Lady Lure (32 page)

“Kalina hates me.”

“She is angry with you. There is a
difference. Besides, Halvo is too strong a person ever to be swayed
by someone else’s wishes. Not when he wants something very
badly.”

“Above all else, Halvo wants to return to his
career as Admiral of the Fleet.”

“As I said, Perri,” Dysia was chuckling
again, ”you do have a lot to learn.”

Because the headquarters building was so
crowded, no one could be allotted a private room. To ease the
problem of where to put so many guests, Halvo volunteered to sleep
upon a couch in the central room, while Kalina, Dysia, and Perri
were quartered together in a room with two large beds. Lying beside
Dysia, Perri found it difficult to sleep. On the other bed Kalina
tossed for a while before she quieted. The room was dark save for a
faint line of light along the bottom edge of the door.

Perri was deeply aware of Halvo on the
opposite side of that door. She longed to go to him, yet she did
not know what her reception would be if she did. After hours spent
with his disapproving mother he might reject Perri. If he became
angry enough to waken anyone else, Perri would be humiliated beyond
bearing. She decided she would just have to stay where she was. She
focused on the light beneath the door and tried to will herself
into sleep….

“You stupid girl,” Elyr said. “Will you never
learn that no man of any discrimination could want you? Questions!
Always you ask enough questions to drive a man mad. Yet you never
find answers, do you?”

“I am sure I could if you would just explain
to me why you and the Chief Hierarch tricked me,” Perri said.
“Surely, you knew I would be compelled by loyalty to do anything I
could to help you.”

“And you did do what I wanted,” Elyr said.
“The trick worked.”

“You should have told me the truth!” she
shouted. “I deserved that much.”

“You deserve nothing. The answer you seek is
there in your mind, Perri.”

Elyr began to laugh at her and as he laughed
his figure began to fade, until there was only darkness surrounding
Perri … and one faint bar of light shining along a stone
floor….

“Elyr, wait! I have more questions to ask.”
But Elyr was gone and Perri, rearing up on her knees upon the bed,
thought she saw a movement in front of the light, a figure blocking
it for a moment.

“No! Elyr, answer me!” Perri’s voice rose to
a shriek. “Elyr!”

“What in the name of all the stars is wrong
with you? Do you intend to wake everyone in the building?” The
shadowy figure moved again and the light came on, revealing a very
annoyed-looking Kalina standing by the switch. “Have the decency to
remember that there are small children here who could be frightened
by your screeching. Not to mention a gravely injured man who needs
his rest.”

“I’m sorry.” Perri looked around the room,
half expecting to encounter a smiling, mocking Elyr. But he was not
there. Perri blinked away the last remnants of sleep. “I had a bad
dream.”

“Perhaps your conscience is troubling you,”
Kalina said.

“Here.” Dysia, also awakened by Perri’s
cries, handed her a cup of water. “Drink this. Then we can talk
about your dream if you want.”

“Perri!” The bedroom door burst open and
Halvo rushed in. He was wearing a loose robe that Tarik had lent
him and his hair was tousled by sleep. “You’ve had another
nightmare, haven’t you?”

“Does she do this often?” Kalina asked.

Halvo ignored his mother. He sat down next to
Perri and tried to pull her into his arms. She did not know whether
to accept his embrace, which was what she wanted to do, or push him
away because Kalina was watching them. What she did was brace her
hands on his shoulders so she could remain sitting upright while
she looked directly at him.

“It was a slightly different dream this
time,” she said. “There was no spaceship, just Elyr and me in some
black and empty place. I could see his face and figure, but nothing
else.”

“What did he say?” Halvo asked.

“Much the same as in my last dream,” she
replied. “Elyr called me stupid and said the answers I want are in
my own mind. But, Halvo, I don’t know what the answers are!”

“It’s all right,” Halvo said, soothing her.
“What happened next?”

“Elyr disappeared and I was all alone in
blackness. That is when I screamed. Lady Kalina, I did not mean to
disturb you or anyone else. I couldn’t help screaming.”

