Many emotions flooded her tiny face: embarrassment, awkwardness, shock. “This one had hoped that your ladyship would be an excellent Sworn Asset so that the Original People will be able to stay on Earth longer and not require the harvest of the energy of the lowborn. This one had hoped that your ladyship will fulfill all her duties so the First Mechanic won’t be under so much stress. He is a good man. I beg your ladyship’s pardon for my presumption and will withdraw.”
I let her go without another word. Who else would be making demands on me? There didn’t seem to be an end to what people would say or do to get what they wanted. I went back up to my apartment, gave the crystal to a footman to deliver it to Sylvan, and lay down on the overly soft bed. My attitude was really bad, and I hoped a nap would restore me. When I woke, both maids were standing in my bedroom near the door. I wondered how long I had slept, but there was no way to know, no clocks, no calendars, no night to punctuate the time.
“Has Sean come looking for me?” I asked the maids when I sat up and stretched. Then I blushed when I recalled how he was out having fun with the others and I hadn’t been invited.
“His lordship hasn’t as of yet, my lady,” Circle said.
Without saying a word, I went into the bathroom and sat down on the stool so they could repair the damage I’d done to my hair. I thought how easy all this pampering was becoming for me.
“Did you order me something good to eat?” I asked.
Circle blinked. “Something good, my lady? Begging your pardon, the palace menus have been the same for thousands of years. The meal that is coming will be protein and two types of vegetation. There will also be a solution to drink made from dried leaves and heated water. This one can’t say whether it will be good for it is always the same.”
“I see.”
When the maids were finished with my hair, I went into my closet and was entirely overwhelmed by all the choices. The maids watched me and waited for instruction. I backed out of the dressing room. With this much to choose from, I started to see why the highborn allowed their maids to choose what they wore. And the maids, with so little opportunity to choose anything in their lives, didn’t seem to mind. Without a word from me, they found a lovely ruby tunic trimmed with gold thread and blue jewels and a diamond choker with a big sapphire in the front. It hugged my neck, alive with sparkles. The matching earrings bounced jauntily over my shoulders. I looked lovely and there was no one to see.
A couple of footmen brought in trays and set them on the table by the wall. I sat down behind the screens and ate, tossing the food back cup by cup the way Sean had taught me. Cup by cup I had no idea what I was eating. Why did it matter when I was eating alone? Suddenly I felt an unbearable loneliness, so much so that I thought about summoning Judah.
“Circle, where would Judah be?” I asked.
She glanced out the window to see the location of the ringed planet. “There is a high probability that the Lord Judah is in his quarters, my lady.”
I thought about sending for him, but would that make me look desperate? What if he didn’t want to see me? Why would he? His betrothal to me had ruined his life. Maybe I should wait until he sent a request to me rather than be humiliated by his rebuff. In this big room, there was no Internet, no books or fashion magazines, no cell phone. There was only a big reality that for me here, without Sean, there was nothing to do. Annoyed, I jumped to my feet and strode out of the apartment so quickly that the footman almost didn’t get the door open in time. Circle and the other maid hustled along in my wake. I entered the courtyard and was surprised to see that Sean was sitting there with Tardik and four footmen. Tardik got up, nodded at me, and then left the courtyard.
“Leave us,” Sean said to his footmen. He turned to my maids. “You too.”
Their eyes widened in alarm. I nodded to them and they withdrew.
Sean stared straight ahead. “Leonie will be along soon. I’m going to get to know her because I think you and I had better play by the rules of this world. Its power over us is so great that there is no other option.”
He wasn’t looking at me, so I didn’t answer.
Sean kept his gaze on the fountain. “Tardik told me how on the Original Home that the highborn always kept a few empty rooms carved into the mountainside. If two young lovers were unwilling or unable to stay apart, they were taken to one of the rooms and given the option of choosing which would be scourged by the clawman. The one who was scourged would be put into the room. He or she would watch as lowborn bricklayers placed brick by brick on a wall that sealed in him or her. With the last brick, the lovers’ pain was stopped, and the one who was on the outside was given the option to create a mosaic over the bricks. If the mosaic was more beautiful than any of the others made before it, then the wall would be taken down. All tried. They called it the Wall of Consequence.”
