Born of Silence (59 page)

Unmitigated panic ripped through every part of Zarya as she stared at herself in the mirror. She didn’t know the woman there. It was a complete stranger gazing through her amber eyes.

One who absolutely terrified her. Even though she had a royal and noble bloodline and had been taught the ways of the aristocracy, Zarya Starska wasn’t an aristo. She could only vaguely recall those days.

No, she was a soldier. A Resistance fighter. One who was more at home on a battlefield than walking through the land mines of social barbs and verbal slaps. While she technically knew how to behave at a royal function, she hadn’t been drilled on those behaviors since her mother’s death. All she knew intimately now was raw survival.

A survival instinct that told her to run.

I don’t know if I can do this
.

She blinked her eyelids that were heavy from the makeup Gera had applied. Her maroon dress was so tight, she could barely breathe. Strapless, it was trimmed in gold and dark blue—the royal Caronese colors.

According to Gera, Darling would be dressed in dark blue, and
this dress had been made to complement his official state formal attire.

I’d run for the door, but in these shoes, I might break my leg.

For that matter, she wasn’t really sure if the delicate lace high heels that had been dyed to match her dress really qualified as shoes. But, she knew for a fact that her sister would kill to own a pair of them.

Her door opened. She expected it to be Darling or Maris.

Instead, it was Gera. She had a strange expression on her face. One that never boded well for Zarya’s sanity or sense of norm.

“Did we forget something?”

Gera smiled. “No, Mistress. You look like an absolute vision. Any man would be honored to escort you.” She brought whatever she’d been hiding behind her back around so that Zarya could see a burgundy leather box.

Zarya cocked a curious eyebrow as a wave of nervous trepidation went through her. “What’s that?”

“His lordship gave it to me for you to wear tonight.” Gera presented it to her much the way Darling had given his medal to Drus.

Zarya stared down at her new engagement ring. The center stone was dark blue with the side stones a deep, blood maroon that matched her dress. She’d only ever owned three pieces of jewelry in her entire life. Her mother’s ring that she’d given to Darling, and the two engagement rings Darling had given her.

And since two of them had been violently stolen…

“I don’t really wear jewelry.”

Gera refused to be daunted. “You’ll want
this
. Trust me.”

When she didn’t move to take the box, Gera opened the lid to show her the most magnificent necklace she’d ever seen in her life. It looked as if it’d been made to match her ring. Red and blue stones were laced together with tiny gold gems to form a collar that held one obscenely large, perfect red teardrop.

Gera handed her the matching earrings, then took the necklace out of its box. She moved behind Zarya so that she could fasten it around Zarya’s neck.

All Zarya could do was gape at something that probably cost more than a small planet. Why had Darling sent it to her?

She covered the stone with her hand—it was so large, she couldn’t even close her fist around it—while Gera worked with the catch. “Is this his mother’s?”

“No, Mistress. Lady Natale has all of her jewelry with her at the Summer Palace. His lordship went down into the vault to select these for you.”

Vault?

Zarya frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“These are part of what his lordship inherited when his father died,” Gera explained. “Every lady of the empire is given her own jewels by her husband. When she passes, she may will them to someone or return them to the vault so that they remain the governor’s property and go to her child who inherits. This set belonged to his lordship’s great-grandmother. They were given to her when she birthed his grandfather. The center teardrop is the largest blodesteen ever cut.”

Those were the rarest of all the precious stones in existence.

Zarya picked it up to stare in awe of the priceless gem that was worth even more than she’d originally thought.

“Her ladyship always wore this set for all state functions, and at all celebrations. She claimed the blue stones were to calm her nerves and the red to inspire her husband to become even greater than he already was. If you’ve been down the north hallway, you’ve no doubt seen her wearing them in her state portrait. They were her most prized possession.”

Gera moved to put the earrings on.

Zarya kindly stopped her. “I can do it. Thank you, Gera.”

Inclining her head, Gera took her leave.

Zarya fastened the earrings, then went straight to Darling’s door. Knocking, she didn’t wait for him to respond before she pushed it open.

She froze instantly.

Holy mother of all shoes…

Darling was absolutely startling in his regal beauty. The navy uniform, trimmed in gold and maroon, made his eyes an even darker shade of blue. His valet had cut his hair so that it no longer fell over the left half of his face. Rather, the much shorter style curled around his collar and formed a perfect frame for his chiseled features. A style that left both of his eyes visible.

And braided into his hair so that it fell from behind his right ear was his harone—the three graduating strands of jewels that designated his status as a royal governor. The longest strand was made of red stone beads with every sixth bead being yellow. At the end hung a larger briolette cut of navy blue. The next strand up was dark blue with every fourth bead being yellow. The briolette on it was maroon. The shortest strand was red beads with every fifth bead blue. Its briolette was yellow.

