Broken Vision (34 page)

"He agreed to dissolve our marriage partnership. You no longer need to concern yourself
with me." She turned her head to address him and, for the first time, got a good look at him. She
couldn't help but stare. Even in uniform, Sharm appeared elegant and always well-groomed. Today,
in loose gray breeches and soft jacket, his hair in spikes, he looked like he had just climbed out of
bed, which he probably had.

He bared his teeth at her. "I'm concerned with Alerik," he said grimly. "Which means I'm
concerned with you, since Alerik isn't in his right mind. Somehow, I thought you'd be up to
something like this."

"I--"

He flung up his hand. "Not here. We'll settle this at the habitat."

Maegan pressed her lips together. There wasn't anything to settle. This was just a small
delay in her plans. Sharm would be summoned soon to the quorum anyway.

He didn't say another word. The silence was grating on Maegan's nerves by the time the
shuttle stopped at the habitat. They were barely inside the empty residence before she jumped into
her attack.

"You know this is for the best," she said, and hated the thin shakiness of her voice. "He
didn't even argue. He doesn't remember anything about our marriage partnership, and he's being
recalled, probably to Magnilium. You, more than anyone, should understand this partnership should
never have happened. I'm not the right mate for him."

She paused. Sharm was planted in front of her, legs apart, arms folded, expression stony.
She couldn't tell if she was getting through to him or not. He didn't seem inclined to respond.

A faint buzz broke the silence.

"That's probably him. That's your communicator, isn't it? You're being summoned to his
quorum. Better go."

"What makes you think the quorum will give you the results you want?"

"What?" Maegan stared at him open-mouthed and felt the beginnings of panic swirl
through her veins. She had been so certain of the conclusion.

Sharm lifted his shoulders. "The quorum requires consensus. What makes you so sure it
will deliver that?"

"Why would you not give him consensus?" she whispered. "You have to."

He lifted his brows and shook his head. "Wrong. I don't, nor do the others."

"But this is what he wants."

"He doesn't know. How can he? He's missing a large part of his memory. You do him a
great disservice with this action."

"They're calling him to Magnilium," she repeated. "I don't want to go there. I cannot. My
life is here. I can't be the marriage partner he needs and deserves. This partnership should never
have happened. You, more than anyone, know that."

Sharm's comm buzzed again. He didn't even flinch. "I thought I knew that. At the very
beginning. I changed my mind when I saw how you two were together."

It was all Maegan could do to stay standing as memories assaulted her. "We were
physically attracted to one another. So? It was an interlude. People move on. He remembers none of
that anyway. This way he can choose a mate better suited to who and what he wants to be."

"You're deluding yourself and you're a coward." Sharm's brutal coldness was far from the
kind man she thought she knew. "I have never seen two people better suited for one another. You're
giving up on him when he needs you the most, because you're afraid to face a future not of your
choosing. Where's the enormous courage and compassion that put you into that network rescuing
children?"

He grabbed for his comm, which now emitted a constant buzz, and glanced at it. "I have to
go." He raised a stern, unyielding gaze to Maegan. "Stay here. I mean it. Do not make me come
after you."

In the cold, empty silence, Maegan stared at the closed door and whispered, "You're so
wrong. He doesn't need me. There is nothing left of what we had."

Except her love for a man who looked at her without a shred of recognition in his icy,
sapphire eyes.

* * * *

Against the advice of two medtechs, Alerik had checked himself out of the clinic. He
couldn't lie hooked up to machines while others decided the course of his life.

Earlier in the day, his quorum had failed him. Not one member had agreed to the
dissolution of his marriage partnership. Sharm Foster, once loyal friend, second and staunch
supporter, had actually demanded he wait for forty cycles before gathering the quorum again.

Forty cycles! What did they know about his marriage partnership that he couldn't
remember and his mate hadn't told him?

