“I have never lied about my own intentions, Mina. I only failed to correct your misunderstandings… Which, I point out, I could not know that you had.”
“So you want me to end Trothplight.”
Mina’s words cut through Voso’s chest like a knife. It was unexpected, and he clutched his stomach because the pain was so very real. He knew then that he no longer wanted that.
Mozok did not respond immediately. He looked to Voso, and for a moment Voso was sure that they were communicating something, sharing something… could it be the same feeling?
“I have never told you anything different,” Mozok said, finally. “This was our intention from the beginning. You know this.”
Mina fumed and stalked about five meters away before pacing.
“And what about now?” she asked suddenly, turning toward them. “What about now? Do you still want me to end Trothplight?”
Voso was about to speak, an urge to explain to her that, at least speaking for himself, the answer was no. Things had changed, he could feel it, and he really didn’t want her to go anymore. He looked at Mozok, who also seemed on the verge of saying something—though he could not be sure what it was.
But Mina kept talking, her temperament suddenly furious. Voso could not understand the change in her attitude, so sudden, so seemingly unreasonable. Wildly, she waved her hands around in exaggerated fury. “You know what? I am so sick of this crap, and I’m sick of lying, cheating men getting their way. Everywhere. Everywhere it’s the same. I’m not backing out of Trothplight. So there. There is nothing that you can say or do to make me. So go for it, do your worst. See if I care!”
Her face was red and her fists were clenched up. Voso looked uncertainly to Mozok, wondering again what the Draquun made of all of this. If, like Voso, he had feelings for Mina, he might be feeling much the same as Voso. But if not, Mozok could have been on the verge of flying into a rage.
Voso realized then, in those moments before Mozok spoke, that he did not want to do anything to Mina that would make her leave. And yet the weight of the secret that they so obviously kept—because they could, because Mina had never asked directly what would happen after Trothplight ended—was eating away at him.
He stood up, his eyes on Mozok. He was bound by many competing forces; his bond with Mozok was the strongest, but he could not fight off the growing love he felt for Mina. “Ask what happens when you complete Trothplight,” he blurted. Mozok’s eyes narrowed angrily in his direction.
To Mozok, Voso said quietly, in Draquun, so that Mina might be able to understand it, “You know very well that she does not understand. And you are tricking her in this way. I cannot continue down this path.”
Mozok seethed but said nothing.
Mina looked back and forth from one to the other, her arms crossed, her fury mounting. “What do you mean, what happens after Trothplight?” she said. Her voice was icy and quiet now, realization settling in. “I win. That’s what the contract says. I win.” She looked back and forth to each of them some more, reading their expressions.
“I knew it,” she said quietly. She pointed a finger at Voso, and her anger hurt him as surely as though she had actually stabbed him. “You. Because you are at least somewhat honest. You tell me. What happens after Trothplight? If I don’t leave?”
Voso’s heart ached. “You win,” he said. “That is true. The land will be leased to your company.”
Mina blinked, waiting for more. “And?” she snapped, when Voso added nothing more.
She looked to Mozok, following Voso’s eyes.
Mozok glared for a moment at Voso, who returned his glare without apology. He knew he had done the right thing, and Mozok would come to understand that in time as well. Mozok was an honorable man, and even if he did not have the same feelings for Mina that Voso did, he could be made to understand that this was an unfair arrangement. A victory would be hollow and bring dishonor to them both.
“No one expected you to stay until the end,” Mozok began uneasily.
“Tell me. What happens. If I do!” Mina snapped. She thrust a finger in Voso’s direction. “He said ask and so I am. I win. I get the contract. Okay. I knew that. But what else?!”
“This is true,” Mozok said, sending Mina into an apoplectic fit of mutterings that Voso could not understand. “However, if you have completed Trothplight, you are legally married to us.”
Mina stopped muttering and seemed to freeze to inanimateness.
“Okay,” she said quietly, spinning on a heel. “Okay. Okay… so… so, what? So, what?” She looked at them. “So what. Big deal. That was your stupid mistake. I don’t care if I’m married to you, I’ll just leave. You can do that. I know that you can. I’ve met Herstrakaa women who left their husbands here.” She turned her chin up defiantly.
Voso could not know if Mina knew that doing such a thing would be devastating for them. She must not. He could not believe that she meant it.
It hurt too much to think about. Voso was beginning to realize the unthinkable: even without actually mating with Mina, even without the ritual to accompany it, even if he had never knotted inside of her, he felt deeply for her, and he didn’t think it would ever go away.
“Tell her,” Voso said, again in Draquun. He would not be able to bear it if Mina was not allowed to know the truth.
“You can do that,” Mozok said calmly. He was having a hard time meeting Mina’s eyes. “But you, and your contract, would remain—always, under Astrogodan law, which rules in this case, as you know—your contract would be ours. Legally.”
Mina’s eyes grew wide. She started to speak, and then stopped, and her face became red with fury.
