No Words Alone (7 page)

“Ask him yourself. We’re here,” Delfane said
without inflection.

An automatic door opened in front of him and
Xera, revealing a private cabin. Ryven Atarus was there, as well as
Toosun and Captain Shiza. They were all seated at a table but rose
when she entered.

Shiza smiled broadly at her. “Ah, the beauty
awakens! Are you well again, Lieutenant?”

She inclined her head. “Thank you, I am
well.”

“We have food here that will not sicken you,”
Ryven put in. “Join us at the table and we will talk.”

The notion of talking made her a little wary,
but she smiled pleasantly and sat at the small table anyway.
Delfane remained outside the room.

She was much daintier about eating this time.
The question still turned over in her mind why the Scorpio were
being so nice to her. It began to worry her. To distract herself
she looked around the room, which was comfortable but not
extravagant, with two couches and two overstuffed chairs that
looked like they doubled as storage. They filled the tiny sitting
room. The only other furniture was the table at which the group
currently sat. The walls were caramel with coffee-colored trim, and
red, black and gold accents. She glimpsed a bed through an open
door in a room she assumed was Shiza’s cabin.

They let her get halfway through her meal in
silence before Ryven spoke. “Your room was comfortable?”

“It was, thank you.”

“You seem comfortable with Brirax and
Delfane.”

This time she answered slowly. “They are
pleasant enough. I have wondered if they are bodyguards or guards.
Perhaps you mean them to be both?”

“Perhaps I do.” He considered her. “You have
a unique position here, and in your crew. You are the only one who
speaks our language, and you are...polite. You seem to possess
discretion.”

She blinked. Discretion demanded that she not
reply.

“The other members of your crew, including
your captain, will be treated as hostages. We will bargain with
them.” He looked at her with utter gravity. “Another captain would
simply treat you as spoils of war.”

She stilled. She might have paled.

Shiza smiled pleasantly at her from his place
beside Ryven. If he was the captain involved, she could see what he
would do.

Ryven claimed her gaze and spoke again. “I am
in a position to offer you more.”

More? What did “more” entail? Marriage? A bed
in his harem? Was she brave enough to slit her own throat?

“My people have a custom of selecting their
own ambassadors from other races. We have need of one from your
race. I will suggest to my father that we give you that
position.”

Okay, that was a lot to think about. Perhaps
relief was premature at this point, but Xera felt it anyway. To be
an ambassador sure beat being an after-dinner snack.

“Who is your father?”

“One of the rulers of our people. He governs
the second continent of our home planet, Rsik.”

Which made Ryven a very important person to
have on her side. She thanked God he thought she was sensible. “I
see.” She debated blathering on about being honored and decided
against it, not sure what the etiquette here was. She didn’t ask
what would happen if his father refused; she didn’t want to know
and suspected it would be bad. She took a discreet, steadying
breath. “How soon until I meet him?”

His gaze moved over her. “We will have a few
days to practice first. You have much to learn about our
customs.”

A rebellious brow quirked up at that. “If I
have made mistakes, it was not deliberate.”

“Yes,” he agreed, which left her feeling
uncomfortable. She picked at the rest of her food, too wound up to
enjoy it now.

“Should you be accepted as an ambassador, you
will be given much respect. Regardless of what happens, it is not
our custom to mistreat women.”

She didn’t dare comment on that. She lacked
information, and he had been kind to her, an enemy of his
people.

“You will not be allowed to return home.”

The food on her plate got a little misty as
her eyes teared up, but she bit the inside of her cheek and
mentally kicked her own butt. She’d been prepared for that. It was
nothing she didn’t expect.

And yet it hurt so much. To never see her
family again…

“Delfane has an electronic book for you to
look at it. It has many things you will want to read about our
culture, and further language studies. You may go if you like.”

She rose and nodded without meeting anyone’s
eyes. Feeling oddly stiff, she left the room, hoping her face was
as frozen as it felt. She didn’t want anyone to guess at her
turmoil.

