Wrapped in a blanket, with Tausson's cool skin pressed against hers, Tierney was nearly asleep when a loud, cracking thump on her door jolted them both out of bed.

"Corwin!" a harsh voice called. "Tuyin afkas!"

Tierney grabbed the copper-colored pants and shirt that had been provided for her and scrambled into them at the same time that Tausson swiftly stepped into his mechasuit.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"Protection," he grumbled through his translator.

The pounding continued, but Tausson went to Tierney instead of the door, gripping her hands in his. "I broke some of our prime rules to return to Earth and save you and the President. I must answer for that insubordination."

Panic gripped Tierney's soul. She squeezed his hands tighter.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

Did Relicans use capital punishment? Tausson had sworn just minutes before that they would make their relationship work -- had he been lying like she'd feared?

"Corwin!" the angry voice of Protection called.

"Tausson?" she whispered, hardly able to contain her fear.

"I won't be able to see you," he whispered back. "Aspri monitors me through my mechasuit. If they catch us together, they'll send me back to Relica."

He started to turn away from her, but she didn't let go of his hands and pulled him back to her. Frantically she stared into his eyes, trying to memorize everything about him -- his shimmering face, his silver eyes, his faintly metallic scent.

"I love you," she said.

Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her -- a hard, passionate kiss. A kiss that felt like goodbye.

"I love you," he said. "We'll make this work." But even as he said it, he was leaving her, walking towards the door, returning to a world that didn't even know what love was.

The door opened before he reached it. A Relican with bronze-colored skin rushed in. After nearly colliding with Tausson, the bronze man grabbed him by the arm and slammed him against the wall, pinning him there. Tierney almost called out to protest, but, having no idea about Relican protocols or the rules Tausson had broken, she thought it smarter to keep quiet.

"Kas ih bialsalasi bas alkanu," the bronze Relican said with a grin.

As White House Chief of Staff, Tierney had needed to learn names quickly and remember them indefinitely. Drawing on that skill now, she recognized this man as Rasmus, the Irral's Protection Officer and second in command now that Tausson was no longer vessel commander. She'd seen him glowering in the background of that first video conference with Tausson a month ago, and met him officially on her first trip to the Irral. The vast majority of the Relicans she'd seen were either silver like Tausson, or black as iron -- which meant they were female -- like Commander Arrat. Besides Rasmus, the only bronzes she'd seen were Chief Raleth, who was in charge of the entire Relican Squad fleet, Senior Medic Aspri, and one other she and Tausson had passed in the hallway on their way to this room.

Perhaps feeling her eyes on him, Rasmus turned to her. His eyes moved to the bed, where the crumpled blanket messily lay, half falling on the floor. Tierney felt her cheeks grow hot, even though she and Tausson hadn't done anything in that bed except sleep.

Returning his gaze to Tierney, he looked her up and down. Even though the clothes she was wearing were loose and unrevealing, his leer still made her feel as if he could see right through them. Apparently not all Relicans were as prudish as Tausson had made them out to be.

Rasmus tapped his sleeve a couple times, and when he spoke, his words were translated into English and piped out of an invisible speaker in his uniform.

"You no doubt remember the legend of the Wayward Silver, former commander Corwin?" he said, ostensibly speaking to Tausson, though his eyes never left Tierney.

Though Tausson didn't reply, Rasmus continued. "The Wayward Silver sought wicked pleasures, finding a willing partner in a beautiful woman who was barely past the frenzy."

"Enough," Tausson interjected, trying to push off of the wall. "I accept my chain. Bring me to it."

Rasmus pushed him back. Tierney knew Tausson could have fought harder to free himself, but he quickly gave in, letting the bronze Relican hold him still.

"The Wayward Silver and the woman met every night by the Red River," Rasmus went on, his eyes traveling over Tierney's body as he spoke, "exploring each other, testing the lines between pleasure and pain. Once they paired through the night, locking their bodies together at sunfall and never separating until the Great Metalsmith lit his forge ablaze again at dawn."

Abruptly letting go of Tausson's arm, Rasmus strode across the small room, stopping barely an inch from Tierney. Tausson tried to follow, but another Relican, a silver in a brown uniform who had been hidden in the hall, grabbed him and kept him by the door. Rasmus stared down at her, past his squat nose and thin lips, and she glared right back. Having worked in politics for ten years, she'd dealt with her fair share of jerks. And even though the man in front of her happened to be an alien with bronze skin and the power to freeze her solid with the touch of a button, beneath it all, he was just another jerk.

"Then one night," he said, so close Tierney could smell the tangy metal scent that clung to all the Relicans, "the Wayward Silver was late to the Red River. When he arrived, he discovered his partner with another. The woman lay with a bronze."

Rasmus's eyes flashed with hunger, and his gaze traveled to her breasts, though they were hidden beneath her shapeless clothes. "With every powerful thrust, she cried out that she'd never felt such ecstasy before, and she begged the bronze for more." Looking back into her eyes, he licked his lips and repeated, "She begged him for more."

"And then the Wayward Silver pushed the bronze and the traitorous woman into the Red River," said Tausson, his voice dark with rage, though the translator echoed his words without feeling. "Story time's over. Now get away from her."

Rasmus smiled, his back still turned to Tausson. "But it's not quite over, is it?" he asked.

He waited, as if Tierney were supposed to reply to that enigmatic question, before saying, "The rapture of the bronze and the woman was such that they didn't even notice their own deaths. Their bodies were found still bound together, and every night you can see them in the stars, where the woman still begs the bronze to satisfy her."

"That's the child's ending," growled Tausson.

Rasmus waved at the doorway, and Tierney could only watch as the other Relican guard dragged Tausson away.

"Which do you prefer?" Rasmus asked her.

Why do I get the feeling he's not talking about the different story endings? she thought.

Scowling up at him, she said, "I prefer the version where the woman is a character in her own right, rather than a mere plot device."

Rasmus's eyes widened at her glib reply. Tierney, who hadn't moved an inch since he first came at her, straightened her shoulders, held his gaze, and said, "I am the Relocation Liaison between the United States and the Relican people. The trust between our two species is fragile and tenuous at best. Having worked with Squad member Tausson Corwin on a number of occasions, I have come to trust his intentions and integrity. If he is being placed under arrest, I require an explanation regarding his crimes and the Relican judiciary process that I can relay to the President, and that holds true to our standards of justice."

As she spoke, Rasmus's rude smile slowly morphed into a sneer. He was too close already, but now he leaned down towards her, as if to kiss her. Although she felt far more exposed and vulnerable without Tausson and the other guard present, Tierney held her ground, refusing to be intimidated by him.

"You want an explanation?" he said, his breath cool on her face. "Ask the Commander." With that, he spun on his heel and followed after the others.