Lady Lure (15 page)

“No wonder you have been so worried about
her,” Halvo murmured. “Does anyone else know about this?”

“Only my father and Melri, both of whom are
dead, and Rolli and myself. We agreed not to tell my mother. She
would have been appalled.”’ Perri said with a little laugh.

“I am appalled,” Halvo said.

“No harm was done to Melri,” Perri said, “nor
anything against her will. She died at peace. And for her devotion,
I have blessed her every day of my life since then. Halvo, you will
not tell anyone about this, will you? You are the only other person
who knows.”

“You were only nine years old, too young to
be responsible for what was done, and far too young to bear the
burden of an illegal secret. The adults who were responsible and
who laid that burden upon you are dead, and thus beyond punishment.
No, I cannot see any reason to reveal the truth to anyone else. You
are the one who would suffer if I did,” Halvo paused, squinting a
little, looking hard at the exposed circuitry. “I cannot see
anything in Rolli’s head that is different from any other robot. I
doubt if the Chief Hierarch’s technicians, who were only interested
in putting a new program into Rolli’s main circuitry, could have
discovered anything unusual. So Rolli’s secret is probably
safe.”

“If Rolli appears to be a normal robot, then
where does the danger she warned us about lie?” Perri asked.

“That is what I intend to find out right
now.”

Taking up the long tweezers he had used for
previous repairs, Halvo began to move some of the brightly colored
wires aside, disconnecting a few of them so he could lift out a
metal piece and gain access to the next layer of wires. So precise
and delicate were the movements of his fingers that Perri did not
dare to move or ask questions about what he was doing. She held her
breath, watching. As Halvo moved deeper into Rolli’s head, Perri
thought he had stopped breathing, too, and his tension communicated
itself to her. After a while, he let out a long, low whistle.

“Very clever!” With great caution, Halvo
lifted the tweezers away from Rolli. Caught between the pointed
tips was a red triangle so small that Perri could barely see it.
“This is what was troubling Rolli.”

“What is that thing?” Perri asked. “And how
were you able to find it?”

“I found it because it is the only mechanical
anomaly inside Rolli’s head. If I am right, this innocent-looking
object was planted as a well-hidden backup weapon that would
instruct Rolli to blow up the
Space Dragon
and anyone on it.
It was to be used in case you should by some slim chance slip past
the Regulan warships that were sent to intercept the
Space
Dragon.
The Chief Hierarch never intended for you to return to
Regula alive, Perri.

“Melri may have done more for you than make
your life in Elyr’s household more pleasant,” Halvo said, holding
up the tiny red triangle so the horrified Perri could see it more
closely. “I suspect it took the combined power of Melri’s loving
memories of you and Rolli’s primary programming to protect you, to
overcome the commands issued by this lethal weapon. The safeguards
your father planned for your protection are why Rolli was trying so
frantically to get out of the
Space Dragon
and as far away
from you as possible.”

“Is it still dangerous?” Perri cried, wishing
she could close her eyes and shut out the hideous proof of the
treachery of those whom she had trusted.

“Not at the moment.” Halvo turned the
tweezers this way and that, holding the triangle up to the light.
“Not unless it is re-implanted into some poor robot’s main
circuitry.”

“Throw it away!” Perri was on her feet,
putting space between herself and the hateful object. “Get rid of
it! I don’t want to see it, Halvo.”

“I can’t get rid of it.” From the first-aid
supplies he had brought from the ship, Halvo took up a clean
medical specimen capsule about an inch long and sealed the red
triangle into it. “This is evidence. When we reach an inhabited
planet – and we will, I promise you – this will be our protection
against Elyr and the Chief Hierarch. In fact, this little piece of
technology could bring down the entire present Regulan
Hierarchy.

“I believe,” Halvo said, “that there is a lot
more to my kidnapping and to the Chief Hierarch’s desire to see you
dead than we have yet realized. This entire affair is a mystery –
and I do not like unsolved mysteries.”

