by Lyn Gala
Representative Fields took a step forward as though cutting off any response the commander might have. He had to be nearly as old as Lilian, but he had a softness to him. Lilian was a third his size, but Shan would wager that she could take him in a fight. “I’m sure Ambassador Gazer has focused on your health, keeping you from the bulk of the negotiations.”
“I haven’t really asked about them.”
The two men exchanged glances. “I won’t bore you with details,” the representative said, moving closer. His face was lined deeply, but there was pink tone that Shan associated with children—a freshness that adults generally lost about the time they started working outside for any length of time.
“Sandrats chew only one corner at a time,” Shan answered. He honestly didn’t care about negotiations. He cared about getting the machines out of his body and going home.
Oddly, the representative smiled. “Your planet does have a colorful way of communicating. The linguist shifts are fascinating, especially since only three generations separate Livre from PA space. So, a sandrat is one of the local predators and a corner is clearly as small piece of the whole, so I am guessing that you are suggesting that the devil is in the details.”
Shan looked at the man, not even understanding the other man’s overly friendly smile.
That smile slowly faded. “We do have business to conduct. Your planet needs water, technology, medical equipment, and medicine. The fatality rate for simple accidents and childbirth is terrifyingly high. We can help with all that. We can benefit each other.”
A bit of scripture popped into Shan’s memory. “Today or tomorrow we will go to this city or that, spend a year here, carry on, and make a little money,” he intoned. Div would have come up with a better quote—one that didn’t potentially insult his host since the rest of the quote cast aspersions on people who put business ahead of God.
Again, a flash of confusion crossed both men’s faces. “I’m afraid I don’t know that quote.”
“It’s from John.” Shan paused. “Or James… I’m better at remembering the quote than remembering where it’s from.” Since he wasn’t a priest anymore, he didn’t need to keep his books of the Bible straight.
His visitors developed matching sour expressions. The AFP might take religion too far, but Shan believed too strongly to like the thought of people who were so quick to dismiss the Bible. Naite’s attitude about God certainly annoyed Shan to no end. And considering how well Shan did talking to his brother, he figured he should probably avoid any conversation with these guys. He couldn’t figure out why Lilian and the others had sent him at all. Other than flirting with a woman who had no interest in him, surviving the cold of space, and recovering after a chunk of metal cut through his guts, he hadn’t really done much.
“We were hoping to discuss some numbers.”
“With me?” Shan asked Representative Fields.
“You are an ambassador.”
“So is Temar.”
Commander Green shifted, and Shan suspected that the negotiations had turned more contentious than Temar had told him. Shan shifted, his body twinging with pain. If these people wanted to play dirty, Shan couldn’t even get out of bed. It wasn’t a good feeling. A heavy fear settled in his guts, and for the first time in his life, Shan wished he had a gun in hand. Getting blown up had changed his outlook on violence, that was for sure.
Fields gave Shan a conspiratorial look. “We had hoped that you would be more reasonable. You must admit that Ambassador Gazer is young and perhaps untested in diplomatic waters. The world is not quite as black and white as he would assume.”
“Wait. You think I’m going to be less… what? Less rigid with my morals?”
“Morals? No.” Representative Fields recoiled from the word the way another man might from a slap to the face. Honestly, these people made no sense. “We would never ask that someone violate their moral values. Ambassador Temar simply needs some help to understand that negotiations require give and take.”
“So you think I’ll be….” Shan let his voice trail off as he invited them to explain exactly what they were talking about.
“Perhaps more flexible.” Fields got that smile on his face again. He wasn’t going to be smiling in a second because Temar stood in the open door behind them with a look on a face that reminded Shan of Div on a truly bad day. When Pelip had admitted that he had not only broken his vows to his husband but that he had gotten a woman pregnant, Div had this disbelieving shock crossed with a cold fury that made Shan want to hide in the next room. He had never expected to see that look on Temar’s face.
Shan smiled, truly amused now. “So, Temar isn’t flexible? Why do I suspect that means that he isn’t giving you want you want?”
“Your planet needs supplies. We were hoping as the older of the two diplomats you could get him to understand the need to compromise in difficult situations.”
“I think I already understand your definition of compromise,” Temar said coldly.
Both men spun around amusingly fast. Perhaps it was unkind, but Shan couldn’t keep from grinning. It was so nice to watch someone else flail for a change. “Ambassador Gazer,” Commander Green said with an unctuous smile.
Temar’s response was decidedly cold. “Commander.”
Representative Fields moved closer, his movements small and cautious. “Ambassador, I do apologize for any breach of protocol; however, we did feel that both of you should be advised of the reasonable offers we have put on the table.”
“So, calling Livre to try and circumvent me wasn’t enough?” Temar might not be a large man, but sometime in the last few weeks, he had developed a glare that could sting like a nettle.
“They called Livre?” Shan asked, surprised he hadn’t heard anything about all this conflict.
“They reached Naite,” Temar agreed as he came to Shan’s bedside.
Shan cringed. “Oh, that must have gone over well. Please tell me he didn’t suggest they do anatomically impossible acts with a sandcat.”
