All For One [Nuworld 3] (19 page)

open and he was halfway though the house when Tara heard Fulga wish him a good

morning. He hardly acknowledged her but continued in long strides to the conference

room.

Syra came out of the bathroom as Torgo entered the hallway. Tara saw him in the

doorway. He stood tall, and looked powerful. He watched Syra without showing any

glimpse of how he felt as she moved slowly past him and entered the room.

Syra watched him warily until she passed and then focused her attention on Tara.

“Thanks for the bath. You’re right, I feel a lot better.”

“You don’t look like you were abused.” Tara looked at Syra questioningly.

“No, but I wish I had been. It would have been easier.” Syra avoided looking at

Torgo as he moved around her toward the table.

Tara figured Torgo’s presence might make Syra feel a little uncomfortable. As Tara

watched Syra’s guarded expression she decided uncomfortable would be okay. It might

keep some of her niece’s arrogance and cockiness to a minimum.

“What did Darius do after I left the jail last night?”

Torgo jumped. “You went to the jail last night?”

Tara raised her hand and Torgo shut his mouth and crossed his arms. She looked

expectantly at Syra.

“He didn’t touch me.” Syra licked her lips. “Tara, can’t I answer these questions

privately?”

Tara smiled and before Torgo could react to Syra’s suggestion that he leave she said

simply, “No.”

“Fine then, he told me to never undermine his authority again. If I did, there would

be no one who could save me from the punishment I’d get.”

Tara didn’t bat an eye and Torgo was unreadable as he stood several feet away,

leaning on the back of a chair.

“Go on,” Tara said after Syra was silent a minute. “There’s more.”

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Syra glared at Tara as if somehow all of this was her fault. “I’ll tell you what he said

later.” She spoke between clenched teeth, her eyes widening at Tara, almost begging.

“You’ll tell me what he said now.” Tara pushed her seat back and stood, fixing her

gaze on Syra.

“He said he would enjoy watching Torgo make a hypocrite of himself.” Syra took a

deep breath. “He said Torgo would prove his Bryon blood when he made a mistress out

of me.”

Darius strolled into the room at the exact same moment Syra spit the words at Tara.

Geeves followed on the Lord’s heels, not bothering to look up from the landlink he held

in his hands.

“I see I got here just in time.”

He spoke way too cheerfully but Tara noticed him look straight at his brother. The

grin he gave his brother showed his challenge. His eyes clearly said, try and not make a

hypocrite out of yourself. Tara looked quickly at Torgo. Somehow he managed to keep his

expression nonchalant although his brother’s signals were rather obvious.

Torgo had spent winters reminding his brother how he’d tarnished the family name

by taking so many women and then being unfaithful to Tara. Not to mention creating a

bastard that roamed Nuworld somewhere. And how only time and good behavior

would have the nation believing the Bryons were great warriors and men of integrity.

Tara had heard the lecture from the younger brother to the older for winters. There

was no way Darius would allow those words to go unnoticed now that Torgo was

obviously showing interest in Syra. Although Tara prayed the interest stemmed from

concern for her wellbeing, and not lust.

Darius walked over to Tara and planted a loving kiss on her cheek. “You look

absolutely beautiful,” he whispered into her ear.

His good mood bothered her and she looked at him suspiciously. Dark gray eyes

danced in front of her. He knew something—or he’d done something—and she would

have to wait to see what it was. Darius threw another look to his brother and then

gestured. “Please, be seated.”

Fulga appeared to announce Jolee, Trev and Fartha. Within moments, all of them

were seated around the large round table. Syra sat opposite Tara and Darius, and Torgo

sat down next to her, ignoring his brother’s curious look.

“Syra, tell me now what I saw between you and Sorg last night.” Darius spoke

calmly, but there was fire in his eyes. It was almost as if he knew the answer and

wanted to see if she’d get it right.

Syra suddenly jumped up from the table and walked over to the window. She

turned and looked at all the expectant faces.

“First of all, I’m going to make it damn clear that I did what I did to protect this

nation.” She wagged her finger at Darius. “To protect Gothman, more specifically. To

protect the way of life we love from mistakes that you’ve made.”

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She glared at Darius, and Tara felt the tension radiate from his body. He fought to

maintain composure. She’d give him credit for that but his expression filled with

malice. Tara fought for her own composure as well. Syra shouldn’t point blame on the

Lord of Gothman, but she did. And there was only one mistake she could think of that

was specifically Darius’ fault. Tara began trembling, and placed her hands on her knees.

