Counterweave

15. THE BA TIR WEDDING

Orvinet shoved the message from General A'nden at his wife.

"It's addressed to Salettin," she said.

"Read it. This is the third message A'nden has sent."

Alrenn spent time on the letter to make sure she missed nothing.

"He sounds sincere."

"He's just trying to get his daughter out of the wedding. She's twenty, years past when she would have needed the Discipline to help her through it."

"But suppose it's true. What if she is indeed coming into her

Time of Crisis?"

Orvinet grinned. It didn't make him appear friendly.

"As an extremely Talented young woman, her eventual explosion will be magnificent. By not being informed in time, my son will need to divorce her, and then he will wed a woman of my choosing."

"And be under your thumb forever."

"That was the plan all along."

"Here's what I can do to help."

In the days before the wedding, the kitchens bustled with activity. Foods that could be made ahead and chilled were stored.

Foods to be cooled and heated later were also stored. Soups, salads, desserts, all the things that could be prepared in advance, were prepared.

Chala knew none of that. Being locked in his bedroom, the windows darkened with an impenetrable cover, the room dimly lit, time meant nothing to her. Salettin only arrived to instruct her in how to please him, or to have her sleep beside him.

Each time he returned he brought her a meal that he allowed her to eat only after her performance satisfied him.

He kept himself distant. She felt only contempt from him.

One day he did not return at all. When he did finally return, he brought no food.

The bride must learn that she relies on her husband for everything, he told her, his mind still as cold as ice.

"Are you still planning to marry me? I thought you intended to sell me."

"I have been teaching you what to expect from your new master. By now you should know how to please practically anyone, should I sell you." He threw a slave shift at her. "But never expect anyone to love you again. You encouraged your people to rebel against my family and our authority. You deserve nothing but contempt from me."

His words struck her harder than any blow with a fist. The thought of never again having Salettin inside her mind, loving her, left her devastated. Silent tears slipped from her eyes.

He laughed at her show of emotion. "Do you honestly think your tears can sway me? You? A betrayer? There is no forgiveness for what you said to those filthy Outsiders at that foolish tea. We will go through the motions of the wedding. No one, besides my family, of course, will know that you no longer deserve to be my wife. I will keep you as long as you produce children. I wanted a partner, woman. I chose you because of your survival skills as a child. I can get a pretty woman anywhere, but you, so full of promise and so filled with treachery, are now worth nothing else to me."