“Did any succeed?”
“Tardik says that if any did, the knowledge was lost to time. He says that eugenics has since replaced the need for such barbarism. Naomi broke the rules when she put the clawman on us, but she used that old tradition as legal precedent. She will face some condemnation, but not too much, since we’re Sworn Assets. She may face some punishment for what she did to Tardik since he’s a highly ranked highborn.”
I didn’t answer. The horror of the clawman was still too much with me to want to keep talking about it or Naomi.
“I had a private talk with Ramsey and Leslie. They don’t want me back at the House of Picard,” Sean replied, his voice flat. “They’ve labeled me a traitor, some kind of spy for the House of Beck. And the fact that your energy has made me a missusan disgusts them because they had bred that bad part out of all the Picards. To them missusans are nothing more than killers, plain and simple. Apparently we have some sociopathic leftover DNA from a class of assassins the Original People used to keep. They really hate us here.”
“That’s their loss,” I said, secretly rejoicing.
Sean got up. “And mine too.”
His tone frightened me. “How is it yours?”
“Right now they’re trying to decide whether I’m to be extinguished. They say that murder is in the nature of a missusan and that killing is who and what we are. Ramsey said you proved that when you, who had no instruction, killed three men and drained a Second Mechanic. He asked me whether you felt any remorse.”
“I did feel remorse. But what I felt more was the need to stop the murderers and to save your life.”
“And that’s the problem. Our feelings.” Sean rubbed his forehead wearily. “His or Her Majesty won’t recruit us as missusans because we have empathy. We’re killers who care, so they don’t want us. Missusans are supposed to think, not feel.”
“You can stay here in this House,” I said quickly. “I’ll talk to Naomi and Sylvan.”
“No, don’t. Don’t do me any favors.”
“You sound as if you’re sorry I saved you—as if you’re sorry we ever met.”
“I’m not,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away. “I’m going to see Leonie now. She’s been painted with the same brush and it’s not going over well with her.”
I’d been painted with that brush too, but Sean had no comforting words for me.
The sand and water felt good on my toes. They reminded me of the winter trips my family made to the Caribbean. The warm beach felt comforting after my talk with Sean. Arlee walked next to me, as close as to my side as she could be without getting her velvety shoes in the water.
Her pretty face was tight with disgust. “Do humans do this a lot, my lady?”
“Believe it or not, humans like walking on beaches and swimming in water.” I couldn’t help but smile. “Can I assume you don’t swim?”
“I’ve never been in this place before,” she said, not bothering to hide her distaste as she looked around. “As for swimming, that’s a skill for water creatures, not people. I think this place must have been created for Sworn Assets. No Original Person would enjoy the sensation of this damp grit on his or her feet.”
I laughed at her characterization of sand and surf as damp grit. “On Earth newly married couples often spend their honeymoons on tropical beaches where they lie in the sun and spend lots of time walking hand-in-hand in damp grit.”
Appalled, Arlee shook her head. “I can’t imagine Lady Naomi and Lord Sylvan doing that if they renew their marriage contract.”
Her words made me catch my breath. “Their marriage contract needs to be renewed? What does that mean?”
“In Geminay marriages last for ten Earth years, my lady. After that, they need to be renewed.”
“Marriages can expire?”
“Yes. Pair-bonded couples have to renew their marriage contracts, my lady. It is known. But not Sworn Assets. For them it’s a lifetime commitment,” she said, averting her eyes.
I felt a stab of guilt about being the cause of her breakup with Judah. “Tell me more.”
“The Original People don’t indulge in what humans call divorce, my lady. We believe that disrupts the harmonious function of society. In Geminay at the end of the contract, people decide whether or not to renew. Both members of the couple must want to renew, or the marriage is over. We in Geminay believe that it’s not in the best interests of society for couples to be in unhappy alliances.”
I thought about Naomi and Sylvan. “What happens if that couple is lord and lady of a Great House?”
