GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) (30 page)

They rolled across the floor, one over the other, as Cherry tried to escape and Vella strained to hold on. The battle escalated when Vella bit Cherry's left thigh so hard, severe pain shot through her hip. It immobilized Cherry long enough for Vella to straddle her waist and go for her throat.

Bucking and squirming, Cherry's thin fingers clawed at the girl's meaty ones. Although her robotic arm was able to drag one hand away from her throat, Vella was strong enough to maintain the choking hold with the other.

While the tingling in her arm was increasing with the continued contact, Cherry felt her strength ebbing. She knew unconsciousness might soon follow, but the look on Vella's face said she would not be satisfied with anything short of Cherry's death.

Anger took a back seat to desperation as Cherry realized she was truly fighting for her life. Without another thought, she released Vella's hand, pulled back her fist and slammed it into the girl's jaw.

Vella's teeth clacked together as her head snapped to the side. Cherry barely had time to gasp for air, however, before Vella tried to return the punch. Cherry's arm flew up to block the strike then reversed itself to deliver a backhanded swing against Vella's other jaw. This blow had sufficient power behind it to throw Vella off and send her sliding across the floor.

Lungs heaving and throat burning, Cherry struggled to her knees and prayed the girl would not get up.

Her prayer went unheard. Vella lifted herself on an elbow, shook her head then climbed drunkenly to her feet. As she staggered forward with bloodlust in her eyes, Cherry forced herself to rise as well. Swaying on her feet, she wondered how much more it would take to end this insanity.

The answer came to her with her next strained heartbeat. It was going to take everything she had.

In preparation, she sucked in as big of a breath as she could hold. The second Vella was within reach, Cherry drew back her fist and aimed for the girl's diaphragm. The punch lifted Vella off the ground and threw her several feet in the air before she crashed down again.

The hoots from the onlookers might have been satisfying if Cherry hadn't been so sickened by the cracking sound she heard when the girl hit the ground. In spite of the knowledge that she had had no choice in this, she feared she might have killed the girl.

The Princess's clap signified the official end of the match. Cherry stood by anxiously as a plump, middle-aged woman bustled out of the corridor and over to Vella. Two girls of Vella's age followed closely behind. The woman felt for a pulse, raised Vella's eyelids then skimmed her hands over the girl's unconscious form. A cursory exam of Vella's skull caused her to groan.

"She will be able to report back to work tomorrow," the woman declared then walked out of the room.

Each of the girls who had followed her in grabbed one of Vella's wrists and proceeded to drag her away.

Cherry breathed a sigh of relief that Vella was not seriously hurt. The moment she relaxed, however, exhaustion threatened to buckle her knees, but she was afraid that if she collapsed, someone would come and haul her off too.

"Your little Terran has more strength than one would imagine," Honorbound said to Gallant. "My curiosity is aroused. Perhaps you will permit us to question her now."

Gallant cocked an eyebrow at her. "I believe there is the matter of
my
curiosity to be satisfied first. Besides, I'm disappointed with her at the moment and would prefer to have her out of my sight. She didn't even give her opponent a decent nosebleed."

Cherry's gasp was covered by the laughter that echoed through the room.

Honorbound was still smiling as she called for the woman who had examined Vella and instructed her to take Cherry away.

"Is there a private area I can claim for my rest period?" Gallant asked.

"Of course," the Princess answered quickly. "It has been prepared for some time awaiting your arrival."

"Good. Take the woman there." He caught Cherry's eye for a brief moment. "Don't go to sleep. I'll expect you to make up for your lack of fighting passion when I join you."

The others around the table clearly approved of his disgusting attitude. If Cherry's mouth wasn't so dry, she would have spit at him. Before she even left the room, he was back in deep discussion with Josep.

The woman led her down the side corridor and made several turns. She finally stopped in front of an animal hide that hung on the rock wall from about Cherry's thigh level to the ground. Lifting a bottom corner, the woman motioned Cherry through an opening barely large enough for her to crawl through.

As small as she was, it was no problem, but she knew Gallant would have a difficult time squeezing in. She also realized that meant several of the barbarians would not make it through at all, which seemed to be a positive factor under the circumstances.

Before Cherry knelt down, she pantomimed to the woman that she needed something to drink.

"That is good," she responded. "You are not only a decent fighter, you learn quickly. There is a container of refreshment inside. Be sure to leave most of it for your master."

As soon as Cherry crawled through the opening, the hide flap was lowered behind her. She was relieved to discover the floor had been padded with plush furs. The dim blue light emanating from the walls allowed her to see that the niche was about the size of Gallant's room on his ship, though not high enough to stand in. More furs were folded in a pile against one wall, and a ledge on another wall bore a quart-size ceramic pitcher and a small bowl.

A peek inside the pitcher told her it was filled with liquid, undoubtedly the refreshment the woman had spoken of, and her nose said it didn't smell any worse than the cavern itself. Her thirst demanded she take at least one sip. She poured a bowlful and finished it all. It was neither good nor awful, and it was close enough to water to quench her dry mouth. She figured one more bowlful would do the trick.

She wished she knew what to think. Gallant had promised to be honest with her and had made her promise to trust him.

But Gallant had lied before.

He had seemed disgusted by his heritage when he had told her about it.

He also seemed to have become one of them without the least difficulty.

Which was the actor and which was the real man?

He had told the Princess he had known what he was for some time. Had he been referring to his planet of origin, or the fact that he was heir to a kingdom of warriors?

