All that applied to those sane enough to think rationally. Diego didn’t doubt for a moment that if Eren had reached Crane in time, found the scientists early enough and done the operations, he would have packed the new general full of everything he could. It was no loss to him personally if it didn’t work out. It wasn’t his body and Crane, if the rumors and sources were to be believed, was no longer capable of comprehending what was done to him.
But even if he didn’t want to risk modifications – some were impractical, having a body armor of strengthened skin tissue would impair his movements – he was willing to accept doses of stimulants, boosting his already sharp senses to even greater levels for a short time.
“What weapon did he choose?” Urenya asked, injecting the stimulants straight into his muscle. They burned, but Diego enjoyed the red hot flash of sharpness each of the boosters brought.#p#分页标题#e#
“He has not announced it yet,” he said. “We think he will suggest a barehanded fight.”
Urenya stopped for a moment, standing before him, suddenly looking like the child Diego had once played with. Then her usual calm manner returned. “It makes sense. He is big and slower than you, he has to play to that.”
“Eren,” Diego corrected. “Crane is said to no longer think at all.”
“I doubt Eren thinks either,” Urenya said. “Or if, of revenge.”
“Of course.”
“You need to know something,” the healer said then, finishing up the last injection and waiting for Diego to shake himself clear of the dizzying after-effect.
“Eleya is Eren’s gesha,” she said then. “Only they never consummated it. Eleya refused.”
If the situation hadn’t called for a completely different priority, Diego would have demanded to know why he hadn’t been informed of that sooner, but the answer was obvious enough. Those things were private, very private, and it made sense for Eleya to trust Urenya. Healers inspired trust, only it raised the question of why tell him now.
Urenya turned back to her duties, carrying on with her work as she usually did even when Diego came to see her. “It may come in handy when you finally confront Eren. That has to be a painful topic for him. In a moment when you need to distract him, use that.”
A thought occurred to Diego, an ugly one.
“You knew this,” he began. “You have known for a while.”
“I did,” Urenya admitted. “Eleya told me a long time ago, pretty much when it happened. She asked me to keep it secret until it was absolutely necessary you know. That did not happen before now.”
“She is with Isolde,” Diego went on. “I let Isolde go to Briolina, because Eleya promised to protect her.”
“I am sure she can,” Urenya said.
“You misunderstand,” Diego said, growling. “You let me send my gesha to Briolina with a Brion gesha that fought her mate.”
Urenya gave him a hard look, something which Diego would have admired if he hadn’t been mad. “It means nothing. I think it might do Isolde good if they got to talking.”
Another realization. Diego’s fists clenched. “You told Eleya to tell her.”
“I suggested it,” Urenya admitted.
Diego crossed the distance between them before the healer could react. She was of small build, much more so to a full-grown Brion warrior. Even in his fury, he had to remind himself to hold back his strength when he slammed her into a wall, his hand closing around her throat. He saw naked fear, but determination as well.
“Why?” he demanded, snarling. “Why would you do that?”
“You have to trust me,” Urenya coughed, her hands trying to push his away, with little success. If Diego had wanted, he could have crushed her windpipe in a second. “It will do her good.”
“To know the sacred bind is not so sacred even to our own people?” Diego demanded.
His blood roared. The idea that Isolde had fought him of her own volition was painful enough, but to have someone confirm and support that… He felt betrayed, nothing less.
“Yes, exactly,” Urenya whispered. “Diego, you are hurting me… Let go –”
He allowed the healer fall to the floor, coughing. Their friendship was old and solid; Narath and she had always done their duty to him. Urenya had always taken his side. He couldn’t let his fear of losing Isolde – the only true fear he could ever have – cloud his judgement, permit the fury that hid within him rise to surface and lash out at his closest companions.
The comm link on his collar beeped to life. He took a moment to steel his voice and answered it, although he already knew what was coming.
