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СКАЧАТЬ brought her back. “But we are betrothed,” he protested, and she thought she detected a trace of guilt in his voice.

      “Are we now, Jon? Have we set a date? Have you formally asked me? Have you formally consulted and asked my family?”

      “Your family is Kellen and he is in Crimson Sapphire. If he cared in the first place, he would have not left you alone.”

      Guilt of her own struck. The truth of his words was that she had not been able to control Kellen, not much younger than herself, sufficiently to keep him out of trouble. She even suspected that the Lonestar hierarchy had pushed Kellen into his role as emissary to the King to get rid of him. “Since he has not returned, that very fact probably means that my task in raising him is not yet complete.” She was becoming weary.

      “Take after your brother, do you not?” he sneered in the rejection. “In addition to his thumb drums and your lutar, you share the same affliction. Peace. Love. Forget yourself and your own needs. Preach the word, whatever the hell that is. Well, I tell you, every man on the planet is out for himself, the King included. And nobody’s gonna listen to that crap Kellen spouts. Take what you can get when you can get it. That’s the lesson of life, beefaloe crap.”

      “Every man, Jon? What about women?” Her voice became dangerously low.

      He ignored the warning signals. “Can I bear a child? Are there female padres? Think you to change life?”

      “No, Jon, I....”

      “Can women provide as well as men?”

      “Jon, you infuriate me.” She had found something on which to hang her anger. “That merely proves my point. Things change. Times change. At least it will be different in Crimson Sapphire.”

      “Will it?” he asked, obviously trying to keep the anger out of his own voice.

      She hoped it would not be like Lonestar. But she was afraid Crimson Sapphire was only a larger, more cosmopolitan version. Her hope hung on a slender thread. The King had appointed only women as criminal judges. Rumor had it that TJ Shepherd had done so because women had more empathy, sympathy, compassion and all the other fancy terms the King chose to apply. But she suspected secretly that since women suffered more from violent crime, the King had chosen to put them on the judicial bench because they would be tougher to sway and mete out harsher judgments. After all, the King had a no-nonsense reputation as a ruler and administrator. She spoke not, for this was an old argument between them, but it had never before become so personal, always simply being hypothetical.

      “This leads nowhere,” she said, her voice flat.

      She saw that he saw she wouldn’t change her mind. “Goodbye, then, Rebecca Sing,” he said, his voice low and resigned.

      “Goodbye, Jon.” She knew both could come up with no special words, even though she tried. And, because of this, she realized that her decision was a right one. Until it was proved wrong in Crimson Sapphire. If.

      “You shall return?” he asked, sounding as if he were begging.

      “I do not know.”

      “City life in the capital may scare you off.”

      “I do not frighten easily,” she said kindly.

      “Yes, yes I know.”

      And now here she was so very far from home, still determined, but apprehensive at the enormity of what she’d done. Her entire life altered, staked on guesses and speculation and hope. What was she doing giving up everything she knew, leaving all her friends and her family’s home?

      To find Kellen, of course, and yet she knew there was more, more bubbling just under the surface....

      The bull beefaioe seemed to catch her somber mood and snorted one last time and stepped aside as if he were a human making way for her.

      Through the long grass she rode, a lithe-limbed young woman, blonde hair braided to the middle of her back, blue eyes squinting at the sun judging the time, pert nose not hiding the mouth which always seemed to be hunting a smile with warmth already in place, ready to latch onto the smile.

      Was Kellen a fool? Or was she? Both had, she suddenly realized, a compulsion to give of self. She shook her head, she must find Kellen and watch over him, for surely he would land himself in a passel of trouble and not worry or bother about himself, but about others. He needed someone to care for him, someone to protect him from himself.

      What would she do when she arrived in Crimson Sapphire? She fingered the gold Shepherd-imprinted coins in her pouch, half of which were legally Kellen’s from the sale of their family farm.

      She had committed herself. The gold felt heavy.

      Suddenly, a whoop shattered the air and shouts, yelps, and whistles erupted across the silent range. A full twenty vaqueros on horseback spilled over a knoll on her right and raced toward her. One man with waxed handlebars splitting his face charged in front of the others.

      He changed the angle of his approach, swept off his sombrero, and, as he passed her, leaned out and down and touched his lips to her cheek, a fleeting feeling highlighted by the stiffness of his mustache. It happened so fast that he was past her before the feelings registered.

      Then, in a momentary flashback of the scene, Rebecca realized there was no threat.

      For the man had worn the symbol of the Muster about his neck. Adopted from either The Finger of God—or the war assegai, no one knew.

      She was safe.

      The city of Crimson Sapphire was just ahead, off the plains, and on the other side of the forest.

      11. TJ

      “Forgive me. Padre, for I have sinned.”

      “You do not even know the meaning of the word.” The Chief Padre put ice into his voice.

      “Are you plotting against me? Would you take my life?” TJ made his voice just as hard. He fixed Roaland Cruz with a stony glare.

      “If it were the Lord’s will,” Cruz replied evenly.

      The admission surprised TJ and made him wonder if he was pursuing a wrong guess. “Is it?”

      “I know not.” Cruz shrugged.

      TJ decided to try a different track. “Have your padres reported anyone confessing to attempting murder or hiring assassins?” He knew Cruz wouldn’t answer, but his question established the gravity of the situation to the padre and put an unspoken threat out in the open.

      “I could not say so if it were so. And if one did, the father-confessor would not tell it.”

      Like hell, TJ thought. He knew anything that could be of use to the padrehood would be passed up the line, particularly something of political importance to Cruz.

      TJ had tightened his security. He wanted to show a sense of practical concern, one that would make potential and real adversaries think a long time before they challenged him, either openly or as they had been, in secret. He had allowed some of his famous anger to seep through publicly. He scowled about court and was harsh in judgments. At СКАЧАТЬ