“No, I suppose you couldn’t, if you were in
the middle of a nightmare.” Kalina sat down on her bed, still
watching Perri closely. “Such dreams are almost always the result
of an unquiet mind, perhaps caused by a guilty conscience.”

“Mother, please!” Halvo said.

“Of course my mind is unquiet.” Perri moved
out of Halvo’s reach to sit facing his mother. The beds were so
close that their knees were almost touching. “Do you think I don’t
know that what I did might have cost Halvo his life? Do you imagine
I don’t feel guilty about it?

“I was sent out from Regula to capture Halvo
by two men who had their own secret reasons for using me as they
did. Lady Kalina, have you considered the possibility that Halvo
could still be in danger? Until we discover the reason why they
wanted him, we can’t be sure that Elyr and the Chief Hierarch won’t
try to capture him again.”

“Perhaps you are more astute than I
realized,” Kalina said. “During my visit to Regula everyone who
mentioned your name called you stupid and irritating, a bias that
may have colored my own thinking.”

“At the Service Academy,” Dysia said, “we
were taught that a constantly questioning mind is a sign of
intelligence. Moreover, such a mind is irritating to those who have
something to hide.”

“So it is said.” Kalina’s deep blue eyes
regarded Perri soberly. Then her gaze moved on to her son’s face.
Finally, Kalina shook herself a little, as if she was making up her
mind about something. Or, possibly, she was just rousing herself as
her next words suggested. “If you young people have quite finished,
I will attempt to go to sleep again. It has been a long day and I
am weary.”

“Perri,” Halvo said, “would you like to come
with me into the central room for the rest of the night?”

“I will not allow it,” Kalina said at once.
“Perri will be perfectly safe here with Dysia and me.”

“Yes, I will,” Perri said, refusing to admit
how badly she wanted to go with Halvo, to be held and comforted by
him until she was able to sleep peacefully. Perri thought Kalina’s
sharp disapproval of her had been somewhat blunted during the last
half hour. If she stayed where she was, Kalina might decide that
the young woman she disliked had at least a modicum of courage. “I
am sure I will fall asleep quickly now, Halvo.”

His gaze held hers a moment. Then, right
there in front of Kalina and Dysia, Halvo kissed her lightly, just
at one corner of her mouth. From where Kalina sat, it probably
looked as if he had kissed her on the cheek, but his lips were
almost on Perri’s. It was enough to give her the strength to get
through the remainder of the night.

“Until morning,” Halvo said to her, rising.
“Good night, Mother. Lieutenant Dysia.”

“Good night, sir.” Dysia was already
straightening the blankets, smothering a yawn, and climbing back
into bed. Perri lay down and a moment later Kalina put out the
light.

“In the morning, Perri,” Kalina said in the
darkness, “you and I are going to have a long talk.”

* * * * *

“From what Adm. Halvo has told me, the fault
was not entirely yours,” Captain Jyrit said to Perri. “All the
same, honor requires that you should make an apology. Even by
Jugarian standards you have fulfilled that obligation handsomely.
In return, my honor requires a polite acceptance of your honest
words. I do accept your apology, Perri.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Perri found the
Jugarian’s formality curiously restful. Dysia had suggested that
she be completely honest with Jyrit. It seemed Dysia had been
right. Perri only hoped Dysia was correct in her further advice
that Perri tell Kalina everything she knew or suspected about the
plot against Halvo.

“Jyrit, my friend.” Halvo, who had come with
Perri and Kalina to the meeting, looked around the spare white room
that served as the colony hospital. There were no patients other
than Jyrit. “If you feel well enough, I would like to confer with
you in private, for I trust your intuition as well as your
extensive knowledge of the various Races.”

As Halvo spoke Perri noticed Jyrit’s antennae
changing color. While she had offered her apology they had been a
washed-out shade of orange that brightened slowly in reaction to
her words. Now they were flushing a warm orange red in response to
Halvo’s open attitude of friendship.

“Because Jugarian physiology requires
continual motion, Herne has told me to practice walking about the
room in order to speed the return of my usual strength,” Jyrit
said. “We can talk while I do so. I hope, when he examines me
later, Herne will declare me fit to join you and your family for
the midday meal.”

