Brianna (34 page)

She couldn’t just throw her out. She was a member of the clan, and had parents and other relatives who could make things harder for Char. “Xdana, are there any other Alalakan estates?”

“There are several. I’ll have her transferred immediately.”

Brianna waved her hand dismissively. “Go pack your things.

You’ll be leaving before the day is over.”

She watched unemotionally as the maid ran sobbing from the room. Then she asked, “Does anyone else have any problems with the thought of living without my husband’s sexual favors?”

A chorus of no’s answered her question. Not a single maid looked in Char’s direction.

Looking towards her mother-in-law, Brianna stated, “I’ve finished now, Xdana.”

“I’ll say,” Ban stated from the doorway. “Don’t worry, Coz. I’ll protect Char’s chastity with my own body. No maid shall assault his fidelity.”

“Shut up, Ban.”

He made no attempt to hide the suggestive leers he tossed at various maids, some of whom were returning them cautiously, after furtive glances in Brianna’s direction.

Brianna ignored them. She’d made her point.

Jenneta linked her arm through Brianna’s and guided her from the room. “That was well done. Transferring her will quell complaints. Banishing her might have eventually caused problems.”

Sighing, Brianna nodded. “I thought of that. The last thing I want to do is start a feud within the clan. I’m enough of a shock as it is.”

Jenneta’s merry laughter trailed behind them. “But you’re such a delightful shock, my dear.”

*

Muttering, Brianna counted again. Again she was one letter short.
How am I going to get these alphabets parallel when
Drakian has more vowels?

Her musings were interrupted when Char walked in.

“Working hard?”

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. The last few days, he’d gone out of his way to pay more attention to her. And since her speech to the staff, the maids avoided him like the since her speech to the staff, the maids avoided him like the plague. However, houseguests were arriving to celebrate Solstice and Sheala’s eighteenth birthday. She had watched more than one woman flirt with Char. In every case, he had firmly and publicly declined all invitations. Why had he changed all of a sudden?

Char bent, nuzzled her collar aside, and kissed her neck. He placed his hand on her swelled abdomen. “Under different circumstances, love, I’d have you here on the floor right now.”

Steadying her breathing, she replied, “No, Char, I’d have
you
on the floor right now.”

He scooped her into his arms. “Then perhaps it is best that we do find a bed.”

Before he was able to take a single step towards the door, the intercom began to buzz. Muttering an expletive, he set a giggling Brianna to her feet. Reaching over, he pushed the receive button. “Chardadon.”

Ban’s voice, sharper than Brianna had ever heard it, exploded into the room. “Get out here to the shuttle pad, Char.

There’s a Gattan warbird requesting permission to land.”

Brianna placed her hand on his arm. “What’s wrong?”

“Gattan never land at private shuttle pads,” he said. Pushing the button, he asked, “Did they identify themselves in any way?

The warbird could have mechanical problems.”

“‘Wendjas has come’,” Ban answered. “I hope you know what that means.”

“Find Rodane and tell him to meet me out there,” Char ordered without answering Ban’s question, “and inform my father and mother that we may have an unknown number of guests staying for a while.”

He glanced at Brianna with a thoughtful look. “You asked once how I got the scar on my chest, and I never got around to telling you. Would you like to meet the man who put it there?”

Brianna nodded. Though this visit was obviously unexpected, Char didn’t think there was any danger. He’d never let her anywhere near that ship otherwise.

Fifteen minutes later, they stood with Rodane and Ban next to the shuttle pad. A door in the side of the sleek ship opened and an automatic stairway emerged.

“What a beautiful ship,” Brianna said.

Ban worshiped it with his eyes. “That warbird is top-of-the-line Gattan technology. She’s fully capable of extensive interplanetary flight. I hope these are
good
friends, Char. If we don’t get the Alalakans involved in that technology, their ships will soon be better than ours.”

A man appeared at the door of the ship.

“ It
is
Wendjas,” Char breathed quietly. Jerking his head towards Ban and Rodane, he pulled his shirt over his head.

