She went completely silent for a while. Diego waited, trying to determine her state of mind by the way her eyes seemed to try to pop out of her head. Isolde opened her mouth to ask something, closed it again, opened it and finally managed, “Whose gesha?”
As if there was a question. Diego smiled.
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Oh fuck. He has to be joking. I mean… he…
The man who made her legs shake by merely looking at her closed the distance between them, which did nothing good for Isolde’s self-control. Up close, she could feel the firmness of his muscled chest and smell his scent, which went straight to her lady parts and shut off her brain. With a surprisingly human motion, the most gorgeous man Isolde had ever seen lifted up her chin until she was staring into his bottomless blue eyes again and simply said, “Mine.”
It was kind of difficult to follow the rest of the explanation, if it could be called that. As much as Isolde could tell, the commander couldn’t explain the situation either. The problem was that the Brions didn’t mate outside of their species. So far, geshas had always been Brion women, in all of their recorded history. Grothan knew it and Isolde knew it too, because it was one of the most noticeable characteristics the Brions had in the GU. Other species mingled – some more, some less, some were not compatible – but the Brions didn’t participate in that and had refused research into whether it would even be possible. Their bindings were sacred to them, and as such, all other arguments were pointless.
And now Isolde seemed to be the first non-Brion ever to be a Brion’s fated. That didn’t even warrant an imaginary letter. The day had begun with a mishap, then had gone fast down the crazy lane and had now happily settled in the land of ludicrous.
Grothan seemed fairly calm for the fact that he was about to break a tradition the Brions considered a pillar of their society. As much as Isolde gathered, the feeling of seeing your gesha was incomparable to anything else and made everything valid. There was no questioning it. Grothan was sure it would be understood.
For Isolde’s part, she hadn’t said yes to anything. For Grothan’s part, he hadn’t exactly asked. A binding was something a Brion trusted without question. It didn’t warrant a second opinion.
Slowly and carefully, like with a child, Grothan had said at least this much, “I understand this is not a Terran custom. After you came aboard, I asked our ambassador about this. He explained to me you do not believe in such things and prefer to let the future of your species to be determined by your individual choices. And that you… sometimes mated more than once.”
Isolde didn’t need any of her skills to hear the venom in that last statement. The Brions must have thought humans were barbaric, but she had a few words about their ways as well.
“I will give you time to accept this,” Grothan said and strode out of the room without another word.
Not time to think about it, not time to think of what to say to such a sudden and insane suggestion just time to… accept. Isolde was not one of those women who slammed doors and threw plates, but she sure wanted something fragile and expensive when the door shut behind the commander. Only the constant reminder that she was alone on an alien ship, very far away from anyone who could help, stopped her from using up all the curse words she knew at his stubborn presumption she would just agree.
Would just lay back and agree, although she had dreamed of doing something along those lines very recently.
Pride and lust went to war within her. She could not deny she wanted that man – alien, whatever – but like that? Picked off the station like something from a store? Given no choice and no say in the matter?
Time to accept it my ass.
Isolde’s studies had very rarely had any practical uses in her life. There were few aliens on Terra, most preferred to stay on the orbital station. But her theoretical knowledge was good. That beautiful, arrogant son-of-a-bitch had given her time, so time she’d have. Time to go over Brion culture and find a way to say no to a capricious alien warlord with an armada at his back – even if her traitorous body wanted to be conquered right then and there.
She was entirely sure it was not what her professors had had in mind under “practical uses” in Alien Culture Studies.
CHAPTER FIVE
Diego
He supposed it could have gone better, but then again, it could have gone worse. In a way, Diego felt bad for Isolde. That must have been a tremendous thing to hear. If Brion women sometimes became upset at the revealing of their mates, then nothing less could be expected from Isolde Fenner.#p#分页标题#e#
Diego was sure she would understand in the end. He was a formidable warrior, a leader of his men and would not have been a shame to any woman. It would take time for Isolde to become accustomed to him and to Brions, but it would happen. In the meantime, he knew his warriors loved him just as they feared his wrath, and that he could be certain of their support in the unlikely event of someone questioning his gesha.
Not the Elders. They were wise in these matters and would not presume to call him a liar even if it meant they had to re-evaluate what they had thought impossible – a gesha that wasn’t a Brion.
But there were others, the thought alone making his valor squares shine and hum angrily, who might. Some who might think he would lie about such a thing because it didn’t suit the way they saw the world.
He had to calm himself. It did no good to anger over things that might happen.
His thoughts kept returning to Isolde. She calmed his mind immediately, as he had heard of geshas doing. A smile crept to his lips again, unbidden. Yes. Finally. Now that he was whole at last, he could realize his true potential.
Diego returned to Isolde after a while, giving orders to the bridge not to disturb him. He expected Isolde to have had time to think it over. After all, it was a certainty he couldn’t argue with and neither could she, really.
Which was why he was so surprised when the woman said no when he approached her in her rooms.
“No,” he repeated, over the pounding of his heart. Battle hormones reacted to his rising anger, making him clench his fists to calm down. It was alright. She was supposed to fight, after all. He approached her again. She would not hold him off for long, but she would fight and that was how it was done.
“No,” Isolde said again, backing away. “Listen to me. Do not touch me.”
Her voice shook. Diego could hear the fear in her voice.
“You are my gesha,” he said cautiously, unnerved by her seeming fear. “You can fight, but that will not change.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she held up her hands in front of her like to drive him away. As if she could stop him for a second if he chose to ignore her. But this was not a way to start. He had to remind himself she was human. Some differences were to be expected.
“Wait,” she said, slowly, as if speaking to a child. His anger flared again, but he restrained himself.
“Let me speak,” Isolde said. “Then decide what you will do.”
“Very well,” he replied, crossing his arms across his chest and waiting. Better to let her speak, so they could properly enjoy their binding. He had waited this long, he could wait a little bit longer.
Isolde relaxed a bit and drew a breath. “Alright. First of all, I understand what a gesha is. I read up on it. And I even believe that you think that’s me, although it has never happened before. But you have to understand that I am a Terran and we do not do things that way.”
Reasonable, but pointless. The binding was never wrong. Adapting to this life would simply be a bit more difficult for her than for Brion women.
“We do not pick people off the street and say to them that we’re meant to be together forever,” Isolde continued. When she didn’t follow that up with anything, Diego realized she expected him to react.
“I understand. But a gerion and his gesha are.”
There was something hopeless in Isolde’s eyes as she sighed. “I know that you believe that. But it doesn’t work like that with me. I mean, you are very, very handsome and all…”
Battle hormones took a back seat to lust. Diego bared his teeth in a victorious snarl and stepped forward, only for Isolde to back away even further.
“No! Not an invitation! I’m still talking. Wait!”
He growled under his breath, but backed away. He could at least give her this.
“But…” Isolde continued, “you believe in what your culture teaches you and I believe in mine. We believe that you have to know a person before you bind yourself to them.”
“That sounds very time-consuming. Your species has yet to evolve.”
Isolde glared, which he found oddly arousing. Her eyes were bright, and she was clearly upset, her body tense. She was ready for the fight, yet she did not give in. Feeling himself stir, Diego labored to wait. All of it would be his anyway. Those soft lips and the round breasts and the body that just begged to be held, it would be his. Was his. He could wait to take it right.
“We just want to, um…” Isolde trailed off. “I don’t know the word for it in your language. Humans want to know we have the right one, the one we could really talk to, the one who could make us happy.”#p#分页标题#e#