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  “Who is Elyr?” he said again, more insistently.

  “Let me go, Halvo.”

  “Not until I have some answers that make sense of what has been done to me.”

  “You have been planning this moment for days, haven’t you?” she cried, alarmed by her wayward emotions. “You tricked me! You have been pretending to be weaker than you really are and you told me about your wounds to soften my resolve, didn’t you? You were counting on my sympathy.”

  “Prisoners are expected to use whatever weapons they have available, including their wits. You saw only my apparent weakness and thus you misjudged me.” He paused before adding in a wry tone, “It was a tactical error not common to successful pirates.”

  Perri opened her mouth to call for Rolli, who was as usual monitoring the ship’s controls in the cockpit. Again she misjudged her opponent.

  Before she could make a sound Halvo pulled on her hands, dragging her across the table until her face was close enough for him to silence her by covering her mouth with his. Like his hands, Halvo’s lips were warm and far stronger than she expected. He grasped a fistful of her hair, holding her head so she could not twist away from him.

  Aware that one of her own hands was free, Perri lifted it to scratch at his face or pull his hair, to make him stop what he was doing. She did neither. Instead, her fingers settled limply on his shoulder. Unable to control her instinctive response, she opened her mouth and gave herself up to the kiss blistering her lips. With the last wisps of thought available to her fevered mind, she wondered how anything so hot and demanding as Halvo’s kiss could also be so sweet.

  Afterward, when he finally allowed her to sink back into her own chair, she gaped at him, seeking for words to express her outrage. For it was – it must be – outrage that was making her heart pound and her stomach quiver. The guilt would come later. It always did, after she had time enough to consider any act of disloyalty to Elyr, however minor. But what had just happened was not a minor event. Perri felt as though she had been jolted by an earthquake.

  “You are neither as sick, nor as weak, as you pretend to be,” she said at last, her voice husky from continuing breathlessness.

  “I fervently hope you will never experience injuries or weakness like mine,” Halvo said, “though, I must admit, I would be pleased if you were to be as emotionally stressed as I am at the moment.”

  “I am not stressed, not in the least.” Denying all she had just felt, Perri took a deep breath, willing her pulse and her stomach to return to normal. “Halvo, if you touch me again, I will call Rolli and have him put you back on the bench. There you will stay, under restraint, until we reach Regula.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Was he laughing at her? Did he perceive how confused she suddenly was? Perri could not tell for certain, but the possibility further unnerved her.

  “All I want from you,” Halvo said, “is a straightforward explanation. Am I accused of some crime? If so, I am unaware of the nature of my offense.”

  “This situation has nothing to do with you personally.”

  “Forgive me if I dispute that contention,” he said. “It is personal. I am the one who was kidnapped. By the way, in case you did not know, under Jurisdiction law you could be sent to a penal planet for the rest of your life for what you have done to me.”

  He leaned forward as if he would take her hands again. At a sharp warning glance from her he stopped with his fingertips almost touching hers where they lay on the table. Perri imagined she could feel a current emanating from his fingers and arcing toward hers. Hastily she moved her hands to her lap. Halvo did not appear to notice.

  “Perri, you are no more a pirate than I am,” he said to her. “I believe the appearance of piracy was a ruse to mislead Captain Jyrit and the rest of the crew of the Krontar so they will provide inaccurate information when they are questioned by Jurisdiction authorities. From the few hints you have let slip about your background, I have a dreadful impression that someone is using you. Perhaps I can help you. Tell me who Elyr is.”

  “He is my betrothed.” Perri did not know why she should be embarrassed to admit the truth to him. After all, she had not instigated that passionate kiss. It was Halvo’s misdeed, not hers, and she would take care that it was not repeated. Fiercely she told herself she had no reason for shame or embarrassment.

  “A few minutes ago, you said that Elyr’s life was involved in this, as well as my life,” Halvo said.

  The decision came to her with perfect clarity as Halvo spoke. Perri acted on it instantly, before she could think of the many reasons there must be for her to proceed with greater caution, and before she could consider how Halvo’s kiss might have something to do with her decision.

