Lee Shores Read online

  She nodded slowly. “I am sorry that he did not trust me to confide in me. I must have been a poor sister to him, I think.”

  “No, F’riya,” I said quickly. “You’ve not. He cares deeply for you.”

  She smiled wanly. “You are kind, Kay. But if he could not trust me with this news, I must have given him cause to mistrust me.”

  “He wanted to share the news face-to-face,” I said, remembering his words on the point. “So the gods would share in his joy.”

  She studied me a moment longer. “F’er doesn’t believe that anymore than I do,” she said.

  “You don’t?” I blinked.

  She tilted her head to one side, scrutinizing me with unabashed curiosity. “What’s going on here, Kay?”

  I felt my cheeks flaming. “Nothing.”

  “You’re a very poor liar, Katherine.” She added pointedly, “Which I knew before I met you. F’er told me.”

  “He did?”

  “He told me many things about you.” She fixed me with a piercing gaze. “You were all he talked about after you joined the crew.” She crossed her arms, and I felt my face flushing deeper. “And do you know what else I find curious? In all the time he’s been on her ship, he’d barely mention Magdalene. And it was always ‘the Captain.’ Not how he’d talk about you.”

  I felt it best to interject now, rather than be privy to anymore of Frank’s unshared confidences. “F’riya, stop,” I said. “It’s true: in the beginning of our acquaintance, Frank may have felt something for me.”

  She smiled triumphantly. “I knew it.”

  “But I’m with someone else now.”

  Her smile turned to a frown. “You left him for someone else?”

  “No. No, it was nothing like that. I liked Frank – I like him. We’re friends. But I love someone else. We were never a couple.”

  “Oh.” She digested the information quietly for a minute. “But I still don’t understand how Magdalene fits in. I know my brother, Kay. The way he looks at her? He doesn’t love her.”

  I sighed, saying gently, “The questions you’re asking – they’re questions for him, F’riya. I can’t answer them.”

  She thought for a moment longer, then nodded briskly. “You’re right, Kay. And I’m sorry I pried.”

  “It’s fine. I’m sorry – well, I’m sorry this is all so confusing.”

  She smiled mischievously. “Don’t worry. I’ll get the truth out of him.”

  I laughed. I didn’t doubt her. Not for a second.

  She reached out a hand to my arm. “Now come: there is someone I would like you to meet.”

  I nodded. “Alright.”

  “He’s a friend of mine, Ger ark britya.”

  “Ah. He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

  It was her turn to flush. “We are good friends, Kay.”

  “Ah,” I repeated, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. “I see.”

  She ignored my tones and smirk, and led me to a handsome young man. He was conversing in quiet tones with a pair of older Kudarians, but he glanced up at our arrival. His eyes danced as they met F’riya’s, and my smile lost something of its discreetness. Friends my ass. We weren’t the only liars in the Inkaya household, it seemed.

  I surveyed the trio. He was tall and muscular, with a barrel chest and a thick neck that would have been remarkable on a human. Among so many other Kudarians, he seemed rather average in build and height. His features were chiseled and – to my human eyes, anyway – handsome. If F’riya’s smitten expression was anything to go by, they appealed to the Kudarian aesthetic as well.

  The two elders with him bore a strong resemblance to Ger. He had the man’s brow and hairline, the woman’s strong chin and determined eyes. They were, I realized, his mother and father.

  They were all dressed in formal wear, but here I saw something that I had not seen much of in the Inkaya household: humbleness. Though fresh and clean and new, the lady’s gown and the men’s keltars were less adorned and cut from a poorer cloth. Their jewelry, too, was simple. The men wore no adornments, and the woman had only a locket around her neck.

  I glanced around us, at the silver and gold that pierced ears and forehead ridges, at the gems woven into crowns of hair. I saw bejeweled fingers and rich embroidery, belts heavy with precious metals and gowns laden with sparkling gems.

  But not on these people. They stood without finery, and seemed almost as out of place among so much of it as I was among so many Kudarians.