He strode beneath an arch of sillban trees, whose large, thick, silver-green leaves offered
some relief from the scorching sun. He couldn't even remember if this was the hottest day he had
experienced on Pallas Five. The deserted path was also unfamiliar. Thickly planted with trees and
shrubs on either side, it wound through a grid of squat buildings. Nothing on Pallas Five appeared
higher than five levels. Overhead, above the tree canopy, a shuttle zipped by on the single track. It
would have been faster, but he had needed to walk, needed to think, needed to release some
energy.

He also, apparently, needed to have another conversation with his mate. His comm
directed him to turn. He was close to the building he had lived in as governor, and of which he had
no memory.

He inhaled warm air scented with the sharp sweetness of some bloom. If nothing else, it
felt good to be out of the sterile atmosphere of the clinic and especially the confines of the healing
pod.

The medtechs weren't certain how much, if any, of his memory would return. It was odd
how he could so clearly remember his childhood, his academy training, his first three assignments.
He appeared to have all his memories right up until the time the governorship of Pallas Five had
been offered, then it all dropped into a frustrating, nightmarish black void. Sharm had even told
him he'd had a choice between the governorship and a lesser seat on the Coalition Council.

Why in Sagar's name would he have chosen the governorship of an obscure little asteroid
belt?

He was becoming more convinced it all led back to his mate, Maegan Shale.

He left the shaded path and started up the steps to the governor's habitat.

His comm buzzed with Sharm's code. He wasn't terribly inclined to speak with him at the
moment. Sharm hadn't supported his decision to leave the clinic either.

The years of a trusting relationship won out. "Yes?" he snapped.

"Thought you might like to know." Sharm sounded far too cheerful for a man who'd had a
shouting match with him earlier. "The Doganlite has just arrived. Your parents are aboard."

Why didn't that surprise him? Alerik stopped at the door of the habitat. He turned to look
back at the city. The pale yellow stone of the buildings shimmered in the fierce sun. "I just arrived
at the habitat. I need some time." Inspiration struck. "Get them together with her parents."

"Not sure that's a good idea. You know both sets gave enthusiastic consent to your
marriage partnership?"

"How would I know that?" Alerik said curtly. His irritation and confusion notched up
another level. His parents had supported the marriage? With enthusiasm? Not something he could
picture, especially from his father.

"Right." Sharm was unrepentant. "Just wanted to warn you, they're more likely as a group
to come down on her side than yours."

The entire situation was becoming more bizarre by the nan. "And have you finally
remembered who and what you are to me, that you're now fully supportive of my position?"

"Wouldn't go that far, but thought you at least deserved a warning. Have to go now. Our
distinguished visitors demand a proper welcome."

"Wait--" But Sharm was gone and ignored his attempt to re-contact him.

With a grim urgency, Alerik faced the door to the governor's habitat and pressed his hand
over the pad. He wasn't used to being ignored. He wasn't used to not having full control.

He was taking his life back. Now.

The habitat was cool and silent. It felt empty. Sharm had assured him Maegan would be
here. He had surveillance on her due to her odd tendency to disappear, he said, and then he'd made
some oblique reference to no tunnels at the governor's habitat. For some reason, he'd found that
funny but hadn't bothered to enlighten Alerik.

As he strode through the rooms, he saw his personal belongings, but there wasn't even a
flicker of recognition of the rooms themselves.

As he entered the last room--the largest bedchamber--he was beginning to think she had
evaded Sharm's surveillance and was gone.

But there she was. Sprawled across the sleeping platform in untidy sleep.

The urgency in him died an abrupt death, and a peculiar anticipation took its place. He
approached the sleeping platform slowly. This was his mate. He had been inside her body, touched
her, made love to her.

Even if his mind couldn't dredge up the memory, shouldn't his body know?

She lay on her stomach, her arms and legs flung in every direction. She wore a pale green
body suit that molded to the deep valley of her spine and hugged the beautiful curves of her bottom.
She was too thin. He could see the protrusion of bones where there should have been more
padding.

She was still using the slieking nutro tablets.

Where had that thought come from? And why? There wasn't a single other memory that
accompanied it. His sense of frustration was interesting though, because he recognized it was
connected to the thought. He had cared what this woman ate?

