Shades of Gray (9 page)

“I did,” he said, reaching out to take her by the arm. “Carry on, Ghidd’ah. I need to talk to my wife for a few minutes.”

“Kezule, I’m almost done; can’t it wait another few minutes?” she objected as he drew her toward an empty area.

“No, it can’t. I’m due back in the briefing room shortly, and I need to talk to you now. Don’t ever sedate one of my people, or the Sholans, like that again,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I need Kusac alert right now. He’s come up with a workable plan. Thankfully, he was able to burn it out of his system.”

“How? And I sedated him for a good reason! He should be resting, not up on his feet. That fight took a lot out of him, emotionally as well as physically.”

“That isn’t your decision to make. You’re not to do it again, do you hear me?”

“I hear you,” she said, jaw firming in annoyance. “But if he comes to me and I decide it needs to be done, that’s my decision, not yours. Now tell me how he got rid of the sedative from his system.”

Kezule now knew when to accept a partial victory so he let the matter drop. “He has Warrior glands like ours. You can talk to him about it later because I want you to come with me, and bring Mayza. I intend to suggest Kusac take Shaidan.”

“On a warship, in a war zone? You’re mad, Kezule,” she hissed. “You said you were taking Ghidd’ah!”

“I’m taking you both. As you said, we are conducting a war, hopefully only a small one. I also intend to teach you how to use the Warrior glands you possess, Zayshul. I’ve meant to do it these past few months but never gotten around to it. Besides, with that scent marker on you, you need to come too. I’m not risking the Captain’s well being as we did when we went to Ch’almuth.”

“I can see that makes sense,” she agreed slowly. “But the children?”

“They’ll be safe, trust me, and on hand to be with us when we’ve retaken the City and the Palace.”

“You sound very sure of yourself.”

“I am. This is what I did for a living, remember?” He smiled at her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. If I had any doubts, neither of the children would be going.” Over her shoulder he noticed Kusac entering. “Here’s your Sholan. I’ll see you later. Start packing as soon as you’re finished here. You don’t have any patients now, do you?”

“None ill enough to be in the sick bay. One of the duty medics can see to them.”

Kusac was still hovering by the central reception desk as he passed him on his way out. “We reconvene in ten minutes, Kusac,” he reminded him.

 

Up in the swimming pool level, Giyarishis let himself relax into the Unity net that was spread throughout Kij’ik. He sensed the Hunter on his way to the Sand-dweller to reprimand her for using the sedative. That would be counterproductive. Best he forget about it. He was just thankful that while the Hunter had been imprisoned, when he’d finished his most rapid healing, he’d been able to make him forget his discovery of Unity.

He began to gently nudge the potentialities, making it so that the future in which Kusac forgot why he was talking to her came to pass. His Hunter became distracted by the continuing discomfort in his leg, and seizing the moment, Giyarishis made sure the distractions overwhelmed his purpose.

 

Zayshul smiled as Kusac approached her.

“What brings you here?” she asked.

He frowned slightly, realizing his feet had automatically brought him here after leaving Shaidan with Jayza. “You know, I can’t remember,” he said, puzzled.

“Was it to tell me what time you’ll be finished tonight?” she asked.

“It must have been that,” he said, but there was still a nagging doubt at the back of his mind. Fishing in his pocket, he drew out the card to his rooms. “Here, take that. I’ve no idea when we’ll finish, but Jayza has said Shaidan can sleep in his room until I come for him tonight.”

“Your key? But it’s your private space,” she said, surprised.

“There’s nothing private there now,” he said absently, still wondering what it was he’d forgotten.

“Kezule wants me to go with him. You should be with Shaidan tonight. We can postpone this till tomorrow.”

“There won’t be time. We’ve got the makings of a plan now. Talking of which, I need to get back down for the meeting. I’ll see you later,” he said, turning away from her.

As he made his way back to the briefing room, he started to worry about his uncharacteristic forgetfulness. He couldn’t afford it this evening, not when they had the finer points of his proposed plan to go over.

 

Giyarishis began to withdraw from the Hunter’s vicinity. He’d done enough for now. Later, when they were together would be a better time.

As the military personnel, including the rest of his crew, filed out of the hall to be fitted for their assault suits, Kusac felt the blast of anger from M’kou as the young Lieutenant turned to his father and began talking to him in a low, intense voice. Just out of earshot, he was unable to hear the words, but he knew instinctively what it was about.

“Kezule, I’d like M’kou with me,” he said, moving closer.

“This is a private matter,” hissed the General, not bothering to even glance in his direction. “I’ve given my orders. It isn’t open to discussion.”

“He’ll be safe with me, Kezule,” he said, putting a restraining hand on the General’s arm and refusing to be shaken off. “I know how much M’kou lost when I shot him with that la’quo pellet. Call this a debt I need to repay to him personally.