An aura of lethal, regal authority bled from every part of him. Unlike her, he was completely at ease with his nobility, and he looked every bit the powerful ruler that he was. She’d never found an aristo sexy, but Darling wore that title well. There was no arrogance to him, only a deep self-assurance that was as erotic as the hot look in his eyes as he stared at her.

“You are stunning, my lady.” He all but growled those words.

“And you are exceptional.”

His valet cleared his throat to get Darling’s attention. “Majesty? Is there anything else you require?”

Darling glanced to his left where his valet waited. “You’re dismissed.”

After a slight bow, the man quickly took his leave.

As soon as he was gone, Darling wasted no time closing the distance between them so that he could kiss her.

Zarya breathed him in, wanting to feel him naked against her skin. But she knew better. They couldn’t afford to be late to this meeting.

Reluctantly, she pulled back. “If you mess up Gera’s hard work, she might poison us both.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “If not for the gerents, I’d be willing to risk her wrath.” He picked her hand up and placed a sexy kiss to her fingers. “Did you need something? You looked kind of pissed when you came in.”

His syntax was the only part of him that betrayed his Sentella training. The rest of him was all arrogant emperor. In the past, men like him had repulsed her. But now that she knew him so well and had walked on the inside of his privileged world, she understood that it was a shield he wore just like the body armor they chose whenever they went into battle. And in a way, that was exactly what he was about to do.

Only his weapons wouldn’t be knives or blasters or bombs or gases. He would be fighting with his words and wit. With his ability to effectively argue his side, and to show the fallacies in his opponent’s logic. A different battlefield, but the outcome was the same.

The winner dictated the future of the people she’d spent her life fighting for.

That detached arrogance he cloaked himself with was a vital shell that, just like the red tinged black battlesuits the Sentella wore, kept his opponent’s from knowing when they’d wounded him, and how deeply their blows had struck.

Funny how she’d never known that until lately.

Now she fully understood. And she knew from her own
experience that words always cut deeper than any weapon forged by man.

The only thing that was sharper and that scarred more was the selfish actions of those you loved when they made it crystal clear that they cared more for themselves than they did for you. Especially when it was someone you trusted to always put you first.

And that pain was what she felt right now. “I’m not pissed,” she said slowly, answering his question. “More curious.” She ran her hand over the exquisite necklace. “Why did you loan this to me?”

He frowned. “Didn’t you read the note I sent with it?”

“It didn’t come with a note.”

His eyes flashed with anger, then settled into a look of disappointment. “It’s not that important, I guess. But they’re not a loan, Zarya. They’re a gift.”

Go on, keep talking, buddy. Dig yourself in deeper.

“Why?” she asked, hoping she was wrong.

That turned him defensive, which made her suspicions grow. “Do I have to have a reason to give you a present?”

“If you’re giving it to me because you don’t want me to embarrass you, then yes.”

Darling choked at her unexpected, and highly erroneous assumption. Indignant, he glared at her. “How could I
ever
be embarrassed by you?”

“I know I’m technically no longer an aristo, but—”

“Zarya…” He placed his hands on her arms and stared into her amber eyes, hoping she could see how sincere he was. “You
are
an aristo. Your father may have been stripped of his titles and money, but your blood is as noble as anyone’s in the CDS, and it’s as royal as mine. I picked that set for you because I thought they’d be beautiful on you and I was right. Most of all, when my valet brought in my harone, it dawned on me that you didn’t have any
jewelry of your own. I wanted to give you some because I thought it would make you happy. That was the only thing that motivated me. I swear.”

Zarya wanted to weep as she heard those words. And here she’d tainted his beautiful gift. Suddenly, she felt stupid for doubting him when he had never given her a reason to.

Rather, she’d attacked him out of her own insecurity and for the views that had been held by her last boyfriend.

“Damn, Zarya. Can’t you at least try to look like a woman when we go out? The last thing I want is for someone to think I’m dating a man or a hobo.”

It wasn’t fair to Darling when he had never once said anything negative about how she dressed or looked. “I’m sorry, Darling. I didn’t mean to be so shrewish.”

He kissed her lightly on the cheek. “It’s all right. My nerves are shot, too. I hate doing shit like this just as much as you do.”

Clenching his teeth, he went over to his dresser and picked up a pair of darkly tinted glasses. Not quite as dark as sunglasses, they shielded her ability to see his eyes.

She scowled in confusion. “I thought you didn’t want anyone to know your vision was impaired.”

“I don’t. But in the event I have to read something, I can’t afford to let them know that I have a problem. Plus, if my eyes start jerking, I definitely don’t want them to see it… I’m hoping these will help me keep both secrets.”

That made sense.

“They look great on you, by the way.”

Darling appreciated her compliment. But even so, he had a terrible feeling about the meeting tonight—it was the same uneasy feeling he’d had the night before Clarion’s attack. Every instinct he possessed told him something bad was going to happen.

I won’t let it.

And yet even as that thought finished, an inner part of himself laughed at his arrogance.

Fate is a bitch, but she always has a wicked sense of humor.

Please, don’t let me be her punch line tonight.

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