  “The full details of what the Hierarchy will do once you are delivered to them have not been revealed to me,” Perri said. “However, I must confess to a belief that you ought to be made aware of your true circumstances. I will tell you as much as I know.”

  “It’s about time.” Halvo sat back in his chair, waiting for her to continue.

  “Elyr has fallen afoul of the Regulan Hierarchy,” Perri revealed. “For men like Elyr, who are highly placed in our society, this is not a difficult thing to do. The seven Hierarchs are all jealous of their power. They sometimes quarrel among themselves, and their disagreements can spread to involve those who are not Hierarchs.”

  “The Regulan Hierarchs are famous throughout the Jurisdiction for their complicated political intrigues,” Halvo remarked. “Perhaps I ought to say they are infamous, since people have been known to die as a result of their machinations. It isn’t difficult for me to believe that your Elyr could be drawn into one of those schemes. Go on, Perri. Tell me the rest. I need to know how I got involved in this.”

  “I was unaware of what was happening until the day when Vedyr, one of Elyr’s most trusted servants, came to me in great distress to warn me that Elyr’s life was forfeit,” Perri said. “Believing that Elyr must have been innocently implicated in the latest plot, I did the only thing I could think of to help him. I went to see the Chief Hierarch to plead for Elyr.”

  “I am beginning to understand,” Halvo said. “You were told to capture me and turn me over to the Hierarchy. In return, Elyr’s life would be spared. Am I right?”

  Perri’s nod confirmed his speculation. “I was also warned not to give you any information. So I have broken faith with the Chief Hierarch for what I have just said. But I could not let you go before the Hierarchy without knowing as much as I do. I am sorry, Halvo. I saw no way to save Elyr except to do what the Chief Hierarch commanded.”

  “Wasn’t there someone on Regula who could have helped you? If Elyr is so highly placed, his family must have enough influence to do something for him. Or perhaps your family could have. Do you have any family, Perri?”

  “A few distant relatives,” she said, dismissing his idea with a shrug. “I do not know any of them well. Perhaps you are not familiar with our marital customs. I was betrothed to Elyr when I was nine years old. Immediately after the ceremony I was sent to live in his parents’ household so I could be trained in their ways and thus grow up to be a pleasing wife to Elyr. I have not seen my own family since the day of my betrothal.”

  “You must love Elyr very much to be willing to risk your life in order to save him,” Halvo said.

  “Love?” Perri frowned. “I do not know. We are on friendly terms. Elyr is an honorable man. His mother, Cynri, has often told me so. I know that I have improved in the last few years in my attempts to please him. He says I am almost an acceptable cook and my needlework is very fine. I make all of Elyr’s clothing with my own hands,” Perri said proudly.

  “What more could a man ask of a wife?” Halvo said in a dry tone. “What does he do for you in return?”

  “In another year or two, when I have perfected my skills, he will marry me,” she said. To her chagrin, Halvo chuckled. “Do you find me so amusing?” she demanded.

  “Not a
t all. I was only wondering what my mother would think of your attitudes. She would turn Regula upside down if she were to visit it.”

  “I have heard that Lady Kalina is formidable. On Regula, she is considered most unwomanly.” To indicate that she meant no insult to his mother by these remarks, Perri allowed the corners of her mouth to tilt upward, but she could not resist one final comment. “Perhaps it is just as well that the Leader of the Jurisdiction has not sent his wife to us on one of her state visits.”

  “I assure you, my mother’s needlework is impeccable and she is an excellent cook,” Halvo said. Then, more soberly, he said, “Perri, for all your cleverness and your bravery, you seem to me to be remarkably naive. Don’t you see the terrible possibilities behind your mission to capture and deliver a hostage? For example, the Hierarchy surely has its own secret service. All planetary governments have. Why did the Chief Hierarch recruit you for such a dangerous job instead of using professional operatives?”

  “Because I am the one most concerned with saving Elyr,” Perri said. “For me, it is a matter of honor to succeed quietly before Elyr’s name can be publicly besmirched.”

