by Judy Mays
Brianna smiled to herself. She’d overheard numerous comments about the jewelry she wore, a fair amount of it envious. From what she gathered, Gattan red diamonds were extremely rare and almost impossible to purchase. Char must feel something for her if he gave her such valuable jewels.
Meri and Brianna had just settled themselves on the sofa when Ban sauntered over. Handing Brianna a glass, he said, “Char said this Deslossian red is your favorite. You have to be thirsty after all that hello’ing and how-do-you-do’ing.”
Ban’s arrival was a signal for every unattached male nearby to join them. His reputation was well known on Drakian. If the two lovely ladies on the sofa welcomed Ban so openly, perhaps there was a chance for dalliance. After all, Meri’s baby was almost a year old. Brianna’s morals were an unknown element. More than one pregnant wife encouraged attention from other men. And many of their husbands knew about it.
Char smiled to himself as he saw the men gather around Meri and Brianna.
Next to him, Jamiros frowned and took a step forward. Placing a hand on his father’s arm, he said, “No, just watch. Ban will be more protective of his cousins than any Aradab grandmother.”
They watched as the men began to rapidly find other, less well-guarded prey. After the last rake disappeared, Ban sent a glance that spoke volumes to Char.
“You didn’t have to chase all of them away, Ban,” Brianna muttered crossly. “How do you expect me to meet anyone?”
“Those men are not worth knowing, Coz,” Ban answered. “They’re only interested in sex.”
Meri had trouble stifling her giggles. “Believe him, Bri, he’s an expert.”
“Humph!”
As the hour passed, Char watched as Brianna, Meri, and Ban talked among themselves. Many groups of people watched them furtively, but none other than older men and women made a move to join them. Glancing around the room, his gaze was drawn to a pair of faces wearing satisfied smirks. Singy—and Crystas. They were the reason none of the young women approached Brianna. Could they possibly think he’d dissolve the marriage when Brianna carried the heir?
Sensing a presence next to him, Char glanced over his shoulder and saw his brother’s smiling face.
“How goes the great introduction, Char? Why isn’t your lovely wife surrounded by every rogue in the family?”
“Ban,” Char answered. Then he continued in a noncommittal tone, “Crystas hasn’t been introduced to Brianna yet.”
Rodane frowned. “I apologize, Char, but Crystas is going to be difficult. She never expected you to come home with a wife, let alone one who is pregnant. She always assumed she’d carry the Alalakan heir.”
As Rodane crossed the room to stand next to his wife, Char walked over to stand next to Brianna.
Both Meri and Ban had seen Rodane join Crystas, and both knew what was coming.
Meri leaned closer to Brianna. “You’re about to meet your sister-in-law.”
Brianna looked toward the woman who stood next to Singy. So that was Crystas. She’d been here all evening and had made no attempt to introduce herself. Meri had told her some things about Rodane’s wife, but Meri had also told Brianna that she really should form her own opinion.
Crystas was tall and elegant. At six feet six inches in height, she was slender and supple as a willow. Fitting her well-toned body like a glove, the lavender dress she wore had a scooped neck with short puffed sleeves that displayed her slender arms. Her shoulder-length, honey brown hair was pulled back in a severe style that emphasized high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. Head held high and shoulders thrown back, Crystas glided across the room on Rodane’s arm.
As Meri gripped her hand and Ban patted her shoulder, Brianna began to feel very uneasy. Then she began to get angry. Just who the hell does she think she is to snub me? Well, we’ll see just how much the “carrier of the Alalakan heir” can get way with.
Rodane halted in front of Brianna and bowed deeply.
Conversations ceased. Everyone wanted to observe the meeting between the new sisters-in-law.
“Brianna,” Rodane said simply, “I’d like to introduce my wife, Alalakan dem al’ Crystas.”
Taking the hand Char offered, Brianna allowed him to assist her to her feet. She refused to let this obviously antagonistic woman tower over her more than necessary. “I’m pleased to meet you, Crystas.”
Crystas looked down her nose at her new sister-in-law and said nothing.
