Page 7

7

Dissonance

RIV - NOW

T he Rider woke in a rush of panic, though only the leap of his pulsing noids betrayed him. His muscles didn’t even twitch.

He didn’t always sleep so soundly, especially under these circumstances, and cursed as he took stock of his surroundings.

He was lying on a pallet in the hollow of a giant tree. In a chasm on a forsaken planet on the edge of Devansi’s badlands.

With élisa.

He turned his head.

She was still here, beside him. Her ‘abduction’ of him had not been a dream.

She lay against her side, facing him, her head pillowed on the raised pallet end, her face pressed into it, slack in a deep sleep.

Glancing down, his gaze fell on her soft silver hair, which had slipped from its single braid and was tousled all over her head.

Her blankets tangled around both her legs, one of which she’d hitched onto his thigh.

He could see the enticing softness of her tits pressing against her soft suit, and his cock jerked, seeping with need.

He drew a slow, deep breath, trying not to wake her.

Welcoming the warmth of her right hand that was lying on his chest.

Like it’d always done when they’d slept together in the past. It might as well have been on his crotch, for the warm weight of it was making his morning erection swell that much harder.

But it was his heart that cried out.

Seeing her first thing in the morning, so vulnerable and free of the cares he’d seen on her face the night before, hit him with a sucker punch.

Even though intense light filtered from the chasm opening above, he was caught in an emotional dark tunnel. Struck out and knocked cold by her essence.

In one foul move years ago, she’d wiped out their happiness and left him down and out, drowning in a sea of anguish.

And now here they were, like two souls passing in the night.

How the hell would they find their way back to each other? To the love and passion they’d once shared?

Still, Riv’s upper lip curled as he remembered how élisa would always tell him they’d find each other no matter how far and wide they scattered across the galaxy.

He’d held onto those prosaic words all these years, giving him hope in his despair.

He had to up the game if she was to find her way back to him.

He had to confound her mind until she worked out who he was and was reminded of how much she loved him.

And he wouldn’t do that by being beholden to her agenda.

He needed to switch things up, and he gave a slight grin as a kernel of an idea formed, giving him a clue of how to go about it.

éLISA

‘Wake up, élisa.’

Her single eye cracked open, and she winced at the light stabbing her cornea. Seconds later, her lashes fluttered back down.

‘ Nada ,’ she grumbled, nestling in for more respite.

A chuckle rumbled from somewhere nearby, and her eyes flung open at the unexpected sound.

She sat bolt upright in their nest of blankets and pallets, gazing around in panic.

Her wild stare flew around the hollow and then stopped at him .

Ribau.

Her quarry.

The grizzled bounty hunter was squatting on the ground over the fire that blazed in a merry dance of flames.

Her gaze flew to the kahawa pot, set over it, then to the plates of fried cakes on the ground next.

Back to his hands and feet, free of the energy bands she’d tightened herself.

‘What in Devansi hell?’

She cursed, scrabbling for her weapon. Not finding it by her side, she darted her eyes around and found it between them.

She froze.

Her eyes tracked back to his amused gaze.

He raised a brow and spoke, soft and smooth as silk. ‘Care to break your fast?’

‘How did you -?’

Her voice was a raw whisper.

‘Like I said, they were uncomfortable and may also have malfunctioned during my tossing and turning.’

His lips were upturned, the glint in his eye almost too lively.

‘Bull shit.’

His eyes met hers, and once more, she was flooded with a sense of deep familiarity.

It was overridden with annoyance at her naivete and his sheer balls.

Somehow, he’d freed himself of the manacles.

He’d have walked out on her if he’d so wished. Or worse still, put a laser beam through her skull to end her.

She knew it. He knew it.

Yet he’d stayed.

He’d made a power play, and in that instant, she realise she had no leverage with him.

She leaned over for her weapon.

His keen eyes tracked the reach with a twitch to his lips. He wasn’t scared of her.

She hadn’t thought of that.

As she sat up and eased her laser into its holster, she kept her eyes on him.

She didn’t dare relax her guard even though he smiled at her. She had to make sure he didn’t try to run. For her sake, but more so for her most precious possession.

Because Ribau was their only hope of getting back to Katánē.

He cast his eyes back at the fire and stirred the kahawa, which smelled so enticing that she groaned.

