Martha wasn’t as circumspect. “What the hell, the more the merrier. I should have thought of it myself.”
Martha’s voice drew Challen’s eyes to the phazor-combo unit at Tedra’s waist, well recognized after all the trouble he’d had with it when he first met her. “Not only do you defy my wishes to come here, but you come armed?”
Tedra’s chin went up. “Weapons are allowed here.”
“You did not acquire that weapon here, woman, but in Kan-is-Tra, where it is not allowed.”
“If you’re going to nitpick about trifles, then the fact remains that you haven’t caught me wearing it in Kan-is-Tra, have you?”
“This is true, yet will you be wearing it when I take you home.”
Her eyes narrowed at that reminder. “Then I’ll just leave it here.”
“No, you will not,” Falon interjected, drawing their eyes to him. “I care not if that thing you speak of is a weapon. What you may not leave here is access to your Martha, which it also is, for I have forbidden that computer to speak—”
“Let’s get something straight here, warrior,” Martha interrupted in her losing-patience tone. “You didn’t forbid me, you forbade Shani, which was all you could do, because I’m not command-able, and I think you know that by now. And how long are you going to hold this grudge against me and my Tedra anyway, just because we protected your lifemate before you had the right to? Would you have wanted some warrior barely known to you sneaking into her room in the middle of the night?”
Falon flushed with color, especially when Challen’s eyes swung toward him in marked displeasure. Shanelle didn’t have the least bit of pity for him at the moment.
“Now you see what happens when you get on Martha’s bad side, warrior,” she said. “She gets even when you least expect it.”
“You are speaking to me again, Shanelle?”
She shrugged. “You can thank my mother for that. She talked me out of being seriously mad at you. Now I’m just semi-mad.”
“For what reason were you angry at all, Shanelle?” her father wanted to know.
Shanelle wished she had kept her mouth shut. But she didn’t have to answer.
Falon did, and wasn’t the least embarrassed about this. “I found it necessary to punish her this rising.”
“Ah.” Challen nodded. “I now face the same necessity with my own woman.”
“That tears it,” Tedra growled. “My baby was in pain. That cancels all forbiddings as far as I’m concerned. I had to see for myself how much damage was done, and give her hell myself for forcing Falon to inflict it. I won’t be punished for that, warrior.”
“You will,” Challen promised. “Did you know she had need of us, you should have come to me. Instead you defy me and come here, where you are as yet unwelcome. And I see no evidence on my daughter to warrant your coming here at all— Shanelle, why do you wear those clothes?”
Shanelle blinked at the sudden change in subject. “This is what women wear here, father. They wear swords, too. In fact, when you see for yourself, you will be amazed at how different it is here—in some things.” She then looked pointedly at her lifemate. “Falon?”
He knew exactly what she wanted. He would prefer it if she didn’t put him on the spot like that, yet his desire was strong just then to give her anything she asked for, in an effort to mend their breach.
He glanced at Challen. “As long as you are here, shodan, I would invite you and your lifemate to visit for a time.”
“That is brave of you,” Challen replied, prompting a laugh from Falon and another scowl from his lifemate.
“Don’t rub it in the ground, warrior,” she grouched. “One measly little challenge that he didn’t even take seriously, and you won’t let me live it down. Well, I think we’ve played Tedra-is-a-bad-girl long enough. I happen to approve of my daughter’s lifemate, now that he’s got his act together. He doesn’t have to worry that I’ll get on his case again as long as he keeps his promise to make Shani happy; and, disregarding punishments that she deserved, he’s doing that. So let me off the hook already, before I really get mad.”
One golden brow arched. “Your anger these many days has not been true anger?”
“Not even close.”
“Best we recall, then, the lack of respect that has accompanied your untrue anger, which was allowed as an appeasement.”
“Fine,” Tedra snapped. “Go ahead and keep it up. But when my challenge loss is over, warrior, you better believe I’m going to do some getting-even.”
“Such is to be expected of a warrior woman,” Challen replied. “But best you remember your past difficulty with getting even, not through lack of ability, but through lack of true desire. You cannot hurt your only love, chemar.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Chapter 43
Shanelle was pleased that Falon had given in to allow her parents to stay for a few days, which was all her father had agreed to, since he was expecting his own parents’ return to Sha-Ka-Ra within the week. Even Tedra didn’t complain about that, for she loved his parents, especially his mother, whom she had taken to like the mother she herself had never had. If Tedra had any complaint, it was that Chadar and Haleste Ly-San-Ter never stayed for long in Sha-Ka-Ra. But Chadar was a Guardian of the Years, which meant he had to do a lot of traveling around the country each year to search out important events for recording, and Haleste naturally went with him.
Shanelle wondered if Falon would permit her to go home, at least for a few hours, to visit with her grandparents while they were in Sha-Ka-Ra. If she was going to ask, today was the day to do it. After she’d got permission for Drevan to start using the teaching console, permission to begin Drevan’s sword practice, and permission to have her fembair Transferred to Falon’s house, she had concluded that there wasn’t much she wouldn’t get if she asked for it today. Her lifemate was definitely suffering pangs of distress for what he’d done. Not guilt, for he felt justified, but definite regret, with the accompanying need to make amends.
