Mouse and Dragon by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee Read Free Book Online

heartbeats, Mizel stared into Aelliana's face, her own devoid of expression.
    "I see," she said at last, and again addressed herself to Daav.
    "With Korval's permission," she said, in the mode of delm-to-delm, "Mizel will speak with the clan's daughter Aelliana in private."
    Once again, that thrill of frigidly intense, short-lived anger.
    "That decision of course rests with Pilot Caylon," Daav said, also in delm-to-delm.
    Mizel sniffed. "Indeed." She gave Aelliana a hard look.
    "Step into my office, if you please, Aelliana."
    For a moment, she thought she would not; that she would declare that anything Mizel had for her could be heard by her copilot as well.
    The weight of culture, however, is not always so easy to shrug aside.
    Aelliana inclined her head, licking lips gone suddenly dry.
    "Daav," she said, and her voice quavered, now. "Pray wait for me. I will be—I will be no longer than a quarter-glass."
    There was a sense of weighing, and of worry. Then he slipped his fingers away from hers and there remained only—worry.
    "Pilot's choice," he said, in the mode between comrades. "I will wait for you, Aelliana; never doubt it."
    "Very good," Mizel said, acidly. "Pray accept the hospitality of our House. Sinit, fetch refreshments—and call your sister down to entertain our—guest."
     
    "Now, Aelliana, you will tell me truthfully: This placing of yourself into Korval's hands—was that coercion?"
    The door to the delm's office shut very firmly indeed, and no sooner had it done so than Aelliana's throat closed, all the old fear clawing in her belly. Mizel walked behind her desk and stood, hands gripping the back of her chair, waiting with visible impatience.
    "Well? Or am I to take silence for assent?"
    "No!" The word tore her throat, as if it were edged. "Daav would not coerce me!"
    Mizel sniffed. "Korval did not arrive at their reputation by accident, daughter. I learn—from news reports, and . . . other sources . . . rather than from your own lips—that you have some skill as a pilot, and are also the owner of a spaceship. Korval cannot help but to covet you for those reasons. Pilots and ships are at his clan's core; and it is well-known that dragons are acquisitive of treasure."
    Daav only desired her ship? For the blink of an eye, she believed it, as the herself of only a day past would have done. Surely, he would need some reason, other than the dubious pleasure of her company . . . But no. She knew him better than that.
    Aelliana took a breath and looked into her delm's eyes.
    "Clan Korval owns dozens of ships of all classes, ma'am. There is nothing about a Class A Jump to tempt them. As for Daav—he is my copilot. He offered his best care, as he is bound to do, and I accepted the course he proposed, after consideration. You do not know him, and cannot speculate upon his reasons."
    "I have no need to speculate upon his reasons; they are quite apparent." Mizel pulled her chair back. "He must look to the best good and profit of his clan. As must we all."
    She sat down behind her desk and pointed peremptorily at the stiff wooden chair to Aelliana's right.
    "Sit."
    Unwillingly, she obeyed, placing her feet carefully, so that she might rise quickly, and balanced, should there be need. The back of her neck prickled as if in anticipation of the door opening behind her.
    "You may not yet have received the news," Mizel said slowly, giving Aelliana a hard stare. "Your brother will—no longer disturb your peace."
    Disturb her peace? A dozen memories rose: Ran Eld striking her across the face; twisting her hair; slamming into her room in the dark of night, dragging her out of her bed to huddle, impotent, in the corner while he hurled the contents of drawers and shelves randomly about. Ran Eld, gloating at the course her marriage had taken, and lovingly telling over each bruise; smiling when she flinched from the shadow of his raised hand . . . 
    "Disturb my peace?" she repeated. "Say rather that he sought to