away and be done with it?"
"Remember what Josep said. They knew they couldn't win a head-on war against Norona, and that's what they would have gotten if they had blown away the barrier all at once. The plan to use Innerworld as a bargaining tool was much more practical, even though it was also more complicated and would take a lot longer to set up.
"At any rate, they've had this opening for some time, but in order to assure secrecy, they have only used it a few times to send ships out. No ship has ever returned in case they might be followed."
"That explains why there are ships parked outside of the tunnel."
"Yes, but I figure that also means no one on Illusia has proof that Honorbound or I are still alive and continuing with this part of the plan. Since our fathers' deaths last year, there has been no further communication from Illusia. I can't help but wonder if Honorbound really has the backup power she's expecting. Either way, though, now that we know what they're up to, we've got to put a stop to it."
"And I'm dying to hear how we're going to do that, but first, where do you fit into that royal plan of theirs? And how does Josep get away with everyone thinking he's a Con rep? And—"
"Give me a chance, woman. Why don't you roll over so I can get your back? I assume your robotic arm doesn't need a massage."
"Funny you should mention that. Do me a favor and hold that hand." He looked at her curiously but did as she requested. "How odd. It's doing it again."
"What?"
"Whenever I touch you with that hand, it tingles, and if I hold on to you long enough, the whole arm gets warm. It never did that before and I was beginning to think there was something wrong with it."
"I don't suppose I should just take that as a compliment."
Cherry laughed. "It's not that kind of tingling. Anyway, it happened again when I touched Vella's skin. But after the workout I gave it last night, I'm positive there's nothing wrong with the mechanical parts."
"Since it's stronger than a human arm, couldn't it also
be more sensitive?"
"What do you mean?"
"I told you the doctor who examined me when I was a child noted certain differences that helped him evaluate my genetic background. One of the differences was in my body's chemistry. Could it be possible that the robotic nerves are oversensitive to that chemistry?"
"I suppose. But I'd have to touch a few more Illusians to test out that theory and drawing their attention isn't very high on my list of priorities at the moment." She rolled over onto her stomach. "Now get back to the explanations."
He dotted her shoulders with salve and kneaded the muscles there as he spoke. "Did you realize your whole back is scraped up?"
"Gee, Doctor, thanks for the news flash. I wonder if being dragged across a rock floor had anything to do with that. Go on."
"All right. Josep said I'm fifteen years younger than Honorbound. From what I understand, being born with the second stripe in my hair was a royal big deal. It changed everything. Because I was the sovereign's nephew instead of his direct descendant, it was decided that, in order for me to take precedence over Honorbound, I would have to overcome a trial to prove myself worthy.
"Josep and my father came up with a test that everyone agreed with. To tell you the truth, it sounded so convoluted that I don't think anyone really wanted me to pass. But, for whatever reason, Josep practically led me through the maze by the nose."
"Didn't he say your father made him responsible for you?"
"Correct. The first step was to plant me as an infant on Norona, where I would be brought up among the Illusians' worst enemies. The logic was that I would gain a true insight into the Noronian mind and culture. A trained spy could never ascertain the same type of knowledge because he would never be able to completely let go of his own background. Apparently, I was given the name Gallant Voyager as both an honor and a sort of tag to help someone find me later.
"In the meantime, Josep infiltrated the peace-loving population on Gilliad. I think I told you he was from there. It was the only place where some of the inhabitants had been alive during the Great War, and part of his job was to prevent their memories from negatively influencing other members of the Consociation. He worked his way up politically until he became a representative."
GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) Page 21