Pawn (Barbarians of the Sand Planet #12)
Chapter 1
Chapter One
L innea blamed the Dothvek wine for her lightheadedness, but the heady combination of moonlight, music, and him wasn't helping. Every time she turned, Zexx's dark gaze found hers across the celebration, making her skin tingle despite the cool night air.
The clan’s head of security seemed to take his job of ensuring her safety very seriously, although she suspected he wasn’t pleased he had to protect a Crestek. Why else would he stare at her without smiling, his muscular arms folded across his chest as if waiting for her to prove every horrible thing he assumed about her people to be right?
Linnea tore her gaze away, turning her back on him and instinctively glancing at the ship that had transported her to the oasis village. The Vandar warrior named Corvak had brought her, promising to return her to the Crestek city, but even he had joined in the celebration. She supposed there was no chance she could slink out early. Not when she was in the middle of a vast sea of sand dunes.
Had it been a mistake to come to the oasis village for her brother’s wedding? Despite the peace between their peoples, the alliance was fresh and there was still caution on both sides. Caution she’d thrown to the winds when she’d traveled across the sands for the wedding. But she couldn’t have missed the chance to see Karv get married, even if his choice of a human bride was unconventional, and his refuge with the sand barbarians something not everyone in the Crestek city understood.
Linnea didn’t know if she fully understood, although she had to admit there was something appealing about being so far away from the bustle of the city and the burden of protocol. Here she didn’t need to worry about any of that. At least until she returned to her life and her position as the new Crestek chancellor.
Thinking about the responsibilities awaiting her made Linnea take another swig of her wine. “Not yet. I don’t have to go back yet.”
The wedding had been a departure from the ceremonies she was accustomed to in the walled city, Dothvek priestesses blessing the union while warriors stood in formation, curved blades gleaming at their hips. It had been filled with traditions that were as foreign to her as most things about the oasis village, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been moved by the tender vows or fascinated by the high-pitched wails of approval when Karv and Maya had kissed at the end of the ceremony.
Now the celebration was in full swing. Fires blazed around the village center as warriors and their mates danced to drums that seemed to match her racing pulse. The sweet scent of roasting meat mingled with exotic spices she'd never encountered as the potent barbarian wine unwound the knots that usually resided in her shoulders. She sucked in a breath and let her eyes flutter closed.
"More wine, Chancellor?"
She nearly jumped at the low voice behind her, turning to see the security chief she’d met earlier, the one who hadn’t seemed thrilled by her presence. Zexx, wasn’t it? Despite the merriment swirling around him, his stern expression remained.
"I've had enough," she said, though she couldn't help admiring how the firelight played across his bare chest, highlighting the tribal marks that she found so intriguing. Cresteks did not typically mark themselves, but she was starting to appreciate the look of inky black etched on gold skin.
He folded his arms across his chest. “Worried what your people would think of their leader enjoying barbarian hospitality?"
She bristled at his mocking tone and jerked her gaze from him. "I'm not afraid of anything."
"No?" He stepped closer, and she had to tip her head back to maintain eye contact. "Then why do you keep eyeing the dunes? Planning your escape from the barbarians already?"
Had she been glancing at the expanse of sands that stretched around them in all directions? She supposed it was hard not to be drawn to the open sands when all she’d ever known at home was high walls. There was something intriguing about so much vastness and no barriers. What would it be like to walk up and down the mountains of golden sand with so much unending sky stretched above her. Part of her was terrified to imagine it and another part thrilled.
“I doubt I would last long out there.” She sighed. “I’m not used to so much open space. I suppose I can’t stop marveling at it.”
He blinked at her. “You don’t miss the walls? You aren’t afraid of what might happen if you aren’t surrounded by stone?”
She straightened her spine, though it did little to diminish their height difference. “I thought I told you that I’m not afraid of anything.”
His eyes darkened and he grunted in response, as if he didn’t believe her.
She shouldn’t care what some Dothvek thought of her, but a part of her needed him to understand. “We don’t have high walls because we’re afraid.”
His brows climbed higher. “No? You didn’t retreat to the rocks and build walls to protect your people from us?”
“Maybe once,” she admitted. “But those days are gone.”
“Yet the walls remain.”
