Beyond Varallan (30 page)

I programmed an alarm for four hours and dropped on my sleeping platform. Four seconds later, the alarm went off. Well, it felt like four seconds.

I dragged my lethargic body off the mattress and into the cleanser. Of course my display’s emergency signal chose that moment to activate. I muttered dire threats against Jorenian tech as I left a trail of wet footprints across the deck.

I punched the keypad. “What?”

Sale’s image appeared. “Senior Healer, Xonea has requested your presence. Captain Pnor will permit a supervised interview.”

Pnor could go talk to him. I had patients to see to. “Tell him I’m busy.”

“Healer.” Salo tried to sound stern. “This is the only opportunity you will be given to speak to Xonea.”

“Why?”

“Xonea will explain.” Before I could say anything, Salo leaned forward and lowered his voice. “It is important, Cherijo.”

“I can’t do this over a channel?” Salo shook his head. “Okay. I'm on the way.” My brows drew together. “Just exactly where
is
detainment, Salo?”

“Level twenty-seven.”

Twenty levels down. Most of the gyrlifts were still out of operation. This had better be good.

Some time later, my tired legs stopped at level twenty-seven’s barricaded entryway. Two very large, armed crew members stood guard. No congenial kidding around here, I discovered as I was permitted access. Those pulse rifles meant business.

Xonea’s cell was a large, empty area, probably used for cargo storage most of the time. There weren't a lot of reasons to detain a Jorenian. When there were, it wasn't for the long term.

I strode up to the mesh barrier and halted where he could see me. “You rang?”

Xonea rose from the bunk he was lying on and approached the barrier. He looked terrible.

“Aren’t they feeding you?” I asked.

“Cherijo, thank you for coming.” He began to reach through the barrier, then saw my face and dropped his hand. “Before I go, I would express my regret over what I have done. You were correct. You never invited my Choice, and did everything to discourage it. Your pardon would mean much to me.”

“You’re forgiven,” I said. “Before you go where?”

“Captain Pnor has informed me of his ruling.” Xonea pressed one huge hand against his flat belly, and winced with a spasm of pain. “I am banished.”

“Banished?” My jaw dropped. “For what?”

“Pnor believes I intend to divert your path. That I would have, when I confronted you in Medical.” Another spasm made him take a quick breath.

“What’s wrong with your stomach?” I demanded, automatically looking around for a first aid kit. “And don't say it's nothing. That's the third or fourth time I've seen you grab it like that.”

“It does not matter. Whatever is wrong will soon be of no consequence. I am banished.”

“So apologize and promise you’ll never do it again.”

“It makes no difference, Cherijo. It is decided.”

“This is crazy.” Xonea Choosing me was bad enough, but banishing him because the Captain
thought
he was trying to kill me? “Pnor’s wrong. I'll tell him he's wrong.”

“He will not reverse his ruling.”

“Don’t you people have due process?” At that, Xonea looked mystified. “Never mind. I won't let him do this. Not without some kind of trial. Can't I…” I recalled how I'd felt under the same circumstances. Saw the glimmer of expectancy in his white eyes. “What?”

“Pnor cannot banish me if I am shielded.”

I recalled the clause from the database.
Suspected offenders Chosen by a member of the victim’s HouseClan after the offense has been committed may be thus shielded from judicial action
…

“Let me get this straight. You want me to go to Pnor. Tell him I Choose you. Then you’re shielded until we reach Joren. Have I covered the
entire
plan?”

He turned away from the mesh. I felt a little ashamed of myself. Xonea had done the same thing to protect me, when Pnor had suspected I was involved in the murders.

“Look, Xonea, I—” Oh, the hell with it. “I’ll go and see Pnor now.”

His shoulders tensed. “You will?” He pivoted, hope erasing the etched despair on his face.

I held up a hand. “There are conditions. No bonding chambers, no vows, no kids. When we reach your home-world, we go our separate ways.” Before he could start giving me his opinion, I shook my head. “I don’t care what the rules are. I'll go along with this until we get to Joren. Then it's over.”

He obviously didn’t like it, but nodded. “Agreed.”

I found the Captain after a brief search of Engineering and made my request. Pnor took me back to his office and at once tried to talk me out of it. For an hour. He talked about HouseClan traditions and deviant behavior and a hundred other reasons to throw my ClanBrother off the
Sunlace
.