Perri was scarcely listening to him. She was
trying to absorb everything she had just learned. She was disgusted
by the immorality involved in the subversion of Rolli’s primary
programming, and she was terrified by the thought of what might
have happened to Halvo and herself if the weapon implanted in
Rolli’s main circuitry had succeeded in its deadly purpose.

Over and above those terrible emotions was
the realization of a perfidy so complete that she could barely
comprehend it. An anger beyond ordinary rage filled her to the
depths of her being, demanding an outlet and transforming her from
a hurt and bewildered young woman into a vengeful fury.

“They wanted us dead.” She repeated that
unquestionable fact in a voice cracking with emotion. “The Chief
Hierarch and Elyr, too, connived at my death and yours – and
Rolli’s. Liars! Wicked, wicked – If those are the leaders of
Regula, then I will no longer be counted a Regulan or a member of
the Amalini Kin, for I belong to the Amalini only by my betrothal
to Elyr.

“I renounce them all!” Flinging her arms in
the air with clenched fists, she screamed the words at the top of
her voice. “I will be a homeless wanderer all of my days rather
than belong anymore to the despicable Regulan Race!”

Her words echoed and reechoed, the sound
bouncing off the rock cavern walls. To Halvo, watching and
listening to the outburst from where he still sat on the blanket,
Perri appeared to change in a moment. Her pale cheeks were reddened
with the flush of the blood heating them, her deep green eyes
sparkled with a dangerous fire, her lips were drawn back over her
teeth. And her hair curled and writhed about her face and her
shoulders like seething tongues of flame, swinging and swirling
with each step she took as she paced across the sand.

Never before had Halvo heard her use her
voice in such a manner. It ranged from a low, throbbing pitch to
the high screech of an enraged harridan. If Perri could have cast a
spell from where she stood to entrap and torment Elyr and the Chief
Hierarch for all eternity, Halvo had no doubt that she would have
done so without present compunction or later regret. She was
magnificent, the very image of avenging, wronged womanhood.

Halvo understood the loss and pain that
accompanied Perri’s outrage. Her pain touched his heart, for he,
too, had known pain both physical and spiritual. He, too, had lost
that which was most important to him in life. Like Perri, he was
forced to rebuild his broken existence, to try to find new meaning
in a life that had left him with nothing that mattered to him save
his own self. Hearing Perri scream curses against the men who had
betrayed her, Halvo knew that only with her would he ever again be
able to make sense of his own life.

In that moment, all of Halvo’s qualms and
qualifications about the matching of a young woman with a much
older and more experienced man, all his needs for masculine freedom
and for a position approximating the one he had once held – all
these misgivings, whether scrupulous or not, vanished, and in their
place came absolute certainty. He had been right about one thing:
Joining with Perri would bind them together forever. The difference
was that he no longer feared their joining or the responsibilities
it would entail. He wanted to be bound to Perri.

And she did not know it. She thought of him
as someone whose manly discomfort required periodic easing, and she
believed that service was all he wanted of her. What a lot she had
to learn. How joyful would the learning be for both of them. Laying
Rolli’s open head down on the blanket, Halvo rose to face
Perri.

“Fix the
Space Dragon!”
she commanded
him, her eyes still blazing with all the righteous wrath she felt.
“We will return to Regula. No, we will go instead to Capital, where
you can tell your father what crimes have been committed. Surely,
Leader Almaric will want to see justice done! He will destroy those
villains!”

“Indeed, he will.” Approaching Perri, Halvo
took her by the upper arms. She grasped him, too, holding on as if
she thought her companion in vengeance might decide to soften his
attitude. She did not seem to understand that revenge was not on
Halvo’s mind at the moment. “Perri, please try to calm yourself.
You cannot stay this angry for long without becoming sick.”

“I cannot be calm,” she cried. “Don’t you
understand what has been done to me and to Rolli – or to you,
Halvo? Those wicked men meant to take your life, too!”

“I do understand.” Halvo could feel through
her hands and arms the tremors that shook her body. He heard her
sobbing breath and knew she was near to collapse. The emotions she
was experiencing were out of her control. There was only one way to
subdue them and that was to direct them toward a new object.

