No Words Alone (27 page)

Her eyes misted up, and she swallowed hard.
It took her a moment to speak. “Thank you,” she whispered.

His heart ached. He should have told her
sooner. “However you came into my life, I’m glad you’re here.
You’re the best part of me. I’ve never found a woman as special, as
memorable, as you.” She was crying in earnest now. He was afraid to
compliment her more, as she didn’t seem capable of taking it.
Instead, he held her and tried to ignore the tears soaking his
shirt. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt such a sense of
peace. He’d been right to tell her. Perhaps one day soon, she’d be
able to speak of her feelings for him. Strange, how he hadn’t even
realized he’d been waiting for her to speak first.

There was one other thing. “You said that I
had been teaching you ‘the art of not showing affection.’ I hadn’t
realized you’d viewed my actions that way. In my culture, a man
proves his feelings by the things he does, not the words he says.
Words can be false, but actions seldom are.”

She sighed. “It’s been difficult. I never
know when it’s okay to touch you. Even looking at you warmly feels
wrong. You’re very reserved.”

“I regret that you feel uncomfortable.
Perhaps in time we will find a compromise.” Her tears were
beginning to worry him. Perhaps an apology would help. “Forgive me,
hiri’ami
. I regret causing you pain.”

“I think we should go home. These parties are
exhausting, aren’t they? Wait here while I say goodbye; it won’t
take long.”

She nodded and dabbed at her eyes. She did
look peaked.

Grateful for the excuse of her pregnancy, he
went in search of his father. He was more than ready to be
home.

Ryven didn’t wholly understand the change in
his wife, but he was pleased nonetheless. It seemed his declaration
of affection had moved her to unexpected heights. She laughed, she
smiled. Best of all, she no longer seemed dismayed about the baby.
He was perplexed, but he liked it.

A Scorpio woman would assume that her man
loved her. No declaration of sentiment would be expected, only a
demonstration. His own woman seemed to be the opposite. Only now
that he’d spoken of his affection did she finally seem able to
accept the little things he did for her as the romantic gifts they
were. He hadn’t even realized how resistant she’d been to them
until he saw her recent pleasure. She even showed joy in discussing
the arrangements for the baby’s arrival; a thing he wouldn’t have
dared to bring up before.

It made him wonder what would have happened
if he had brought himself to say he loved her.

His father remarked on the change as well. “I
hadn’t realized her vibrancy was muted until I saw her today. What
has her so happy?”

Ryven actually blushed. “I declared my
affection.” There were some things that were embarrassing to admit
to one’s father.

The Lord Governor smiled. “I see. Well done.
I am pleased to see her so alive.”

Xera’s newly bubbly attitude even coaxed a
smile from the Leo girl, who had won a more comfortable room and
daily walks through the garden by cooperation. On this day she’d
just finished a long run down one of the many tracks around the
park. She smiled at Xera as she dried her hair. “Life leaves you
sweet today.”

Xera, who’d jogged a little with permission
from her doctor, grinned. “It would be even sweeter if I could keep
up with you. How do you do it? You run like a cheetah; that’s a
very fast Earth mammal,” she explained. It was true; Rysing ran
like she was born to it, as if she had four legs instead of two.
She was incredibly graceful, moving with a kind of lope that left
her guards in the dust.

Rysing snorted. “I am badly out of shape.
It’s been forever since I could run anywhere. Given time, I might
be something to see.”

Ryven, who’d joined them that morning after
seeing his father, raised a brow. “I think we’ll ban you from any
footraces, then. There’s simply no competition.”

Rysing grinned. “I will have to find a pet to
run with, then. Surely you have something fast enough on this
planet.” There followed a lively discussion on what might be able
to keep up.

Ryven looked at his wife and wondered if she
would enjoy a pet. Her recent sweet temper had left him feeling
indulgent. Anything that would keep that smile on her lips would be
all right with him.

He realized what he was thinking and shook
his head. He’d better be careful not to let her know just how much
she’d affected him, lest he give in on something he’d regret.