Delfane took one look at her face and looked
politely away, but not before she saw a flash of sympathy. So it
did show, then.

Xera made it to her room before she broke
down and cried.

“I think you nearly broke her by reminding
her she’ll never go home,” Shiza commented. He took a sip of
wine.

“I would do her no favors to let her keep
illusions,” Ryven said grimly. “She will realize she is fortunate
in the end.”

“Especially since she will not be your
‘spoils of war,’” Toosun pointed out. “She seemed particularly
horrified by that idea.”

Ryven gave him a cold look.

Toosun looked away and scratched the back of
his neck. Casually, he asked, “What will you do with her if father
refuses?”

“You know he won’t.”

“Very well, he won’t. Will you keep first
claim to her? Her rank would make her nearly your equal, and she
will be sought after.”

“Mm,” Shiza put in thoughtfully.

Ryven’s eyes slid darkly to him. “I haven’t
decided.”

“Give it some thought,” Toosun urged. “I
might be interested if you’re not.”

“You don’t need another woman,” Ryven
scoffed. “They follow you like iron filings to a lodestone
already.”

“As they do you.”

“You are too young for a wife.”

“I’m two years younger than you. You’re
thirty-three,” Toosun pointed out, as if his brother had
forgotten.

“This is a matter for another day,” Ryven
said irritably. “We have other things to discuss.” He steered the
conversation to another path, away from the exotic alien woman.

Chapter 6

Xera cried, moped and had a nap. Afterward
she felt good enough to sit up and scan the e-book. What she read
made her cringe.

She should have been addressing Ryven as “my
lord,” or “commander” at the very least, though she did not recall
ever using his name or title to his face. The next time she saw him
she would have to acknowledge his rank. Rank was very important to
his people. A man might not be looked down on if he didn’t have it,
but he’d better acknowledge those who did. Toosun also ranked as a
lord.

Their society was governed by twelve lord
governors, each of whom ruled an equal portion of their home
planet, Rsik. While the title was hereditary, any governor who was
found unfit to rule could be cast out, the title passed on their
sons. Those who served in lesser positions were elected by the
voters in their precinct.

There was a list of some of the Scorpio
society’s laws, and she saw that their code of conduct basically
mirrored her own, but they had very harsh laws for offenders. It
was a very bad idea to commit a crime against them; they didn’t
take it well.

There was some entertainment media in the
e-book, and she watched a few shows to get a feel for how men and
women interacted. The women were very respectful to the men, but
not subservient. There was some humor, but always a line that
wasn’t crossed. Heroes treated women well, sometimes even tenderly.
Villains often ended up dead.

Women were definitely not warriors, and they
didn’t serve on warships in any capacity. Xera also saw with a
wince that they tended to have long, often elaborately coifed hair.
That didn’t bode well for her; she’d never had long hair and didn’t
want it. She hoped Ryven didn’t plan on giving her extensions to
please his father. The robes she saw the women wearing would be
challenging enough. They were colorful, feminine and looked
somewhat oriental in design. There tended to be a lot of feathered
headdresses. On the bright side, many of the long tunics had pants
under them, and she could handle that.

She declined Brirax’s invitation to escort
her to dinner. She just wasn’t hungry enough to face a crowd. A
little later he brought her a tray and set it silently on the
bedside table. She knew he waited just outside the door, probably
taking on the nightshift. She wondered if he and Delfane would
remain her bodyguards for long, or if she’d be assigned new ones on
the planet. Which reminded her: she’d been so busy that she’d
forgotten to look up anything about any planets to which they could
be going. Of course, they might be heading for a moon or even a
space station.

Suddenly she couldn’t sit still one more
moment. She could study when she had to, but right now she needed
to move. It had been days since she could do more than hobble, and
she was in the mood to sweat. It would be good for her to work off
some of her anxieties, and she could do it better in a bigger
space.

