The Taming: Book 3 in the Tribe Warrior Series by Imogen Keeper (romantic novels in english TXT) 📕

The gate groaned and clanked when it fell shut.

The thick jungle scent of damp flowers and hot springs hit her like a slap in the face.

She’d been so naïve. Of course, Tor had planned it. He’d known who she was even back on Spiro’s ship. The daughter of the Chief of the War Committee. That was one of the first things he’d ever said to her. Had he always intended to use her?

She squeezed her eyes shut. So stupid. So naïve.

Nothing is fair, amiera, and no one is free. He’d been so right.

She sat on the edge of the pool where she’d sat with Staria, and pulled the bandages off her feet just as he had done on the ship. The way he’d blown on her feet, stroked his thumb on her calves, said so gently that he wasn’t used to women like her. How he had lifted her into his arms and held her against his chest, carried her down the hall.

He’d been so furious when she’d gone into town and gotten caught in the riot, but not because he loved her and cared, but because she’d risked destroying the peace he’d been trying to build.

And getting rid of the felanas. He hadn’t done it for her. It wasn’t because he wanted her and only her and no one else. He’d done it for himself. The whole thing. All of it had been about the future of Vesta and peace with Argentus.

Her head was reeling; it was like the whole garden was spinning orbits around her. Her stomach hitched like she might vomit.

One thing came into focus. Tor’s mother crossing the garden toward her. The bells on her shoes tinkling, a long scarf trailing from her fingers. She sat down beside Klym on the edge of the pond.

“Klymeni,” she said, in that dour, flat voice of hers.

“Please, Layanna.” Klym tried to sit up straight, but it wasn’t possible. It felt like her whole body had deflated. “Not now.”

“Have you seen the news this morning?”

“No,” Klym whispered back. She’d seen nothing this morning. She’d worked with Janna and Staria to make the video of her happy and smiling at the holo-cam, introducing Argentus to Vesta, telling the entire population of the universe how happy she was here, how in love with the people and the place… and a man.

Humiliation burned in her blood like lava.

“They’re saying you’ve captivated him. That you aren’t even his true wife.”

Klym couldn’t work up enough energy to care. She was a traitor. She’d left one Argenti warrior bleeding on the floor, escaped with a Vestige, and fallen in love with him.

He’d been using her just as her father had used her.

For peace. Could she even be angry? Her father had been right--who was she to expect happiness when her body could be sold and traded for peace between billions of people?

Layanna trailed her finger on the pond, ripples circling out from her touch to spread across the water, sending the flowers bouncing and jostling against one another.

“I have contacts all over this planet. Friends in harems in every major city. My sister is a favored second in the harem of the Commander of the Alliance. They are coming for you.”

Klym tore her gaze from the ripples on the pond to look at Layanna, uncomprehending. What was she saying? Why was she telling her this?

Layanna’s dark eyes, so like Tor’s, narrowed. “They’ll be here in five hours. What do you think Tor will do?”

She didn’t even question it. He took care of his own, and for whatever reason, he’d claimed her as his. “He will kill anyone who tries.” Because if he loses me, he loses peace with Argentus.

She was nothing but a peace deal.

Layanna nodded. “He’ll kill anyone who threatens his selissa. But they will have more men than he can take on. Tor’s men will help him. They will kill too. Gaspart will raise his weapon. Jeor too. But the Alliance is stronger. They will arrest them all. And Pijuan will have the perfect excuse to take Tamminia. Tor will be tortured in the streets as a message to any country that considers leaving the Alliance.”

Klym squeezed her eyes shut, imagining Tor bleeding out, and her stomach twisted. He may not love her, but she did love him—despite all the manipulations.

“You need to leave,” Layanna said. “Your presence here will destroy him.”

She swallowed thickly, listened to the birds and the insects in the garden, drew in a tammin-scented breath. She’d come to love it here. “What about peace with Argentus? I’m one of the terms for the treaty.”

There was a rustle of fabric, and she imagined Layanna shifting uncomfortably. “It will not be possible if you are taken and tortured by the Alliance. Imagine what your father would do then?”

Finally, Klym opened her eyes. Layanna’s face was somber. There was no victory written there. This wasn’t a woman exerting authority. She was a mother, protecting her son the last way she knew how.

“He’d be able to use it as evidence of Vestige treachery. The war efforts would increase.”

Layanna nodded. “But if you go home, safe and sound?”

“Tor can still sue for peace.”

“And the Alliance will not be able to take Tamminia.”

It was all so clear. She could see every leaf in the garden, every mosaic pathway, every fluttering shinyassa bird, every fountain and statue. She burned them into her memory, right there with the feel of Tor’s thumb in her mouth, his pearly orbs winking in the dark, and the way his pillow smelled. And everything Janna had done and said made sense now too. She’d always been loyal to her mother. Both in her dealings with Klym and with Sanger. She took orders from one person. Her mother. And that meant… “You had him kill your husband?”

Layanna’s brows rose. “Janna told you?”

“She didn’t mention your name. But I can guess. You told her to open the door.”

Layanna’s eyes widened. “I did.”

“Why?” Klym said. “Tor says you loved his father.”

Layanna closed