“Now my sweet…my pet…” Yana was saying, trying to ease Lavi’s tears. “I know it is a far distance away but I’m certain Warro will be good to you.”
“I don’t care how good he is,” Lavi sobbed. “He’s not Jontu.” She looked up at Dani, appealing to her with wet eyes. “I know I’ve had a lot of crushes in the past, but Jontu is the one for me—the only one. If I can’t be with him I’d rather die.”
Dani thought grimly that her sister was likely to get her wish if Councilor Tornk’s plan worked. But she refused to give her sister to that monster Warro without a fight. And there might yet be time to stop it.
“Did you sign the articles of engagement, Lavi?” she asked anxiously.
“The…the what?” Her sister sniffed, her black eyes huge and unhappy.
“The articles of engagement! A paper saying you are officially engaged to Warro and he is your prospective husband. Think! Did you sign anything?”
“I…no.” Lavi shook her head. “No, I just stood before the throne and that awful Councilor Bray-bray read out a proclamation about how I would be given to Warro in a week’s time.”
Dani felt a surge of relief. If nothing had been signed, the deal might yet be voided.
She turned to sweep from the room but Geora was suddenly right beside her.
“Where do you think you’re going now, Princess Dannella?” she demanded, her narrow face pinched into a nasty expression.
“To the throne room,” Dani said shortly. “Out of my way.”
She pushed the other girl aside and strode out the door and down the long, mirrored hallway. She had to stop this now before Lavi’s life was ruined. Her little sister might be a brat and a tattle-tell sometimes but Dani loved her fiercely—she wouldn’t allow her to be taken by the evil, abusive Warro as the latest in his long line of conquests!
“Not if I can help it,” she muttered to herself as she marched through the long mirrored corridors. “Absolutely not!”
Chapter Nine
Dani didn’t let the crossed pain-spears of the guards stop her this time. She ducked beneath them and left the guards gaping in her wake, too surprised by her bold move to come after her. She marched right up to the golden throne and stood before it. Then she fisted one hand and put it to her heart while she thrust the other behind her and bowed—giving the same salute any Councilor or officer in the armed forces would give to the Monarch.
She knew perfectly well she was acting as though she had every right to be there—acting like a male in the throne room would act—and she waited with a pounding heart to hear what her father would say. The entire room seemed to be waiting with her, but though she felt every eye in the place was on her, not a single person said a word.
At last her father spoke.
“Princess Dannella, the Monarch recognizes you. What is it you wish to say?”
Dani’s heart gave a leap at his formal tone and the way he had addressed her as he might any visiting dignitary or member of his Council. Maybe he would listen to her! Maybe he would at last treat her, if not as an equal, then at least as someone whose opinion mattered—as someone who had a right to have an opinion.
“My Monarch,” she answered, just as formally. “May you live forever. I ask for a private audience to relate some distressing news which is pertinent to one of your royal decisions.”
“Oh please, your Majesty! What is this nonsense?” It was the voice of Councilor Tornk, of course and he sounded out of breath. Dani remembered now she hadn’t seen him as she entered the throne room. She wondered if someone—Geora perhaps—had run to get him and tell him where Dani was going and what she was doing.
“Silence if you please, Councilor Tornk.” The Monarch raised his hand, giving Dani another surge of hope that he would hear her out. “I would hear what my daughter has to say.”
“It is for your royal ears alone, my Monarch.” Dani looked at him steadily, hoping to avoid a confrontation in public, which was no doubt what Tornk wanted.
“What does this concern, Dannella?” her father asked gravely. “Tell me now, at once.”
Dani took a deep breath. Well, if she had to make her case in front of the entire throne room, so be it. She was used to speaking out before the Councilors—though none of them liked her very much because of it.
“This concerns the fate of your beloved youngest daughter, Lavinia,” she said, lifting her chin. “Father, is it true that you have promised her to Warro, Chieftain of the Thuggors?”
“And if he has, what of it?” Councilor Tornk could apparently keep silent no longer.
Dani felt her temper rising but she steadfastly ignored him and looked at her father instead.
“Father?” she asked.
Her father nodded slowly.
“It is true that the marriage of your sister to the Chieftain of the Thuggors of the Southern continent has been presented to me and I have agreed to the terms.”
“And very good terms they are too,” Tornk exclaimed.
“Father,” Dani said earnestly. “Do you know what he does to his wives? I sat by one at the banquet last night. She—”
“Was a lovely young lady indeed! I saw her for I sat nearby her as well. She seemed well pleased to be Chieftain Warro’s wife,” Tornk interrupted.
Dani couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Would you please do me the common courtesy of allowing me to finish my sentences without intruding your own asinine comments, Councilor Tornk?” she said icily.
This drew a gasp from the assembled Councilors and Tornk’s blue face grew nearly purple as blood rushed to it.
“How dare you speak to a male in that way? Your Majesty!” he exclaimed. “This is what I meant when I told you your oldest daughter must be curbed. She cannot be allowed to go running loose in this unseemly fashion speaking up to her betters as though she had every right to do so!”
