43. Aurora

43

AURORA

D inner was a splendid affair…and a long one. Course after course came out—half of them unfamiliar to me since I was still getting used to Rigelian cuisine. To give credit where it’s due, most of them really were delicious—other than a huge, jiggling tower of blood pudding which turned out to contain real blood. But I couldn’t concentrate on food when The Need was so strong. I hoped I wouldn’t develop Need Fever again before Slade and I could be alone.

By the time dessert was served—individual tarts filled with a sweet nut paste and fresh juba fruit, oozing pink and purple juices everywhere— I was about to climb out of my skin!

I nudged Slade —who was sitting beside me—under the table and gave him a significant look. He nodded and put down his utensil.

“ Well , this has been delicious,” he began. “ But it’s been a long day and Aurora and I are really tired. So I think we’ll be heading back to our suite…”

He was starting to get up as he spoke and I was about to follow when Lyrah spoke up.

“ Before you go, there’s an item of business we need to discuss.”

“ No , there’s not,” Slade said flatly. “ I already spoke to my Sire about everything that needs doing. There’s nothing else that can’t wait until tomorrow. Now I’m going to bed with my wife!”

“ It’s your wife we need to discuss,” Lyrah said and something about the tone of her voice chilled the blood in my veins.

“ What the Hell are you talking about?” Slade demanded, frowning.

“ I’m talking about these!” Lyrah nodded to one of her servants—it was the same maid who had been going through my things earlier, I saw. “ Ulala —show them what you found!”

The maid stepped forward and held out something on a silver serving tray. At first I wasn’t sure what it was. But then I got a closer look and my stomach dropped—it was the baby-stopper pills! The little pink medicine container filled with bright green pills seemed to taunt me as the maid showed them all around the table.

“ What the fuck are you talking about?” Slade asked irritably. “ What are those?”

“ I’ll tell you what they are because I had one sent to a quick-lab for analysis during dinner. These are contraception—the herb valorus cutaneous to be precise,” Lyrah informed him. “ They keep a fertilized egg from implanting so it doesn’t matter how many Deep Seedings you do, your new wife is never going to conceive your heir. At least, not while she’s taking these.”

“ You’re lying,” Slade said flatly. “ You’re trying to frame Aurora for something she didn’t do.” He turned to me. “ You didn’t take those, did you?”

I sat there, silent and frozen. My tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t make a sound. I saw the look on Slade’s face change from disbelief to pleading.

“ Baby , please answer me,” he said hoarsely. “ Tell me you didn’t take those fucking pills! That’s a violation of our vows—it could end our Union !”

I wished that I could lie to him, I really did. But I couldn’t make the words come out of my mouth.

“ I … I …my maid gave them to me,” I said at last. “ I was frightened, Slade ! I thought…thought if I didn’t get pregnant, I could go home sooner.”

His face went dark.

“ So all you’ve wanted, all this time, was just to get away from me?”

“ No !” I protested. “ I mean, not for the last few days, at least. But you were so intense—you scared me. And I thought you were the enemy of my people. I thought?—”

Slade raised one hand to stop me.

“ Just so we’re clear, you did take them—correct?” His voice had suddenly gone cold and his eyes had narrowed. He was looking at me like I was some kind of loathsome bug he wanted to crush!

“ Yes , but—” I began.

“ That’s all I needed to know.”

Slade rose from the table, his communicator already in his hand. He turned away and began speaking into it, ignoring me when I tried again to explain.

“ Rive ? I need you here…” He walked away from the table, still talking and I was left to sit there with his entire family staring at me in silence.

His father’s expression was stony and Hrake was impassive. Jessina looked shocked but it was Lyrah whose face I wanted to bash in with a rock. She had a mocking, self-satisfied smile—a look of “ I told you so!” that made me want to scream at her.

“ This is all wrong,” I began, appealing to them. “ I never meant to?—”

“ I think you’d better pack your things,” Slade’s father interrupted.

“ Pack my things?” I began to feel even more panicked. “ What do you mean?”

“ I mean that I will not have an oath-breaker under my roof,” he growled. “ Now please, go pack.”

“ But …but I don’t…” I began. Then two servants were suddenly behind me, pulling out my chair and yanking me to my feet. I rose on wobbly legs as they began to drag me away from the dining table.

