Convergence (The Blending Book 1)

by Sharon Green

  "Please excuse the intrusion, Dama, but visitors have arrived," he announced in his stiff and distant way. "I attempted to suggest that you were unavailable, but they insisted."

  "All right, I'll take care of it," I conceded with a sigh, putting my book aside as I rose from the chair. Weeks was really very good about guarding my private time, so blaming him for one failure wouldn't have been fair. Besides, it was probably some of the people from the testing authority, here to hand out more rules and requirements.

  I stepped out into the hall expecting to see complete strangers, and stopped short when only one of the three new arrivals proved unknown. The other two were my parents, and the chills took me so quickly that I nearly shivered where they could see it. My mother saw me and smiled that gloating smile of hers, the one I hated so much, and that made my father turn away from the man I didn't know to look at me the way he always did.

  I suddenly remembered how much I'd loved my father as a child, just the way all his friends and business associates loved him. He was a fairly tall man with hair as blond as mine, slightly overweight with a round and jolly face and warm gray eyes. It was extremely rare to see him without a smile, and his voice was never raised in anger. People had always joked privately that they were amazed his marriage to an ice princess like my mother had turned out so well, but apparently even ice princesses weren't immune to his charm.

  None of them knew - or would believe - that the marriage had turned out so well because my father was colder on the inside than even my mother could hope to be.

  "Tamrissa, child, how good it is to see you again," my father said in his warm, friendly baritone, smiling lovingly at me. "Do come closer so that I may feast my eyes. I've let business keep me away far too long, but that's over with now. I promise we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on."

  "You shouldn't make promises it won't be possible to keep, Father," I said after I swallowed, reluctantly moving to a place about six feet away from them. "You won't get this house away from me without a fight, and even if I lose then I won't return to your roof. I've already told that to Mother, and now I say it to you. You'll never have the chance to sell me again."

  "Oh, Tamrissa, your penchant for joking has never failed to amuse me," Father said with a delighted laugh, his eyes sparkling with enjoyment. "You know as well as I do that the proceeds from the sale of this house will go toward your new dowry, so nothing will be 'taken away' from you. And as far as returning to my roof goes, you're absolutely correct. You won't be coming back to your poor old parents, you'll be going to live with your husband."

  "My husband is dead," I reminded him, terrified at the way his gentle conversation drained the anger out of me. Without the anger it would be impossible to fight him, and if I didn't fight…

  "Your first husband is dead, child," he corrected softly with just the right amount of sadness and compassion. "And since you're much too young to spend the remainder of your life alone, I've done a father's duty and arranged your second marriage. This is Dom Odrin Hallasser, who will take you as his wife as soon as this testing nonsense is over and done with."

  He'd glanced at the identification I wore on its chain before gesturing to the stranger, completely dismissing the possibility that I would be in the least successful with the testing. That might have been enough to bring back my anger - if I hadn't followed his gesture and looked at Odrin Hallasser. The man was both taller and heavier than my father, with dark hair, a long, plain face, and sallow skin. His clothes were expensively designed for comfort as well as style, and his fleshy hands were covered with rings worth a fortune. He wet his thick lips as he stared at me, so lost to inspecting the merchandise that he made no effort to acknowledge the introduction. That was bad enough, but his eyes…

  Those eyes were dead black in color, but there was nothing dead about the expression in them. Cold cruelty swam in their depths, along with a sickening anticipation even worse than what Gimmis had shown. The man couldn't wait to get his hands on me, and in addition he was at least fifteen years younger than Gimmis had been. This one was meant to keep me a good deal longer than two years, and the thought of that brought a shudder I couldn't suppress.

  "I won't do it," I managed to get out, tearing my gaze away from the thing in human form trying to capture it and me. "You can't force me to marry, so I won't do it. Find another sacrifice for that … that…"

  "What a silly child you are," Father said with an indulgent laugh, shaking his head in mock exasperation. "Of course you'll do it, just as you did the first time. It's all arranged, so there's no need to discuss it any further. And now you may tell your people that there will be three more for lunch, during which time you and Odrin may become acquainted. He and I have been discussing the possibility of a very large joint venture, but I shan't bore you with the details. And you needn't worry. The venture isn't scheduled to begin until after you return from your honeymoon."

