Broken Vision (15 page)

"In the process of docking on Pallas Five as we speak."

"Sagar's crystals! Yes. Inform Commander Tiege we might have a problem."

It seemed like hanans before Sharm came back on the comm link, excruciatingly slow
hanans as he paced and analyzed. Paced, and tried to find some small piece of logic, a clue, in all
that had occurred.

"Alerik, we've confirmed the children are gone. We've searched the entire compound.
Counselor Tipon's wife is extremely distraught. She's been there the entire time and only left them
for a short while to play on their own. There is no possible way they could have left the residence
on their own."

"They were abducted?"

"Apparently. We have no proof yet."

He punched a control. A view of Maegan's cell appeared. She sat on the edge of the
sleeping platform, hands folded in her lap. Relief swept through him. For one insane nanonan he
had expected her to be involved in this latest debacle.

"Sir?" Sharm's tone was like a laseredge. "Commander Tiege's vessel is preparing to leave
the dock. He requests a link."

"He knows the situation, that we can't deliver the children?"

"Yes, sir."

"Put him through."

"Governor." Commander Tiege's voice boomed from the console. "I have an unexpected
crisis to deal with and must depart immediately. You have a problem. Once you've solved it, I'll be
back."

Hating himself, Alerik forced the question, "The runner?"

"Without the evidence, Governor, why would I take the runner into custody?"

Margaine Confluence:/Third Rising
Pallas Five

"You're free to leave," Alerik pronounced as the door to her cell slid open. His large bulk
filled the slim opening. He casually leaned a shoulder against one wall and folded his arms.

"What?" she blurted, not at all sure she had understood him correctly.

"You're free to go." His face held no expression. She didn't think he was prone to callous
jokes, but his words made no sense.

"Why?"

One shoulder lifted and fell again. "No evidence."

In an instant, she was on her feet. "What have you done with the children?" she all but
screamed.

His lips pulled at one corner and he shrugged himself away from the wall. "Always so
ready to assume the worst. I haven't done anything with the children." He narrowed his eyes at her.
"In fact, that was a question I had for you. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would
you?"

She realized her mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut. "You've lost the
children?"

"Well, no." He stuck his hands in his pockets and braced his feet apart. He seemed
remarkably relaxed. "Not lost exactly. We just don't know where they are at this moment."

"You've lost the children!" she said. "How could you not know where they are? What a
bunch of incompetent, inept, b--"

"I think I've been thoroughly insulted." Sharm Foster's handsome face appeared over
Alerik's shoulder.

"Not really. You cut her off before she could finish," Alerik pointed out. "You probably
missed the best part."

About to apologize for words that had been intended for Alerik's ears alone, Maegan
stubbornly pressed her lips together and scowled at them mutinously instead. What in starpits was
going on?

"Is she leaving?" Commander Foster asked. "I think I'm going to need the cell."

Maegan was more than ready to quit this blank world. She wasn't sure how long she had
been incarcerated. It was so easy to lose track of time. But she was highly mistrustful of the
motivations of the two men in front of her. They should have been more concerned. More
concerned about the children--if they really were missing, which she was beginning to doubt. More
concerned about letting her go--they had caught her in an illegal act, after all.

She decided she could puzzle it out later. Now she had to take advantage of opportunity.
She strode toward them. Neither one budged. She tilted her head back to look Alerik in the eye.
Why was the man so slieking big? "Excuse me."

His sapphire eyes gleamed at her, so beautiful, so devious. "There are conditions to your
release."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course."

"Hold out your left arm, please," Sharm requested.

She almost rolled her eyes again, as he snapped a metal bracelet snugly around her wrist. A
tracking device. So predictable. Makiee would have it off her in nanonans.

"Is that all? May I leave now? I have work to do."

"Not quite all."

Tiny hairs on Maegan's arms rose to attention at the look of anticipation on Alerik's
face.

"You're confined to the governor's compound on Pallas Five."

Blazing starpits! "I can't work from here," she objected.

