Rebel Princess(31)

"Sorry, Captain, but you can't be any more disappointed than K'kadi. I  swear he was ready to walk right up to the ship and demand entry."

Tal turned to Kass. "Is K'kadi reliable? Can I assume we were attacked by hired thugs?"

Propping her chin on her thumbs, her index fingers touching her nose,  Kass took several moments to think before she replied. "I did not know  K'kadi possessed this skill, but I do know he would never lie. It's not  in him. So, yes, I think you can safely assume he traced the men back to  the right ship.

"But," she added firmly, "I think you should seriously consider the  coincidence of being attacked while Scorpio is in port. If Tegge's  defection is a trap, what greater blow to the rebellion than cutting off  its head?"

"Kass! Tegge's bringing us a huntership."

"You're so dazzled, you've forgotten the Old Earth legends you learned in school. Among them, beware the Trojan horse!"

Anton Stagg broke his at-ease stance, stepping closer to the bed. "There  were people on Tat who knew we were coming here, sir. The rumors about a  fat prize waiting on X-33 were pretty widespread. You'll recall we all  feared a trap, but when we saw the huntership . . . well, Captain, I  don't know how it was on the bridge, but there was a lot of cheering on D  Deck." The lieutenant shrugged. "Sorry, sir, but with a prize like  that, maybe none of us looked as close as we should."

That hurt, and coming from a lowly marine lieutenant at that. "The med  techs seem to have relieved me of my comm unit, Lieutenant. Find  Commander Jorkan and have him report to me immediately."

"Yes, sir." Stagg snapped to full attention, saluted, and practically ran from the room.

"And now, Ensign Kiolani"-Tal made a point of emphasizing her junior  rank-"explain why you're so suspicious of Captain Tegge. Have you sensed  deception, hostility?"

"What I sensed was so cool and composed that I can only assume it was a  façade. I would expect a Fleet captain defecting from the Empire with  her ship and crew would feel excitement, worry, even fear she might not  be doing the right thing. But from Tegge there was simply . . .  nothing."         

     



 

"Captains tend not to show their emotions." Stating the obvious to Kass  Kiolani for whom he cared so much and shown so little. Though surely  even a low-level empath could feel his heat when they were together? Or  did she interpret it as merely lust?

Kass plunged on, as if she hadn't even noted what he was trying to say.  "The Sorcerer Prime is a more powerful weapon than another huntership.  Not that you shouldn't accept Scorpio, if you really believe Tegge is  for real. But are there any other rebel ships you could contact for  backup?"

"Ensign Kiolani, Tactician Prime."

"Don't mock me!" Kass shot to her feet, amber eyes raging. Pok, but she  was gorgeous. Even with bone-weariness showing behind her anger and  facial enhancements fading under the room's unforgiving lighting, she  was everything he'd ever wanted.

"Jealous, Kiolani?" Mallick! Why did he keep taunting her? Somewhere,  deep down, did he actually resent Kass facing him as an equal, instead  of lowly ensign to captain?

"Jealous? Of that platidon?" Kass drew herself up to her full height,  causing interesting things to happen in the vicinity of her gown's  plunging V-neckline. One more huff and . . .

"I am the ParaPrime designate," she intoned, looking down her dainty and  undoubtedly aristocratic nose. "I do not do jealous." Kass clapped her  hands over her mouth, slowly sank into her chair, bending forward until  her forehead rested on his blanket. Silence enveloped them, thoughts  still shouting inside their heads. Warring emotions he felt all too  clearly. Doubt. Satisfaction. Mortification. Triumph.

Fortunately, Kass was on his uninjured side. Tal cupped her head in his  hand, threaded his fingers through her hair. Ah, that felt good. He'd  wanted to touch those shining black waves since the first time he'd seen  her with her hair down. "It's all right, Kass. You being jealous  brightens my day."

A flash of anger loud and clear. Now what was wrong?

Kass raised her head, scowling. "I am angry because I revealed something  I wished to keep secret, not because . . ." She sniffed. "Not because I  admit to jealousy of that oversized, unfeeling-"

"You are the ParaPrime's heir, the most gifted female of your race. Why should that be secret?"

