Keeper of the Heart

Chapter 20

Falon felt the blood trickling down his chest long before he felt the pain of his wounds. The pain was minimal, ignored. The blood was a nuisance, slowly depleting his strength. He did not think the wounds crisscrossing his upper torso were serious, despite the amount of blood he was losing, but he could not be sure, the wounds were so thin. And it had all happened in a matter of minutes.

Falon sucked in his middle even as he jumped back, but again he felt the tip of that sword, a weapon he had never seen the like of before, slice through his skin. It was too quick, never there to meet his own blade, flipping around him in a blur of movement that his heavier sword could not hope to match. It finally occurred to him that if he was going to defeat the High King by the rules, which meant disarming him rather than killing him, he would not be doing it with his own sword, not when Jorran kept his blade well away from it. The other man was not even trying to put up a pretense of this being a normal match, so why should he?

Reaching that decision, Falon threw down his sword and went after Jorran with his bare hands, using his steel armbands to deflect the razorsword, which was trying desperately now to keep him back. He sustained two more wounds before Jorran’s sword arm was knocked aside and Falon’s fist smashed into his face with a satisfying crunch.

The king went down and did not get up. His nose broken, one cheekbone smashed, he blacked out instantly. Falon did no more than kick the sword that had painted his torso crimson from the king’s now slack hand, then turned his back on him. Only then did he truly feel the weakness that was gaining on him rapidly. And only then did he look toward Shanelle, but she no longer stood near her mother. She was nowhere in sight, and his sight was starting to blur.

When the meditech opened, Falon was surprised to see Tedra Ly-San-Ter standing there waiting on him. Long black hair flowed about the white chauri she wore. A necklace of large crystals in the exact shade of her aquamarine eyes hung from her smooth neck. As the mother of two grown children, the woman really should look older than she did. That she did not, and was incredibly lovely besides, was just one more thing to annoy him about her. Of course, once she opened her mouth, her antagonism made him forget how beautiful she was.

“Feeling better?” she asked as he slowly sat up.

A glance down at his bare chest revealed that nothing remained to show that he had nearly bled to death. “It defies belief, what this machine can do.”

“You don’t sound very pleased about it. Your first time?” His curt nod prompted a laugh from her. “Well, don’t be surprised if you’re now missing some of your old badges of courage. Meditechs just hate scar tissue, no matter how old it is.”

It took him a moment to grasp her meaning. When he did, he glanced sharply at his shoulder, but the white line that had been there since he was a child was now gone. With a low growl he swung out of the meditech, thinking seriously about hacking it to pieces.

Tedra chuckled, not the least bit understanding. “Don’t take it so hard, warrior. Shani knows how brave you are. You don’t need scars to prove it.”

“Woman, you and your machines do not belong on this world.”

“You might have walked in here under your own steam-just barely-but a healer couldn’t have sewn you up fast enough to save your life. Some of those cuts were more than an inch deep. If your reflexes weren’t as quick as they are, there would be two of you right now-pieces.”

Falon’s expression turned disdainful. “From a puny visitor?”

“He wasn’t so puny, but with a razorsword, a child could have sliced you in half. You had no business taking him on. You should have known by his eagerness to face someone so much bigger than he was that he had to have an advantage that he figured would guarantee him the win.”

“For what reason do you rail at me for this when you have made your feelings for me perfectly clear?”

“I don’t dislike you personally, warrior, only the way you conduct yourself. In fact, I’ll probably be quite fond of you-someday. But I stood there and watched my daughter turn as white as this chauri, then puke her guts out, and that I don’t appreciate. And for what? You were already champion. You could have ignored that pompous jerk of a king.”

Falon grinned, interested in only one thing. “She feared for me?”

Tedra was disgusted enough to reply, “Not even a little. The sight of blood merely makes her sick. But you really enjoyed winning that last match, didn’t you, even more than all the rest?”

Her sarcasm turned him stiff. “It is no secret how I feel about visitors.”

“I was a visitor.”

“For the mother of my woman, I must make an exception.”

Tedra snorted. “Don’t do me any favors. And she’s not yours yet.”

“Then best I see to that now. Where is your lifemate?”

“He’s waiting for you, I don’t doubt. And we might as well get it over with, so come along. Besides, someone else is eager to use the meditech. A matter of a broken face.”

Falon’s expression showed his satisfaction on hearing that. “And Shanelle? Does she wait with her father?”

“You’re out of luck there, warrior. She was still so upset over witnessing such violence, I sent her home. But you’ll be pleased to know she wouldn’t leave until I assured her I would personally see to it that you got patched up.”

“I am surprised you would admit this to me.”

