VirtualHeaven

by Ann Lawrence

  “Aye. I see what you mean.”

  Maggie duck-walked closer to his side and pondered the drawing.

  “Too bad there’s no United Nations army to protect the ice shipment,” Kered said. Abruptly, he shot to his feet. “That’s it! The U.N. Why didn’t I think of it before? It’s perfect.”

  He strode off, leaving Maggie crouched in a swirl of dust. She had to run to catch up to him. “How’s it perfect? And watch the contractions. You’re Derekizing your speech.”

  “Aye. I must be cautious. Hm. Do you not see that if I can convince the council to make up an escort of, let us say, two men from each chiefdom, Selaw included, there could not be any accusation of treachery? I must share this with Vad.”

  Maggie considered his words. “I see what you mean. And if Samoht had any hand in the massacre—”

  “Hush.” Kered raised his hand and swept her behind him. They had reached the barracks. Kered left her with an eagerness she knew stemmed from his friendship with Vad. Left in the shadows, Maggie bit her lip, waiting for the men. Apprehension filled her.

  Vad joined them moments later. He gave Maggie a quick, friendly squeeze, then ignored her. After all, he could not know what had transpired in the last few days. Grinning, Kered hovered close at Vad’s side and said, “I have shared my plan with Vad. He thinks it as marvelous as I do.” Kered’s grin of satisfaction made his teeth gleam in the torchlight of the barracks entrance. “Come, we shall take it to the council.”

  The men bantered back and forth as they headed for the palace. They included her occasionally, but Maggie had difficulty responding or meeting their eyes. She had to shake off the weird sensation that prickled her spine. She could not respond to Vad’s gentle teasing about her suddenly humble demeanor. He rolled his eyes at her as Kered waxed on about his marvelous scheme.

  Every now and then Kered stopped walking and stopped to stare at Vad as they spoke. Maggie knew he looked at Vad with a different eye, as did she. The men’s enthusiasm filled her with both apprehension and admiration.

  Maggie tugged at the back of Kered’s jerkin. “Kered. We have a problem.”

  The men faced her. “What problem?” Vad asked. The glow of the orbs silvered his hair and made him look like a marble statue—unreal.

  “A N’Olavan guard is going to accuse Kered of being ensorcelled. He’ll accuse me of witchery. To Samoht.” There, it was out. She didn’t care that she couldn’t explain how she knew. She only knew that Kered would suffer, and the carnage of Samoht’s death would repeat itself, if she did not speak up.

  “Maggie—” Kered began, but Vad interrupted him.

  “Where did you hear this ill news?” He dropped his hand to his sword hilt, his eyes searched the shadows as if ready to challenge some unseen enemy.

  “It does not matter where I heard it. Slaves know stuff.”

  Vad nodded. “Aye. Anna often knows some curious information.”

  Thank God Vad was open-minded, Maggie thought. “A guard on the island must have seen me use my gun. He might convince Samoht that the weapon is evil. That I am evil.”

  “We cannot stand here in debate,” Kered snarled. “Come. We must not waste time. If we cannot convince the council to send the proper escort, worse ill will befall the men who bring the ice.”

  Maggie gripped Vad’s tunic. “Please, Vad, please. You must hear me. What good is Kered’s plan if Samoht accuses him of being under my spell? They’ll never accept his ideas if it’s believed they stem from evil—foreign evil.”

  “She is right, Kered. Perhaps she should use the weapon on Samoht.” Vad laughed—alone.

  Kered avoided Maggie’s eyes. She dragged a toe through the dirt. “The gun doesn’t have much power left. It will be useless after, maybe, one more shot.”

  Vad smiled and patted Maggie on the shoulder. “You could not hurt a fly, my friend.” He turned to Kered. “Does not the idea of Maggie using her weapon on Samoht make you want to laugh?”

  This time, Kered joined Vad in laughter, but the sound was hollow. Maggie shrugged away their mirth. Anger and fear made her tart. “I would protect Kered with my life. He knows that.”

  They sobered immediately. Kered touched her cheek. “Aye, my Shadow Woman. You would defend me as fiercely as the worthiest of warriors.”

