Stardancer (Tellaran Series) (20 page)

Aidar caught her arm and Kinara turned to throw him off.

“You cannot!”

“That’s my
brother
!” Kinara struggled against his hold. “Godsdamn it, let me go!”

“You cannot go to him!” Aidar whispered urgently. “You will shame us.”

“
I don’t care!
”

Kinara yanked her arm away. She pushed though the crowd heedless of whom she might offend, never taking her eyes off him, afraid he would vanish if she did. 

Amazement and joy spread across her brother’s face. Kinara was only a few steps away, ready to throw herself into his arms, when Unata turned and looked her full in the face.

Kyndan rushed toward her. 

A dark blur darted forward, knocking her brother off his feet then Aidar was in front of her, blocking her way to Kyndan.

“Your slave shames you, Unata,” Aidar said loudly, standing over Kyndan. 

Unata’s surprise was evident. “He does not usually act so.”

“His behavior is unacceptable!”

Kinara tried to get around him but Aidar shifted so she couldn’t.

“I agree,” Unata said quickly. Several people had been attracted by the commotion. Unata’s eyes flicked uneasily to the surrounding crowd. “I will have him punished.”

“No!” Kinara cried. 

“You are responsible for his behavior,” Aidar went on, sounding enraged. “The Az’anti have been offended, our lady assaulted in the chamber of the Elders! We will not tolerate this!”

Unata blinked and an older woman pushed her way to the front. “You cannot mean the Az’anti will declare clan war?”

Aidar addressed the Lady of the Az’quen. “Your daughter’s slave has offended us.
You
have offended us.”

Kyndan struggled to his feet. Snarling, he leapt at Aidar.

Aidar stuck him hard. Kyndan collapsed under the blow. Kinara cried out and instantly realized her mistake as Unata looked between them.

Unata’s mother addressed Aidar. “What do the Az’anti ask to keep the peace?”

Aidar nodded to Kyndan. “Give over the Tellaran slave to us.
We
will punish him.”

The lady bowed. “I give him and offer our apology to the Az’anti. I will have him brought to your house before evening meal.”

Aidar bent his head in acknowledgment. “Honor is satisfied. We will keep the peace.”

Aidar pulled her away. Kinara twisted her head to watch as one of Unata’s warriors tossed Kyndan across his shoulders like a sack. 

She was still shaking as Aidar led her into the sunshine of the street.

Kyndan — here,
alive
— all this time. Why did she never think of it? After the destruction of the
Rapier
why did she never wonder that if the
Ty’pran
had taken one Tellaran crew it might have taken another?

All these months he was
here
, held captive on Az-kye. 

Her heart sped up.
He’s alive! He’ll be at the house in few hours! I need to get word to Papa! Gods, if I’d only knew it sooner I’d have—

She stopped, dropping the hem of her elaborate gown in the soft powdery dust of the street, her iridescent jaha feather fan dangling at her side.

“You knew,” she breathed. “You knew my brother was alive.”

“This is so.”

“
This is so?!
You let me think he was dead and all along you
knew
?”

Aidar’s glance darted about, taking in the Az-kye around them. He took her elbow, gently urging her to a quiet place beside the building. It was shaded and cooler here away from the crowded street.

“I can’t believe this!” She shook her head. “I can’t
believe
it! After all your talk about
honor
, about not keeping secrets, about
no lies
between us? You hid this from me? Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I do not know.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I thought did I tell you—”

“You don’t know?” she cried. “Kyndan was being kept—oh, gods, as Unata’s slave!—not two kilometers from where I slept and you don’t even
know
if you were going to tell me my brother was alive?”

He swallowed. “He is . . . Tellaran.” 

“Right,” she choked. “My brother is nothing. Tedah, my friends, my family all of them
Tellarans
, so they don’t matter at all.”

“You are Az-kye,” Aidar said hoarsely. “You are Az’anti. You have no Tellaran family, my mate.”

He never would have told me.
 

Her hand pressed flat against her breastbone.
Gods, that means he’s been lying all along. My friends, my brother, all this time I could have helped them! I can’t believe it. I was so caught up in Aidar I actually went along with what he said. What the hell was I doing letting him keep my friends in cages? Why did I think that setting them free even mattered to him?
 

Her brother’s too thin, bruised face flashed through her mind.
Stars, what’s Kyndan been going through while I was being dressed up like a doll and fucking the enemy?  

Kinara’s fingers curled into a fist.
I trusted him. I fell in love with him—a festering
Az-kye
!—gods, I’m so starblasted stupid!   

The humiliation of it, the
shame
of it, rose up in a flash of red.

“I am
not
one of
you
!” she snarled. “And what you mean is I have no mate!”

