GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) (31 page)

Figuring she couldn't possibly feel any worse, she took one swallow then another, until the bowl was drained. But her voice still cracked when she tried to speak. "I hate you."

"Hush, woman," he said in a low whisper. "We can't let anyone hear you speaking to me. Anyway, between the drink and that wrestling match, you're in no condition to fight with me yet. I'll make you a deal. You let me talk while I take care of you, then when you feel better, you can call me any names you want... as long as you whisper them into my ear."

Her answer was another groan. Taking that as her assent, he insisted she drink another two bowlfuls of water. She could almost feel her dehydrated body tissues plumping back to normal as he lowered her to the furs again.

"I had a servant bring me a few items before you woke up. The water was one. This was another."

His fingers lightly rubbed something warm and slick onto her bruised thigh. She could only hope it had some magical healing power because the smell was nauseating. She let out a sharp gasp as he pressed a bit too hard on one spot.

"So, it feels as bad as it looks, huh? This stuff should help. Anywhere else?"

"Everywhere
else," she whispered back, not even trying to be stoical about it.

"In that case, I'll just start at the bottom and work my way up."

As his hands smoothed the salve over one of her feet and his fingers massaged each toe, she decided she would let him do this service for her. Even though she was angry with him about the fight and didn't know whether to trust him or not, he owed her this much. "I can't believe I once said Illusians should be given a chance to prove they've changed. The Consociation should forget the barrier and just send them all to hell."

"Ho, would you kindly remember that you're including me in that condemnation?"

"I couldn't very well forget,
Your Majesty."

He cleared his throat nervously. "I
am
sorry you had to fight."

"Hmmph."

"Anything I might have done to stop it could have put us both in serious jeopardy. You must realize that. And please note how I'm not blaming a certain injured party for causing the problem to begin with."

She opened one eye to glare at him but his fingers worked their way into her calf muscles and it felt too good to voice her annoyance.

"Someone at the table was communicating with me telepathically off and on the whole time, advising me how to behave to win the council's approval. In fact, it was that person's suggestion that I send you off the way I did."

Cherry opened both eyes and lifted her head to look at him. "Are you serious?"

"Sh-sh," he sounded, touching his index finger to his lips. "No talking, remember?"

She lowered her head but didn't close her eyes again. With the pounding in her head subsiding, plus the fact that he wasn't wearing the patch, she was able to note his expression as he spoke.

"I don't know who it was but I was warned not to show any concern for your welfare and ordered to let you fight your own battle. Otherwise, the council would consider me a weakling. You might have picked up on the fact that they don't tolerate weakness very well." His hands moved to her other foot to work on that leg next. "I don't think I've ever had to do anything quite so difficult."

He looked and sounded completely sincere but she reminded herself of how believable he had looked and sounded last night as well.

He winked at her. "But you did better than I ever expected. I'm thinking of exchanging one of my arms for one like yours."

This time she remembered to whisper her question. "If you weren't really ashamed of how I fought, why did you want them to take me away?"

"I suppose I could have let you fall on your face, which is what you were about to do. I only wanted to give you a chance to rest without embarrassing either one of us."

"Oh. But I would have liked to have heard more of Josep's explanations."

"I know and I meant to repeat every fascinating detail when I crawled in here last night."

She couldn't help but wonder if he honestly meant
every
detail or just those bits of information he wanted her to know about. "Then tell me now. The last thing I heard was how the poor, abused Illusians hid away the lovely Princess Honorbound in this ivory tower for safekeeping."

Chapter 16

Gallant chuckled and moved up to massage her left arm. "I did learn how that was accomplished. The people that were working on weapons also found a vulnerable spot in the barrier and discovered a way to poke a small hole through it. The special team that kept the Consociation believing things had changed on Illusia also became responsible for keeping the hole disguised."

"Why didn't they blast the whole barrier away and be done with it?"

"Remember what Josep said. They knew they couldn't win a head-on war against Norona, and that's what they would have gotten if they had blown away the barrier all at once. The plan to use Innerworld as a bargaining tool was much more practical, even though it was also more complicated and would take a lot longer to set up.

"At any rate, they've had this opening for some time, but in order to assure secrecy, they have only used it a few times to send ships out. No ship has ever returned in case they might be followed."

"That explains why there are ships parked outside of the tunnel."

"Yes, but I figure that also means no one on Illusia has proof that Honorbound or I are still alive and continuing with this part of the plan. Since our fathers' deaths last year, there has been no further communication from Illusia. I can't help but wonder if Honorbound really has the backup power she's expecting. Either way, though, now that we know what they're up to, we've got to put a stop to it."

"And I'm dying to hear how
we're
going to do that, but first, where do
you
fit into that royal plan of theirs? And how does Josep get away with everyone thinking he's a Con rep? And—"

"Give me a chance, woman. Why don't you roll over so I can get your back? I assume your robotic arm doesn't need a massage."

"Funny you should mention that. Do me a favor and hold that hand." He looked at her curiously but did as she requested. "How odd. It's doing it again."

