Then the holoimage of Eleya visibly relaxed, her eyes becoming kinder up to the point Isolde could no longer imagine finding her scary. “Alright,” the senator said. “Then I am with you, Grothan.”
As they set to laying down the details of their plan, Isolde knew the reason she’d been able to convince Eleya was that she hadn’t, ultimately, lied. She did trust Diego, at least in that, but whatever she had said to keep their deception alive, she did not forgive. Not him, nor any of them. They were simply the lesser of two evils.
All throughout the meeting, Diego’s hands brushed against the curls of her hair or against her bare skin, half the time Isolde didn’t even realize she had lifted her own to respond to the touch or leaned against him. At regular intervals, increasing as the day went on, she looked to him to always find him watching, his eyes kind and loving. All lies.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Diego
Isolde did well.
Diego felt he should have been happier. It had taken days of convincing and all his diplomacy to get Eleya to even consider hearing him out. Given that he usually handled problems with the sharp edge of his spear and Eleya was more stubborn than all the Brion generals put together, that was a victory in itself, one he would receive no laurels for.#p#分页标题#e#
Not even bringing up Senator Eren’s hated name had immediately brought her on board. Generally, mentioning him seemed to set a lot of wheels in motion one way or another. Many supported him, but there were equally many who would gladly oppose him. Diego thought back to their last conversation about Isolde’s fate – he now held a personal vendetta against the senator.
But the day finally arrived when Eleya was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and he got to explain what he’d already told Faren, and the senator’s face had been serious. All manner of bravado and boasting were gone when there was talk of the future of the Brions.
Eleya had agreed to give Isolde the same benefit of the doubt. She’d demanded the human come to the meeting, so she could see and judge her for herself. Diego had seldom felt such dread before a meeting. Without Eleya, they would have gone to Briolina practically blind and mute, with the senators lining up all their defenses. It was essential that Isolde play along.
She had done well. Diego doubted the binding lie passed Eleya’s perception, but she would hardly care. It was more important that Isolde had managed to convince her she would do her part. That, at least, made her safe with their allies.
Yes. Isolde had done… well, and he, escorting his gesha back to her rooms, was pulling off the act. It was like walking on coals, which he’d actually done.
Her scent was an aphrodisiac in a way that nearly overcame his self-control. Every look she sent him, coyly watching him from under those long eyelashes… there was no mistaking the lust, nor the need. The way her long silky hair felt under his fingers was driving him insane with desire to bury his hand in them, pull her close and kiss the air out of her lungs, bury himself in her warmth, have those eyes cloud over in pleasure as he drove deeper and deeper into her…
Coal. He would have preferred coal to holding Isolde in his arms like this, a mockery of what was supposed to be his, was his and denied to him. It would have been better if they’d been systems apart, with only her memory to sustain his needs. Much better than to act out the binding, to pretend to have everything you ever wanted but kept away from it.
It was physical torment. The moment the door closed behind them in Isolde’s quarters, he released her and stepped away. He had to get out of there, away, far away before he went completely insane. Yet he had to spend at least some time in her rooms not to arouse suspicion as to why they were avoiding each other. It was unnatural for a bound couple. Isolde was looking at him with that ever-cursed fear.
“Do not look at me like that,” he snarled, making her back away even further. “How many times do I have to repeat myself? I will never hurt you.”
“You can’t promise that,” she said, her voice trembling with something he couldn’t identify. He had tried to tune out every sign her body gave him, another torture to add to the ones already plaguing him.
He had noticed that when she was mad, or worse – upset, or worse – scared, her voice seemed to hurt him as well. It was as if when she was happy with him, her voice soothed his very soul, and when she was not, it literally hurt him. He could not bear it. Couldn’t bear the thought of being the cause of her pain.
“Of course I can,” he snapped, a bit harsher than he’d intended, but the anger was becoming harder to control. Not anger at her, exactly – he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with her – the situation in general, rather. “My word is my pledge. I will never lay a hand on you.”
“Not what I meant,” Isolde said then, very quietly, her eyes still wide with… fear? Diego wasn’t suddenly so sure.
Isolde’s beautiful green eyes were big, focusing entirely on him – he’d thought it signified fear, did it not? Yet she approached him with caution, reaching out to lay one gentle hand on his arm.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to make anyone suffer like this.”
In hindsight, as Diego thought over the rushing emotions and Isolde’s voice ringing softly in his ears, he should have known better. He could fool most anyone. After all, they were meant for each other, the pretense came easily, if not without a cost. But he should have known that the one he most certainly could not fool was Isolde. She had to have seen through him without even trying, must have seen the pain she was causing him.
She did not fear him. It was obvious to him that Isolde saw him hurt and suffered because of it. That just proved the binding was real, but how could he make Isolde understand that? Frustration rose to the surface again, washing away all the calm her touch had brought. He moved a step closer, to try and find words with which to explain, only to have her back away, the message clear in her eyes – don’t.#p#分页标题#e#
He changed the topic to take his mind off the fact things were about to get so much worse. “Did you understand everything that is expected of you on Briolina and on Rhea?”
Isolde nodded, visibly relaxing a bit. It hurt him on a level he couldn’t even discern. She paced around the room, removing the jewels she apparently found uncomfortable to wear in her own time from her hair. Diego’s eyes clung to her curves as she walked, gorgeous in the dim light of the room now that Isolde’s eyes were slowly getting used to the light settings on Brion ships. She shone like a star, the way the dress flowed over her ass making his mouth water.
He swallowed hard, his cock straining against the tight armor he wore, a constant reminder of his need to claim her, pound himself into her soft, wet heat, feel her flesh throb in pleasure against him. He was on the verge of asking Isolde to stay still and stop her maddening teasing, but caught himself. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, not to mention he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to stop when he found even the torture so deliciously exciting.
“I think I do, yes,” Isolde was saying. “I… I will worry about Rhea when we get there. I’m much more concerned about Briolina. The senators, they…”
She caught his eyes and now there was concern in them. “Are you sure we can trust Senator Eleya?”
Diego found he was still able to grin, at least. Not all life had been drained from him, it seemed. “Generally, I wouldn’t trust that one if I held her at gunpoint, but I will trust her in this, yes.”
“Why?” Isolde asked.
“She has her reasons. Trust me.”
When Isolde remained suspicious, reality crashed back like a bucket of ice cold water. It should have been, no, it could have been so easy. A gesha trusted her gerion and his judgment and vice versa. Yet here he was, having to prove his every word to her.
“Does she hope to be a general again if she helps you?” Isolde ventured.
Clever girl. At least you have a friend on the ship, if you will not trust me. But no. Lie.
“Perhaps,” he allowed, twisting the truth instead. “Among other things. But you heard her, she believes, as I do, that the senators are acting in their own interests.”
“She is a senator.”
Another grin – Diego hated it as much as he loved it. She was so amazingly stubborn. He would have liked nothing better than to hold her against him, laugh with her, ease her worries, and make her smile in return. “Not truly. Not like the others.”
She seemed to accept that, at least.
“Things will be expected of us on Briolina,” Diego took the opportunity to say. “Not all bound couples are the same, and no two act alike, but we have to remain close to each other while we are there. All eyes will be on us. Not just the Brions, but the galaxy will take interest as well, as soon as this gets out. There are the GU’s ambassadors on Briolina. If it looks for a moment that I am…” he took a breath to calm himself, “holding you against your will, they will report it to the Council. Those who hate us will do it anyway. The more honest ones will look for an excuse first. The humans will be shocked and the Palians will suspect foul play.”