DarkRevenge (13 page)

She nodded, clearly not convinced if her tightened lips and
narrowed eyes were anything to go by. “Okay.”

He tried to lighten the moment. “Besides, you need to relax
a little.”

One side of her mouth lifted. “I’m not sure visiting an
entire planet of telepaths is exactly relaxing.”

“They’ll be respectful.” Tory had never had an Ardasian poke
around in his head the way Jezar did. Again, it was against their code. But
Jezar had a larger mission, a bigger goal, which overrode the Ardasian code.
Tory hadn’t asked because he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

They landed the shuttle on in a large hangar half a mile
above the surface of Ardasia. When they exited the shuttle, they entered a busy
station with several different ships taking off and landing. The landing bay
was high above the surface of the planet and Tory smiled when Alex peered
through one of the huge windows to the lower levels where other shuttles were
docking and departing.

The place was a busy mecca with aliens from all over the
galaxy trading and networking. Visitors were welcome, not colonists. Ardasia
was closed to settlements. Probably because keeping the peace between telepaths
living together was hard enough without adding normal humans to the mix.

“I’ve never seen so many aliens before,” Alex said, her eyes
wide and flicking everywhere.

“Ardasia is a major trading planet. Their services are used
by every inhabited planet within the galaxy,” Tory whispered in her ear as they
strode toward a long escalator. “Don’t move as we descend. They scan us while
we wait.”

“What are they looking for?”

“The usual. Weapons, contraband, plagues.” Tory stayed
alert. Just because they were on Ardasia didn’t mean they were safe. And Alex
wasn’t exactly nondescript. She carried herself like a military commander and
she garnered a lot of stares because she was fucking gorgeous. He should have
made her braid her hair before going planetside. Right now, it curled past her
shoulders and gave her that just-fucked look he had been going for when he told
her to mark her territory.

The way other men, alien and human alike, glanced her way
made him glad he’d marked her the way he had. He wanted to reach up and stroke
the mark to emphasize it.

They reached the lower floors on the planet surface and he
led her out into the Ardasian capital city. He had plans for her. He knew his
Alex. She loved history and the city housed one of the biggest museums of
ancient artifacts.

“Where are we going?” she asked when they slid into the
seats of a hovertaxi.

“You wanted to see the falls. I aim to please,” he answered.

The streets of the city teemed with life and hovercars
whished past above and below them. The taxi driver used telepathy to anticipate
the other drivers and somehow they all got where they were going. It always
fascinated him. The culture on Ardasia was so different from Teran One. Here
there were no bloodlines or ruling families. The Ardasian Judges ran everything
and they were completely incorruptible. As few as ten could end up on the
Judges’ Ring and no more than fifteen had ever been recorded. The requirements
to be a Judge on the Ring were stringent. A Judge of Light was more common but
also went through rigorous vetting before they were allowed to serve.

He caught sight of Alex’s face. Her gaze was riveted to the
window of the hovercar. She looked like a little kid—excited, thrilled,
fascinated. She turned to smile at him. “This is amazing.”

He grinned. He knew she’d love it, just as he had. His first
visit to Ardasia had been like that too. Jezar had shown him everything and he
had eaten it up. Now he paid it forward, pointing out the sights as they sped
by them. The Judge’s Ring Chamber, grand and solemn. The Ardasian Theater,
brightly lit and colorful. The Oracular Round, a large temple where Ardasian
visionaries shared their sight with the rest of the planet. Finally, they
reached their destination. The Orlani Falls.

The taxi dropped them at a small platform and Tory paid the
man. He took Alex’s arm and led her along the walkway. She craned her neck.
“Where are they? I don’t see them!”

“They’re up ahead. You come up on them suddenly.” He reached
down and twined his hand with hers. “Do you know how the falls were made?”

