The Choosing (The Pruxnae Book 1) (25 page)

And now he’d
have to meet them and explain why he’d taken their daughter off-world and
forced her to choose a husband. His free hand bunched into a fist. That was
going to be a difficult conversation, not that it mattered. If he had it to do
over again, he’d still pick Ziri, and he’d still love her.

Her parents were
waiting inside the landing-side door of a long, narrow building that served as
the port’s gateway into nearby towns. Ziri’s father was a tall man, leanly
built. His thin face was topped by a mop of unruly red-gold hair and his light eyes
regarded the approaching party coolly under thick, straight eyebrows.

Her mother was a
slightly older version of Ziri, the same height, the same oval face, the same
determined chin. The biggest difference between their appearances was the color
of her hair. Ziri’s mother’s was a black so deep, it was almost blue. Her hand
clutched her husband’s the same way Ziri’s held Ryn’s and her lower lip
trembled once, then firmed into a thin line.

Ziri drew Ryn to
a halt, and behind them, Tyelu and Enel’s footsteps stopped. Her hand slipped
out of Ryn’s, and she launched herself at her parents, one arm around each of
them, her voice a tense murmur as she greeted them.

Ziri’s father’s
eyes rested on Ryn, his stare unwavering, and Ryn’s heart sank. That
conversation might be a lot harder than he’d thought. He popped his helmet
open, removed it, and met the other man’s gaze evenly. He’d done nothing he was
ashamed of and he refused to bow under the threatening weight of an angry
father’s glare.

Ziri stepped
back and gestured toward Ryn, though she faced her parents. Her voice was a
little lighter, her shoulders more relaxed as she spoke with them in a long
string of words ending with “Ryn abid Alna.”

He gripped her
elbow and corrected her gently. “Ryn abid Alna enig Ziri.”

She whipped
around, facing him. “What?”

“My name is Ryn
abid Alna enig Ziri.”

“But that’s…”
Her eyes darted behind him and back again, and her voice dropped to a whisper.
“That means you’re my mate.”

“Because I am.”

“But we haven’t,
ah.” Color rushed into her cheeks. “Never mind. This is my mother, Nalan Urum,
and my father, Luden Moko. They’ve invited all of us to stay at their house
while we’re here.”

“It’s your
decision, Ziri.”

“I’d like to.
It’ll be easier to negotiate a trade deal and everything instead of having to
run back and forth between the
Yarinska
and home.”

Raw pain twisted
in his gut. She still didn’t think of Abyw as home. Maybe she never would, and
if she didn’t, what were the chances she’d ever consider him as the home for
her heart?

She introduced
Tyelu and Enel to her parents, and her hand found his again, gripping it
tightly. “They’re taking us into Arden Hollow. I want to check on Mag and see
the damage myself.”

“Mag?”

“My old boss.
I’ve been worried about her.” A small smile crept onto her mouth. “She’s cranky
and crotchety and the most honest soul I’ve ever met. You’ll love her, and
she’ll adore you.”

All he wanted
was for Ziri to adore him. He put his helmet on, adjusted the fit, and tucked
Ziri close to his side, ignoring the sharp downward twist of her father’s
eyebrows and the speculative gleam in her mother’s dark eyes.

* * *

Ziri’s parents
commandeered a port shuttle and driver. Ziri sat beside Ryn across from her
parents as the shuttle whirred along the road toward Arden Hollow, studying the
passing landscape. It seemed like an age had passed since Ryn had stolen her
away from her home, and she missed it. The sun burned brightly in the sky,
bathing the barren desert flashing by in a golden glow. Twilight would fall
soon, and after, a million bright stars would pop into the sky.

Her father’s
relentless gaze speared through her. “You’re mated to this man?”

“In the way of
his people, yes.” Or close enough, not that it mattered. She’d made promises of
her own to Ryn and she intended to keep them. “I’d like you to visit us on Abyw
as soon as you can. We have a little cabin there. Ryn built it himself from the
ground up.”

