Kiera's Moon

"Happiness can be restored. Honor cannot," he said firmly. "What other surprises have you for me?"

"No more surprises," she replied. The sudden change in her expression from open to shuttered drew his attention. "I think there are some matters we should discuss when you return."

"What matters?" he pursued.

"This isn't the place, A'Ran."

"Woman," he growled, "you do not tell me my place."

She assessed him again and shifted under his scrutiny before looking away.

"I don't trust these machines and who might overhear," she said. "If it please you, I'd rather wait to discuss this later."

"It does not please me."

"Then you'll have to wait anyway."

She stood, as if to tell him their conversation was over. A'Ran almost echoed her movement. His size might have an impression on her in person, but over the viewer, it meant nothing. She could just as easily flick off the viewer as he could. He didn't doubt the unpredictable woman would do such an incredible thing. At the moment he wanted nothing more than to reach out to her, and he was uncertain whether he wanted more to kiss those perfect lips or shake some sense into her.

He leaned back and drew a calming breath. She was distraught about something, though he couldn't fathom what might distress her if the news of his sisters' impending babes and complete loss of honor did not. That news certainly distressed him.

"You're angry?" She studied him.

"I'm not angry."

"You look angry."

"You're trying my patience, woman," he said. He raised his chin to indicate the table to her left. "Have you been using that machine?"

Nishani glanced in the direction he indicated and returned a wary gaze to him.

"Did Ne'Rin tell you that?"

"So you have been."

"Yes, I have," she said. "Ne'Rin suggested that I not use it."

"What do you think of it?" he asked, avoiding the direct challenge in her gaze.

"It's a very interesting game, though I don't understand how it works exactly. I think I've got most of it down," she said, relaxing when he didn't lecture her.

"Game," he repeated.

"That's what you're talking about, isn't it? The battle game on that console?"

He was silent in surprise once more, unable to understand how she might consider his battle plans nothing more than a complex game. If she were unfamiliar with the accepted societal behaviors of a woman on his planet, he couldn't expect her to be any more familiar with the machine. Yet her naiveté was almost too much for him to bear. How did a woman like this find her way to him of all men?