She shook her head, keeping her eyes on the walkway ahead.
He smiled. “Thousands of years ago, this was the edge of a sea. There was a
beautiful woman who lived in a small cottage, alone and lonely. She sang to the
ocean since she had no one to sing to. And then, a man of the sea heard her
singing and came to her. He made love to her on the beach.” They had almost
reached the falls. He could hear the roar and smell the water. “But when
morning came, he disappeared under the surface of the sea. She stood on the
edge of the incoming waves and sang for him until her voice gave out and she
wouldn’t sing again, for the memories were too painful. The woman’s heart broke
and her grief was so strong, the crust beneath where they had consummated their
love cracked and split. The sea water rushed away into an underground cavern.
The sky opened and fresh rain covered the land until the crack healed and the
water pooled. But the place where the opening had been was marked by the Orlani
Falls.”

On the last word, they stepped into paradise. Alex gasped.
“Oh, it’s beautiful.” She leaned over the railing and stared at the sight. Even
though Tory had seen them before, he never got tired of the falls. They were
spectacular, spanning a mile across and tumbling four miles down. The drop-off
was stunning. Rainbows glittered as sunlight sparkled through the water
droplets, creating a kaleidoscope of color. A long bridge crossed at the top of
the falls, its graceful lines a perfect complement to the dramatic water.
Trails dotted along both sides of the falls, which were so massive that if
there were other people visiting, he couldn’t tell.

“What a sad story to go with such a beautiful place,” Alex
said as he held her hand and they strode across the bridge.

“Oh, that wasn’t the end,” he told her. He had to shout,
since the rushing water drowned out his normal voice.

“How did it end?” she yelled back.

“I’ll tell you on the other side.”

They reached the far side and a trail led them a distance
away from the falls. He finished the story. “He came back for her.”

“The man of the sea?”

Tory nodded. “He came for her, but the sea was gone and he
couldn’t reach her. And the falls became a barrier keeping him out.”

“So it
is
a sad story.”

He shook his head. “No. Because he never gave up. He stood
in the fresh water pool beneath the falls and called to her every day, even
though she couldn’t hear him, even though he would die if he was away from the
sea too long.” He stopped and met her gaze. Did she understand why he told her
this story? Would she hear what he was saying? Or would she just think he was
entertaining her? “He waited for her. And one day, on the edge of the falls,
she saw him on his knees in the water and she finally sang again.”

“And they lived happily ever after?” Alex smiled as if
amused.

She didn’t understand. He sighed. Why should she? “They
lived happily ever after and their children always tell the story so the
Ardasians don’t forget.”

“Don’t forget what?”

He met her gaze. “That all grief passes. That resentment
breeds pain. That love conquers all.”

She glanced away. “A romantic notion.”

“Yes, it is.” He squeezed her hand. “Are you hungry?”

“I am.”

“I know a place here, but it’s not well known by tourists.
Strictly local,” he told her and smiled.

“Another adventure? Sure, why not?”

What did he expect? He should accept the fact that she was
his
Saria
, mated by contract, not by anything else. He let her hand fall
from his and ignored the dull pain in his chest.

Chapter Ten

The trails were surrounded by tall, thick trees. To Alex, it
seemed to be a fairy land, complete with tales of undying love and cracks in
the planet’s crust. The story about the Sea man and the woman reminded her of
the fairy tale on Teran One.

The mutual nullification fairytale.

The story of a family out to destroy each other, each with
grievances, each with bitterness. Bloodlines would fight each other for
dominance, for power, for land, over petty differences. Until the
Saria
tradition
began, families attacked other families, eliminating competition, creating
long-standing feuds satisfied only by the blood of the innocent. The newer
families, who arrived after Teran One was founded, were targeted, their lack of
status making them easy pickings for the First families. Vengeance kept some
families divided and fighting for centuries. Hundreds of years of mass murder
with entire branches of bloodlines completely wiped out led to chaos.

To save Teran One, the Stender line had created the
Saria
ceremony, where a single member of an offending family could be used as an
object of revenge. It had been an uphill battle to get the families to quit
massacring each other.

Until one man claimed a woman from the other family as his
Saria
.

