38. Solon

38

SOLON

Things weren't right between them—Solon could feel it every time he touched Abbey's skin. The sense of wrongness that had come between them was as obvious as a huge, jagged crack in an otherwise smooth road.

I shouldn't have punished the male that attacked her so publicly, he told himself. I should have dragged him out of the building and punished him in the shadows, where no one could see.

But he hadn't even thought of keeping things private—the Rage had overwhelmed him and all he'd been able to think of was avenging the wrong that had been done to the woman he loved. It hadn't occurred to him that avenging her would embarrass or hurt her—mainly because among his own people, all of the shame for such an assault would fall on the attacker, not the woman he had attacked.

It was still hard for him to wrap his head around the way the humans shamed and criticized a female who had been sexually assaulted instead of blaming the male who had done it. The way the Police Captain had been so angry on Brander's behalf and had wanted to conveniently forget about how he had attacked Abbey simply because the attack had happened in the past made it clear to Solon that the humans had their priorities completely twisted. What was wrong with them?

To that question, he had no answers.

The two of them went into Abbey's room and Solon busied himself in the fresher. He ran a bath that was just hot enough and found a bottle of sweet smelling liquid which made a lot of foam. Just as the tub was nearly filled, he heard Abbey call his name.

"Yes, lelka?" He shut off the bathwater and went back out into her bedroom.

"What's this?" She was wearing the My Eye device and holding out an official looking document.

Solon felt a flare of unease as he approached her.

"I don't know—what is it?" he asked, frowning. "Is your device having trouble reading it to you?"

"No, the My Eye read it just fine," Abbey told him. The look on her face was unreadable. Solon wished he could touch her to find out what emotions she was feeling but he didn't quite dare.

"What does it say, then?" he asked.

"It says the exemption from the Bride Draft, which I applied for after we started Dream-Sharing, is granted. But it's dated over a month ago. Do you know what that means?" she demanded, then answered her own question before Solon could. "It means that I was exempt when you sent the Draft Officers to come get me! It means you knew I was excused from the Draft but you took me anyway!"

Solon felt like his world was crashing down around him, but there was nothing to do now but tell the truth and pray Abbey would forgive him.

"Yes," he said heavily. "I knew you were exempt. I went and checked at the Drafting Office right after the first time I came to your aunt's shop and you rejected me." He took a deep breath. "I have a friend there—I coerced him into rerouting the paperwork so that I could Claim you anyway."

"What?" Abbey shook her head. "You mean you cheated the system to get me?"

"I would have done anything to get you, lelka!" Solon ran a hand through his mane distractedly. "I knew you were my fated mate—the one woman in all the universe that the Goddess had set aside for me."

"That sounds nice, but I was scared to death of you!" Abbey reminded him.

"I know you were, sweetheart, but I knew if I could just spend a little time with you, I could ease your fear. And I did, didn't I?" Solon pointed out.

"You also promised you'd never lie to me and now I find out you've been lying all this time!" she shot back. "Why didn't you tell me, Solon?"

"I meant to." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I tried to several times and every time something interrupted us and I just…never got back to it."

He didn't want to admit, even to himself, why he hadn't told. He'd been afraid that she would have this exact reaction—that he would lose her trust…and her love.

"Please, lelka—just listen to me—" he began.

"No." Abbey put up a hand to stop him. "No, I'm through listening—at least for now."

"What do you mean?" A chill of apprehension ran through his whole body.

"I mean…I need some time alone. Some time to think," Abbey told him. "I think we should take a break for a little while."

"A break? What does that mean? For how long?" he demanded.

"I don't know. A week? A month?" She shook her head. "I just need to be on my own for a while."

"Is this because of what I did tonight? Because I punished your attacker?" Solon asked desperately.

Abbey took a deep breath and he could see several emotions warring in her lovely face.

"That's part of it," she admitted at last. "Please don't misunderstand—I'm grateful that Chris Brander finally got what was coming to him. I used to lie in my bed at night and dream of doing what you did to him—or something like it. But now the whole town knows…knows what he did to me. I have to wait on these people in my aunt's shop every day! And now they're all going to be looking at me and thinking about…about what he did!"

She took a deep, trembling breath and Solon realized she was trying not to cry again. He wanted badly to take her in his arms and comfort her but he understood instinctively that she didn't want him touching her at the moment.

"I'm sorry," he said in a low, ragged voice. "I shouldn't have punished him so publicly. But when he admitted what he had done to you, the Rage swept over me and all I could think of was making him pay."

"Well, you certainly did that." She gave a broken little laugh that tore at his heart. "He'll pee sitting down the rest of his life."

"He's lucky I didn't kill him," Solon growled. "It was what he deserved."

"I agree," Abbey said simply. "But I can't get over this all at once—or the fact that you lied to me about the exemption." She shook the official document at him and the paper rattled.

"All right." Solon took a deep breath. His heart was hurting—but so was his pride. "So you want me to leave you alone? Where should I go—back to the Monstrum Mother Ship?"

"I don't care where you go," Abbey swiped at her eyes but her voice was flat. "Just let me have some time to think, all right?"

"Fine. You can have as much time as you want," Solon growled. "But let me remind you that you told me several times how happy you were the exemption didn't go through when we were on Tengula Five together."

"But it did go through and you lied to me about it," she pointed out. "Look, Solon, I just…I can't right now. I need some time."

"Then you'll have it. I'm leaving." His desperation had turned to anger. Yes, he had cheated the system but it was only because he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt they belonged together! Why couldn't she see that?

"Fine." Abbey's voice had gone cold. She twisted the engagement ring he'd given her from her finger and held it out. "Then you'd better take this with you."

Solon felt sick with anger and grief. This wasn't how things were supposed to go! They should be planning their wedding ceremony and Bonding right now—not ending their relationship! But he took the ring from her anyway.

"All right," he said stiffly, slipping the ring into his pocket. "I'll keep it in case you change your mind. But for now, I assume that our time together is over."

"Completely over." Her voice was flat again. "Goodbye, Solon. Have a nice life."

Her words cut him like a blade and he couldn't even answer. Instead, he turned and left her room, feeling sick with anger and grief inside. Was this it? Was their relationship really over?

It seemed that it was and there was nothing Solon could do about it but leave and never come back.