"We've discussed this before," Alerik said, unyielding. "You'll make it a viable
arrangement."

Desperation drove her to argue, "You have my vessel. I can't go anywhere."

Behind Alerik, Commander Foster made a curious noise, which turned into a dry
cough.

A muscle jumped in Alerik's cheek. "Unfortunately, my sweet wife, we can't count on that.
You've proven yourself highly untrustworthy. You hid one vessel from us. There could be others.
We know there are hidden components, and Sagar knows what else, in that habitat of yours.

"We've torn the Lady Melia apart, by the way, and we'll be working on the habitat next.
Your corporation is building highly advanced technology, which your staff--loyal to you--appears
to have no compunction employing in your aid. Our original arrangement, such as it was, no longer
exists. Pallas Four is off limits. I've appointed Mistress Gloriana as interim counselor. She seems
quite competent."

He stepped away from the cell door. "Commander Foster, please accompany my wife to
our residence."

"Yes, sir."

She was exchanging one prison for another. Every cell in her body screamed in objection
as Commander Foster took her arm and led her down the hall. She knew, this time, it would be
much more difficult to evade them. But by far, her greater concern was proximity to Alerik. The
look in his eyes as he'd given that order, and used those particular words deliberately, had shaken
her to the core.

They turned a corner and she couldn't help glancing back. Her husband had
disappeared.

* * * *

Two hanans later she was fuming and frustrated. Nothing she tried worked. She had no
access to communications. All the tricks Makiee had taught her were useless. The security system
refused to yield and let her out of the habitat. She was as much in the dark about what had
happened to the children and why she'd been released as before.

She stood before a plexiwall that overlooked a great courtyard stuffed with exotic
flowering shrubs, many of which she didn't recognize. They appeared to have been selected for the
impressive size of their blooms. The serene beauty of the place calmed her in some small measure
as she pondered a theory. Could Morgon have had something to do with the children's
disappearance? If they were, in fact, really missing? She was convinced he was close by. The clues
she'd found in her habitat were unmistakable. She just didn't understand why he had made no
attempt to contact her directly.

She turned impatiently away from the bright exterior view and began to cross the large
great room. Something in this place had to offer a clue to her freedom. She was useless here. She
had to get out. The bracelet they had snapped on her was going to be a major problem, but it only
meant they would know where she was. It didn't mean they would be able to find her.

Alerik had minimalist taste in decorating. The space was merely a showcase for a few
absolutely stunning art pieces.

She paused beside a large fantastical sculpture of two entwined merserpas. It was carved
from distinctive silvery-teal diabond, a very rare, very hard substance found in natural form on
Bogasill. It would have taken the artist rotations to complete.

For a nanonan, she considered hurling it at the plexiwall. There were two problems with
the plan. The wall likely wouldn't break and she probably didn't have the strength to lift the piece.
She moved on.

Room after room, it was the same. Every console had been locked down and remained
completely unresponsive. Makiee had taught the Mariltar security team well. She would have to
remember to compliment him, she thought sourly, as she punched uselessly at the console pads in
the sleeping chamber she had once shared with Alerik.

"No luck?"

She whirled around, her stomach clenching. Alerik was propped in the doorway. He
looked...tired. Though his posture denoted casualness, there was a strange tension to him. His dark
hair was ruffled out of its usual impeccable grooming.

She lifted her chin. "Obviously not, or I wouldn't still be here."

He laughed but there was an edge to the sound. He left the doorway and moved farther into
the room. The soft clunk of the door closing behind him caused a dozen little bedring creatures to
go crazy in her stomach. This was not where she wanted to be.

"Well," he said. "I know what your day has been like. Would you like to hear about
mine?"

"Not really."

"Thought you might." He strolled past her to the plexiwall overlooking the same
shrub-filled courtyard the great room did. He took up a spread-legged stance and clasped his hands behind
his back.

"I had two delegate visits today. Both demanded two things of me. But sometime in the
course of the day, something occurred that made it impossible for me to comply with either
demand. You already know what that was, of course.

