“I am sorry. I am pleased you can jest about it, but truly am I sorry.”
She was then engulfed by yet another difference in the Ba-Har-ani. These warriors felt no qualms about hugging in public.
“Maybe you should have just let me accept her challenge and get it over with,” Shanelle said. “It wouldn’t have taken very long, and then she might at least back off from all that name-calling.”
The squeeze that suggestion got her forced a gasp out of her. The fierceness in his voice almost brought on another gasp.
“Do not speak foolishness, woman. My sister excels at female swordsmanship. There are none here in Ka’al who can best her.”
“Stars, why didn’t you say so? What was her intent, then, just to humiliate me?”
Falon leaned back to frown at her. “Does killing not occur to you?”
“Oh, come on, she’s a woman,” she scoffed. “And most challenges aren’t fought to the death when a challenge loss is much more satisfying.”
“For a warrior, perhaps, yet has Aurelet killed before,” he replied. “She has too much hate in her for her not to try to kill you.”
“Well, then, I suppose I should thank you for forbidding me to accept.”
“Indeed,” he said wryly.
“Just how many warriors has she beaten, anyway?”
“None.”
“But you said she was the best in Ka’al,” Shanelle reminded him.
“The best at female swordsmanship. Our women do not challenge warriors they cannot hope to beat.”
“Then why do you allow them the use of swords at all?” she asked.
“Occasionally are we raided by the Mal-Niki from the north.”
“Let me guess,” she said dryly. “The Mal-Niki aren’t too handy with swords.”
“This is so.”
“All right, so a woman can protect herself pretty well in that case,” she allowed. “But now tell me why you call it female swordsmanship.”
“Because it is a different style of fighting. It allows women some small chance of withstanding a warrior’s greater strength and skill.”
“But not much chance against Ba-Har-ani warriors, I take it?”
“No.”
“Then maybe you should know I fight like a-”
“Woman, I will hear no more about accepting challenge. Do you wish to fight, you may fight me. Only then can I be assured you will not get hurt.”
“Oh, cute, real cute. I’ll accept that offer when I’m a hundred and four, and not a day sooner, thank you. Now, is it your intention to starve me, or can we stop being the center of attention here and get something to eat?”
Chapter 38
It was several days before Shanelle noticed the boy, but when she did, her curiosity was aroused. He was tall, nearly six feet, yet from the look of his face, very young. Still, any male that size should be in training to be a warrior and wearing a sword already. This one did not, nor did he wear bracs, merely cloth pants and a loose shirt. Shanelle would have thought him one of the freed slaves- many had elected to stay as servants, and they were finally decently clothed-except his bronzed skin tone was that of a Ba-Har-ani.
She saw him only at meals, and that was what had aroused her curiosity, that he didn’t eat at one of the tables like everyone else, but off in a corner by himself. Obviously, he was being punished for something. But if he was supposed to be humiliated by the experience, he didn’t seem to be, nor was anyone else paying the least bit of attention to him.
She finally asked Falon, “Who is he?”
“My nephew, Drevan.”
Shanelle rolled her eyes. “I should have known. So what’s he being punished for?”
“He is not.”
She waited, but when he didn’t volunteer any more that than, just kept on eating, she said, “All right, I give up. Why is he eating over there instead of at a table?”
“He tries to keep out of his mother’s notice.”
“Why?”
“She hates him.”
He said that so calmly, as if it were a perfectly normal thing, a mother hating her child.
That mother hadn’t stayed out of sight for more than a day. She had apologized to Falon, likely at Deamon’s insistence. Shanelle she simply ignored- except when Falon couldn’t hear her. Then she got in a lot of sharp digs, alluding to Shanelle’s cowardice, casting aspersions on her heritage, in general trying her damnedest to get a rise out of her.
So far, Aurelet hadn’t succeeded. Shanelle would grit her teeth and repeat the silent litany, The woman deserves your pity, not your antipathy, but, Stars, it was getting harder and harder to believe that.
She stood up now with a determined light in her eyes, and finally got Falon’s full attention.
“Where do you go?” he asked.
“You said Drevan wasn’t being punished, so there shouldn’t be any reason why I can’t go meet him and see if I can’t talk him into joining us.”
“This you may do, does Aurelet not object. But does she forbid it, then you will leave the matter be.”
“Is that another difference here? Do women get to have complete say over their children, even children as old as Drevan?”
“No, it is not,” he replied impatiently. “But the boy has no father.”
“So as his uncle, you should have the say-or haven’t you taken an interest in his upbringing?”
“I was a child myself when he was born. When I would have taken him in hand, Aurelet forbade it. She does not want him raised a warrior because he is not of warrior blood. This I can understand.”
“Can you, or maybe you just don’t care? Do you also hate him, Falon?”
He scowled at her. “I have little feeling at all for the boy. Rarely do I see him.”
“He’s pretty good at being invisible, isn’t he? Maybe because he knows no one cares.”
“Shanelle-” he began in warning.
“No,” she cut him off. “Why don’t you admit you might have been wrong to neglect the boy? Just look at him, Falon-eating in a corner on the floor, for Stars’ sake! That’s pathetic and something I simply can’t ignore. Your sister is a bitter woman, and certainly with reason, but enough is enough. She had her revenge. She killed the man who made her suffer. You can’t get much more even than that. But who has punished her for the suffering she has caused all these years to that innocent boy-and to herself by not letting go of the past? I will befriend Drevan-if he’ll let me. If Aurelet tries to prevent it, I think it’s time you stepped in to do something about it, or do I have to accept her challenge just to get her to back off?”
“That you will not do,” he said emphatically, but then sighed. “Very well, do what you can with the boy. I will see to my sister.”
She leaned over to put her arms around his neck. “Thank you, but I also think you should start-”
“Woman, you have won one concession from me. Best you bide your time before you demand another.”
“I didn’t demands-”
“Did you not?”
He didn’t sound at all pleased with her. “I think that’s my cue to shut up.” She grinned at him. “I’ll be right back, babe.”
Falon watched her go, wondering why he found it so hard to deny her what she wanted. In this case, perhaps she was right. He had ignored Drevan, but in truth, he had no right to interfere when Aurelet had a lifemate who should have taken the boy in hand. He would have to speak with Deamon to find out why he had not, but likely he knew the answer. Falon would be the first to admit his sister was a viper to live with when she was crossed. That was their father’s doing, spoiling her atrociously in an effort to make up for what had happened to her. But ten years of having her way in everything had led her to believe it would always be so.
Shanelle stood over Drevan, waiting for him to glance up at her. When he did, it was with a wariness that shouldn’t have been there, and with a face that so resembled Falon’s, her heart just went out to him.