Discovery (Hybrid Book 1) (14 page)

“Nice horse,” she commented as Tenset busied himself getting a pair of small glasses from a cabinet and pouring a little clear liquid into each.

Avoiding talking about herself was her aim for tonight, well, it was one of them anyway. She’d had enough awkward conversations about her parentage, how she was brought up in a research facility, and her ability to last six lifetimes. Steering the conversation, so he talked about himself seemed a far more relaxing option, besides listening to that deep voice was a pleasure in itself.

He walked over to her, and handed her a glass.

“That is Champion Stormborn Talshiar. The best horse I’ve ever bred. The geldings we rode back last night are his grandsons.”

“Tell me about you, Tenset, rather than the title,” she said with a mischievous grin as she sat down on the sofa. He didn’t hesitate in joining her, close enough that their thighs touched. His arm lay across the back of the sofa behind her, and she leaned into his side. Yes, she was being forward, but she didn’t have a lot of time to play with. Connor’s ‘few days’ usually reduced to one, so she was living on borrowed time already.

Not being able to hear his voice, several times a day, even if it was via the com unit was odd. She missed him, missed his comforting bulk that had been a fixture in her life for so long, but sitting here with Tenset, like this, wouldn’t have been possible if Connor was here. Perhaps she was weird, but the idea of being sandwiched between them, and them both being all right about it was very appealing. And so not ever going to happen.

“You are so beautiful Chesara, inside and out,” he whispered as he brushed the back of a finger down her face.

She felt a surge of excitement in her belly, so much for avoiding talking about herself; Tenset seemed to want to avoid talking altogether. Despite her previous thoughts, this was going just a little faster than she was comfortable with. Pulling her eyes away from his, she desperately trying to avoid looking at his broad chest, powerful thighs, or his groin, she tried to get the conversation back on track.

“So what does a Lord of Kalzir do with himself all day?” she managed to get out, cursing the slightly breathless way she said it, damn if he knew he was getting to her.

Tenset sat back into the cushions, and she wasn’t sure whether she was pleased about that or not. One minute she wanted him to take control, the next she had a picture of her old nurse in her head, firmly telling her that ‘nice’ girls didn’t sleep around. Unfortunately as much as she’d spent her life trying to deny it, Chesara wasn’t a ‘nice girl’. Hell, she wasn’t even fully human, so where did that leave her moral compass?

“Well, I run this place, as well as three other estates owned by the family, although it’s just me and my Uncle now. Most of it is mind numbingly boring, as are all the political manoeuvrings at the social engagements I have to attend. When I can get away from all that, I ride, often recklessly, but don’t tell my uncle Tamas. I, dear lady, am the hope of the family. It’s a lot of pressure to tell the truth,” he said as he tried, and failed, to look hard done by.

She turned to him, radiating mock sympathy. “You poor, poor thing.”

He sighed dramatically as he pulled her in closer. “It’s a cross I have to bear, as is being extremely attractive and charming.”

“Yeah, but you love it, don’t you?”

A smile spread across his face. “You think I’m attractive and charming?”

She felt herself start to redden, but then he leaned the few inches between them and brushed his lips against hers. It was such a soft touch, but felt like an electric shock. If this was what a gentle kiss felt like what would happen if he actually touched any of the places that were aching for his attention?

She pulled back and changed the subject.

“So, if you’re a humble horse breeder, how did you get mixed up with this diplomatic ‘meet and greet’ for an off-worlder like me?”

His features clouded over. Obviously, she’d stepped on a raw nerve. She touched his face in apology. “Sorry if I said the wrong thing.”

“No, no don’t apologize; it’s not your fault. But I think now is as good a time as any to make a small confession.” He took both her hands in his, and looked into her eyes.

H
er heart fell. Why didn’t anything ever work out as she wanted it too?

“Don’t say it, whatever it is, don’t say it,” she blurted out.

He sighed, and she knew it was a lost cause. He had exactly the same expression that Connor did when he was about to deliver bad news.