He was right. The Crestek city continued to be ringed by stone, but now it was more about habit and tradition than fear. She also suspected many of her fellow Cresteks did not have faith in the peace with the Dothveks or the idea of living in harmony with anything that existed beyond their walls. Their people had not developed hunting skills to deal with sand snakes or learned to adapt to sandstorms or even formed treaties with the scavengers who inhabited the farthest regions of the dunes. But she suspected it was not only the Cresteks who rejected change.
She studied the Dothvek’s stiff bearing. “And why do you remain so far from us in the middle of the sands if you aren’t also afraid?”
Instead of snapping back in his defense, Zexx’s scowl relaxed as he swept his gaze around the festivities. “Why would we leave this place?”
Linnea had to admit he had a point. The oasis in the middle of the sweeping dunes was dominated by a crystal blue pond ringed in tall, willowy trees with fronds bursting from the tops. Patches of green hugged the banks of the water, startling amid so much gold sand. Tents surrounded one side of the pond, flickering lights from within making their high peaks glow pale against the night sky. Life on the sands was certainly less complicated than life in the city.
“Maybe you’re right.” She caught a glimpse of her brother swinging his new wife as they danced around the fire. “Karv seems to be happy here.” She shook her head. “But he was always taken by the idea of Dothveks.”
“And you are not?”
She snapped her attention to the Dothvek staring at her. “No, but it wouldn’t matter if I was. I’m the chancellor of my people now.” Being chancellor meant maintaining control, dignity, distance. The wine must have loosened her tongue because she found herself admitting, "Sometimes I envy you, though. The freedom to choose based on desire rather than duty."
“You could not choose based on desire, Linnea?”
The way he said her name, rolling it across his tongue like honey, sent shivers down her spine. She forced herself to step back, to remember who she was. What she was.
“It is my desire to lead my people. To forge a better future than my brother Riz's cruelty would have brought." She lifted her chin. "That's enough for me.”
Zexx's expression hardened. “It sounds like you are trapped by your duty.”
"I'm not trapped. I'm exactly where I need to be." But even as she said it, she felt the weight of her responsibilities pressing down on her.
A group of warriors called out to Zexx—all deep throaty sounds that hummed through her bones. He responded in kind, though his eyes never left hers.
"Are your fellow Dothveks nervous you’re talking to me? Worried I'll corrupt their leader with my city ways?"
A low laugh rumbled from his chest. "No one in this village worries I will be corrupted by a Crestek.”
Somehow that didn’t feel like a compliment. “Because you despise us?”
He grunted, giving his head a quick shake. “Despise would be a strong word. Let us say I am cautious.”
The wine made Linnea unafraid to tease him. “You need to be cautious with me? You are twice my size.” She gave him a slow wink. “Or is it females that scare you, not Cresteks?”
He grunted again, maybe not sure if he was being teased or not. “You do not scare me, Chancellor.”
Linnea shouldn’t enjoy poking the beast as much as she did, but she couldn’t resist. He seemed to take himself and his defense of his people so seriously. As if she was a danger to any of them.
Linnea held up her hands as if in surrender. “I promise not to start a war between us if you promise to stop looking at me like I’m dangerous.”
Before he could respond, Karv approached with Maya. Her new sister-in-law's eyes sparkled with happiness as she hugged Linnea.
"Thank you for the beautiful dress," Maya said. “It was so nice to incorporate Crestek fashion into our wedding day.”
"Crestek fashion is known for beautiful fabrics,” Linnea said diplomatically, since most Dothvek females either wore the scant leather coverings of their male counterparts or they were priestesses draped in white garments. “I thought you might enjoy something special for your wedding dress.”
“I’m glad you brought me one of the more modest dresses,” Maya said with a nervous laugh as she skimmed her fingers down the sheer fabric of the skirt. “I don’t have the courage to dress like most Crestek women.”
Linnea didn’t take the human’s comment as a slight. The females in her city did wear revealing garments under their long cloaks. The draped gown she now wore, even though it dipped low to reveal her cleavage and showed plenty of bare leg, would be considered conservative by Crestek standards.
She avoided glancing at Zexx, although she could feel his heated look on her. “I think you have plenty of courage, especially for marrying my brother.”
Maya laughed as Karv grinned at his sister then his new bride. “Don’t believe a word she says.”
The drums changed rhythm, becoming slower, more primal. Karv dragged Maya into the dance, both of them laughing, clearly drunk on love and perhaps Dothvek wine. When Linnea looked to Zexx, he was gone.