Broken Vision (35 page)

The room cleared.

He was alone with his mate.

* * * *

"Be true to your heart." Morgon's words, the words of the wisest man she had ever known,
reverberated in Maegan's skull. She sank into the chair he had vacated. The problem was she wasn't
sure she knew her heart anymore.

Oh, she knew that Alerik had claimed a piece of it--a large piece of it--that no one else
would ever have. But her mind was telling her it wasn't enough.

It might have been.

When Alerik held her in his arms and showed her through fiery passion and gentle touch
that he had feelings for her, it might have been enough to follow him anywhere and try to be the
mate he deserved.

She simply couldn't deal with this man with the cold eyes who had no memory of those
times and showed no inclination to recreate them. This man was a purely political creature, raised
to follow and execute the beliefs and traditions of his own race first, then to integrate them with
those of a multi-nation coalition.

And that, to her way of thinking, was where the gross contradictions came in. The
architects of the post-conflict Vision had expected massive compromise from a diverse group of
people. Wary of losing their national identities completely, the leaders of the nine nations had been
slow to give compromises, even with interracial marriage partnerships at the highest levels.

Morgon's Janas Corporation, with its young multi-nation staff, demonstrated far more
successful integration than the efforts of the Coalition Council.

Alerik's large body appeared in front of her. She couldn't look in his face and focused just
below his chin instead.

"The quorum failed," he said bluntly.

"I know," she whispered. "Sharm told me he wouldn't support it." A peculiar feeling was
writhing through her veins, part elation, part sadness. She couldn't figure it out.

"None of them did." Alerik sounded almost angry. "Which makes me wonder, wife, what
you haven't told me."

She snapped her head up. "Would you have listened and cared?"

The glacial expression in his eyes made her shudder.

"I have no memory of you, but why wouldn't I have listened? I entered into a marriage
partnership with you. It was dictated by the Match Key, granted, but the Match Key has never
failed. We must have made some emotional connection, yet you made it sound like there was
none."

His face could have been chiseled from granite, and his eyes had narrowed to piercing
slivers. "Why is that I wonder?" His hand shot out to clamp around her chin as she would have
turned her head to hide her guilt. "Don't look away!

"I do believe my quorum, much as I disagreed with them this morning, was right after all.
It seems we have some work to do."

"I told you this morning," she said desperately, "I'm not the right mate for you. You
incarcerated me for treason! I cannot, I won't go to Magnilium with you."

Alerik's eyebrow shot up. He released her chin. "Interesting statements all, if a little hard to
follow how they're all connected. But they're a starting point. At one time, Maegan, I must have
believed without question you were the right mate for me. You will help me get back to that point.
Understand this. If you don't for whatever unfathomable reason, others will."

Maegan gritted her teeth. "You should never have married me. Does it not matter that I've
operated in an illegal network? You're the one who called it treasonous. Why would you, a Mariltar
heir, want a mate who is clearly so unsuitable?"

"Those are interesting and noteworthy questions, yet despite your self-confessed
unsuitability, your parents and my core team clearly approve of the part--"

"They approve of the Match Key, which should have been abandoned as an obsolete,
archaic convention long ago," Maegan snapped.

"Perhaps." He reached for her.

Too late, she realized his intent. She couldn't even get in a kick, before he pulled her tight
against his body. He grasped her nape and lowered his head. His breath was warm on her cheek,
and then his mouth settled over hers.

She was trapped, unable to make the slightest movement to get away. Held by bonds that
weren't physical in nature, as the passion she thought never to feel again exploded and seared her
blood.

When the pressure of his mouth eased and his arms loosened, she could only clutch at him
weakly for support.

"That," he said, his voice rough and uneven, "is why this partnership won't be
dissolved."

Margaine Confluence:/Third Rising
Pallas Five

The MagnaStar was two hanans past its scheduled departure time. Alerik had been
warned--thoroughly. Yet despite what he thought had been sufficient precautions, his mate had still gone
missing.

Corenna and Drakal, assigned to make sure she was at the vessel well in advance of
departure, didn't know where she was.