They quickly followed his lead.

Brianna watched them curiously. When Char looked meaningfully at her, she gasped, “If you think I’m taking my shirt off, you’re crazy!”

“Then I hope this isn’t one of your favorite shirts.” He ripped off the short sleeve and tore open the shoulder seam so that her dragon was revealed.

“Close you mouth, Coz,” Ban hissed, “you want to make a good impression. These are Gattan.”

Snapping her mouth shut, Brianna concentrated on the man approaching them. One look told her why the Gattan ambassador to Mediria was so interested in the lion’s picture.

If a full-grown African lion could be reshaped into human form while still retaining its most striking characteristics, he would look like the man who walked towards them.

Approximately six feet four, the Gattan wore a full lion’s mane.

Thick, golden hair, combed behind pointed ears cascaded down his back. Though he was clean-shaven, Brianna was sure he could sport a full golden beard if he so chose. His nose was somewhat flatter and wider than she was used to but was by no means unattractive. Piercing golden eyes, which moved constantly about his surroundings, missed nothing. His thin lips were drawn back in a wide grin, displaying strong, white teeth.

He glided with the grace of a cat, smoothly and easily.

Wearing an open, sleeveless vest, his darkly tanned chest was bare, displaying more than a few white scars, one that matched Char’s almost perfectly. Muscular bare arms displayed more scars. Around his waist, he wore a thick belt of the red gold.

Embedded in its elaborately carved buckle was a large red diamond. The dark pants he wore hugged his body, revealing powerful thighs. Boots of the same type of soft, brown leather as his vest reached to his knees. The boot sheath held a dagger with a red diamond on its hilt. All in all he was a very imposing figure.

The lion man stopped in front of Char. “Ho, Alalakan Dragon, I have come as I said I would.”

Char crossed him arms over his chest. “I see you, Wendjas Drefeson. What brings you to my home?”

Wendjas threw back his head and laughed. “You haven’t forgotten your stay on Gattan.”

Taking his eyes from Char, he focused his attention on Brianna. He moved close enough to trace the dragon on her shoulder.

She felt all three Alalakan men tense.

“So, you’re the woman who conquered the Alalakan dragon and carries his heir. It’s easy to see why. Chardadon has a weakness for fiery hair.”

Brianna’s eyebrows arched at his comment.

Lifting her left hand, Wendjas examined her wedding band with a grin. “You told me you would find a good use for the red diamonds, Alalakan.”

Still holding Brianna’s hand in his, Wendjas turned his attention to the two men who stood behind her.

Before he could say another word, however, a harsh voice snarled, “Bandalardrac Hardan, Medirian half-breed. What woman do you lust after here?”

Brianna had been concentrating on Wendjas so much, she hadn’t really paid attention to the man who stood close behind him, arms tensed and claws fully extended. From the resemblance to Wendjas, she deduced he was a brother, though he was an inch or so taller and more muscular.

He looked ready to attack.

“Ban is mine!” she declared boldly, wrenching her hand from Wendjas and stepping in front of the angry young man. “He is cousin by both my adopted Medirian family and clan Alalakan by marriage. Ban stands in my defense with my husband and his brother against Rodak don al’ Bakom. Do you challenge his right?”

Ever since her puzzling encounter with the Gattan ambassador on Mediria, Brianna had read everything she could find about Gattan and its people—what little information she could find. She had learned that theirs was a race that respected strength and fearlessness in women. A woman who wasn’t afraid to challenge a man was especially honored.

The young man looked down at Brianna furiously.

Before she had time to think about it, Brianna lifted her right hand and grasped his extended claws.

The unexpected pain caused her to gasp and her knees to buckle.

Marljas had not expected Chardadon’s fiery-haired wife to issue a challenge. Nor had he expected her to run her palm against his extended claws. Nevertheless, he was quick enough to catch her before she fell.

For a full five seconds, no one moved. Then pandemonium broke loose.

