“I regret what I did,” I admitted. “I apologized to him.”
“And did Braxis accept your apology?”
“Partially. Honestly, I'm not sure.” I shrugged. “We made a bargain.”
Rusalla chuckled. “Yes, my chief loves bargains.”
“He agreed not to use the Silver Tongue on me if I agreed to... behave as his mvarra in all things but sex.”
Her eyes widened and she sat forward. “So, he truly wishes to mate you?”
“I amalreadymated,” I growled. “I cannot bear another Bleiten's mark.”
“That is not true. It's never been done before but there is no reason it can't be.”
“The reason is that I don't want him.”
“I think we both know that's a lie,” she said smugly. “I also saw your face when you fled. Your cheeks were flushed with desire.”
“Desire and love are two different things and I cannot give in to one without the other.”
Rusalla sighed deeply and sat back in her chair. “I have the great honor of knowing Braxis longer than any Bleiten aboard this ship. I looked after him when he was a child and now, I counsel him in his adulthood. He is wise and strong and loyal to those he loves. There are very few men like Braxis Fengoth.”
“Thank the Gods for that,” I shot back.
“You've seen the worst of him,” she said softly. “Braxis can be fierce and frightening but he can also be kind. He can be stubborn and clings to his beliefs but also compassionate and reasonable. When you rebuked his advances and his offer of an alliance, you challenged him in a way that no woman ever has. That spiked a sharp interest inside him, one that your beauty turned into something even stronger. Then you hurt us, and you altered his blossoming affection into a dark obsession. His goal was once to free his people but now, possessing you has become his priority.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to know that you spoke the truth this morning,” Rusalla said urgently. “Heisa good man. All he's ever wanted was freedom for us. Yes, he tried to assassinate but you need to understand that his endeavors had reached a desperate level. He truly believed that it was the only choice left to him and one woman's life is nothing when compared to the wellbeing of the Reaksarian Tribes.”
“I know King Lucifer hasn't treated your people fairly but he has his reasons,” I said, refusing to even get into Braxis' failed assassination attempt. He hadn't known me then, I didn't take it personally, though I did think it contradicted her opinion that he was a good man. The mere fact that he could assassinate anyone put his honor into question. “If you don't recognize Lucifer as King, he can't trust you. Hell is one of the few planets I know of that is not united under the rule of its monarch.”
“Earth isn't united and from what I've heard, it does just fine.”
“Earth is constantly at war,” I argued. “Lucifer is right to want to unite his planet. He's only trying to protect his people.”
“You say that he hasn't treated us fairly, but I don't think you truly understand what life was like for us,” she protested. “You think us primitive compared to the rest of Hell and we are, but only because he's kept us so. Once, all Bleitens were like us.”
“When I first met Braxis, he was seated on a throne before a pile of skulls,” I said dryly. “I'm fairly certain that Lucifer doesn't force you to behead your enemies and display their skulls as trophies. On Earth, we call that psychotic,” I used the English word since I was referring to it. “It means mentally disturbed.”
“Those are the skulls of our ancestors, Amara,” Rusalla said sternly. “When a Bleiten dies, his or her skull is added to the others. It's a way for us to remember and respect them.”
“It's arespectfulpile of skulls?” I asked, trying my best not to sound scornful; I felt a little bad for my assumptions.
“It is tradition.”
“Well, regardless, you can't expect Lucifer to supply you with weapons to use against him.”
“No, but what about harvesting machines or drones or devices to help us build?” Rusalla shot back. “There are hundreds of advances that Lucifer Starsiene has denied us, all because we want to govern ourselves.”
“Then why not just accept him as King?” I asked. “Abbadon is far from Reaksar, you'd barely notice the difference.”
“He wants to send one of the Dukes of Hell to rule us.” She made a face to express how unwelcome that would be. “A foreigner with his foreign court who would know nothing about our customs and would doubtless try to change them and us. Consider your own reaction to the skulls of our ancestors. And you only spent a short time in my home. Imagine what a duke would do if he were forced to live among us.”
“You could have made a compromise.”
“With the House of Starsiene?” Rusalla sneered. “They only take, they don't bargain.”
