The last of Gryph’s self-control slipped from his grasp. The sudden onset of Sariana’s intense climax pushed him into the heart of the storm he had been trying to manipulate and he was lost. He dug his fingers into her hips, lifting her and positioning her above him.
Then he pulled her down onto him with all his strength, sheathing himself in her tight, hot channel. Crying her name, he began to explode inside her almost at once.
Gryph could not shelter her from the force of his own release. It spilled into her, through her, over her just as his seed spilled deeply into her body.
His last coherent thought was that he could make Sariana pregnant. The knowledge filled him with joy.
Chapter
11
PREGNANT.
The word had seared its way into Sariana’s mind at the climax of the lovemaking the night before and it seemed to be permanently implanted in her brain. She had been thinking about the implications most of the night. Her mind still reeled with them. She was fairly certain she was still in the safe zone of her monthly cycle, but every woman knew how unreliable such a method of contraception was.
As the anxious thoughts went through her head, Sariana was kneeling, fully dressed, on the cabin bunk. She was watching the activity on the docks of Little Chance through the multi-paned window. The windrigger had just finished tying. Through the glass she could see laborers loading and unloading cargo from neighboring ships. In the distance she thought she could make out several rows of colorful pennants. Perhaps there was a fair going on in town.
“Little Chance looks like a busy place,” Sariana remarked to Gryph as he moved purposefully about the cabin. He had bathed and shaved earlier and now he was intent on making preparations to go ashore.
“It is a busy place. Busiest port on the coast outside of Serendipity. Like most port towns, it’s got its share of rough areas. That’s why I want you to stay on board while I take care of my business. I’ll only be gone a couple of hours.”
“I can take care of myself, Gryph.”
“The way you did yesterday morning in Serendipity when you tried to run from me?” He gave her an admonishing glance as he finished fastening his worn belt buckle. The buckle had definitely seen better days. The man carried a fortune in prisma in the form of a pouch lock but that appeared to be the sum total of his wealth. “Forget it. You stay right here and try not to get into any trouble. I’ll have my plans made by the time I return. We might be taking a sled upriver. I’m not sure yet.”
Sariana glanced over her shoulder. “What, exactly, are you going to do here?”
He sat down on the edge of the bunk, putting a sizable dent in the mattress, and tugged on his boots. “I’m going to see someone I know. An old friend. I want to discuss this matter of the cutter with him.”
“He lives here? I thought Shields lived in the frontier towns. Little Chance is hardly a frontier town.”
“Most Shields do live on the frontier. But not all. Delek chose to live in Little Chance because he no longer makes his living chasing bandits. And his lady prefers to live here. It’s her home.”
“Lucky woman. You mean your friend Delek actually gave her a choice?” Sariana didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm.
Gryph raised one eyebrow at the tone of her voice but kept his own even. “Where they live isn’t too critical in the case of Delek and his lady. They have no sons to be trained.”
Sariana was suddenly very interested. “You mean the main reason Shields live out on the frontiers is because of the way they educate their children?”
“The main reason Shields prefer the frontier is because that’s where the best employment opportunities are,” Gryph muttered. “But educating sons is also a reason. It’s difficult to train a young boy in the ways of the Shields while living in a city or town.” Gryph stood up and reached for his jacket. “Too many distractions.”
“Why doesn’t Delek have any children?”
Gryph gave her a straight, blunt look as he fastened the plain buttons of his short jacket. “Delek and his lady, Alana, are not linked. She doesn’t have the potential to be a Shieldmate, therefore the relationship is sterile.”
Sariana stared at him in astonishment. “But Delek lives with her?”
“He’s lived with her for years.”
“You mean Shields sometimes get seriously involved with women with whom they don’t believe they can, uh, link?”
“It’s rare,” Gryph said quietly, “but occasionally it happens. Sometimes a man just gives up the search for a Shieldmate. Sometimes a Shield loses his mate through death or adultery and he doesn’t have the heart or interest to search for another, so he settles for a relationship that promises companionship or love. That’s what Delek did.”
“Love.” Sariana went very still, her mind whirling as she absorbed this new information.” A Shield might fall in love with a woman even though she isn’t a Shieldmate?”
Gryph smiled wryly. “Haven’t you lived in Serendipity long enough to know that love doesn’t always respect custom, law or social traditions?”
Sariana traced the intricate details of a massive reptilian head that had been carved into the bunk’s headboard. “But if a Shield finds a mate with whom he thinks he can link—”
“It’s not a question of thinking he can link with her,” Gryph said impatiently. “He either can or can’t. The link isn’t a function of a man’s imagination. It’s very real. A Shield knows almost as soon as he meets a woman whether or not he can mate with her. One of these days you’ll understand that.”
Sariana focused her attention outside the window again and prepared to pursue her next question with quiet determination. She had to know the answer, she realized. “All right, I won’t argue that right now.”
“That’s a relief.”
Sariana lost her temper for a few seconds. “What I want to know is whether or not Shields ever marry for love. Or does this…this linking eventually create love between a Shield and his mate?”
