Counterweave

11. THE ROYAL FAMILY'S RESPONSE

Waves and waves of fear rolled off her. Salettin picked up every vibration, and every vibration cut him. Why had she voiced her opinion aloud? Every young woman in that room was connected to the rich and powerful in Sector Five. Every one of them wanted children, and most were minimally fertile. They would do practically anything to see that their species survived, and if that meant defeating the Intergalactic Faj's influence on this planet, they would find a way to do so.

But his uncle felt the same way about the Faj's control over the lives of their subjects. That was why his uncle had gone into business, and why he refused to own slaves. Slavery, he claimed, gave too few opportunities to common people, and, in the long run, defeated a vibrant economy.

As he reviewed the economy in Sector Five, which forbade slavery altogether, he realized the truth in Uncle's position. Although poverty ran rampant in this Sector, he found more budding businesses here than in any other Sector, especially in Level Two. Those who owned businesses in this Level employed the majority of people in the whole City. They might not be this Sector's elite, but they were far from poor.

In Sector One, where his father planned to live once he had completely subdued Sector Five to his satisfaction, there were rich and there were poor. Very few lived in the middle, like those who flourished in Level Two in this City.

His father cared little for the burgeoning businesses in Level Two. He cared only for the elites. Everyone else, he believed, lived to serve them.

Salettin as a boy, raised by his uncle, dreaded his father's visits. Orvinet arrived like a destructive storm causing damage in its wake. Any physical punishment Salettin received always came from his father. The younger ba Tir brother used a gentler approach, one that impacted Salettin far more. In fact, the only topic Salettin and his father agreed upon was slavery. Until he arrived on this planet, he had never owned his own pleasure slave. Tiffin. Salettin silenced a sigh, realizing that his affection for the girl bordered on the forbidden. He relished every moment he spent with her, imagining her to be his wife instead of his concubine, imagining his children were legitimate instead of slaves.

Except for Chala, and Tiffin, he wished he had never come here. Unknown to Salettin, his uncle had agreed to take full custody of the boy as long as Salettin found a suitable mate by his twenty-fifth birthday. If he failed, his father would take control.

On the day of his twenty-fifth birthday, his uncle had shown him the contract that sealed his flight to Nevia II with his father. That cursed contract, Salettin muttered under his breath, not for the first time.

When he read the agreement his uncle had signed, Salettin protested long and loud. In fact, he had done so much protesting, he nearly landed in prison. With no recourse, feeling betrayed by both the brothers, he sold all his assets and accompanied his father on the long flight to this backward planet.

Still rigid with fury for Chala's lack of discretion, he glanced at her. Saying what a person thought aloud never went well when dealing with people like his father.

Her eyes, wide and dark with fear, stared back at him, and nearly melted his composure. What alternative remained? She had betrayed his people, well, his father anyway, with those careless words. His father never forgave an offense. She had provided the opportunity for both parents to take control of her life, and she didn't even know it.

He wondered how to minimize the damage she caused. The contract between his father and him, forbade him to tell her how to act. In his arrogance, Salettin believed that his ability to train loyal slaves insured his success with Chala. No matter how she felt about slavery or anything else, coerced to love him, she would never betray him. But when she used that trickle of energy preventing Tri'ndel from bearing more children, he realized how little control he actually owned. Then, by seeking out her Outsider mother to answer her questions instead of coming to him worried him even more. He thought the punishment he ordered Emree and Raeta to inflict on her would insure her compliance.