Newly arrived on Teran One and immediately targeted by
another family, he wanted to end the bloodshed and stop the violence. But both
sides were so filled with hatred, he had to win the
Saria’s
heart. Their
courtship spanned a year in which her family and his continued their bloody
warfare. But through persistence, through courage, he won her in the end. When
they faced the Tribunal Judges and performed the ceremony, he declared the
amendment of Mutual Nullification.

That man had founded the Ingle bloodline on Teran one.

The Stender family, backed by the Ingles and the Zeerahs,
solidified the
Saria
practice and strengthened the ruling family’s
position. The ceremony became ingrained in the fabric of Teran One society, the
Ingle story being told regularly to show its effectiveness. But it was a
fairytale told to little girls to give them hope. A hope dashed by reality. In
real life, the
Saria
ceremony ended familial violence through personal
violence on one member. Alex had always thought that was the case. Did she now?

At her side was a man worthy of the mating. He had courage
and patience. He’d shown intelligence in dealing with his enemy. He’d followed
the rules even though those very laws had convicted him unjustly.

The story he told her started to sink in. Resentment breeds
pain. She’d been so angry with him. Not because he’d betrayed Teran One, but
because he’d never explained himself. When accused by the Tribunal, he’d denied
it and refused to say more. When asked for an alibi, he had none. When they
demanded a statement before their judgment, he stayed silent. He’d acted like a
defeated man.

Five years and he never contacted her. That had rankled. It
didn’t matter that she’d rejected him, refused to go with him when he was
banished. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t sought him out. Of course, he didn’t
know how hungrily she collected news of him, his exploits, his crimes. He had
no idea how her brother brought him up as an example of her inability to choose
a mate, since she’d requested a courtship contract with Tory. What did he know
about her now?

“Tory, I’m sorry I didn’t come with you,” she said.

He stopped abruptly and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I wanted to. When you asked me. But I didn’t know how you
felt about me and…” She couldn’t explain without revealing too much.

“Didn’t know how I felt about you?” He stared at her. “I
begged you to come with me. It was all I cared about.”

She met his gaze. “I thought—” What had she thought? She
thought he wanted some revenge on her brother for accusing him. She thought he
would whisk her away and then leave her. Not to mention what she saw. Or
thought she saw. “I thought a lot of things that don’t make sense now.”

His face shuttered and turned away. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“But it does. Don’t you see?” She grabbed his arm to make
him look at her. “If I had thought for a minute that you were innocent, that my
brother had framed you, I would have fought tooth and nail to get you home.”

He stared at her. “But you thought I was guilty.”

Time for the truth. Time to tell him the one thing she
hadn’t wanted to ever admit to him. Ever. She dropped her hand away from his
arm and hugged herself. “I had a good reason to think you were guilty.”

“Oh?” How did he manage to sound mildly curious about
something so…so…awful?

“I saw you that night.” She swallowed. This wasn’t going to
be easy. “Do you remember what happened the last time we saw each other before
the trial?”

He was silent for a moment and then said, “I remember we
kissed for the first time.”

She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t watch his face when she
told him what she’d seen. “I…begged my father for a courtship contract. He
refused. I showed up at your house to force his hand.” And she could have. Once
in Tory’s bed, she could have negotiated the contract and her father would have
withdrawn any objections. It was a radical choice, but she’d been willing to
make it. And then, she’d seen him with another woman. “I saw you with Samara,”
she blurted.

Tory’s hand wrapped around her arm and turned her to face
him. “Alex, I don’t remember a fucking thing from that night. What was I
doing?”

He didn’t remember? She blinked. “You seemed…drunk,
stumbling. She was holding you up, laughing.” Alex bit her lip. “All I could
think was we’d gotten drunk the night before and you’d kissed me. And here you
were with someone else.”

“How did that make me guilty of treason?” His gaze held
hers.

“Because you said you had no alibi. You didn’t say you
didn’t remember anything. You said you had no alibi. You didn’t tell them you
were with her, so I thought—” She glanced away and stared at her feet.