  “Ger,” F’riya smiled. Then, bowing to the elders, she added, “Gri and Mia: this is my friend Katherine Ellis, from F’er’s spaceship.” Then, pointing out the young man, his mother and finally his father, she said, “Kay, these are my very good friends Ger ark britya, Mia arn britya, and Gri ark britya.”

  I bowed, and they returned the salutation. “I am honored to meet you,” I said.

  “The pleasure is ours,” Ger offered. “F’riya told us her brother had invited human shipmates. We’ve been very excited to meet you.”

  “I’ve never met a human before,” Gri put in.

  “I have,” Mia added. “Many years ago.”

  “Well,” I said airily, “I hope it was a pleasant meeting.”

  She nodded. “It was. She was giving a lecture at the university, on the study of botany on Earth. But…” She grinned abashedly. “I was too frightened to speak to her.”

  I tried to imagine this woman who towered over me and had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth being intimidated by one of my own kind. Tried, and failed. “Frank was one of the first Kudarians I met,” I confided.

  “Frank?” Ger wondered.

  “It is a name the humans have given him.”

  “Ah.”

  “So you are a member of the Black Flag crew?” Gri asked. “Like F’er?”

  “Yes. I’m the chief engineer.”

  He nodded. “That must be a lot of responsibility.”

  I laughed. “Yes, it is. Fortunately, I have good staff. We keep the boss running well.”

  “The boss?”

  “The ship. It’s our nickname for her.”

  “Ah. Humans, then, are fond of creating additional names?” Ger asked.

  “Well…yeah, actually. I guess we are.”

  “But, F’riya, we have not yet congratulated you on your brother’s betrothal,” Mia said.

  “Oh, yes,” Gri added. “Forgive me, my dear: our best wishes for a long and happy union for them.”

  “Yeah,” Ger added, his eyes twinkling. “I’ll bet that was a surprise to your parents, eh? A human?”

  She smiled. “Thank you, Mia and Gri.” Then, she grinned shyly at the young man. “I’ll tell you the story later.”

  “You’d better. I’m not leaving until I hear it.”

  She blushed as I tried to hide a smile. “Well,” I said, “I should let you catch up.”

  “Us too,” Mia said tactfully. “Don’t worry about Miss Katherine. If she can tolerate us, at least, I’d love to hear more about her home planet.”

  “I’d be delighted,” I said.

  “Good. Let’s find a place to sit,” Gri nodded.

  “I should introduce you to Magdalene,” F’riya protested.

  “That will wait.” Mia spread her hands in Frank and Maggie’s direction, and the swarm of people surrounding them. “They’re clearly occupied, my dear.”

  I went with my newfound friends in search of an unoccupied sofa, leaving Ger and F’riya standing together, blushing and laughing in low tones behind us.

  Well, Frank’s wedding may be a fake one. But something tells me House Inkaya will be hearing real wedding bells sooner rather than later.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Brityas were pleasant people, curious about humans in a way that made me feel less an exhibit than the others did. I wondered vaguely if this was how Frank felt at times aboard the Black Flag.

  Mia had a seemingly endless supply of questions for me. She was, I gathered, something
of a botanist. Alas, my own knowledge on the topic was limited enough that I imagined I was something of a disappointment to her. Still, when it became apparent I could provide little beyond generalized knowledge, we moved on to other areas of discourse.

  I spent some time explaining life onboard a ship, thrilling my audience with a sanitized version of a few of our more hair-raising adventures. “How exciting,” Mia declared breathlessly. And, “Oh my, I’m so glad Ger has stayed on Kudar. I’m not sure I’d be able to sleep at night for sheer worry.”

  Gri grinned. “I suspect F’er keeps much of these tales to himself, my love.”

  I smiled in turn. “There may be a few details he doesn’t relay to his mother,” I agreed.

  They chuckled. “Then you may count on our discretion, Katherine.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I hadn’t considered the possibility that my gabbing might cause problems in this way, but now that it entered my mind, I was grateful to these two for their promise of discretion. “I appreciate it.”

