Outlaw

by Angela Verdenius

  “I’m here, my love,” Tenia said soothingly. “I’m always here. I won’t leave you.”

  ~*~

  His fingers closed around her hand, gripping tightly, and Tenia bit her lip so that she wouldn’t cry out at the almost painful grasp. She didn’t pull away, but curled her fingers around his.

  Vivid blue eyes gazed desperately up at her before closing once more. Her presence seemed to give him peace for a short while before the nightmares started again.

  Coran entered the room to check the wound and change the dressing.

  “Isn’t there something we can give him to stop the nightmares?” Tenia looked pleadingly at the medic.

  “I’m sorry, no. It’s a part of the fever and must run its course.”

  Reya entered the medi unit. “You’ve sat with him for three days and nights. Go and get some rest, I’ll stay with him.”

  “No, I must stay here.”

  “You’re so tired. Only for an hour, little sister. Just one hour.”

  “I must stay, Reya. I must, don’t you see?”

  “I know, Tenia.” Reya nodded with a sigh. “Okay, is there anything you need?”

  “No. Thank you.”

  ~*~

  The days crept past slowly, and still Darvk was in the thrall of fever. Sarrah sat with him, leaving only to rest when necessary. Both she and Tenia ate in the bedroom, keeping him under constant vigil.

  She worried about her son and she worried about Tenia. The warrior was exhausted, her eyes shadowed and face thin. She hardly ate and had lost weight. She refused to sleep and when Sarrah wasn’t there, she spoke to Darvk. Sarrah knew this because she’d overheard her.

  The love the Reeka had for her son was strong. So strong, in fact, that it was as if his illness was sapping the strength from the golden-haired woman whom she’d grown to love like a daughter.

  During the long, lonely nights they’d talked about him, lying there between them. She spoke of his childhood, his dreams, and his father of whom he was so alike.

  Tenia listened with avid interest.

  Darvk’s crew came and went regularly, as did the Reekas. Even Reya and Dana offered to sit with him so that Tenia could eat and rest, but to no avail. She refused to leave his side. So now they all worried about Darvk, so desperately ill, and Tenia, so pale and strained in appearance.

  ~*~

  Tenia glanced over to the corner where Sarrah lay on a small visitor’s bed. Exhausted, she slept deeply. A week had passed.

  Tenia sat in the chair beside the bed where she had sat every night and day since Darvk had been shot. Resting her elbows on the bed, she placed her cheek on his large hand clasped between her own and gazed at him.

  The laughing eyes were shut, his thick dark lashes feathered on cheeks that had grown thinner and paler with illness. The sensual lips that laughed with such love of life and kissed so tenderly were still, loosely closed.

  Reaching out, she tenderly smoothed his chin with her thumb. In his quieter moments she and Sarrah had bathed and shaved him, keeping him clean.

  Now his mother slept, intending to lie down for just a quick nap. That had been two hours ago. Knowing how exhausted she was, Tenia didn’t awaken her.

  She sniffed and a tear trickled down her cheek, catching on his knuckle and rolling, unnoticed, down his arm. “Morgan and Connie are to be wed, you know, once you are better, so you must be quick because they are impatient. But adamant that you, as Captain, give them your blessing.” She laughed, but it came out watery with a catch. “Garret has his eye on Dana, but she reckons he’s just horny for a strong warrior. He’s going to have a hard time of it with her, Darvk, if he really wants her.” Another tear and a sob.

  She moistened his dry lips with a wet cloth, straightened the covers over his chest and resumed her seat. Twining her fingers through his, she brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed his knuckles gently. Lovingly she traced the sharp contours of his face, the strong nose, sensuous lips, and firm jaw. Running her fingers down the column of his neck, she rested her hand on the swell of muscles on his chest above the healing patch that covered his wound, smoothing them softly, gently.

  “You said you’d never leave me, that you wouldn’t allow me to,” she whispered on a choked sob. “You said you loved me and we’d be together from now to eternity. I’m telling you now, Darvk, I need you, here, now. My life is nothing without you, my love. I’m a strong wench, you said. Well, I need a strong man.” Wearily she rubbed her cheek on the back of his hand. “What more can I say? I need you, I love you. Come back to me, my love. Please come back.”

