SurrendersMischief (4 page)

“Why you—” She sputtered to a halt. Riana was still trying
to find her tongue when he rose to his feet, went around the desk and unlocked
the door. The door open, he paused and turned back.

“You’d do better to concentrate on pleasing me than meddling
in the matters of men.” He shut the door behind him.

Riana came off the desk in a rush and yanked the door open.
“I’d rather please a Slubrian leech than you, you ass! At least it appreciates
its prey! You, you’re just a damn robot with no feelings and no finesse!” A
spurt of fierce satisfaction went through her when he stopped in the middle of
the cavernous hall then turned to face her.

“Finesse enough to have you begging and pleading. We’ll
finish this in my chamber.”

Riana watched him walk away and wanted to chew on something.
His arrogance would do nicely. “We’ll finish this in my chamber,” she mimicked.
“Like hell.” She jumped when a gentle voice admonished from beside her.

“You really shouldn’t taunt him that way.” Concern etched
Bryta’s face.

“He started it,” she defended, hating that he caused her to
be on the defensive.

“The Supreme Chief has been very patient with you. You must
not test his temper.”

“Bryta, tell me. Don’t you ever strain against the
restrictions put on you? I mean, doesn’t it piss you off that you’re treated as
if you don’t have two brain cells to rub together?” It did her, and she’d only
been here a couple of days. How did Bryta stand it?

“It is the duty of men to guide women.”

“Says who?”

Her friend looked confused so Riana clarified.

“Who says women need guidance?”

A crease formed between the other woman’s eyes. “It is a
rule.”

Riana persisted. “Who made the rule?”

“Why, why…”

“Men. Nice little game they’ve got going. Women have to play
by the rules and the men get to make the rules. Don’t you ever want more? Don’t
you and the other women ever want to stand on your own two feet?”

“Gaith values me. He treats me very well.” Now Bryta sounded
defensive. A part of Riana regretted that, but another, larger part couldn’t
let it go.

“He treats you as if you were nothing more than a reflection
of some male’s idea of the perfect woman. As if you exist only to make his life
easier. He, and every other man as far as I can see, don’t want you to have a
thought they don’t approve of.” Riana became aware of a small circle of women
crowding around them. One woman was nodding and another looked thoughtful.

“It is different where you came from?” someone asked.

“Much. I run my own business and my own life. And I am not
so unusual. Women hold positions of power.” She saw the skepticism on several
faces and hurried on to convince them. “One woman I know is a major and she
commands many men.” Well, okay, so she didn’t actually know the good major, not
as a friend, but she sure as heck respected her as an adversary. Riana kept
that bit of information to herself.

“How can that be? It is common knowledge that women are
weak. We need our men to take care of us.”

“It’s only common knowledge if you allow it to be.” She let
that sink in.

“Bryta, the Supreme Chief wants his slave to wait in his
chambers. Take her there.”

The blonde beside her jumped. “Yes, Gaith.”

Riana sighed. Habit was hard to break. She went willingly
with her new friend, unwilling to get her in trouble.

She waited until they were on the stairs and out of earshot
of Bryta’s mate. She glanced once more over her shoulder to make sure they
couldn’t be overheard. “Bryta, why won’t Nexar trade with Far Islands?” She
couldn’t let it go. Not only was it a bad business decision not to at least
explore the option, but something told her it was important.

“We’ve always traded with Trinearia.”

Riana restrained a sigh. “I know, but why? Why not trade
with both?” She gave a tug at her top, conscious of the way her nipples were
dark shadows behind the nearly sheer material. What she wouldn’t give for her
own clothes. The indecent outfit was only one of the many issues she wished to
discuss with Darias.

Tension entered the slender frame. When she spoke, she
sounded hesitant. “I think it might be because the Supreme Chief’s mother was
Far Islander.”

“What? You’re kidding?” Riana linked her arm with the other
woman’s. She leaned in closer. “If they are his mother’s people, why is he so
intent on ignoring them?” A thousand possibilities, from a political marriage
gone bad to a kidnapped bride, ran through her mind. “Does Darias look like his
mother?” she asked as it occurred to her.