  “But tell me of Magdalene,” Mia said. “She is the captain of your ship, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “And they say she is of a warrior clan?”

  “Well, uh, human families are a little different than Kudarian ones,” I explained. “There are not Houses, as there are here. But she is descended from many fighters, yes.”

  Mia nodded. “A solid match, then.”

  “And better a fighter than a woman of peace,” Gri added. “Times are changing in Kriar, but there are many who will not welcome her. She will need a warrior’s heart to lead her House.”

  I smiled. “Well, Maggie certainly has a warrior’s heart.”

  Mia smiled too. “You are a close friend of hers?”

  I flushed, realizing I’d let too much affection seep into my tone. My Maggie was pretending to be Frank’s, after all. Oh what a tangled web… “Oh, yes. She, uh, saved my life. More than once.”

  “Ah, good. Even better: courageous and battle-tested.”

  “Well,” I laughed nervously, “hopefully the battle-tested part won’t be necessary.”

  Gri shrugged. “Indeed. But one can never be too careful.”

  “I am pleased for young F’er, though,” Mia said. “He is a good man. I hope they will be very happy together.”

  A pang of guilt shot through me. I felt like a rat, lying to these people.

  “I am pleased that his parents took it so well,” Gri added.

  “They are very traditional, you understand.” Mia added, a touch more hurriedly than necessary, “Which, of course, is to be admired.”

  “Hm,” I agreed, with about as much sincerity as she had conveyed. “Of course.”

  “But I’m glad it worked out for him.”

  “Yes,” I nodded, trying to ignore the guilt that still pooled in the pit of my stomach. A thought crossed my mind, and I smiled at it. “So, how long have Ger and F’riya known each other?”

  Mia glanced up sharply at the question. “Oh, they’ve been friends since childhood.”

  “We live just down the road,” Gri added. “They’d play together as children. All the Inkaya children and Ger. And they went to the same school.”

  I glanced over at the couple, who had slipped into an alcove out of sight of most of the room. He held her hands in his own, and she was whispering into his ear. “They seem to be very good friends,” I needled. I wasn’t sure if it was the wine I’d been sipping all night, or their oddly secretive treatment of the topic. Hell, it might have been changing the focus of conversation from my own lying for a few moments. But whatever it was, I decided to pursue this line of questioning.

  “Oh,” Mia said, pretending not to have followed the direction of my gaze. “Well, yes. I suppose so.”

  “The Brityas and the Inkayas have been neighbors for a long time,” Gri offered stoically. “Our friendship goes back many generations.”

  I smiled into my goblet, taking another sip. “Perhaps,” I mused, “soon there will be future generations who are more than friends.”

  The color drained from their faces at the same moment. “What did you say?” Mia asked, her tone low and tense.

  I blinked. Apparently, if their grave expressions were anything to go by, I’d committed some manner of faux pas. Was speculating about weddings bad luck here? “Forgive me, Mia,” I said. “I did not mean to offend.”

  “How did you know?” Gri demanded.

  “Know?” I repeated. “Know what?”

  “About the baby,” he hissed. “Don’t play, Miss Ellis: this is serious. Who have you told?”

  “The baby.” I said the words slowly, at a loss for their meaning. Then, light began to dawn on marble. Good gods. “You mean, F’riya and Ger’s baby?”

  “Shh!” Mia shushed me. “For the love of the gods, keep your tone down.”

  “Who have you told?” Gri repeated.

  “No one,” I said. He scrutinized me with skeptical eyes. “No one, I swear. I didn’t know until – well, not very long ago.” I didn’t want to tell them that they’d been the ones to reveal their son and F’riya’s secret.

  “Did F’riya tell you?” Mia wondered.

  “No,” I said.

  “Then who did?”

  “I…I figured it out on my own,” I lied. These people were distraught enough without the knowledge that they’d been their own snitches.

  “No one else knows?”

  I shook my head. “No. Not as far as I know, anyway.”

  “Oh thank the gods,” Mia breathed. Then, she surveyed me with careful eyes. “You mustn’t say anything, Katherine. I beg you.”