“In the House of Beck, only the primary lord or lady would stay on the throne. The position is hereditary. Currently the primary is Lord Sylvan. The next primary will be Lord Sylvan and Lady Naomi’s daughter, as she is Lord Sylvan’s first child. She will, of course, have to be prepared for the position and prove her worth. From all indications, she will be an excellent primary.”
I stepped closer to Arlee and spoke very softly. “From all indications, will Sylvan and Naomi renew their contract?”
Arlee stiffened. “My lady, it is treason to speculate on such things.”
“Is it?” I said, but the look on her face gave me my answer. From what I knew of Naomi, she wouldn’t be the sort who would easily give up her position to another. I felt sorry for the woman who took her place. “So if the couple doesn’t renew, each can find someone else to marry?”
“They can, my lady, if they wish it. Some do, but there are many who never remarry once they’re out of contract. It is known.”
“It is known,” I repeated thoughtfully. “And the children?”
“Once the children reach the age of five years, they live in the Children’s Houses, so they are little affected when their parents’ marriages go out of contract.” She saw my puzzled expression. “My lady, highborn children are raised in the Children’s Houses and have been since coming to this planet. The Great Mechanic Ratanga thought it better that children be raised away from the harmful influences of their parents’ ignorance and ineptitude. The parents are then free to pursue activities that promote the interests of Geminay.”
“Is there anything that the Original People won’t do for Geminay?”
Arlee frowned slightly. “This is our home, my lady. Everything is for the sake of the survival of our people. Sworn Assets sometimes have trouble understanding that because their human genetic material causes them to feel too much and abandon rationalism. It’s in your primitive nature.”
“Oh, I see. That’s the trouble.”
With those words an idea formed in my mind, something that made me wonder whether the primitive nature wasn’t something to be so easily dismissed.
“Do the Original People on the other planets follow the same rules?”
“This one can’t say. Since this colony was established no Original Person has ever come to Earth, my lady. To do that would risk revealing our world to the enemy.” Her expression scolded me. “My lady, we are self-sufficient here for a reason. Sending out messages just to satisfy our selfish curiosity just is not done. We will only break the silence when we leave Earth and not before. The Great Mechanic Ratanga was adamant that our souls not be corrupted by impulses that would cause us to commit acts that would reveal our world to outsiders.”
“Then you really have no idea whether Geminay is the only colony of Original People left in the known universe.”
Arlee’s response became rote. “My lady, we do know because the Great Mechanic Ratanga sent out many ships to many places. Someday we will come together, someday when the time is right. It is known.”
Her certainty served only to fill my mind with doubt. We chatted companionably as we finished our walk on the beach. The more time I spent with Arlee, the more I liked her. She was extremely intelligent and so well educated that she was never at a loss for something interesting to say. All of the highborn were taught manners and charm, and on Earth a woman like Arlee would have made an excellent trophy wife. No wonder Judah was so sorry to have to marry me instead of her. The thought was humbling.
“We in Geminay have found Lord Sean’s company to be quite enlightening.” Arlee stepped as carefully as if she were walking barefoot through sharp stones. “To be in the presence of a Sworn Enemy is fascinating. I’m looking forward to the company of Lord Tardik and Lady Leonie. Their opinions and observations have promoted much discussion.”
I wished she hadn’t brought up Leonie, but I couldn’t really begrudge her the bit of excitement Tardik and Leonie inspired. From what I had observed, the lives of the highborn seemed to be really dry and routine. “Aren’t you afraid of them, being that they’re Sworn Enemies?”
“Fear plays no role in this, my lady, because as always I do as I am commanded.”
“Yes, you do, don’t you?” I looked at Arlee curiously. “What sorts of topics have Tardik and Leonie raised that interest you?”
“Many subjects.” Arlee gave the first smile I’d seen on her face that seemed sincere. “Lady Leonie designed her entire outfit, even her necklace. Once she was selected to marry Lord Sean, she was given access to many more gems. We could see how she put it to good use.”
Praise of Leonie wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear right now. “Did you find any common ground with your Sworn Enemy?”