Her treacherous eyes wanted to close in pleasure, but another instinct kept them open, staring at the general. Skilled or not, what made every inch of her skin ache for more contact with him and her soul ache for something even greater, was how obviously he was enjoying her. Every moan that escaped her lips, every twist of her body under his hands and tongue, the way she writhed under him – the effect on him was immediate. It was his eyes that were closed, relying on touch instead; his body shivering against hers at every sound she made. Isolde whimpered to see it. A surge of power went through her. The general might have been able to overpower anyone he met, but Isolde held the power to make him shiver. She doubted any of his enemies had ever gotten that reaction. Not that lust and fear were the same, but to get Diego Grothan to expose his feelings so clearly, to make him grind himself against her body without the restraint he was usually known for…
Isolde had to face the fact that the general was hers. As he’d promised, as it was customary for Brions. The magnitude of it took her breath away.
Noticing her falling silent, Diego stopped and replaced his frantic touches with a much gentler kiss. Isolde clung to him, uncertain if it was to keep him close or to get the last kiss before telling him all of this was not for her.
He stood and watched her sit up while she was searching for the words she should have said a long while ago.
“Humans are an irrational species,” the general said without any judgement or anger.
Yes, Isolde thought. I’m afraid so. We don’t think of the survival of the species as the objective of relationships. We love.
“I know you feel it,” he went on, making Isolde’s head snap up in surprise. He looked completely calm and certain in his right as he had from the beginning. “Geshas do not have the recognition, but I can see you feel the bind. Yet you choose to fight it because you think it is not proper in your culture. I can understand that. I will wait. But I do not know why you would lie to yourself.”
Then he left, leaving Isolde alone to cope with his words and the truth in them.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Isolde
Isolde had never felt so adrift.
When she was younger, everyone else seemed to have a goal in mind or an object of interest they wanted to pursue. Isolde, in contrast, had been gifted at several things, yet lacked real passion for any of them. In the end, she went with what was popular in those days – alien culture research. The skies were opening up to Terra, and the fields dedicated to knowing their great galactic home better were doing amazingly.
It was a sure bet – grants and scholarships and a position on the staff of any even slightly space-related organization were pretty much assured, there were endless fields to major in, because it was impossible to grasp even a small part of the galactic whole. Isolde did well and there was even talk of her getting a job at the GU as a part of the human representatives. Yay for her.
Not once had there been a spark for it in her. Others dreamily gazed at space, or lost themselves in the miraculous and borderline unbelievable variety of other cultures the human race had encountered. The Brions, for example, were of great interest to them because they were humanoid like the Palians, the first allies of humans. Bigger, stronger, more developed – but close enough to feel a sort of kinship, if it weren’t for the quick and saddening discovery of the Brions’ nature.
normous research involving the scientists of all three species went into trying to find a single ancestor – the similarities were great enough to rule out any random coincidence. No wonder Isolde wasn’t very religious, the big churches had taken a heavy hit, though they still remained influential and now preached that God had simply created the other races as well.
In the end, nothing on Terra interested Isolde very much. She had long expressed her desire to go somewhere else, but the farthest she had dared to imagine was Luna Secunda. There, she had thought, it would be something new every day.
When the offer came to go to Rhea, Isolde had been very conflicted. A part of her rejoiced at the prospect of something new not only for her, but the whole galaxy, and another part of her wondered if she shouldn’t start with smaller steps – perhaps a position at the orbital station, then missions to other planets. Curiosity had won out.
Now Isolde sat on her bed and realistically entertained the notion that she was meant to take the mission to Rhea, meant to miss her transport, and therefore meant to meet her gerion. It was so unsettling she could hardly consider the implications.#p#分页标题#e#
She felt something, that was for sure, but so far it looked like desire to her. If the general was one to listen to reason – which he was not, preferring, like all Brion generals, to mainly listen to himself – Isolde would have explained to him that no woman could be expected to be cold to those otherworldly eyes of his. And the body, oh yes, that body, and the way his voice played chords in Isolde’s mind she didn’t know could be strung, and the way he could silence a room with his mere presence. All in all, she could hardly be blamed for how she felt.
To assume it was something more, though… That was different.
Isolde desperately longed for a companion to talk to. Any human would do, they would at least understand where she was coming from. The Brions hardly sufficed, and Isolde was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with how much information there apparently was about humans, ready to be accessed at any point. She didn’t exactly fancy getting served English breakfast for the morning, accompanied with “I have read humans eat that thing after they wake up”, although it would have been amusing.
Speaking of being adrift, where was she, anyway? All right, she was on the Triumphant, but where was the ship? Were they on their way to Rhea, or had Diego changed their direction? Had they even been going to Rhea? The only thing Isolde knew was that they were not in the Solar System any more. The rest of space looked like a bunch of stars to her, surprise-surprise.
She needed some answers. She hadn’t completely rid herself of the animosity the Brion woman had in no way deserved, but Deliya could at least give her some of the information she desperately wanted.
Like whether they fucked, her subconscious provided cheerfully. Like where the heck we are, Isolde shot back at herself.
Deliya joined her in her room, looking as alert as any of the times Isolde had seen her.
“Do you even sleep?” she blurted out before she could stop herself.
“I did, while you were still sleeping,” Deliya said, seemingly amused by her question. “Narath and his men guarded you then. The Commander ordered that while you are awake, I should be on guard.”
“Why?”
“He does not think it is appropriate for another man to be in the room with his gesha, should you require something.”
Oh, so he thinks that is inappropriate, but suggesting I bind myself for life to a guy I met yesterday is fine. He’s a true prince, isn’t he?
“Can I ask you where we are?” she said out loud instead. “I mean… Where are we going?”
“We are going to Briolina.”
Yup. Great. So my knight in shining armor has kidnapped me and is taking me back to his lair. Can’t say this isn’t a custom unknown to Terrans, but I’m not the damsel in distress type. I would get so bored locked up in a tower like a princess. And who would save me from there if it’s my prince that locked me up in the first place?
Some of it must have reflected on her face, because Deliya hastened to add, “The Commander has a plan, do not worry. He will let no one hurt you.”
“I’m not afraid that he’ll hurt me,” Isolde said. “I was afraid he was going to take me so far away from home and where I was supposed to go that I can’t even comprehend the distance. You just confirmed that.”
The look on Deliya’s face nearly made Isolde take her words back, but it was true, after all.
“He wants to protect you,” Deliya attempted to explain. “You would not be safe on Rhea, not while…”
“I believe you,” Isolde said seriously. “He does what’s right for him. It just doesn’t work out all that well for me, does it?”
“The Commander is a great man,” the Brion woman argued, “any woman would be glad to be his gesha.”
A woman like you? Jealousy and frustration rose to surface in Isolde, having found an easier target than the general, who somehow made her forget these arguments when she wanted to throw them in his face.
“I am not a Brion,” she snapped. “I don’t want to be his.”
Despite all evidence to the contrary.
“I didn’t ask to be dropped into this mess, or to be someone’s fated!” her voice rose. “I just wanted to go to Rhea and do my work. Now I’m on a way to your home, your home, because he thinks it’s his right to take me anywhere he goes! And you wonder why the GU is constantly on your case, when you just ignore what anyone else thinks and do what you want!”
It felt good to get it all out, but halfway through the tirade she felt it was not directed at the right person. Deliya hadn’t said a word, but the kind smile she had greeted Isolde with was gone. Isolde gritted her teeth and shut up.#p#分页标题#e#