“Don’t faint on me, but here’s another one for you. I told her why you entered the competitions. You wanted her to know, and that was the least I could do.”

For some reason, the sound of that bothered him. The least she could do? Under what circumstances? But she had already turned away to lead the way out of the curtained-off area where the meditech had been temporarily moved for the competitions, so he said no more. The time was at hand for which he had waited so impatiently. He would have preferred that Shanelle be there so he could make her his immediately, yet she would be easy enough to find at the palace.

They entered the main section of the large pavilion to see a small crowd waiting: Falon’s family, Dalden, the nobles from Century III with their still unconscious king-who was carried straightaway to the meditech now that it was available-and, of course, the shodan of Sha-Ka-Ra.

For the first time, Falon began to feel slightly nervous. He had won the competitions, but according to Dalden, that did not assure him the prize. And Tedra Ly-San-Ter’s attitude-could she have convinced her lifemate to deny his request? Was that why her remark, about its being the least she could do, had the sound of guilt to it?

Jadell pounced on him to assure himself Falon was completely recovered; then the congratulations began. Challen produced wine with the comment, “I care nothing for the visitor’s machines of convenience, yet do they offer some things a warrior can find pleasure in.” And Tedra blushed because he was looking at her as he spoke, though he was uncorking the bottle of golden Mieda from the planet Rathus.

Falon took a glass, though he didn’t drink. But he could not demand a private word when Challen was also filling glasses for everyone there. Yet he looked pointedly at his brother, who took the hint and didn’t dawdle over his wine. Nor did the others, who were also aware of Falon’s impatience and his intentions, including Dalden.

It was purely a waste of fine wine to guzzle it down, yet in less time than Falon could have hoped for, everyone was offering one excuse or another to depart-except for Tedra Ly-San-Ter, who reclined on one of the couches, merely sipping her wine. Falon was afraid she was not going to budge either, even if he asked.

He asked, “Could we speak privately, Shodan Ly-San-Ter?”

“There is no need to be so formal, Falon. And I have reason to doubt that my lifemate would leave just now without causing a scene to embarrass us both.”

“He’s joking, warrior,” Tedra said, tongue in cheek. “I wouldn’t do anything more than challenge-”

“Woman,” Challen admonished. “If you mean to stay, do so in silence.”

Tedra shrugged and looked away from them. Falon cleared his throat and stated, “My request is formal, shodan. I desire above all things to give my life to your daughter, with full knowledge that she also wants me. I ask that you honor this request by giving her into my care so I may protect the keeper of my heart.”

“Your request joins many others, yet never has another warrior been so bold as to tell me my daughter wants him. Why do you assume this to be so?”

“I do not assume, I know. She said as much to me. Also did she give herself to me.”

Tedra came up off the couch spewing wine. “Why did you have to tell him that?” she fairly shouted.

Again Challen admonished, this time a bit more sternly. “Woman, this is a matter between men.”

“Not if you’re going to challenge him, it’s not,” she shot back. “Then it’s a matter that concerns Shani, too, because I happen to know she doesn’t want him hurt. I was going to break his skull myself, but she talked me out of it.”

“I have no intention of challenging him.”

Tedra blinked in surprise. “You don’t?”

“Why would I, when what he has done is relieve my mind by telling me that my daughter wants the man I would choose for her myself. My relief takes precedence in this case.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Tedra grumbled in full irritation. “She was worried sick about you finding out. I figured you’d go off the deep end myself. And here you are happy about it. But there’s a little something you don’t know, babe. Shani might want him, but she’s also afraid of him.”

“Such is normal-”

“No… it’s… not! And another thing, the man’s a farden slaveholder. Were you aware of that?”

“I was aware of the possibility,” Challen replied, and asked Falon, “How many slaves do you own?”

“Sixteen serve in my household.”

“Would you set those slaves free do I give you my daughter?”

Falon frowned at the unexpected request. “For what reason would I do this?”

“My lifemate, my daughter, they do not differentiate between a master who has a care for his property and one who does not. To their way of reasoning, no people should endure the total lack of rights as that of a slave. My daughter could not be happy for long with a warrior who owns slaves, no matter if those slaves are well cared for as his property. Can you give them up?”

“For your daughter, I believe I would do anything. All slaves in my ownership will have their freedom the same rising I return home.”

“Then it is with pleasure that I relinquish the right to protect the child of my heart, Shanelle of the house of Ly-San-Ter, and give that right to you, Falon Van’yer. Do you accept this right?”

“I do.”

“Then it is yours.”

Tedra gave a mental shrug as she pressed the sound activator on her computer-link unit. There was no use bemoaning what she’d known was going to happen.

Quietly, so Challen wouldn’t hear, she said, “Now, Martha.”