Chapter 14
Raz shifted restlessly in the oversized seat—larf it, might as well call it a throne—at the head of the table in the great hall. He remembered sneaking in here once, seeing his sire on this throne, negotiating some deal, probably poorly. That was before he’d been sent away to his own studies in management and mining, finance and farming, trade and taxes and tourism, industry andinvestment, and hundreds of other topics so necessary to the success of the duchy until he’d felt buried in obligation, bound by duty, born only to serve.
And yet all he could think of now was how much he needed one little ray of light.
The big table was filling up with interested parties: the Earth envoy, the Open Worlds For All representatives, the galactic council delegates. His mother wasseated beside him and next to her two of his sire’s favored advisors. His restlessness curdled into concern.
Where was Rayna?
Just as he stood with the intent to go find her, the far doors opened and she entered.
His heart sped, as if it would fly across the room without him to greet her. She strode with a sureness that had nothing to do with the smooth descent of a moving stair—no, this wasall her. The gold scallops of her gown emphasized the tawny silkiness of her skin and the earthen richness of her braided hair, and her dark eyes swept the gathering with a touch of fire.
Or maybe that was just when it landed on him.
As the silence spread out around them, he realized he’d crossed the room, against all noble protocol. Not that he cared. He took her hand with the intent of guidingher to the last open seats—at the far end of the table from him, much to his chagrin.
“My little honey-bird,” he murmured, quiet enough not to carry as the conversations resumed.
“Your Grace.”
He frowned. Her fingers in his were chilled and rigid.
And bare.
She wasn’t wearing his ring.
He already knew she’d found out about her space station inheritance—the Octiron crew had tried to cornerhim and the Ajellomene had been delighted to tell him of its interference while its camera hovered in his face. And of course he knew she’d hear all about it from the Earth envoy and her sister.
Apparently she’d heard…and decided she didn’t need his ring or him.
His jaw tightened, and the stiffness froze all the way down his spine, straightening him over her. He didn’t mean to loom, but—
Thetwo beings accompanying Rayna stepped up to either side of her, and he couldn’t restrain an angry curl of his lip at their imposition when he so urgently needed to talk to her.
“My sister, Vaughn,” Rayna said. “And her partner, Dejo Jinn.”
With a short jerk of his head, he battered away his irritation. This was her family. “You decoded Blackworm’s secrets,” he said. “Without you, we wouldn’thave known about the space station unlawfully sited on our border. And we wouldn’t have recovered Rayna and the others.” He gave them the short, precise bow of a blood champion to an equal.
The hivre iomale rippled his hair-feathers in acknowledgment while Vaughn stared at Raz sharply. “Even without you, we were on our way to get her,” she started but subsided when her older sister touched herarm.
“We should take our seats,” Rayna said quietly. “We have a lot to talk about.”
They did. But not with other people getting in the way.
He waited until her trio sat then stalked back to his end of the table.
While the galactic council delegates droned on about the ideology of keeping closed worlds ignorant—and the OWFA representatives made snide replies—Raz kept his brooding gaze on Rayna.She leaned sideways to listen to something the hivre murmured at her, studying a dat-pad he angled her way. At first Raz thought she was engrossed in whatever she was studying, but when she darted a quick glance at him before returning her gaze to the screen and her cheeks flushed, he realized she was ignoring him. Or trying to.
She’d run away from their night together. And he’d understood theimpulse, like it was a larfing cold fusion engine in his own ballistic-grade pants.
The intensity between them was too much, happening too fast. Hard not to panic when good sense was circling the black hole of passion—no, not just circling, joyfullyhurtlingitself into the abyss. No wonder she was afraid; he wasn’t sure what would happen to them on the other side either. If there evenwasanother side.
And he should have told her that, should have shared his fears even if blood champions and avatars were historically known to be fearless. He’d told her she needn’t be alone…and then he’d left her by herself to wonder.
He’d needed time to think too, and—he admitted now—he’d been hurt when she hadn’t answered his question about whether she wanted his ring for more than one night.He’d told himself he was just giving her time to answer.
His gaze dropped to her hands clenched tight on the tabletop, ring finger bare.
