SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (31 page)

“I should get going,” Zak said, suddenly
feeling uncomfortable again. “I need to get home to Ke’aira.”

“You should stay and rest,” Megan countered.
“And I want to monitor you to make sure there are no complications
with your concussion. I can have one of the servants go and take
care of Ke’aira for you.”

Zak’s instinct told him he should leave, but
something within him refused to comply. “You don’t need to send
anyone out in this weather. I’ll call my neighbor. She’s taken care
of Ke’aira before.”

“Whatever you prefer.”

“Is there somewhere I could clean up?” A
foolish question in a house this luxurious. There were probably
several places where he could clean up. He felt even more foolish
when he suddenly realized that he was naked under the covers, but
he didn’t remember removing his clothes. “Uumm, I seem to be
without clothes.”

“I took them to wash,” Megan said, a smile
crossing her lips. “Relax, I did not take advantage of you while
you slept. I am afraid your shirt is ruined though. And, yes, there
is a place where you can clean up.”

Megan handed him a burgundy robe. “My
father’s. I am sure he will not mind.”

Zak took the robe, although he wasn’t so sure
about her father not minding. Motioning for her to turn around, he
prepared for the adventure of getting out of bed without
aggravating his wound any more than he already had.

Giggling at his embarrassment, Megan did as
he asked. “It is a little late for modesty. I have already seen all
that there is to see.”

“How nice,” Zak grumbled, then gasped in
pain.

Megan instantly spun around to help him. He
was doubled over clutching at his side, the robe forgotten on the
floor where it fell. She eased him back onto the bed. Retrieving
the robe from the floor, she draped it over him.

“For your sense of modesty,” she said with a
smile. “The herbs in the tea will take the pain away, but it takes
a while to take effect.”

When Zak felt he was ready to try it again,
she helped him get carefully to his feet. A rush of dizziness swept
over him and he nearly collapsed. Megan took a stagger step beneath
his weight before regaining her balance and steadying him.

“Sorry,” he said, embarrassed that he needed
her help.

“It is okay, I will help you down the
stairs.” She led him slowly towards the doorway. “You can use the
guest room down there to clean up. You will feel better after you
have something to eat. I am preparing lunne’ waan. It is an Elvish
dish. I hope you like it.”

“You cook?” He knew the minute he said it
that he shouldn’t have. “I mean, between the servants and the food
processor...”

“Yes, I can
cook
!” she said. The pout
on her face was more playful than serious and Zak was relieved that
he hadn’t ignited another confrontation with her. “And I am good at
it, if I do say so myself. I prefer to do things for myself. As for
a food processor, Daddy is a traditionalist. Elves do not use food
processors, or so he claims. Now, let us get you cleaned up and
then we will eat.”

Zak felt much better after he cleaned himself
up. The herbs that Megan had given him had taken away the pain just
as she had said. His head and shoulder felt nearly normal again and
there was nothing more than a bit of tenderness in his side.

“My father’s clothes fit you well.”

Megan was making the final preparations for
their meal as Zak entered the kitchen. He was self-conscious of the
brown suede pants and satin shirt, which was nearly as pale green
as Megan’s dress. Elvish fashion had never appealed to him much and
the fact that the clothes belonged to Duke Teranika made him even
more uncomfortable wearing them. If Megan noticed his discomfort,
she made no mention of it.

“I thought we could watch the Dragon’s game,”
Megan suggested as she dished some sort of red vegetable onto two
plates. “It is their season opener against the De Khant Wild
Cats.”

“You really do watch football?” Zak couldn’t
help his surprised.

“Yes, I love football.” She looked at him
thoughtfully for a long moment. “I have beer to go with supper. Is
that all right?”

“Yeah, sure.” Another surprise. In spite of
her rebellious fashion sense, Zak had pegged her for more of a fine
white wine type of girl based upon her background.

“Go on into the living room,” Megan said,
bustling around the kitchen with the grace of a ballerina, as she
attended to various preparations for their meal. “We will eat
there. Daddy does not approve of eating anywhere other than the
dining room, but I enjoy eating in front of the comm system.”

