Vyrl sagged back in his chair. Watching him, Kamoj felt his defeat. He knew how he looked. He glanced at her and flushed, as if he believed she too thought him a monster. She wanted to reassure him, but she knew better than to speak. Maybe he would sense her feelings, maybe not. He never seemed to catch them fully, only in pieces, and what she felt now, more than anything else, was tired.
Tulain picked up a blue paper and glanced at Vyrl. “This is your conversation with Colonel Pacal when you took Governor Argali riding.” She scanned it, then read, “‘Look at this. My wife. A farm girl like a virginal sex goddess out of an erotic holomovie, and all she asks is a simple life, a husband who doesn’t beat her, and the freedom to walk in the woods.’”
When Jax turned his head away, Kamoj didn’t think he was acting. Vyrl’s words probably did offend him, though not for the same reasons everyone else looked uncomfortable. Jax considered it his right to beat her.
“It’s not the way it sounds,” Vyrl said. “I was drunk.”
“It also says your stagman Azander had a bruise on his face where you hit him.” Tulain paused. “What exactly did you mean by ‘a husband who doesn’t beat her’?”
“Saints almighty, Major, I was in the middle of a convulsion when I hit Azander.” Vyrl’s fist clenched on the table. “If you want to know what I meant about beating, ask him.” He stabbed his finger in the air, at Jax. “He thinks it’s his right. In bed, no less.”
Jax rose out of his chair. “You will not speak of my wife that way.”
Vyrl stood up. “She’s not your wife.”
“Gentleman, sit down,” Ashman said.
Jax took a breath and let it out. Then he nodded to Ashman. “My apologies, General.” He sat down, leaving Vyrl standing. After an awkward moment, Vyrl sat down as well.
Kamoj hated this. Jax was making Vyrl look worse and worse. Neither Tulain nor Ashman seemed disposed to speak in Vyrl’s defense and she didn’t dare. Dazza, however, could. Kamoj looked across the table, trying to send a silent plea to the colonel.
Dazza blinked at her. Then she turned to the Arbiter. “Major Tulain, a fairly easy way exists to establish the truth of at least some accusations being made or implied by both parties in this disagreement.”
“Go on,” Tulain said.
“I can examine Kamoj,” Dazza said. “If she’s been mistreated, I’ll know. And I can probably tell by whom.”
Jax tensed. “My wife has suffered enough indignities at the hands of you people. I will tolerate no more.”
Vyrl leaned forward. “Are you afraid of what they’ll find?”
“Why don’t we ask Governor Argali?” Tulain said.
Kamoj gritted her teeth. She didn’t want anyone touching her. The idea of being “examined” was revolting. All she had wanted was for Dazza to speak in Vyrl’s defense.
“Why can’t you all leave her alone?” Jax said. “Hasn’t she suffered enough?”
Tulain regarded Kamoj. “Governor Argali, no one will force you to be examined. But you have the right. If it shows you’ve been mistreated, it could change the nature of this hearing.”
“Change it?” Kamoj asked.
“At the moment,” Tulain said, “the only evidence supporting Prince Havyrl’s contention you are being coerced is that the servants at the palace were bound, gagged, and unconscious. Governor Ironbridge claims you asked they be restrained to keep them from stopping your departure. No one saw you leave, Morlin was down, and none of our orbital facilities were monitoring the palace at that moment. Our attention was on the fires and Prince Havyrl.”
The fires. What was next in the path of Ironbridge’s vengeance? “I want to stay with Jax,” Kamoj answered. “I’ve told you that. Can’t any of you hear? What else do you want from me?”
They were all watching her now: general, colonel, major. Too many titles. The priestess was frowning and the Ironbridge judge’s face had gone hard.
Vyrl spoke softly. “Kamoj, last night you shouted for me. Why? If you wanted to stay with him, why did you call me back?”
“You misheard,” Jax said.
“Everyone heard her,” Vyrl told him.
The Arbiter spoke. “Prince Havyrl, you are the only one who thinks he understood her actual words.”
“Damn it!” Vyrl hit the table with his fist. “I heard it because she said it.”
Jax sighed. “What my wife shouted was an oath. I’m sorry this is so hard for you to accept, Lionstar. You heard what your overwrought mind wanted to hear, not what she said.”
As Vyrl stood up, his face flushed, the Arbiter said, “Prince Havyrl, please. Sit down. Your outbursts help nothing.”
Vyrl clenched his fists, but he sat down. Kamoj couldn’t focus on his face. The room was dimming around her.
The Ironbridge judge spoke. “Governor Argali has repeatedly stated her wish to remain faithful to her husband. What more do you people require before you stop tormenting her? The only reason this Inquiry exists is because Havyrl Lionstar refuses to believe the truth. He is the one who took her to his bed without her consent.”
Diskmail clinked, and Azander appeared at the table. The Arbiter glanced at him, then at Vyrl and Jax. When neither made an objection, Tulain spoke to Azander. “Yes?”
“I be sorry to interrupt,” Azander said. “I wish to make a testimony.”
Jax blinked. So did everyone else. Kamoj wondered what Azander was doing.
“What do you wish to say?” Tulain asked.
“When Prince Havyrl be near to dying in the large metal bird, Governor Argali spoke for him. She convinced them to take him home instead of to the Ascendant.”
Tulain nodded. “Yes, we have that in your testimony.”
“But it not be said proper on that parchment you read,” Azander said. “It mattered to Governor Argali that he be well treated. The caring for him, she has it.”
Dazza spoke to the Arbiter. “I know what he’s saying, Cara. And he’s right. I’ve seen it too. Kamoj has worked miracles with Prince Havyrl, reached him when none of us could even come close. His well-being genuinely seems to matter to her.”
Jax spoke with unexpected affection. “Of course it matters to her. That is the kind of person Kamoj is. She cares about everyone. It is one of the many reasons her people respond so well to her.” His voice tightened. “That Lionstar took advantage of this doesn’t excuse his behavior.”
Vyrl stiffened, but this time he controlled himself. None of the others seemed to know how to respond.
General Ashman spoke to Vyrl. “Did you know she was like that?”
“Not when I married her,” Vyrl said.
The two of them kept looking at each other, fighting their own private war, which Kamoj suspected had been going on long before she met Vyrl. Finally Vyrl stood up. His guards tensed, and several Ironbridge stagmen dropped their hands to their belts, reaching for swords they no longer carried. Vyrl ignored them and walked away, stopping only when he reached a brazier near the edge of the tent.
He turned and spoke to Ashman. “Imperial Space Command went to great lengths to get me, lengths so extreme it boggles the mind. Why? Because I’m a great leader? A vital member of ISC? A brilliant strategist? No.” He tapped his head. “Because I’m a Ruby telepath. So why do you doubt me now when I say I know what that thing”—He pointed at Jax—”is doing to Kamoj?”
“Because you’ve been in a telepathic catatonia for over a year,” Ashman said.
Dazza spoke quietly. “Vyrl, she’s the first person you’ve responded to since you came on board the Ascendant. How can you be sure of your reactions?”