Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) (15 page)

She did not see Lucan
that evening at dinner, and despite his avowals to the contrary, she did not
spend the night in his bed.  She did not know whether to be relieved or
disappointed; she did know it was another sleepless night and she was not
looking forward to breakfast across from an absent Lucan, or worse, a cold
one.  She was relieved when Tuft sent word through Kira that she was needed for
a meeting in the afternoon at the more public part of Lucan’s island. 
Incidentally, a part of the island she had never been to, confined as she was
to the house and private beach directly behind it, when not getting into random
skirmishes at the market that is.  She was also informed that Madam Green and
her assistant would be meeting with her over breakfast in her room, where they
could go over her wardrobe preferences and fabric choices.  Thus, Danika would
not be spending another tension-filled meal with Lucan, at least until dinner.

Madam Green was a
willowy long woman, who might have been getting on in years, but wore it well. 
Her hair, silvered to a natural sheen, was twisted just so in an elaborate
braid down her back.  Her wrinkles added character around amazing topaz eyes
and she was impeccably dressed.  She moved like a walking advertisement for
casual elegance.  Danika could see why she was much sought after around the
universe.  Looking at her poise and confidence, you wanted to be her.  Wearing
her designs seemed the closest thing to it.  With her was the young servant
girl from the day before, Suma.  Suma, Danika could read like an open book. 
From Madam Green she received not a whisper of thought or emotion.

It was only after a
casual touch after the long polite breakfast, and while in the midst of
measuring, that Danika understood the reserve on the seamstress’ face.

“I do not hold you
accountable for the actions of a single person in your establishment.  If
anything, I would like to apologize.  I would add monetary compensation for the
mess I caused if I had it.  Since I have yet to work out my wages with Lucan, I
will have to ask for a bill to be owed.”

The look of surprise on
the lady’s face was almost comical.  “You are mistaken, child.  Lucan Warrung
has already taken care of the small matter of damages.  But I am relieved that
you do not blame me for the actions of either the Lady Briar or my salesgirl,
Trela.  I dislike immensely such rudeness as I saw when I played back the sensor
disk.”  She shook her head and moved to the next measurement.  Clearly, the dam
on her emotions and verbiage was broken. “Imagine striking a customer in my
store, especially Kira who has never caused a single moment of concern.”  She
looked at the girl in question and smiled her way.  Though since she and Suma
had moved away to roll out the fabrics it was lost on her.  “I can assure you
that the lady has been banned from my establishment for that act of lunacy. 
She had to be blind and stupid with jealousy to even attempt such a thing. 
Everyone knows how Lucan sees the abuse of those under his care.  That you
handled her without bringing in Lucan or his man Tuft was fortuitous in the
extreme for her.  She is lucky it was not worse.”

Remembering the fear in
her eyes as she lay pinned to the wall, Danika had her doubts.  “I do not
believe she will see it that way.”

Madam Green laughed,
and it was the laugh of a much younger woman, sultry and deep.  “No, I daresay
she will not thank you.  She is an enemy you would be well to be wary of. 
Briar is petty, but her skills lay in manipulating the weaker sex.  If she can
find a man to carry out her revenge without danger to herself, there is no end
to the evil she would perpetrate.  And she is not without means.  Her father
may have been insulted and angry when she chose to align herself as Lucan’s bed
sport, but he will be even more so now that she has been tossed back into his
lap a fallen woman.”

“Her father?”

“Yes, Lord Danvers.”

“Briar is Lord Danvers’
daughter?”  That was more than a surprise, she had seen them together in the
market but would not have guessed that connection.

“Of course.  Between us,
I think he was secretly hoping she would ensnare Lucan in her spider web.  She
has done it enough times with others.  Foolish to try, if you want my opinion; Lucan
Warrung is not one to be caught so easily.  I have often wondered if he feels
anything at all behind those inhuman eyes of his.”

When the lady started
talking, she seemed to have no filter.  Danika pursed her lips and wondered if
she should say something that might halt the information flow or let the
implied insult slide.  In the end, she couldn’t do it.

“From what I have seen
of Lucan Warrung he feels more deeply than you would give him credit for.  He
certainly keeps those he considers his to protect safe from threats, at great
cost to himself I might add.”

“My dear?”  The ladies
voice was hesitant and Danika did not need to touch her to feel she was unsure
where the new tone of censure came from.

“As we are on Lucan
Warrung’s property, ordering clothes he is paying for, despite the fact that I
intend to pay him back, it would be in poor taste to speak ill of him, most
especially in his own home.”  She met the seamstress’ eyes, making her point,
she hoped, clear.  “Indeed, if I am there to hear it, I would not encourage it
anywhere at all.”

Looking into Danika’s
serious eyes, Madam Green’s face paled, and then paled significantly more when
Lucan’s voice joined them with a bite or cruel humor she could not miss.  “Lady
Danika, I do not think we need to be quite so severe to the lovely Madam
Green.  After all, I have been called much worse than heartless and inhuman. 
One cannot say the words do not have an undeniable ring of truth.”

“Lord Warrung . . .” Madam
Green sputtered only to be interrupted and snared by the very eyes she called
inhuman.  At the moment, it seemed an apt description.

“Do you have what you
need?” he shot out, then dismissed her when she stood up nodding her head and
backing away.

“I believe so . . .”

“Then you are
dismissed.  How soon can you send back something suitable?”

Shell shocked, Madam
Green sputtered and then huffed in a staggering breath.  “Tomorrow, I will have
my girls working all night if need be.”

“Then I will send
someone for the clothes at dawn’s light.”

Danika watched the
woman and the now clearly petrified Suma frantically gathering samples and
books.  She tried to send soothing thoughts their way, but was not noticeably
successful.  She sighed when they reached the door, halting them briefly by
stepping between it and them.  “I thank you, Madam Green and Suma, for your
efforts on my behalf.”