  “Are you saying he has not been officially charged with any crime?”

  “The Chief Hierarch promised me the affair would be kept confidential until I have a chance to carry out my mission.”

  “Perri.” Halvo shook his head as if he could not believe what he was hearing. “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-two Jurisdiction years,” she said. “What has my age to do with any of this?”

  “I am almost forty-three,” he said. “I’m old enough to be your father.”

  While middle age did not begin for humans until at least age 60 and, depending on one’s planetary environment, the onset of old age might be delayed for many years or even for decades, the difference between Halvo’s age and Pern’s included an education and a career in space that set him far beyond her in experience.

  “I do not think of you as a parental figure,” Perri said, blushing a little.

  “I am glad to hear it,” Halvo said with a smile. “We will discuss that later. For the moment, let someone who has more practical knowledge of government intrigue make a few suggestions as to what may be going on here.”

  “I know what is going on,” she said, not wanting to hear what Halvo might say. But she was forced to ask herself with brutal honesty why she didn’t want to hear his ideas. Was it because she had begun to wonder if she had been told everything by the Chief Hierarch? Of course she had not been told every detail of Elyr’s situation. Some matters of state were far too important for her ears.

  “The first possibility,” Halvo said, “is that for some reason the Hierarchy wants to be rid of both Elyr and you, and they plan to achieve their goal by blaming the two of you for my kidnapping. Thus, after I am delivered to the Hierarchy they will free me, thereby gaining a great deal of credit for honesty with the Jurisdiction government, with the Service, and not incidentally, with my parents. Of course, you and Elyr will have to be killed before you can say anything to suggest that the Hierarchy’s version of my abduction and release is false. Please note that, for all I know, my kidnapping was concocted between you and your betrothed, and your tale of the Chief Hierarch’s involvement in the scheme is a vicious lie.”

  “No!” Perri cried. “No one who knows Elyr or me would believe such a wild, unfounded story. Nor would the Chief Hierarch be so dishonest with me. He was willing to help Elyr.”

  “The Hierarchs are always involved in some plot or other, though this one does seem unnecessarily complicated,” Halvo said. “If the Hierarchy wants you and Elyr dead, some local, trumped-up charge would have done the job. I suggest to you that the Chief Hierarch has not told you the truth – or at least, not all of it.”

  “You are wrong about him!” Perri said, recalling the dignified man whose bearing had seemed to her the very essence of impressive – and fearful – government power. But that same man had given her inaccurate information about Halvo.

  “Alternately,” Halvo said, ignoring her protest, “suppose that for some reason the Regulan Hierarchy just wants to get rid of me. Why, I can’t imagine. I have never to my knowledge done anything to harm the Regulans, and since I am about to be retired from active duty with the Service, my status as admiral cannot be important to them. In fact, I have been out of the Service decision-making process for more than a year. But just suppose the Regulans, or some other planetary government with whom the Regulans want to curry favor, have an old grudge against me. How could they get their revenge by doing away with the Admiral of the Fleet without bringing the entire Jurisdiction down on their heads?”

  Halvo proceeded to answer his own question. “What better way than to send out an intelligent but innocent young woman, in a ship that blatantly mimics a pirate vessel, to abduct me by force or to lure me to Regula by some other means? Capt. Jyrit and the crew of the Krontar can testify to your act of piracy. Jyrit will have made an immediate report to Capital. Most of the Jurisdiction will know by now everything that Jyrit knows about what has happened to me. However, no blame will attach to the Regulan Hierarchy for what they do, because the fault will appear to be entirely yours. Think about it, Perri.”

  “No, that’s not -” She stopped, considering all he had said. Her conclusions chilled her. “They would have to kill me after killing you. Otherwise, I could tell that it was the Chief Hierarch himself who sent me to capture you. There is always the chance that someone will believe my story, so they could not let me live.”

  “Good girl. You are learning fast,” Halvo said.

  “But the Chief Hierarch will keep his word to me. I know he will. Whatever happens to me, Elyr s life will still be spared.”