  So that was the price he'd sold me for: a business venture he couldn't afford to begin on his own, which meant it had to be very large indeed. And he'd even thrown in the price my house would bring. That told me how determined he was, which in turn spread ice all through my bloodstream. I'd never found it possible to stand up to him before, and fear was beginning to overwhelm my anger. What if he was right … what if I did find it impossible to refuse…?

  "Ah, Tamrissa, good morning," I suddenly heard, and then Jovvi was stopping beside me. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I've been thinking about the conversation we had yesterday. If you intend to sell this house I'll be glad to buy it from you, and I'm even willing to pay a bit above what others might offer. This is exactly the kind of neighborhood I've always wanted to live in, and you know you'll always be welcome here - for as long as you care to stay."

  "Who is this person?" my mother demanded, for all the world sounding like someone who considered herself noble. My father hadn't slipped so far that he actually frowned, but his ever-present good humor evaporated to a large degree before he regained control of himself.

  "It really doesn't matter who the young lady is, my dear," he said to my mother with familiar self assurance. "The courts aren't in the habit of allowing total strangers to outbid their longtime supporters, so the house isn't likely to go to her. And even if by some incredible chance it did, that would hardly affect Tamrissa's marriage. Since it's all arranged, it will go ahead exactly as planned."

  "Are there different laws here in Gan Garee?" Jovvi asked with a smile even sweeter than my father's. "Where I come from, all the planning in the world can't change a refusal on the bride's part. Without full agreement you can't have a wedding - and I did hear you say no, didn't I, Tamrissa?"

  "What she says or doesn't say is beside the point," my father countered before I could speak, his manner now more sleek and self-satisfied than open and friendly. "This marriage was arranged on her behalf, and Dom Hallasser would be fully within his rights to sue both me and her if anything should interfere. Again, I'm quite certain the courts would insist on having the marriage gone through with rather than allowing me to suffer for having acted out of concern for my child."

  "Odd that you should mention lawsuits," another voice drawled as Jovvi and I exchanged a glance of frustrated worry. My father did have a few members of the court on his side… "Tamakins has already agreed to marry me, which as a grown woman she's entitled to do. If you and your friend try to press the matter, I'll have to sue both of you for interferin' with my happiness. And daddy would certainly stand behind me with every copper he has."

  And then Vallant Ro was standing beside me to my right, his arm coming to circle my shoulders. I had the strongest urge to gape at him after what he'd said, but all that support let me find something of my own to say.

  "And on top of all that, you can forget about being allowed to invite yourselves to lunch," I told my parents, delighted to see the way my father fought to keep a snarl from his face. "Even if this house wasn't an official residence for the use of appli
cants only, you people would not be welcome here. Please leave now, and don't ever come back."

  "If you're that upset, child, of course we'll leave," my father said soothingly, sparing Vallant Ro a glance that said he knew he'd been lied to. "But as far as never coming back - don't be foolish, my dear. Of course we'll be back, and then we'll get this misunderstanding straightened out once and for all."

  He had to put a hand to his "friend's" arm to get his attention, and then all three of them left. The awful man hadn't stopped staring at me the entire time, and I couldn't keep from shivering again. My father had said that he refused to give up, and the thought of having to face him again made me sick to my stomach.

  "You handled that very well," Jovvi said once the door was closed behind them, putting her arms around me. "And don't you worry. Now that they know they have more than just you to face, they won't be as anxious as he pretended to be to come back again. Aside from us, Dom Ro makes an admirably difficult opponent."

  "Discouragin' them was what I had in mind," Vallant Ro said, having taken his arm away as soon as my visitors were out the door. "I've never liked seein' the helpless bein' taken advantage of, so if 'Tamakins' needs my help again, it will be my pleasure to supply it."

