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everyone's dismay; no one liked tearing him and Lily apart. But it didn't stop them from loading him into the
shuttle.
As the craft lifted off, Vyrl pressed his palms against the view screen. It showed Lily on the ground below, her
face turned up as she watched the ship rise into the sky.
Sitting on the floor, wedged in a corner, Vyrl pulled his legs to his chest and folded his arms on them. Then he
dropped his forehead onto his arms and sat in silence. He had come to this studio in the basement of the castle to
work out, but he couldn't muster the energy. Since his parents had taken him from the cabin this morning, he
hadn't even felt like speaking, let alone moving. He would have run into the plains, but they wouldn't even let him
outside.
The footsteps were so quiet Vyrl didn't hear them until cloth rustled nearby. Raising his head, he saw his
mother a few paces away. Dressed in a simple jumpsuit with her hair pulled back, she looked more like a farmer's
wife than an interstellar potentate.
He spoke in a low voice. "Is Devon Majda still upstairs?" She nodded, sitting gracefully on the gold-stalk floor
near him. "But the colonel who came down from the Ascendant has left."
Vyrl tried not to hide his fear. "Will ISC send me to prison?" "No." She spoke firmly. "But you will be
expected to work at the starport until you pay off the damages you caused."
Vyrl exhaled. As much as he disliked working at the port, his penalty could have been a lot worse. He forced
out the harder question. "And Majda?" Although he hadn't seen Devon yet, he felt the tension filling his home.
Her voice quieted. "We may be able to mend the fracture between Majda and the Ruby Dynasty. But you and
Lily did great insult to Majda."
Vyrl had no excuses. So he said nothing.
Roca pushed her hand over her hair, pulling tendrils out of the clip. Compared to her usual elegant demeanor,
now she seemed drained. "A split between our family and Majda could destabilize the government."
"Why? The Ruby Dynasty no longer reigns. We're just a bunch of farmers."
"Do you really believe that?"
He met her gaze squarely. "Yes."
His mother paused. "It is true that the Ruby Dynasty no longer rules the Imperialate. But we still wield a great
deal of power. With that comes responsibilities. Our actions, policies, and alliances have great impact on the
Assembly. We and they are inextricably linked. So is Majda, to us and to the Assembly." She brushed back the
tendrils of hair curling around her face. "When we suffer discord, it weakens the Assembly, and so weakens the
Imperialate."
Vyrl thought of his father upstairs with Devon. "So now we have discord with Majda." He knew that, on an
interstellar scale, the union of Majda and the Ruby Dynasty was far more important than the happiness of two
young lovers. But that knowledge didn't lessen the pain in his heart.
His mother lifted her hand as if to lay it on his arm as she had often done in his younger years, offering
comfort. When he stiffened, unable to accept her solace, she lowered her arm. Gently, she said, "Devon is still
willing to take you as consort, after we annul your marriage."
No! Vyrl felt as if a cage were closing around him. "Doesn't she know how you found me this morning?"
Roca nodded. "Yes. Despite that, she is willing to accept the arrangement."
He clenched his fists on his knees. "You can't annul my marriage."
His mother frowned. "Young man, we most certainly can. You and Lily are both underage, even for Lyshriol."
He scowled at her. "Then I can't marry Devon either."
"You can with parental consent."
"What, my consent doesn't matter?"
Her anger disintegrated. "Hai, Vyrl. I am so sorry."
He blinked. It was easier to be angry with his parents when they were angry with him. Sympathy and
compassion were harder to handle. In a quieter voice, he said, "I'm not a political arrangement. I'm a human
being."
"Yes. You are. A special, remarkable human being." She indicated the room around them. "What do you see
here?"
Her question baffled him, and he couldn't tell from her mind what she was about. The room looked the same
as always: large, longer than wide, and mirrors along one wall with a bar at waist-height. His athletic bag hung on
the bar. The ceiling shed uniform light, leaving no shadows; the floor was gold-stalk, polished by years of use.
"It's just the dance studio," he said.
She smiled. "When you children were small, I practiced here everyday. For some reason it affected you more
than the others." She indicated an area by one wall. "When you were a baby, you would sit in your carrier there
and watch me, laughing and kicking your legs with the music."
Vyrl had no idea why she was telling him this, but it brought back wonderful memories. He had taken his first
steps in this room, trying to mimic his mother's dancing, which had seemed magic to him. From that day on, she
had taught him what she knew, until seven years ago when she had brought in off-world instructors, including
Rahkil Mariov.
He couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad you didn't tell me to stop following you around." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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