Part 38 (1/2)
”No!” Instinctively, instantly, Dax moved, putting himself between them. Dare stopped dead. Califa, who had never even flinched, stepped out from behind Dax.
”You cannot protect me from this, no more than I can protect you,” she said softly to Dax. ”I brought this upon myself.”
Then she stood before Dare, tall and straight, and so dauntless that Dax thought in that moment he would have given almost anything for a future that would let him keep her with him. But Dare's reaction told him there would be no such future, perhaps no future at all.
”You...brought her here?” Dax asked incredulously, his furious gaze fastened on Califa, the dagger still clenched in his hand. ”Do you know who she is?”
”I know.”
At Dax's quiet admission, Dare's gaze s.h.i.+fted. His lips were parted for his rapid breathing. Dax could only imagine how he must feel, confronted by the woman or what had once been the womanwho had been party to his years of degradation. And to find that the man he'd once considered his closest friend, his brother in heart if not blood, was not only a brigand, but had brought this woman to Trios...He was a little surprised they were both still alive.
”Do you knowwhat she is?” Dare hissed it out, in a voice Dax had never heard before, a feral, savage voice he wouldn't have thought Dare capable of. But then, the Dare he'd known hadn't been enslaved for five agonizing years. And he hadn't been at war, either.
”I know what shewas,” Dax answered, fighting to keep his voice steady in the face of Dare's rage; odd how that strange detachment had disappeared when Dare had turned on Califa. ”And I know she is no longer that person.”
Dare whirled away, snapping an order that was almost violent to a wide-eyed young man who had stood unabashedly watching.
”Get them out of my sight! Lock them up somewhere, until the council can convene. He has the right to that, though it burns my soul to give it to him.” His eyes flicked to Califa once more, and the wrath there had not abated. ”I will deal with her myself, later.”
He strode away, the cl.u.s.ters of people separating as their king pa.s.sed.
Chapter 25.
”I never thought I'd see another sunset here,” Dax said as he stood looking out the window that was nearly as small as the viewport in his cabin aboard theEvening Star.
”Perhaps you should think about the fact that it may be the last one you see anywhere,” Califa returned, her tone bitter as she paced the small chamber they'd been locked in for hours now. A narrow cot and a table that held an ewer of water were the only pieces of furniture in the room.
”It's Triotian,” Dax said simply, as if that alone made it worth the possible price. Then he shrugged. ”I knew what I was up against long before we landed.”
Califa whirled then, facing him, her eyes wide and fearful. ”But you wouldn't be up against it! Dare would have forgiven you, I could see it in his eyes, if you hadn't brought me here. G.o.d, Dax. I'm so sorry.”
”Califa”
”All I thought about was how angry he would be with me. I never thought of how furious he would be with you for bringing me here.” She shook her head, self-contempt welling up inside her. ”I seem to have the knack of thinking only of myself. You shouldn't have defended me. You should have just handed me over to him. As a gift. A reparation.”
”As you would have done, were our places reversed?” Dax asked softly.
”If I thought it would save my skin”
”No, Califa. Major Claxton might have been able to do that. My snowfox never could.”
His gentle words stopped her pacing dead. Something had changed in him somehow, as if now that he was home at last, nothing else mattered, even the fact that the cost for his return might be his own death.
Yet there was pain in his eyes, turning the soft jade dark with worry. For her, she realized suddenly. He cared less than nothing for what would happen to him, but Dare's rage had frightened him, for her.
”Oh, Dax,” she whispered.
He held out his arms to her, she ran to him. He enfolded her gently.
”I should never have let you come here,” he said, his voice tight with misgiving. ”You should be aboard theEvening Star, halfway to Antares by now.”
She couldn't begin to explain the many reasons why she could never have done that, so she didn't try. She slipped her arms around his narrow waist, hugging him tightly. She tried to think of a way to ease his worry, but there was no way she could change the reality before them. The most she could do was distract him.
”They welcomed Rina,” she said tentatively.
”Yes. They would. She is but a child, and she had little choice. She won't be held responsible for my actions.”
”Fleuren, too. Did you see her face? And her grandson's? It was a wondrous sight.”
”Yes,” Dax said softly, ”it was.”
”Itwas a good thing, Dax.”
”Yes. It is only my reasons that don't bear scrutiny.”
She drew back a little, tilting her head back so that she could see his face. ”You wished to atone,” she said, puzzled. ”Although I still deny you have anything to atone for. What is wrong with that?”
”I tried to buy forgiveness with my own people”
”You risked your life to free them,” Califa said fervently. ”And you brought them home. Surely you have the right to expect”
”I have,” he said tightly, ”whatever rights the High Council chooses to grant me. And doing what any Triotian of blood who was free and able should have done long ago is not going to win me any more.”
”But even if you had, you could not have brought them home. The Coalition was here, and besides, you didn't even know about the rebellion until”
”Ah, snowfox, you never give up, do you? If I had half your courage, we wouldn't be here now.”
Courage. The man spoke of lacking courage. The man who had beaten or evaded the Coalition at every turn. The man who had time after time risked himself to a.s.sure the safety of his crew. The man who, if her senses could be believed, haddied to save a boy he didn't even knowand a woman he should have hated.
”Stop it,” she said fiercely, burying her face against his chest. ”Just stop it.”
For a very long time they stood there, holding each other, trying not to think of what would come. Califa was so full of tumbling, tangled emotions that she marvelled that the cool, controlled woman she had once been ever existed. The only solid, steady thing in her world right now was Dax, and she clung to his strength. She tightened her arms around him, wis.h.i.+ng she could get closer.
”Califa?”
She heard the husky note in his voice as he spoke her name. And suddenly the veil of her confused emotions parted, and she realized she could feel him, hard and aroused against her belly. She looked up at him, her eyes wide, her lips parted.
”I know I don't deserve this solace, but I can't...help it,” he said, his breath catching as she moved in his arms.
”Neither can I,” she whispered. ”I've never needed like this before.”
”Nor I.” He lifted her chin with a gentle finger. ”So, are we to fulfill the tradition of the condemned?” he asked with a crooked smile. ”A last kiss before we meet our fate?”
His tone was mocking, but there was too much truth in his words for Califa to smile. And too much heat rising in her to say no.
”I had...more than a kiss in mind,” she whispered. A low sound rumbled up from deep in his chest; she felt it against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s before she heard it.