With his probing eyes gone, she sighed in relief, part in wanting more of how he’d stared at her since they’d met. It sent shivers down her spine that were alarming as well as delicious.

His intent, laser-like gaze cut through her being, her inner soul, past the high barriers and walls she’d built over the years, blitzing through her frigid hardness.

Tugging on her boots, she wondered about the reversal of their power. She hadn’t considered the possibility that he might be dangerous to her.

There was something about him in his stance’s coiled energy and stride’s drive. Also, his casual cheerfulness told her he was not quite the flawed hunter he’d portrayed himself as.

She did need him more than he knew, so she decided to play along and soften her stance. Charm might work more with this stranger than arctic savagery.

‘Did you sleep well?’ she ventured.

His lips twitched. ‘Like a baby.’

‘Now that you’re free, do you plan to turn on me?’

He grunted in a rasped murmur. ‘Does it look like it? Roll up the pallets and eat.’

She shook her head in disbelief at his pushy attitude. ‘Who made you Lord and Master?’

He didn’t reply, his gaze sliding to and away from her with brazen confidence.

Fokk, he’d turned the tables on her and crowned himself Lord and Master.

To his credit, he didn’t crow about it.

Instead, he focused on adding a spoonful of syrup to the stack of hot cakes he’d whipped up from her ingredients box.

élisa obeyed him, wincing at the pain in her stiff, sore muscles.

Even though she was accustomed to long hours of hiking, the hunt for her pursuer had taken days. Now that she had him somehow in her thrall and deliverance within reach, her weary body began to shut down.

Her thigh muscles trembled with the effort as she squatted to roll the blankets.

Meanwhile, Ribau walked towards the back of the hollow, where a small stream of water burbled between two boulders.

She joined him to wash as he stripped himself to his waist.

élisa took a quick look, unable to help herself. Her gaze flicked at him as he threw water over himself, under his pits, arms, and chest.

His dark blue gaze met hers as he cocked his brow. She jerked her head down as a fiery blush burned her cheeks and tore back into the hollow.

Why was this older, grizzled man having such an effect on her?

He was not her type, not in the least. Yet every time his eyes fell on her, her nipples hardened, and wetness flooded between her thighs.

He finished his ablutions, and the heavy tread of his feet sent shivers down her back as he strolled past. She tried to ignore him as she tossed their sleeping gear into the cargo float.

‘Eat.’

He repeated the word with total confidence that she would obey.

She almost swayed with hunger and, with a twist of her lips, crouched beside him before the fire.

As soon as the first hotcake hit her lips, she groaned.

They were a sensation - fluffy, light as air, and coated with the sweetness of the synna berry syrup. Each mouthful melted, and she closed her eyes, losing herself in deliciousness.

When her eyes opened, she found his molten gaze on her. ‘You like.’

It was a statement, and she raised a brow at his forcefulness. ‘Not bad.’

He smirked and piled more food on her plate.

He’d found her stash of dried bacon made from the wild pigs that roamed Falasia and were a hot export in the badlands. Eaten together with the hotcakes, the meal was heaven on Devansi.

But she’d die before admitting that to him. Besides, he looked so self-satisfied that she didn’t want to add to his gloating.

‘Where are you from?’ he said, watching her indulge in the meal.

She paused her eating, pursing her lips. ‘Why?’

‘You indicated you’re not from these parts. Your accent and looks are unusual. You admitted as much yesterday.’

élisa took a sharp breath. She didn’t like his line of questioning and was loath to share her hated heritage.

Over the years on the run, she’d attracted much attention for her unusual features. From her silver glowing hair, silver nape feathers, and lilac eyes.

She’d taken to wearing robes to protect her identity and hide away from the unwanted attention she received.

From men wanting a quick turn with her to body traders who promised her riches by peddling her face on holo screens across Pegasi.

She’d rejected them all, fashioned a cloak, hiding herself from their ogling and questions. Over time, she’d become used to being invisible among strangers.

Until now.

With her robe and hood off, Ribau’s eyes on her were disconcerting. He wasn’t creeping on her. Instead, his gaze was almost reverent.

She’d given him no reason to adore her, and his regard annoyed her, yet it also warmed her somehow. After many years, a hot-blooded man saw her, appreciated her, and acknowledged her.