Rodane glanced at his wife in amazement. This direct snub was unforgivable. He tightened his hand on her elbow.
Inclining her head, Crystas said in a somewhat envious voice, “Rodane did not do your coloring justice. Your hair is certainly…red.”
“All the better to display Gattan red diamonds, don’t you think?” Ban asked in a devilish voice. “How are you, Coz?”
Crystas’s voice was tight. “Bandalardrac Hardan, what brings you here?”
“Alalakan don al’ Bandalardrac,” Rodane said in a firm voice, “has come home to his clan.”
The whispers that ran through the crowd gave Crystas time to regain her composure and return her attention to Brianna. “So you carry the Alalakan heir. Are all women from your planet so…fertile?” Crystas smiled when she spoke, but her tone of voice left no doubt that the question was an insult.
Brianna was not one to be intimidated. “Do all women on your planet take so many years to…conceive?”
Char hastily stepped from behind Brianna.
At the same time, Rodane’s grip on Crystas’ arm tightened.
Eager anticipation shot through the crowd.
Xdana was too competent a hostess, however, to allow a public squabble between her daughters-in-law. In seconds, she was standing between them.
“Brianna, you haven’t met Jamiros’ mother, Alalakan dem al’ Jenneta.”
Brianna broke eye contact with her hostile sister-in-law and turned to face Char’s grandmother.
A wide smile and lively brown eyes met hers.
“Hello, Brianna,” Jenneta said, “it’s a pleasure to meet the woman who finally brought an end to Char’s wandering ways. You must be something very special.”
Relaxing, Brianna smiled. Char’s grandmother sounded very friendly. “At the time, he didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“Char forced you to marry him?” Crystas purred.
“No, he didn’t,” Brianna answered flashing a contemptuous glance at her sister-in-law. “No one forced me to do anything. I chose to marry Char.”
Jenneta chuckled. “I would be very disappointed in my grandson if he couldn’t convince such a lovely woman to marry him.”
“So he kept you in sensual thrall until you agreed to marry him,” Crystas interjected snidely.
Sighing, Brianna glanced at the people surrounding her. Crystas just wouldn’t let it go. She could feel Char’s intense outrage and Rodane’s silent disapproval. Only Meri’s hand on Ban’s arm kept him from a scathing retort. Even Jamiros and Xdana were obviously unhappy with Crystas’ comments.
Char’s grandmother, however, watched them both intently—as if she were waiting for something.
Brianna sighed and in a determined voice said, “Very well, Crystas, if you want a scene in front of the entire clan, you may have one.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Crystas said smugly.
Brianna watched the calculated thoughts flash across her sister-in-law’s face. Starting a cat fight would certainly not endear Brianna to the clan. Obviously, Crystas was hoping Brianna would make a fool of herself.
Crystas had miscalculated—badly.
Using a tactic Crystas never expected, Brianna attacked, “I’d like to see your dragon.”
“What?”
“Your dragon. All Alalakans wear them. As soon as Char explained their importance, I insisted on one for myself. I was also very specific about the design I chose when Lorilana applied it to my shoulder; its message is quite clear. The fire is mine, and I will fight fo
r me and mine. I repeat, Crystas, where is your dragon?”
No one so much as coughed.
Jenneta’s eyes flashed as brightly as Brianna’s.
Crystas raised her chin, but said nothing.
Rodane answered for her. “Crystas wears no dragon. She chose not to do so until…”
“Until she carried the Alalakan heir?” Brianna finished for him, her hands resting on her protruding stomach. “Well, that’s not going to happen now, is it?”
Crystas glared at Brianna.
Thoughts whirling, Brianna glared back. It’s so obvious why she hasn’t been pregnant yet. Why haven’t these people figured out Crystas is on birth control? With a steely voice, she attacked. “Eight years of marriage and no pregnancy? I’m curious, Crystas. Are contraceptives available on Drakan? That’s it, isn’t it? You don’t really want to have a baby, but you don’t want to give up the prestige of being married to the Alalakan heir, do you? Do you enjoy holding the future of the Alalakan clan in your power?”
