It seemed any chance for Liane's happiness was slowly slipping away, as both of them were dragged deeper and deeper into the complexities of life and law. There were so few choices left to either of them.
Bitterness, acrid and burning, filled his heart at the realization of his betrayal. He'd given her his word and now must break it. And break it he would, for she at least deserved to choose her own mate.
Karic's jaw hardened. His eyes smoldered with a fierce, inner intensity as he glared back at his father. "I told you once and I'll tell you again. I will not force myself on her. She is free to take her own mate at the Festival. I withdraw my petition for a life mating."
Not awaiting a dismissal, Karic turned and stalked from the room.
>
He stood there in the bedchamber before Liane even heard him, his face in shadows. She couldn't see his expression, but his eyes, like dying embers, were bleak and anguished.
She quashed the tide of despair that swept over her. The answer was there, smoldering in his gaze, before she even asked it.
"They refused you, didn't they?"
"No. I withdrew my petition."
Shock tore through her. "Whwhat did you say?"
"I withdrew my petition for a life mating."
"But why? Why would you do that, after you promised to protect me?"
"I can't protect you anymore, Liane. The Council was determined that you mate with some male in this lair. I had to decide between my vow to spare your becoming a breeder or forcing myself upon you."
"How very hard that must have been," she softly mocked him. "And which one did you so kindly choose for me?"
He shot her a raw look. "You made your feelings about mating with me quite evident. I thought, therefore, to at least give you a choice as to your future mate. Our Mating Festival will occur in less than a monate. Those who do not choose to life mate take a temporary mate for three cycles. It can be a trial life mating, if you will, or one that ends with the femina free to choose another."
Karic gave a bitter laugh. "In a society so short of breeding females, it's one advantage the feminas have over the males. We are chosen, not they."
"A small consolation, indeed," Liane muttered, "when one doesn't want to mate." "It's all I have left to give you."
"
Give
me?" The words were whispered, but the tone was scathing. "When have you ever given me anything, you cursed, black-hearted liar? All you've done is take from me, torn my life apart until I've absolutely nothing left! I hate you! Oh, how I wish I'd killed you instead of the Atroxes!"
Karic turned and walked over to the weapons hung on the wall above his clothes chest. Taking down a dagger he strode back and offered it, handle first, to Liane. She looked from it to him, confused.
"What is this?" Liane asked suspiciously.
"It seems I can keep so few of my promises to you, but this one I will. You still have the right to kill me. I'll not stop you. Have your revenge."
She eyed it warily. "Don't give it to me, Karic. I swear if I get it in my hands"
"Take it, Liane!" he ordered in a hoarse, violent whisper. "You'll be doing me a kindness, putting an end to my pain."
"Pain?" she demanded incredulously. "Tell me, Karic, what kind of pain could you possibly be feeling?"
"The pain of wanting you," he gasped, "and of never being able to have you."
"But you
have
had me. Don't you remember?"
With a wild look he shoved the dagger into her hand, curling her stiff fingers around the handle. Then he pulled the knife forward, until the blade's point was pressed against his abdomen.
"Do it, Liane. Now!"
The secundae ticked by in the tension-fraught room, Liane battling with the emotions roiling within her, Karic with eyes clamped shut, awaiting the death thrust. Her gaze swept over his face, noting the anguished features, so striking, so beautifully handsome even now.
With a heartrending cry Liane flung the dagger across the room, the blade clattering against the far wall. "For whatever remorse you may be feeling I'll not spare you even a secundae's pain!" she hoarsely lashed out, desperately grasping for any words that would hurt him, would ease some of her own torment. "Remember that, Karic, when I lie naked beneath another male, his hard, sweating body thrusting into mine! Remember then, and every sol of your life, that I hate youand that I'll never,
ever
be yours!"
Karic couldn't take anymore. He strode from the bedchamber, nearly slamming into his father who stood in the darkened tunnel just outside.
The torment, the accusation burning in his son's eyes was almost more than Morigan could bear. The ragged rasp of Karic's breathing filled the otherwise silent tunnel. Morigan's grip tightened on his son's arms.
"Karic," he began. "I am sorry"
"Don't say anything," Karic growled. "I trusted you, and you betrayed me to them. If it had only been me I might have forgiven you, but I'll never forgive what it's done to Liane."
He pulled free and stalked away, out of their lair and across the valley to a far hiding place to lick his wounds like some injured animalwounds that had been clawed into his heart with each word that had fallen from Liane's lips, wounds that might never, ever heal.
A soft wail from the bedchamber drifted to Morigan's ears. He tensed, as the sound became one of sobbing. With a deep sigh, he turned and walked back to the living area to await Liane.
It was several horas before she left the bedchamber, her eyes still red and swollen from her weeping. She gave a start when she saw Karic's father sitting at the table, pouring himself a cup of red liquid from a flask. Liane took a steadying breath and walked over to him.
He raised the flask as she neared the table. ''Would you consider sharing some uva wine? You took like you could use a cup or two."
She nodded and slid into a chair.
Morigan poured a drink and passed it over to her. He watched Liane sip the liquid. Finally, he laid a gentle hand on her arm.
Liane glanced up at him.
"It's my fault, you know." Remorse darkened his green-gold eyes.
A frown marred the smooth expanse of her brow. "Your fault? I don't understand, my lord."
"I knew of Karic's promise not to mate with you against your will. I used it against him."
"And why do you tell me this?" she warily asked.
"Because I interfered where I shouldn't have, and now you two have been driven even further apart."
