His eyes flicked to the camera again, then back to her. The message was clear—he couldn't answer that question. Not here, not with their every word being recorded and analyzed.
"What I believe is that I have powerful leverage. What I believe is that the information I possess is valuable enough to warrant my release. What I believe is that Annani is curious enough to keep talking, and that as long as she's talking, there's opportunity."
"Opportunity for what?"
"For many things." His expression gave nothing away. "Annani and I have much to discuss."
Areana felt a chill run down her spine. She knew that tone—the carefully measured words, the deliberate vagueness, the hint of something vast lurking beneath the surface. Navuh was planning something big, and it irked her that she couldn't guess what it was.
"What are you going to tell her?" she asked.
"Let me save that for Annani."
The words were a dismissal, gentle but firm. He wasn't going to share more, not here, not now.
There was no point in pushing or even trying to follow how that magnificent, terrible mind of his worked. When Navuh decided to keep a secret, nothing short of a miracle could extract it from him.
Perhaps it was better not to know. Finding out what information he possessed would put her in an impossible position. She would be forced to choose between her loyalty to her mate and her love for her sister.
Some choices were better left unmade.
35
TULA
Tula stood in the doorway of her house, her and Esag's house now, and watched him carry a box from the golf cart parked on the gravel path.
It wasn't particularly large or impressive, just a cardboard box filled with clothes, but it was symbolic, and she was emotional, and as was usual for her lately, tears misted her eyes.
"That's the first of many," Esag said while setting it down and straightening with a smile. "I had no idea how much stuff I've managed to accumulate during my time in the village."
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his chest. "I love you. Have I told you already how much?"
He smiled, and that smile of his was as bright as the sun. "Yes, you did. Several times in fact. Some of them while panting, and others screaming while climaxing. Then you told me you loved me again when I left to get my things."
She scrunched her forehead and pouted. "Are those complaints I'm hearing?"
"Not a chance." He kissed the top of her head. "I love it." His arms tightened around her. "I will never tire of hearing you say that you love me."
"Good, because now that you've released the genie from the bottle, it will never go back in, so you'd better get used to that."
"I'm loving it." He lowered his hands to cup her butt. "But if you don't let me go, we will end up in bed again, and that cart is not going to unload itself."
"Fine." She released him. "The sooner you are done, the sooner we can return to our favorite activity."
He laughed, and it was the light sort of laughter she still remembered from five thousand years ago. The contagious laughter of a young male with no cares in the world.
When he was done, Tula looked at the boxes he'd brought in. "That's all? What about all the other boxes?"
His clothes filled two medium-sized boxes, and a small collection of books filled another. The last one contained some personal items and a few mementos.
"The rest contain my tools and the figurines, and those will go into the shed once it is built. In the meantime, I'll stack them up on the front porch." He surveyed the small pile with something like bemusement. "Five millennia of existence, and this is all I have. But then what else do I need?"
She liked that he wasn't the type of man who needed a lot of things to feel important. "You live your life unencumbered." She took his hand, threading her fingers through his. "When I left all of my possessions behind in the harem, I thought I would miss them terribly, but I don't. They were just trinkets, pretty thingsI liked to look at. They didn't carry much meaning. Things are not important. Relationships are. The Fates were merciful and allowed me to take all my friends with me, and that makes me happy."
He affected a pout. "What about me? Do I make you happy?"
She grinned. "The happiest."