“I do have every right!” Dani exclaimed. “And while I was ‘running around loose’ last night, I happened to hear you and Warro bargaining in the hallway. You were trading my sister’s life and happiness for the rights to a gold mine on his lands!”
“Dani…” Her father’s voice drew her attention and the weariness and sadness in it put her on sudden alert. “Dani,” he said again. “I know about the mine—it is part of your sister’s bride price which Warro readily agreed to pay.”
Dani felt like her stomach had dropped straight to the floor.
“But…so you know? So you…you’re selling her for a gold mine? I know gold is a precious metal rare in the rest of our world but isn’t the life and happiness of your daughter worth more to you than that?”
The moment the words left her lips, she knew she had gone too far. It was one thing to ask for an audience with her father but it was another to question his judgment and decisions in front of the entire throne room.
The Monarch’s eyes hardened and he frowned at her—her father no longer but the male who ruled with an iron fist over most of the planet.
“Dannella, you forget yourself.”
“Father, forgive me, but Warro is cruel to his wives! He—”
“Oh please, your Majesty,” Tornk interrupted. “He probably punishes them now and then. Females always whine that their lord and master is being ‘cruel’ the moment he takes a strap to their backside and gives them a much needed spanking.”
A burst of laughter from the other males in the room made his chest swell and his wide mouth twitched with hateful humor. Dani—who had always been quick to anger—was suddenly so full of rage she couldn’t contain it any longer.
“And what gives any male the right to strike or ‘punish’ any female? What gives you the right to own us? To torture and torment us however you see fit?” she snapped, rounding on him. “Because you’re male? Because of the stupid scepter between your legs? What’s so wonderful about a dangling bit of flesh that makes you superior in any way to a female?” she demanded.
Inside her head a little voice was whisp
ering urgently that she was going too far again, too far…too far but Dani’s rage had been building for years and she couldn’t contain it any longer.
“Why…you…” For a moment Tornk seemed at a loss for words but Dani certainly wasn’t.
“You’re an old fool, Councilor Bray-bray,” she proclaimed loudly, using the nick-name she and Lavi had used and laughed about for years behind his back. “I knew more about policy and statesmanship when I was fifteen cycles old than you’ve learned in your entire sixty cycles! I’ve been here for ages, listening to you and watching you give my father wrong information and bad advice and this marriage deal between Lavi and Warro is just another example! You—”
“Why you little…you’ll pay for those words, Princess,” Tornk spat. “Oh yes, you’ll pay dearly, I promise you!”
“Why, are you going to punish me?” Dani taunted him, completely past reason now. “I’d like to see you try it, you old fool!”
“Enough!” The voice that rang out, silencing them both was her father’s.
Dani turned to him, breathing hard, her chest heaving with emotion.
“Father,” she began but he cut her off with a chopping motion of one hand.
“No, Dannella—not another word.” He sighed and for a moment the weariness and sorrow she’d seen earlier returned to his face. “I didn’t want to do this but now I see that my Councilors were right—it’s high time you were married as well.”
“What?” Dani exclaimed, caught completely by surprise by this announcement. “Married? To who?”
Her father shook his head sadly.
“To the only male who is willing to take you, I’m afraid, my headstrong daughter. You shall be given in marriage to my esteemed Councilor Tornk.”
“What? But…” For a moment words completely deserted her. A part of Dani’s brain insisted she should have somehow seen this coming but her conscious mind still wanted to deny it. It was such an unexpected blow that she literally couldn’t take it in—couldn’t process it. She could only stare back and forth between her father, who suddenly looked sad and old as he never had before and Councilor Tornk, who was grinning at her evilly.
“I have been considering this step for some time but your actions here today have made up my mind,” her father continued. “Please don’t think I want your life to be unhappy, Dani,” he continued in a softer voice. “This marriage will not part you from those you love. Councilor Tornk will be moving to the Southern continent to manage the new gold mines on my behalf so you will see your beloved little sister every day. In fact, you’ll live in Warro’s palace together.”
Suddenly everything clicked into place for Dani.
“Managing them? Tornk is going to be managing the mines?”
“Why, yes I will,” Tornk replied, nodding importantly. “I think the Southern climate will be good for my bones. The warmth of the sun…not to mention the warmth of a young wife in my bed…” He leered at Dani. “Should do wonders for my health. So I told the Monarch I would be willing to oversee his new mines and take on his headstrong daughter to boot.”
“I just bet you did, you old bray-bray,” Dani snapped. “Father can’t you see?” she demanded, turning back to the throne. “No wonder Tornk was so eager to broker the marriage deal between Lavi and Warro! How much of the gold do you think will stick to his fingers before it makes its way to you?”
“How dare you!” Tornk snarled, his face going purple again. “How dare you question my integrity and devotion to my Monarch, you…you female. I promise you that after we are married and I change the color of your eyes there will be a severe punishment for such talk! I will teach you the proper respect for males if it’s the last thing I do!”
