Cynara had embraced his mind, and he would never be the same again.
The infirmary was full to overflowing. Three inmates occupied the permanent beds, and Zheng bustled about like a mechanical babushka, clucking happily over her patients.
Charis had put the hours to good use in repairing the Pegasus, and the ship was nearly ready to traverse the final wormhole to the Nine Worlds territory. After leaving Ronan, Kord, and Gunter in Zheng’s capable hands, Cynara had seen to her own duties and consulted with Adumbe about the incident on Bifrost and the loss of the Pontos.
She wasn’t permitted to go about her work unimpeded. From the moment the Thalassa docked, Janek had been snapping at her heels, demanding immediate access to Ronan for questioning. She couldn’t fault his motives. Someone would have to find out how Ronan had escaped his cabin, overcome the guard, and boarded the Thalassa, all without any apparent memory of doing so.
Janek wasn’t going to let her handle it alone, but she fended him off and seized a free moment to watch Zheng’s charges through the observation window. Kord lay in an accelerated healing field, bones already knitting while his body was pumped full of medications to speed his recovery. Gunter had suffered no serious injuries in spite of his clash with Ronan, and was being held under sedation until he could be assessed for mental as well as physical health. Stripped of his furs, he looked like a harmless old Dharman banker.
But he had nearly killed Ronan, who was recovering much faster than Zheng’s best prognosis had indicated. He was awake and exchanging comments with the doctor.
Cynara keyed into the room and worked up a grin for Kord. His body was immobile in the AHF, but he was able to turn his head to look at her. She braced herself for a scold.
“Captain,” he said, “what water-sucking demon possessed you?”
“I might ask you the same.”
“I did what had to be done.”
“So did I.” She pulled a chair close to his bed and sighed. “Let’s get this out of the way. No, a captain should never go on a hazardous mission. Yes, I took a big risk. Yes, I could have been killed. No, I never considered not going. No, there’s no point in arguing with a headstrong seacow like Cynara D’Accorso.”
“I would never call you a seacow, Little Mother. It was my disobedient act that placed you in danger. I’m not worth your life.”
“You’re beginning to sound like Ronan.”
He strained to sit up and the field pushed him down again. “Ronan,” he echoed. “Why did you bring him with you?”
“It’s fortunate that I did.”
“He could have turned on you—” His eyes narrowed. “Unless you obtained some new evidence of his trustworthiness.”
“Not evidence, my friend. You would call it intuition.”
He muttered a string of Siroccan words that she suspected were far from polite. “Is that why you kissed him?”
“You must have been delirious from your injuries.”
“My vision was unaffected.” He craned his neck toward Ronan’s bed. “Have you chosen him?”
The question did not shock her. She had known it was coming, and that Kord would never simply let it pass. Sirocco was a world in which women made nearly all the political decisions and chose their mates, the very reverse of Dharman culture. The crucial difference lay in the fact that men were not regarded as lesser beings, but merely different in nature.
Kord loved her. He had loved her since he’d first come to Dharma as her uncle’s protege, his native brilliance outshining all but a handful of Uncle Jesper’s most promising pupils. But he had never presumed to consider her anything but a high-ranking leader, as on his own world.
When she’d become captain, he had sworn himself to her in the way of his people. Nothing could alter that. He was like the most protective elder brother imaginable, held in check only by his innate respect for women. And his love.
“I haven’t chosen anyone,” she said. “But I do trust him. • He saved both our lives and nearly lost his own.”
Kord digested her statement, leaving her alone with her memories. She’d been frankly terrified when Gunter stabbed Ronan, and that had given her the speed and strength to overcome the older man. After that, her entire focus had been on saving Ronan’s life no matter what she had to do to assure it. Fear of her own mind had been as nothing in comparison. She had reached out blindly, hoping to find something in him that would fight beyond hope for survival. She had succeeded beyond her wildest expectations.