Plague of Memory by S. L. Viehl Read Free Book Online Page B

hesitated. "Could we do so another time, perhaps?"
    "Of course." He smiled. "Signal me. I share my quarters with Qonja Adan. We would welcome you to join us whenever you wish."
    I did not recall the one called Qonja Adan—all these blue-skinned ensleg looked so much alike— but I nodded and thanked him again before I moved into the lift.
    Reever had a meal prepared and waiting for me when I came in, and only offered a terse greeting. Marel came rushing out of her bedchamber to hug and kiss me before she launched into a description of her day at the educational facility. I ate sparingly—Reever always made too much food—and listened to our child's bright chatter. After the meal, I cleared and sat with Marel while she read a story from her datapad and then played with the beasts. They seemed fond of her and the games she invented for them with bits of string, but I still kept a sharp eye on both cats. They might be tiny compared to Alunthri, but they had sharp teeth and claws. If they used them on my daughter, they would quickly meet one of my blades. So would that Chakacat.
    The evening rituals continued. Reever insisted the child use the cleansing unit before she went to sleep (he made the same demand of me; never had I been so continuously clean in my short life.) It was my habit to go to sleep with her on the pallet I had made in her room, but tonight I rolled up the linens and removed them. Reever had made me aware of his needs; I could no longer attend only to the child.
    "Are you sleeping somewhere else tonight, Mama?" she asked.
    I saw Reever standing in the doorway. "Yes. I will sleep in your father's chamber now." My revelation produced no distress in her expression. "You will come to me at once if you need me."
    "I will, Mama."
    "At any hour." I brushed the golden curls back from her face. "Or call. You have only to say my name and you know that I will wake."
    "I'll be fine, Mama." She put her small arms around my neck and squeezed, and I breathed in her sweet scent before I left her with Reever.
    I used the cleansing unit to wash myself, and changed into the soft, loose garments Reever told me were customary for one to wear for sleeping. Had the ship been as cold as Akkabarr, I could have understood the necessity. The interior temperature was kept at a comfortable level, though, so I could have slept naked like a proper Iisleg female and saved the clothing for when I left his quarters.
    Perhaps that was contributing to our problem. Reever always kept me covered up, even at those times when I should not have been.
    The sight of my body was not the only thing he denied himself. It was unhealthy for a man to go so long without fulfilling his needs with a woman. It would probably make things simpler if I feigned the desire Reever wanted me to feel for him. I disliked pretense, but the situation between us would not improve if I did not do something. Such seductions were not something a woman did, but these ensleg men would not talk about it. They were all polite
    ness and disapproval.
    What else was I to do but take the initiative?
    Reever was not in his bedchamber or in the front room, and when I looked in on Marel I found her alone and sleeping. Since I doubted that my husband had hidden himself in one of the storage containers, I assumed he had left and went to the console where Cherijo had stored her journal files.
    Reever had adapted the console to display both in Iisleg and a form of Terran I could understand. I chose the latter for the files' display, as there were words she had used that did not exist in Iisleg. I went to the place where I had stopped reading—an entry she had made after a brief battle between wounded League and Hsktskt soldiers being treated for their injuries on the Sunlace.
    Marel is asleep, and unharmed, thank God. I'm so angry with Reever I could dismember him with an Omorr challenge blade. Angry with myself, too. Why can't I think straight when my child is in danger? Why do I still