Voso did not speak for a long time, moving his lips thoughtfully over his fingers.
“Just get out with it, Voso,” Mozok muttered, folding his arms and looking out at the storm, which he could see would begin to wane soon. Trothplight was almost over.
“I am afraid you may have miscalculated something,” Voso said at last. “You could not have expected it.”
Mozok closed his eyes. Voso would not need to say what he was thinking; they both knew it to be true, and they had, for a long time. He could see it in Voso’s eyes, see that each encounter with the Human brought him closer to losing control of himself, to actually mating with her. Once that was done, then the game was likely over.
It wasn’t just Voso. Mozok felt it within himself: the slipping of his grasp on his self-control. He would never have entered into Trothplight if he had believed that a Human could withstand the trials to which they subjected her, that she would have the stamina or the desire. But most of all, he had underestimated her ability to attract them, thinking it was not possible for a Human to draw a Draquun or a Herstrakaa so close to her.
And if they mated with her, they would be unable to deny her wishes. Certainly, in legal terms, she would become their property, and so Old Celox would become theirs.
But if they mated to Mina Groza, she had only to ask for something, and they would be physically incapable of not giving it to her. Such was the nature of the bond. Humans did not understand it, and so they sometimes mistook their cultural practices for barbaric and male-centered. What they could not understand was that the legal entitlements that they believed men received were actually only responsibilities. They might sign the papers and hold the wealth, but she had only to wish for something and they would give it to her without question.
“Perhaps—” Voso began.
Mozok rubbed his face and waved at Voso impatiently.
“I will think of something,” he said.
But for the first time in his life, he was not certain that this was the case.
CHAPTER13
Mina gave a start when Voso approached her, a reaction that wounded Voso more deeply than he expected. The Human confounded him. At times he believed that he saw in her expression trust, acceptance, and a connection. But her moods were mercurial, and the warmth clouded over quickly, replaced by an impenetrable wall that made her eyes glaze over in hardness.
Such a wall was understandable, and so Voso was not as hurt by it. If she feared him, however, that bothered him deeply. It was in Voso’s nature to be a protector, and he was deeply troubled by anyone seeing him as something else. That Mina should feel this way troubled him even more deeply, but it was a feeling he knew he had to put in check. Mina was only temporarily his to protect, and she didn’t want to be. But she still should not be afraid of him.
She relaxed, however, and even smiled, however briefly. “I am… so glad to see you,” she said.
Voso tipped his head. “You appear frightened,” he said.
This made the Human smile, almost laugh. “I mean… you are a giant… uh… guy. And I never hear you. It’s sort of a jump scare.”
“Jump scare?” Voso asked. Then he added solemnly and before he realized that she must be joking, “I did not jump.”
This made her laugh. “No,” she said, “you didn’t. But I almost did.”
There was an awkward silence between them. Voso did not understand the temperament of Humans, who often seemed un-serious at the strangest times.
“Anyway,” Mina said, when the silence dragged on. “I need help getting out of here. I think I’ve walked down this same corridor like twenty times.”
“I shall escort you to your room,” Voso offered valiantly, extending his elbow to her. At least he knew what to do in this situation.
“Actually,” Mina said, looking behind her and lifting a finger to the window. “I was trying to get this place.” She turned toward the window and touched a finger to it. Voso stepped toward the window, and down where she was pointing. Below them were the glass peaks of the enclosed war memorial and gardens—a concession to Voso from Mozok at the end of the war.
“I just can’t find the stairs to that section.”
“Why?”
Mina turned to look at him. “Huh?”
“Why do you want to go to this place?” Voso asked. He had a defensive tone in his voice.
Mina looked confused. “Uh… it looks interesting. Like a garden. I want… to see some trees or something…” Her voice trailed off, and the look of fear that Voso so disliked returned to her eyes. “Is it forbidden? Is that why there aren’t any… you didn’t tell me that I—”
“It is not forbidden,” Voso said quickly. “It is…”
Mina was looking at him now, her raw, exotic beauty playing tricks on him. He did not feel capable of explaining the garden to her, not in that moment. But he was overcome with a desire to take her to them. Because she seemed to desire it, and because he saw it as an opportunity to make her see what kind of man he was.
