A Lotus for the Regent by Adonis Devereux

lurked just beneath his merry
exterior. “How so?”
    “ They want to steal our ships to resupply their depleted navy.”
    Darien punched
the palm of his hand. “Abrexa's chain! They can't win their own war in six
years with all their technology, so now they want to steal our ships?”
    Kamen laid a
hand on Darien's muscular shoulder, right where his tattoo, which matched
Kamen's own tattered one, snaked up across his chest. “Don't worry. I've got a
plan. They don't know I know, so they'll never see it coming.”
    Darien's anger
evaporated like rain on the mountain. “But how did you find out?”
    “ One of the Guildmaster's own servants told me.” Kamen whistled. “I
want you to meet her.”
    Ruben escorted
Ajalira down the gangplank, and Kamen was struck afresh by her beauty. Every
time he saw her, her effortless grace and pride surprised him. When she deigned
to bend her gaze on Kamen, he forgot all about his old feelings for Darien.
    Ajalira stopped
right before Darien and Kamen and bowed low in the Zenji fashion. She still
wore the outfit of a Lotus.
    “ Admiral,” Kamen said, taking Ajalira's delicate hand, “I want you to
meet Ajalira.”
     

Chapter Five
     
    “ Ajalira” he had called her. Not “Lotus”, not “slave”. He had called
her by her name. Ajalira risked a glance at the Regent. He had avoided her
throughout the voyage, and she had wondered if he were angry with her. His
face, however, showed nothing but pleasure as he introduced her.
    “ Lord Admiral.” Ajalira bowed slightly to the enormous Sunjaa before
her. His rank she had at once detected from the large gold shawl-necklace that
rested on his bare chest, but even had she not seen it, she would have
recognized him. She had seen him through the window at the guildhouse—was it
only four days ago?
    The Admiral
bowed in acknowledgement of the introduction. “I am pleased to meet any friend
of Kamen's.” He smiled at her, an open, friendly smile such as Ajalira could
not remember seeing since coming to the Dimadan. “But I'm afraid I can't stay.”
The Admiral nodded to the Regent.
    “ I had assumed so.” The Regent's eyes were blacker than she had seen
them get before, and Ajalira noticed the slightest alteration in the pressure
of his hand on hers.
    Once the Admiral
had gone, the Regent turned to look full on her again. “Ajalira, if you would
accompany me to the King's palace, I will have your writ of liberty drawn up.”
    Ajalira's eyes
grew wide. Her mouth opened, and she tried futilely to speak. No sounds would
come out. She moved her lips, but all she could hear was the sound of the blood
rushing in her ears. He was giving her freedom. He had come back to the Dimadan
to purchase her—only to set her free?
    “ Ajalira?” The Regent's voice reached her as through layers of wool.
“Are you all right?”
    Ajalira licked
her lips, forcing some strength into her limbs. “Regent, I—thank you.”
    The Regent's
mouth curved upward in a slight smile. The sunlight caught the gleam of silver
on his nose ring, and Ajalira clasped her hands together to keep from touching
him. “Then will you ride in my litter to the palace?”
    Ajalira nodded.
Her mouth was dry, and when the Regent pulled the curtains of the litter shut
around her without getting in himself, she let herself go. She could still hear
his even tread walking alongside the litter, so she kept her tears quiet. But
she let herself cry. Since her mother's death she had not known one instance of
kindness, one expression of generosity. The Regent, with his soft, black eyes
and scarred chest, had shown her both. There was no benefit to him in this. He
had saved her life and brought her from the guildhouse solely to set her at
liberty.
    Of course, no
Tamari could let the saving of her life go unrepaid. But the Regent did not
even yet know she was Ausir. She would, naturally, have to tell him. She owed
him her life. She smiled through her tears. At least this debt was to