“Chesara, I haven’t been entirely truthful with you.”

“No shit. Why did I get the idea that you’d be any different to anyone else?”

She tried to get up, but he swung a leg over her thighs pinning her in place.

“My Uncle and I have orchestrated a subterfuge, in order to be able to talk to you before you met the ruling family, Lord and Lady Harmon. As far as they know you are still aboard your ship, and won’t be landing till tomorrow evening.”

Chesara’s mind did a few mental back flips, but she concluded that as she hadn’t been hurt, she might as well hear his explanation before jumping off the deep end and demanding to be taken back to the embassy immediately.

“What about the function at the palace I was meant to attend last night? Was that also a lie? Were you always intending to bring me here? Did you set up that fight and that injured girl just so you could test me?” She pushed his leg off her and stood up.

“No, no I had nothing to do with the fight. Please believe me, but yes I’d hoped you could help Roseanne.  I certainly wouldn’t have done anything that’d risk your life, you’re so essential to us.” His eyes implored her to trust him.

Chesara was acutely aware that he hadn’t mentioned he’d nearly died trying to protect her, but she also had it in the back of her mind that he knew about her ability. Had he taken a risk on being injured, knowing she could save him in order to make himself more believable?

“Do you believe me sweetheart? I don’t think I could handle it if you thought I would allow you to get hurt on purpose. Please let me explain the reason for what we did, there wasn’t another choice.”

She glared at him. At the moment, there was nothing she could do, she didn’t even know how to get back to the embassy. If she didn’t turn up as expected, the Apollo would come looking for her, and god help Tenset when Connor got hold of him.

“Well go on then, spit it out. I get the impression I’m going to have to hear this whether I like it or not. You do know Connor will probably want to remove your head when he finds out you’ve kidnapped me?”

At least he has the guts to look ashamed, she thought.

“Things started going wrong on Kalzir about sixty years ago, when Lord Harmon’s father took power after my Grandfather Lord Beckett was murdered. The murderer was never caught, but it’s common knowledge that Harmon’s father, Lord Agett was responsible. As a woman, my mother Ellese couldn’t inherit and my uncle Tamas was considered too young.

As there was no suitable heir, Lord Agett took control as the head of the next highest-ranking family. After a few years, he forced my grandmother into a political marriage to protect her children, but he declared his own son Harmon, his successor when he was born ten years into the marriage, disinheriting Tamas.”

Chesara watched his face as he spoke; the obvious difficulty he had with sharing what had happened to his family was evident. To his credit, he wasn’t using the private pain of what happened to his mother and grandmother to convince her. He took a large swallow of his drink before continuing, and she sipped at hers.

“So Lord Harmon is your uncle too?” Chesara noted the grind of his teeth when she brought up the connection. Tenset nodded slightly before continuing.

“My family, the Shamir, have remained quite privileged. We’ve always been popular with the people, and it was crucial for Lord Agett to retain the support of the general population. If he’d come down hard on us, there might have been a civil war.

“I know this is probably difficult to understand, but the Shamir are one of the founding families on Kalzir, and our whole society is based on our heritage. My line, all the way back to the day the first ship that landed, have always prided ourselves on being champions of the people, working to improve hospitals and schools, living conditions and such.

“However, although we have lived in relative comfort since the coup, the people have suffered. Watching them suffer isn’t easy for us.” He paused to take another sip of his drink.

Chesara didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t help thinking about her surroundings. If the Kalzirian people were starving, the Shamirs didn’t seem to be suffering much alongside them.

“Investment by Agett was low, but his son siphons off all funds for his own use. He’s increased the size of his personal guard, till it’s far bigger than the planetary forces and far better funded. He also funded your trip here, I don’t know how much you know about the fees the Federation charges for you, but you are actually rather expensive.” He smiled at her and ran a finger down her cheek.

He was right about her not knowing what it cost to hire her, she’d never actually thought about it. She just healed the people who were presented to her, and for the first time, she realized that she had no idea about how those people were selected.