It still irked, so she clicked her tongue in warning, ignoring his question and searching eyes. She had to shake him off and focus on doing what was best for her.

He didn’t take offence at her slight. Instead, he leaned back against the fallen tree bark. He pulled out his small leather-bound book from his back pocket and engrossed himself in it.

The move was so reminiscent of her old lover that it jolted her.

‘What poem are you reading?’ she found herself asking.

‘An old earth verse of a husband’s praise of his woman, My Inamorata .’

She was drawn in. ‘Share it with me. Please.’

Ribau gave her an enigmatic glance.

His lips turned up at the ends, and he nodded.

Moments later, his voice, low and resonant, filled the hollow.

‘Give me a chair that I may sit down

And serenade my Inamorata,

That I may serenade my wife

Who dispels my grief and heaviness

She stands in the doorway

When I go out to walk and go out on business

She keeps her eyes out for me

When I return from the Khan’s palace

From speaking with the sovereign prince,

I find her waiting

With love in her eyes

A smile on her face

And peace in her arms

She brings a fine chair

And a beautiful tray stool

Engraved in silver and gold,

And the plates shining like the moon!

She dishes up for me

The sweetest of meals

With raisins, with spice.

She feeds me, putting morsels in my mouth

She sings soft and sweet.

While she pours wine from the pitcher

The grape juice effervesces

And she makes me drink it

Preparing for me sweetmeats from Timbuk

With sugared oranges from Ozi.

She folds it and puts it between my lips

With cardamoms and almonds.

And shows me a good place to rest,

Where I lay down my head

To think of all the ways

I can praise my lover,

My choice one, Inamorata.’

Silence fell as Ribau’s voice faded away.

élisa quivered at the beauty of the words, which were like rain falling on a decades-dry desert basin.

She sniffed, hiding her reaction, not wanting to hand this man any victory.

Raising a skeptical brow, she kept her tone dispassionate. ‘It’s quite the poem, but it’s very one-sided, bordering on sexist. Where’s Inamorata’s refrain? What does he do for her?’

‘Even more, because he adores her. I’ll read you The Inomorati tomorrow.’

She narrowed her eyes at him in mock disbelief. ‘I can’t wait.’

He grinned at her sarcasm, and for some reason, she looked forward to the next time she’d hear him perform his verses. For that was what he’d done, adding delicious inflections in a hoarse voice that was evocative and uplifting.

It reminded her of the nights long ago when Riv, her lover, had taken her to the rooftops of Eden II. He’d pulled out a similar-sized poetry book and read her prose from it that she’d delighted in, seduced by delectable words and lyrical artistry.

Then, she was young and naive and struggling to speak Standard. The poems helped her grasp and express feelings and thoughts that she was unable to express through any other means.

Hearing Riv read them to her and repeat them back to him had been her awakening to love, to the multitude of rich ways to express her feelings in so many tongue-twisting words and heart-wrenching ideas.

Now, jaded about life and love, she struggled to resonate with eloquent terms and clever metaphors.

Yet somehow, Ribau’s reading had moved and stirred her so.

Wanting to shake off the dissonance this man was flinging her way, élisa ignored him, wound up her meal, and then moved to pack up.

To her surprise, her guest, as she now chose to view him, put away his poems and rose to work alongside her without a word.

He helped clean up the remaining dishes in the small rock pool behind the tree hollow and placed them in their carrier.

He used a resonance sweep on his wrist comm to smooth away the soil and ground they’d slept on.

Before long, they were ready to leave their temporary shelter.

With a few commands, élisa turned the cargo float around and aimed it toward the track outside.

‘Ready, Ribau?’

He gave her a look and nodded. ‘As I’ll ever be.’

With a twitch to his lips, he extended his hands to her so she’d secure them.

She pressed her lips together as she thought about the puzzle he was serving her with.

She touched the weapon at her holster, and his eyes tracked her movement.

‘Can I trust you won’t go rogue on me?’ Her words surprised even herself.

His eyes flicked back to her, giving her a short salute. ‘I give you my Pegasi scout’s honor.’

‘Because if you don’t, I -’

‘Won’t hesitate to shoot,’ he finished off for her with a half grin. ‘We’ve had this discussion already, woman.’

She gave him an unamused glare. ‘After you, then.’