Torgo turned sideways in his chair. He watched Darius but would turn to look at

Syra then back at Darius again. There was no doubt that he also understood Syra’s

meaning. It was a sore subject from a past best forgotten, one that was not brought up

in this household…and Syra had just brought it up.

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Chapter Eleven

“Everything I’m about to tell you is on the disc I gave you.” Syra leaned against her

chair and stared at the seven people around the table.

Fulga stepped into the room hesitantly with a tray, holding coffee and cups. She

shot Darius nervous glances out of the corner of her eye as she placed the tray on the

table and then backed off uncertainly.

Tara realized Fulga and Cali were in the house and more than likely eavesdropping

on the discussion in the room. The tension in the room alone qualified the situation to

provide coveted gossip.

“We’ll need nothing else.” Darius waved his hand at Fulga, dismissing her. “Shut

the door behind you.”

The room grew quiet then until Syra cleared her throat to gather everyone’s

attention. “Certain things happened while I was with the Barringswood tribe that I

knew needed documentation. I started a diary, so to speak, of my daily events but as

things escalated I realized I would need to do a fair bit of explaining if it were

discovered that I was documenting these things.” Syra looked at Torgo.

The tiny stones woven into the many braids in her hair rocked back and forth when

she moved her head. Her skin glowed a dark bronze from being outside, and her

muscles moved with her movements, showing how fit she was. Her green eyes glowed

as she studied Torgo’s face. She radiated health and physical fitness, and the shiny

black shirt she wore tucked into leather pants showed off her firm breasts and flat

stomach.

When Syra spoke again it was as if she spoke only to Torgo. “Some of the messages

are encoded. I figured when I gave it to you, you’d either find them or I’d show them to

you when the time was right.” She looked back up at Tara. “I didn’t know the Tree

People were here when I arrived at the Blood Circle Clan site. I left the Barringswood

tribe and went back to the River People for a few days before coming home. I hadn’t

heard anything about the Barringswood coming here.”

“You were right, of course,” she continued, shifting her gaze now to Darius. He

leaned back and crossed his arms, staring intently at her. “It was foolish of me to think I

could fool you on such a matter. I’ve been with Sorg. The surprise you saw on his face

was because he thought I was one of the River People. I adopted the River People’s

culture, and appeared to be one of them while living with the Tree People.”

Syra paused and reached for a cup of water, sipped it, then continued. “I doubted

the Tree People were familiar with us and I didn’t feel like standing out. You see, their

culture is quite different from anything I’d ever experienced. The Barringswood tribe

members look different, and possess this telepathic ability that none of the other tribes

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of the Tree People possess. They all have these incredible, intense green eyes and are

revered by the other tribes. It’s almost like they’re the gods over the rest of the tribes.

The Barringswoods are educated. They dress like royalty, use modern technology, and

teach of a god who sounds a lot like Crator, but they call him Yawa. All the other tribes

are uneducated and work hard at manual labor to support themselves and the

Barringswood. They are servants to the Barringswood tribe.”

“How big is their tribe?” Tara asked.

All heads turned to her and then back to Syra.

“The Barringswood tribe has over five hundred people, I think. They all have red

hair and deep green eyes. If you make eye contact with them they can pull thoughts

from you. There are at least ten other tribes that I documented, some of them larger

than the Barringswood tribe, but all of them ignorant. They all serve the Barringswoods

willingly.”

“When we first arrived among the Tree People it was to trade. Several of the

Barringswood women favored the hair braiding of the River People and asked a few of

us to come to their homes to do their hair. I was one who volunteered to go. Their tribal

land isn’t like the rest of the nation. They live in a forest full of trees that are so large

you can carve out their trunks and live in them—which is exactly what they do. While I

was there I met Sorg and his father and brothers. They were nice people and they

treated us like honored guests while we were there. They shared their stories and

treated us like equals.”

“I lived among them for almost a winter, or falling, as they call it. They had

servants who waited on us hand and foot. Everyone had at least two servants who

accompanied them everywhere, guessing your needs before asked. Sorg’s mama,

Marda, asked me to stay with them for a while and be her personal hair braider, and in

return she would share their history and technology with me. She told me she sensed I