  "Helpless," I echoed, feeling even worse as I straightened away from Jovvi. "Everyone thinks I'm helpless, but I refuse to let all of you be right. I will be strong, and I won't give up no matter what they do. And for the sake of sanity, don't ever call me that nauseating name again!"

  I left Jovvi and Dom Ro looking completely confused, and marched back into the library before leaning against the closed door and shutting my eyes. I'd meant to apologize to Dom Ro for what I'd called him and should have thanked him for helping, but instead I'd yelled at him and then had stalked off in insult. And all because he'd gotten even on his own by calling me helpless.

  I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, then walked slowly to a chair and sat, feeling very tired. I hated the idea of being helpless, but the condition was so obvious that two new acquaintances had felt obliged to come to my rescue.

  Maybe I'd been deluding myself into thinking I could win, in the tests as well as against my parents. Maybe I ought to just give it all up, pick a direction, and simply walk away. I'd heard it said that if you wander too far, you can never find your way home again.

  Even if you actually have a home … or something to make you want to go back … instead of wanting to be dead…

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Vallant watched the girl Tamrissa disappear into the library, wishing he'd bitten his tongue. Of all the attractive and charming things it was possible to call a woman, "helpless" had to be at the top of the list.

  "She wasn't really angry with us, you know," a gentle voice said from behind him. "She's horribly frightened of what those people want to do to her, and she thinks her courage failed. It didn't really, but I can't think of a way to tell her so that she's likely to believe."

  "Not bein' a quitter is so important to her that even I can feel it," Vallant said, turning to look at Jovvi Hafford. "But she said she meant to be really strong from now on, so I guess I didn't put my foot in it as deep as I might have."

  "She wasn't telling the truth," the beautiful woman said with a sigh, pain showing in her lovely eyes. "She was feeling despair rather than determination, and I can only hope she manages to pull out of it. That awful man… I'd kill myself before I'd let him touch me."

  Vallant was shocked to see Jovvi shudder as she said that, a reaction he never would have expected from her. He'd met few women who seemed completely self-possessed and capable, but Jovvi Hafford certainly was one.

  "Are you talkin' about the prospective bridegroom?" he asked, definitely disturbed. "I didn't get a very good look at him, because he's so unimpressive that he's easy to ignore. Aside from all those rings. I admit he seemed to be smitten with Tamrissa, but-"

  "No, not smitten," Jovvi answered quickly and firmly. "He has … centered on her as an object he means to possess, an item of obsession that won't let him rest until he owns it. I've come across people like him before, and they never take no for an answer. Her father's a fool for thinking he can deal with someone like that, because the man will use anything including him to get what he wants."

  "I think I knew someone like that once," Vallant said with a frown as a distant memory surfaced. "That man wanted my daddy's business, and set about tryin' to ruin it when Daddy refused to sell. I was young then and only startin' to ship out, and the man brought a bunch of paid bullies on board my ship one night. They were supposed to wreck the ship while he came after me, intendin' to kill me to pay Daddy back for refusin' his offer. He said as much before tryin' to throw me overboard near the place on deck where I slept."

  "What stopped him?" Jovvi asked, her brows high. "He obviously didn't succeed in killing you, but I can't imagine what would have changed his mind."

  "Dyin' stopped him," Vallant said, more disturbed than before but not because of the memory. "He and one of his bullies had Water magic and meant to use it to drown me, but they were both of ordinary strength. They were the ones who ended up overboard and drowned, and then I put out the fires and chased off the rest of his men. He had a bad reputation, so nobody official ever asked any questions about exactly how he'd died… And you think this Hallasser is one like that?"

  "I'd be willing to bet every copper I possess on it," Jovvi answered, her disturbed certainty adding even more weight to the contention. "He's determined to have Tamrissa no matter what he has to do to accomplish it."