He swept past her with a swagger, his hands swinging free. ‘Seems you need to teach your facial expressions to use their inside voice.’

As soon as he turned his back on her, she smiled. She was almost beginning to enjoy their banter.

‘I like it too, woman, I like it too.’

She was startled at his insight. Did the man have eyes in the back of his head?

His ability to call her out was irritating, as it was intriguing. ‘Life is short, Ribau. Smile while you still have teeth.’

He was quick to throw back. ‘Don’t confuse a smile with someone baring teeth, élisa.’

‘What I won’t do is confuse eloquence with someone speaking fluent shit.’

‘Talking about now or my poetry reading?’

‘Both!’

He laughed out loud, and she found herself swallowing back a chortle.

Prodding him with a playful touch of her energy barrel, she jostled him along.

He was still chuckling as they emerged into the dappled light of the fissured landscape.

She, on the other hand, gazed at the back of his head as they moved along. Still puzzled by his essence and why he was getting to her when no other man had managed to do so in years.

She sucked her teeth in annoyance. She was getting too darn caught up in this man’s aura and warned herself once more to step back and set up some boundaries. Fearing that if she didn’t, there’d be a price to pay.

They set out at a brisk pace, faster than the day before.

élisa was keen to get to her homestead before the sun went down again.

So she kept conversation to a bare minimum, and before long, the silence stretched out between them as they jogged along.

RIV

It was hard going, for the elevation was rising.

They stopped briefly to chow down on trail mix and chug water.

Both had shed the top half of their jumpsuits and tried the arms around their waists.

Riv’s Galician body wasn’t half bad for a ‘man of his age’, and he spied élisa staring at it for a moment, then looking away, mystified.

Her face furrowed with confusion, as if she were trying to figure out who he was under his disguise.

Like she was asking herself how he’d freed himself of the energy bands. It’d been easy enough, his noids cutting through the rigid plex steel like butter.

Her gaze faltered between suspicion, curiosity, and a touch of desire.

The latter was confounding her. He imagined she was puzzled at how at ease they were in each other’s company, at the sense of reuniting with an old lover and kindred soul.

Riv smelt her musk and imagined she sensed their instant connection and latter attraction arc between them.

He distracted her. ‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘I’d prefer if we didn’t speak.’ Her voice was clipped, and she was trying hard to be cold. Instead, its huskiness sent a shiver down his spine.

‘Why?’

‘It’s a preference. My quiet time is for your safety.’

‘You’re saying you become a fanged nightmare if you talk too much?’

‘Something like that.’

It matched what he remembered of her.

élisa had never been much of a talker. She was a doer, a practical woman deft with her hands. He remembered her being shy and keeping to herself.

He’d been the confident, ballsy renegade with a maverick personality and a stubborn streak that meant he was relentless in questioning and pushing for the truth.

She’d been Miss Agreeable until she’d made the most disagreeable of decisions, and he was dying to find out what had pushed her to the brink of her ingrained personality.

He kept up with the digging. ‘Why did you kidnap me? Why not just overpower me and take my ship? What’s my significance?’

‘You know there’s no way I’d access your ship without your authorization.’ élisa paused and gazed at the skies above.

Glimmer was indeed above them, having returned from its reconnaissance mission overnight.

Riv had asked Glimmer to stay with him until they reached their destination, so for now, the ship was tracking both him and élisa.

‘Your ship’s long-range travel capability is paramount to my needs,’ élisa continued.

Riv shook his head, unconvinced. ‘No one would know looking at it, so someone must have been specific in giving you a heads-up on it.’

She sliced her eyes away. ‘I learned, I can’t say how, that someone was tracking me many moons ago, asking after me. So I asked back. You were the person they described. I also got word that your ship was a newish cruiser with Rubens-097 sublight engines of Galician origin. I need it to escape my pursuers and take me where I must go.’

Riv sighed inside with some relief. She still had no idea what Glimmer’s cloaking shield was covering up. ‘Where’s that?’

She gave him a secret smile.

‘Where?’ he insisted.

‘I’ll share when the time is right,’ was all she proffered.

‘I see. So I’m collateral?’

She shook her head with vehemence. ‘Oh no, you’re my insurance. I need you to stay with me, collect what I need, and make haste for the destination I have in mind.’

