Nallah was glad when she saw the hovercar pull up in the driveway of their domicile. Harryx had been gone such a long time—last night she had been quite lonely without him. She was getting used to feeling him in bed beside her—not just beside her, though, but touching her too. She loved the way they had slept their last night together, with her smaller body cupped protectively in the curve of her husband’s much larger, stronger one.
No longer did she fear his strength might be used against her—she had put all his past cruelties out of her mind forever and was determined to start fresh.
He’s a different person now—just like he was telling me right before Grand General Viceroy asked him to come in to work, she told herself. She did wonder a little what his other talk had been about—something about one person’s spirit in another person’s body. But she supposed if it was important he would bring it up again.
Right now, though, she hoped he had other things in mind. After the tender way he had treated her during the Ritual, she wished he would take her. Not just her mouth, as he had usually done in the past—she actually longed to feel his shaft inside her, though once she had dreaded it.
Maybe he’ll put us face to face again, she thought and a little tingle of anticipation ran down her spine. She could still remember him telling her to look into his eyes while they were pressed together. What would it feel like to look into those same, dark, intense eyes and feel him inside her—not battering cruelly at her tender insides as he had in the past, but thrusting gently, filling her with himself while he looked at her with love and desire in his gaze, while he made them one…
The hovercar opened and Harryx came out of it. Nallah made certain her robes were straight and then, as an afterthought, she removed her veil and slipped it into an inside pocket. Harryx had asked her to stop wearing it around the house—he said he wanted to see all of her lovely face.
The thought made her blush—Hascion culture was such that his request was tantamount to another man asking his wife not to wear underwear or maybe to go topless around the house. But Nallah was willing to do it because he wanted her to—and because whenever he looked at her, she could see the tenderness and love and desire in his eyes.
The minute Harryx opened the door, she was waiting for him, head bowed as a proper wife should be, but looking up from the corners of her eyes to see how he was doing. She hoped he wouldn’t be too tired from working so long to want to greet her with a kiss or a hug. After years of being starved for physical affection, Harryx’s new way of touching and kissing her was wonderful and utterly addictive.
She wished she was brave enough to reach up on tiptoes and kiss him herself but she didn’t quite dare that much yet. Just going without her veil was daring enough for now.
Harryx came in and shut the door behind him with a bang. Then he stood over her, saying nothing.
Nallah began to feel uneasy. What was wrong? She risked a quick glance up at his face and saw that his eyes were blue. Blue and cold. And his face was expressionless. What was he thinking?
“Oh my husband,” she said, wondering what was going on. “Are you well? Did you enjoy success at work?”
“Of course I did, wife. I always enjoy success at work.” His voice had the same deep tones but there was something missing from it, Nallah felt. Some note of warmth and kindness. What was going on? Had she done something to make him upset?
“I…I am happy to hear it,” she faltered. “You always enjoy much success.”
“And you apparently, enjoy things as well. Most notably you have been enjoying another man in your bed while I was gone.”
His voice was as cold as ice and horribly familiar. It was the tone he always used when he was about to punish her. But Nallah had never heard him sound so angry before.
“Please, my husband,” she said, taking a step away from him. “I…I don’t know what you mean. You have been gone only a night and I swear I spent it alone. I would never—”
“I’m not speaking of last night,” he growled. “I’m talking about the time since I ‘woke up’ from my coma.”
Nallah shook her head in confusion.
“But…my husband, you were with me all that time. Surely you cannot believe I was somehow betraying you with another man right under your nose!”
“That is exactly what I think.” He took a step towards her, his pale blue eyes flashing like chips of some brilliant, unbreakable gemstone. “Not only have you betrayed me, wife, but you have greatly enjoyed yourself doing so. You spent days with another man, letting him touch you—letting him taste you.” He made a face as though the very thought disgusted him. “As if I would ever lower myself to submit to a woman! How could you be fooled by such an imposter?”
“I…I don’t know what you mean,” Nallah faltered. Fear was rising in her like a flood, threatening to drown her reason.
It’s the old Harryx, her mind whispered. He’s changed again—he’s back to the way he was before the coma!
But somehow he remembered everything that had happened when he was being kinder to her and now he resented her for it. How? And why?
“I think you do know what I mean. The man you were doing all those things with was not me!” Harryx shouted at her, his voice rising suddenly and making her shrink away from him. “You whored yourself out to him, letting him do anything he wanted with you! And now I find you lounging around the house without even a veil to cover your modesty!”
“I…you…you asked me not to wear one!” Nallah gasped. “You said…said you wanted to see my face.”
“Let me tell you something, wife.” Harryx leaned close to her, his blue eyes flashing. “The only reason I would want to see your face is so I can mark it with the shrive and cast you out to the Punishment Gangs as one of the Disgraced.”
“What?” Nallah felt all the blood leaving her cheeks and for a moment the world around her seemed to grow grey and vague. How could Harryx be talking like this? After the sweet and tender way he had loved her—the kind way he had talked to her and held her. How could he go back to his old self so abruptly? “My husband,” she begged as Harryx grabbed her by the wrist. “Please, what has happened to you? You were so different these past few days, I thought—”
“Oh, did I seem different? That’s because I was different—it was a whole other man inhabiting my body!” Harryx’s voice rose nearly to a scream. “And you didn’t even notice!”
Nallah was shaking her head, trying to take his words in. Could it be true? Had he really been inhabited by the spirit of another man who had used his body? It reminded her of the things he had been talking of after the Ritual…and it would certainly explain why he had acted so differently.
“I feel like a different man”—that’s what he said, she thought, feeling sick. Could it be possible he really had been a different man? But how could that be?
“My husband,” she began. “Please, I didn’t know!”
But Harryx was past all reason. His cold anger had turned to burning rage. His face grew red and ugly as he roared at her.
“You let him use my body to touch you, you little whore! You let him do all kinds of fucking things—and you loved it!”
Something seemed to break inside Nallah. She wrenched her arm from her husband’s grip and took a step back before drawing herself up straight to face him.
“Yes,” she said, lifting her chin. “I loved it—I loved him for the way he treated me. For the way he didn’t abuse or hurt me. I…” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t know he was a different man in your body. He tried to tell me but I didn’t understand him. But he was kind, Harryx—kind and loving and all the things I’ve always dreamed of having in a man.” Her voice grew soft and pleading. “Couldn’t you even try to be any of those things? I do my best to be a good wife to you—is it so much trouble for you to try and be a good husband?”
Harryx’s face turned red…then white. Nallah noticed with deep unease that his big hands were knotted into fists at his sides.
“I’ll make you pay,” he said thickly. “I’ll make you both pay.” He took a step towards her, his face looming over her like an angry moon. “He loves you, you know. He told me so while he was still inside my mind—before I managed to kick him out. There’s nothing that could hurt him more than for me to punish you.”
“Punish me? But my husband, I didn’t know—”
“I don’t give a damn if you knew or not,” Harryx growled. “Besides, wife, when have I ever needed a reason to punish you?”
He lunged for her.