Chapter Eleven
Lena
Lena dreamed of a blond man who raged at her to love him.
He flew her away from everything she loved.
She screamed, her voice so powerful that it hurt his ears, and he gagged her.
He held her down on his bed and tore her clothes away.
The image of him between her naked thighs sent Lena shooting into wakefulness.
Panting, she sat up. Her body ached. Or was that her heart? Something was wrong, but her mind couldn't process it at first. Was she dressed? Why? Then she remembered. Lena was in the fortress. With the Nethren. One, in particular, came to mind instantly.
With Vor's face filling her head, Lena went still and slid her stare around the bedroom.
It was empty but for her. Sounds came through the closed door—soft movements.
Vor. He was out there. The dream returned to her, and she wondered if it was another vision.
Would Vor gag her? Rape her? She sat up. Waited. Slid out of bed.
Had she closed the door the night before?
No, Lena had left it open. She wanted to know if Vor would keep his word when faced with temptation.
Her test should have kept her awake, listening for any sound of approach.
Instead, she'd fallen asleep within seconds of her head hitting the pillow.
A week of tossing and turning had finally caught up to her.
Thank convergence, Vor hadn't betrayed his promise.
But maybe he would. Maybe the dream had been a warning. Or maybe it was just a dream.
On the balls of her feet, Lena ran to the bathroom.
Her heart was racing when she shut and locked the bathroom door.
To her left was the damaged wall, and a flush came to her face.
This was real. Not a dream. She was the captive of a Nethren commander—a very attractive Nethren commander who believed she was the key to . . .
“To what?” Lena whispered. “I don't understand how he thinks I can help them.”
She went to see to her morning needs, washed up, and forced herself to leave the bathroom.
The bedroom was still empty, the door still closed, but there was a fresh change of clothes folded on the foot of the rumpled bed.
Lena went to them and looked them over. It was another dress, but it was short and covered in glittering designs.
Lena frowned at it and then at the underthings.
With a grimace, she grabbed the clothing and stormed into the other room.
Vor was standing at the window, staring down into the courtyard. He turned immediately when she entered the room, and then frowned. “What's wrong?”
“I'm not wearing this!” She tossed the clothes at him.
Scowling, he caught the dress that hit him in the chest, but the rest of the items fell to the floor.
Vor held the dress out, and his eyebrows went up.
“Oh. I see.” He crumpled the dress. “I apologize.
One of my female soldiers has been collecting clothing for you, but she's on wall duty this morning, so I asked Corporal Shensar to fetch something for you.”
“From where?” Lena put her hands on her hips. “I didn't realize there was a slutty clothing store in the fortress.”
Vor winced. “Uh, the same place most of the other clothes came from—a Medean's closet.”
“Most?”
“That dress is from Ranuvul.” He waved at the black silk dress she still wore. “I, uh.” He cleared his throat. “I brought it with me for you.”
Lena blinked, oddly touched, but then she remembered he didn't know her back when he packed for his big mission. “You mean, you brought it for Liria.”
“Lena, how many times do I have to explain that it was you I was being guided to, not your sister?” Vor frowned at her. “Are you jealous?”
“Are you insane?” she shot back. But to herself, Lena admitted the truth—she was jealous.
It had nothing to do with Vor. Well, only because the situation involved him.
Mainly, it was just that Liria got everything she wanted.
Even when things went badly for her, they worked out in the end.
It felt like more of the same, that even Vor capturing her had been about Liria, not Lena.
“All right.” Vor held up his hands, one still holding the dress. “Look, I fetched breakfast for us myself. Will you join me?”
He tossed the dress onto a chair and sat down before a plate full of fried eggs, grilled meat, and biscuits. There was a bowl of sliced fruit in the center of the table, a jug of water, and a clear carafe of juice.
Lena sighed and sat down across from him before her own plate. Her stomach wouldn't allow her to walk away from all that delicious food. Refusing it would have been foolish.
“Would you like juice or water?” Vor asked.
In answer, Lena grabbed the water jug and poured herself a glass. After a deep swallow that left her sighing, she set into her food.
“I'm sorry about the clothing.” Vor poured some juice for himself. “I don't know why she picked that out.”
Lena snorted.
“Excuse me?”
Lena finally looked up at Vor and shook her head. “Shensar is that one from the room that you took me to first, right?”
“The command room, yes.”
“She likes you. And because she likes you, she doesn't like me. That dress is her way of calling me a whore.”
Vor flushed.
Lena cocked her head, surprised to see his horrified expression. Nethren were supposed to be unfeeling monsters. But Vor had been kind, patient, and protective. Now this? It made no sense. Unless what he told her was true, and they really were feeling softer emotions.
“She's a Nethren,” he finally said. “If she were attracted to me, it wouldn't interfere with her duties.”
“Why are you so red?” Lena narrowed her eyes at him and then moved her finger before her face in a circle. “In the face. You're flushed. That's a sign of embarrassment. Why are you embarrassed, Commander Vor?”
Vor cleared his throat and looked down at his food. “I'm not embarrassed.”
“That's a lie.” She sat back in her seat and sipped her water. Then she frowned at it. “Don't Nethren drink coffee?”
“Coffee is a stimulant.” Vor's face started to regain its normal coloring.
“Yeah. So? I like it. It helps to wake me up in the morning.”
He pulled a small device from his jacket and pressed a series of buttons on it.
It buzzed, and then a voice said, “Yes, Commander?”
Vor spoke into the device, obviously some kind of communication machine without video. “I need a jug of coffee.”
“Coffee, sir?”
“Yes.” He looked up at Lena. “Anything else?”
“Cream and sugar for the coffee,” she said.