Temar grinned. “He might have. He certainly does seem a little obsessed with sandcat genitals.”
Shan groaned. Growing up, Naite and his friends seemed to make a contest out of inventing new profanity and stealing the genitals from biology class dissections to stick in other people’s faces. Sadly, Naite had never outgrown one of those two habits.
“It could be worse. They could have reached Lilian.” Temar gave him a conspiratorial wink.
“Oh yeah. If they want to see inflexible, we should introduce them to Lilian. That woman would bend the universe before she yielded one inch.”
Temar perched on the edge of Shan’s bed, his hand resting against Shan’s thigh. “She scares me, and not much scares me anymore. I think Lilian and the sight of you getting blown into space—that’s about it.”
“I’ll try to avoid any more assassination attempts,” Shan promised, and for a second, they gazed at each other, and the reality of their near loss seemed to press closer so that Shan wanted to cling to Temar—to hold him and reassure himself that they had come through one more disaster alive and together.
Then Representative Fields cleared his throat. “We only want what—”
“What will benefit the PA,” Temar interrupted. His voice was low and soft, but it had a power behind it. “You think we will trade our world away for water—water we can get from any number of worlds, or maybe we will trade with the AFP for an ice mining ship. You betrayed my world once, and now you want to pretend that didn’t happen.”
Fields stiffened. “The war necessitated many sacrifices, and we have accepted that you now have every right to renegotiate a new treaty, but if you plan to join the AFP, we will move to intervene.”
Temar gave a humorless laugh. “Do you think we would join an alliance that would outlaw homosexual marriage? Our people wouldn’t put up with that, but we aren’t nearly as desperate as you seem to think for your trade. You may have water, but we have optic glass and mineral
s. We have rare metals, and we have trade goods you haven’t even considered. We have a drought-resistant corn species that only requires a hundred and ninety pounds of water per crop acre. We can bring in millet at almost half that and rye at just over three hundred pounds of water. How much is that worth? How much time could you save in terraforming with those sorts of seed varieties?”
Temar stood up, and Shan could feel the power shift in the room. Temar had clearly done his homework because the two PA men were utterly still. The shock was a near palpable force that rolled through the room. As much as Shan had felt quickly repressed shivers of desire when Temar had shown up in the back of his church, that paled in comparison to the desire he felt now. This was a strong man who didn’t need protecting. Temar wasn’t someone to be sheltered, someone Shan had to protect or worry about hurting. This Temar could take care of himself while verbally gutting anyone who got in his way.
“I think you’ll find that Temar is the most reasonable person on Livre because I wouldn’t have even mentioned those crops,” Shan said mildly, not mentioning that he wouldn’t have known enough to recognize he should mention them. “You can negotiate with him or you can give up all rights to our minerals and our seed crops.”
“Those are valuable trade goods,” Representative Fields said slowly.
“And if you try to circumvent me one more time, they are trade goods that will go to the AFP,” Temar interrupted. “I may hate the AFP on general principle, but you are annoying me to the point where I might start hating you more. Now Shan needs his rest, so I suggest you two leave.” Temar crossed his arms. The room grew silent and taut, and Shan waited, not sure what he could say or do to back Temar’s position. Luckily, he didn’t have to. The two PA officials glanced at each other, and then Commander Fields held out his hand toward Temar.
“Ambassador, I am sorry for interrupting your evening.”
Temar took his hand. “Don’t repeat the mistake,” he suggested in a tone that made it clear he wouldn’t forgive so easily next time.
Commander Green headed for the door with a simple, “Ambassador,” and then both men left, closing the door to Shan’s room behind them. The second the door clicked shut, Temar sagged, leaning on the bed and Shan’s good leg.
“Well, you’ve been having fun,” Shan commented. The glare Temar gave him could have cracked glass. “I take it that the negotiations you never want to talk about aren’t going that well.”
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
Shan studied Temar. “I don’t worry about it because you can handle yourself and them. You’re doing better than I would have. But I’d like to hear about it.”
Temar’s gaze softened. “You aren’t upset that I left you out?”
Shan thought about that. He had grown so used to worrying about Temar that it had become second nature. Was he pushing too hard, too fast? Would Temar get hurt if he talked to Natalie? Naite had warned him about respecting Temar, but looking back, Shan could see that he had already spent too much time thinking of Temar as a victim. Now that he’d been the one held captive and threatened—now that he’d faced death, Shan could see one truth. It didn’t change him. And Ben’s evil didn’t prevent Temar from turning into a sharp-tongued negotiator who could go toe to toe with Lilian.
“I’m not upset at all. So, is there anything I can do to help you? Do you need anything?”
Temar smiled and reached up to brush his fingers over Shan’s cheek. “Do you want to look up crop figures for the five planet agricultural belt and download them into a spreadsheet comparing natural rainfall to irrigation to crop yield? I think the drought resistant crops might be a good bargaining chip here, and I would like to have some more ammunition, but I’m already in the middle of researching industrial uses for yttrium.”
Giving an exaggerated sigh, Shan looked up at the ceiling. “I offer him my body, and he wants me to research water use and crop yields. I think I’ve reached boring old married couple status before the wedding.”