A shocked look on his face, Rodane turned to his wife, as did every guest in the room. Grasping her upper arms, he spun her to face him. “Is this true?”
“This is not a topic to be discussed in public, Rodane. I can’t believe that anyone would be so ill-bred as to mention it,” Crystas snapped.
Anger rippled through Rodane’s voice. “You’re the one who began this with your immediate snub of my brother’s wife, the woman who carries the Alalakan heir. Answer me. Have you been preventing conception?”
She still tried to stall. “How can a woman who hasn’t even been here an entire day make such an accusation? Can it be she who is trying to sow dissension? She is, after all, an alien.”
The total disgust with which Crystas spoke astonished everyone. Heads turned and murmurs were tossed back and forth. The Alalakans were an extremely open-minded clan in a very open-minded society.
“Well, well, well, the truth is finally becoming known,” Jenneta muttered to no one in particular.
Some of the more gullible in the crowd, however, whispered uncertainly. Singy was smiling broadly. Was there something to Crystas’ accusation?
Brianna’s husky laughter filled the room. “Why in the world would I want to do that? What could I possibly gain that I don’t already have? I already carry my husband’s child. A husband, I might add, who offered the Alalakan signet he wears and all it entails to Bandalardrac in repayment for saving my life.”
Her revelation shocked everyone, including Char’s grandmother. For a woman who seemed to have anticipated everything that had happened so far, Jenneta was just as surprised as everyone else.
Char smiled at the older woman. “Don’t know me as well as you thought, do you, Grandmother?”
“Touché, Char,” she said quietly. “First a pregnant bride and now this. You continually surprise me.”
Char smiled and nodded.
“And is it Char’s child you carry? Not even Medirians get pregnant so quickly,” Crystas threw out desperately.
Audible gasps echoed around the room. Crystas had gone too far, questioning not only Brianna’s fidelity but also Char’s integrity.
Char stiffened. “Brianna carries my child.”
“You haven’t answered me, Crystas,” Rodane snapped. “Have you been purposely preventing the conception of my children?”
Looking about the room, Crystas found no Alalakan allies or understanding. Casting discretion to the winds, she spat, “Yes, I have. Why should I be held prisoner to an outmoded tradition with no meaning? Why should I be expected to sacrifice my body to provide a child I don’t want?”
Even Brianna, who had not grown up steeped in Drakian clan tradition, was shocked at her reply.
Disgust filled Rodane’s voice. “So be it. You may not care for clan tradition, but I will honor it to my dying day.” Grasping her dress above the right shoulder with both hands, he ripped it to the waist, displaying her right breast and, most importantly, her bare right shoulder. He removed the sparkling bluestone necklace she wore around her neck, the numerous bracelets from her arms, and finally, the wedding ring from her finger.
“The necklace is mine,” Crystas said haughtily. “I demand that you return it.”
“Wrong,” he answered in an icy tone. “It is the necklace of your Matriarchal line. Tradition declares that it be passed on down to the eldest daughter. Something you have pointed out many times these past eight years you are not. This necklace belongs to Fionilina.”
Rodane walked across the room and placed the necklace around the neck of a quietly pretty, very surprised Drakian woman dressed in a plain white dress. Only Jenneta’s and Brianna’s eyes narrowed in speculation. Everyone else was too caught up in the unfolding drama.
Returning to the group that stood about Crystas, Rodane handed her jewelry to his father.
“Sell it,” he said tightly. “I no longer have a use for it. Char, you are clan leader now that Brianna carries the heir. I request dissolution of my marriage.”
The entire assemblage gasped and whispers raced through the crowd. Rodane’s symbolic stripping had declared that he would divorce Crystas, but no one had expected him to state it in public. The dissolution of a marriage was usually a private affair with the announcement made after the fact. Rodane had reached deeply into Drakian clan tradition to sever his bond with Crystas. Tradition demanded that Char, as clan leader, finish what Rodane had started.
“Alalakan dem al’ Crystas,” Char declared in a tight voice, “your husband, Alalakan don al’ Rodane, seeks dissolution of your marriage on the grounds that you refuse to bear his children. Do you contest these accusations?”