“He will expect to claim his Choice,” the Captain added, just for good measure.

We’d just see about that part, I thought, and shrugged.

“Once free, he could easily kill you.”

“Captain, Xonea shielded me when you thought I was the killer.” I stood up. “He deserves the benefit of the doubt, just for that.”

Pnor was bitterly convinced he had made the right decision. “He meant to divert your path, Cherijo. Xonea deserves banishment.”

“In your opinion,” I said. “On my homeworld, we believe people to be innocent until
proven
guilty.”

“A naive concept,” someone else said.

I turned around to find Duncan Reever standing behind me.

“Did our voices carry well enough for you to hear everything this time?” Reever nodded. I glanced back to the Captain. “I checked the judicial database. You can’t stop me.”

“Xonea will be restricted to quarters,” Pnor said. “If you Choose, that will be
your
quarters, Senior Healer.”

Oh joy. Maybe I’d sleep in Medical for a few weeks. “Thank you, Captain.” I grasped Reever's arm and tugged him out of the office with me. “I need to talk to you.”

I found a deserted alcove and pulled him into it with me. It was small and we had to stand close together. The warmth of his body met the chilled surface of my skin.

“Duncan, we’ve had this conversation before.”

“Yes.” His eyes turned wintry grey, gleaming like a frozen Terran lake. I couldn’t get through that cold remoteness now. Maybe it was a form of protection. Maybe Reever
needed
to feel nothing for me. Fine.

“Reever, I—”

All of a sudden he grabbed my tunic and jerked. Our bodies collided. My arms came up around him in reflex. He muttered something, then cradled my face between his scarred hands. Our mouths jolted together, off-center, but he fixed that.

Reever did feel something, after all.

We didn’t speak when our lips parted. There wasn't anything left to say. I stepped out of the alcove, turned and walked away. I didn't look back to see if Reever was watching me go. I already knew he was.

CHAPTER TWELVE
She Who Preserves

«
^
»

I
checked in with Medical, made my rounds, and spoke to Squilyp and Adaola. Explaining things was impossible. It didn’t matter. From the sympathetic looks I got, it already appeared to be public knowledge. I asked Squilyp to assist the nurses until I got back. He was polite and pretended to believe my invented excuse.

I went to my quarters. Signaled the Captain. Made a few final preparations.

This time I caught a functioning gyrlift and returned to level twenty-seven. The two guards were conspicuously absent. Instructions had been left on the outer display on how to let myself into the detainment area.

Xonea was still standing in the same place I’d left him. His eyes, widened as he saw me walk in. I guessed he had counted on me not coming back. He was in for a few more surprises.

“Cherijo.”

“Xonea.” I pressed a few keys on the display panel, which deactivated the barrier-locking mechanism. “Are you ready to do this?”

He smiled as I entered the cell and secured the barrier once more. “You speak as though preparing to perform a medical procedure.”

“Surgery is a lot more fun.”

“Perhaps.” He walked toward me. Two enormous hands descended to rest lightly on my shoulders. “Perhaps not.” He bent forward and brushed his lips against the top of my head. “I am honored.”

“Uh-huh.” I didn’t want to do this. It made me remember when Kao had Chosen me. Aka the happiest day of my life. “How's your stomach?”

He ignored that and stroked my hair. “I will not hurt you, Cherijo.”

“Your ClanBrother said the same thing to me.” A single tear spilled from my lashes. Oh, for God’s sake, I didn't want to start crying now. I wanted to be clinical. Detached. On another vessel a thousand light years from the
Sunlace
. “All right.” I took a deep breath. “Xonea Torin, I Choose you.”

“Cherijo.” His thumb rubbed away the small droplet. “Look at me.”

I did. His fingers released the clasp on my vocollar, and lifted it from my neck. He did the same with his, and dropped them to the deck.

“Bad move,” I said. “How are you going to understand what I’m saying when I tell you I'm not going to have sex with you?”

“Sher-ee-shoh,” Xonea said, carefully wrapping his fluid Jorenian palate around the guttural syllables.
He was speaking Terran
. “Ahyee lahv hyoo.” He touched my lips with his fingers. “Ahyee-huv ol-hways lahvduh hyoo.”