Temar answered him with a soft punch in the arm.
“Do you have a datapad I can use?”
“I’ll get you one,” Temar said, and he started to go, but Shan caught his arm and pulled him back to the bed.
“In a second. Payment first, research later.” Shan pulled on Temar until he was close enough that Shan could reach up and curl his fingers around Temar’s neck. Smiling, Temar obliged by leaning closer, and Shan parted his lips, kissing his lover passionately enough to make him forget about crop yields and yttrium—whatever the hell that was.
Chapter 35
SHAN didn’t even realize he’d fallen asleep for the millionth time in the past few days until he drifted toward awareness. Temar sat in a chair next to his bed, one foot braced on the corner of the mattress, and all his attention on a datapad braced against his knee. Sometimes during sex, Temar would get this expression, as if he knew exactly what he wanted to do and exactly how he wanted to do it. He’d move with this surety that never followed him outside the bedroom. However, that same surety seemed to cling to Temar now. He scrolled through the datapad without looking around the room nervously or shifting in the chair. In all the years that he’d known Temar, he’d never seen this quiet in him, but it was a look that he carried well.
Shan reached out and rested his hand on Temar’s foot. Immediately Temar set the datapad aside and leaned forward to take Shan’s hand in his. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Ready to be ambushed,” Shan lied. His body still had traces of that foreign numbness that made him feel disjointed.
“They must have better medicine here than back home, then,” Temar said. “And speaking of, right now we are officially in orbit over Livre. However, your doctors turned several colors of green when I suggested shoving you in a skip, shuttle, airship thing and taking you home.”
“Skip, shuttle, airship?” Shan asked with a smile. That was an interesting description.
“You know what I mean.” Temar poked him in the arm.
Shan swallowed and braced himself before asking his next question. “How long, then?”
A shadow crossed Temar’s face. He didn’t answer immediately. “You were really injured. I thought we were going to be up here for months, but the doctors said you can start walking today, and after a week of the machines speeding the healing, they’ll send you home.”
“Oh, thank the Lord,” Shan breathed. “I don’t know what makes me happier—the idea of getting to walk after days in this bed or the promise of going home.” Shan smiled at Temar. “Of course, one thing could make me happier.” Moving slowly, so that Temar would have time to stop him, Shan reached for his lover’s arm and tugged him closer. Temar moved so he was right up against the bed, and when Shan kept tugging, Temar got an amused expression as he climbed up next to Shan.
“Look at that,” Shan said with feigned surprise. “I’m in bed with my lover, who I have desperately missed.” The numbness in his body had faded over the past few days, and now Shan’s cock was warming nicely to the close quarters.
“Just me and my critically wounded partner with the serious internal injuries.” Temar pointed out.
“Doctors… they all exaggerate injuries to make you feel more grateful that they could heal you.”
“I saw your internal organs being noninternal,” Temar pointed out dryly.
“So no ambushing?” Shan asked sadly. He sighed and watched as Temar rolled his eyes.
“Your manipulative powers are not in the same league with Lilian’s,” he pointed out.
“I wouldn’t even try to compete, but can we please put Lilian on that list of people who we do not talk about while trying to have sex?”
“Is that what we’re doing?” Now Temar was teasing. Shan could see from his expression.
“Hopefully. I haven’t been ambushed for a long time.”
“So, you’re asking me to ambush you?”
“Yes.” Shan came right out and said it. Temar smiled, and h
e moved like he was chuckling, even though no sound came out. There was an ease in Temar now, a shift that meant he didn’t pull back anymore. Shan reached up to stoke the back of his finger along Temar’s cheek.
“I’m leading. You’d try to do something energetic, and with our luck, we’d be hanging from the chandelier when you tore out stitches and all these doctors came running.”
“Hanging from the chandelier?” Shan frowned. He’d never heard that saying. He wasn’t even totally sure what a chandelier was, although he seemed to remember it was a light.
Temar cleared his throat. “Verly gave me a book… as a get-well gift for you.”
“And it had chandeliers in it?” Shan was seriously confused.
The deep blush that spread over all of Temar’s face and down onto his neck and shoulders confused Shan more.
“What?”
Temar put his hand on Shan’s chest. “I promise I will show you after you have all the stitches out, okay?”
“Is this the sort of thing that’s going to make me track Verly down and hurt him?”
“No. You might, however, buy him dinner. So please, maybe we could just drop this.”
Shan opened his mouth to try and pry more information out of Temar, but Temar leaned close and kissed him gently. Their lips pressed together, the heat making Shan forget everything else as he parted his lips in invitation. Temar’s fingers caressed Shan’s neck, and Shan stroked a thumb over Temar’s smooth shoulder, sucking Temar’s lower lip in while Temar made a small whimper.
Temar shifted closer, and Shan slipped an arm under Temar, pulling them tightly together. Then, mid-kiss, Shan grunted in pain. Immediately, Temar pulled back.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Shan said.
“You grunted.”
“I just had a twinge.”
“A twinge.” Temar pinned him with a look far colder than Shan had ever seen on Temar before.