He nodded. “Send a bowl of sugar and some cream as well.”
“Yes, sir. Uh, I'm not sure if any of the kitchen staff know how to make coffee.”
“Oh, for the sake of convergence.” Lena rolled her eyes. “Forget it. I don't want bad coffee.”
“Never mind the coffee,” Vor said.
“Yes, sir. Do you still want the sugar and cream?”
“No. They were for the coffee.”
“Oh, I see. I'm so sorry, Commander.”
Vor pressed another button on the device and tucked it away. “Perhaps I could take you to the kitchens, and you could show someone how to make coffee?”
Lena lost her annoyance. “That would be nice.”
“Very well. After we're done eating.”
Lena started eating. It took her two minutes to remember that Vor hadn't answered her about his embarrassment. She set her fork down. “So, why were you flushed if you weren't embarrassed? Is it about the corporal?”
Vor winced. “It's nothing.”
“I want to know.”
“No.”
“Oh, I see.” Lena nodded and returned to eating.
“What do you see?” Vor straightened in his chair and glared at her.
“You were together.” She waved her fork at him. “She's one of the women you've . . . been with. At those sex places you go to.”
Vor gaped at her.
Lena burst out laughing. “Holy convergence! I'm right.”
Vor continued to gape at her, but his expression shifted slightly from shock to wonder. “You have a lovely laugh.”
Lena stopped laughing and returned to eating.
This wasn't a date. She was this man's prisoner.
She shouldn't be laughing. Or maybe she should, but in a more mocking way.
They were enemies. Lena had to remember that, especially now that she was talking to him.
No matter how nice Vor was to her, he was keeping her against her will. Nothing made up for that.
Even as Lena chided herself, she thought about the stories Vor had been telling her about his life underground.
They'd been mostly about his childhood, with a few recounting his years working up to the status of commander.
They'd generated curiosity in Lena, but she couldn't ask him questions when she was trying to ignore him. Now, she could.
“There's something I've always wondered.” Lena scooped some fruit onto her plate. “Your Medean ancestors built big convergences to dig into the ground.”
“Yes.” Vor eyed her warily.
“Do those machines still exist?”
“Yes.”
“Then why don't you just dig your way to the surface? Why use the old tunnels at all? You could pop up wherever you wanted and not have to fight anyone.”
“Because the underground is a delicate honeycomb of caverns and tunnels.” Vor leaned forward, his expression shifting to eagerness.
“The original tunnels were made in calculated locations so that they would come at the Source from many angles. Only a few expeditions found the Source, but then they connected the other tunnels so that all of them led to Tech.”
“Uh-huh.” Lena frowned. “So?”
“So, once the original Nethren found the Source, they dug more and more, creating a maze of tunnels that connected to natural caverns.
They wanted to live near Source, but they didn't expect to live only underground. They never thought the Aethari would join forces with the Medeans against them. So, they dug without worrying about adding more tunnels to the surface. When our surface tunnels were closed, they tried to dig a new tunnel out. It started a series of cave-ins, including a cavern that held one of our cities. Over a hundred thousand people were crushed to death.”
“Oh, dear convergence,” Lena whispered.
“Yes, it was tragic. Before they risked another tunnel, they conducted surveys.
Everywhere they analyzed resulted in the same information—it was too unstable.
Further digging would cause more cave-ins.
We couldn't escape. Our eagerness had trapped us.
So we were forced to live underground. But we never stopped trying to talk to your people.
When our attempts at negotiation were ignored, we resorted to violence.
We've been trying to fight our way to the surface for centuries, but I don't think violence is the way.”
“I see.” Lena had her hand around her glass of water. It was cold; the condensation slicking her fingers. But it matched the feelings Vor's story inspired in her. Her people had imprisoned his people underground. It was hard not to sympathize with him.
“It forced us to become resourceful,” Vor went on. “We've invented astounding machines and built vast cities that run on geothermal energy.”
“What is geothermal energy?”
“It's heat given off by Para's core. The center of our world is molten stone, Lena.
Source lives near it, but the heat from that molten core seeps up, and we harvest it to run our machines, heat water, and cook food.
Speaking of food, it's abundant underground.
We have farms, livestock, and lakes full of fish.
Our lights mimic the sun, and we have machines that pump in fresh air through small shafts while others pump stagnant air out. Life underground isn't so bad.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because, as I've already said, living down there has stolen our emotions, Lena. Can you imagine losing your ability to love? Or laugh?”
“You don't laugh?”
“Rarely. We don't form attachments to things or people outside of our immediate family.
I used to think that was a good thing. But the longer I'm up here, the longer I'm around you, the more I realize that life is a specter of what it should be without those attachments.
I am not a machine, but now I see that I've lived as one.
I can't go back to that, Lena. I want more now. And I want it for all of my people.”
“That's admirable.” Lena sighed and rubbed her head. She really needed a cup of coffee. It had been over a week since she had had any. No wonder her head hurt. “But what's not so admirable is kidnapping a woman who has nothing to do with the war.”
“You know why you're here. I will not explain it again.”
“I don't, actually. You say I can change your people or help them. But that's not possible. I'm not even good at converging. I don't have a strong connection to Magic or Tech. I can't help you, Vor.”
“Yes, you can. But it's all right if you don't believe me. Just your being here is already changing my people. And it's only been eight days, Lena. I can't imagine how much we'll change in a month.”
“A month?!” Lena shot to her feet. “You're going to keep me here for a month?”
Vor sighed and stood as well. “Why don't we get you some coffee?”
“You can't keep me here forever!”
He turned, took her hand, and drew her to the door. “I won't have to.”