Desert World Rebirth (26 page)

“Ambassador Melton, yesterday I was ill, forcing our tour to be cut short before Temar could see the waterfall. I simply have to allow him to see it, since it’s unlikely that either of us will have the chance again.”

“Of course, of course.” Melton was still all smiles, but his attention had turned to a datapad where he furiously typed—probably orders to send out the Livre goods. Then he looked up. “Ambassadors, you will have to join me some time on Loralei. The tropical jungles are magnificent, and I have a house built into the side of a cliff that overlooks the most magnificent waterfall. It plummets almost nine hundred meters to the lake below.”

That surprised Shan, since he’d gotten the feeling from Natalie that the border worlds had issues with poverty that meant that ships sometimes went unrepaired. “It sounds lovely,” he said. Right now, there was only one waterfall he cared about, and as amazing as it was to see water flow that way, it wasn’t the water he was interested in, per se.

“I can show them the way,” Natalie said. She stood up, and now they were all standing, so Shan inched backward toward the door.

“Of course. Thank you.” Melton had returned to his datapad, and Shan gave a quick nod and then turned and headed for the door. Temar was already there, watching with those sharp blue eyes, and Shan wondered how fast he was going to have to talk to explain this whole mess.

“This way,” Natalie said with a smile as she gestured toward the door. Shan headed out, unsurprised to see Rula waiting. “I do hope you don’t mind that I invited myself to your planet. Livre sounds beautiful, and I know that we can learn so much from each other.” Rula looked over her shoulder at Natalie before striding down the hall.

Shan had to assume she knew they wanted to visit the waterfall, and he followed. “No, I don’t mind at all, as long as you understand that Livre doesn’t have a lot of the… things you’re used to,” Shan warned. Either that, or he was promising that she wouldn’t encounter the same homophobia.

“I grew up in a war zone. Trust me, I know how to do without. I really should bring Rula, though. I’ll need an assistant, and as much as I trust your people, your world sounds rather dangerous. She’s rather good at taking care of herself.”

“I suspect you’re not bad at doing that for yourself,” Shan muttered. “You’re welcome to bring Rula. I assume it will just be the two of you? No offense, but I don’t think most Livre residents want an invasion of immigrants who don’t know how to walk the dunes without getting buried under them. It will take some teaching to keep you out of trouble.”

“I think the two of us can manage quite nicely,” Natalie said as she moved closer, walking so that their shoulders brushed against each other. Shan might not know much about flirting, but he did recognize the look she gave him as she ducked her head and watched through her lashes. He recognized it, but he really had no idea how to handle it. He stared ahead at Rula’s and Temar’s backs.

“Here we are,” Rula announced as they stopped in front of the double doors that led to the gardens.

“Great.” Shan moved forward so fast he brushed past Temar, only to turn and offer an apologetic look. Temar’s eyebrow went up, but he didn’t say anything as Rula opened the doors. The scent of flowers and wet earth rolled out of the room like a slow sandstorm that sluggishly moved the lazy sands. However, the desert never smelled anything like this. Now that Shan knew what the plants hid, he could pick out the rumble of the waterfall even from the door. He wondered what purpose they had in dropping water over those terraces, but he suspected it had more to do with water purification or maybe the life cycle of some species rather than having an attraction that people could enjoy. These people didn’t strike Shan as the sort that cared all that much about others’ enjoyment, not unless the people in question were high-ranking ambassadors.

Immediately, Shan started down the path, stopping when Temar paused to finger a delicate flower. “Temar?” Shan asked. Maybe it was his tone of voice, because Temar dropped his hand to his side and headed after Shan.

“Coming,” he offered cheerfully. Shan headed down the path, Temar and Natalie in tow. Now he needed to get rid of Natalie.

When they reached the section where the path turned from textured metal to the textured grate that allowed the falling water drops to escape through it, Shan turned and rested his hand on Natalie’s arm. “Could you check on the shipment, make sure that everything is loaded safely?” he shouted over the waterfall’s roar. They still had to follow another turn in the path to see it, so Shan wasn’t sure if this part of the path could be recorded or not.

“I’m sure they’ll be careful,” she shouted back, tiny drops of water gathering on her thick lashes. Her brown hair darkened with the moisture and she gave him a look that made it clear she did not want to leave his side.

“Please?” he asked, raising his voice. “I trust you to make sure that everything is done right. After they sent an old shuttle down to pick us up, I’m not sure I trust everyone here to understand how fragile glass can be.”

Natalie gave him a searching look, and then nodded. “I’ll leave a guide at the door to lead you to your quarters or to the dining hall when you’re done. Just let him know where you want to go.” She turned and gave Temar a nod before heading back the way they’d come. Shan wondered whether she needed Rula or if she didn’t trust them to keep her lover safe. Of course, from the way Natalie acted toward him, he was starting to question himself whether those two were truly lovers. Right now, though, he cared more about his own lover.

Chapter 23

“THE waterfall’s this way,” Shan said, which was obvious enough, but Temar smiled and started down the path. The second time around, the waterfall was equally impressive. Shan slowed as it came in sight, appreciating the sheer power of such a simple thing as water. “Running water,” Shan said reverently. Seeing it on vids could not match seeing it in reality.

Temar leaned close. “I’ve actually seen water run. Remember?”

Shan looked down, and Temar had an amused look on his face, even though the one time he’d seen running water had not been an amusing incident.

“I haven’t.” Shan leaned close so he wouldn’t have to shout. The water roared over the artificial rocks, and the cool wind flowing past them actually carried drops of water. “I’m still awed by it.”

“It really is awe-inspiring,” Temar agreed. He leaned closer, and Shan looked across the open water to the walkway, where a man in a uniform watched them.

