Free Schism: Part One of Triad by Catherine Asaro Page A

stepped forward. “Eldri, stop.”
    Eldrinson swung around to her. “You would let this happen? You, my wife?
    Their mother.” His voice caught. “You put your loyalties witii a man who once sought my death?”
     
    A tear ran down her face. “It isn’t that way. We need time to talk. Soz will be in school for four years, perfectly safe. A lot can happen in that time.”
    “That’s right.” He wanted to smash his fist into the wall. “Skolia could go to war against the Traders.” He swung around to Almor. “I mean it. If you take her, don’t ever come back here.”
    A voice came from beyond the fountain. “Father, no!”
    Startled, Eldrinson turned. Shannon stood in an archway of the courtyard with his hair disarrayed from running in the plains.
    “Don’t send Althor away.” Shannon came across the courtyard, his dismayed gaze on his father.
    Althor spoke quickly. “Shani, it’s all right.”
    For a long moment Eldrinson looked from Althor to Shannon and back again.
    Then he said, “Shannon, go inside.”
    “But, Father—”
     
    “Now!” Eldrinson pointed at the house. “You will do as I say, young man.”
    Shannon swallowed. He went on, past them, into the house.
    Althor spoke in a low voice. “Father—” .
    “Enough!” Eldrinson clenched his fist. “You have my final word. You will leave your sister here and you will bring back a wife the next time you come home. Or don’t you ever come back again.”
    Althor stared at him. “What?”
    “You heard me.”
    His son flushed. “What does a wife have to do with anything?’
    Eldrinson knew he should stop, that he should go on doing what he had always done, letting himself believe what he wanted to believe about Althor, loving his son for the good in him, leaving unspoken what he didn’t understand. But he couldn’t do it any longer, not with so much betrayal. “You think I’m stupid? I’m an empath, damn it. You never look twice at tiiose beautiful girls who vie for your attention. But you can’t keep your eyes off your own brother.” His voice shook with anger. “Come home with a wife, Althor. Or don’t come home at all.”
    With that, Eldrinson strode back into the house, leaving his sons and his wife in the courtyard.
    5
    1 Harbor Lost
    hey gathered on the tarmac under a sunset that smoldered red and purple across the sky. Soz stood with Althor, and they hugged their family good-bye. Their mother had come, also Del. Chaniece, too, who had returned when she received news that Althor had come home. Chaniece resembled their mother most of the Valdoria daughters, though she had violet eyes and lavender-streaked yellow hair. It hurt Soz to see her older sister’s dismay now, knowing Chaniece had arrived just in time to tell them farewell, possibly forever.
    Denric stood with Chaniece. He was a youth of Lyshriol rather than of Skolia, with his yellow curls, violet eyes, and slender build, so much like the people of Dalvador. None of the younger children had come; their father had forbidden it. He also stayed away. Nor had Ari come, though Soz had looked for him in town and his home this afternoon and left messages. She knew the truth; her siblings and friends belonged here and she didn’t.
    Tears ran down Roca’s gold cheeks. Soz’s own eyes filled with moisture. This had been so much worse than she expected. For all that she had known her father would be angry, she had never thought it would end this way. She couldn’t turn back. No matter how hard she tried, how much she wished otherwise, she couldn’t be what he wanted. She would have given almost anything to keep him from being hurt, but if she didn’t go now, she might never leave.
    Colonel Tahota stayed back while they said their goodbyes. Even through Soz’s mental barriers, she felt the colonel’s subdued mood. Tahota had the unenviable job of dealing with the aftermath of yet another attempt by the Assembly to control the Ruby Dynasty, in this case by forcing the matter of