His parents and hers, waiting aboard the MagnaStar, didn't have a slieking clue.

Pallas Five's dock recorded no unauthorized departure. Pallas Four's dock had no record of
an unauthorized arrival.

The captain of the MagnaStar had long since taken the shuttle back to his vessel to readjust
his voyage plan. He had no choice but to wait. His vessel was chartered to bring the Mariltar party
and the Coalition Council's newest junior member to Magnilium. They could hardly leave without
Alerik Mariltar's mate.

Alerik couldn't help himself. He began to pace in tight circles on the dock, which lay
baking in the hot mid-day sun of Pallas Five. He glanced at Sharm and scowled. "You're enjoying
this, aren't you?"

Perched on a pylon in the shade, Sharm shrugged. "It was fun watching you go through
this the first time. It's even more fun the second time."

Alerik's already sour mood worsened. "What in blazing starpits is that supposed to
mean?"

"She turns you upside down and inside out, my friend. She's that guilty pleasure you know
you should resist but can't. Which is exactly why you're still bonded to her and relearning all her
complexities. This time around, you still haven't figured out that ordering her to do something isn't
the most intelligent move."

Alerik skidded to a halt, fists planted on his hips. "She's my mate," he shouted, completely
out of patience. "She goes where I go. We had an agreement."

"An agreement?" Sharm straightened up. "What sort of agreement?"

Alerik paused as he recalled that difficult negotiation and his frustration at not being clear
within himself as to what exactly the stakes were. "She agreed to three rotations minimum on
Magnilium."

"That satisfies your goal. Partially. What's in it for her?"

"She's my mate," Alerik shouted again. Unbelievable. His shredded patience was scattering
to the winds, and he couldn't seem to gather it no matter how hard he tried.

"I think everyone knows that." The female voice dripped disdain.

Alerik pivoted on his heels. His missing wife, with Morgon at her heels, marched past him
without a glance. Her hair, for once not confined in a tight knot at her nape, bobbed in perky
defiance in a single sleek tail against her back.

"What's his problem?" she said to Sharm. "I heard him half way down the dock. Everyone
else did too. Where's the shuttle?"

"The shuttle," he told her through gritted teeth, "is on its way back from the MagnaStar.
Where have you been?"

The emotions warring inside him did nothing for his patience. His intense relief at her
appearance was quickly overcome by a strong desire to grab her and shake her. That was followed
just as quickly by a need to bend her back over his arm and kiss her until she caved to his every
desire.

She turned, a surprised look on her face. "On Pallas Four."

"Neither dock recorded your trip."

She looked even more surprised. "I told you. Smart dock," she said. "Morgon has one here
too. Which I didn't know about until a cycle ago."

"You're late." Alerik made a huge effort to recall his patience. What had she told him and
when? Was he continuing to lose parts of his memory?

Morgon stood beside his niece, as always, a pillar of cool calm, even in the midst of a
gathering storm. Today he wore typical Mariltar clothing of tunic and breeches in shades of dark
blue, and half boots. His face bore a faint expression of amusement. His silver temple mark glowed
clear and bright. He clearly had no concerns about his niece's behavior. "Mechanical problems." He
followed that brief statement with a toothy grin. "Lost thrusters when she exceeded the new
shuttle's velocity recommendations."

"What?"

A muffled sound escaped from Sharm.

Maegan shoved at her uncle's arm. "Why did you tell him that? He fusses like an old
bidaque as it is."

This time, Sharm didn't bother to hold back his chuckles.

Out of patience again, Alerik reached for Maegan. She slid nimbly away from him, putting
her uncle between them.

"You could have let someone know where you were and that you were going to be late."
He'd deal with the issue of her sneaking off later. That had to stop. The stories Sharm had told him,
when he'd been lying confined in the healing pod again, had raised the hair on his nape.

She peered at him from Morgon's other side. "I did. Didn't you check your comm?"

Sharm doubled over howling like a fool. Morgon, to his credit, seemed to be trying to
control his grin. Alerik had turned his comm off when every report had been negative on Maegan's
whereabouts. Sharm received the same reports and would fill him in as necessary. He hadn't
thought for one nan that Maegan would contact him directly.