"But the questions remain. Who took the children and where are they? If you have any
idea, Maegan, it would be best to reveal that information."

Chills were chasing in waves across her skin although the room was warm enough. Two
delegations? "Where was the second delegation from?" she managed to ask. Even to herself, her
voice sounded shaky.

"Where else but Taragon? A delegation of high priests. They were most insistent."

"How did they know?" she whispered. "They couldn't possibly have traced the relay route.
It's...it's just not possible."

"Curious, isn't it?" Alerik turned. "How did the Taragon delegation know? How did the
Coalition Council know?" The natural light behind him blurred his features. "There are several
explanations, of course, none of which are pretty, but what everyone, without exception, is most
interested in now, Maegan, is where the children are."

"I don't know." For some reason, Morgon's hidden underground habitat chose that instant
to pop up in her mind. If Morgon had taken the children, that would be a logical place to hide them.
Alerik's security team still hadn't discovered its existence and the place was well shielded from
external sensors. But that secret wasn't hers to reveal.

"You may not know." Alerik approached her and stopped far too close. "But I think you
have ideas. Did it occur to you they might be in danger?"

Maegan blinked and nodded, then looked away from the intensity of his sapphire gaze. "I
don't really think they are," she said quietly. "I...I think Morgon might have them." Morgon, who
would do everything in his power to save her from judgment by the Coalition Council. And she
might just possibly have betrayed him with her confession. She had betrayed him.

"Morgon," Alerik repeated. His fingers touched her chin, pressed, turned her face to him.
"And you have no idea where he is?"

"No, I don't."

He was cupping her chin now, and she was powerless to look away from his hypnotic
gaze.

He studied her face. His gaze deliberately moved over it, and it was as if he physically
touched--caressed--each feature.

"Green Eyes," he murmured, "you are such a liar." His thumb brushed across her lower lip.
Sensation, unwelcome and uncontrollable, tingled through her body. "I have until late day
tomorrow to produce the youngsters. After that... Who knows? Taragon priests are not known for
their patience or passivity."

"You can't give them back to the priests," she forced out. "You can't."

"A moot issue, since I don't have them." Again, his thumb brushed her lower lip, a touch
that compelled and drew her gaze to his. His eyes were dark, shimmering pools, promise and
seduction all mixed together, yet so untrustworthy. For a moment, she gave in to the luxury of
wondering what it would be like to be seduced by Alerik, to have his hands touch more than her
chin, his thumb brush more than her lip. Perhaps she should just do it. It might quell this odd brew
of restlessness and surging urgency. And the intimacy would mean nothing because she wouldn't
allow it to.

His thumb paused in stroking her lip. His eyes flared with a sudden awareness. His body
leaned in to barely touch hers, spreading heat and an unbearable tension.

"Green Eyes," he murmured, "you keep looking at me like that and I won't be responsible
for my actions."

She teetered on the edge. Could she control this? Or would she be completely lost? As she
raised a hand to rest it on the solid wall of his chest, she spared a passing thought for how this
decision would impact her plans to end the marriage partnership.

Make it harder certainly. Mariltar marriages were not easily dissolved, especially in the
ruling families. But nothing was impossible, and at this moment, as Alerik's groan thrilled her and
bound her even closer, even before his other hand slid across her hips, she truly didn't care.

He rested his forehead against hers as he gathered her closer against his body. His breath,
warm and scented with sweet tiug leaf, drifted across her face.

She closed her eyes and surrendered to her senses and her body's demands. She wanted
this. She needed this. There would be a price to pay.

It could very well destroy her.

The single insistent refrain beating in the back of her mind to stop this now was shattered
as his hand on her lower back urged her tightly against him. There was no doubt what Alerik
Mariltar wanted and needed. His other hand found a spot on her nape that collapsed her knees and
drowned the last vestige of reason. And so she was malleable and mindless when he angled her
head and brought his lips to hers--a light touch, soft and fleeting, a tease, a taste. Then he drew
back. In disbelief, she heard herself whimper.