He turned to look down at the fire. "As I said, I was not myself. I do not like this place."
"Why not?"
"It reminds me of what I was." His lips twisted. "I think for a while tonight I became what I was then."
"And you believe that is wicked?"
"Don't you?"
For a moment she could sense an uncertainty and loneliness beneath the guard he usually kept around himself. She wanted to help him, comfort him in some way, but she knew he wouldn't let her. Yet she had discovered one comfort they both enjoyed he would accept from her. "No." She met his gaze fearlessly as she moved across the room to stand before him. "Not wicked. Different and… interesting."
He shook his head. "But then you find the entire world interesting."
She nodded. "But I know the difference between wicked-interesting and intriguing-interesting."
"And what is that?"
"Tamar is wicked-interesting. I would not like him to touch me." She reached out and put her hand on the triangle of dark hair thatching his chest. "But I like you to touch me."
He went still. "How fortunate for me."
"I would like to do it again, please."
"Now?"
"If it's not too much trouble." She found it difficult to meet his eyes, so she flowed into his arms and laid her cheek on his chest. "I find looking at you is causing me to feel… I would like to do it again."
"You're not too sore?"
"No." She lifted her head and whispered, "And I would like you to kiss me. You haven't done that yet."
"Oh yes." His lips brushed hers as he gently pushed her back on the carpet. "There are many kinds of kisses, and we enjoyed one of the most pleasant ones. But I shall be delighted to show you many more." He parted her thighs and moved between them. "By all means, we must keep life interesting for you."
Tess cradled her head on her arm and gazed contentedly across the chamber at Alexander in his cage. His beady eyes stared back at her as he gave a soft warble. She felt an odd kinship for Alexander at the moment. She had soared herself this night. She had never dreamed when she had come to the tower this afternoon that she would be lying here replete and wondering at the pleasure touch could bring. She had only wished to know more about the puzzle that Galen posed. For that matter she still wished to know, and this might be a very good moment to broach the subject.
"What happened in this place?" Tess turned over on her other side to look at Galen. "Why didn't you want me to come to the tower?"
Galen was silent for a long time, and she wasn't sure he was going to answer. "My mother died here."
"Here in the tower? You said she died in a fall from her horse. "
"She died running away from the tower." He looked at the leaping flames curling around the wood in the fireplace. "My father killed her lover in the guardroom downstairs. She ran out the door, jumped on her horse, and tried to get away from him." He paused. "Fifteen minutes later we found her crushed beneath her horse on the road to Said Ababa."
"We?" She stiffened with shock. Galen had told her he was only a boy of twelve when his mother died. "You were there?"
He nodded jerkily. "When my father learned that she was meeting her lover in this tower, he sent for me. He told me my mother was a whore who had betrayed us both and must be punished. He said she had never had any affection for either of us and was planning to flee with her lover to Said Ababa."
"Harsh words."
"True words. I knew she had never loved me." He paused. "But I didn't want her to die. I thought if I went with my father to the tower, I might find a way to save her."
"Perhaps you were mistaken. Most mothers have some affection for their children."
"Not mine. When I was old enough to leave the nursery, she immediately abandoned me to my father."
"That could have been by his will."
He shook his head. "She hated me. She told me so." He shrugged. "Perhaps she had reason. My father saw her for thirty minutes on the streets of Diran and kidnapped her and brought her to Zalandan to be his concubine."
"That was your father's sin, not yours."
"She saw only my father in me. She once told me that I would grow up to be a barbarian like him, and she wished I had died in her womb."
Tess shivered with distaste. "She sounds a very unpleasant woman. You were probably better off with your father."
"Better a barbarian than a whore?"
"Was he a barbarian?"
"Yes, he was far worse than Tamar. And he taught me well. By the time I passed my thirteenth year, I was the savage my mother had called me." His glance shifted from the fire to her face. "I remember on my sixteenth natal day I got drunk and brought several whores and a few friends here for a feast to celebrate." He saw her eyes widen. "Ugly? Oh yes, but that was what I was. Tamar and I drank and feasted and orgied for three days. Something about the place drove me into a frenzy."
Despair. Desperation. Tess didn't voice the words, but she moved closer to him.
"Tamar killed one of the whores in a drunken rage." Galen looked back at the fire. "He strangled her."
"You couldn't stop him?"
"I was drunk too. I woke the next morning and found her lying dead on the bed between us. For a moment I thought I had done it myself. I was sick and cold with disgust. Then I looked at Tamar and realized what I was becoming, what I already was." His voice turned fierce. "What we all were. There had to be another path, the blood lust and lawlessness couldn't go on." He got to his knees and stoked the fire. "That was the last time I came to the tower."
She shivered as she looked around the chamber. Now that she realized the debauchery and violence that had taken place here, the very walls seemed to exude a sinister air. In this tower Galen had known enough pain and disillusionment to have destroyed a weaker man. Instead, he had been hammered, honed to greater strength. Yet this place must abrade his spirit.
She sat up and threw off the cloak covering her. "I've had enough of this place." She stood up and grabbed her gown from the floor and stepped into the divided skirt. "It no longer interests me. I wish to go back to the palace."
"Now?" Galen turned to look at her. "I thought we'd wait until first light."
She shook her head. "I wouldn't sleep." She dropped down on the huge chair and pulled on her boots. "This is not a good place."
He sat back on his haunches and smiled faintly. "I believe I could pique your interest, if you cared to stay until dawn."
She smiled cheerfully. "I'm sure you could. I find I like bed play very much, and you are most skillful at it, aren't you?"
"I endeavor to please." His voice lowered as his gaze fastened on her breasts. "While pleasing myself."
"Well, we can do that back at the palace." She stood up, located his clothes, and tossed them to him. "I'm sure we'll be more comfortable, and Alexander will be happier home in his aviary.
"Ah, yes, the well-traveled Alexander." He smiled. "We mustn't forget him."
"Not well-traveled." Tess grimaced. "He does everything badly." She shrugged. "But he'll learn in time. I have three years before he has to be proficient."
He stopped in midmotion of pulling on his boot. "You've set yourself a time limit?"