Every aspect of the house emitted a luxurious
formality that reflected the Elvish culture. Extravagant paintings
decorated the walls, while finely sculpted statues and other works
of art were strategically arranged on elaborately crafted tables
and cabinets. It all looked to be out of
Elf Life
magazine,
and was definitely well beyond Zak’s comfort zone. After slowly
making his way down the long hall and into the living room, he
finally settled down on a plush cream-colored sofa. “Computer,
display entertainment guide,” he said.

It wasn’t long before they were both sitting
on the sofa with plates heaped with roast beef and vegetables
smothered in a spicy sauce. The Dragons game started shortly after
they began to eat. Fortunately, the game was being played in De
Khant, twelve-hundred kilometers to the south in the Zentan
Province. The evening in De Khant was clear and dry. If the game
had been played in Sol Kappur Stadium, the two teams would have
probably needed life jackets as the storm outside continued to
rage.

“Should be an easy game for the Dragons,” Zak
commented, enthusiastically cutting a slice of meat.

“Do not bet on it,” Megan said. “The Cats had
the number two defence in the league last year and most of the
veterans are back. Derm Connely is one mother of a linebacker!”

Zak gave her another surprised look. “You
follow Aragne football pretty closely.”

“For an Elf?” Megan smiled at him teasingly,
but there was also an accusation somewhere behind the smile as
well. “Elves do play sports, you know. Even football. There were
several attempts at getting a franchise in the Mythnol Forest, but
the AFL rejected each attempt. They used the lame excuse that there
was an insufficient fan base in the Mythnol Forest to support a
team.”

“So, you actually played football as a kid,”
Zak said, thankful that she hadn’t pressed him with more pro-Elf
banter. “You must have been quite the tomboy, then.”

“No!” Megan laughed. “Well, sort of. I just
never believed in barriers between the sexes.”

“How can you be so rebellious and modern, and
still be a Sister of the Seventh Circle? I would think the beliefs
of the Tah-Kna would be a bit too dated for such a modern-thinking
Elf.”

“The fundamentals of the Tah-Kna are rooted
in basic truths of the Universe,” Megan said. “One of those truths
is that the Universe is constantly changing. Elves must learn to
change with it. It is the self-righteous bureaucrats who are the
real problem. They feed the fire of traditionalism in order to
maintain control over the population and to protect their power...”
Megan looked suddenly embarrassed. “I am sorry. I did not mean to
beat the drum for my cause. I just think sometimes that Elvish
culture has become stagnant and needs to move on in order to
advance.”

“So, the Sisters arranged for you to be sent
here, to Sol Kappur, because of your rebelliousness?”

“Yes,” Megan said. “They could not very well
throw me out, considering who my father is. Besides, they look at
me as something of a prodigy and so they make allowances. I hate
being treated like I am special. I am just me.”

“
...It’s a deep pass by Detner. He’s got
Flaggle in the corner of the endzone. Touchdown!”

“Yes!” They both cheered as the Dragons
scored, then looked over at one another and laughed.

“I called the hospital while you were
asleep,” Megan said, a serious expression replacing her smile.
“They said Harry is going to require surgery, but he is in stable
condition. They think he will be okay.”

“That’s great news.” Zak really was happy to
hear that Harry Mathers would be all right. But right now he didn’t
really want the conversation to turn too serious. He simply wanted
to watch the game and enjoy Megan’s company. Tomorrow would be soon
enough to return to more sobering matters.

Megan must have felt the same way because she
returned their conversation back to the subject of football. Zak
was surprised at how natural it felt to be there with her, enjoying
good food and watching the game. The ordinariness of it felt
special. Thousands of other couples were doing this very same thing
right now, couples who were not called out by a foretelling to
save the world
. He enjoyed his temporary anonymity among
those ordinary people.

