Slave Empire III - The Shrike Read Online Free PDF Page A

now? We’ll never have more than this, and this is what you
accepted. This is what you agreed to. There’s no way out of the
deal now, and that’s the end of it. Make the most of it. Find
something else to distract yourself. Open a casino on Lericon,
build a monument on Triban, start a hospital on Grandor. Whatever
you want. You have unlimited choices. You have no reason to be
unhappy.”
    His words hurt,
and Rayne searched his face for clues to his rejection until he
looked away. She reached for his emotions as she had never done
before, probing his shields until he frowned, but he still refused
to look at her. All she could sense was a deep unhappiness tinged
with anger, which only told her that he meant what he said.
Swallowing the lump of misery that blocked her throat, she lowered
her gaze to the floor.
    “Then there’s
nothing more to say,” she murmured.
    “No, there
isn’t.” When she headed for the main doors, he asked, “Where are
you going?”
    “Back to my
apartment, where I belong.”
    He overtook her
and blocked her way again. “Are you all right?”
    “Such concern,”
she said, glaring at him. “If you’re worried that I might try to
drown my sorrows in drugs again, don’t. I’m not stupid enough to
make that mistake twice, although apparently I am stupid enough to
marry a man who didn’t want a wife.”
    He hesitated
before placing his hands on her shoulders, and she supressed a
shiver at his touch. “I did,” he said. “I do. We’re a great team,
and we have fun together, don’t we?” She nodded, and he went on, “I
can talk to you, and you know more of my secrets than anyone else.
You’re a great help, telling me when my enemies are lying and
running the dome. Your empathy doesn’t bother me, and I hope my
peculiarities don’t bother you too much. Let’s make the most of
what we have, okay?”
    “If you won’t
tell me why we’re not together, will you tell me why you married
me?”
    He released
her, looking away. “I told you at the time; you deserved a better
life. You’d have killed yourself eventually. Is that any way for
the Golden Child to end up? The girl who saved Atlan, and the rest
of us, probably.” He smiled and glanced at her with eyes that
looked like they could melt steel. “You’re my heroine, and I’m your
guardian. Isn’t that enough?”
    “No,” she said,
struggling to hide her tears. “I thought there would be more.”
    “I’m sorry,
Rayne. I can’t offer you more. It just isn’t possible. I wish I
could.”
    “Does it have
something to do with your being Antian?”
    His brows rose.
“Perhaps a little. But don’t start your guessing games now.”
    “Does it have
something to do with me?”
    He turned away,
his expression shuttered. “It’s complicated.”
    “What?”
    “I don’t want
to hurt you. I know how badly you react to shocks. You might slip
away, and I’ll never get you back.”
    Rayne pushed
past him and escaped out of the door.
     
     
    Tarke swung
away as the portal slid open. He had forgotten to lock it, he
realised, and that was how she had been able to enter without him
knowing. The door scanner was programmed to allow only two people
instant access, her and Vidan. His apartment was deep within the
command wing of the main building, and unobtrusive security
measures all along the corridors that led to it ensured no one
without top security access would be outside. Nevertheless, his
reaction to the open door was instinctive, born of decades of
hiding his identity. He stared at the door after it closed behind
her, trapped by his lack of a mask and shirt, and wondered if he
should go after her or leave her alone for a while. A pang of
sorrow went through him as he recalled Vidan’s warning. Shortly
after she had arrived at the base, he had asked the Atlantean to
conduct some discreet tests, worried by the dazed spells she
sometimes had.
    The results had
been disturbing. According to the medical scanner Vidan had fitted
in