The Impatient Lord (17 page)

Riona took a small step back from the scene.
Each couple painted a very perfect picture of married life, and as a whole they made a family. Mirek lightly rubbed the back of her arm. A shiver worked over her, bringing with it a wave of sadness. She did not belong in this scene. These happy, contented women were not like her. Mirek deserved to be in there with his brothers. He deserved that life. Instead, he was stuck with her. Riona didn’t know how to be in a family. She wasn’t sure she wanted to risk her heart like that. People would wax poetic about love and loss, but those people had never had her kind of loss. Somehow Aeron had managed to get past it. Riona didn’t know how.

Everything inside
Riona told her to run, to find the nearest ship and fly away to parts familiar.

The others were busy and not paying attention to her. She gave Mirek a meaningful look and then quietly made her way to the front door. The sound of debating could be heard as Bron, Alek and Vlad
talked over size and structure. The discussion was punctuated by feminine laughter.

“
Riona?” Mirek asked, following her out of the home into the corridor leading to the stairwell that would take them to the main level of the fortress. “Are you ill?”

“
No. They’re having family time. I think it was time I left,” she answered. Riona began to consider staying at the fortress as she watched the family interact, but knew that she couldn’t. Her personality wasn’t made for onworld life. Besides, what did she know about being a part of a family?

“
But you are my—” Mirek quickly corrected himself. “You’re Aeron’s sister. That makes you family”

“
They’re pregnant and happy.” Riona lifted her hand in dismissal of the subject and walked faster.

“
And you are sad because you read in your medical file that a side effect of the medicine is that you may not get pregnant for several years,” Mirek concluded. “I did not realize seeing them like that would hurt you.”

“
I missed that part of the file. I was focused more on my mortality.” Riona stopped almost at the bottom of the stairwell. She turned and watched as he came down. When he was a couple of steps away, she said, “I’ve never thought about having children. I’ve lived my whole life thinking pregnancy equaled a death sentence. It occurs to me that having a baby should have been a concern with what we are doing, but honestly it’s the farthest thing from my mind. It’s like breathing oxygen. I know about it, I know I can do it, but I am not in the habit of thinking about it.”

“
You think pregnancy is like breathing?”

“
Necessary to the survival of a species. Yes.” Riona continued down. Even she wasn’t one hundred percent sure what she was talking about, she did know she wanted the conversation to end.

“
I find your mind very interesting.”

“
Do you? You shouldn’t.” Riona found herself rushing again toward the front of the fortress. She knew there were side doors she could take, but she chose to keep going straight. Suddenly, she stopped and he nearly ran into her back. She stumbled a little but caught herself. She started to walk again, only to stop and face him. “I lied to you about the religious thing. I can be in tents.”

He quirked a brow and looked like he might laugh.

“And I can have people write about me. I don’t want them to though because I don’t want my story out there. I don’t want people talking about me and saying where I can be found.” She took a deep breath, happy to have cleared up that little lie. “I probably know less about children than your brothers do. If I’m presented with two options, in most cases I’ll take the stupidest one because it looks like more fun.” In between rushed sentences, she walked a few more steps only to stop and come back to him. “I’m sassy and unpredictable and flighty and probably a little addicted to danger. I gamble. I stole fuel once. I felt really bad though so I illegally transferred space credits in the amount I took into the fueling dock’s account.” She frowned. “I’ve never told anyone that.”

“
Ri—” he tried to interrupt.

“
I don’t live my life standing in one spot,” she said. “I’m always moving.”

“
Just make sure it’s adventure calling you forward, not something behind you making you want to run away,” he answered.

“
I don’t know if I’m running away or toward. The rush makes me feel alive. I need a rush after seeing what happened. I have to live because they cannot.” Riona’s breathing deepened. “It’s a pathological necessity I can’t seem to control.”

“
I understand. Your free spirit is one of the qualities I appreciate about you.”

“
You should probably kick me off this planet. I start fights. I run my mouth off and I don’t know why. I am a mess. I owe fifty-thousand space credits to a pirate. A pirate, Mirek. Who makes bets like that, even when they should be a sure thing? No doubt he’s got a bounty on me, which is why I don’t want my face out there on a stupid medical case study.” Riona knew she looked erratic. If she were Mirek, she’d have herself quarantined. “I shouldn’t be here. I came to help Aeron because she asked, and she never asks. I should have just left like I planned, and then your life wouldn’t be disrupted. But I saw your brother take her and thought the worst, so I went after her to save her. That’s when I fell in the yellow stuff and ruined your life.”

“
You did not ruin my life,” he put forth. “I chose you at the campgrounds before that moment. It is because I chose you at the wrong moment that the gods put your face in the yellow.”

“
What? No. I did that myself. I didn’t want your brother to see me watching him.” Riona finally reached the outside. The light was dimmer because of the later part of day and a rare shadow was cast down from the mountain over where she stood. “And I chose to have sex with you because I wanted to. I like to think the gods have nothing to do with what we do…naked…in bed. You should know, I
really
like sex with you, but I’m afraid it’s a way for me to be with you without having to be completely exposed and vulnerable. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And, well, you see I’m a survivor, and I’m not sure I can be trusted.”

“
Riona,” he stated.

She hurried, trying to get everything she needed to say out before he could interrupt
. “I’m a bad sister, and I actually care deeply for Aeron. I don’t know how to be a good sister. She is better off her with Clara and Kendall than with me.”

