Part 42 (1/2)
Dare sat staring at the power unit as Califa walked silently back to stand beside Dax. She let one hand rest on his shoulder. Rina followed her and stood on his other side, her hand doing the same. Califa felt Dax shudder, heard his harsh, gulping breaths, and knew the man who never cried was fighting breaking down before them all.
Next to Rina stood Roxton. The rest of the crew gathered close. Renclan, looking clearly uneasy at what had obviously been his part in helping Fleuren and Rina arrange the crew's arrival through the s.h.i.+eld, picked up his grandmother at her order, and they stepped forward to join the group around Dax.
As did all the Triotians he had rescued, except for the man too injured to move. But even he had sent a representative; his bonded mate, who had long thought him dead, was there to stand with the others. Dare's hand clenched around the controller, and Califa knew he was remembering. It was asking too much, she thought, for him to forgive. But she prayed he would accept her offer of herself in Dax's place, and not send Dax out to finish the job of killing himself.
Shaylah sat silently, her gaze flicking from her mate to Califa, Dax and the others, then back. She'd seen that look before, Califa thought suddenly. Back when they'd been in the academy together, and were planning some kind of mischief.
A long moment of silence stretched out as Glendar returned to his seat. Before he could call the council to order to vote, Shaylah pushed back her chair and stood up. Dare looked up at her, as did the others at the table.
”I beg your forgiveness, Glendar,” she said.Even apologizing, she sounds royal, Califa thought. Shaylah had truly found her place. ”I find myself in difficulty here,” Shaylah continued. ”Not so very long ago, I was a stranger among you, without friends and mistrusted. Yet you all finally came to accept that I was not the enemy I had once been, and that my love for your rightful king was true. You have accepted me as your queen, and for that I am more grateful than I can say. But now we are faced with a woman in the same predicament. A woman I believe has changed as I have changed. A woman who is my friend. I find I cannot give a fair vote in this. I therefore must withdraw.”
Califa's breath caught, then stopped altogether as Shaylah left the table and walked across the room toward her. She came to a halt before Califa, laid a gentle hand on her arm, then turned to face the council. And Dare.
Dare was watching her with a steady, unwavering gaze. The surprise that had initially shown on his face gave way to a love and pride that fairly radiated from him. Slowly, he got to his feet.
”My queen shames me,” he said softly, yet in a voice that would carry to the farthest reaches of the room. ”She who is not of this world has reminded me, and not for the first time, of why it came to be.”
He glanced at the council. ”I, too, must remove myself from this vote. I cannot make an objective decision about my oldest and dearest friend.”
Dare crossed the room with long, regal strides, spared a glance and a wink for Rina, then took a position behind Dax. The significance of that position was not lost on the crowd, and the murmur that had started when Shaylah had moved, suddenly swelled to a roar of approval. The council, all except Glendar, looked at a loss; the old man was grinning widely. Then, with difficulty, he quieted the room.
”No vote, indeed,” he said, but he was still smiling as he looked from Dare to Shaylah. Then, clearing his throat, he addressed the council. ”I believe we have heard enough.”
”Yes, but I am concerned,” the youngest man said, as if loathe to surrender his time in the spotlight. He glanced at Califa. ”We were certain of our queen's devotion to Trios because of her love for the king. How will we a.s.sure that this woman does not betray us in some way?”
”By seeing past the end of your nose, you young fool,” Fleuren called, giving rise to a raucous round of laughter and the young man's blush. ”Can you not see she loves Dax?”
Califa blushed furiously, Shaylah rolled her eyes, and Dare smothered a laugh. Dax had gone very still, staring once more at that fascinating spot on the floor.
”Is this true?” the young man asked, his eyes wide.
”Yes,” Glendar asked, his laughter ill-concealed, ”is it? Tell me, Dax Silverbrake, if the council votes to grant you both absolution, will you bond with this woman to a.s.sure her loyalty?”
Dax's head came up. He stared at Glendar, who unconcernedly grinned back at him. After a long, silent moment, Dax said lowly, ”If that is the council's requirement.”
”Requirement?”
Califa's exclamation was outraged as anger bubbled up inside her. Until this moment, she hadn't fully admitted to herself that what Shaylah had so easily guessed was true; she loved this man, and she wanted with him what Shaylah had with Dare. And to have him treat it as if it were no more than a way to get the council's vote to go in their favor infuriated her.
”I'll have no man who isrequired to bond with me!”
Dax drew back a little in his chair, staring at her. ”You said you thought bonding was a myth,” he said slowly. ”That only fools and Triotians believe in it.”
”That was aeons ago,” she snapped. ”Do you think I've learned nothing since then? You are an idiot, Dax whatever-your-name-is.”
”Silverbrake,” he said, slowly standing up, as if only on his feet could he reclaim the name he'd been ashamed to use for so long. ”It is a good name.”
She was still seething, as much from her own embarra.s.sment at having Fleuren declare her feelings to the world when she hadn't even admitted them to herself as from his offhanded att.i.tude. ”It's no concern of mine whether it is or not.”
”It could be,” he said, looking at her intently.
”And why in Hades should it?”
”If what Fleuren says is true.”
Califa bit her lip until it bled, trying to hold back tears of embarra.s.sment. ”I swear to your G.o.d, you are a fool. Do you think I give a d.a.m.n about a skypirate who spends more time trying to get himself k-killed...”
”You would be the fool if you did,” Dax said softly. ”But why else did you offer to sacrifice yourself for him? Why did you give up your chance to defend yourself for him?”
”B-because I...” she started, then had to stop to clamp down harder on her lip before she humiliated herself before them all.
”Shall I tell you why?” Dax said, softer still. ”Because you're the bravest woman I've ever known. Because you had the heart to change your mind, your very soul, when you saw the truth. Because you have more courage than I've ever thought of having.”
”I don't,” she said in a small voice. ”You do.”
”If I had such courage,” he said wryly, ”you would have known the truth before now.”
She frowned slightly. ”The truth?”
He took in a deep breath. ”That I love you.”
Califa gaped at him, stunned. ”You...do?”
”I have, for some time. Perhaps from that first moment. But I didn't feel I deserved such...”
His voice trailed off, and Califa saw, incredibly, a touch of color tinge his cheeks. And suddenly she knew what he was thinking of, of those moments last night when her love and the joy of being home had shattered the barriers his body had raised, and he had at long last been able to give himself to her fully.
”Oh,” she said, color tinting her own cheeks.
Dax's mouth twisted. ”I was kind of hoping for something similar, snowfox.”
”What? Oh!” she exclaimed, heat flooding her cheeks now.
When she didn't go on, Dax reached out and took her hands. ”Are you going to leave me out here all alone?”
His rueful words came at the same time as a healthy nudge from Shaylah. Suddenly feeling more shy than she ever had in her life, she lowered her gaze. ”I...love you, too.”
The cheer that went up around them brought home with embarra.s.sing force the fact that they had done this in front of a room packed with people. Califa buried her face against Dax's chest, and he ducked his head as if he were as abashed as she was.
It was Dare who spoke first, as the cheers finally died away. He wiped at his eyes, damp from his own laughter, then looked across at Shaylah.
”Remind you of anything, my love?”
She smiled at him sunnily. ”I do seem to recall another couple who became betrothed in this very room, in front of a mob of many of these very same people.”
The chamber erupted into laughter again. Glendar turned to the council, who waved him off.