Part 28 (2/2)

His brown eyes grew indignant. He twisted the robe's fur with both hands.

”All right,” he muttered. ”I can accept that.”

”I am pleased,” Rhani said, and switched off. She had not bothered to sit: now, leaning on the back of the chair, she breathed slowly, calming her senses, calming her mind.

She went to the bathroom, covered her hair, and took a shower. As the water streamed down her body, she looked at herself as if she were a stranger even to herself. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to be pregnant, and could not. I could ask Tuli, she thought. Tuli has a child. Tuli has a son.

What if I should have a son? She imagined herself holding a boy child like the youngest Kyneth, with black hair, not reddish hair.... It would not matter, she thought. She stepped from the shower and toweled herself dry. Then, facing her mirror, she reached for the little vial of pills beside it.

One pill every seven days kept her infertile; she had been taking them for twenty-three years.

She watched in the mirror as a woman in a bathroom just like her own put a vial of pills into a disposal.

Then she went to the intercom. ”Dana?” she said.

He answered, ”Yes, Rhani-ka?” In the background she heard the lilt of music, and Anri asking a question.

”I want to talk to you,” she said. ”Please come now to my room.”

*Chapter Thirteen*

The room was dark. Rhani had drawn the heavy curtains over the windows; Dana did not know why. She was sleeping now, curled on her side, head on the pillow. Her unbraided hair fell across her face and veiled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s: lips parted, in the shadowy bedroom she looked like a sleeping child. Dana bent closer. Her eyelids flickered but did not open; she was dreaming. He wondered what about. He stretched, feeling sad despite the lingering remembrance of pleasure. For three days now she had called him to her bed. The loving had been good, splendid and pa.s.sionate, and yet -- he sensed behind her gaze as she smiled at him and called his name the presence of another person, another face.

He did not know whose.

Some previous lover's? he thought. Zed's? That frightened him. For the fiftieth time in three days he pictured Zed walking in and finding them in bed.

”_I cannot always control him_,” Rhani had warned. The image made his s.c.r.o.t.u.m contract. He lifted on an elbow. Rhani opened her eyes. She smiled, and stretched like a cat. ”Hmm?”

He stroked her flat belly. Her skin was soft as silk. ”Rhani-ka, I should go.”

”Why?” she said. Lunging, she wound her arms about his neck and pulled him to her. ”Bored?”

He breathed her smell. ”No,” he said into the side of her neck. ”Oh, no.”

She released him. ”What is it, then?” She teased him with one groping hand. He trapped it in his own.

”Rhani-ka, stop.”

”What for?”

”Because I should leave.”

She sat up. Her hair fell over her shoulders. ”What do you have to do that is so important?”

He said, ”It's been two days since the Auction. Don't you want me to find Loras U-Ellen?”

”No,” she said, and in the same breath, ”Yes. Yes, I suppose so.” Once again she seemed to look through him to that other face. He felt sullen, sulky as a child whose promised treat has been withheld. He wanted to shake her, and to say: You don't love me, and my body's nothing special. So what's this all about?

But then, his own motives were none too pure.

”What are you thinking?” she demanded.

He gazed at her, finding her beautiful. ”I was thinking how strange this is,” he temporized.

She laughed, and sat up suddenly. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s swung. Her nipples were small and pinkish-brown; the nipples of a woman who had never had children.

Leaning forward, she kissed him quickly. ”Better go if you're going.”

He left the bed and dressed before she changed her mind.

”You'll need a credit disc,” she said as he started toward the door.

Feeling somewhat sheepish, he turned back. She opened the compartment in the headboard of the bed and handed it to him. He took it, pulse quickening.

”You look so happy,” she said thoughtfully as he once more began to leave the room. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Her tone was wistful ...

Relax, he ordered himself, relax. She isn't Zed, who would sense the presence of the joy and question until he knew what source it sprang from. This is Rhani.

”Loras U-Ellen,” he said. ”I'll return as soon as I can.”

”Don't forget the curfew,” she said. Oh, _h.e.l.l_, Dana thought. He had forgotten that unaccompanied slaves had to be off Abanat's streets one hour after sunset.

It doesn't matter, he thought. I can go back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, until I find her. ”Thank you, Rhani-ka,” he said. He left the room. The hall was bright, and he squinted as he went downstairs. Amri saw him and shot him a knowing look from the dining alcove.

It was just past noon, and he guessed that Corrios was asleep. He walked back to Amri. ”Kitten, I may be back late,” he said. ”I'm on an errand.”

She nodded. ”Binkie's out, too,” she said. Jumping up, she came to him and put a hand on his forearm. Her clear blue eyes were guileless. ”Dana, Binkie doesn't like you, you know.”

”How do you know?” he said.

She shrugged. ”I just do.”

He accepted it. ”Thanks, kitten. I'll remember.” He went to the front door, remembering at the last minute to lift his sunshades from the rack. He stepped outside. The air s.h.i.+mmered with heat. He went slowly down the steps, feeling the sunlight fold like a cape around his shoulders and back.

In Founders' Green, the fountains were playing. He watched them for a while. Suddenly he saw Binkie crossing the street, coming toward the house. Dana gazed along his trajectory.... At the corner of the street was a figure in black striding swiftly west. He thought: Even tourists should know better than to wear black in Abanat -- and then remembered who might wear black anyplace, anytime.

Binkie came abreast of him and started to pa.s.s him; Dana reached out and clamped a hand in the front of Binkie's blue s.h.i.+rt.

”Who was that?” he said.

The secretary said, ”What the h.e.l.l business is that of yours?” He tried to pull away; Dana tightened his grip.

”That was a Hype cop,” he said. ”Why are you talking with the Hype cops?”

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