Challenges (32 page)

The cool water felt soothing against my skin, but did nothing to ease the fevered jumble in my mind. Part of me, the part still touching the power, was furious over the idea of Vallant being trampled. It wanted to lash out with fire in all directions to protect him, burning to ash anyone who didn’t back off. The rest of me, however, the larger and more basic part of ME, wept at the thought that I might not be able to help keep him from being trampled. It was the old story of my lack of self assurance, but that didn’t change the fact that I could well contribute to Vallant’s death.

And that was a thought I simply couldn’t live with. I now knew the probable reason all those men wanted me, but my knowing about it didn’t change things. Those rich and powerful men would continue to want me, and if Vallant got in their way they would simply brush him aside—even if the brushing killed him. That left me no choice but to discourage a relationship between us, doing my best to actually make the plan work.

I’d dried off on a towel and was brushing my hair when another knock came at my door, but this time someone actually stood on the other side. I opened the door to find Jovvi, who gave me a warm smile.

“It came to me that the best place for us to gather is your sitting room,” she said softly. “I’ve already checked, and the servants are all asleep—although one of them was at a peephole. The peephole gives a fairly good view of the hall outside our doors, and it’s so low down and hidden in a corner that I never noticed it. The man watching through it was only somewhat sleepy, but I had surprisingly little trouble overcoming that. Now that I’ve found that out I’ll have to watch myself to be sure I don’t begin taking advantage of everyone, but is it all right for us to gather here in your apartment?”

I nodded my agreement, trying not to frown at the flood of words she’d sent at me. Jovvi didn’t usually ramble like that, and somehow she seemed more excited than calm. For a moment the change was puzzling, and then I realized that the time was drawing nearer to when she would be with Lorand again. I watched her hurry back across my sitting room, probably on the way to let the men know where to come, and silently wished her all possible happiness with Lorand. It would be nice to know that at least someone was happy…

Jovvi was back rather quickly, and she seemed to have gotten control of herself again. In point of fact she now looked a bit worried, so I asked her if something was wrong.

“It’s not exactly wrong,” she replied, a bit of vexation moving through her expression. “It’s more a matter of making sure there
isn’t
anything wrong, but broaching the subject will be very awkward. Lorand and Vallant should be here in a minute, so let’s wait until they arrive before I go into details.”

“What about Rion?” I started to ask, but that was when Lorand slipped into the room, followed an instant later by Vallant. They also seemed to be looking for Rion, which made Jovvi shake her head.

“No, he isn’t late because I haven’t called him yet,” she said, answering everyone’s first question at once. “I needed to talk to the rest of you before I did, because we have a delicate problem to solve. We’re about to sneak his Naran into the house and hide her—but how do we know that she isn’t working for the testing authority?”

The question stopped me in my tracks, so to speak, because it was such a good one. We were all half killing ourselves pretending we weren’t getting along, but all our efforts would be out the window once we cooperated to sneak the woman in.

“I was about to say that Rion would know, but that isn’t true,” Lorand commented with a sigh. “Rion has no experience with women, and he’s absolutely crazy about Naran. So what do we do?”

“We have to find out for certain, but not behind Rion’s back,” Jovvi said, looking briefly at each of us. “First we have to tell him what we’re about to do, and that’s the part I’m having trouble with. What words can I possibly use that won’t upset him?”

“The sort of words you’re looking for don’t exist,” I said when the men simply shook their heads. “He
is
going to get upset, but maybe I can make it a little easier. If you’ll go and get him, I’ll give it a try.”

Jovvi hesitated very briefly before nodding and heading out of the room, so I went over to the tea service. Warming a cup of tea would take next to no effort, and I happened to need it.

“You’re touchin’ the power again, aren’t you,” Vallant said from behind me, the words somehow overly neutral. “Do you really think you need protection when you’re with no one but us?”

“I had to use the power to reply to Rion’s wake-up knock, and just didn’t happen to let go,” I responded without looking at him. “It doesn’t mean anything beyond the fact that I’m too lazy to keep touching and releasing the power, but if it really bothers you all that much, just say so. I won’t mind calming your worry by putting aside my strength.”