Shanelle was all for that, especially since as the day wore on, she was forced to admit—at least to herself—that her punishment hadn’t been that bad. There was no more than a tightness across her bottom now, and a slight discomfort when she sat down. In fact, it had almost been worth it just to find out that punishment at the hands of her warrior wasn’t the absolute horror she’d thought it would be. Almost. At any rate, she now knew she could live with it as long as she deserved it. But if the day ever came when she felt she didn’t deserve it, well, she’d just have to find out how good she was at Kystrani downing.
There was another moment that day when she experienced a different form of discomfort. Her father drew her aside before he left with Falon to view Ka’al. He looked so serious, and she couldn’t help but remember that when she had left Sha-Ka’an, it was her father she had disobeyed. She hoped that wasn’t what he had on his mind, but her luck hadn’t improved that much.
Yet she thought she had a reprieve when he told her, “I was certain I had chosen the right lifemate for you, the one who could protect you as well as make you happy. Was I wrong?”
“No,” she was quick to assure him. “You chose well, father.”
“Yet were you not there for me to give you into his care.”
She hung her head. “I know, and I’m sorry about that. I just had too many fears, and no courage to face them.”
“Have your fears been seen to?”
“Yes.” All but one, but she didn’t want to tell her father that.
“This I am well pleased to hear. Was your disobedience also seen to?”
It was on the tip of Shanelle’s tongue to say, Yes, of course it was. Falon wouldn’t neglect something like that. Instead she heard herself admitting, “No. He meant to. He even started to. But he couldn’t do it. He didn’t want our life together to begin with such unpleasantness.”
“A wise man.”
Shanelle looked up in surprise. “You mean that?”
“Indeed. And since I know that he will correct you when it is necessary, I need not worry that you have this man so besotted he cannot see to you properly.”
She blushed at the reference to that morning’s punishment. “No, that’s one worry you won’t have,” she grouched, making him chuckle and hug her.
“Do not begrudge your lifemate his duty. Better if you ensure that it is a duty he need not be burdened with very often.”
Excellent advice she intended taking to heart.
Her mother had some advice of her own to impart later that day. “Now that you’ve grown up, Shani, try keeping a lid on your newfound courage. A lack of fear comes in handy on occasion, but it can also get you into the damnedest predicaments.”
Shanelle just stared at her. “What courage?”
“The courage that stands up to your lifemate, quite frequently, I hear. The courage that socked that Sunderian witch on her ass—”
“Did Brock tell you about that?”
“No, Martha did. She was quite proud of you, actually.”
“Martha did,” Shanelle repeated with a frown. “You mean Martha was there! She could have— Martha!” Shanelle exploded. “You misbegotten metal—!”
“Take it easy, baby. You were found, remember. There wasn’t anything else Martha could do at that point except let matters take their natural course. I understand you weren’t complaining about it on the way home.”
“That’s beside the point.”
“No, that’s exactly the point. Martha usually knows what’s best for you, whether you think so at the time. I’ve learned that firsthand over the years, to my own exasperation. She allowed your father to claim me when she could have prevented it, because she knew he was what I was missing in my life. Well, she allowed Falon to find you because she knew your fears had to be faced before you believed they could be faced.”
“And was I right or was I right?” Martha purred from Tedra’s waist.
“Oh, shut up.”
And then Shanelle’s fembair wandered into the hall that evening and had warriors leaping to their feet and drawing swords. Shanelle had to quickly assure everyone that he was a pet and not to be confused with wild fembairi. Drevan was fascinated and, with a child’s lack of caution, was the first to approach the animal to pet him. The boy didn’t know it, but he gained the respect of quite a few warriors by doing so.
Shanelle joined them to say, “He likes to be scratched behind the ears.”
Drevan looked at her, then quickly away. “I—I thought you would not speak to me again.”
“Why on Sha-Ka’an would you think that?” Shanelle asked in surprise.
Drevan looked positively miserable. “I sent for your lifemate when you went to fight my mother. I have seen her fight. I had not seen you fight. I feared she would do you serious harm.”
“It’s all right, Drevan, I understand.”
“It is not all right. Everyone could hear your screams after.”
Shanelle’s face burst into heat. “Well, I’m not surprised,” she tried to joke. “You should have heard it from my vantage point. I’m not sure, but I think I broke my ears.” He gave her a stricken look. She sighed. “Really, Drevan, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have let your mother goad me into losing my temper, and Falon was just making sure I’d think twice about it the next time. I might not have appreciated it at the time, but I knew it was only done for my own good. And I’m not mad at him any longer, so why should I be mad at you?”
“Truly?”
“Absolutely.” She grinned.
He smiled back at her before he said, “Then I would tell you, my mother, she has been looking at me very strangely since the fight, as if she does not know me.”
“She doesn’t know you, Drevan, but maybe something I said to her actually sunk in.” And then she asked carefully, “Would you like her to get to know you? She owes me a challenge loss, and I’ve got nothing better to do with it.”
