Stolen Dreams (19 page)

 

But
it was a risk she would have to take. She could not go back to be
treated and give up this chance to confirm her heritage when she was so
very close to the answer. The only thing she could think to do to
protect herself was to withhold her emotional participation from the
biological act.

 

With her lashes lowered, she murmured, "I,
too,
would prefer consciousness." Keeping her gaze averted, she removed her
belt, tunic, and sandals, then laid down on her back on the pouch.

 

Gabriel
grimaced at the picture she presented. She looked as though she were
about to be sacrificed. Her body was stiff, her hands balled into fists
at her sides, and her eyes were squeezed shut.

 

And even like
that,
she was more beautiful than all the stars in the heavens. He felt his
fever rise a degree as his body strained to be joined with hers.

 

Shara
opened one eye. "What are you waiting for?" When he simply cocked an
eyebrow at her, she thought she understood the problem and sat up. "Oh.
I hadn't thought you would require my assistance. You seemed quite . .
. capable of performing a few minutes ago. It would probably be most
efficient if you would tell me precisely what you'd like me to do to
prepare you."

 

"Efficient?" he asked, bewildered by the stilted
words
that had no correlation with the fire building in his blood. He removed
his own covering and knelt beside her.

 

She quickly scanned his
body and looked away again. "You don't appear to need any help."

 

"No,
I suppose not. But I'd like you to touch me." His hand caressed her.
breast. "As I want to touch you. The fever isn't near its peak yet."

 

She
gingerly set his hand from her. "Please don't.

 

If
it's not absolutely necessary, I'd rather we skip any ... peripheral
contact." She scratched at her arm. "My fever is building, and I'd like
to get this over with as soon as possible."

 

Gabriel's mouth
fell
open. He could hardly believe what she was saying, but he could see for
himself that she was being honest with him. She really didn't want him
to give her pleasure, just the physical joining needed to cool the
fever. It was so cold and insulting, he was tempted to walk away from
her. Let her suffer from the fevers symptoms until she mindlessly
attacked him again. The problem with that was, in spite of her insult,
the swelling and throbbing of his genitals was becoming more
uncomfortable with each of his heartbeats.

 

"All right, Shara.
We can
do this efficiently. Lie back and open yourself for me. I wouldn't want
to contact you more than absolutely necessary."

 

She heard the
hostility in his voice and knew she had hurt his manly pride, but he
would get over that much easier than she would get over a broken heart.
Closing her eyes, she positioned herself for his entry. When he didn't
proceed immediately, she worried that her attitude had cooled his
desire for her, but then he pushed inside her and began pumping without
completely lowering his body onto hers. As she requested, he was
touching as little of her as possible.

 

The act did not take
long,
and Shara managed to keep her mind elsewhere while her body received
what it required. As before, the fever cooled once it was fed. She had
gotten exactly what she asked for.

 

And it was more repulsive
than when he had unknowingly raped her.

 

As soon as he was
finished, Gabriel moved away.  

 

For
a while he just sat there with his back to her, taking deep, slow
breaths. Then he rose and put on his tunic and sandals. "I was told
there's a small lake on the other side of the west ridge. I'm going to
rinse off. I suddenly feel extremely unclean."

 

As he started
to walk
in that direction, Shara had the irrational yet frightening thought
that he might not come back. "Gabriel."

 

"What?" he asked
without turning around to her.

 

"I won't ask you to do that
again."

 

His shoulders relaxed slightly. "Good. Because I would
refuse."

 

She
watched him walk away, knowing he was hurt and angry with her, but
certain he would return. His mention of the lake and rinsing off had
her swiftly dressed and heading for the showers behind the cookhouse.
Lanterns had been lit inside the lodge and multiple conversations could
be heard through the open windows. It would be a while before everyone
was asleep and she could begin her tests.

 

Feeling somewhat
better
after the shower, she walked back to the sleeping pouch on the
hillside. Gabriel hadn't returned, but he had had much farther to walk
and probably needed more time to cool down than she did.