Xera was still feeling the inner glow of
happiness a few days later as she shopped in the market. All the
colors seemed especially bright and vivid; or maybe it was her
mood. She smiled ruefully at herself. She’d have sworn she wasn’t a
romantic, but look what Ryven’s admission had done for her. She was
even starting to think about baby names! Not that they’d been able
to come up with anything they both liked. He wanted unpronounceable
things like “Urjub” and “Werq”, and her choices sounded equally
bizarre to him. At the rate they were going, the kid wouldn’t have
a name until he was five.

A display of bright scarves caught her eye,
and she thought of Namae. Shiza’s circling had taken on a new
intensity, and Ryven’s sister was getting nervous. Maybe a gift
would help to take the young woman’s mind off her nerves.

Xera was looking over the offerings when a
conversation caught her attention. A woman dressed like a
shopkeeper was gossiping to a plain-faced man. She said, “Hear they
found a human woman like Atarus’s wife. Got her down in the
bay.”

Xera froze and looked at the pair out of the
corner of her eye. Had she heard right?

The man looked intrigued. “Human! Are you
sure? How do you know?”

“My husband works the space docks. He hears
things. Guess her name is Harris-something. They’re keeping it
hush-hush.”

Xera’s blood began to pound in her ears,
nearly drowning out the conversation. Done with pretending
indifference, she interrupted the pair. “I overheard what you’re
saying. What is your husband’s name, and where exactly does he
work?” she asked the woman. “I’ll reward you for the
information.”

The woman looked startled, then uneasy. “I
didn’t mean any offence, great lady. Just a little gossip.”

“I’m not offended,” Xera insisted. She handed
over a coin. “Please tell me.”

Moments later Xera hurried toward a transport
that would take her to the docking bay. While she acknowledged her
security detail’s concerns about the lead, she would not be swayed.
If there was the slightest possibility that her sister could be
there, she wanted to check on it personally.

Her bodyguards contacted Xtal, her chief of
security, who asked her to wait. A clever man, he pointed out it
would take eight months for any of her sisters to reach her, and it
had only been weeks since she had contacted them. It was physically
impossible for them to have arrived already, even if they were
prepared to take such a costly, perilous trip.

“You’re right,” she admitted into her
communications link. “But I have to see for myself. It’s not as if
I’m alone.”

He did not look happy in the viewscreen.
“I’ll send backup.”

Xera reached the dock and took a deep breath.
She knew to temper her hope, but just the thought of seeing her
sisters again made her unbearably tense. Could one of them really
be here?

They found the workstation the woman had told
them about, but there was no one in sight. One of her two
bodyguards moved off to check the far side of the shuttle…and was
shot to the ground like a dog.

Xera shouted as her other guard took her to
the ground, but it was too late. A man grabbed his limp body off
her and drew Xera roughly to her feet.

“Tovark,” she said grimly. He stood boldly in
front of her, a sardonic smile on his ruined face.

“Women,” he said deliberately, “are very
stupid.” He opened the shuttlecraft door in illustration. Rysing
was lying there, unmoving. He smiled slightly at Xera’s aborted
attempt to get to her. “Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to
visit. This shuttle is scheduled to leave here in two minutes, and
you’ll jump to hyperdrive in another two. Of course, any craft
unlucky enough to be too close to you will be damaged, but that’s
the cost of travel today.” He gestured for Xera’s captor to load
her aboard.

Xera felt Rysing’s neck and was relieved to
find a steady pulse. The girl had a bruised jaw, but didn’t look
too banged up otherwise. Hopefully he hadn’t had time to extract a
more complete revenge. She couldn’t think what the girl could have
done to anger him.

She glanced at Tovark as he continued to
speak.

“I suggest you strap in. I wouldn’t want you
to be damaged for your meeting with the Khun’tat. You’ll come out
of hyperdrive in a system where they’ve been particularly active.
Think of me fondly when you arrive.” He smiled and started to shut
the door, then paused. “Of course, there’s the chance that they
won’t be there to meet you. One can never know about these things.
In that case, you might make it to a little planet on the border.
You’ve been there, Xera. You remember the biters.”