  She rested her forehead on their joined hands, tears slipping down her cheeks while silent sobs wracked her slender frame.

  Sarrah slept on. Moonlight peeked in through the window but the soft glow from the lamp in the corner forced it back. All was quiet in this section of the Intergalactic Peace Ship.

  A soft brush on the back of her hand. Fingers flexing against her own.

  “I’ll never leave you, Tenia,” a hoarse whisper in the stillness.

  Lifting her head, she stared at their joined hands. Long fingers flexed again then tightened around hers. Slowly she looked up to meet eyes that glowed with love.

  Her heart leaped.

  “You came back.” Her voice trembled.

  “I never left.” He cracked a small, weak smile. “After all, you need me.”

  Joy filled her and she leaned forward, brushing her lips across his, wanting to hold him tight in her arms but common sense warning her about his weakness, to be careful.

  “I love you, Darvk.” She pressed her lips to his cheek. “Don’t ever leave me. I need you.”

  He cradled her damp cheeks in his palms, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. “I can’t leave you, my love. I need you, too.” He slid his arms around her and cradled her close. “For now and eternity.”

  “For now and eternity,” she whispered, her voice shaking with emotion.

  “After all.” He kissed the golden head. “I need a strong warrior to keep me on track.”

  She gave a choked laugh. “I’ll remind you of that the next time you’re impossible.”

  Chapter 17

  The room was silent, the three women looking at each other with varying degrees of curiosity and wariness.

  Tenia was torn between the knowledge that Minna was her grandmother, yet a stranger.

  Reya was unreadable, as usual. Tenia had no idea what her sister was thinking.

  Minna appeared a little lost as she looked at the sisters. Since the death of Shari, she had retreated further into herself.

  Glancing around the room to find it plain in comparison to the riches of the Inka Empire fortress, Tenia wondered how she was coping. To be truthful, she’d expected Minna to either try to build a relationship with her granddaughters or return to luxury, so her move to a small manor-type house on the far side of the Inka planet staffed with simply one cook and one housemaid had surprised them all.

  Well, all except Reya. What Reya thought about it, no one knew. She didn’t give an opinion and when asked, had simply shrugged, apparently uncaring one way or another. Or she simply didn’t want to say. Even when the summons to the manor house had arrived, Reya hadn’t seemed surprise.

  Tenia was finally starting to acknowledge that she didn’t really know her sister that well anymore, even after all they’d been through together.

  Loved her, yes, but know her? No.

  “Your mother,” Minna broke the silence. “She never told you that Vulya was my son.”

  “No.” Tenia shook her head.

  “Never mentioned that he was an Inka.”

  Tenia shook her head again.

  “I see.” Minna gazed into the distance.

  Tenia glanced at Reya, who gave a small shrug.

  Seconds ticked past and she was starting to wonder if this summons had been for nothing. Minna hadn’t greeted them with affection, had simply led them to this quiet little lounge room and sa
t them on a sofa more pretty than comfortable, while she took the only armchair facing them.

  Personally, she wasn’t so sure that Minna was really even properly grounded in the here-and-now. She seemed to go off into the past - or the future - gazing silently at something only she could see.

  But suddenly Minna focussed on them, her eyes growing just a little sharper as she nodded to herself. “Your mother kept secrets.”

  Not about to reveal anything, Tenia just waited.

  “Your mother was very beautiful.” Minna didn’t smile, stated the fact plainly. “Vulya fell in love with her at first sight. Neither Shari nor myself approved, you know.”

  That was more than obvious but Tenia held back the retort, realising now that Minna had summoned them to discuss her parents. That gave her hope that finally the last pieces of the puzzle would fall into place.

  Reya sat as still as a statue, the steady rise and fall of her chest and the slow blink of her eyelids the only motion.

  Bracing her elbows on her knees, Tenia leaned forward. It wasn’t as though she couldn’t hear her, but it was a reaction that seemed to wake Minna fully from wherever she was threatening to drift once more.