There was a heartbeat of silence behind her. Then Gryph answered coolly. “Do easterners ever marry for love?” Sariana swallowed uncomfortably. “Rarely.”
“They usually marry for business reasons, right?” Gryph persisted.
“Yes.”
“Well, Shields marry for business reasons, too. In our case, the business is that of ensuring the survival of the next generation. Love is not an essential factor in that business. Sometimes it’s present, sometimes it’s not.”
Sariana swung around to confront him. “But what about the passion that comes with this linking thing?”
“What about it?” Gryph replied offhandedly. “Linked sex is usually great sex for both people concerned. That kind of passion can form a strong bond between them. But that hasn’t got anything to do with love. Don’t tell me a sophisticated easterner like you doesn’t know that passion can exist without love? An interesting, passionate relationship without the complications of love was exactly what you planned to have with me when you made the decision to start an affair, wasn’t it?”
He was taunting her and Sariana was suddenly furious. It was all she could do to keep a grasp on her self-control. What she really longed to do was pick up her slipper and hurl it at him. For an instant the satisfying image of Gryph ducking the small projectile was very vivid in her head.
Gryph held up a hand. He gazed briefly at the slippers lying beside the bunk. When he lifted his eyes to her face again, they were glimmering with a cryptic satisfaction. “Please don’t. I haven’t got time this morning to use that slipper on your backside which is what I would feel obliged to do if you throw it at me.”
Sariana glared at him. “Don’t pretend you can read my mind. I know that’s impossible. You just took an educated guess. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out I’m annoyed with you and that slipper is the only convenient object at hand.”
r /> “And you do have a penchant for throwing things at me when you lose your temper,” he concluded helpfully as he started toward the cabin door. “You’re right, Sariana. It was just an educated guess. I’ll see you early this afternoon. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
Sariana knelt upright on the bunk, her hands clenched. She stared at the door as it closed behind him. “And you, Gryph Chassyn,” she informed the empty room, “have a penchant for giving orders. But I never agreed to obey them. We have a business arrangement. Just a mutually beneficial truce while we hunt for that cutter. That’s all I agreed to last night. And I’ve got news for you, Lord Chassyn: when it comes to conducting business, I’m a thousand times faster and smarter than some dumb, arrogant, muscle-brained frontier lord who scrapes out a living hunting bandits.”
She jumped off the bed and went to find her walking shoes. The scarlet-toe peeked over the edge of a cloak pocket where it had spent the night and hissed inquiringly.
“That’s right, Lucky, we’re busting out of here. There isn’t a jail made that can hold us, pal. You and I are going to escape this joint for a few hours. Come on, let’s go.”
She picked up her cloak, settled the lizard onto her shoulder and made for the door.
She was involved in a business arrangement. She had that on good authority. The best. A Shield himself had told her so. Well, so be it.
The first order of business was to find a medic.
It wasn’t hard to locate a female medic in Little Chance. An hour after she had left the windrigger, Sariana found herself talking bluntly with a competent, older woman who specialized in treating women. The medic wore the ancient insignia of a serpent and staff which harked back to the symbol of the medics who had been on board The Serendipity.
“Now, you’re certain you understand how to dampen and insert this little sponge?” the medic asked for the last time.
Sariana nodded a little dubiously. “It seems simple enough.”
“It is. Effective, too. If it’s used regularly. Don’t think you can skip a time or two. You must use it every time you have sex.”
“I understand.”
The medic frowned. “Are you certain you don’t want me to give you something that your male friend can use also? It would provide an extra margin of safety.”
Sariana tried to imagine the reaction she would get from Gryph if she presented him with a package of male contraceptives. “I don’t think he would use anything.”
The medic eyed her patient disapprovingly. “A woman should think twice about getting involved with a man who refuses to assume his share of the responsibility.”
Sariana sighed. “I know. The problem is, he’s a Shield and I don’t think he would—”
“A Shield!” The woman stared at her in astonishment. “Then why are you worrying about contraceptives? There’s no danger of him getting you pregnant.”
“Is that really true?” Sariana asked urgently. It was the first reliable confirmation she’d had of what she had been told. Surely a medic would not give credence to a legend unless there was some genuine fact at the base of it.
“Of course it’s true.” The medic shook her head. “I keep forgetting you easterners know very little about our ways and you probably know nothing about Shields. To be honest, most of us don’t talk about them too much to outsiders. I suppose we’re a little in awe of them, even after all these years of coexisting with them. But since you’re involved with one, you should know some facts. He can’t get you pregnant unless you’re his Shieldmate, and if that’s the case, you can forget the contraceptives. He’ll go through prisma fire to get you pregnant. The last thing he would do is allow you to use anything. Not unless the pregnancy would endanger your life. And even in that rare situation I’ve heard of Shields and their mates taking a chance.”
“Having children is so important to a Shield?”
The medic shrugged. “It’s a matter of survival. As a class they are hanging on by their fingernails, one notch above extinction. Their birthrate is extremely low, even when the men manage to find mates. And they produce no female children. Without females of their own, Shields have a very shaky hold on reproduction. Each new generation of men must search for a mate among the other social classes, and the odds of finding a woman who can be a Shieldmate are not good. There’s no way to test for the potential in a woman. Even if it were possible, I doubt that many respectable families would want their daughters tested.”