“Seems a bit rushed.”
Luden’s sharp gaze pierced into Ryn. “Especially since he kidnapped you.”

Ziri managed a
wobbly smile. “It’s their way. Other than that, he’s treated me very well. I
could’ve chosen to take another man as my life mate. That should tell you what
kind of person he is.”

Nalan leaned
forward and stretched her hand across the aisle toward Ziri. “A good man.”

“And a kind one.”
Ziri gripped her mother’s fingers. That touch had always meant comfort when
nothing else had consoled her. Now, Ziri drew a quiet strength from the simple
gesture. “He saved my life not long after we left here. Sweepers. We jumped
into a nest of them. They boarded the
Yarinska
, made a huge mess out of
everything, and he protected me.”

Nalan exchanged
a pointed look with her husband. “He may have done more than that, sweetling.
Almost no one survived the Sweeper raid in Arden Hollow. If he hadn’t taken you
when he did, well.”

Ziri’s heart
plummeted and her head spun. “Mag?”

Luden shook his
head and wrapped his hand around Nalan and Ziri’s entwined fingers. “I’m sorry,
Ziri. We think she was killed in the first salvo.”

“It was a
mercy,” Nalan said softly. “Some of the women were taken, and others were… We
found them later, dead in their homes. Nearly all had been—”

“No.” Ziri
hissed the word out. “I know what happened. Please don’t say it.”

Luden’s grip
tightened. “Did they hurt you like that?”

She shook her
head and swallowed down the bile burning her throat raw. “Ryn found me before
anything could happen.”

“You speak of
him so reverently, so gently,” Nalan said. “Do you love him that much?”

“I made a
promise to him.”

“That’s not an
answer, sweetling.”

Ziri glanced at
Ryn. He’d put his helmet back on, hiding his expression, but his head was
turned toward her. Did he have a translator tucked away in the circuitry of his
armor? Could he understand her and her parents’ conversation? “I know, Mama. I
wish I could give you a better one.”

They settled
back into their seats. Ziri described the
Yarinska
’s cargo to her father
and promised to translate for him and Enel when the time came for negotiations.
Her mother was very interested in the proposal Tyrl Sigun had proffered
offering refuge and a new life on Abyw to the women displaced by the raids.

The shuttle
glided into Arden Hollow half a sun’s pace later, whirring quietly through the
empty streets. Though most of the buildings were intact, nearly all bore marks
of the Sweepers’ presence. Black weapon residue radiated across adobe-sided
buildings, forever marring the off-white surfaces. Doors were gone, windows
broken out, and interior furnishings littered the yards they passed.

The driver
halted the shuttle outside Book Ends. Ziri scrambled out and stared at her
former workplace. The upper story where Mag had lived was completely gone. The
walls’ jagged edges jutted into the late afternoon sky, a silent testament to
the woman they had failed to shield.

Sorrow welled up
and over, drowning out everything inside Ziri, and a tear streaked down her
cheek. She stumbled to the open door, barely aware of Ryn following close
behind her and the shushed footsteps of her parents along the stone-lined
streets.

The interior was
a mess. Books were scattered across the store, their spines broken, their pages
torn and dirt-smeared. Most of the shelves were overturned and many had been
broken. She ran a hand along one smooth panel, unable to mourn the loss of so
much precious wood on top of Mag’s death. What was an object, even one crafted
from a rare and valuable material, compared to the life of a woman as good Mag
had been?

Ziri picked her
way through the debris and knelt in what had been the children’s area. The
stuffed animals had been torn into bits, the brightly painted, child-sized
chairs were smashed and disjointed. Nothing had been left untouched, not a single,
blessed thing, and it hurt so much to know there was nothing she could’ve done
to stop it, that nothing she did would ever bring Mag back.

