Part 37 (2/2)

”Dana?”

”A minute,” Dana said. His head was ringing. His contact with telepaths had been mercifully limited. He had had one examination by the telepaths on Nexus to qualify for his medallion; it had left him sick for a day.

He swallowed. ”The chief pilot just communicated with me,” he said.

Rhani looked at him as if he were out of his mind. Cautiously, she said, ”How? I didn't hear a thing.”

”You don't -- oh.” He was surprised. ”He's a telepath, Rhani-ka.”

”Really?” She rubbed her chin with one hand ”That's odd; I didn't know that, and I've met him.”

Being very, very careful, Dana brought the bubblecraft the rest of the way across Abanat, and headed down toward the Kyneth roof. The hangar top was already open for him. He felt as if he needed to sleep, or else to scream long and loud where no one could hear him. He wished devoutly that the destruction of the Yago house had not also included his musictapes.

They settled into the hangar. ”Wait,” Rhani said into the shadows. Dana turned off the machinery and sat, hands in his lap. She leaned against him. Her hair blew against his mouth. He glanced at her and saw age lines, strain lines, at the corners of her eyes and lips. ”Dana, do you hate me?”

”Hate you?” He was shocked. ”No.”

”Despite what Binkie said about Zed and me?”

He let his hand touch her cheek. ”No. I don't hate you.”

”I'm glad. I should tell you -- ” She stopped.

”Tell me what?”

”No,” she said. ”Not yet. Let's go in.”

He held her back. ”Rhani, you have to -- ” Her mouth came up to his. Like pieces of a puzzle locking into place, they embraced. Her fingers stroked his back. He breathed her scent. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and hips moved against him, and he felt his body move to answer.

This _can't_ go on, he thought, and groaned as she touched him.

”Rhani.” He captured her hands and folded them between his own. ”Rhani, tell me something.”

”If I can.”

”How long are we going to stay in this house? Three or four days? A week?

Two?”

”Perhaps a week,” she said.

”And then we'll fly to the estate. Will Zed stay in Abanat?”

”Of course not. The estate is his home. He may fly to the Clinic if they call him.”

”How frequently might that happen?”

She shrugged. ”Once a week.”

”Your brother is perceptive,” Dana said. ”How long do you think it will take him to see that we have been lovers?”

”You're forgetting something,” Rhani said.

”What?”

”Darien Riis.”

It was true; he had forgotten her. What was that nonsense Rhani has quoted to him: Cherillys' Law, that was it. ”I don't know what difference she'll make,” he said, ”and neither do you. Rhani, if Zed realizes that I've shared your bed, he'll kill me, or worse. He can do worse.”

”What do you want me to do?” Rhani said.

I have to ask, Dana thought. ”Free me.”

Her amber eyes locked on his face. ”What will you do if you are freed?” ”Leave,” he said.

”But you said you'd find Loras U-Ellen for me.”

”I will. I have. T -- my friend will contact him; I'm sure of it.”

”I'm sure of nothing,” she said. Her eyes gleamed, luminous in the dusky s.p.a.ce. ”If I don't free you, Dana, will you try to escape?”

”I'd be a fool to do so,” he said, thinking of Tori Lamonica, of his s.h.i.+p, of the Hype....

”But will you?” she insisted, shaking herself free of him, gripping his s.h.i.+rt with both hands. ”Will you?” She answered herself. ”Probably.”

”I could tell you a lie,” he said.

”Don't,” she said. ”I don't want you to lie to me.” She ran her fingertip over his mouth. ”Dana -- listen. I need you. I can't tell you why, not now, only that I do, that your presence here is vital to me in a way you cannot know.

Please, please, be patient.”

He said, ”Will you free me, Rhani?”

She said, ”I will, Starcaptain. But not now.”

”You won't tell me when.”

”No.” She gripped his shoulders, hard. ”Dana, don't try to escape. Please trust me.”

”It's not you I don't trust,” he said. He released the bubble door.

”After you, Rhani-ka.” She climbed from the bubble. He closed the bubble door and walked to join her on the stairway to the house, thinking as he did: Rhani Yago, I'll trust you -- just as much as you seem willing to trust _me_.

The Kyneths ate communally, at a wooden table so huge that lifting it would tax the strength of a family of Skellians.

Zed sat next to Davi Kyneth. The boy's nearness had frightened him, but after a while he relaxed. Eleven people sat at the table, nine Kyneths, Zed, and Rhani. The wood literally groaned as the slaves heaped it with food. All the Kyneths, big ones and small ones, ate hugely. Looking over the ruins of the house had been depressing, and Zed was surprised to find that he was hungry. He had gone from the house to the Clinic, but they had nothing there for him to do, and after an hour of wandering around Outpatient, he had come back to the Kyneth house and fallen asleep.

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