“ Wait , please!” Jessina jumped up. “ I’ll help her.”

Her father glowered at her.

“ I don’t want you associating with an oath-breaker, Daughter .”

“ It’ll only take a minute. Here .” Jessina shooed the servants away and took me by the arm. “ Come on, let’s get you packed,” she said gently.

We walked in stunned silence down the hall. I couldn’t find any words until we were alone in the suite.

“ I don’t understand this!” I exclaimed as Jessina brought me into the walk-in closet and began folding my clothes and putting them back in my luggage. “ This is a mistake— I never meant to hurt Slade . I was just scared of getting pregnant.”

“ I understand but nobody else is going to.” Jessina gave me a sympathetic look. “ I’m sorry, Aurora , but I’m afraid your union with Slade is over.”

“ What ? Just like that?” I demanded. “ But all I did was take a few pills! I didn’t even take one this morning because I changed my mind.”

“ None of that matters,” she told me. “ You broke the vows you took in the temple before She of the Four Faces . I’m really sorry because I liked you and I can tell that Slade liked you too. But it’s over.”

Her use of the past tense was like a knife in my heart.

“ Please !” I begged. “ Can’t you talk to him? Can’t you explain for me that it’s all a big mistake?”

“ I’m sorry.” Jessina shook her head sadly. “ But this is the kind of mistake you can’t take back. Here —you’re all packed up now.”

While I had been wringing my hands and pacing, she had finished putting all my things in my luggage. She grabbed the handle and nodded at the door.

“ Come on—we’d better go.”

“ But this is crazy!” I protested. “ It can’t all be over, just like that!”

“ It is, I’m afraid. We Brutes take our Binding vows very seriously.” Jessina was already walking down the hallway, leaving me to follow her with my luggage in tow. The wheels kept sticking on the ugly purple fur carpet and I felt like I was in the middle of a nightmare.

Somehow , we made it to the front door of the mansion. There I saw Rive , Slade’s Second -in- Command , already waiting. He had a somber expression on his face, as though he was attending a funeral.

“ Come with me,” he said and took my luggage. He started to head for the front door but I didn’t follow him.

“ Wait , this can’t be it!” I said desperately. “ Please , I need to speak to Slade ! Where is he?”

“ He’s gone.” It was Lyrah’s voice behind me. I turned and saw her standing there, arms crossed over her bulbous breasts and a taunting smirk on her face. “ He left when he found out you didn’t want to have his baby,” she said to me. “ You’re never going to see him again.”

“ I … I don’t believe you,” I said, but my voice was shaking. This was all happening so fast. I felt like I had been strapped into a carnival ride—one of the really scary ones that make you want to vomit—and I couldn’t get out.

“ Believe it, you little bitch.” She gave me a cruel smile. “ It’s such a shame—he’ll probably never find another woman he wants to bear his heir. You were supposed to be his Fated Mate , after all.”

“ I am his Fated Mate !” I exclaimed.

“ Not anymore. Rive —take her away.” She made a shooing gesture at me, like I was a pesky insect she was waving away.

“ But …but…” I began. Then Rive was taking me gently but firmly by the arm.

“ Come on,” he told me. “ You can’t stay here.”

I tried to tug against his grip, to run and find Slade who must still be here somewhere, but my struggle was in vane. Like Slade , Rive was seven feet tall and muscular— I couldn’t get away. Looking at Jessina , I made one last appeal.

“ Please —tell Slade I didn’t mean it. That it was all a terrible mistake!”

There were tears in her lovely amber eyes but she only shook her head.

“ I’m sorry, Aurora . I think we would have been really good friends,” she said simply. Then she turned away too.

“ Come on,” Rive said again. “ We have to go now.”

“ No !” I shook my head. “ I want to stay— I need to talk to Slade . I have to explain!”

“ Slade isn’t coming back until you’re gone,” he said. “ So there’s no point in staying. Believe me, you don’t want to bring the retribution of Clan Cruel down on your head,” he added ominously.

Those words finally decided me. Stunned and defeated, I at last allowed Rive to pull me through the front door and out to the ship.

Somehow everything was ruined and I was the one who had ruined it. And now there was no going back.

I was never going to see Slade again.