He shook his head. “I would not force an interest on her that is not there.”
“Could be it’s there now. But you’re right. Forcing the matter wouldn’t count for much.” She grimaced, adding, “Of course, that puts me back, to wondering what I can demand of her for her loss. Knowing me, I’ll probably just settle for an apology and leave it go at that.”
“You are much more merciful than I would have been,” Aurelet said behind them.
Shanelle turned with a raised brow. “Oh, I don’t know. Some people find apologies almost impossible to get out.”
“That is true, yet have I come to say I am sorry. Your mother has assured me that you could have done me serious damage with or without a sword. She also said she would ‘wipe the floor’ with me if I ever ‘bad-mouthed’ either of you again. I was not sure what that meant, yet was it unnecessary. I am able to learn from my mistakes.”
“Are you?”
Aurelet was staring at Drevan when she replied.
“Yes. I would like a word with my son, if you do not mind.”
“Sure.”
As Shanelle walked away, she noted Drevan’s surprise at hearing himself called “son” by that woman. She couldn’t begin to guess what might come of Aurelet’s newfound awareness of Drevan as an individual, rather than as an extension of the man who had long ago hurt her. Nothing, probably, but you just never knew. Children were much more forgiving than adults.
Chapter 44
It was late when Shanelle finished with her bath and entered the bedroom to find Falon there waiting for her. He was already in bed, a muted glow from the gaali-stone shelves on each wall showing him watching her. She was wearing a two-piece sleep suit of softest Morrilia silk. He lifted a brow at this, for it was the first time she had come to bed other than naked.
“Do you mean to sleep in that, Shanelle?”
“That was my intention, yes.”
“I think not,” he replied, adding with a wolfish grin, “yet you are welcome to try.”
The familiar taunt made her snap, “I just might do that, warrior.”
He sighed. “So you are still angry with me? I will not touch you, if that is your wish.”
“That isn’t my wish,” she said in exasperation.
“And I wasn’t angry when I came in here, but you sure make it easy to get that way.”
She moved to her side of the bed and shrugged out of the sleep suit, then quickly tried to get beneath the covers. She wasn’t quick enough, not when his blue eyes were so intent on her. She heard him draw in a sharp breath, and then she was being rolled onto her stomach.
“Now do I see that you merely meant to spare me from knowing the results of my handiwork.”
His tone was filled with self-loathing, forcing Shanelle to assure him, “It’s not as bad as it—” She stopped as she was lifted into his arms and Falon started from the room. “Where are you taking me?”
When he didn’t answer, she trusted him enough not to ask again. And then she found out as he entered a room and she glanced back to see the meditech stored there. She was amazed to find herself laid in it.
“I don’t understand, Falon.”
He bent down to kiss her gently before he closed the lid, again without answering. A minute later gently the meditech opened by itself, the last effects of her punishment now gone. Falon lifted her out and started back toward their rooms. Shanelle wrapped her arms around his neck, well pleased with her warrior at the moment.
“I guess you changed your mind, huh?” she said, grinning up at him.
“A warrior could wish the skin of his lifemate was not so delicate.”
He gave a long-suffering sigh, as if she had managed on purpose to have skin that bruised easily, just to thwart him. Shaneile chuckled and squeezed his neck a little tighter.
“It really wasn’t so bad,” she told him. “By this evening I’d even stopped flinching when I sat down.”
“You think to assure me you can withstand future punishments? This is already known to me, kerima, in closely
observing you this rising. Merely will you go straight from the crying to the meditech next time, before your bruises appear.”
“Why, you farden jerk.” She hit his shoulder even as she laughed. “You’re all heart.”
“You would prefer it did I speak to your brother?”
“No! No, don’t do that. Actually, you’ll probably find that you never have to punish me again, so why don’t we bury that subject in the ground, okay?”
He smiled almost wickedly as he laid her back in their bed, then leaned over her. “I have another thing that needs burying first, woman.”
“Don’t bother explaining, warrior.” There was no “almost” about the wickedness of her smile. “Just show me.”
“Why did he call your mother warrior woman?” Shaneile twirled a lock of Falon’s hair about her finger as she lay curled into his side. He didn’t seem any more tired than she was, but it had been quite a day, filled with so many extremes in emotion, so that was understandable.
“Because she’s an expert in weaponless fighting, the serious, deadly kind,” she answered him.
“She’s taken on warriors before and bested them. Why do you think you ended up with a dunking so easily?”
Falon stiffened. “How did you know of that?”
“Brock told Martha and Martha told me. Get used to it, Falon. It’s almost impossible to hide anything when there are Mock IIs around.”
“They will not be around for longer than your parents’ visit.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you kidding? How do you think my mother knew to come when she did? Martha has been monitoring me ever since I got here.”
Falon closed his eyes in defeat. “Tell me how I may put an end to this monitoring.”
“I’m not completely happy yet here, Falon. Until I am, I doubt Martha will stop keeping tabs on me. Hell, she may not even stop then.”