"What?"

"Whenever I touch you with that hand, it tingles, and if I hold on to you long enough, the whole arm gets warm. It never did that before and I was beginning to think there was something wrong with it."

"I don't suppose I should just take that as a compliment."

Cherry laughed. "It's not that kind of tingling. Anyway, it happened again when I touched Vella's skin. But after the workout I gave it last night, I'm positive there's nothing wrong with the mechanical parts."

"Since it's stronger than a human arm, couldn't it also be more sensitive?"

"What do you mean?"

"I told you the doctor who examined me when I was a child noted certain differences that helped him evaluate my genetic background. One of the differences was in my body's chemistry. Could it be possible that the robotic nerves are oversensitive to that chemistry?"

"I suppose. But I'd have to touch a few more Illusians to test out that theory and drawing their attention isn't very high on my list of priorities at the moment." She rolled over onto her stomach. "Now get back to the explanations."

He dotted her shoulders with salve and kneaded the muscles there as he spoke. "Did you realize your whole back is scraped up?"

"Gee, Doctor, thanks for the news flash. I wonder if being dragged across a rock floor had anything to do with that. Go on."

"All right. Josep said I'm fifteen years younger than Honorbound. From what I understand, being born with the second stripe in my hair was a royal big deal. It changed everything. Because I was the sovereign's nephew instead of his direct descendant, it was decided that, in order for me to take precedence over Honorbound, I would have to overcome a trial to prove myself worthy.

"Josep and my father came up with a test that everyone agreed with. To tell you the truth, it sounded so convoluted that I don't think anyone really wanted me to pass. But, for whatever reason, Josep practically led me through the maze by the nose."

"Didn't he say your father made him responsible for you?"

"Correct. The first step was to plant me as an infant on Norona, where I would be brought up among the Illusians' worst enemies. The logic was that I would gain a true insight into the Noronian mind and culture. A trained spy could never ascertain the same type of knowledge because he would never be able to completely let go of his own background. Apparently, I was given the name Gallant Voyager as both an honor and a sort of tag to help someone find me later.

"In the meantime, Josep infiltrated the peace-loving population on Gilliad. I think I told you he was from there. It was the only place where some of the inhabitants had been alive during the Great War, and part of his job was to prevent their memories from negatively influencing other members of the Consociation. He worked his way up politically until he became a representative."

Gallant went on to explain how Josep guided him into his present career and became his sole contact.

"Ouch!" Cherry complained as Gallant touched a sore rib. "Then he was the one who put you on to the Weebort."

"Right. According to the trial I was to undergo, Josep couldn't simply come out and tell me who and what I was then send me to Lore. Not only would that have been too easy, they weren't sure they could trust me. After all, I'd been raised by the Noronian devils. I might have developed a loyalty to them stronger than my ties to Illusia."

"So," Cherry concluded, "they set you up on a wild-goose chase to see if you would end up here, where you needed to be to take your place as their leader, despite all the obstacles. Then if you proved yourself unsuitable, they could just toss you in the slush outside and be done with you."

He pinched her waist. "Don't sound so pleased about it. If they decide to do away with me, you'll be chained to my wrist. Anyway, it wasn't a fabricated mission. A copy of the hundred-year plan really was smuggled off Illusia and passed to the Consociation through the Weebort. But it was Josep's decision to take advantage of the emergency to lure me here. He used Frezlo as bait."

"And didn't care who got killed along the way," Cherry added.

"You've got the idea. Unfortunately, it gets more complicated."

"You're kidding. I already feel like I'm in a house of mirrors."

"A what?" He pressed the heels of his palms into her buttock muscles and rubbed the stiffness out.

"Ooh, that's good. A house of mirrors is like a maze, only trickier. Just when you think you see the exit, you walk into a wall of glass, keeping you in."

"Well then, here's the tricky part," he murmured in a sarcastic tone as his fingers pressed a line down the back of her left thigh. "When Honorbound was introducing me to my council, she mentioned that Bessima, my first in command, was on a mission elsewhere. Do you want to guess where?"

Cherry pieced the facts together and came up with the most logical answer. "Holy stars. She's on Earth, isn't she?"

"I believe your expression would be
bingo.
I wasn't given the details yet, but apparently, she's preparing the Terran population for a peaceful takeover."

"But that's not possible. Romulus's people keep tabs on everything that goes on in Outerworld. They'd put a stop to anything that would place the planet at risk."

"True. If they see it coming." He moved to her other leg. "I purposely let Honorbound know you're a Terran, in hopes that she would consider you worth keeping intact for a while. There's no question I'll have to let her interrogate you. But whatever she asks you, keep your answers general and make it sound like your people are passive and defenseless. If she learns the truth, she could decide to change the plan to a full-scale military attack. And under no circumstances reveal that you know anything about Innerworld."

"Okay, but there's a big hole in this plot and Josep's right in the center of it as far as I can tell."

Gallant finished the massage and stretched out beside her. "I'm afraid my head is so full right now, you're going to have to spell it out for me."