Page 60 of Warrior's Captive
“Be over soon. At least this part. Something to drink?”
“Thank you.”
She waited in silence as he washed his hands, then selected bottles of fruit juice and poured it into glasses. He crossed to the couch and handed her one, and settled in the couch opposite her, stretching his legs out.
Vivian sipped, frowning. Despite his even tone, his energy crackled. It occurred to her that he must have been . . . working . . . and hadn’t quite transitioned back from whatever mental state that required.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m interrupting your decompression time.” She set the glass down and began to push herself up. This was clearly not the time to start a discussion that may well become heated.
“Sit, Vivian. Finish your juice.”
She stilled, startled by the unfamiliar edge in his voice, then settled back into the couch to finish her juice.
When she finished, he spoke again. “Now tell me what you wanted to talk to me about.”
Well, he wasn’t stupid. Not that she had ever thought he was.
“Your mother and Abeyya came for lunch today—though I suspect that was actually an informal prenatal checkup.”
“How did it go?”
“They told me what the marks mean.”
The air around him charged, and then settled, in a single breath. For a split second she had felt a surge of unimaginable anger, fear and then nothing. Acceptance.
“I didn’t want to tell you,” he said. “At least not until after the baby was born.”
“You didn’t have the right to make that decision for me.” But her voice lacked heat, even to her own ears.
“No. But I made it. And your response?”
“To your attitude, or to the revelation?”
Tai’ri laughed. “My attitude?” He sank further into the couch, leaning his head back. Moonlight filtered over his face as he shifted his position. His eyes were closed, a small smile playing over his lips. “You’ve been a big, walking attitude since this all started. But now I’m going to endure whatever else you decide I deserve to handle.” He sighed. “Go ahead,yada’ami.I can take it.”
She opened her mouth, closed it. For the first time, understanding a little more what the marks meant, she reached into the rope of awareness between them and . . . felt.
Resignation, low burning anger, frustration. All emotions she was intimate with, but none of them hers at the present. Grief. Old grief, juxtaposed on new. And—
She jerked out of the bond, cheeks burning. How could anyone walk around feeling likethatall day and remain sane?
Tai’ri sat up, eyes snapping open. “So, they really did tell you what the marks mean.”
“The discussion wasn’t as detailed as I would have liked, but I imagine it’s something that needs to be explored over time.” Her voice remained even enough, even under the weight of his narrow-eyed gaze. “We aren’t married, not the way humans understand marriage. And we aren’t fully bonded the way you people understand it. I haven’t—we haven’t . . .” she looked away, a little annoyed at her own skittishness. “We haven’t had sex. I haven’t consented to the bond, whatever that entails.”
“No. They tell you the marks can’t be removed?”
“Yes.”
Tai’ri shrugged. “We can stay in this limbo. It’d be miserable for the both of us. The marks may be shielding you for the worst of the effects because you’re pregnant.”
Vivian looked down, unable to meet his gaze anymore. “I just—how do we go forward from here? You’re just as trapped as I am.”
“Viv—I’m not trapped. Nothing has happened since I was released that I didn’t want. I want you. I want this child. You saw my family? Family is what I know. Even if I wasn’t prepared for it to happen the way it did.”
A thought, a memory, an emotion swam under the surface of his words and was yanked back, shut into a black box. She thought of the old grief flavoring his emotions and knew they would have to discuss it. Soon.
“I’d intended to rip you a new one,” she murmured. “Somehow it’s easier to be angry with you when you aren’t present. You’re always so . . . kind and rational. Anger is hard.”
