“Another emotion only women feel the sting of?”
“What?”
“Never mind. But whatwasthat nonsense she was muttering about? What’sdhayajuice being shelved have to do with my good humor? And I thoughtdhayawas a potent wine only warriors are allowed to drink.”
“That is so, but … how is it you do not know the purpose ofdhaya,as juice or wine?”
“Is this another one of those things every woman should know? Well, consider me dense and enlighten me so I can join the club of knowing-it-all.”
Jalla shook her head with a smile. “What you say sometimes makes no sense to me, mistress, and yet strangely, it does. But there is no mystery todhayajuice, and likely you know it by another name. It is what a warrior takes when he goes to raid or war so he-”
“That again,” Tedra interrupted. “It seems mighty unusual that, with as much as I’ve heard about raiding around here, I haven’t seen any proof of it.”
“Why, theshodanraided Kar-A-Jel just this last full moonrise,” Jalla said, surprised Tedra didn’t know that either. “But of course, theshodanof Kar-A-Jel, Falder La-Mar-Tel, he is no more than a pest. He snips at our feet, raiding the farms in our valleys. He has not the courage to face ourshodanin challenge.”
“Just a regular pain in the ass, huh?”
Jalla giggled again. “This is true. So our warriors usually go twice a year to retrieve the women andhataarithat are stolen.”
“But what if a warrior’s life-mate is taken? Must he wait months to get her back if Challen retaliates only twice a year?”
“He can go alone to retrieve her, or buy her back. Or he can wait, since there are others to take her place, there being no lack of available women in Sha-Ka-Ra.”
“I would have to ask,” Tedra said in disgust. “Now what was that about thedhayajuice?”
“It is taken for raiding so a warrior will not lose himself in the lust of the moment and do harm to a woman. It is what a warrior takes when he goes off for many rises to hunt, so he will not be distracted by thoughts of a woman. It is what a warrior will take if he journeys far from his own woman and wishes to be tempted by no other. And it is what a warrior will take if he must punish his own woman.”
“Just what is it supposed to do for these mighty warriors, particularly in the matter of punishment?” Tedra asked in a barely controlled tone, afraid she knew, but to be fair, she had to be sure.
“Think you a warrior could bring you to your need without it?” Jalla grinned, missing the signs of the explosion about to take place. “Warriors are too lusty for that. The juice removes all desire, no matter the stimulation or provocation. It gives a warrior the control he would lack did he try to punish a woman in that way without it.”
Control? Whammo! That farden liar! That farden braggart! A warrior’s control? A dose of impotency was more like it!
Tedra let loose with a screech of fury and a string of invectives a mile long. By the time she was done, she’d cursed the barbarian in seventy-nine languages, but felt not one bit better for it. And then she recalled the day she had met him, and how it had driven her nuts wondering when he would breach her, all the way up until she slept, unbreached. And the remark by that warrior about her capture being a waste while hunting. It had been a joke among them all, one she finally understood, and she cursed the barbarian some more.
When she finally noticed Jalla staring at her in wide-eyed alarm, she calmed down, but only long enough to ask, “Doesdhayajuice work on women the same way?”
“I do not know, mistress. For what reason would a woman need to take it?”
“What reason, indeed.” Tedra smiled.
Chapter Thirty-eight
“What have you done to theshodannow, woman?”
Tedra turned around on the balcony, where she had been waiting unconsciously for a glimpse of Challen as he departed on his journey that morning. Tamiron stood in one of the arched doorways, doing nothing to conceal a strong vexation, and by the sound of it, his irritation was with her.
“Aren’t you supposed to knock or something before entering this chamber?”
“That was done, repeatedly.”
“Oh, well, I’ve got a lot on my mind, so I probably didn’t hear—or you just weren’t knocking loud enough. What was it you wanted to know?”
He did not like her nonchalance. In fact, his teeth likely lost their sharp edges, they were ground together so hard.
“I was just informed that my friend passed the darkness with a bottle ofyavarna,”he gritted out. “If that was not strange enough, he has also called off his trip. He sits and stares at nothing, and will answer only when prodded. He—”
“I get the picture, warrior. It’s called depression.”
