If they hadn’t been in a hurry to get to the gathering, Nina would have demanded answers or at the very least, let him know she didn’t appreciate the way he was acting. But now wasn’t the time. She promised herself if he was still acting so grumpy after the meeting she would say something. For now, though, she would bite her tongue.
Reddix went around to the side of the large stage which was situated at the far end of the huge round room and started to ascend the back steps. Nina hurried to join him.
“Wait—I’ll come with you,” she whispered.
Reddix shook his head. “No. Stay here—stand by the exit in case you need to get away quickly. This could turn ugly.”
Nina frowned. “But the crowd…their emotions…”
“I can’t feel them anymore—I’m cured? Remember?” His deep voice was bitter. Nina wondered why. Shouldn’t he be glad to be cured of his awful affliction?
“So…you can’t feel anything at all?” she asked, still speaking in a whisper.
Reddix shrugged. “Only a little. It’s like a…barrier, a wall, has been erected between me and them. I’ll be fine.”
“Well…all right.” Nina stepped back reluctantly and let him ascend to the stage by himself. When he got there, he took an empty seat beside an older man who looked much like him—probably his father, Redan. Seated beside him were a richly dressed man and his wife that Nina assumed were Saber’s parents. Saber himself was standing at the front of the stage. Lissa stood a little behind him and to his left, her face pale but proud, and her chin lifted in defiance.
“I have a question,” someone from the crowd called at Saber. “Is it true you recently got bonded to your amalla—your little sister?”
“I did,” Saber said stoically. He nodded at Lissa who came forward to stand by his side. “But Lissa is no blood relation to me.”
“Yes, but you’re of the same clan,” someone else in the audience called out.
“Yes, we are.” Saber nodded. “I make no attempt to deny it. I love Lissa, and she loves me. We are going against the old ways because we feel they are outdated and wrong. A male and a female who love each other should be able to be together, even if their families are of the same clan. This is my belief.”
“Well, it’s not our belief,” one of the older clansmen said.
“It’s sick!” declared another one. “How dare you stand before us and announce you’ll lead us while you’re involved in an incestuous bonding?”
“It’s not incest no matter what we have been taught,” Lissa said, holding Reddix’s hand firmly. “There is no blood connection between us. I realize that we of the Touch Kindred began our strict traditions about marrying outside the clan in order to control our males’ violent tendencies and out-of-control Touch Senses. But those days are over. Our people have come such a long way—our males are strong and brave and true—as good as any of the other Kindred races. Can’t we all agree it’s time to put old traditions to rest and start fresh?”
“Your words are as fair as your face,” an older woman in the crowd called out. “But we can see plain as plain the tears in poor Saber’s mother’s eyes. She weeps for the way you’ve corrupted her son.”
Saber’s mother sniffed audibly and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, as though to underscore the woman’s point. Nina frowned—well, Lissa had said her mother-in-law didn’t care for her much. Still, she didn’t have to be so obvious about it.
“How can you stand to be with her? Have you no decency?” the older woman continued.
“Again I will say that I love Lissa—not as a sister, but as my bride,” Saber said stoically. “I know it may be hard to believe, but I have no familial feelings toward her at all. The kinship compounds which we are all injected with at birth don’t seem to have had any effect on Lissa or myself, leaving us free to fall in love.”
“You speak of falling in love with your kinswoman as thought it was right or good,” one of the older clan chiefs said. “But we of the Touch Kindred cannot condone it. We all weep for the loss of a fine young male who would have made an excellent OverChief.”
Saber bowed his head. “If you all feel that way, then I will of course, step down. But I would like to have more than one or two opinions before I relinquish my sacred right and duty to another.”
Reddix stood up. “Saber should be free to love as he chooses. We all should.” He cast a quick glance at Nina and then looked away. “He will still make an excellent OverChief and I for one will be proud to serve him.”