He’d learned enough of my own language to tell me this. Because there was no word for “love” in Jorenian.

My first sexual experience had been with Kao, immediately after he’d Chosen me. Since that night, I hadn't been intimate with anyone except Duncan Reever, and that had been under duress. Now I had Chosen Xonea, who was expecting a wedding night.

I needed to work on my relationships with men.

Something cool and metallic encircled my neck. Xonea was replacing our vocollars. His fingers went on to work my braid loose, then released the warrior’s knot in his hair. A thick swath of black spilled over his shoulders.

“Did I say it correctly?” he asked me.

“Very smooth,” I said. How could I put my refusal into words without hurting his pride? I stalled for time. “How long did it take you to learn how to say it in Terran?”

His lips twitched. “A week.”

Pleading a sudden migraine wouldn’t work. “I'm impressed.”

“So little you are.” He took me in his arms and lifted me up. “I fear I will hurt you.”

Fear was good, I thought. Maybe I could use that. By then he was nuzzling the side of my neck. “Um… Xonea, I need to talk to you about this.”

“Your skin is very delicate,” he said. That faint touch of his fingertip skimming my lips made me swallow and close my eyes. “Terrans must bruise easily.”

Good point. I opened one eye. “Exactly. Which is why—”

“I will be careful with you.” Using just that one finger, Xonea traced a lot more of me. The hollows of my throat. The curves of both breasts. The line of my sternum. The slight convexity of my abdomen. The outer swell of my thigh.

“My Chosen.” Silky black hair fell around me, a dark waterfall. His arms drew me in. “Mine.”

Time to put a stop to this. Right now. “Xonea?”

He held me in that close embrace, his lips moving over my face.

“Xonea. Stop.” I shivered as he buried his mouth against my throat. “I can’t have sex with you.”

He lifted his head. “It is the way of Choice.” Xonea took my hands and pressed them against his chest. “You are shy.”

“I’m not shy.” I tried to tug free. “I'm simply not… um, interested.”

“I want to see your eyes.” His fingers sank into my hair as he tilted my face. “You are still afraid of me?”

“I did this to shield you,” I said, and slowly backed out of his embrace. “Not to become your lover.” I turned toward the barrier. “Captain Pnor.”

“I am here, Senior Healer.” Pnor’s voice came from the display channel I'd activated and left open before entering the detainment cell.

Xonea simply stared at me.

“I’ve Chosen Xonea.” I watched my lover's mouth flatten to a grim line. “I shield Xonea Torin from banishment.”

“As you wish, Cherijo.” The Captain sighed.

Xonea took a step toward me.

“Guards?” I called out. The two armed Jorenians had returned once I’d reactivated the locking mechanism. They now stood just beyond the cell, their backs discreetly toward us. “You guys hear that?”

“Yes, Senior Healer,” one said. They both left without turning around.

I reached up and flipped up a link cover on my vocollar. “Record terminate.” The tiny recording drone deactivated on my voice command. I closed the cover.

“Why, Cherijo?”

“To protect you.” I went over and disengaged the lock. “I needed the recording to present to the Ruling Council. Pnor insisted on the guards coming back. He’s still worried you might try to kill me.” I glanced over my shoulder. “I have to go to work now.”

He stood there, seven-and-a-half-feet of highly upset male. “Come here.”

I didn’t think he wanted to give me a hug or kiss goodbye. Still, I wasn't going to let him intimidate me. He owed me his life, didn't he? I went to him, my chin up, the situation completely under control.

For maybe two seconds.

Huge blue hands seized me and lifted me up. I hung there suspended, my feet dangling. My pale face was a mere inch from his.

Okay. I was intimidated.

“There will be no more open display channels when we are together,” Xonea said.

“Um, sure.”

“Nor will there be a need for guards or recording devices.”

I nodded quickly. Anything to get me back on the deck in one piece.

“Has Pnor restricted me to your quarters?”

Which reminded me. “Yes, but I never said—”

“There is much you did not say.” Xonea put me back down. “On this subject, you have no choice. Now go, or I will claim mine.”

I stomped out of there. No gyrlift to be had this time, so I walked up all eighteen levels to my quarters, changed into my physician’s tunic, and stomped back out. Up two more levels. My injured thigh throbbed. Another reason to be mad.