“I don’t know. She was never allowed to leave the cells.”

* * * * *

Layers.

She’d gotten a hint of them last night, but Bryta’s
revelation somehow shocked Riana. Why, she didn’t know. Darias had told her the
cells had only been closed off for ten years. Obviously, they’d been in use
during his mother’s time.

She put a hand on her stomach at the sudden sick feeling
there.

Was the cell she’d slept in last night hers? His mother’s?
Was that the roil of emotion she thought she’d sensed in him?

Riana pressed harder. No, she decided. Not his mother’s, but
the slave he’d punished, Cireena’s. Why she was so sure, she didn’t know, but
she was sure.

A man of many layers.

Sneaky too. It finally dawned on her that, although it
seemed no one was paying attention to her movements, his men kept tabs on her
whereabouts every nanosecond of the day. Darias had eyes in the walls even as
he gave her the illusion of freedom.

Even though she’d learned the location of her ship—it was
tantalizingly close, stored in a makeshift shed inside the keep’s walls—the
constant surveillance meant it unlikely she’d get within a hundred meters of
it. And without
Mischief
she was stuck on this damn rock because, from
what she’d seen, they didn’t have the technology to send a message to her home
sector. Until she could figure out how to slip by his men undetected, she had
to watch how hard she pushed Darias. Because that freedom, limited though it
was, was vital to a successful escape.

And because she wanted to stay out of that fracking cell.
She repressed a shudder.

She cut a glance in Darias’ direction from the corner of her
eye. He stood, staring out the glass door that opened onto the balcony. The
late-afternoon sun was fading beneath the horizon, casting the huge garden
there into shadows. She hadn’t been in the garden yet, but the glimpse she’d
gotten seemed to go on forever. Tension tightened the broad shoulders, but
there was an air of aloofness, of remoteness that warned her not to approach.

“Why didn’t you tell me your mother was Far Islander?”

“Because it’s none of your business.”

Ouch. The barbarian was back. But she hadn’t gotten where
she was in business by giving up. “Is she the reason you won’t trade with
them?” For a moment, she didn’t think he’d answer. The sun sank fully, leaving
behind a twilight that barely penetrated the lush foliage. Birds, little more
than dark shadows flitting through the flowers and trees, returned to their
homes to settle for the night. The white gravel of the path that beckoned one
to explore, laid a ghostly trail.

He turned.

“You just never learn, do you?” That stolid mask was firmly
in place.

And it set her back up. The man could get under her skin
faster than anyone she’d ever met. Around him she seemed to have no control.
“Learn what?” she challenged. “I learned lots of things today. I learned that
Bryta, gentle Bryta, fears Gaith’s wrath and thinks that without a man she is
useless. I learned there is unrest among the guilds, exacerbated by the
drought. I learned you refuse trade with a country-state that can help. I
learned that your mother never left those thrice-damned cells where you left me
last night.” The last was said with deadly precision.

“You didn’t learn the one thing you should have.”

She tilted her head back so she could meet his eyes as he
crossed to stand directly in front of her. “And what’s that? My place as
slave?”

“To shut your mouth.”

Chapter Four

The damn woman couldn’t keep her mouth shut if her life
depended upon it.

Darias sat in his office, his gaze shuttered as he stared
out the window at the light, almost bluish-white sky. Heat shimmered off the
parched ground while, nearby, the Grangian mountain range took on a
silvery-green hue, not the rich, vibrant green that was its normal appearance.
Darias frowned. Nexar needed rain. The largest of the three country-states on
the planet Tarbos, the prolonged dry spell was having a disastrous effect on
its economy. Even the crystal birds refused to sing.

A hot, spicy breeze blew through the partially open window,
ruffling the piles of reports on his desk that demanded his attention. He
ignored them, turning his mind toward his latest problem.

His men were complaining, afraid he was going soft. Not a
good thing when he was trying to lure his country out of the excesses and
myopic views bequeathed to him by his father, and his father before him, and…

He pinched the bridge of his nose. After last night, he was
inclined to agree with them. Even begging and pleading for release, she’d
managed to scold him. His ears burned. Riana had a mouth that would shock a
pirate. And the notions she came up with… He shook his head. If she were a man,
she’d make one hell of a commander on sheer guts alone.