  Vad smiled. At another time, Maggie would have been dazzled. “I have an idea of my own,” he said. “One that will put Samoht in his place without bloodshed.”

  Vad crossed his arms on his chest. The council stared at the game gun lying by Kered’s place on the council table.

  Samoht shot to his feet. “What is the meaning of this?”

  With a confidence Maggie admired, Vad said, “It is a weapon from beyond the ice fields. This slave was abused by her master, dragged across the barren wastelands. Even when her master perished of the cold, she kept going. She brought his weapon to us. Our esteemed councilor, Kered, tested this weapon on N’Olava.”

  “This is absurd—” Samoht sputtered.

  The councilor Tol interrupted Samoht’s indignation. “I wish to know more of this weapon.”

  Samoht subsided in his seat. Kered rose. He nodded to Vad, who stepped back from the table. “We suspect it may harm the user.” He paused for dramatic effect. It was important that he cover all the possible accusations of the N’Olavan guard. “It is for this reason we took this slave to the Sacred Isle to demonstrate it—slaves being expendable.”

  Maggie had to bite her lip as several councilors made lewd remarks and nodded their agreement with the final statement.

  Tol gestured to her. “Step forward, slave.”

  Maggie did as bid. She kept her head down and her hands clasped reverently before her.

  “Your master had this weapon?” Tol asked.

  She nodded without lifting her head.

  “Did he teach you to use it?” Samoht asked, skepticism in his voice.

  “No, Esteemed Councilor. I only saw it when he used it to hunt. He kept it close until his death.”

  She stole a glance at Kered. He sat silent and aloof at his place at the magnificent table, the flicker of torchlight bronzing his features—practicing all his levels of awareness, she imagined. How he must be suffering. They were taking such a chance. It would be nothing for Samoht to order her tortured to determine the truth of her words. She bit back bile as she pictured the guard’s mutilated hands and mouth.

  Samoht rose and circled the table. He lifted the weapon from where it lay before Kered and brought it to her. “What is this material?” Samoht’s pale blue eyes bored into hers.

  Maggie dropped hers, feeling her face flood with heat, remembering how he had challenged Kered for her in the bathhouse. “I do not know. Many things are made of this material beyond the ice fields. I am but a slave. I have not been taught such things.” She made herself sound as ignorant as Vad had suggested.

  Kered came forward from his seat. He plucked the weapon from Samoht’s hand. “Shall we have my slave demonstrate its use?”

  The cacophony of sound swept the room as the councilors variously protested a demonstration and eagerly promoted it. Tol banged the hilt of his dagger on the table to restore order. “How do we know the slave will not turn this weapon on us?”

  Samoht laughed and answered before Kered or Vad. “And face the tortures of treachery? She must surely know that to disobey her master will bring her naught but prolonged agony. Do you not know this, slave?”

  His eyes glittered with an unholy pleasure. Maggie knew that he had put the N’Olavan guard to the test himself. He would savor her pain, too, if given the opportunity. “I know of what you speak. I shall demonstrate the weapon if it is Councilor Kered’s wish.” She hoped she had put the proper amount of soppy devotion to her master in the final words. She looked at her lover with blatant adoration.

  Tol and the other councilors moved away from the table in a rush. Kered walked toward her. He stepped close and placed the gun gently in her hands. “I love you, in yo
ur world and mine,” he said softly, so softly that no one but she could hear. “I will defend you—at all costs.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and she nodded. Swallowing, she stroked the gun. Kered moved back to join the councilors. “I am ready,” she said. Lifting the gun, she did as Vad had suggested she do. She aimed it at the tapestry of silk that hung from the back wall of the council chamber. Thumbing the blue button, she vaporized the wall hanging.

  A thunderous silence fell. A roar of excitement burst around her. But she had eyes only for Kered. She knew her lines.

  “The power of the weapon is almost gone,” she said into a lull in the din. “It will soon be useless.”