“You will not require Perri or me for this
conference,” Kalina said. “Come along, Perri. We, too, will take a
walk.”

Halvo gave Perri an encouraging look but said
nothing to contradict his mother’s plans. After taking a polite
leave of Captain Jyrit, Perri followed the older woman across the
central room and out the door, where both of them paused on the
first step. Through the trees Perri could see several people who
were apparently working on the two shuttlecraft that were sitting
on the beach. She was not surprised when Kalina chose a path
leading to the opposite side of the island.

“Now, then,” Kalina said as she walked
briskly along, “let me begin by telling you that my anger against
you has abated only a little as a result of Halvo’s explanations
about your past and your handsome apology to Jyrit. Whatever
excuses you may offer, they do not change the fact that you have
done something you knew was wrong. Your abduction of my son was
deliberately undertaken. However, in the interest of fairness, I am
willing to listen to your own version of this sorry tale.”

It was a long story, but Perri told all of it
with complete honesty, not sparing herself from blame. The only
details she did not reveal were the account of the illegal mind
draining of her nurse, Melri, and the implantation of Melri’s
memories into Rolli. Perri was afraid that information would anger
Kalina and prejudice her against both Perri and her robot. Perri
did not want any harm to come to Rolli. She could foresee a future
in which Rolli might again be her only comfort, and she did not
want Rolli’s familiar personality to be changed in any way. Nor did
Perri speak about her unpleasant intimate encounters with Elyr or
her far more enjoyable lovemaking with Halvo. Those were private
matters, though Perri believed the knowledge that she loved Halvo
would probably have set Kalina even more firmly against her. When
Perri was finished, Kalina walked on for a short distance before
speaking.

“You have been criminally foolish,” Kalina
said at last.

“I do not deny it. When this adventure began,
I was an ignorant girl, trying to help a man to whom I was bound. I
am much changed now. Dangers and unexpected experiences have made
me wiser.” Perri met Kalina’s eyes squarely.

“Adding what you have just said to the
information Captain Jyrit, Lieutenant Dysia, and I were able to
obtain during our visit to Regula, and to what Halvo has told me,”
Kalina said, “I believe that you and Halvo are correct in your
assumption that there is more to his abduction than a simple
exchange of Halvo’s life for Elyr s. The question is, what,
exactly, is that plot?”

“I have thought about it until I have
nightmares,” Perri said. “I cannot find a satisfactory answer.”

“Your dreams may be no more than the
well-known effects of the Empty Sector,” Kalina said. “Speaking for
myself, I have felt unsettled since shortly before I reached
Dulan’s Planet. I do not know how Tarik and Narisa and the others
tolerate it.”

“Perhaps their bodies and minds have adjusted
after being here for several years,” Perri suggested.

“Possibly.” Kalina dismissed the idea to
return to her original subject. “Your dreams, Perri, along with my
unsettled state, may well disappear once we are safely returned to
Jurisdiction space and on our way to Capital.”

Perri sighed. It always came back to that.
There was no way for her to avoid going to Capital to face charges
for what she had done.

“Your honesty with me speaks well for you,”
Kalina said, “but I must tell you that I am not pleased by your
intimate association with my son. I am neither blind nor stupid,
Perri,” she added when Perri gasped at her blunt words.

“Halvo is an adult.” Perri did not know what
else to say. “He makes his own decisions.”

“True.” Kalina’s severe expression softened
only a little. “That does not mean I always approve of his
decisions, or that I hesitate to voice my concerns to him. But I
will strive to be fair to you, Perri. I will not allow my personal
feelings to color the story I recount to Almaric when next I see
him.”

“Thank you, Lady Kalina.” Perri told herself
that was more than she could have hoped for, considering the
seriousness of her crime.

“Now, you must excuse me. I want to spend the
next few hours with Tarik, Narisa, and my grandson. I do not know
when I will see them again after we leave here.”

Left to herself, Perri wandered farther along
the path on which she and Kalina had been walking. She came out of
the trees onto the southern shore, where rocks studded the beach
and she had a full view of the length of the lake. Someone was
there before her.