“
Bad sisters do not stay behind to save their sister when they think there is trouble.” He sounded reasonable.

Blast him for sounding reasonable
. It made her look all the more insane.

“
Riona? What is this?” Mirek tried to touch her but she didn’t let him.

The cool air caused a chill to work over her.
She gestured erratically and then lifted her hands helplessly to the side of her shoulders. “A marriage proposal?”

Mirek
’s eyes rounded in surprise.

Riona froze. Had
she just said that? Her? To him? Out loud? Even stranger was the fact she didn’t want to take the words back. She’d been trying to convince him why he should run far and fast from her, but instead she’d ended up…
proposing
?

She eyed him,
nervously waiting to see how he’d react. What would be worse—his laughing at her or his accepting? Laughing would make the most sense, but it’s not the answer she wanted.

Mirek
’s mouth opened but no words came out.

“
See, I make no sense—” Riona began to once again fill the silence when a small laugh came from behind a jutted rock near them. She turned her head sharply to the side in time to witness a boy’s ducking head. Grabbing a rock, she aimed it higher up the mountain so it wouldn’t hit the child when she threw it. The loud smack was enough to get him to come out of hiding. He hopped out in dragon form to face her.

“
You need to learn to be a lot quieter than that if you want to eavesdrop,” Riona scolded. “Now go find that Trant kid and tell him I owe him a rock. Where I come from, you don’t throw a stone unless you’re ready to receive one.”

“
Riona,” Mirek said with a note of censure in his voice. The dragon boy ran off as fast as he could.

“
I’m not going to hurt a child, Mirek,” she shot back.

“
I know,” he dismissed. “I want to talk about what you just told me.”

“
Forget it. I’m drunk,” she lied.

“
No, you’re not.”

Riona arched a brow. “
You could have just gone with that lie like a gentleman.”

“
Gods’ bones, woman, do you ever stop talking?”

“
You’re saying I should add loquacious to my list of attributes?”

“
We don’t have that word,” Mirek said.

“
It means talking a lot,” Riona defined.

“
I’m not really one who can judge successful marriage proposals, but I’m pretty sure listing what you feel are negative qualities about yourself is not the way to do it.”

“
It should be.” Riona crossed her arms over her stomach. “That way you know what you’re getting.”

“
Okay, then I work too much. I’m impatient, as proven when I claimed you instead of waiting a year as the gods clearly intended. I forget to eat when I’m busy and then get grouchy because I haven’t eaten. I might have known I was wrongly encouraging my brothers to build a nest for their wives as revenge for making me write some really long reports they had no intention of reading.”

“
Now that’s funny,” Riona inserted. “They looked really proud of those nests.”

“
I didn’t tell you, but after we made love for all those times the first night we came together, I had to go to a medical booth because my man bits were really sore.”

Riona gave a small laugh. “
What else are medical booths for? I won’t apologize for that.”

“
I talk to myself.”

“
You also mumble talk in your sleep.”

“
I do?” he asked in surprise.

Riona nodded.

“When you were unconscious, I’d talk to you,” he continued. “A few times, when it was really late, I would have your half of the conversation for you. You are nothing like I imagined.”

“
Is that good or—”

“
Shush. It’s my turn.” Mirek held up his hand and demanded she keep quiet. He was quite handsome as the breeze rustled his hair into his eyes. Running his hands over his head, he uselessly pushed it back only to have it blow forward again. “For the record, you are a lot more contrary than I imagined, and a lot more entertaining.”

Riona let her
gaze drift over his handsome face.

“
The doctors told me that the medicine they were trying would make conceiving impossible for several years, and may cause permanent infertility. I told them to do whatever it took to save you. I had no right to make that decision on your behalf, but the other alternative was possibly watching you wither away.” Mirek’s expression turned sad. “I’m selfish. I didn’t want to lose you. I defied the gods to claim you and that act is the most dishonorable thing I have ever done. When I saw you, I knew I had to marry you. My crystal glowed and confirmed it. I took your choice away from you. I’m impatient, selfish and I’ve tarnished my honor. But if you still want me, yes to your marriage proposal.”

Happiness erupted inside her and she knew she was doing what she wanted. The idea terrified her and still she didn
’t pull back. “So we’re doing this? We’re married now? We’re getting married later? How does this work?”

“
I’m not sure. There’s the new festival coming up,” he said. “I think we have to complete the ritual for it to be recognized by the gods.”

“
You wear a loincloth for that, right?” she asked.

“
I do.”

“
Then I agree. We will complete the ceremony. Only we’ll do it privately. No reason to create a scandal over it. I mean, you’re marrying me, so I’m sure there will be plenty of scandal in your future.” She gave him a mischievous smile. “I can’t believe it. We’re getting married.”

“
Yes.” He nodded, grinning. “We’re getting married.”

“
All right, so we’re doing this. We’re both insane, you know that.” She stepped toward him and lifted her arms to his neck. “You deserve better than me, my lord.”

“
You should add ‘talks nonsense’ to your list,” he whispered. “That will be the last time you say any such thing. The gods chose you for me.” He leaned in to kiss her only to stop. “And even if they hadn’t chosen you, I would have.”

Riona tried to reach her mouth to his and frowned when he didn
’t kiss her. He pressed his body tightly to hers and she felt every hard and interested inch of him.