  “It broke my heart when Vulya left us for the Reeka; it broke his father’s heart.” She pondered this, gave a small nod as though in silent agreement with an inner voice. “The news of your births was sent by Vulya personally. I would normally have been delighted to have grandchildren, but not part Reeka. We needed full-blooded heirs, not half bloods. Full Inkas.”

  Considering what had happened, that wasn’t entirely unexpected.

  “My husband was so angry.” Minna regarded her granddaughters. “He threatened Vulya with exclusion, and Vulya responded by cutting all ties.”

  The background was slowly coming together, and Tenia listened eagerly to this insight into her father.

  In contrast, Reya’s expression was inscrutable.

  Minna stroked the tip of one finger across her bottom lip as she continued slowly. “Karana showed up one night, you know.”

  Surprise flickered through Tenia.

  “On her own, she was. She actually came to our fortress, a lowly Reeka, asking to see us. Shari was so sure he could bribe her, could make her throw Vulya from the Reeka settlement, her home and her bed, make him return to us as he should have been all that long time. But all Karana was there to do, was plead with us to not turn our backs on Vulya, our son. As if we would.” Minna sniffed, a fleeting glimpse of the once-haughty Inka royalty. “All he had to do was come back to us.”

  Hearing the words, Tenia had a feeling the once-haughty royalty was still there, buried deep down. But still, she had to know - Reya had to know - what had happened. This little piece of her parent’s history had meaning, she was sure of it. It was a piece of the secret.

  Minna rested her hand on the armrest of the chair, fingers stroking the plain material, her gaze distant as she saw things replaying in her mind. “Karana refused to give up Vulya. She refused to accept money, riches beyond imagination. She refused power and prestige, refused everything we offered. Her love for our son was so strong. She was so loyal.” Unexpectedly, Minna’s lips twisted in scorn. “As though she was good enough for him, better than us.”

  The sudden open dislike was surprising. For a woman who'd helped prove her granddaughters’ innocence - the innocence of an entire race - her distaste for the Reekas was still apparent.

  And for a woman who at the hearing had appeared so frail, so broken, she was showing a remarkably different side now. Tenia had a feeling they were finally seeing the real Minna. Deception runs deep…

  “When she said that her daughters were our flesh and blood, too, Shari told her, rightfully so, that her whelps were no kin to us.” The open dislike in Minna’s eyes was unmistakeable.

  Tenia didn’t flinch, though she wondered what the hell the woman had planned by proving the innocence of the granddaughters she didn’t like. Obviously she hadn’t had a change of heart.

  Reya didn’t twitch a muscle.

  Minna continued to stroke the armrest. “She was so angry she left us with the promise she’d never darken our door again, never mention us to her daughters, never tell Vulya she’d come to beg on his behalf. Never tell a soul that he was related to us. As she stood there on the doorstep with bloody pity on her face, she vowed that no matter what happened, she would never acknowledge Vulya as being part of us.” Minna’s eyes snapped in derision. “As though we would want to acknowledge blood ties with those not Inka? Laughable. But your mother wasn’t laughing when Shari finished with her.”

  For the first time, Reya spoke. “What did you do to her?”

  Minna flicked her fingers dismissively. “Shari had her beaten.”

  Shocked, Tenia jerked upright. “You had our mother beaten?”

  “Oh, not badly.” Minna fished a handkerchief from her pocket, coughed delicately into it before curling her fingers around the linen. “Enough to remind her who she was, who we were in comparison. She could walk when she left, and she wasn’t too marked up.” She paused. “She fought back, you know.”

  Anger was bubbling inside Tenia. “You brought us here to tell us you had our mother beaten?”

  “Well, it wasn’t really my choice. Shari had it done, but…” Minna shrugged elegantly. “Manners have to be taught.”

  Tenia’s hands fisted. “How can you just sit there so calmly? You knew what he’d done to us, to my mother.”

  “My dear,” Minna said, as though speaking to a simpleton. “We’re Inka Empire, you’re Reeka. It’s perfectly obvious.”