I turned with my teacup to look at him then, making certain my expression showed nothing but blandness. At the moment he seemed to be struggling not to frown, and before he was able to say anything at all, Jovvi reappeared, followed by Rion.

“I’m pleased that you’re all awake and ready,” Rion said with a grin once he closed the door. “I wasn’t able to sleep, so I thought I would help out those of you who could. I hope I didn’t startle any of you too badly.”

“Your staying out of the hall to do the waking was worth being startled,” Jovvi replied with a smile. “One of our watchers had set himself up where he has a view of our rooms, but he didn’t seem curious or disturbed enough to have noticed the knocking. He’s asleep now, so for the moment we needn’t worry about him.”

“But there’s something we do have to worry about, or at least I do,” I put in, saying the words before his very evident happiness made them even more difficult. “I hope you can forgive me for this, Rion, but my life until now has taught me not to trust anyone or anything. When your own parents betray you… Do you know how hard it was for me to really trust all of
you
?”

“I think I have a small idea,” he replied, the happiness having disappeared. “Are you trying to say you’ve changed your mind about wanting Naran in the house?”

“I’m trying to say that I won’t mind having her here at all—once I’m certain she’s actually the person she seems to be.” Again I had to speak quickly, to keep the sight of tragedy in his gaze from silencing me. “Jovvi and I were talking about that Lord Carmad, and we realized there’s even a chance that
he
works for the testing authority. We simply can’t afford to trust anyone at all, Rion, not until we’re completely certain about them.”

“I
am
certain about Naran, but I realize that it isn’t possible for the rest of you to be the same,” he said, apparently fighting to keep a certain stiffness out of his tone. “So what are we to do about her? Keep her living in the street until we’re certain she’s no threat, or simply torture the truth out of her?”

“Personally, I’d rather just question her with Lorand and myself being alert for evasions and half truths,” Jovvi said, looking at Rion with sympathetic diffidence. “You don’t …
really
think we’d harm her, do you? Rion…”

“No, Jovvi, of course I don’t think that,” Rion said hastily, responding to the air of … painful disappointment which Jovvi exuded like an odor. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, but this is all so very important to me. You four and she comprise the very fabric of my existence, and to think there might be a reason for your not getting along…”

“The only possible reason would be if she were lying to you and leading you on for her own purposes,” Jovvi said rather more firmly when it was clear that Rion couldn’t go on. “In that event she would be the enemy of all of us, but if she isn’t an enemy then she’s your beloved—and because of that, also one of us. Doubt will harm all our relationships, Rion, so we owe it to ourselves—and to Naran—to find out for certain.”

“You’re right, of course,” Rion agreed, his voice now almost toneless with tragedy. “I love her so deeply that it never occurred to me to doubt the reason for her attraction, but now… My love remains the same, but the boring insect of doubt now eats away at the heart of that love…”

“So we’ll just have to kill the doubt with truth,” Jovvi said briskly. “I think we ought to use our Blending to get Naran into the house if we can, but I’m somewhat nervous about using it to question her. We don’t yet know what we’re doing with it—not to mention what we might be capable of—and the last thing we’d want to do is hurt the girl. What do the rest of you think?”

“I think we need to find out what we’re capable of, and that as quickly as possible,” Lorand mused. “I agree that it would hardly be wise to experiment on Naran, but the longer we delay learning about our Blending, the more of a disadvantage we’re at.”

“But we can’t simply plunge ahead without knowin’ where we’re goin’,” Vallant pointed out. “A seaman learns how unwise that is when his vessel is torn apart on hidden reefs. Isn’t there some way we can get charts tellin’ us which way clear sailin’ lies? Somebody has to know.”

“The only ones who know aren’t likely to tell us,” I reminded him. “Unless we can figure out a way to kidnap one of the present Seated Five and force him or her to talk, we’re just going to have to manage this on our own.”