By the end of the fourth quarter Megan had
somehow ended up snuggled against Zak, her head resting upon his
shoulder and his arm around her. They had consumed enough beer to
allow themselves a mutual attraction for one another. Her body next
to his felt good to him. He looked down at her and found those
amazing green eyes looking back at him. He wasn’t even aware of
leaning into the kiss until their lips touched. The warmth of her
mouth fed a hunger that he had been adamantly denying until
now.

It all became somewhat dreamlike after that.
Zak couldn’t really remember when they moved to Megan’s bedroom. He
did remember, however, her electric touch upon his body...her eager
response to his own touch...the undeniable passion that they
shared.

Z
ak came awake to the awareness of a warm
body pressed against him. Megan was snuggled beside him, an arm
draped over his chest and a leg flipped over his own.

It took him a few minutes to clear his head
enough to remember how they had gotten this way. Beer and football
started out innocently enough, but by the end of the game they had
slipped into a comfort zone that Zak now felt uncomfortable
with.

As he watched Megan sleep, his thoughts
invariably drifted back to the first time he’d seen her some twenty
years ago. She had been with her mother and father outside their
country residence in Port of Velsalador. She’d been nineteen then,
barely out of childhood as far as Elves were concerned. Her beauty
had been purely natural back then, without the cosmetic
extravagance. Megan and her family were just setting out for a walk
along the river that ran through their estate. Zak had been waiting
for the Duke, knowing that it was his habit every evening to walk
with his family when they were in the country.

The memory nudged the guilt he carried with
him. It was time to get up, to push the past once more behind him.
He gently rolled away from Megan, trying not to disturb her in the
process.

“Good morning,” she said, her voice husky
from sleep. She gripped him tighter so he could go nowhere. She
gave him a smile that could only be interpreted as
seductive
. “You do not really want to get out of bed, do
you?”

When he met her gaze, his churning emotions
produced a sudden panic within him.

“I gotta go,” he said, rolling away from her
with purpose.

“What is wrong?” Megan asked, confusion
clouding her smile. She sat up in the bed, making no attempt to
conceal her nakedness. “Zak, what is wrong?”

He saw his own clothes neatly folded on the
dresser and went for them. How did they get there? He shrugged the
question off and began dressing. Pulling on his pants, he winced
from the pain it caused his wound. Funny, he didn’t remember it
bothering him last night. All while he dressed he tried to avoid
looking at Megan, but she refused to leave his peripheral vision.
“I just have to go. I have work to do.”

“It is early. Come back to bed.”

“Can’t.”

“Zak, what is wrong?”

“Nothing. I told you, I have things to do.”
The only choice he had in a shirt was the pale green one Megan had
given him the night before. “Mind if I borrow this?”

“Go ahead.” She said, carefully studying him.
“You regret what happened last night.”

“No! No, of course not.”

“Yes, you do.” She was watching him closely.
“Admit it. You regret that we slept together.”

“Look, I didn’t plan for anything like this
to happen...”

“Oh, and you think I planned it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Maybe I put a potion in your food, or I
could have used sorcery on you while you slept. After all, I am one
of those nasty magical Elves you resent so much!”

Zak’s defensiveness morphed to anger. She was
judging him without even trying to understand. He instinctively
struck back. “Now that you mention it, I didn’t feel any pain in my
side all through our little romp last night and I don’t do Elves.
Did you put a spell on me?”

“
Aen reyu!”

“Look, I’m sorry.” Zak turned toward her as
he buttoned up the shirt. He already regretted what he’d said. “We
aren’t good for each other. You should know that, as well as I
do.”

“Because I am a lowly Elf, who seduced you
through sorcery!” Her voice was full of bitterness.

“It’s not just that you’re an Elf, there are
other things to consider.”

“Not
just
that?” She picked up the
brass lamp sitting on the night table and threw it at him. “Not
just that! How many other unwholesome traits do I possess, huh?”
She grabbed a photo frame and tossed that at him as well.

Zak managed to duck the lamp and the frame.
Her reaction caught him by surprise. He had expected the anger, but
not the violence. He had not meant for this to happen. “Megan,
please, don’t make this any harder than it is.”