‘What if I refuse?’

Her eyes turned to his, flashing with defiance. ‘What if the need is altruistic, to ease a great suffering? Will you refuse?’

Surprised, he reared back. ‘Is it? For a good cause?’

‘To some extent.’ She said the words with fierceness, and for a moment, he caught yet another glimpse of his silver angel—the one who fought for those weaker than herself.

He’d loved that about her then, and it warmed him to see it in her once again.

Maybe her entire soul hadn’t been lost to these badlands yet.

Hours later, he noted the track in front of them widen and more light fall from the heavens above.

The fissure they were in opened into a more expansive ravine, a deep incision characterized by U-shaped, theater-headed valleys.

‘Not far now.’

élisa’s murmur was the first words she’d spoken in a long while, and again, he sensed her exhaustion.

He had the power to carry her the rest of the way if she so wished and not even be out of breath, but wishes were for fishes, and he couldn’t reveal his hand.

Not yet.

Dead ahead of them was a prominent knoll that sat higher than the land around it.

‘What’s that?’ Riv ventured, pointing at the structure.

élisa took a breath. ‘This is R?k Hill. Where I live.’

At the foot of the hill was a rock building, an open hut of stones excavated from it.

Inside, he spied rock tables and shelves in a free-flowing design and tweaked their purpose.

‘A store?’

‘ Naam , mine,’ élisa said with some pride. ‘It’s where we have a weekly open market for the chasm tribes. We trade what we find in our travels off the planet for fresh food and essentials.’

We?

Riv’s heart pounded.

It was the first time she’d let on about the presence of someone else.

‘It’s also a treasure hunter’s delight,’ she went on, oblivious to his distress. ‘We stock clothing, art, and jewelry from all over Pegasi that the locals vie for. I’ve come to enjoy going off the beaten track to small markets to connect with local artisans and shipping their goods to Devansi.’

‘Fascinating,’ Riv rasped, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the concept of ‘we’ as they tracked past the building and started to climb.

Towards a structure set into the small mountain, with an undeniable 360° panorama across the rock-strewn and scrub ranges.

The home rose out of the hillside like a pebbled dinosaur, its curving stony rock spine roof hovering in the landscape.

Riv raised a brow. ‘Radical and yet imaginative.’

As they approached, he stared at its stone vertebrae that rose as columns and then fanned out to create a roof.

Something or someone moved dead ahead, and Riv stiffened, coming to a stop.

A figure emerged from the shadows and depths of the building.

That’s when élisa surged.

With a cry, she flew past Riv, her feet churning at the sand and rocks on the steep path.

Riv paused, his eyes narrowing on her flight. He lifted a brow as she sailed onto the flat rock encircling the house before she launched herself at the distant figure.

His heart sank, thundering in trepidation.

The silhouette was male, tall, solid, and even this far, he glimpsed their long silver hair.

He stood rooted to the spot as they embraced in an extended hug.

Riv swallowed, his soul suffused with extreme sadness and loss as élisa pulled back, and her laugh carried in the wind.

The strange man still had his arms around her. At the sight, Riv was beset with a sudden rush of jealousy so wild it tore through his body like a saw-toothed blade.

Unable to watch any more, he bent over and grabbed his knees, nausea washing over him in waves.

His worst fear had come true. His woman had left him for another.

Her heart had never been his to start with.

He gripped his legs, his heart, mind, and soul roiling with searing anger at the thought of some other kinai stroking her. Making sweet love to her, living a whole life by her side.

The rage was followed by sorrow so cutting and tormenting that he almost fell to one knee.

Blinking back tears, he stared down at the ground, seeing nothing of the formations of the tiny granules under his feet.

The heat beat on his back, and for a moment, he wished it’d burn him and his pain up.

He’d never recover from this, as the cracks in his heart widened, wrenched open by disappointment and the wretchedness of failure.

So lost was he to his dejection that he almost missed the scrabble of rock and feet marching towards him.

‘You’ve nothing to fear.’

The voice was deep, calm, rasped.

Familiar. Achingly so.

A thunderbolt crashed to his core, and Riv gasped as he forced himself upright.

That’s when he looked up into a pair of silver, sightless, ghost like eyes. Set deep in a face. One he knew with profound intimacy.

His.