  "I'm goin' to talk to her," Vallant decided aloud, straightening a bit where he stood. "She won't want to hear anythin' at all from me let alone somethin' like that, but she has to know. I really do appreciate the help you gave her, and I'll … talk to you later."

  "It was my pleasure," Jovvi answered, now apparently amused about something. "She and I have become friends, so if either of you need me again, please don't hesitate to ask."

  Vallant nodded his thanks for the offer, then headed directly for the library. If he hadn't been so distracted with worry about Tamrissa, he would have wondered about Jovvi's amusement. As it was, he reached the library door, knocked once, then walked in without waiting for a response. Tamrissa was in a chair, her beautiful face looking drawn and pale, and Vallant gave her no chance to order him out.

  "I know I'm intrudin', but don't let it disturb you," he said quickly, closing the door again behind him. "There's somethin' you need to know, and then I'll get out of your way again. But first I'd like to apologize for what I said. Somehow it came out soundin' as if I was callin' you helpless, but I really wasn't. It was the situation-"

  "You came in here to apologize?" she interrupted, suddenly looking annoyed. "For the second time, when I haven't done it even once? You seem to make a habit of apologizing when you aren't guilty of anything, Dom Ro, but I suspect you don't do it for everyone. Those who aren't helpless undoubtedly have to manage without."

  "I was tryin' to say that that was a misunderstandin'," Vallant replied, swallowing down a flash of his own annoyance as he moved a few steps closer to her chair. "That bunch thought they could make you helpless, but they were as wrong as it's possible to be. Even if Jovvi and I hadn't come along to help, you still would have been able to handle them."

  "Only I wasn't handling them, and we both know it," she said, the bitterness clear in her voice. "That means you're lying in an effort to make me feel better, which would be absurd if your reason wasn't so obvious. Helpless women need to have their fears soothed, and men who consider themselves gentlemen are honor bound to perform the task. But now that it's been seen to, Dom Ro, I'd like you to go away and leave me alone."

  "I'm not in the habit of lyin'," Vallant said through his teeth, frustration adding itself to his increasing annoyance. "You're in a situation so bad I can't even imagine what it must feel like, to have your own parents care about nothin' but how they can use you. If it was me I probably would be helple
ss, but you're managin' just fine. Jovvi thinks so too, so why don't you ask her."

  "Jovvi's a friend so what else would she say?" the beautiful female mule responded with a gesture of dismissal, a stubborn glint now in those incredible violet eyes. "And for someone who's not in the habit of lying, you seem to do well at it. Or was it my imagination that you said you'd asked me to marry you? No wonder you have trouble with women. Being a Knight in Shining Aspect will do it every time."

  "That wasn't a lie, it was moral support," Vallant stated, now thoroughly annoyed. "You listen to me, little lady, and you listen good. I don't have trouble with 'women,' I have trouble with beautiful females who have too much spirit for their good and mine. You could have agreed to whatever your father said, which you would have if you really were helpless. Instead you stood there defyin' his right to use you like a worthless piece of trade goods, and that took more courage than most men have. It's easy to stand up for yourself when the person givin' you grief is a stranger, but it's damned hard when they're somebody who's supposed to love you. You are not helpless, and I don't ever want to hear you say you are again."

  By that time she sat there blinking at him wide-eyed, obviously unsure of how to react or what to say. Men usually jumped to agree with him when he used that tone on them, men often twice the size of the slender female who sat looking up at him without a word of the agreement he'd demanded. Briefly, Vallant wished he himself were female, so he'd be free to scream in frustration the way he so wanted to do. How was he supposed to get through such thickheaded resistance?

  "Now see what you made me do," he grumbled after a moment of useless searching for the right thing to say. "I came in to apologize, and ended up yellin' at you instead. Just for that I ought to punish you by takin' a kiss."

  He expected to see her laugh or get angry at that, the usual reaction that could be expected from a woman. Instead she went pale again, so quickly and completely that Vallant was shocked. And she'd begun to tremble! What in the name of the Five was wrong?