man had feelings for her. It was obvious in the way he looked at her. And Chee understood the major’s desire. She was a beautiful woman. No, she was more than beautiful. Stunning was the word. The major had been in prison for many years, and before that an unmarried officer on the frontier, and had had little opportunity for female companionship.
But though he could not explain it, this woman brought trouble with her.
Trouble for all of them.
T hey rode west over a slight rise through a small stand of aspen. The land flattened out some into a large valley. The weather was cooling down, a breeze coming out of the north and Hollister was sure it would bring rain, probably before nightfall. The floor of the valley held a large meadow and they rode along at a gentle pace.
Shaniah tried to watch Hollister without his knowing, staring at him through the folds of her hood. He rode nearly effortlessly, moving with the horse almost before the horse even knew where it was going. No doubt a result of his military training. What an interesting man, she thought.
The feelings confused her. Until she left the Archaic homeland to track Malachi, she hadn’t interacted with a human in nearly two centuries. She still had her human memories, and the Old Ones had reminded her that this made her different. As their leader, she would need to find a way through the coming clashes with humankind, and her remembrances were an advantage.
Was this why Hollister intrigued her so? Shaniah did not believe in destiny as the Old Ones did. Until she met Hollister and her memories of her long-dead husband, Dimitri, came flooding back.
Archaics did not have children, but they did have sex. In fact, they had it frequently, often, and athletically. But to her knowledge, she had never heard of an Archaic having sex with a human. In fact, she doubted any human could survive it. But looking at Hollister, with his long legs straining in the stirrups and his broad chest rising and falling with the gallop of the horse-may the Old Ones forgive her, but she wanted to find out if he could.
She wanted to find it out more than anything.
H ollister had left the train not telling Chee where he was going on purpose. Chee was not happy with Hollister’s growing closeness to Shaniah. At first, it had been a purely tactical decision. She knew more about Malachi and the Archaics than anyone else; she wanted his help for some reason. It made sense to find out what she knew.
But the part that made Chee uneasy was that it had now gone beyond that. He had heard them talk about things beyond just Malachi and his plans, or the Archaics and their history.
Hollister was attracted to her, and it was here that Chee had a point. Maybe he had crossed a line. She was beautiful, intelligent, and unlike any woman he had ever met. As they rode through the meadow, he tried to watch her without her knowing, but their eyes kept meeting, even through the folds of her hood.
It had been so long since he had even been close to a woman. Were the signals he remembered the same? The furtive looks, the quick smiles? Forgive me, Sergeant Chee, he thought. But I need to find out.
Chapter Fifty-four
Hollister reined Rose to a stop, then walked her toward a small stand of aspen and dismounted. Shaniah pulled up next to him, a curious look on her face.
“I thought we might let the horses graze awhile. The grass is good here,” he said.
Shaniah slid easily off Demeter’s back, stroking his mane and patting him gently on the rump. Unlike most stallions Hollister had seen, he showed little interest in Rose and took immediately to the grass.
Hollister walked to a spot beneath a large aspen and stood looking at the valley. It was about an hour before sundown and the view was gorgeous. The mountains surrounding them were still snow covered at the peaks, the trees were a gorgeous green, and the grass and wildflowers dotted the landscape with brilliant splashes of color.
“Your home,” Hollister said. “It’s in the mountains, in Europe, you said?”
“Yes,” she said.
“What does it look like?”
“Why do you ask?” she said.
“No reason, I just… we… you and I survived a pretty horrible ordeal in Absolution and I feel like we’re friends…”
“Friends?” she interrupted.
“Well… yes… I’d say if you survive a fight to death and you save each other’s lives a couple of times, that qualifies as friendship.”
“Is that how humans choose their friends these days? It is not how I remember it,” she said.
“I just thought…” Hollister was thoroughly confused. “I only asked… I just wanted to know more about you… that’s all.
… I didn’t…”
Shaniah stepped forward and kissed him. It was a nice kiss, soft at first, and Hollister was instantly aroused. She broke it off and stared at him, her hands on his shoulders.
“So, I guess this means we are friends?” he asked.
She laughed and kissed him again, pushing him back against the tree trunk. She removed her cloak and it fell to the ground at her feet.
“What about the sun?” he asked, concern in his voice.
She held a finger to his lips. “It is behind the mountains to the west. Do not worry.” The kiss was different this time-more passionate and forceful. Her hands went to his cheeks and she ran them through his hair. She stopped again to look at him.
“Friends don’t stop,” he said, his breath coming in gasps.
What happened next, happened fast. She kissed him again, and then her hands were everywhere, pulling at his shirt, running over his chest. Her fingers probed the scars on his chest and back, the places where he’d been shot and stabbed during the war, but he was glad she didn’t stop to ask him about them then. Time for that later.
The last thing he had any control over was pulling her to him, this time kissing her, his hands running through her long hair, his fingers pulling at the buttons of her blouse.
When he came to or woke up or returned to reality-for he didn’t think he’d been unconscious but he couldn’t swear to it-they were lying next to each other on the ground beneath the aspen. The sun had set; he had no idea how much time had passed and didn’t care. His entire body ached, but not in a bad way. During the war, after battle he often felt a curious blend of fatigue and exhaustion, his body sometimes so sore it hurt to move. When you were fighting for your life, the aftermath left you completely spent. So tired you believed you’d never be able to stand again, much less fight.
Hollister felt like that now, except he wasn’t sore or fatigued. The exhaustion and soreness was there, but he felt unlike he’d ever felt in his life.
Shaniah lay next to him, naked and apparently not caring. Another reason Hollister decided he liked her.
“Can I ask you a question?” he murmured.
“Yes, of course. Anything,” she said.
“This… what we just did…”
“Lovemaking?”
“Yes… sure… we can call it that… lovemaking,” he stammered. “Is this the… usual way… of ‘lovemaking’ for your people?”
She tried not to laugh. “Yes, I would say it is ‘usual.’ ”
“Dear Lord,” he muttered under his breath. “And do you have a
… over there, or back home, are you married or do you have a custom of… I guess what I’m asking is, do you have a husband?” Then he winced; this was probably the absolute wrong time to ask this question. He wanted to kick himself. Except he was too damn tired to kick anything.
If the question bothered Shaniah, she didn’t show it. In fact, it didn’t appear to affect her at all.
“I did once. No longer. We do marry; we take mates, for life. But in some cases our unions can be dissolved