He sealed the door.

Xera felt a moment of cold terror. Biters! He
was sending them back to that desert hell? Thankfully, she didn’t
have time to waste time in thought. She dragged the barely
conscious Rysing to the cockpit and strapped her in as the
autopilot fired the engines. She’d barely fastened her own bindings
before they cleared the shuttle bay doors.

The shuttle controls were locked. Xera
slammed her hand on the console and looked out at the rapidly
thinning atmosphere. They broke out into true space and her stomach
clenched. Next stop: hell.

The attacker had covered his tracks well. The
shuttle bay surveillance cameras showed the bodyguards being
murdered in a different location and the bodies were found in that
different place, to collaborate the story. It wasn’t until the
forensic examination that anyone knew for sure the bodies had been
moved.

Fortunately, Xera’s bodyguards had kept in
touch with Xtal, so it was known where her last reported location
was. Ryven knew the guards were too well trained to have claimed to
be in a different spot.

What he and his crew didn’t know was what had
happened to the women; for the Leo-Ahni was missing, too, and one
could only speculate that they were together. The pair might be
held somewhere on the planet or have been sneaked off world. But
Ryven and his family didn’t know who had taken them or why. An
exhaustive search commenced.

Ryven knew he might only have hours. If it
took them too long to locate his wife and Rysing, they might find
only bodies. He tried not to think about it, but it affected all
his decisions, which is why he let Xtal lead the search. He was too
involved, his choices potentially blurred by rage and fear. His
wife and child were in danger, and he’d never felt less in
control.

Chapter 20

Since they’d dropped out of hyperdrive, Xera was
doing everything she could to unlock the controls. Nothing
worked.

It had been three tense days to the frontier border.
They had plenty of food and water, but no weapons. Their shuttle
was a commercial model for ferrying passengers, not fighting
aliens. She didn’t know what they’d do if they did make it to the
desert planet. Unless they made it to the shelter, they wouldn’t
survive long. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the coordinates to the
fortress, even if she could unlock the controls….

She wanted to scream. Instead, she cursed. The black
words were almost a mantra, but they weren’t helping her much. She
tried praying instead.

Rysing sat like a statue, alternating between staring
at the proximity locator and Xera’s dogged efforts. “Can you fly
this if we do unlock the controls?” she finally asked. Maybe Xera’s
constant muttering was wearing on her.

“Sure. Mostly. I can land for certain,” Xera said.
She hoped she could.

Rysing took a shuddering breath. “What is this planet
like?”

Xera bit her lip.

“That bad?”

“It wasn’t a pleasure park.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rysing said, her voice
distant. She’d been watching the readouts with disturbing
intensity. “There’s a planet coming up, and I think we’re headed
for it.”

Xera stopped what she was doing to stare at the
display. Rysing was right, but there was something else. “There’s a
ship in orbit.”

Rysing froze. “Khun’tat?”

Xera frowned. “No. It almost looks like…the GE! We’re
saved!” Her joy was quickly cut off as she realized what they might
look like; an enemy ship closing in on their turf. Granted, they
were in a shuttle and not a warship, but they weren’t exactly
invited to this particular party, either. According to the newly
minted treaty, the GE weren’t supposed to be here..

She drew a quick breath and thought fast. They needed
a way to communicate, and their controls were still locked. Could
they free the transceiver in time?

They got lucky. The GE ship hailed them, and while
the women could not respond, they could see and understand the
captain of the ship. He looked startled to see her. No doubt her
face had been splashed on telecasts all over the star system; her
situation would have been interesting fodder for the folks back
home. She wondered what spin the GE had put on the story.
“Lieutenant Harrisdaughter? What are you doing here?”

“We’re trapped!” Xera tried to tell him, but it was
plain he couldn’t hear her, so she gestured to the controls and
mouthed, “Help!”

He frowned at her. “Is there a problem with your
communicator?”

She nodded, then glanced around in frustration. There
was nothing to write with, so she looked at him and mouthed,
“Help!” again.