“He’s intended as a gift for the council delegates. If you’d let me know earlier of your plans I could have prepared something — less decorative. Once again, you’ve put your own selfish desires above the clan’s needs.” Giels’ voice was chilly with disappointment. “I only hope that this time you’ll return my trust.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” Sunniva hoped expressing guilt would prevent yet another lecture on how she was failing the clan.
I knew he’d be mean about it, her dragon said.
Giels’ gaze was piercing, and Sunniva wondered uneasily if he were monitoring her dragon through the aerie matrix. It shouldn’t be possible — the bond to the Dreki dragon form didn’t depend on matrix technology, after all — but the thought made her uncomfortable. She searched for something to distract him with and fell back on the human. Fascinating, to think they were bound to only a single form, and one so similar to theirs.
Although she’d never seen a Dreki with eyes quite that shade of blue.
“He does look like a good fighter. Did you — ” flattery was always good — “did you train him yourself?” She’d been startled to discover human servants when she arrived at the aerie. Giels had made a point of telling her he’d set up the aerie matrix and trained the servants himself, saving power for the mines and the aerie shield rather than squandering it on the lizardforms Dreki used for most mundane chores.
The human didn’t move, but his posture became more rigid. Sunniva frowned. Giels however was successfully diverted.
“Of course.” He pushed up his sleeve to expose the heavy command bracelet he wore, each of the gems adorning it specialized for a particular function. Sunniva’s dragon peered through her eyes, her attention caught by the jewels.
“This one was causing trouble, asking for special consideration. Stirring up unrest.” He thumbed a lump of fire opal, set between two precisely cut emeralds, and it glowed a dull orange.
The human sucked in air between his teeth. A still raw scar traced along the edge of his tensed jaw to the jeweled stud of the behavioral modifier just in front of his ear.
“Weren’t you?”
The last statement was directed to the human. When he didn’t answer Giels tapped the gem again, his nail clicking against it.
The man shuddered. “Yes.” His voice was a harsh rasp.
Giels was smiling with amused cruelty. Sunniva, sickened, remembered being four years old, and a teenage Giels finding a primitive lizardform she’d spent most of a day constructing with the assistance of the clan matrix. She’d been so proud of her accomplishment and looking forward to showing it to their parents. He’d made her beg him to give it back before ripping it apart it in front of her. Her mother, busy with clan matters, had said distractedly why was Sunniva making such a fuss, she could always make another one.
She bit her lip.
“Forbidden technology too, tut tut.” He gestured towards Sunniva’s feet. “On your knees. Offer my sister your miserable service and pray she accepts.” He tapped the gem a third time.
The man’s knees hit the floor with a painful thud. He bent his head down, his face almost touching Sunniva’s workboots. An ink-black bruise was just visible at the nape of his neck under the close-cropped blond hair.
“My lady.” His voice was low and husky.
Giels’ gift was double-edged. If she entangled herself with an attractive human servant she would be degrading their clan and avoiding her duty, and if she didn’t it would be further evidence of how unnatural she was.
She could refuse him and give up on the network. Abandoning her duty to the clan again, and abandoning the human to Giels. But Sunniva couldn’t help feeling partly responsible for the events that had put him here at her feet. And she still had clan rank despite all her deficiencies; he had nothing.
You like him, her dragon said.
I don’t know him.
Which wasn’t a denial, but her dragon let it go.
She couldn’t let Giels destroy him. “Yes, I think he’ll be perfect, thank you Giels.” Sunniva held out her hand for the stone. “May I?”
Giels slipped the jewel out of its mount, but rolled it between his thumb and forefinger rather than give it to her. “There are a few little quirks.”
“I’ve handled modifier gems before.” Although she hadn’t used one, not like this. Lizardforms were manipulated by a matrix, as were the gems Sunniva used for energy work. Even the modifiers the human servants here had were bound to a matrix, allowing them some freedom while preventing them from leaving or acting against any of the clan.
“Of course you have.” Giels’ tone conveyed his opinion of her knowledge. “I’ve made it as simple as possible. For the most part, it will act without needing your input. If you have a command — ” He ran his finger
along a sharp edge, and the color blurred. “Yellow through red for pain. The man was still locked in position on the floor, breathing heavily. “Blue for sleep. Green if you want him pacified. Black — now, let me think.” He paused theatrically. The opal glowed a darkening red.
Sunniva was suddenly worried he might demonstrate. “Black for death.”
Giels nodded. “Excellent. But, every so often, your servant might actually do something worth rewarding.” He tossed the opal up and caught it out of the air. “Stand up.”