 

Considering
the task she wanted to perform later that night, she decided to take a
short nap while she could. She got undressed, crawled into the pouch,
and dozed off seconds later.

 

She awoke as Gabriel slid into
the bag
beside her, but she pretended to remain asleep. All she had to do now
was wait for him to drift off, then go back down to the lodge and
obtain her samples. If all went well, she would return before he missed
her.

 

She was wondering how long he would remain angry
with her when he tucked her against him with his arm around her waist.
Relief that he seemed to have forgiven her caused her to nestle more
comfortably in his embrace. But she was careful not to relax too much,
She had work to do—work that he didn't approve of.

 

She waited
until
his breathing became shallow and the arm around her went slack. Then
she began easing her way out of the pouch. She almost made it.

 

Gabriel's
hand closed around her ankle the moment she stood up.

 

"Going
somewhere, Shara?"

 

"Uh, yes, to relieve myself."

 

He
tightened his grasp. "Lean down and give me a kiss first so I can go
back to sleep."

 

Since
that was what she wanted him to do, she knelt down to comply. He
exchanged his hold on her ankle for a fistful of her hair.

 

"Olive,"
Gabriel said flatly as soon as she was close enough for him to see her
eyes. He was still stinging from their mechanical encounter and this
didn't improve his disposition. She tried to back away, but only
succeeded in having her hair tugged. "You know better than to lie to
me, and I've warned you about how lightly I sleep. I also warned you
that I wouldn't allow you to do anything that might alter history, and
no matter what is happening between us, I won't change my mind about
that!"

 

Shara attempted to reclaim her hair, but his grip was
too
secure. "And I told you I didn't care if I had to accomplish my mission
over your unconscious body. I have to do this!"

 

It occurred to
him that he may have underestimated how strongly she felt about her
self-assigned mission.
"Fine," he said, releasing her hair and sitting up. "Let's debate the
issue calmly, like two reasonable adults. Convince me that you're right
and I'm wrong."

 

She wondered if there were any way she could
win a
straightforward debate with him. Though she doubted it, at least she
had to try. "I've already told you what Lantana warned us about. The
only sure way to prevent that from happening is to stop Khameira's
ancestor from going to Earth."

 

"The Ruling Tribunal of Norona
didn't agree with you," Gabriel countered.

 

"They
didn't see him or hear him. If they had . . . if you had, you would
understand. Lantana was a desperate man. Rather than pass away
peacefully, he used the last breath in his frail body to try to save
Innerworld from disaster. He spent years working on the only solution
he could come up with. If I don't follow through with this, all his
efforts, his entire life, were futile."

 

Gabriel rubbed his
chin.
"There are some pieces that simply don't fit here. You're not a coward,
but you don't strike me as a brave, lone crusader, either. You've never
had any desire to leave your home to go adventuring before this, and
I'd bet you never opposed your parents in your life. Suddenly you're
breaking laws and defying the greatest power in the universe to set off
on a journey with practically no experience. It would make more sense
to me if you had found someone who shared your opinion to go for
you—someone more seasoned and less noticeable when he or she
disappeared. Why take such an enormous risk yourself?"

 

"I had
to. It's my equipment and my theories being tested."     
 

 

"You could have taught someone what was needed."

 

"No!
That wouldn't be the same. You just don't understand how important this
is to me."

 

"Hmmm,"
Gabriel said, nodding slowly. "I think we're making progress now. You
said, 'how important this is to me,' not to us, or to Innerworld, or
Earth. Why is this mission important to you personally? Is it the
prestige you'll earn if your theories are proven?"

 

She frowned
at
him and briefly considered lying or refusing to answer at all, but
every minute he delayed her was one less minute she had to run tests.
"All right. I'll tell you. While I'm searching for Khameira's ancestor,
I'm hoping to find my own as well."

