Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3) (45 page)
Read Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3) Online
Authors: Laura Jo Phillips
“Not me, no,” Salene said, turning away from the mirror. “But I think they bother Talus, Jon and Kar.”
Rayne frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It doesn’t? Even you have to admit they’re ugly.”
“So what?” Rayne asked. “I had scars everywhere and I do mean
everywhere
. It didn’t bother my Rami in the slightest. At least, not in the way you mean.”
“The Bearen-Hirus are good men, Rayne,” Salene said. “You’re lucky.”
“I am,” Rayne agreed. “I think that if the Gryphons weren’t good men too, you wouldn’t love them so much.”
“Maybe I didn’t know them as well as I thought I did.”
“Please, Salene, tell me what’s going on?” Rayne asked again, begging now.
“I don’t
know
what’s going on,” Salene said. “That’s the trouble. They left the infirmary yesterday morning. You know that, right?”
“I know they asked for a private male-set room, so I assumed as much, yes.”
“I didn’t know about it until I went to the infirmary to visit after breakfast and they weren’t there. I found out what room they were in and went to see them, but they wouldn’t let me in. Talus wouldn’t even open the door. He just told me through the door that they needed to sleep, and that it was easier for them to do it without an audience.”
“I remember you saying much the same thing to Blake,” Rayne pointed out.
“I did, but I was talking about people I didn’t know.”
“What else?”
“They won’t look at me,” Salene said so softly it was nearly a whisper.
“They won’t
look
at you?”
Salene shook her head. “They each took one look at my face a few days ago, when they were well enough to get up and start moving around, and that was that. Ever since, they look at my feet, their feet, the floor, the ceiling, anything but me.” She shrugged. “They won’t look at me, they won’t let me into their room, and now they won’t talk to me.”
“Is that so?” Rayne asked, coldly furious.
“Rayne?” Salene asked, then reached out, but Rayne shook her head.
“No, Salene, this is not acceptable.” With that she spun around, yanked the door open, and marched up the corridor with Salene trailing behind her. She passed the elevator and entered the stairwell, ran up two flights, then pushed the door open so hard it slammed into the wall, displaying a temper that Salene had never once in all their lives witnessed in her middle sister.
Suddenly, Landor, Con, and Ari appeared in the corridor, blocking Rayne. “
Kisu
, what’s wrong?” Landor asked.
“Please move aside, Landor,” Rayne bit out between clenched teeth. Landor felt her fury, and a glance at Salene’s pale face a few feet behind her told him the subject, if not the precise reason. They’d tried getting the Gryphons to talk a few times but had gotten nowhere. If Rayne could rattle them enough for some sense to seep in, then they weren’t going to stand in her way.
Landor stepped aside, and Ari and Con followed, allowing Rayne to continue her march up the corridor. She stopped in front of the Gryphons’ room and started pounding on the door with her fist, not stopping until it opened. Talus stood in the door way, glaring down at Rayne until the Bearen-Hirus’ warning growls forced him to moderate his expression. Rayne shoved the door open and marched straight in, forcing Talus to back quickly out of her way.
“What’s going on?” he asked warily, carefully not looking at Salene which only added fuel to Rayne’s fury.
“You three are the biggest, most selfish, self-centered, self-serving
assholes
I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet, and since I spent an entire
year
in the Doftles’ hands, I’ve met quite a few,” Rayne growled, shocking everyone, including her Rami. It was the first time in Rayne’s entire life that she’d ever used a swear word.
“My sister chose…
chose
…to suffer through the pain of burns that went to the bone…to the
bone
!...knowing she’d have horrific scars afterward only because she wanted to save your sorry butts. Her words were
I can live with scars, but I can’t live without Talus, Jon, and Kar
.” The Gryphons went pale, but Rayne was too upset to notice. “You repaid her sacrifice by ignoring her, avoiding her, refusing to even so much as
look
at her or talk to her because she’s no longer pretty and perfect enough for you. How dare you treat her this way? You’re are not worthy of Salene’s sacrifice, and you’re definitely not worthy of being her Rami. Not even a tiny bit.”