“I want to get a closer look. This water is amazing. I never thought I’d see open water like this.” Shan let his hand fall away, even though he wanted that contract. When Temar let him walk away without comment, Shan could feel his guts tighten. He walked to the edge of the water, where he could stand behind a plant larger than him. He was used to wisp grass and pipe traps and chokeweed. They were gray plants with tiny leaves that hid in the sands. Even growing up in the valley, the crops had thin leaves and small flowers. This thing had leaves larger than his head—fat, arrow-shaped dark-green leaves.

“It’s beautiful,” Temar offered as he came up behind Shan, but instead of touching Shan, he reached out to run his fingers along the edge of the plant’s leaf.

“I can explain,” Shan whispered. Hopefully the roar of the water would hide his words, because if Natalie was right, they were on dangerous territory.

“Explain what?” Temar whispered back.

“I’m not interested in Natalie, not like… not sexually,” Shan said, desperate to say that before someone could interrupt them. He couldn’t lose Temar over this. He couldn’t.

Temar frowned at him for a second. “I know that,” he finally said.

Shan opened his mouth, fully prepared to defend himself, and then it sank in that Temar wasn’t asking him to defend his actions. Temar said he believed him, and from the expression on his face, he didn’t have a shadow of doubt on that front. Shan was temporarily stunned into stillness.

“What I don’t know is why you’re acting like this,” Temar added.

“You don’t think… I mean… not that I’m interested in having sex with her, because I’m not, but you never thought I was?”

The best description of Temar’s face was amused, and Shan didn’t have any idea how to take that. Leaning closer, Temar whispered, “You believed me when I told you something impossible, chased my hallucination across a desert, rescued me from a madman, rode into a fight with me as your only backup, left the priesthood to find out if we could make it together, and came with me into space. Do you think I’d forget all that to assume you’d sleep with a woman you just met?” Temar’s eyebrows arched up, one higher than the other. “Do you really think that some very odd behavior on your part is going to make me doubt that you kind of adore me?” Temar’s amusement grew as he shook his head. “You’re odd.”

“Obviously, I can be,” Shan said weakly. He’d tortured himself with the fear that Temar might not understand why Shan had acted so strangely, and it turned out that Temar wasn’t worried at all. Shan’s fear vanished like a dust devil settling back to the ground when the wind that carried it failed. He also felt like an idiot, an idiot who didn’t have a headache.

Temar stretched and feigned an interest in a bright red flower. “What is going on?”

Shan dropped his voice, leaning in until he could whisper in Temar’s ear, and even then he could feel paranoia wrap around his spine. “Natalie slipped me a note. These people are not fond of same-sex couples. It’s called Paulism… the worship of the teacher Paul instead of Christ,” Shan whispered. “And there have been some very violent and bloody periods of time associated with Paulists.”

Temar glanced toward him before shifting his gaze to the “guide” who watched from the walkway. The guide felt a whole lot more like a guard than anything else, but Shan wasn’t sure what to do about it. They couldn’t exactly jump on a sand bike and go home, but if these people had any idea that Livre considered homosexuality normal, they were not going to be amused.

“Violent?” Temar turned a subtle shade of white.

Shan nodded, his mind supplying historical images that turned his stomach, but Temar didn’t need the details. “Very violent, and Natalie keeps dropping hints about violence and crime and the need for guards.”

“Shit.” Temar sat down and rubbed a hand over his face. He pulled his hand back to look at it in confusion, and Shan realized that he’d been surprised to find himself wet. Shan sat down next to him, close enough to press their thighs together. He’d make whatever excuses he had to later—right now, his lover needed him.

“And they want us as allies,” Shan pointed out. That was ironic. That also would not end well.

Standing up, Temar stepped away from Shan. “Shan, can you imagine people at home seeing this or these people seeing what life is like back on Livre?” Temar asked, shouting over the waterfall. He kept his face toward the guard. The moment he did that, Shan realized that whispering behind a plant probably wasn’t the most subtle thing to do.

“They’d have heart attacks and then bomb someone,” Shan muttered. They might too. Nearly half the marriages Shan had performed as a priest were of two people of the same sex, and these Paulists were likely to start talking about Sodom and Gomorrah and fiery swords.

“You really like Natalie, don’t you?” Temar asked brightly. Shan blinked, not quite understanding where the conversation was going. Temar’s eyes widened, and he leaned closer to Shan, his eyes flickering over toward the guard when Shan didn’t respond.

“Oh.” Shan stood and made sure he faced that distant watcher. If the man actually was watching, as opposed to being some random soldier standing there watching the waterfall and thinking about how he’d just broken up with his girlfriend. On this ship, it was hard to tell.

“Yes, she’s intelligent, beautiful, and she has this inner strength that anyone would find sexy,” Shan said as he looked Temar up and down, making it clear who he was really describing. Temar started turning pink, and Shan forced himself to pay more attention to the water.

“Shan?”

“Yes?”

“Are you interested in inviting Natalie to the planet permanently? I know this is fast….”

“Very fast,” Shan said, and while he thought he’d been understanding Temar’s logic, now he was back to being confused.

“Sometimes love happens that way… fast.” Temar smiled at him, and Shan’s whole body warmed. It wasn’t the hard lust he’d felt as a youngster, or even the frustration he’d sometimes endured as a priest when he realized he could never reach out and touch what he really wanted. This was a bone-deep realization that, even if he had to wait, he would have his lover, now and forever. Shan smiled back, and for a moment, they stood in silence, tiny drops of water sliding down Shan’s face and catching in Temar’s hair so that the light sparkled as though through glass.

“Maybe you should ask her to move her belongings down to Livre—not just as a culture liaison, but forever.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

Temar ducked his head and leaned a little closer. “When it’s right, it’s right, and you know it. She can leave again if she wants, but….”