Darias snorted. Yeah. Right. If a man, she wouldn’t live
long enough to make commander. He’d have to kill her first or she’d be after
his position.

Not for the first time, he wondered what the hell he had
been thinking when he’d taken her slave.

A slow burn started. The woman knew how to push him. If it
wasn’t the clothes— And what the hell was obscene about them? Women had been
wearing the silk tunics and trousers for centuries—it was the fact women didn’t
hold the same position in society as men. Krel, she even had the nerve to
comment on his decision not to seek trade negotiations with the Far Islands.
The woman hadn’t even been in Nexar for a week, and she believed herself
qualified to second-guess his policies.

Still, he had not punished her as severely as he should
have. Instead of taking her into the garden, he’d settled for cuffing her to
his bed. And stopped after a mere four hours. Yeah, he could see why his men
thought he was going soft.

The mutters from his warriors were fast turning to rumbles.
He was going to have to quell the unrest and quick or there would be revolt.

A hard rap on the door jerked him from his thoughts.
“Enter.”

Gaith, his first-in-command, strode in, shutting the door
behind him.

Darias sighed. From the look on Gaith’s face, Darias was
certain the other man was about to confront him regarding Riana.

“You’ve got to do something about her,” Gaith said bluntly.

He hated when he was right. “Not you too.” Darias stifled a
groan and leaned back in his chair, regarding his friend.

“She’s inciting Bryta to rebellion. I had to punish Bryta in
the garden last night.” Gaith stalked across the room and came to a halt next
to Darias’ desk. He ran his hand through his short brown hair. “Bryta is an
obedient woman. She’d never think of defying me if it wasn’t for your slave.”

His brow rose. “What did Bryta do?” The garden? As far as he
knew, Gaith’s punishments had always been rather mild. The other warriors
occasionally teased his friend about his partiality toward his woman.

Gaith looked away, a deep flush creeping up his cheeks. “She
informed me in the Great Hall, in a loud and clear voice no less, that I was
wrong not to listen to her advice. She went on to say my opinions on a woman’s
proper place were backward and asinine.”

“And how is this my slave’s fault?” But Darias already knew.
He’d been given the same pithy lecture several times. Last night only the
latest. He could practically hear her instructing Bryta in her offworlder ways.

“None of this discord between me and Bryta occurred until
after you brought her here. And I’ve heard several of the other warriors make
similar complaints. She’s disruptive, Darias.” Gaith thrust his jaw out.
“You’ve got to bring her in line before she causes serious problems. You’ve got
to control her.”

The door to the office burst open. Riana stormed in, looking
as if she wanted to kill someone. Her target became clear when her furious gaze
settled on Gaith.

“How dare you do that to Bryta?” She planted her hands on
her hips, her eyes snapping with green fire.

Darias received the distinct impression it was so she
wouldn’t strangle his first-in-command.

“You humiliated her. Have you no feelings?”

Gaith stood there, his face dark with anger.

Darias placed a restraining hand on Gaith’s arm before his
friend did something that would require his vengeance. “Be quiet, Riana.”

Riana turned on Darias at his quiet command. Even the tips
of her hair quivered with her outrage. “As for you, how can you allow this? I
knew you were a barbarian that first night, but I didn’t realize you could be
this cruel.”

“Leave us,” he directed to Gaith.

The warrior gave one short nod and turned on his heel and
left.

“Well?” she demanded.

“I’ve been too lenient with you.”

“Hah! You call forcing me to wear these too lenient?” She
swept her hand down, indicating the open leather brassiere, worn over a
spidersilk blouse that lifted and separated her breasts. “And these?” She
tugged at her belled trousers, the open girdle riding low on her hips, cupping
her intimately before trailing between her legs, accentuating the rounded
curves of her buttocks.

He frowned as he couldn’t help but notice the defined
outline of her nipples beneath the spidersilk.