“He made the announcement,” the bridge reported. “Crane has chosen a barehanded fight.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Isolde
Isolde felt like a walking cliché of womanhood. As the shuttle docked with a pleasant purr of its engines, she experienced every emotion at once. She was tired, afraid, excited, a bit upset, hungry, horny, confused and pretty happy at the same time. The talk with Eleya had set off something she couldn’t yet explain, though she could guess. Right now, at the brink of setting foot on Briolina, she pushed everything aside.
She felt like an explorer taking her first step on a strange and undiscovered land, even if by all accounts Briolina was ahead of Terra in terms of development.#p#分页标题#e#
To distract herself from the situation, dire by all aspects imaginable, she made the first step dramatic for herself. Stepping down from the shuttle, she breathed in – perfectly natural air. Clean, even. The shuttle had brought them to Briolina’s capital, to one of the huge four compounds standing in the corners of an imaginary square. They towered above the gleaming, pristine city below. An ancient instinct called to Isolde to look over the edge, but she didn’t dare. They were up so high she thought a gust of wind might blow her over.
Alright, so technically it wasn’t even her first step on Briolina, because it wasn’t the ground.
The welcoming party approaching them forced her back to reality.
Seeing three Brion generals among them, Isolde felt very helpless, while Eleya’s lips twisted into a mocking smirk.
“He flatters us,” she told Narath and Deliya, who apparently shared her sense of humor, which Isolde found, frankly speaking, pretty morbid.
“Who?” she asked.
“Eren,” Eleya said, motioning for her to walk to meet them. “Three generals to protect him from us.”
“Comforting,” Isolde whispered as they approached the other Brions. “You’re saying we’re vastly overpowered and you think that’s funny.”
Eleya merely grinned, her valor squares pulsing happily on her neck. Isolde had come to realize all Brion warriors had different ways to deal with the danger and battle they lived for. Diego faced it calmly, head-on. Faren greeted danger coldly, staring down his enemies until he had gathered all their weaknesses and could end it all with a precise blow. Eleya – she laughed in the face of danger, welcoming it.
Everyone here is crazy, Isolde reminded herself. Maybe laughing was truly the best option, considering she was pretty much powerless to do anything else.
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Senator Eren welcomed them alone, which meant he was the lone senator in the room besides Eleya. The three generals remained close to him, the message glaringly clear.
“So you are Diego’s gesha,” Eren said. Isolde wasn’t sure if his tone was mocking or not, but it rubbed her the wrong way nonetheless.
“And you must be only the first of all the senators who wanted to meet me,” Isolde said, seeing Eleya’s lips curl.
Eren didn’t even blink an eye at the accusation. “They decided that it was better if I spoke for all of us.”
“You do not speak for all of us,” Eleya cut in. “It will be clear very soon that you do not speak for anyone but yourself.”
“The Elders will set that straight for us all,” Eren said, though Isolde noticed how he refused to look at Eleya. It hadn’t been so obvious before, but now that she knew, it was impossible not to see. Thinking of how much she longed for Diego, Isolde couldn’t help but feel a little pity for them – for both of them. If anything she’d read was even slightly true, it had to be unbearable.
“You really do believe that,” Eleya said. “You think the Elders call for war with the Galactic union .”
“We are the Brions,” Eren said simply. “We do not shun away from war.”
It was kind of funny. Based on her knowledge, Isolde would have assumed that all Brions believed what Eren had just said. That was their reputation, at least. But not only her guards and Eleya tensed up at his words, but his generals exchanged looks as well.
The dark days, she realized. They saw the dark days speaking and thought whether he was right or mad. The moment passed and the enemy generals resumed their watchful stances.
“War,” Eleya said, her voice disdainful, “is means to an end. To protect the Brion way, to make our people great. It is not something to be desired for its own sake.”
Isolde was slowly thinking of switching her major to Brion studies. She had learned more in the past two weeks than most scholars had in years and years. Already, she could have overturned several important principles that Terra assumed about their vicious allies. It just went to show that information passed down from rumor tended to get things a bit mixed up.