“Stars, how I’d love to be there when she finds out, but that’s another scenario. Do we have a deal on this one? I still need your word you won’t abuse her if things get out of hand. And I still want her back if she’s now dead set against you.”
“The giving of my word is unnecessary. Warriors do not abuse women for any reason. And I will do the deciding if I must give her up.”
“Fair enough. Then you’d better get back to see if you have a decision to make.”
“How do I—send you away?”
Chuckling came up at him again. “And here I thought you were going to blunder by forgetting about that. Very well, press the round button just below the monitor and I’m gone. Press it again and I’m back. And don’t forget I want some progress reports, at your convenience, of course. But before you turn me off, I should warn you that you’re in danger of taking a long time to get back to Tedra if you don’t slide the safety on on the phazor—that’s the rectangle that moves up and down. My readings show me the phazor is still on max, the setting Tedra last dialed, since she wasn’t going to take any more chances with you that day. If you accidentally stun yourself, you’ll be out of commission for a good ten hours. And accidents are very probable when the safety isn’t on and the user doesn’t know what he’s doing. Have you got all that?”
“Yes.”
“Then good luck, warrior. You’re definitely going to need it, if I know my Tedra. And I do.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
“Are you comfortable, mistress?”
“Sitting in water? Getting wet? Am Isupposedto be comfortable?”
The sarcasm was unmistakable, but it didn’t bring the miserable expression to Jalla’s face. That had been there since the girl arrived with more food, and stayed to draw Tedra’s bath and urge her into it.
“A bath is said to be soothing after certain punishments,” Jalla offered.
That brought a rigid frown from Tedra. “Does everyone know I was punished?”
She realized that was a stupid question when she recalled how loudly she had screamed with frustration during the worst of it. But Jalla nodded anyway, and that made Tedra glower even more.
“That’s just great, just what I needed to know, that I’m more humiliated than I realized. And you’re no help, Jalla, so why don’t you absent yourself? You’re good at doingthat,aren’t you?”
The miserable expression got worse, causing Jalla to drop some genuine tears. “I know it was my fault, mistress. You may punish me if you wish.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tedra snapped, further annoyed that she’d been taking her anger out on the girl. “My actions are my own responsibility. If I didn’t venture out yesterday, I’d have done it sooner or later. So stop giving me that hangdog look. It doesn’t help to know you feel guilty. But whydidyou take off yesterday? Were you afraid you’d lose your dinner, too?”
“Lowden Ly-San-Ter would not have been as lenient as theshodanif the matter were brought to his attention. For no less than seven risings, I would have been assigned the chores I most dislike the doing of.”
“Is that all?”
“You scoff, mistress, but it is no pleasure being driven from your bed in the middle of the darkness to bake the bread for the first meal. Before the sun rising you have wilted from the heat of the great ovens, and your arms feel as if they will fall off, they are so sore from so much grinding and kneading. There are Darasha with thick muscles who love the baking of bread. To them go chores they donotlove when punishment comes to them. Master Lowden is wise in knowing what chores are most hated and by whom.”
Tedra could only shake her head. Barbarian reasoning was so fascinating. Trust them to find such harmless yet despised means for discipline.
She could not help grinning as a sudden thought hit her. “What happens if there’s a choreeveryonehates doing? Does it ever get done?”
“There are many Darasha in the castle, mistress, as well as many women under protection of theshodan.Thus is there always someone or other in need of punishment.”
“Almost guaranteeing that the one thing barbarians won’t want to trade for is robocleaners.” And that idea made Tedra laugh out loud.
Which was how Challen found her when he entered the room. This was not exactly what he had been expecting, but he got the expected the moment she noticed him. Her humor vanished instantly, and worse, she turned her back on him without the slightest acknowledgment of his presence.
Challen found himself at a sudden loss. He had been prepared to deal with the angry words the computer had promised would be his, not the damning silence it had also predicted. That silence sat on his shoulders, pushing them down in defeat as it continued.
He dismissed Jalla with a nod, but he made no move toward the bath once the girl was gone. Watching Tedra was out of the question. He was fully prepared to see to any remaining need she might have, now that the double dose ofdhayajuice had finally worn off. But her need must also be gone, and gaali stones could lose their light before he would force his own need on the woman, with her feelings for him so altered.
Tedra remained in the water, but certainly not because she liked it. It was more that the punishment denying her the use of clothing or even a covering made the bath slightly preferable just then to getting out of it. Or would the barbarian consider the water a covering? Ha! Just let him say so and she’d have an excuse never to get disgustingly wet again.
She had known Challen would show up eventually, and she’d been so afraid he would come before her body was hers again to command. She had thought he would want to take advantage of that, but he’d surprised her. Whether intentionally or not, he’d given her enough time to return to her normal inclinations and urges, instead of those he’d created. Her need for a man was gone. What she hadn’t counted on was its coming right back at the first sight of him. But it was controllable. It had farden well better be controllable.
“Do you intend to spend the whole darkness at your bath,kerima?”