She went to the door and opened it. Brirax
looked at her, alert.

“Is there somewhere I could go to exercise?
I’ve been inactive for a long while, and it would be nice to do
something.”

He studied her then spoke into his headset.
He was quiet for a moment, probably listening, then nodded. “Follow
me.”

They went down two decks and walked what
seemed like half a mile through corridors until they reached a
large gym. There was a lot of unfamiliar equipment and only a few
men using it. Brirax led her to a treadmill and showed her how to
turn it on. Xera started out at a brisk walk, careful not to
re-injure her foot.

“What time are we docking tomorrow; early or
late?” she asked.

“Early,” he answered. He still looked
unusually alert, as if she might try something desperate.

She couldn’t imagine what she could do in a
ship full of aliens in the middle of nowhere, so she ignored it.
Maybe he had a better imagination than she did. “Are we going to a
planet or a moon?”

“A planet.”

“What is it called?” she asked, though she
already knew. It would get him talking.

“Rsik.”

Boy, he’s talkative, she thought wryly as her
machine inclined. “Is it winter or summer there?”

“It is winter where we are going.”

She sighed. She hated winter. “Are they long,
the winters?”

“They last three months.”

“I guess that’s not bad, then.” She could
handle a little snow. “Do the summers get hot?”

“At times.”

“Are women allowed to own property? Do they
live alone sometimes?”

He looked at her curiously. “Of course. It is
more common for a single woman to live with her parents, though. It
is more economical.”

“Is it very expensive to own a home or
property?”

He considered. “Why would a single woman wish
to? It would be very lonely without family.”

“For the same reason a single man would live
alone,” she said somewhat tersely. “Sometimes family drives you
crazy.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Many single men
live with their parents. A household might contain three
generations. Often the houses are just built onto as the family
grows.”

She frowned. “Is land scarce, then?”

“That’s simply how it’s done.”

She saved her breath for a couple of miles,
then finally slowed the treadmill to a slow walk as her foot
twinged. She was getting sweaty, so she reached for the top button
of her uniform jacket, prepared to remove it.

“Don’t do that here,” Brirax snapped, with a
quick look around.

She frowned at him. “I’m hot.”

“It’s not seemly,” he said sternly. “Women do
not remove clothing in public.”

“I have other layers underneath.”

“You will not do it.”

She frowned, knowing she’d have to figure
this culture out quick. It was good that she’d encountered this
now, though this prudish attitude rankled. On the bright side,
Brirax was treating her like a woman of his culture, and that might
be a sign of acceptance.

“Let me see if I understand. If I had left my
room in my short-sleeved shirt, would that have been okay?”

“Yes.”

“So it’s the undressing, not the showing of
skin that’s the problem.”

“You should not show too much skin.
It’s...not good.” He looked uncomfortable with the subject.

She sighed, prepared to sweat. “Can I roll up
my sleeves, then?”

He hesitated. “That might be permitted.” He
still looked away as she did it, though. That didn’t bode too well
for bikini season. “I’m guessing men and women don’t swim together,
then? What with skin being an issue and all.” She studied the
workout area and headed for an empty space at the side of the
room.

“Swimming is different.”

“I see.” She dropped and counted out thirty
push-ups in her head, then rolled over and did v-splits. She
alternated pushups with other exercises until she’d done one
hundred of them. Her foot was throbbing by the time she was done,
just enough to make her quit. No sense pushing it.

Brirax looked faintly impressed. “I watched
when you attacked your captain. You trained for war, then? Our
women do not.”

“Don’t you allow them to defend themselves?”
She didn’t want to answer any questions about her own martial
training; she never knew when his ignorance might be to her
advantage, because while she liked him, he was still her
keeper.

“Most have men to protect them.”

“There is not always a man around to do that.
Sometimes, a man may not think it’s necessary to protect a woman
from another man.” Ryven, for instance. She had a feeling he could
do quite a lot and get away with it.