His dark eyes widened. “What is this you say?”

“You promised to free my crew, to send them home in return for me being your mate! You broke that promise!”

“Such was not my doing!” He held his hands out to her. “I did not know that Baruta would offer to buy them. I did not know the Elders would order it done. We could do no other but obey them.
Cy’atta
, I am sorry!”

“Sorry? For losing my friends when you promised to help them? For letting me believe my brother was dead? For leaving him enslaved when you could have told me, when you could have
helped
him? Gods, I’m such a fool!” She stepped back. “No, this is finished now. Whatever this is, whatever we had, it’s over!”

“Please,” he croaked. “
Cy’atta
, I—”

“There you are, foster-brother!” A lady with sweet features hurried toward them, her expression happy and relieved as she embraced Aidar.

She frowned when she caught his expression and he looked away from the woman’s concerned gaze. 

The woman turned to her and her smile returned. “You must be Kinara,” she said, embracing her briefly. “I am Cenna, Aidar’s foster-sister.” She looked between them. “I have been looking everywhere for you.”

Aidar’s face was white. “We . . . were delayed.”

“Ah, the crowds and dust are terrible today,” Cenna said with a disapproving glance at Aidar. “And you would keep your mate talking here till she grows faint from hunger and misses the celebration you planned for her!” 

Cenna looked between them, a frown touching her brow.

“You must both come with me now,” Cenna said firmly, cheerful again and hooking her arm through Kinara’s. “Aidar wished to mark the day of your meeting with the Elders and everyone is come for your party, Kinara. The house is full to bursting already.”

“I don’t—I need to go—” Kinara began as Cenna led her into the street.

“Yes,” Cenna agreed, squinting against the dust and pushing her way through the crowd. “We must hurry and get out of this mob, they grow more unruly with every passing year! Everyone waits to meet you. The little ones are terribly excited! I fear if we do not arrive soon they will work themselves into crying fits.”

Halfway across the square their way was suddenly blocked by a huge, scowling warrior. 

“Where have you been, Cenna?”

Cenna smiled and stood on tiptoe to brush a kiss against his cheek. “I was looking for Aidar and Kinara, my mate.” 

“You
must
not wander away so!”

Cenna’s face was a mix of amusement and impatience. “Kalen believes I will be stolen away by another warrior do I take five steps from him,” she said to Kinara.

“She does never listen to me,” Kalen complained bitterly to Aidar.  “I hope your mate is not so contrary as mine own.”

“Oh, nonsense!” Cenna sniffed, steering Kinara toward the litter. “I walked but a few feet across the street! And I found them right away standing outside. You worry overmuch.”

“You give me much to worry over,” he shot back. “You are a disobedient mate!”

Cenna made a face at him. “And you are too slow a warrior if you cannot keep up with me.”

“Do you hear this, Aidar?” Kalen demanded as Cenna hustled her into the litter. “The woman sneaks away then calls me slow!”

Their arrival at Cenna’s house brought a tidal wave of eager relatives waiting to meet her. Kinara endured their greetings and the embraces as best she could. 

She sat stiffly beside Aidar as they were toasted and teased at the feast. She watched the entertainers with a semblance of attention but she couldn’t bring herself to do more than taste any of the elaborate dishes set before her. 

One of Cenna’s little ones ran up, startling her, and Aidar caught the boy in his arms. The toddler held out a bent flower for her and she took it, forcing a smile. Her gaze met Aidar’s as he looked at her over the head of the child with eyes dark as his.

She turned away quickly.

Her brother lived. She would see Kyndan soon.

She would get her crew back home. 

She’d get them
all
back home.

If she hated the man beside her, there would be plenty of time for revenge.

Kinara evaded Cenna’s repeated attempts at conversation, relieved when the woman finally turned her attention on Aidar. One of Cenna’s cousins teasingly asked when they could expect to be invited to the Az’anti house for a child’s naming ceremony. 

Kinara bit back her sharp reply. She was riveted as she watched Aidar’s foster-brother come through the door.  

Dael, arriving late, had brought Nisara to the party.

Aboard the
Rapier
, Nisara had served as helm officer. She had a quick mind, cheerful disposition and was a brilliant student at the academy.

That gifted pilot with the bright future now sat enslaved at Dael’s feet. She was dressed in the white of the clanless and he fed her bits from his plate like a favorite pet.

Kinara looked sharply at Aidar. He flinched and dropped his gaze.

He’d given Nisara to Dael?

Gods, when did he do that?

Not having seen her crew much she hadn’t even realized the girl was missing. 

I should have. They’re my responsibility.

Kinara’s fingers clenched. He promised, he
promised
none of the other women would be touched.