A swift tide of
rage surged through her, washing away the sorrow, and she stood slowly.
Sweepers had done this. They’d destroyed the only place she’d found acceptance
on Tersi. They’d taken the life of a woman who’d loved Ziri as she had her own
children and they’d snuffed out the lives of countless others. Nothing had
stood in their way then, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t in the future. Nobody
could erase the past, but they could do something to stop the Sweepers from
ever hurting anyone else again.

Gentle hands
cupped her shoulders and pulled her against hard armor. “Ziri,” Ryn murmured,
his soft voice muted by his helmet. “I’m sorry.”

She placed a trembling
hand over his and leaned into him. Ryn had saved her in so many ways the night
he’d kidnapped her. He’d given her a home on the
Yarinska
and on Abyw,
he’d saved her from the Sweepers twice, and someday, maybe he’d give her the
family she dreamed of having. They didn’t love each other, not the way her
parents did, but they were friends. That was a good start, wasn’t it?

She squared her
shoulders and pushed away from him, keeping his hand in hers. “We have a lot of
work to do here, Ryn.”

“I know, love.”

“Will you help
me?”

“Always.”

She nodded and
led him outside into the deserted streets of the place she’d once called home.
One day, maybe Arden Hollow would be filled with the laughter of children and
the scuff of residents coming and going. She wanted a hand in its
reconstruction. Profit or no, she wanted to watch the small village come to
life, even though it was no longer her home and never would be again.

It took days to
negotiate trade deals and distribute the wood they’d brought where it would do
the most good. Ziri spent most of that time huddled together with her father,
Enel, Tersi’s premier, and a handful of business owners, acting as a translator
and an intermediary. Ryn often accompanied her, Tyelu in tow, providing Ziri
and Enel with an unofficial security detail.

She worked
relentlessly, pushing herself to the limits of her strength, as if her efforts
would undo the damage caused by the Sweepers in her absence. At night, she fell
into bed so tired, she barely had the energy to undress herself. Ryn wrapped
himself around her, comforting her when her sorrow became too much for her
small shoulders to bear, soothing away her tears. During the day, he cared for
her, making sure she ate even when she tried to wave away the food he brought
for her, reminding her to stretch out her stiff muscles when she’d been sitting
too long.

And always,
Luden Moko looked on, his light gaze fixed in a disapproving glare on Ryn.

Word got out
quickly that they were willing to resettle displaced Tersii women on Abyw.
Inquiries trickled in, slowly over the first few days, then in a flood that
quickly overwhelmed their ability to sort through everybody. Nalan set up a
temporary office manned by volunteers and routed interested persons through it,
sorting through the applications searching for those with the greatest need and
little or no family left on Tersi to aid them.

Eventually, the
candidates were narrowed down to nearly two umlek of women, some with children,
and there, Ryn took over. With Tyelu’s help and the
Yarinska
’s primary
AI acting as a translator, he helped the women pack up their few unscathed
belongings and familiarized them with the ship, then made arrangements to buy
supplies at a trading center a single jump away from Tersi’s system.

Those weren’t
the only Tersii interested in Abyw. Soon, he was also fielding requests to
visit the men and women taken during the same raid when Ryn had stolen Ziri.
Tersi’s communications systems had been heavily damaged during the Sweeper
raid, and so he relayed messages through the
Yarinska
’s internal systems
into the Net on a near-daily basis.

Eight days after
their arrival, Ryn led a swaying Ziri into the room set aside for them in her
parents’ home. It was their last night on Tersi, for this visit, anyway. The
negotiations were settled, a trade deal had been hacked out, and the women and
children they’d agreed to ferry to Abyw for resettlement had already stowed
their belongings on the
Yarinska
. The next morning, they would jump to
the trade center and stock up for the journey home, and there, Ryn’s thoughts
faltered. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask Ziri if she was returning
to Abyw with him. The hope that she would was such a fragile thread coiled
around his heart, he was afraid to prod it too hard for fear of breaking it.

He undressed
Ziri, urged her into the shower with him, and scrubbed her from head to toe. As
soon as he was finished, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her
head on his chest.