  “I won’t,” I said. “Of course I won’t.” I shook my head. “But why the secrecy? Frank says his parents keep talking about grandchildren. Surely they’d welcome this news?”

  They exchanged glances, and he shrugged. She turned back to me, her tone low and confidential. “Last year, Ger applied to F’riya’s father, for her hand. He was turned down.”

  I blinked again. “Wait…what?”

  She nodded. “Our family is…well, not of the same standing as hers. You understand?”

  I nodded, aware again of the difference in dress between this couple and those around us. “I thought you were friends, though?”

  Mia smiled grimly. “Friends are not always welcome as family.”

  “So,” Gri continued, “they were joined in secret.”

  “Without their family’s knowledge? Not even Frank’s?” That surprised me more than anything.

  But Mia nodded. “F’riya wanted to tell him face-to-face. I think…I think she was afraid he would not understand.”

  “Oh hell.” There were secrets upon secrets in this family, and I, somehow, seemed to keep getting dragged into them. “Has she told him yet?”

  “I don’t think so. She plans to. Now that there’s a baby on the way, she’ll have to tell them all.”

  “But with this business of F’er marrying a human, I don’t know how they’ll take it,” Gri added. “It may help – or it may make them less understanding.

  “Oh hell,” I said again. We hadn’t even been on Kudar one day, and we were already one fake wedding, one secret marriage, and a surprise pregnancy in. So much for a relaxing vacation.

  I sidled up beside the happy couple. They were all smiles, greeting a line full of curious visitors. R’ia and Dre stood beside them, joining the effort with an enthusiasm that surprised me. Maggie and Frank were good actors, throwing their all into the moment.

  But his parents? Had I not seen their disappointment with my own eyes, had I not heard their frustration with my own ears, I wouldn’t have believed it possible. They were all grins and smiles, happy words and warm tones, as if they couldn’t be happier with Frank’s choice, as if they couldn’t be prouder to welcome Mags into their household.

  “Hey, Maggie,” I said, “can I steal Frank real quick?”

  They turned concerned eyes to me, and the Inkaya matron and patron frown
ed in my direction.

  “It’s Sydney,” I said quickly, preempting the question in their eyes. “He has another question.”

  “Oh,” Maggie nodded. “Of course. Everything okay?” I could hear the note of concern in her tone, despite her easy manner. This had been the same lie we’d used earlier, so, of course, she recognized it as a ruse to speak to Frank privately.

  I didn’t want her worrying that the gig was up, so I caught her eye and nodded. “It’s all good. You know Syd: always has questions.”

  She smiled and nodded, the tension in her forehead relaxing. “Well, you’d better go, Frank.”

  “Of course. I’ll be right back, sweetest.” He pecked her on the cheek and followed me.

  I heard Dre commenting dryly, “That’s a very needy robot, isn’t it?”

  How Maggie dealt with that, I didn’t hear. I was busy following Frank to a side office. “We can take Syd’s call in here,” he declared, shutting the door after us. Then, as soon as it was closed, he dropped the pretense. “What’s going on, Kay?”

  I breathed out, happy to step out of my own role for a minute. “It’s F’riya,” I said. “You have got to talk to her, Frank.”

  He groaned. “I told you I would.”

  “Not before we leave,” I said. “You’ve got to talk to her now.”

  “I don’t want to rock the boat, Kay. Everything’s going so well. What if she doesn’t keep the secret? What if she lets it slip somehow?”

  “Dammit, Frank,” I said, “I need you to trust me on this. You need to tell her. She already knows you don’t love Magdalene. And she needs to be able to trust you. She needs to know she can.”

  He frowned at me. “What are you talking about, Katherine? Of course she knows she can trust me.”

  “Does she?” I said. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t she?”

  “Why don’t you trust her?” I asked pointedly.

  He blinked. “It’s not…it’s different.”

  “How?”

  “Well, this is a big deal.”

  I took hold of Frank’s shoulder, and stared him square in the eyes. “Frank, for the love of God, please trust me on this.”