“Of course, and please
believe me I meant no insult,” she whispered.  “I have the utmost respect for
Lord Warrung . . .”

“That will be all,” Luc
barked, sending the women scurrying out the door.  Kira followed and with one
last sympathetic look her way, she closed the door, leaving her alone with Luc.

She still faced the
door when she spoke, shaking her head in exasperation.  “You do not have to
perpetuate your own myth quite so thoroughly
every
time you meet with
someone.”

“You had your
breakfast?” he asked mildly enough, but she could feel the tension nonetheless.

She turned to face
him.  “I have.”

“And you understand you
will be attending a meeting as my truthsayer this afternoon?”

She tilted her head and
regarded him mildly.  “Of course.”

“I realize truthsayers usually
work out a code for lies and truth, but if anyone lies just speak it outright. 
I believe I will get more out of their reaction than their ignorance.”

“And if the liar is
you?”

He narrowed his eyes on
her.  “Then say nothing, obviously.  But I do not make a habit of lying to my
business partners.”

Danika did not say
only
to yourself
, but it was hard to bite the words back.

“Since nothing you have
is appropriate, wear your ship standard, with the nanite armor under it.”

“You think there will
be trouble?”

“I always think there
will be trouble; that is why I am still alive.”  He turned to walk back out the
door as unexpectedly as he had come.  “Tuft will come for you.  Stay at his
side no matter what.”  He made it to the door before he stopped and hesitated. 
“Why did you defend me?”  He did not look back at her when he asked the
question, but stayed hovering by the door to his room.

Danika shrugged, though
he could not see it.  “What I told Madam Green was accurate.  Such a statement
as she made was unjustified and rude under the circumstances.”

“I do not need or want
your protection.”

She said nothing to
that, and the silence lengthened to an unbearable degree.

“Nothing to say?” he
grumbled, turning only his head her way to raise an arrogant brow.  It was a
supremely annoying look.

Danika raised her
chin.  “I thought you wanted me to say nothing when you lied?”

He narrowed his eyes,
and she watched the fire flash there, before he turned and strode purposefully
from the room.  The door slammed between them with a bang.

She turned and plopped
down without her usual grace into one of the side chairs they had moved for the
fitting.  “How anyone could think him without emotion I have not a clue.”  She
spoke ruefully into the empty room, and then stood with a sigh and went to
change.

***

The room Tuft led her
to was the largest she had been in, as far as she could remember, ever.  It was
also rounded like the inside curve of a bowl.  There were no windows, and the
door they walked through disappeared seamlessly when Tuft closed it behind
them.  There could have been fifty doors or only the one; you would never know
until they opened, they were that tightly sealed.  There was absolutely nothing
in the cavernous room but bare, curved, wide, blank space and a small
smattering of milling people.  The room might have been unexpected, but the
milling pirates looked disreputable enough to pass for outlaws.  Easily.  And
they all turned and looked at her as one mass of seething testosterone.  She
stepped closer to Tuft. 

“Yeah, I would stick
close if I were you, at least until Luc introduces you and they get the warning.”

“What warning?” she
asked, trying to shake off someone who was a heavy broadcaster, and had a mind
like a sewer.  “Who are these men?”

“Criminals, pirates,
thieves.  They deal with Luc if they want to bring their goods through our
sector of space, and any infractions he deals with regularly.  Some are here to
negotiate, some to dispute charges brought against them by merchants under Luc’s
umbrella.  Some just want a piece of his action and are here to offer deals.”

“Some of them have
lurid imaginations and no filters.”  She shuddered, her face set in a
distasteful grimace. 

Tuft laughed.  “I bet.” 
He swept his hand before him dramatically, and for Tuft the sarcasm was clear. 
“You are about to meet the dregs of the universe, all liars, miscreants and
bastards through and through.  Try not to get anyone killed.”

Danika was having a
hard time filtering through the bombardment so she did not give Tuft the answer
he deserved.  It was enough that she stayed on his coattails all the way
through the crowd as it opened before him.  She did not want to get lost in
this crowd.  Ever.  They made it to the far side of the room without more than
a small stir and turned with Tuft slightly in front of her, their backs to the
wall.

There was something
weird about the acoustics as well.  Conversations from across the room seemed
to be just as loud as the ones right beside them.  It was a jumble of words and
impressions, but if everyone else was silent, you could hear a whispered
conversation without difficulty, no matter where that conversation took place
in the room.

Just as she was
considering the ramifications of that, a door opened on a blank wall to the
right of them and Lucan walked in.  The room fell silent.  Dressed in what she
could only assume was nanite armor and boots, and bristling with weapons, he
was a daunting sight.  No one else was visibly armed, but even without the
weapons, no one would have mistaken this man for anything but lethal.  The way
the nanite slid over every muscle and bulge made it obvious the real weapon was
the man himself.  Danika found herself suddenly searching for breath and
wishing every one of the miscreants and thieves were elsewhere so she could run
her hands over every . . . Realizing where her thoughts were headed and feeling
a building of heat that could prove embarrassing, she re-directed her eyes and
thoughts around the room.  Tuft looked her over with a raised brow when she
suddenly jerked her attention to the masses.  He had to notice her red cheeks
but he just snorted and moved his eyes back to the room as well.

“Who wants to go first?” 
Lucan’s voice rang through the room in challenge and it had Danika looking back
at him.  He was closer and coming her way.  His eyes, however, shot challenge
to every man he passed, and she could tell Tuft was watching his every move,
most importantly the men he walked by and consequently had his back to.  When
he reached them, he looked her over and then turned and stood close to her
side, mirroring Tuft’s protective stance on her left.