  The councilors questioned her for two hours. Maggie tried to maintain an aspect of mental dullness. No, the weapon could not be made to work once its power was used up. No, she did not know how the weapon worked, she was a kitchen slave. She knew only that at the end, when he had anticipated his death, her master had told her to use it sparingly, for once it ceased functioning, it could not be made to work again.

  Eventually, the councilors grew bored of the interrogation and chatted among themselves as if she were no longer in the room. Vad was given the weapon for safe­keeping and ordered to deliver it to the deep vault that held the Tolemac gold reserves.

  Kered rode the triumph of the weapon demonstration with his proposal of a joint escort to bring the next shipment of ice.

  Samoht was forced to take a backseat as Tol and others took up Kered’s ideas. But Samoht’s hot eyes never left Maggie, and the cold in the pit of her stomach rivaled that of the ice fields.

  Kered woke her just before dawn. He gathered her close to his body. The heat of his skin warmed her as no blanket ever could. He whispered his hopes and dreams in her ear. She knew the man who bubbled over with peace plans was Derek, too. The occasional reference to a “slam dunk” of a plan reminded her that she must caution him again to guard his speech.

  Eventually, his well ran dry. Maggie rose and threw open the shutters. The sky was tinged with the first streaks of pink, rendering the horizon a multitude of lavender hues. She lit a candle, walked back to the bed, and looked down on Kered. Sleep had erased the care from his face. His hair lay in a tangled disarray across her pillow. “I love you,” she whispered and kissed his mouth.

  He wrapped an arm around her and flipped her to her back. “No more than I love you,” he growled.

  The touch of his hands ignited a fire within her. He slid down her body and worshipped every inch on his journey. The sight of him was a visual feast. Candlelight gilded the muscles of his back and highlighted the flex and extension of his biceps as he embraced her thighs. She was the glutton who must sit at the table.

  She buried her fingers in his hair, drew him up, and fed upon the joy of his kiss. He whispered that she had made him whole, that she was all he needed, in any world.

  Except peace, her mind whispered back, but then she gloried in the moment when his touch was too much, his kiss too intense, and all her senses flashed into overload, and so the elusive thought was lost.

  Kered moved within her. Slowly, quickly, teasing her, trying to draw her out. He feared a return of her doubts. It was only with his body that he felt he could convince her of who he was and how much he needed and loved her. She had claimed to know his touch. Claimed to know his taste. He gave her both. Endlessly. He stroked and kissed and made love to her until she lay weeping in his arms. He wanted her to go beyond simple satiation. He wanted her sure of who loved her, who was lying at her side.

  Finally, she closed her eyes and fell limp as a rag doll in his arms. Her breath heated his chest as she lay asleep. The room filled with the song of dawn birds.

  Never in his life had he felt so complete. But the feeling of wholeness did not come from finding that his night dreams existed as a real world or that some part of him had lived another life. No. He felt complete because Maggie was in his arms.

  Chapter Thirty

  Maggie waited impatiently for Kered. Each hour without him dragged. But it was Vad who appeared at the door just as twilight painted the indigo heavens with streaks of red. She shooed Anna away.

  “What is it?” Maggie asked, a small frisson of fear running down her spine.

  “I came to bid you goodbye. The council has selected me to lead the escort for the ice shipment. It is a great honor—one I have waited for my whole life.”

  She embraced him. “I’m so proud of you. I know everything will be well now.”

  He preened and Maggie momentarily saw the small boy that Kered had described.

  “But where is Kered?” Maggie asked. “Why didn’t he come with you?”

  Vad paced the room. “Kered was called into a special meeting of the council.” He turned and faced her. His military stance made her think of someone facing a firing squad. “They have great news for him. News I feel you should know,” Vad finished.

  “What is it? Tell me!” Maggie begged, half-afraid to hear what he had to say.

  His expression was kind, his words devastating. “It seems that in reward for Kered’s service in securing peace without bloodshed—a lifemate has been chosen for him.”

  Maggie reeled away. She staggered to the low window and leaned on the cold stone sill. The shutters banged softly in the wind. “A lifemate. Einalem?” She could barely say the name.

