Free Falcorans' Faith by Laura Jo Phillips

Faith said with a sigh.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that.”
    “Too bad,” Cinthy said.  Faith looked from Eric to Cinthy, surprised at the expression of cold fury on the other woman’s face.  She started to say something when suddenly her stomach exploded in pain so intense it blotted out everything else.  She tried to scream, but couldn’t force her lungs to take in air.  The pain became impossibly bigger and more intense not once, but twice more.  Then, finally, her lungs filled with air, and she screamed.
     
    ***
     
    Jonathan watched Faith leave, then waited until he was sure she’d had plenty of time to fall asleep.  “Tristan,” he said as soon as he’d checked to be sure the three of them were alone, “we must talk.”
    “Yes?” Tristan asked absently, barely looking up from his vid screen.  “What’s the matter, Jon?”
    “You,” Jonathan replied.
    Tristan’s head came up.  Gray left his station at the far side of the room and came to stand beside Jon. 
    “What do you mean?” Tristan asked.
    “You are the eldest,” Jon said.  “Never have I considered not following your lead.  Until now.  Your behavior in front of our Princes this morning was both inexcusable and embarrassing.  Worse, your treatment of the woman who is our Arima is so deliberately rude and offensive that I can no longer stand by and watch it.”
    “She doesn’t want to be our Arima, Jon, in case you weren’t listening,” Tristan said.
    “Nor do you want her to be,” Jonathan said.  “Your denial of her is, evidently, acceptable.  Her denial of us, on the other hand, is an insult you cannot bear.  Why do I see a double standard here?”
    “I, too, am confused,” Gray said.  “Miss Meyers’ status as our Arima is not an issue.  We have agreed never to claim a female.  She has no interest in being claimed.  Why, then, are you so angry with her, Tristan?”
    “I am not angry with her, specifically,” Tristan replied.  “Though the physical effects we are now suffering due to her presence are uncomfortable, I realize she is not to blame.  However, she is a woman, and women in general are not to be trusted.”
    “Because one woman treated us badly, we must condemn all women?”
    “We have good reason not to want a woman in our lives, Gray, as you well know,” Tristan said, stubbornly refusing to answer the question.
    “And how do you know that she doesn’t have an equally good reason for not wanting men in her life?”
    Tristan opened his mouth, then closed it.  He had not considered that.  He hadn’t considered anything but his own feelings.  “You believe she has such a reason?”
    “Yes, I do,” Graysan replied.  “Further, I believe she was hurt, and much more severely than we were.”
    “What makes you say that?” Jonathan asked.
    “Her fear,” Graysan said. 
    “When was she afraid?” Tristan asked.
    “She has been afraid constantly from the moment we first laid eyes on her,” Graysan said.  “She hides it well when she isn’t covering it with anger, but it’s still there.  Do you mean to say that neither of you noticed?”
    “I confess that I have struggled diligently not to notice anything about her,” Tristan said. 
    “I have blocked emotions for so long that I find it difficult to understand much of what I feel from her,” Jonathan said.  “Nevertheless, Tristan, unless you can assure me that you will change your manner toward Miss Meyers, I intend to contact High Prince Garen in the morning and ask that she be removed from our care for her own well being.”
    Tristan opened his mouth, intending to tell his brother that he thought that was an excellent idea, then froze as the sound of a high pitched scream reached them.  A woman’s scream.  And Faith was the only woman on the cutter. 
    As beasts of the sky, the Falcorans’ strongest magic was Air, and they used it to cross the cutter from the auxiliary control room to Faith’s cabin