  “If you are willing to give up your life for his, then you must love him,” Halvo said with a trace of regret in his voice that even Perri, innocent as she still was, could not help but notice.

  “It is not a matter of love. It is a matter of family honor.”

  “As for Elyr,” Halvo said, “I can extend this nasty scenario a bit further. Suppose it is Elyr who wants to be rid of you, perhaps so he can marry someone else. Possibly a member of the Hierarchy has a daughter of marriageable age. From what you have told me, this entire affair is a secretive thing. Elyr may have committed no crime at all. He, and the Hierarchy, may simply be killing two birds with one stone. A neat analogy, if I do say so, though I still have no idea why the Regulan Hierarchy would want me dead.”

  “Your mind is warped, Halvo.” Perri leapt to her feet. “This wild story cannot be true. Elyr would never do such a thing to me! You have no evidence. Your suggestions are concocted out of space debris.

  “I was beginning to like you,” Perri said, tears prickling her eyes. “I felt sorry for you because you have been so sorely injured and because I believe the Hierarchy does have a harsh punishment planned for you. You have made me regret talking so freely to you. In fact, I regret speaking to you at all!”

  “I was only trying to make you understand that you have been entirely too credulous. You ought to give some serious thought to the mess in which you are involved. I don’t believe you considered at all about the ramifications of what you were doing. You just acted on impulse.” Halvo stood, too. “Admittedly, it was a kindhearted impulse, to save Elyr’s life. But can it ever be right to save one man by destroying another?”

  He was so tall, so overwhelmingly masculine. Elyr had never made Perri feel so helplessly feminine or so eager to seek comfort in his arms. Sternly, Perri reminded herself that it was Elyr to whom she owed her loyalty. The man standing before her was an enemy who would not hesitate to use her to gain his own freedom. Every word he had just spoken to her was false.

  “Perri, I believe you are being manipulated in some underhanded scheme,” Halvo said.

  “Indeed I am,” she sneered at him. “By you! This conversation is ended, Admiral. Do not attempt to open it again. In fact, I would be grateful if yo
u would refrain from speaking to me at all during the remainder of our journey.”

  “If you are so upset by what I have said, it must be because you know there is a grain of truth in my suppositions. But suit yourself. It’s all the same to me. If I am dead, it won’t matter to me what happens to you.”

  If I am dead …If I am dead…If I am dead. The ominous words echoed over and over in Pern’s brain all the way to her cabin. There she flung herself onto her bunk. She pounded her pillow in fury a few times. Too upset to stay in one place for long, she got up again and began prowling around the tiny room. Halvo’s insinuations of wicked plots that threatened her life had thrown all her assumptions into disarray. She did not want to think about what he had said, but she could not stop thinking about his words.

  Elyr did not want to be rid of her! He was pleased with her. She owed it to him to try to save his life. She belonged to Elyr. Yet she knew in her heart that there was little real warmth in his attentions to her.

  What had Elyr done to make the Hierarchy sentence him to death? And why had Perri not known about the trouble he was in until Elyr’s servant, Vedyr, told her of it? Why, if Elyr had done something terrible enough to warrant the death sentence, was the Hierarchy willing to commute that sentence if Perri delivered Halvo to them? Wouldn’t Elyr still be guilty of a capital crime? She had been so eager to save him that she, who had been told all of her life that she asked too many questions, had neglected to ask those important questions. Halvo’s lecture made her consider them now.

  If I am dead… She did not want Halvo to die.

  There was nothing she could do to prevent Halvo’s death. It was the price the Hierarchy would exact for sparing Elyr’s life. The words had not been spoken aloud during her interview with the Chief Hierarch but Perri knew it was so. A life for a life.

  Can it ever be right to save one man by destroying another?

  “I cannot believe a word Halvo says,” Perri muttered to herself. “I mustn’t believe him. He is only attempting to save his own life. He doesn’t know Elyr; he doesn’t understand Regulan customs. The Hierarchy will dispense justice to Halvo in its own way, but Elyr will not be involved. Halvo is lying when he says otherwise. Lying!”