  Vad touched her lightly on the shoulder. “No. The council sees a means to make a peaceful alliance, a more valuable one than that of Samoht’s house and Kered’s. It is rumored the mate will be the daughter of the Selaw chief—an equal to Kered in status.”

  Numbly, Maggie shook her head. Lifemating. The thought destroyed her hope of happiness but, at the same time, preserved Kered’s precious peace.

  “We both know you would not do well taking orders from Kered’s mate.” He cleared his throat. “I know you once asked me to take you to Nilrem’s mountain, and I am sorry I may no longer perform that service.”

  She had no answer, could not answer, as myriad thoughts clamored in her mind for attention.

  “If you wish it,” Vad cleared his throat again and ducked his head, “I will offer to buy you from Kered—”

  Her gasp interrupted him. He raised a hand as if to ward off her anguish and finished in a rush. “Not for my bed, for my household. I do not think you would last here. I could give you a worthwhile life.”

  Maggie sank to a stool and tried to take it in. How could she have forgotten so easily the world in which they were living? A slave society. Where she could be bought and sold. His next words brought the goose bumps out on her arms.

  “I have seen the way Samoht looks upon you. I believe he will eventually challenge Kered for you. My new duties will take me from the capital. You could go with me—”

  “Thank you, no.” Maggie offered him her hand. “I understand what you are doing, and it is very sweet of you.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Think what your life will be as Kered rises in power.”

  She squeezed back. “I know what my life will be.” Agony. How could she have thought she could come and go at will? Or believed that Kered needed her? The Shadow Woman was no longer necessary. She squared her shoulders and forced a bright smile. “Is there a way I might get to Hart Fell by myself?”

  “Alone?’’ Vad scratched his chin and wandered about Kered’s quarters. “Hm. The best I can offer you is safe conduct—of a kind.”

  “Safe conduct?” Maggie watched him rummage in one of Kered’s chests. He held out a small silver square about the size of a credit card. It was gilded and engraved with the symbols of the Tolemac moons in alignment.

  “You may show it to anyone who challenges you. It will stand as guarantee that the horse I am giving you is yours. I cannot provide an escort. ‘Tis not done to offer such to slaves.”

  Maggie stared at the smooth, metal plaque, cold and hard as her decision. She gripped his hands. “Take me to Hart Fell, Vad. Come with me. The world is different beyond th
e ice fields. You will find it more home than this place,” Maggie begged.

  Vad shook his head. “I have worth here. I will be a councilor one day. I see it in my dreams.”

  Impulsively, Maggie ran to the bed. She swept her hand beneath it until she found the small wooden box that held her pendant. She extended the box to Vad. “Take this. You could teach a few of your friends to play cards.”

  He opened the box and withdrew the deck of cards. “I am grateful for your tutoring.” He dug out the pendant and held it up. “What of this?”

  She pressed it on him. “Keep it. If you ever change your mind…” She hoped what she was about to say would be true. “If you ever change your mind about crossing the ice fields, take this to Nilrem. He’ll know what to do.” She folded his hand about the silver piece.

  “I am honored.” He lifted their hands and kissed her knuckles.

  Maggie hugged him about the waist. “Tell Kered I love him. Tell him—” She bit her lip and swallowed hard on her grief. “Tell him I know how important he is here. But tell him I had to go. He’ll understand.”

  With a brisk nod, Vad set her aside. “It is doubtful he will understand, but this is best for you, Maggie—and for him. I cannot imagine that you would be content to serve Kered’s mate. Oh, he would always see to your care, for he is an honorable man. Your children by him would be given meaningful work, might even have status above other slaves, but—”

  “Stop.” Maggie felt the tears hot on her cheeks. “We both know I cannot live with the idea of Kered and another woman. I cannot live in your world.”

  And she knew that outside the orbs were rising, moving closer together.

  Tol stepped forward. He placed his hands firmly on Kered’s shoulders. “I wish that Leoh had survived to see this day. You and your lieutenant have crafted a plan that will see us into a new age of prosperity and peace. Who would ever have dreamed we would make peace with the Selaw? And without so much as a drop of blood?”

  Kered solemnly acknowledged the compliment with a bow.