Lips pinched together, Crystas glared at Char.
“No answer on your part will not stop these proceedings, Crystas. Do you wish to answer Rodane?”
“No!”
“You bore no Alalakan children nor do you wear an Alalakan dragon; therefore, there is no reason not to grant dissolution of this marriage if neither party contests my decision. Do you wish to remain Alalakan, Crystas?”
“I won’t remain in a clan that breeds with aliens,” Crystas sneered.
Brianna snorted inelegantly. “You married into a clan with Medirian blood. Mine is the same as theirs.”
“There is no Medirian blood in the Alalakan clan,” Crystas snapped. “Like mine, their blood is pure. What lies do you seek to spread now?”
Brianna smiled at her brother-in-law. “Rodane, you never told your wife that your grandmother has Medirian blood?”
Jenneta smiled broadly. “Very, very good, my dear. My mother was Medirian. How did you know?”
Brianna shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious. You have earlobes.”
Crystas stared at Jenneta as if she were something slimy that had crawled out from under a rock.
Char’s voice dripped with contempt. “Transportation to your clan’s ancestral holding will be provided. Since you do not wish to fraternize with aliens, I suggest you return to your rooms. Maids will soon arrive to help you pack.”
Crystas looked about the room. Her pride would not allow her to pull her dress back up onto her shoulder. Walking across the room to her sister, she said haughtily, “Come Fionilina, we are not welcome here.”
Brianna jabbed Char in the ribs, and Jenneta sent him an imperious glance. Not obtuse to not-so-subtle hints, he said, “Gerlindenpen dem al’ Fionilina is a guest in this house, celebrating the announcement of the Alalakan heir. She need not leave if she does not wish to do so.”
Fionilina looked at her sister and shook her head.
Crystas drew her shattered dignity about her and said, “You are no longer my sister.” Turning her back on Fionilina, Crystas shot a look of pure hatred at Brianna and then stalked from the room.
“She certainly is a bitch, isn’t she?” Brianna murmured to no one in particular.
“Bitch?” Meri asked.
“It’s a derogatory term used to describe certain women on earth,” Brianna a
nswered a bit absentmindedly. “Excuse me. Char?”
Everyone’s attention returned to Brianna. Char’s new wife was providing enough gossip to last until winter.
“Yes?” Char looked at his wife curiously. What is she planning now?
“That woman,” she stated, pointing to Singy, “has insulted a member of my family. I want her out of here—now.”
Char frowned. “What are you talking about?” Surely Brianna wouldn’t make up a lie just because of one kiss.
Brianna tossed her hair back over her shoulder. Flashes of fire sparkled. “She told Ban he was a base half-breed. I will not tolerate such an insult to the Hardan royal family.”
“She lies!” Singy shouted.
“Would you doubt Kahn’s word, Char? Or that of Ban himself?”
Char glanced at his cousin. “Ban?”
A casual shrug. “I’ve been called worse.”
Nervous titters swept through the crowded room.
Char crossed his arms over his chest. “Did Singy insult you?”
Ban grinned. “If Brianna’s insulted, then yes, she did.”
Char turned back to Singy. “You’ll leave in the morning.”
“Char! You can’t mean that. Not after all that we mean to each other. All that we have together.”
“There is no we, Singy. The past is the past. You were never more than a pleasant way to pass the time.”
A very satisfied smile appeared on Brianna’s face.
Meri, on the other hand, was simmering with anger. “Mondolonton dem al’ Singy, do not place foot on Mediria again, or I swear, you will wake up one morning with an assassin in your bed.”
Singy blanched, and those who stood near her quickly moved away. Glancing around but finding no support, she burst into tears and ran from the room.
No one followed her.
Char furtively observed a very satisfied Brianna. She’s learned about the Medirian assassins. Meri, no doubt.
Ban’s brow, too, was furrowed. Kahn told Brianna what Singy said. Does she mean what she says or did she use the “insult” just to get rid of Singy? Either way, Brianna’s displayed intelligence worthy of the Hardan—and Alalakan—names.