She gave a brittle laugh. "It doesn't matter. It would have happened anyway. He's lied to me from the start."
Morigan's grip tightened on her arm. "No, he hasn't, Liane. I know my son. The promises he made may have been unrealistic, but they were made in good faith. Our laws of procreation are powerful, as well they should be. They allow little individual choice."
"They are cruel and evil."
He sighed ruefully at the agonized vehemence in her voice. "No more evil than your planet's attempts to wipe us out. Though at times hard and arbitrary, we try to temper them as best we can with human insight and understanding. Hence, the involvement of the Council in determining the life matings."
"Yes, I see how understanding your Council is," she mockingly replied. "But then, perhaps it was all Karic's idea. Perhaps it was his way of escaping a life mating he had no stomach for."
Morigan shook his head. "No. Despite the unreasonable terms you placed upon him, he was determined to see it through. It was I who wouldn't allow it."
Anger burned in Liane's eyes. "And why should it have concerned you? It was between Karic and me!"
"No, Liane, your refusal to mate with my son concerns us all. Your breeding abilities are priceless. We cannot afford to squander even one femina. According to their capabilities, all must give us children. They are the future, our only hope of survival."
"And where does that leave me?" she cried, jerking her arm from his clasp. "You speak of me as if I'm some walking womb. You are no better than my people. In your own way, you have cold-bloodedly subjugated an entire sex, bending them to your will, depreciating them until they're little more than a reproductive organ." "Perhaps," Morigan sighed, "but at least we allow love to temper it all. Most life mates here have strong affections, if not love, for each other. I think that is why Karic gave you the chance to choose your own mate. You know he cares for you and wanted to keep you for himself."
"He wants my body and nothing more," Liane cried, terrified of her own fragile emotions, much less what Karic might be feeling.
"Do you really think that's all he wants, Liane?" Morigan gently prodded. "That is far from the truth, a truth that you, in your anger against Karic and our laws, are too blind to see."
He thoughtfully stroked his chin. "As the lair's newest femina, you will have first choice of all the males at the Festival. Karic will be one of them."
For an instant Liane nearly leapt at the small ray of hope Morigan seemed to offer, but it was no solution for her. Karic didn't have to force these circumstances upon them. He could have taken her away with him to a place where they both would have been safe and happy. But he had made his choice, no matter how difficult it might have been, and his choice had been for his people.
She leaned forward, forcing a look of amused disbelief onto her face. "And are you suggesting that I solve all our problems by choosing Karic? How would that help? I'd still refuse to mate with him."
"There are ways to ensure your compliance, if not active participation, until you learn to accept things. Fortunately, we rarely have to use them."
Horror widened Liane's eyes. "You would force me?"
"There are drugs, ones that act quite gently and leave no lasting effects." "Karic would never allow it," she whispered, desperation causing her to pluck at any possibility. "He gave me his word."
"That commitment ended when he agreed to permit you to choose your own mate. He is not above the law."
Liane's head lowered, her tousled mane of ebony hair falling forward to hide her face. "I have nothing then."
Morigan rose from the table. "You have the choice of a mate. There are many fine young males here, both full and half-blooded. I suggest you start giving them consideration."
Deep blue eyes rose to carefully study him. "And how do you propose I go about that?"
An uneasy relief swept through Morigan. Had she finally accepted her fate, or was this some ploy to buy her further time? It didn't matter. Time was quickly ebbing away for the Bellatorian beauty.
"There are twenty sols left until the Festival. I'll send four or five males to you every sol until then. Spend time with each and get to know them. Perhaps it'll ease your eventual decision."
A distant look gleamed in Liane's eyes. Karic had said the Bellatorian feminas captured in the past had never tried to escape, that they'd always found happiness in their new life. Considering that, surely the guards at the lair's outposts would never be looking for a lone femina sneaking away. She'd show Karic. She'd show them all. She'd escape.
"Yes, my lord, perhaps it will." Liane paused. "One thing more. Until the Festival, is there somewhere else I may live? I cannot bear being around Karic just now."
He thought for a moment. "There's an old healer who lives at the far end of the valley. She's very independent and opinionated, but she might be willing to take you in. Would that be suitable?"
Yes, most suitable, Liane grimly thought. She'd be away from everyone's close scrutiny which would only ease her plans for escape. Liane nodded. "Yes. Will you ask Karic to stay away?"
Morigan gave a sad nod. "Yes, femina. He'll stay away."
"Good. How soon can I move in with her?"
"We can go there now. Gather your things."
Liane sprang up from the table and ran from the room.
Morigan was glad Karic hadn't been there to witness the eagerness of her response. Her actions puzzled him. Were Liane's emotions really as shallow as they appeared, or was there something else motivating her?
Well, whatever it was, she was sure to reveal it in time. In her own way Liane was as strong-willed and headstrong as his son. Small wonder their relationship was as tempestuous as it was.
For the next eight sols Liane busied herself with the appearance of settling into the small cave of Agna and receiving the seemingly endless stream of ardent suitors who presented themselves. Most were very healthy, virile young specimens, and many of them, even some of the full-bloods, Liane found attractive. But she caught herself comparing each one to Karic, and each paled in comparison. For all the hurt he'd caused her, she begrudgingly admitted, he was still a man among men.
Blessedly, she was spared the discomfort of seeing him. The old healer's cave was set far away from the main part of the lair, and Karic never ventured out to visit her. Liane didn't know whether to be thankful she was spared the pain of his presence or hurt that he'd so easily cast her off.