Her hair had come loose from its tight binding at her nape and flowed across her back in
silk-fine strands. A thick lock was draped across her cheek and her slender hand, which cradled her
face. He bent to brush it aside.

At first contact, a jolt of electricity whipped through his body. Every nerve came to life
with an almost painful intensity. She muttered in her sleep and shifted her face. On the hand that
had cradled her face, a sapphire band glowed around the base of three fingers.

Another jolt attacked him. His chosen mate.

He stepped back from the sleeping platform.

What, by the fires of Crillac, was he going to do?

Margaine Confluence:/Fourth Rising
Pallas Five

The gods of the Mariltar Nation still didn't have an answer for him many nans later, but his
parents and Maegan's certainly did. The discussion bouncing around the great room of the
governor's habitat was vigorous and loud. While they argued details, they were all in agreement
about one thing. The Match Key could not be disputed. Even his mother, of all people, who'd had
no say in her choice of mate because of the Match Key, had apparently come to this conclusion as
well.

Alerik glanced across the room at the one person who hadn't yet weighed in.

Morgon Trion.

The man had suffered the same treatment he had at the hands of the sha-priestess, but his
memory loss was random. Alerik couldn't remember meeting him.

Morgon sat relaxed in a chair, his hands steepled under his chin, his face expressionless.
There was no doubt, though, he was intently focused on the conversation.

The other subject of the discussion, besides himself, was still asleep.

Or maybe she wasn't. There was movement in his peripheral vision. Maegan came into
view. She no longer wore the body suit, for which he was grateful, but was dressed in a
too-conservative, pale gray, knee-length tunic over leggings of the same color. Her hair was bound
tightly back from her face.

He felt a peculiar singe of irritation. He wanted her to leave it loose.

Her spectacular mother stood almost directly in front of Maegan with her back to her
daughter. Melissa's hair was dressed in colorful fabric and metal twists, and she wore a flowing
rainbow gown that hugged a still amazing figure.

Curious, the contrast between the two women. Did Maegan go to extreme lengths with
conservative dress in rebellion against her mother's showiness? He felt he had gained some
important insight, but wasn't sure what it really meant yet.

He watched her take in the scene in the room, knew the exact moment when she noticed
him. Even at this distance, he could tell she tensed. But her gaze moved on, as if he was irrelevant,
and settled on Morgon. Her whole face lit up.

His heart cramped.

She stepped forward. Her father noticed her first and immediately went to her to draw her
into the group. She greeted his parents politely and, as soon as she could, extricated herself and
went to Morgon. Once again, Alerik felt an odd biting pain in his chest as he watched a thus far
unemotional Morgon enfold his niece lovingly in his arms.

Then suddenly everyone's attention was on him, and for the briefest of nans, and one of the
very few times in his life, he didn't know how to react.

The breach was unwittingly filled by Maegan. "Alerik," she said from the shelter of her
uncle's side, "I didn't know you would be released this soon from the clinic."

"He wasn't released." His father's tone was stiff with disapproval. "He checked himself out
and he needs to go back."

"Morgon?" Maegan turned to her uncle, her body language screaming concern. "You
too?"

And for the third time, Alerik's heart cramped. She was more distressed about Morgon's
condition than her mate's? Where was the promise of the Match Key and why, by all the burning
starpits in the universe, did he care? This morning he had just wanted to be done with this bizarre
arrangement.

"No, leela," Morgon reassured her. "I am healed, though I may always have some memory
gaps. Time alone will answer that question."

To his peers, he said, "They must talk."

There was a general chorus of agreement from the others. Alerik bore the stern silence of
his father's warning gaze, accepted his mother's kiss and heard her murmur, "Do the right thing, my
son."

But his attention was focused on his mate and Morgon. He saw Morgon say something in
Maegan's ear, saw her squeeze her eyes shut and give a brief nod. Above all, it was the gaze
Morgon turned on him that gave him pause, more than any of the words that had been said on the
subject. It battered against the barrier of his certainty and tore at his shield of confidence.