Ryn rubbed his
chin across the top of her hair. “Don’t go to sleep yet, beauty.”

“I’m not,” she
murmured sleepily. “Just resting. You feel so good.”

“Mmm.” So did
she. He tightened his grip, melding her bare skin to his, savoring her softness.
“Let me dry you off and put you to bed.”

“Not yet. Seems
like it’s been forever since I held you.”

“You held me
last night,” he said gently.

“That was ages
ago.”

The thin edge in
her voice cut through him. She sounded so tired, so utterly worn out. He nudged
her away from him and turned off the water. “Bed now, beauty. You’ll feel
better after a solid sleep.”

“I’ll feel
better if you’ll make love to me.”

He sucked in a
breath and put his back to her, fumbling for a towel on the rack by the bathing
unit. Make love to her? He needed her so badly, he ached from the lack, but she
wasn’t ready. She didn’t love him, and he wanted her to before they finalized
their union. Was it too much to ask for the woman he joined his life with, the
woman he loved so desperately, to love him in return?

He draped a
large, sun-yellow towel around her slumped shoulders. “You need rest.”

Her mouth
wobbled and tears welled up in her beautiful eyes. “You don’t want me.”

“I never said
that.”

“You’ve barely
touched me since the Choosing.”

“Ziri.” He
sucked in a breath, blew it out. “You’ve had a lot to deal with.”

“Not so much I
can’t deal with you,” she said flatly. “Be honest, Ryn. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing, Ziri.”
Nothing he wanted to push her on, anyway. “Come to bed. Let me hold you.”

“For a man not
interested in sex, you spend a lot of time trying to get me into bed with you.”

He laughed and
pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “I’m very interested in sex. That’s why I
keep trying to get you into bed. Do you remember the first few days you spent
aboard the
Yarinska
, when you kept trying to sleep in your room, and I
kept carrying you into ours?”

She twirled a
fingertip over his chest in random circles. “I remember.”

“Do you remember
me holding you all night long, touching you, gentling you to me? I wanted you
then, so much. I wanted you to smile at me the way you did everybody else and I
wanted to wrap myself in your warmth and never let go.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Ziri.
Never doubt how much I want you again.” He crooked a finger under her chin and
tilted her face to his. “Promise me.”

Her lips twisted
into a frown. “I—”

“No more doubts,
Ziri. I care about you so much and I want you in my life, in my bed.” He
steeled his courage and took a chance, blurting his need out in a rush, there
for her to accept or reject. “In my heart. I’ve been dreaming about you since I
was a boy, planning for you, needing you. Do you really think I’d let you go
now that you’re here?”

“But at the
Choosing—”

“I gave you a
choice, and you chose me over every other man there.” He touched his forehead
to hers and breathed out a laugh. “Are you going to make me keep talking?”

Her laughter
mingled with his. “I think this is the most you’ve talked all week.”

“Why talk when
you can act?”

She groaned.
“That’s the attitude that got me kidnapped.”

“It’s the
attitude that won me a wife. Bed now, Ziri. You can coax my heart out into the
open again tomorrow, when you’re rested enough to take advantage of it.”

“Oh, Ryn.” She
tilted her face to his and kissed him, soft and slow. “I promise I’ll get my
doubts under control.”

It wasn’t her
doubts that hurt him. It was knowing she could still walk away when he never
could.

They crawled
into bed together, and he held her while she slept, though it was a long time
before he drifted to sleep himself.

* * *

The
Yarinska
’s
metal hull gleamed dully under the harsh light of Tersi’s sun. Ryn kept a
weather eye on the people milling around the open cargo hatch as he oversaw
refueling of the secondary engines. Ziri’s parents had ridden with Ryn and Ziri
out to the ship and were helping the women and children on their way to Abyw
settle into their temporary quarters. Ziri had plotted the shortest course to
minimize their passengers’ discomfort, but it would still be an uncomfortable
few days.

Luden broke away
from the group of women surrounding his wife and strode toward Ryn.