 

"It's really that
important to you?" he asked, already guessing her answer.

 

Her
eyes pleaded for his understanding. "I've existed under a cloud of
doubt my whole life. This is my opportunity to learn the truth."

 

"And
what if the truth is that you have no Noronian ancestor among the
rebels? Wouldn't it be better to leave it unconfirmed?"

 

She
shook her head. "It couldn't be worse than it's been. I want to know,
one way or the other." She could see by the concerned expression on his
face that she had scored a point in this debate of theirs, and quickly
pressed her slight advantage. "What possible harm can my testing the
rebels do?"

 

"I have no objection to the testing you want to
do, only
to your plan to interfere with events already past. The smallest change
now could have horrendous repercussions thousands of years in the
future. Like tossing a tiny pebble into a pond, it makes a minuscule splash, but the ripples circling out from
it grow larger and larger."

 

She was about to argue with his
theory when she realized it wasn't necessary.

 

As
long as he didn't prevent her from testing the subjects, she didn't
need to change his mind about anything else until she found the right
rebel. When she did . . . well, she'd worry about dealing with Gabriel
and his theories then. "I see what you mean," she told him, careful not
to actually lie while he was watching her eyes so closely. "If I
promise to be very careful not to cause any ripples, will you at least
agree not to interfere with my testing?"

 

He had the strangest
feeling his idea to debate the matter had somehow backfired, but he
couldn't put his finger on exactly what felt wrong. His intuition told
him to keep a very close eye on her. "I will do better than agree not
to interfere. I'll help you. The faster you test everyone, the sooner
we can go home. The fever has tied us together for the moment, and
although you may not be worried about it escalating, I am."

 

"I'm
as
worried as you are; I'm just not going to let it stop me from doing
what I need to do. I accept your offer to help. The hardest thing is
going to be identifying everyone, but maybe between the two of us we'll
remember the names of most of the people we met or were told about."

 

"Beauty
can help with that. Remember, she was taking pictures as we were being
introduced."

 

"Great. There are still several hours left before
dawn. If we're lucky, we could be gone before their big meeting begins."

 

As
they donned their tunics, Gabriel said, "I know I said I'm in a hurry to get back, but since we're
here, and it would only be a few more hours . . ."

 

Shara
smiled. "It would be a real shame not to get a recording of such an
historic event." In fact, Shara thought, it could work out perfectly.
If they identified both people she was looking for, she could easily
find her way to the Ruling Tribunal's headquarters, while Gabriel was
absorbed in the proceedings of the meeting. Once the triumverate heard
her story, they would surely detain the one rebel to prevent a future
disaster.

 

They were ready to go when Shara placed her hand on
Gabriel's arm. "Wait, I ..." His eyes met hers in question. With a
sigh, she made herself do the proper thing. "I really am sorry. About .
. . before. It was irrational."

 

Gabriel brought her hand to
his lips
and kissed the palm. "We're both suffering from irrationality. I don't
know how to make this easier for you—"

 

She touched his lips
with her fingertips. "Just accept my apology."

 

He
smiled and enveloped the fingers that had hushed him. "Accepted." He
kept her hand in his as they began walking back to the lodge.

 

Shara
used the time to explain how her microputer worked. Once inside, they
wouldn't speak for fear of waking someone. Gabriel instructed Beauty to
review the recordings and print out the name of each person he directed
the mirror toward. Then if that name was on Shara's list of rebels that
were exiled, she would run the test.

 

There was a boy in the
tree
where they had first seen Artemis, but since his name was not on the
list, Shara didn't need a hair sample from him. They waved at the young
sentry, told him they'd decided to
spend the rest of the night indoors, and continued on. Only a few
lanterns remained lit inside the lodge and the silence let them know
their timing was good.

 

As they entered, it was immediately
evident
from the amount of floor space now vacant that a fair number of adults
and children had chosen to sleep outdoors. But there were still enough
in residence to put a dent in Shara's list.