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  Now it was his turn to stare, long and hard. She didn't flinch, though his glare had been known to make brave men falter.

  "We've been through a lot together," she said at last. "But I meant it when I said I loved you. I thought you meant it, too. If you didn't..."

  "I did mean it," Del said when she didn't say more. "Ah, shit, Lin. I've never been in a relationship before. I'm sorry."

  "Well, I have," she said. "And you should be sorry."

  He grinned reluctantly. "You don't give any slack, do you?"

  She didn't smile back at him. Her face remained stoic, her body stiff. She bit at her lip and turned her face like she was struggling to keep herself from speaking.

  Shame filled him. He knew her story, her history, what her husband had done to her. It was no wonder she refused to let him bully her, which was, he admitted, what he was trying to do.

  Del crossed the space between them, only a few steps, although it seemed as long as a light year. He pulled her into his arms, not caring she was stiff and unyielding in his embrace. He held her and buried his face in her hair, and gave her the strength and warmth of his body because he didn't know what else to do.

  Chapter 12

  He held her, and Linna let him do it, even though she wasn't quite willing to soften toward him yet. It felt good to be in his arms, her cheek against his broad chest. The shirt Erystus had given him was smooth, silky and sleeveless. Completely impractical for the jungle, but Linna liked the way it hugged every muscle and ripple.

  At last she slipped her arms around his waist and returned his hug. They stayed that way for a little while longer. They breathed in the same rhythm. Inhale, exhale. His heart beat its steady pattern beneath her cheek and she slipped a hand up to press her palm there.

  "Why don't you have any tattoos on your chest and biceps?" she asked. Talking about his markings seemed to be neutral ground.

  He squeezed her tighter before stepping back to let her go. "I left before I needed to get them."

  There was a whole lot more to Xanderra than she'd ever have thought. "Tell me about it?"

  She'd purposely phrased it as a request, not a demand, which seemed to freak him out a little less. Del smiled, ran a hand over his head in a gesture she'd come to know very well, and shrugged. She couldn't read his expression, which, in the firelight, looked to be a mix of sheepishness and pride.

  "Xanderran society is set up differently than it is in Newcity. We have a Ruling Council, like you do, but it's called the Melekim Gadol. The Great Kings."

  "Only men."

  He nodded. "Technically, yes, but since each man is also bound to his behshera, there are women who have a great deal of influence on it as well."

  Linna sat next to the fire and curled her arms around her knees. Del's way of speaking had changed since they'd landed here. His accent had thickened. His words had become...she didn't think more elegant. Perhaps more eloquent.

  "And what does this Council...these melekim, do?"

  "They maintain cells, vexxa, in each region of Xanderra's four main communities. All are located in an area that covers approximately one half of the planet. Xanderra's twice the size of Earth."

  She hadn't realized it was so large. "And what about the other half?"

  He looked around. "Jungle. And ocean. Mostly uninhabitable, long term, though there are small, renegade communities who live in the jungle."

  She held out her hand and he sat down beside her. "And what do these Melekim Gadol have to do with your ink?"

  Del put his hand to his chest "The markings on my arms and shoulders are signs of my life. My family, passing my adulthood test, the skills I gained and the battles I won or lost. If I'd found my behshera or a behsherat, her name or his would have also been inked."

  "Where?"

  He pointed to a bare spot on the inside of his left wrist. "There."

  She touched it and felt his pulse leaping under her fingers. "Will my name go there?"

  Del put his hand over hers, then kissed it. "Yes."

  That made her smile. "Are you trying to avoid answering my question about the Melekim Gadol?"

  He laughed. "Maybe. It's complicated."

  "So I'm guessing." Linna leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder. "I always knew there was more to you than you admitted."

  "If I had stayed on Xanderra, I'd have taken my place in the Council. I would have received the inkings on my chest and back that showed my rank in the melekim."

  "Which would have been what?" she prodded gently, sensing he was unwilling to say.

  "If all went well, I'd have followed my father's path and become the Amanrabah. The Great Father."

  Linna sat straight up and looked at him. "You'd have been in charge of the entire Council?"

  He shrugged. "My father expected me to follow him. I didn't want to. So I left."

  "That must've disappointed your father," Linna said. "I didn't have a father. I was conceived in an artificial womb with donated ovum and sperm. My parents were Matti and Devola Fortense, both androgynes."

  Del goggled at her and Linna laughed. "I think they were both genetically female, but had chosen to live without distinguishing gender characteristics. It was a big movement about thirty years ago. Equality for the sexes. I think my parents were surprised and disappointed when I turned out to be unabashedly feminine. So I know what it feels like to disappoint my parents, Del."

  He squeezed her fingers. "My father wasn't disappointed. He had my brother to count on instead of me."

  "You have a brother." She shook her head. "And he took your place? I'm sure that doesn't mean your parents weren't sad you left."

  "You don't understand Xanderran culture, Linna. When I didn't take a behshera, when I decided not to follow my father's path...they weren't just angry with me. They were glad to see me go."

  She wasn't going to argue with him, especially since she really didn't know anything about his world. "And your brother took what should have been your place. What's going to happen now that you're back?"

  Del looked around, out to the darkness past the firelight. "This is what happened."

  "I don't understand."

  Del sighed. "My brother must have ascended to the melekim. He'd have been notified we were coming in. He made the pod crash in the jungle."

  "He was trying to kill you?" Linna had thought she'd heard it all, but this news shocked her. "Why?"

  "To keep his place. If I take back my place on the Council, he'll be demoted, or lose it altogether. He'll have to fight me for his place, at any rate, and he must've been afraid he'd lose. If I die in the jungle, he doesn't have to worry about it."

  "And if you don't?"

  "Then he'll have to face me on the challenge field. If I make it back to Yarushalim, I'll have proven my worth to challenge him. He'll have to do it."

  "That's insane!"

  Del laughed, and though she was glad to hear he was able to look at the situation with humor, Linna didn't understand how he could.

  "Why do you think I left?"

  "And you have to do this?"

  Del shrugged again. "I don't have to do anything. But I'm sure I will."

  "You'll fight your brother for a place on a Council you didn't want to be on in the first place?" she cried, stunned. "You'll take a chance on getting killed to take something away from someone who wants it more than you do?"

  Del laughed again, a low, sultry chuckle that sent a rush of heat through her even in her outrage at the situation. "Yeah."

  "Why?"

  "Because I'm Xanderran," Del said like that should explain it all. "And because that little bastard tried to kill me."

  "It's those four balls." She shook her head in resignation. "This whole planet must be one huge cloud of testosterone."

  Del laughed again, deeper this time, and her belly clenched at the sound. He tilted his head, dark eyes gleaming, and his slow, hot smile made her smile in return.

  "Do you have any more questions?" he asked