“Halvo.” She sounded as if she could not
catch her breath. Her eyes rolled up, her lids closed, and she fell
against him. Halvo caught her in his arms, then carried her to her
sleeping blanket, which was still spread neatly at the far side of
the rock chamber. There he laid her down. Her eyelids flickered,
tears rolling from beneath them. “What are you doing?”

“Hush, my love. It’s time for me to ease your
discomfort.”

“I am not uncomfortable, but if you are, I
will -. No, I will not!” With a strength Halvo did not expect from
her, she pushed him away. “Why should I?” she demanded, her fury
renewing itself. “I always did what Elyr wanted, but no more. No
more!”

“Good. I am happy to hear you say so.”
Ignoring the fluttering hands that still pushed at his shoulders
and his chest, Halvo caught her face between his palms. “I will do
what you want, Perri, and only what you want.”

“I don’t know what I want!” she yelled. “Oh,
Halvo!”

Then she was clinging to him, but she was not
crying and she was no longer hysterical with rage. She was just
holding on to him as tightly as she could, and Halvo was content to
hold her with equal tightness. Some time later she began to pull
away. True to his word, Halvo loosened his embrace.

“What I want,” Perri whispered, “is for you
to kiss me.”

“Gladly.” Halvo moved to do so, but she
stopped him.

“Would you put your tongue into my mouth?”
she asked. “I think it is not a very proper thing to do, but I like
it.”

“I like it, too.” He did not mention what he
understood from her innocent statement. Elyr had never kissed her
in such a passionate way. Halvo was beginning to think Elyr had
never done anything to Perri’s benefit, least of all in matters
sexual. Swearing to himself that he would make certain she found
complete fulfillment with him, he lowered his mouth to hers.

Immediately, her lips opened and moved
against his. The sweet invitation was too much for Halvo’s tenuous
hold on self-restraint. Fiercely, he thrust his tongue into her. He
felt her startled withdrawal, then a moment later, her shuddering
relaxation. She sank into his kiss. The interior of her mouth was
hot and moist and slippery, and her little tongue was like velvet.
When she began to suck on his tongue, Halvo quickly withdrew,
fearing he would lose all control.

“Oh, how lovely,” Perri whispered. Her face
was buried in his shoulder, his arms were around her, and they were
lying together on her blanket. Halvo fought the urge to roll over
on top of her. He knew what would happen if he did. It must be
enough for him, for the time being, just to hold Perri and reassure
her. His own desires would have to wait until she was as eager as
he was.

“Halvo?” Her fingers touched his face, moving
slowly as if to memorize each bone and line through her hands. When
her fingertips trailed along his lips, Halvo opened his mouth and
drew them inside, sucking them, curling his tongue around each
finger in turn, while Perri gasped and stared at him as if he had
lost his wits.

“Why are you doing that?” she whispered.

“Because you taste so good.” To prove it, he
nibbled on a finger; then, with great daring, he moved closer to
chew softly on her earlobe.

“Halvo!” A silence followed, during which she
did not protest his further excursions behind her ear or along her
throat to the collar of her tunic. She caught her breath, her
breasts lifting against his chest before she spoke again. “Your
tongue in my mouth tasted …salty.”

“Did it?” He tilted up her chin and advanced
across the slenderness of her throat toward her other ear, kissing
and nibbling along the way. “Your tongue and your skin taste sweet.
Perhaps it is the difference between male and female.”

“Halvo, why are you doing this?”

“I thought you liked it.” He wove a hand
through her thick, silky hair. “Shall I kiss you again, Perri?
Would you like to discover if my tongue is still salty after
licking across your skin?”

In response, she wriggled against him in an
inflammatory way. Yet Halvo had the impression that she did not
realize the effect she was having on him. There was something oddly
innocent about Perri’s lovemaking. He could tell she welcomed his
advances, but she did not act as if she knew what they meant. As an
experiment, Halvo let one hand drift downward in a casual way until
it rested on her breast. She went perfectly still, then with a
whimper, she pushed herself into his hand. Her eyes were wide with
surprise, but Halvo could tell she found the sensation pleasant.
Slowly, he began to stroke and knead. Perri sighed, allowing the
caresses.