Her lips thinned above a stubborn chin, her amber eyes dark with an  emotion he couldn't identify. Pok! He was new to this shared emotions  thing and adjusting badly.

"On Psyclid," Kass said, "my power is great. Here"-she waved her hand to  encompass the ship around them-"I am nothing. A not-quite-official  ensign addressing her captain. Obviously, a role I cannot sustain, even  though the goddess knows I've tried."

Suddenly, she melted, chin, lips, her whole body softening into the  enticing young woman she'd been for a few short hours last night. "It's  never been safe for a Psyclid to flaunt his or her power off world. But  for me the situation was particularly difficult. On Orion I wanted to  impress you-show you how well I could fight. Yet I had to hold close the  secret of how. I wanted . . . I wanted you to admire me as a warrior  and see me as a woman." Kass offered a rueful smile. "Arrogant and  unrealistic, I know. But you see, I wanted you to like me, and I feared  the truth about my weird Psyclid ways would drive you away.

"And then . . ." A ripple of darkness crossed her face. "My world fell  in and I ended up living on fantasy, even communicating with the dead,  creating a man, a lover, who had never really existed except in my  mind." Kass gulped, steepling her fingers a moment before plunging on.  "I'm doing everything I can to come to terms with reality. I still want  you to like me-the real Tal Rigel liking the real Kass Kiolani. And  tonight was a good start, but with our usual luck . . . here we are."  She shrugged, glancing around the room at the ugly metal walls, the  glaring lights, the utilitarian furnishings

"And I'm an entitled arrogant son of an arrogant son of a long line of  arrogant sons," Tal growled, driving a fist into the bedcover. "The  swaggering eldest son, accustomed to success, certain that if I willed  something, it would happen. Anything I wanted, it was mine. If I rescued  a spunky Psyclid with special gifts, then she was mine. I had only to  reach out and take her."

While he spoke, Kass turned her face toward him, amber eyes still veiled  and wary, but he had her full attention. "For that I'm truly sorry,  Kass. In my head I made you into some absurd combination of a goddess of  war and a goddess of love. You were mine, and why in the nine hells  couldn't you see that? And then for a moment in the Round Tower, I  thought you felt it too. If I hadn't made a dash for the door, I would  have played out my dreams then and there. But the Hierarchy was waiting,  and sanity surfaced just long enough to get me out of there." With a  rueful grimace, Tal shook his head. "Believe me, Kass, I got the message  back on Tat. That's why dinner tonight. You're special to me, and I  wanted to make a start on merging our fantasies with reality."         

     



 

She was sitting up now, eyes wide, as if waiting for the final line of  some magic spell that would make their confusing phantom images go away.  But he couldn't say he loved her because he still loved the Kass of his  dreams, and Kass's continuing personal revelations kept chipping away  at his fantasy. Telekinesis beyond his greatest expectation. A fiancé.  Telepathy. Heir to the ParaPrime. His little Psyclid was far more than a  siren who filled his head with lustful dreams. She had power. Power  enough to make even S'sorrokan wary. As for Tal Rigel . . .

He held out his hand. She clasped it readily, looking solemn. "New day,"  Tal said. "We've each saved the other at least twice-don't forget those  fighters back on Regula-so we're far from strangers. I'll vow to anchor  myself to what we are now, if you will. Can we manage that?"

"The trouble is," Kass responded slowly, "I keep expecting reality to  explode, as my fantasies did. Surely it's too much to ask that you're  really alive and we're together on Orion, where I always dreamed of  being."

Definitely the most encouraging words he'd heard yet. "I'll show you what's real," Tal growled and pulled her toward him.

"No, not like this!" Kass's glare stopped him short. "Did you not learn about droit de seigneur when you were in school?"

"Didn't need to," Tal shot back, "my family's been practicing it for  years." He couldn't have said that. Shouldn't have. But sometimes his  little Psyclid was too stubborn for her own good. This time she'd  crossed the line. Truth was, no Rigel man had ever had to take a  woman-they fell into his ancestors' arms, and his own, with willing  regularity.