“Kidnappin’,” Vallant mused, those very light eyes directly on me. “Now that’s an idea…”

“But not a very practical one,” Rion said, clearly forcing himself to participate. “Each member of the Blending is always surrounded by guards when they come out of the palace, and when they’re inside the guards are on the grounds and three deep in the halls. It’s a marvelous idea, but as I said, not very practical.”

“And there’s no guarantee that the members of the present Five actually know what we’re searching for,” Jovvi suggested. “If our suspicions are true and they were chosen for their place rather than having won it, they might know almost as little as we do. Why don’t we Blend again, and then see if we can make any headway?”

The idea of that perked us all up, and as I put my cup of tea aside before starting to move into my assigned place, I had to suppress a surge of eager excitement. I very much wanted to Blend again, but even beyond that, time was passing. In just a little while we’d know the truth about Naran after having practiced as a Blending, and then it would be time to go to bed again…

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Lorand followed behind Jovvi as Jovvi lined up behind Tamrissa, each of them being very careful of their spacing. Vallant and Rion were also doing the same, and the air of excitement among them was almost thick enough to touch.

“One of the things we have to find out about is just how necessary this formation is,” Jovvi said when everyone was in place. “I have the strangest feeling about it, but that’s for later. Right now I’m about to close my eyes, touch the power lightly, and reached out to the rest of you.”

Lorand closed his own eyes and opened a bit to the power, and then Jovvi’s touch was there. He returned it almost automatically, at the same time reaching to the others, and in the next instant they’d Blended again. It all happened so fast that it was breathtaking, but one … layer, so to speak, of Lorand’s mind remained capable of a cool assessment. To that layer it was clear that his connections to the other men through Jovvi were solid and complete, as was his connection to Tamrissa and, through her, to Rion. But his bond to Vallant through Tamrissa was definitely weaker than all the others, which proved that the ladies had been right about intimacy.

*
I apologize for having made a fuss earlier about lying with Jovvi
,* the Vallant part of their Blended entity sent to everyone else. *
I wasn’t able to feel a difference the first time we Blended, but now there’s no doubt. My bond to Lorand and Rion is
much
stronger through Jovvi, which means we still aren’t entirely complete.*

*
But by tomorrow we will be,*
Tamrissa put in while Lorand felt amusement over the lack of Vallant’s usual drawl in his thoughts. *
Right now, though, I just want to fly again.
*

Lorand thought that that was a very fine way to describe the soaring sensation he felt. It
was
like flying, although when he paid stricter attention he noticed that at most they were floating somewhere above where they’d formerly stood. And where the others still stood. He could see them there in front of him, spread out just the way they were supposed to be, an odd winking glow about each of them—

*
I’ve just noticed that I’m looking at everyone, but I haven’t opened my eyes,*
Lorand told the others, the solidness of their presence all around him cushioning the shock of his discovery. *
Are the rest of you doing the same? Does anyone have his or her eyes open?
*

First unified agreement came, followed immediately by the same kind of denial. They
were
all able to see around them, but none of them had opened their eyes.

*
I wonder just how far this ability extends,
* the Tamrissa part of them mused. *
Do you think we’d be able to float outside, for instance, without going there physically?
*

*
I, for one, would enjoy trying,
* the Rion part of them agreed at once. *
The outer air calls to me as never before.
*

*
I sense a danger in doing that,
* their Jovvi part put in just as quickly before Lorand might add his own agreement. *
I suggest that we move our awareness only a short distance from our bodies, and then see what there is to observe.
*

Jovvi’s sense of caution now filled Lorand just as Tamrissa’s eagerness had a moment ago. He joined the others in agreeing to the suggestion, then agreed to a trial distance of approximately five feet. Once the agreement was complete their combined awareness floated over to the windows, where it paused to look around again.

*
This is delightful, but really strange,
* their Tamrissa part sent, her enjoyment not simply clear, but shared. *
I feel very free, but I’m also aware of a … line of sorts linking me to my body. It would be possible to disconnect the line, but for some reason that doesn’t feel like the right thing to do.
*