Rodane didn’t know whether to restrain Char or Ban. The choice was made for him, however, when Wendjas threw his arms around Char and tackled him to the ground, all the while shouting at his brother and demanding an explanation.

Rodane grabbed Ban, fighting his own instincts to leap to Brianna’s defense—and hoping Ban didn’t use his assassin skills to disable him.

Fully conscious, Brianna heaved a sigh of relief as the sharp pain in her palm receded. Struggling against the strong arms that held her, she said, “You can let me up now. I’ll be fine.”

Unfortunately, Marljas was concentrating so hard on declaring his innocence to his brother that he didn’t hear Brianna’s soft voice. All five of the men did, however, hear the feminine roar that broke over them.

“Husband, what have you done?”

Elbowing Marljas in the stomach won Brianna her release.

Once standing firmly on her own two feet, she turned her attention to the woman who had spoken.

Standing with her feet planted firmly and her arms crossed over her well-developed chest, stood the female equivalent of the lion men. Svelte, but beautifully proportioned, she was Brianna’s height. Her catlike features were more delicate than her husband’s, giving her an air of beauty that Brianna had never encountered before. It was her hair, though, that demanded Brianna’s attention. Long and thick, it trailed down her back to the middle of her thighs. And it was as fiery as Brianna’s own.

Resisting the impulse to stare, Brianna looked to where Char sprawled on the ground with Wendjas on top of him. “Is this the proper way to greet Gattan, Char?” she asked somewhat primly.

Shoving himself free of Wendjas, Char leaped to his feet and jerked Brianna behind him. “You go too far, Marljas Drefeson.”

The other men had regained their feet, and even Wendjas looked at his brother with censure in his eyes.

Marljas’ anxious gaze leaped from one face to another. “But I did nothing. I would not blood a pregnant woman!”

“Men!” Brianna slipped from behind Char’s back to stand before him with her back to Marljas. “Did you, Char,” she asked in a scathing tone, “take notice of the fact that I was the one who raised my hand to him?”

She let Char fume and turned to face Marljas. “And you, young man, what gives you the right to go about challenging someone when you’re a newly arrived guest?”

Bowing his head submissively, he said, “Forgive me, Lady.

My behavior was inexcusable.”

“It certainly was. Now what is your name?”

“Marljas Drefeson.”

Behind her Char snarled, “Choose your weapons, Drefeson.”

Brianna whirled awkwardly. “Stop this right now, Alalakan don al’ Chardadon. It’s my blood running down my arm, not yours. Marljas’ challenge to Ban is answered, and he won’t dare issue it again. Will you?” she asked, turning once more to face the young man.

Char, however, gripped Brianna’s arm and hauled her around. Angrily he snapped, “How could you chance the life of our child?”

She tried to pull free. “I didn’t do anything…”

Wendjas’ wife chose that moment to intervene. In a very serious voice, she said, “Hold, Alalakan. This is women’s business. Your wife has blooded herself. It will be finished.”

Both Wendjas and Char jerked their heads around, Wendjas with shocked surprise, Char with anger.

Rodane’s gaze leaped from Denieen to her husband and back again. Why was he listening to her? Supposedly, Gattan men took orders only from their tribal chieftain or their king.

Brianna used the opportunity to slip free and face Marljas once more. She too felt there was something important happening.

Marljas stared first at Brianna then at his sister-in-law. When she frowned and nodded, he raised his left hand. Unsheathing his claws, he drew three of them across his right breast. Lifting Brianna’s still-bleeding hand, he matched the furrows on her palm to those on his chest.

“Our blood mingles, Sister. We are one family.”

Brianna swallowed uneasily. Somehow she had just lost control of the situation. “Will someone tell me exactly what this means?”

Wendjas’ wife walked to Brianna’s side and took her hand from Marljas’ chest. The bleeding had almost stopped, and the wounds looked like they were already beginning to close.

“These will heal nicely and scar well. I am Denieen Refesdotir, wife of Wendjas,” she said with a smile. “Welcome to our family.”