Ryn bit back a
sigh. He’d been expecting Ziri’s father to approach him. Looked like the time
had come.

Luden halted in
front of Ryn and held out a tiny cone. Ryn grimaced and screwed it into his ear.
Kraden translators. He’d have a headache after using it, but that couldn’t be
helped.

Luden spoke and
the translator filtered the words into Ryn’s ear in Pruxnæ. “I’ve forbidden her
from leaving with you.”

Ryn grunted.
Like that would stop Ziri if she wanted to leave. “It’s her choice.”

Luden’s eyes
flicked down as his translator processed Ryn’s words, then up again. “It wasn’t
her choice to go with you the first time.”

“She had
opportunities to leave. She chose to stay.”

“Because you
bewitched her.”

Ryn laughed.
“I’m not a sorcerer.”

Luden’s thick
eyebrows shot down. “You promised what she’s always wanted, a life mate,
children, a place she belongs. How could she resist that?”

“How could I?”
Ryn shot back. “Everything she wants, I want, too. She’s my home, my heart. As
long as she wants me, I’ll never let her go.”

“You love her.”

“I do.”

“Does she know
that?”

Ryn scrubbed a
palm over his mouth. “No.”

Luden’s light
eyes flicked away and back, and his shoulders relaxed. “It’s her choice?”

“Completely.”

“And if she
wants to stay on Tersi?”

“I can’t stop
her.”

“Can’t or
won’t?”

“Nobody makes
Ziri do anything she doesn’t want to do,” Ryn said drily. “If I stand in her
way, she knows how to go around me.”

Luden smiled, a
quick flash of humor in an otherwise stern expression. “She used to be more
subtle about getting her way.”

“How so?”

“When I forbade
her from leaving with you, she told me if I didn’t stop interfering, she’d dump
frinworms into my morning tea.” Luden crossed his arms over his lean chest and
twisted his mouth into a frown. “I have no idea what a frinworm is, but I’m
guessing it’s not something I want in my tea.”

Ryn grinned.
“Nasty, smelly maggots. Not good eating.”

“I suspected as
much.” Luden sighed. “She’s determined to go with you.”

“I’m determined
to keep her.”

“If you hurt
her—”

“She knows how
to take care of me. Ask her about the Choosing and you’ll see.”

“She told me,”
Luden murmured. “I expect you to bring her back for regular visits.”

“As often as we
can. The
Yarinska
is half hers. She’s learning how to pilot it and she
wants to see her home world set to rights.”

“Good then.”
Luden’s arms dropped to his sides. “You saved her when you took her.”

“No, Luden. She
saved me.”

“Treat her
well.”

“Always.”

Ryn slipped the
translator out of his ear and handed it back to Luden. The other man pivoted on
his heel and returned to his wife’s side, speaking softly to her. A narrow hand
slid into Ryn’s, and he twisted around. Ziri leaned her head against his arm,
her gaze on her parents.

“I told him to
leave you alone,” she said.

“He’s a worried
father. I expected him to say something.”

“Mmm.” She
rubbed her cheek across the sleeve of his coverall and her hand tightened in
his. “Do you really love me?”

He sucked in a
sharp breath. “You overheard us?”

“Nearly every
word.”

“Why didn’t you
say something?”

“I’m saying it
now.” She lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I’m going to start the
pre-liftoff countdown, but I’ll need your help to finish it.”

“I’ll be there
soon.”

She nodded and
let his hand go, and walked toward the open cargo hatch.

“Ziri?”

She stopped and
half-turned toward him. “Yes?”

“I really do.”

A smile bloomed
on her lovely face, warming him from skin to heart. “I’ll see you on the
bridge.”

She walked away,
her long, even strides gliding across the port’s tarmac. Her red-gold braid
swung back and forth across her back, a near match to the colors of the desert
world she’d been born to.

Ryn returned to
his work, replaying her smile in his mind, holding the promise of her heat
close to his heart.