  Seething, Tenia stormed to the door, realising belatedly that Reya wasn’t behind her. Whirling around, she stopped short to see her sister still seated on the sofa.

  Startled, she wondered why Reya just sat there looking at Minna.

  Why Minna was looking at her.

  What they were both seeing that she didn’t.

  Or were they even seeing the same thing?

  Hand on the ornate doorknob, she waited with anger pounding inside her.

  “Our mother walked away after that,” Reya stated quietly.

  “Yes,” Minna replied.

  “She never acknowledged Inka after that.”

  “No.”

  “Not even when the Inka’s attacked us.”

  “No.”

  “No blood kin ties.”

  “No.”

  “Because you denied Vulya, you denied her, you denied us,” Reya said with cold clarity. “Because of this the Inkas, in her eyes, were not a part of her family. She didn’t know them, didn’t want to know them.”

  Minna’s chin lifted. “Correct.”

  “And that is why she never told us that Father was the son of Shari.”

  Minna’s eyes flickered. “He was always our son. She broke the ties.”

  “No. Vulya chose our mother. Our mother chose him.” Reya stood with almost threatening grace, her hand idly brushing the dagger strapped to her thigh.

  Tenia watched Minna’s face - she refused to acknowledge her as ‘grandmother’ - grow harder. Lifting the fine linen to her mouth, she coughed again, wiped her lips with a betrayingly trembling hand.

  Reya leaned over her, bracing a hand on the armrest. “She chose us. She chose the Reekas, her true blood kin.”

  Minna met her gaze narrowly.

  “Mother never even acknowledged you when your soldiers attacked. Her secret was one she took to her grave, one she never intended to taint us with. But it did taint us, didn’t it? Or rather, you meant it to.”

  Now Tenia was confused. “Reya? What do you mean?”

  Reya didn’t remove her gaze from Minna, remaining bent so close that only a foot separated their faces, but her words were for Tenia. “Minna knew all along what happened, and then she stumbled upon that little viewchip. Part of her wanted to protect Shari, protect their name, but hatred runs deep and she saw a way to poison our name instead.”

  “By linki
ng us to the Inkas? How could that possibly work? She doesn’t even like us.”

  “It’s not us, Tenia. It’s a last kick in the teeth for Mother.”

  Neither Minna nor Reya moved an inch, staring into each other’s eyes.

  “Mother sought to keep us from the truth, that the Inkas who beat her, tried to destroy our family then destroy us as a race, were related to us.”

  “And in retaliation for taking our son,” Minna continued, “I let the world know her secret. I let the world know that the blood ties were there. I destroyed her promise.”

  The words sifted through Tenia. Her face paled, stomach dropping sickeningly as the truth expanded, seeming to almost fill the room with the bitter tang of hatred and revenge.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Shari hated us enough to kill us and reclaim his son’s body. You hated Karana enough to see that her promise to herself, the secret she kept even into death, was revealed to all regardless of who you had to take down to see it done, and that included your own husband.”

  “Yes.”

  “How sick are you?” Tenia didn’t know what else to say, could only repeat in angry astonishment, “How sick are you?”

  Minna just smiled.

  Until Reya reached out to slowly pull the handkerchief from her fingers.

  Minna’s eyes flashed, a rebuttal on her lips, but then she stopped and released the handkerchief, watched as Reya straightened and opened the linen out for Tenia to see.

  Red spots edged with blue marred the cloth.

  “Sick with bitterness, sick with disease.” Reya regarded the cloth. “Marcasa, a sexually transmitted rotting disease, which can only have come from Shari being unfaithful. Your son denied you, a lowly Reeka held you in contempt and pity, and your husband unfaithful and in so being, he also signed your death warrant.” She dropped the handkerchief into Minna’s lap. “You’ve nothing to lose, have you, Minna? You’ll be dead in four months. Shari is dead, Karana is dead, her secret is revealed, and you will never see the inside of a prison for your part in it.”

  Minna smiled thinly. “So very perceptive of you, Reya.”