By the time Rayne paused to take a breath her Rami were growling furiously, their anger equal to hers after hearing what she’d said.
“If this is true, your transgressions are worthy of
moztu-oku
,” Landor said coldly, naming the ancient ritual of denouncement considered to be a fate worse than death for any Clan Jasani.
“No!” Salene said, stepping forward. “It’s not that important.”
“It
is
important, Highness,” Con said. “A male-set who dishonors their woman to this extent cannot be allowed to continue life as one with the
Klanaren
. I know that you, too, would suffer, and for that my heart aches with sorrow, but it does not change what they’ve done.”
“Wait wait wait!” Talus said, holding up both hands, palm out. “It’s not what you think.” Everyone turned to stare at Talus, waiting silently for what he had to say.
“We don’t look at your face, Salene, because our shame is too great,” Talus said, addressing Salene, but not looking at her. “Not because you bear scars earned on our behalf. Princess Rayne is correct in one thing and that’s that we are not worthy of you. We were warned ahead of time, and yet we still failed to protect our crew, our ship, and most importantly of all, you.”
“What good does it do to push Salene away?” Rayne asked, calmer, but still angry. “What good does it do to compound what you see as failure by hurting her?”
“It does no good,” Talus said, his shoulders slumping. “But it’s unavoidable.”
“Meaning?” Salene asked softly.
“We’ve decided that we will hunt this Doftle called Weeble,” Talus said, lifting his chin. “We will destroy him and as many of his kind as we can. After we’ve done that, our honor will be restored, and we can return home with our heads high and be the Rami you deserve.”
“Is that so?” Salene asked, her own anger finally kicking in. “You’ve just decided this is what you’ll do, and when you’re done doing it, you’ll come back and pick me up from wherever you drop me and…what? Just get on with things?”
“Well, um…yes, I suppose,” Talus said slowly, more shocked by Salene’s anger than Rayne’s.
“Good plan,” Salene said, reaching up to grab a pendant hanging around her neck on a slender chain. She gave it one hard tug, snapping the chain, then dropped it to the floor without looking at it. “You’ll have to rethink the part where you take me back though, because I will
not
be available.” Then she turned around and walked out of the room. Rayne shot Talus, Jon, and Kar a withering look, then she followed Salene.
“What just happened here?” Talus asked, watching Kar kneel down to pick up the necklace Salene had dropped. “I don’t understand.”
“That’s obvious,” Landor replied, studying the Gryphons. They still had radiation burns on their exposed skin, and they hadn’t regained much of their strength yet. What caused him to relax his stance against them was their age, not their physical condition. They were so young, barely over a hundred. Mere teenagers for Clan Jasani. “You have a choice to make.”
“We’ve made our choice,” Jon said softly.
“Wait, Jon,” Talus said. “I would hear what Commander Landor has to say. What choice do you speak of?”
“You must choose who you wish to devote your life to,” Landor said. “Salene, or the Doftle.”
“We can’t do both?”
Landor arched a surprised brow. “In case you weren’t listening, your
berezi
made the answer to that question exceedingly clear. It was
no
. You can’t do both.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laura Jo lives in the Arizona desert with her loving husband, their two children, one very large dog and two interesting cats. Laura Jo loves to hear from her readers. Visit her website at www.laurajophillips.com to see when the next installment in the Orbs of Rathira series is coming, and sign her guestbook. Or, email her directly at [email protected]
While you are there, take a peek at the ever growing
Handbook of the Thousand Worlds
which details lots of interesting information about the people, technology, governments, and other interstellar information about the worlds the Hearts of ICARUS, the Orbs of Rathira, and the Soul-Linked Saga take place in.
Table of Contents
Chapter 2 360 Days in the Future
Chapter 4 361 Days in the Future
Chapter 6 362 Days in the Future
Chapter 8 363 Days in the Future
Chapter 10 364 Days in the Future
Chapter 12 365 Days in the Future