She took several more swallows of the liquid straight out of the pitcher. When a few drops dribbled down her chin and onto her chest, she was reminded of what a mess she was. There was nothing she could do about her stained, dirty jumpsuit, except to get out of it, so she did.

The woman had warned her to save the refreshment for her master and one glance inside the pitcher let her know there was less than one bowlful left.
Her master!
That'd be the day any man was her master.

She poured the remaining liquid into the bowl. Searching through the pile of furs, she found a linen sheet and dipped a corner of it into the liquid. A long soak in a hot bubble bath would have been her first preference but wiping the wet cloth over her skin was better than nothing. Strangely, the moisture evaporated almost as fast as she applied it. With each stroke she felt increasingly refreshed. In fact, she could feel herself smiling despite the lack of cleanliness, despite the brutal fight... even despite Gallant!

All of a sudden a wave of dizziness assailed her and she tossed aside the cloth to hold on to her head. It occurred to her that she might have been injured in the fight and not realized it at the time. Or she hadn't had enough to eat for how many calories she had burned. At least she was certain she had consumed enough liquid.

The moment she thought about the liquid, a possible reason for her dizziness
and
the smile came to mind. It had been ten years since she had consumed an alcoholic beverage but the memory of how her system responded to alcohol stayed with her. And the way the liquid had evaporated when it touched her skin certainly acted like alcohol as well.

She was drunk! And damned if it didn't feel great. Tomorrow morning she might have one hell of a headache, but for a short while, the pains and bruises were numbed. She looked down at the thigh Vella had chomped on. The teeth marks were distinct but the niche's blue cast prevented her from seeing if it was already discolored.

Why in the world had Gallant allowed that fight? Could he have really been as entertained by the raw violence as he had appeared? And why did he insist she be taken away afterward like a naughty child? Considering what she had just gone through, he could have at least allowed her to sit quietly in a corner and listen to the rest of Josep's story. Perhaps he knew what was coming and didn't want her to hear it.

Of course, she realized that she was somewhat to blame. There would have been no excuse to fight if she hadn't tripped Vella. But the girl had—

What had she done? She had tossed her a rib, in the same manner the others were doing with each other. No one at the table seemed to be aware that trays could be politely passed around any more than they would know what to do with plates or silverware. If she had simply caught the thrown rib, maybe nothing would have happened.

A little voice laughed at her rationale.

"It wasn't that." Cherry glanced around the area before realizing she was the one who had spoken.

You were jealous,
the voice teased.

"That's stupid. I've never been jealous in my life."

You were.

With a disgusted frown, she decided to ignore the voice and make up a bed with the extra furs. Since he had ordered her to stay awake, she wanted to be certain she appeared to be sound asleep when he got there. Then she could pretend to wake up to deliver a tongue-lashing he'd never forget. As soon as she lay down, however, her eyelids drifted shut.

"I wasn't jealous," she mumbled to herself. Everyone knows you have to really care about someone to be jealous.

You care.

Cherry turned onto her uninjured side and, nestling into the furs, let the effects of the refreshment send her to a place where she couldn't hear the irritating little voice.

* * *

Gallant crawled through the small opening prepared to immediately hush Cherry until his escort was out of hearing range. The sight that awaited him swept away all such practical concerns.

By
drek, she was a beauty. Stretched out naked on her back, her fair skin gleamed against the dark furs beneath and scattered around her. Her small breasts moved with each shallow breath and one knee was bent just enough to give him a full view of the private part of her that fitted him so perfectly.

When Vella had offered herself to him, he had purposely taken his time looking her over. She was young, voluptuous and would encourage him to be as forceful as his primitive nature demanded. Yet all he had found himself doing was comparing her attributes to Cherry's.

He was a bit surprised she hadn't stayed awake, if for no other reason than to argue with him.

The look on her face as she left the main room had promised swift retribution. He was certain his explanations would have calmed her... if he could have gotten her to listen at all. In a way, though, her falling asleep was the best thing that could have happened. He needed a few hours to digest all the information he had been given in the past hours and decide what he was going to do about it.

As he stripped off his clothes, he noticed the pitcher lying on its side and grinned. He had had one tankard of the brew served with dinner and his faculties had been dulled. Cherry would have had no way of knowing what she was drinking, until it was too late. If nothing else, she was guaranteed a sound night's sleep.

He lay down beside her, intending to leave her in peace. And he would have, if she hadn't immediately turned toward him... or if she hadn't instinctively reached for him. His arms enveloped her and pulled her close. As usual, when he came in contact with her, he was instantly aroused. Yet when her fingers skimmed that part of him, he gently moved her hand to a less sensitive area.

Their couplings were always desperate and unbelievably satisfying, even when they were both half-asleep. But for tonight, the only thing he truly wanted was to hold her close.

Thinking he could have lost her made his chest tighten, as it had several times since they landed on Lore. Though he knew he would have to give her up eventually, at least it wasn't going to happen tonight.

* * *

Cherry felt Gallant's leg and arm weighing her down before she was fully awake, but she could also tell he wasn't the only thing keeping her from rising. There wasn't an inch of her body that wasn't aching. She parted her dry lips to tell him to get off her but all that came out was a cross between a groan and a croak.

"Lie still," he told her, moving away. He was back beside her in a moment, helping her to sit up and bracing her with his arm.

She felt him press something against her lips and she raised one eyelid to see what it was. The sight of a bowl filled with liquid only made her groan and reclose her eye.

Gallant chuckled. "It's only water, with some restorative herbs in it. Drink up."