Kezule turned an angry gaze on him. “He’s too vulnerable now!”

“Only your kind have the extra glands that make you faster and stronger in battle and accelerate healing. The rest of us manage without them. So can he.”

“You have them!” The anger was dying from Kezule’s eyes now. “And he’s lost them.”

“I know. That’s why it’s all the more important for him to go on this mission, to prove to himself he is no less a warrior than he was before. You should be able to understand this. Our covert operation is one of stealth. If it goes as planned, we shouldn’t see any fighting.”

“Kusac ...”

He could feel the complex emotions Kezule was trying to keep to himself as if they were his own. “He’s my friend,” he said simply, letting the General go. “I won’t let any harm come to him, Kezule.”

“Go,” Kezule said to M’kou with an effort. “Get fitted with your suit like the others. You’ll accompany the Captain.”

“Thank you, General,” M’kou said quietly before executing a crisp salute and leaving.

“If you prevented him from going, it would eat at his soul,” said Kusac, not taking his eyes off Kezule. “It’s what he was bred and trained for, by you.”

“I know, but I don’t have to like it,” Kezule ground out through clenched teeth.

“If it’s any consolation, because he does it this time, he’ll probably be content to leave it to his brothers in the future.”

“I hope you’re right, Kusac. I’ll see you down in the landing bay at 04:00. Good night.”

Kusac watched Kezule stalk out of the hall before leaving for his own quarters, where Zayshul was waiting.

Vartra sat on the window seat, staring out at the snow-covered landscape. The branches of the resin trees were still weighed down by the snowfall of a few hours earlier. “Spring’s late this year,” he murmured. “It’s Zhal-Arema already.”

The snow white Goddess lying curled on the bed laughed softly and propped herself up on one elbow. “More time for us to be together.”

“I should be leaving.”

She made a little mewling noise of protest, like a kit deprived of a treat. The sheets rustled as she rose to her feet. “You’ve been away too much this winter already. You belong to me during this season.”

Vartra ignored the implicit complaint, concentrating instead on trying to armor his senses against her. He could smell her faint perfume, spicy and rich, hear her soft tread even on the furred rugs that covered the floor of her bedroom. He resisted the temptation to turn, knowing too well the effect her unclothed body would have on him. Even now the blood was pounding in his ears, and his heart was beating faster as he sensed her stop just behind him.

“Spring will come soon enough,” she said, her breath cool on his ear and cheek as she laid a hand on his shoulder. “This is our time.”

Like a magnet, her presence drew him to face her. Deep, icy-blue eyes regarded him from within her white face. Around her shoulders, the waves of her hair lay like a cloud seen high up in a winter sky.

“You’re cold. Come, let me warm you,” she said, reaching to touch his cheek.

Her scent surrounded him and he found himself reaching clumsily to cup her face in his hands. Like a starving beggar, his mouth covered hers, kissing her deeply, burying his hands in her silky hair. He felt her tail flick gently against his legs.

At last he pulled back from her. “You don’t warm me, Kuushoi, you never have. Your coolness burns me,” he said hoarsely, picking her up in his arms and carrying her back to the bed they shared. “It sears my soul.”

“Better that than lie with my oh-so-worthy lukewarm sister,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around him as he lowered himself onto her. “Her desire will not warm you at all.”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” he said, his voice thick with passion as he pushed her hair aside and began to kiss and nip at her neck. “She doesn’t try to own me as you do.”

“Then don’t talk of Spring to me,” she whispered, arching up to meet his sudden urgency.

The Hunter had arrived at his rooms now, and convinced Shaidan had something to do with the black, or null, zones that frequently surrounded him, Giyarishis reached out through Unity and activated the Isolator in the cub’s bedroom, putting him instantly into a deep sleep that nothing save morning would wake him from.

That done, he chose the interface in the Hunter’s suite and settled back to monitor what they were doing.

 

“You said you wanted to talk,” Zayshul said as he laid himself carefully, facedown, on the towels she’d spread over the top of his bed.

He felt the bed move as she settled herself astride him, then smelled the sudden, pungent aroma of the massage oil as she opened it.

“I do,” he said. “The thing is, I don’t know how much of what I’m thinking and sensing is imagination.”

Her hands, thick with the oil, began to stroke across his shoulders, following the lie of his short but dense pelt. “Your fur is soaking up the oil,” she said, her voice rich with amusement as she stopped for a moment to pour more oil into her hands. “You really needed this treatment. I just hope I’ve got the mix that Banner told me right.”

He twisted his head around in an effort to squint up at her. “Banner gave you the recipe? When did he do that?”

“During your meal break. It’s a muscle relaxant coupled with a conditioner for your pelt, he said. Something to ease your body and put the oils back into your skin and fur. He said it looked shockingly dry and dull after your rapid healing.”