“I think I can guess why,” Sariana said dryly.
The medic shrugged. “A woman who marries a Shield leaves her clan and social class to join the Shield class. Practically speaking, that means she winds up living in some far-off mountain fortress town. Not too many women are anxious to give up their friends, family and the comforts of city life to keep house out on the frontier.”
“I think I get the picture,” Sariana said quietly. So part of what Gryph had told her was true. “After all these years of marrying non-Shield women, though, haven’t their bloodlines become diluted?”
“They only care about the talent for working prisma. And that appears to be a dominant trait that is passed along by the males through certain receptive females. Just like their odd eye color. Neither eye color nor the skill with prisma shows any sign of weakening in successive generations. No medic pretends to understand the whole biological process, and Shields don’t talk about it much to outsiders, but facts are facts. As long as a Shield can find a fire mate, he can reproduce his own kind.”
“But what kind is that?” Sariana asked in confusion. “What is this talk of working prisma?”
“You said you were involved in an affair with a Shield,” the medic observed slowly.
“He tells me that under the law we’re married,” Sariana said ruefully.
The medic was startled. “You’re his wife? A Shield-mate? Then I definitely think you should put your questions to him. I don’t know enough to answer them completely for you, anyway. Furthermore, he probably would not take kindly to my attempting to educate you. Shields can be very difficult about matters they consider Shield business.”
Sariana nodded in resignation. “Thank you, Medic Vallon.”
“You’re welcome.” The medic eyed Sariana closely. “Are you really some Shield’s mate?” she asked thoughtfully.
Sariana’s hand closed around the package the medic had just given her. “He seems to think I am.”
“And you intend to avoid getting pregnant?”
“It would ruin my whole future,” Sariana whispered. “I’m not staying here, you see. Eventually I’ll be going home to the eastern provinces. I was born and raised in Rendezvous. I’m only here for a year or two.”
The medic shook her head uneasily. “This is the first time I have ever heard of a Shield finding a mate from the eastern provinces. Now that there is growing contact between us, this sort of situation may become more common. Unfortunately, no provision was made for it in the First Generation Pact the colonists made with the Shields.”
Sariana didn’t like the somber tone in the other woman’s voice. “Why is it so unfortunate?”
Medic Vallon looked at her. “You can trust a Shield with your life. Everyone in the west knows that to a Shield, his word is his bond. They adhere rigidly to the terms of the Pact. But they are a desperate class who face extinction with each new generation. If they discover that they can find mates in the eastern provinces, you can be certain they will start searching for them there as well as here. But the people of the eastern continent have no pact with which to control them.”
Sariana’s mouth went dry. “Are they so very dangerous? It sounds like there are only a few of them.”
“Any intelligent being facing extinction would probably become dangerous out of desperation. But in the case of the Shields, the business of being dangerous takes on new meaning. The luck of the day
to you, Sariana Dayne. I’m beginning to think you will need it. A word of warning. If I were you, I would not let your Shield know about that little sponge I just gave you. If he does find out, I would consider it a great favor if you would avoid telling him who prescribed it for you.”
There was a light, misty rain falling by the time Sariana reached the street. A disgusted hiss from Lucky made Sariana pause long enough to reach up and remove the lizard from her shoulder.
“So you don’t like getting wet, hmm? Here you go. I hope that suits you.” She popped the scarlet-toe into a pocket of her cloak and then pulled up the hood to cover her hair. The hissing stopped as the lizard settled down into the comfortable pocket. Sariana put the package she had gotten from the medic into another pocket.
If she hadn’t gotten lost on the way back to the docks, she would never have stumbled onto the fair. It was being held at the edge of town and the array of brightly colored tents, awnings and flags stretched as far as Sariana could see. The misting rain did not seem to affect the enthusiasm of the crowds. The fairgrounds were thronged with brilliantly garbed people.
Sariana was fascinated. There was no equivalent to it in the eastern provinces. A few of the farming towns had annual festivals, but nothing on this scale. She found herself sucked into the crowds before she knew what had happened. The shouts of audiences and hucksters mingled with music and the screams of overexcited children. Warm, fragrant smells filled the air near the food booths and more acrid, earthy scents emanated from the animal stalls.
Sariana wandered for over an hour, taking in an exhibition of magic, staring in amused wonder at a muscleman who could lift an entire dragonpony off the ground, and listening to balladeers.
She turned a corner at one point and found herself in an aisle of craft booths. Idly she began studying the wares that were offered for sale. When she spotted a handsome metal belt buckle on display beneath a cheerful blue awning, she stopped.
The buckle was beautifully made. With an eye that had been trained for over a year in the Avylyn household, Sariana judged the craftsmanship and found it very satisfying. The motif was a finely executed head of a bird of prey. Its eyes were set with small, perfectly faceted stones that resembled prisma, although Sariana knew from the price of the object that the stones could not possibly be genuine crystal. The creature’s black and gold feathers were fashioned in beautiful cloisonne work.