“No, you won’t!” Dani exclaimed. “I’ll never marry you! You disgust me.” She turned to her father. “And you disappoint me. If I was a son instead of a daughter, fighting for the rights of a beloved sister, you would listen to me instead of dismissing me.”
“How many times have I wished you were a son,” her father said sadly. Then he shook his head and his face hardened. “But you are not—you are a daughter and a female and it is time you learned your place. Dannella, you will marry Councilor Tornk. It is my royal decree.”
“Your Majesty, perhaps we should call for the Articles of Engagement now and sign them before your throne with your esteemed self as witness,” Tornk suggested silkily.
Dani saw where this was going. In just another moment she would be legally bound to the evil old Councilor for life, for nothing but death could break the articles of engagement once they had been signed.
There was nothing more she could do here—no hope of convincing her father she was anything but a hysterical, headstrong female who needed the firm hand of a male to tame her.
She had to get away…now.
Without another word, she turned and ran through the throne room as fleet as a wild creature running for its life.
“Where is she going? Catch her—catch her you fools!” Councilor Tornk shouted but Dani was faster than the startled guards. She dodged around those who would have caught her, shaking off the hands that sought to grip and hold her, not even caring when they tore her dress. She knew if she was trapped and held in the throne room she would be forced to sign the Articles of Engagement and then her life would be over.
At last she came to the doorway but this time the guards were ready for her.
“Halt, Princess!” one of them shouted and they came together, shoulder-to-shoulder to keep her from scooting under their crossed spears as she had on the way in.
But Dani wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stop her. She still had the sud-stab in her pocket—she had taken to carrying it with her everywhere lately, though she wasn’t exactly sure why since she no longer thought Ky was a threat. But still, it felt good to be armed—empowering—even if she never intended to use her concealed weapon.
Well now she would use it.
Whipping it out of her pocket, she pressed the button and brandished the naked blade in the face of the nearest guard.
“Get out of my way,” she said in a low voice. “Or die.”
She meant it and her sincerity must have shown in her eyes. The guard’s own eyes grew wide and he drew back in alarm or maybe shock. The very idea of a female threatening a male in this way was so foreign to their culture and way of life it had probably never even occurred to him—or to any male in that room.
He didn’t give much ground but it was enough. Dani pushed her way through, ignoring the stinging scratch as one of the pain spears branded her back and shoulder when she brushed past it. The pain in her flesh was nothing to the pain in her heart—nothing at all.
There were shouts and yells but she was running again and her legs were as long as any male's—they couldn’t catch her. Dani rand blindly, tears of rage and hurt clouding her eyes, until she finally reached her own rooms. There she slapped the door shut and locked it behind her. Then, when the banging began, panting and sweating, she dragged a heavy dresser in front of the door and leaned against it.
Gods above and below, how had everything gotten so twisted and mixed-up and ruined? And what was she going to do now?
Dani had no idea.
Chapter Ten
Some time later, the pounding stopped and the angry male voices shouting outside her door quieted. Dani had long since sunk to the floor, her head in her hands, still wondering what to do. Somehow she had to escape Tornk’s clutches and, if possible, keep Lavi from being given to Warro.
But how was any of that to be achieved now that she was a prisoner in her own rooms? Of course, she could always use the secret passageway in the back of her closet—it was the first one she had ever found—to get around the palace. But what of it? She would still be trapped in the palace and eventually she would be caught coming out to get food or clothing.
She couldn’t live forever as a ghost in the walls of her childhood home.
Somehow I have to make Councilor Br
ay-bray not want me anymore, she thought fiercely. If she could get the evil, lecherous old male to renounce his claim on her she was fairly sure no other male would want her either. And then maybe…just maybe…she could get to her father alone and explain more fully about Ahnai and her scar and the way Warro treated his wives. Even now she didn’t believe her father knew the whole story—couldn’t let herself believe it.
Because if he really was the kind of male who would give away a beloved daughter in exchange for material wealth—wealth he didn’t even need—then her father was not the male she had thought she knew all her life.
He was a monster.
She was just deciding that maybe she could live as a ghost in the walls—at least for a little while—when a tapping sounded at her door and a familiar voice spoke.
“Princess? Princess, dear it’s Yana. Come now, be a pet and let me in.”
“No,” Dani said. “How do I know you don’t have a whole battalion of guards behind you?”
“My sweet, I swear I don’t. But if you won’t open the door then please just listen to me.”
“I’m listening,” Dani said warily. She didn’t dislike Yana but she didn’t exactly trust her or harbor a great deal of affection for the old nurse either. After all, the woman had gone out of her way to let it be known that Lavi was her favorite even after Dani’s mother had died.
Dani, who had been hurting and in need after her mother’s sudden death, hadn’t felt able to turn to the older woman because of her obvious preference for Lavi. She had long since forgiven both Yana and Lavi for her childhood pain but she hadn’t forgotten it—and never would.
“Now my sweet,” Yana began. “I’m just here to beg you to see reason.”
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