It made her feel dirty to think that she’d probably been used as a cash cow, rather than to save the most lives. Rationally, she knew she couldn’t be everywhere, heal everyone, and that at some level selection of patients had to take place. It was just that she’d happily left it to others. She wondered how much input Connor had in selecting patients, or if he was as helpless as she was in this. She thought he probably had a choice once they were at a particular location, as she often healed people that couldn’t possibly afford it, while she was on a specific assignment.

“We try to help people as much as we can,” he said and this time she couldn’t help looking around at their more than comfortable surroundings.

He waved a hand to indicate the room, and the mansion in general.

“All this has been here since the colony was a hundred years old. The vast majority of the income from the various estates goes to support local people. We have a large staff at all the properties, far more than we actually need. All the staff receives relatively high wages, and I provide housing and as many jobs as possible. Most of our produce never sees a market, it’s given away. Any profit is taxed heavily, so I try not to make any.”

“The increasing taxes pay for Harmon’s building works, private army, and recently your visit, mean that most Kalzirians struggle to feed, clothe, and house themselves. To be frank, even if they can get to a local healer, what can be done is quite limited. You could see what little had been done to help Roseanne. Frankly living conditions have deteriorated so much that life expectancy has dropped by ten years since he came to power.”

Tenset fell silent, lost in contemplation of the pain of his fellow Kalzirians. With her fingers on his chin, she raise his chin until she could see his pain filled eyes.

“And I’ve made it worse.” It was a statement not a question, but she wasn’t looking for sympathy over her unwitting guilt. “What do you think I can personally do about this? I can heal, but I can’t change the political structure of an entire planet. Surely the thing to do would be to contact the Federation. Kalzir is a member planet, I’m sure they’d help if things are this bad.”

He shook his head. “Do you think we haven’t tried that?”

“Harmon sends a large proportion of the taxes he gathers to a particular representative on the Federation council. We’ve tried to contact the council many times, messages either get lost, or our representative never makes it to his destination. My father was one of the first we sent, his ship apparently had a ‘faulty’ drive, he never made it out of the system.”

His eyes briefly rested on the images of the happy couple, unmistakably his parents she decided.

“Since then, only Harmon’s representatives are officially allowed to make off-world contacts, although we managed to get a little information by bribing embassy staff.”

She was sympathetic to the plight of his people, but she knew she was only getting one side of the story, and as much as she liked Tenset, she realized his interpretation might be significantly biased.

“You still haven’t told me what you think I can do.” Chesara spoke in a soft voice, she knew from the way he was delaying telling her that she probably wouldn’t like the answer.

This time it was Chesara who took a gulp from her glass, then wished she hadn’t as her eyes watered and her throat burned as she coughed. Unable to make a sound beyond a squeak, she nodded that she was ok. Actually once she got over the shock, the way she could feel a line of heat moving downwards through her chest was rather pleasant, and she took a second more cautious swallow.

Tenset’s large hand remained on her back after she’d finished coughing. He was certainly back within ‘kissing’ distance, and the importance of what they had been discussing faded as her body’s reactions to his presence took over. Time seemed to stand still, and she felt herself willing him to lean in and kiss her, whilst kicking herself for not kissing him first. What was she a woman or a mouse? She should live up to her own imagination and not be discouraged by remembering lectures about ‘sluts and tarts’.

T
enset watched as the Milsac laced liquor started to produce its aphrodisiac effect. The plant extract was only available from ‘certain’ retailers, although Tamas hadn’t had a problem obtaining it. Usually, he’d have been willing to rely on his own seductive abilities, but he’d had no idea how ‘easy’ she’d be, and there had been a tight time constraint. He’d only added the Milsac to her glass, although he’d been prepared to take some himself before he’d actually met her. Now he knew he didn’t need anything ‘artificial’ to be aroused by her. The natural plant extract reduced inhibitions in a similar way to alcohol, but it also stimulated the arousal centers in the brain, making the consumer particularly prone to sexual arousal.