“He’d better.” Tilla shrugged off Lissa’s hand angrily and stalked out of the room. But before leaving, she turned to face him again. “You won’t get out of our agreement that easily, Reddix. You promised before my parents and yours to join with me as soon as you become OverChief. I will not be cheated of my due!”
Her anger lashed out at him like a tongue of flame branding his cheek—as effective as any slap—and then she left, slamming the door behind her.
* * * * *
Nina glared at Reddix as he slowly turned back to face her. The bed was between them, but there was obviously a whole lot more dividing them.
“Explain,” she said tightly. “But first, let me tell you something. I will and have put up with a lot. You kidnapped me, dragged me through a wormhole, stranded me on a strange alien planet where everyone had three eyes and tentacles, and there was nothing but purple mush to eat—okay, I could deal with all that. But this…this is a deal breaker. To find out you already have a fiancée and you’ve been lying to me this whole time? Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “No, no, and hell no. There are some things I will not tolerate.”
“Nina…sweetheart…” Reddix shook his head, as though trying to think how to begin. “I know this looks bad—fucking terrible, in fact.”
“You’re damn right it looks bad.” Nina still had her arms crossed over her chest protectively. Had Reddix been lying to her this entire time? Had he been playing her for a fool? “We talked and talked on the planet of the Feeling People,” she went on, trying to keep her voice from cracking. “I really felt like…like I got to know you. To care about you. Why didn’t you tell me about her? About…?”
“Tilla. Her name is Tilla,” he said heavily, sinking down onto the side of the bed. “And the reason I didn’t tell you about her was, well, I guess because I was trying so hard not to think of her. She’s part of this whole mess—she’s my fate if I have to stay here and rule as OverChief.”
“So you are engaged to her?” Nina demanded.
Reddix nodded. “Yes, although as she pointed out, the agreement was never sealed.”
“What does that even mean? Are you with her or not?”
“I don’t want to be, Goddess damn it!” he growled. “I never did—this was my parents’ idea. Back when Saber first let them know he was with Lissa, his parents and mine were scrambling for a solution. They knew the clans would be reluctant to have a male with RTS as their next OverChief. They needed to put me with someone who would tolerate having a cripple as a mate.”
“A cripple? You mean because of your RTS?” Nina asked.
“Among other things.” He put his head in his hands. “I can’t even stand to touch her. To fucking be near her. She turns my stomach, and I turn hers—I can feel how much she hates me every minute she’s near me.”
“Then why is she making such a big deal?” Nina demanded. “If she hates you so much?”
“Because she wants the status of being the OverChief’s female.” Reddix looked up at her. “That’s all it is to her—a business deal. A chance to lord it over all the other females on Tarsia because she’ll have more status than any of them combined once we’re joined.” He sighed and looked down at his feet. “Goddess fucking damn it,” he muttered. “This is all such a fucked up mess.”
Nina stared at him uncertainly. Was he telling the truth? Slowly she came around the bed and stood in front of him. Reddix just looked at her, making no move to touch her.
“I want to believe you,” she said at last.
“Then do,” he said hoarsely. “I swear I want nothing to do with Tilla. I let my parents and Saber’s push me into an agreement with her for the good of the clans, but I’m done with her now. It’s over. I don’t care if they like it or not. If they won’t have Saber as their OverChief, they’ll have to accept me as a single ruler.”
Nina frowned. “But the line of succession…don’t you have to uh, produce an heir?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do about that.” He shook his head and scratched absently at the red snake marking on his wrist which seemed to have grown again. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about a lot of things—I made promises, accepted obligations—and I have no idea how I’ll fulfill them. But I do know I don’t want to spend a single minute of my life with Tilla.” He looked at Nina full in the face, holding her eyes with his own. “It’s you I want, Nina,” he said hoarsely. “And if I can’t have you, I don’t want anyone else. I swear it on my honor as a Kindred warrior. I swear it on my life.”