"Here's the shuttle." Maegan threw her arms around her uncle's neck. "I'll miss you so
much."

"Be good, leela," her uncle cautioned in return. "Remember, he's just a man and your mate.
Communication is always good in a relationship. I'll come to visit soon."

Just a man?

Why did that make him feel like he was the problem here, instead of a contrary female
who couldn't ever seem to do what she was told? Alerik frowned at the lead contender for his
replacement as governor of the Grogon Asteroid Belt. Morgon didn't know he was a candidate yet,
and Alerik wasn't free to disclose that bit of information. Maegan's uncle might have to revise the
timing on his promise.

Maegan gave Morgon another squeeze and pulled away. Without so much as a glance at
Alerik, she headed for the shuttle. Just steps away from it, she whirled and ran back to where Sharm
stood.

"I forgot you were staying behind," she said, and she pulled him into a fierce hug.

Sharm would ease the transition for the new governor, and rejoin them on Magnilium.
Over Maegan's shoulder, his friend and second caught Alerik's gaze as he returned the hug with
equal vigor. There was something in his expression, something he didn't bother to hide, that Alerik
didn't like at all. He became instantly wary. Sharm had become a Maegan supporter, but was there
more to it than that? The mutual hug went on for entirely too long.

With a growl of warning, he moved to reclaim his mate. He hadn't even completed a step
when a bolt of pain drove through his skull. It was so intense, it dropped him to his knees on the hot
legite dock. He heard Sharm shout, heard Maegan's cry of alarm.

Her hands gripped his shoulders. Her face, white and scared, appeared before him as a
blur. She turned her head and he heard her cry her uncle's name, but she still clutched his shoulders.
That contact became his anchor as he battled the blinding agony.

The rapid thud of booted feet on the dock competed with the unbearable pounding in his
head. He was aware, dimly, of bodies pressing around him, hands pulling him to his feet. Voices
urging him to move.

Through it all, he knew Maegan was holding onto him. He heard Morgon's name called,
caught Sharm's raised voice mixed in with others.

He felt himself being moved out of the hot sun, into a blessedly cool place where the light
was less blinding. He felt the pain beginning to dissipate. Gentle hands--Maegan's?--pulled straps
across his chest, his waist, and he realized, in a disconnected, dream-like way, that he was in a
shuttle seat.

Maegan was asking questions, demanding answers. Sharm was shouting orders somewhere
in the distance. Suddenly all sound cut off. The shuttle doors must have closed.

"Alerik?"

He forced his eyes open, easier now, as the pain in his head continued to recede.

Maegan knelt in front of him. Her green eyes were filled with fear. Her brow was creased
with worry. "Is it better?" She touched him gently on his cheek.

You are never getting away from me, mate.

He nodded, unable to speak through the brew of emotions welling inside of him. Her heart
was in her expression, and though his memory was still imperfect, his own had responded. One
day, he would speak to her of that moment.

"Maegan, you need to strap in." Drakal helped Maegan to her feet and into the seat next to
Alerik. And even that brief, helping contact sent a jealous anger rippling through his veins.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "What happened?"

"We don't know." The voice was Corenna's. "Drakal and I had just arrived at the dock.
Whatever it was, it affected Morgon as well, although not as severely as it did you."

"Where's Morgon?"

"Sharm took him to the Pallas Five clinic."

"No one else felt, saw, heard anything?"

"No, sir."

The hum of the shuttle's systems filled the silence that followed. After a nan, Maegan
murmured what Alerik had known in his heart to be true, "She is still alive."

* * * *

"We have unfinished business, that's why."

"Like what? What could be so important?" Maegan threw up her hands and scowled at the
medtech, who was doing precisely nothing to stop Alerik as he clambered nude from the healing
pod.

"I don't think you want me to answer that in detail before an audience," he said. He seemed
unconcerned about his lack of clothing and the fact that the medtech, who was supposed to be a
professional, was ogling him like she'd never seen a naked man before.