Tedra bit her lip. “A few weeks?”

“It shouldn’t take much longer than that with me subtly working on her.”

A few hours later, Tedra stood beside Challen and watched Falon Van’yer win yet another round in the competitions. She was getting disgusted with the ease with which he was winning, cutting each match down to less than half the time it should take in his impatience to have the competitions over. It would have been a pleasure to watch that kind of superior sword skill if she wasn’t so angry at that young man for all the trouble he was going to cause in her family. And it was all so unnecessary.

Shani wanted him. Challen already approved of him. Martha didn’t even object to him. That should have made for no obstacles. Instead, Shani was going to leave home, defying her father in the process and ending up sick at heart about it. Challen was going to be furious, and guess who was going to catch hell for it? Not the one who ought to be blamed, but yours truly. And for what? Because that young man allowed his emotions to run amok.

“He fights well, does he not?” Challen observed with a good deal of pleasure.

Tedra gritted her teeth, knowing farden well her lifemate had already made up his mind about Falon. “Why shouldn’t he?” she replied testily. “He’s got jealousy goading him, giving him an advantage over every warrior here.”

“Jealousy?” Challen said skeptically, looking down at her now.

“Absolutely. That warrior isn’t fighting to be champion. He could care less about that. He’s fighting just for our daughter. Hell, he already thinks of her as his. And that makes him see every other warrior here not as a mere opponent, but as a rival trying to steal what’s his. He’s jealous all right. He’s pea green with it.”

“And this displeases you, you who are wont to call a warrior a jerk because he lacks certain emotions?”

Tedra’s cheeks pinkened the tiniest bit. “There’s such a thing as too much emotion,” she grumbled.

Challen chuckled. “Woman, you will find fault with any man who threatens to take your daughter from you. Admit that is all you have against this young shodan.”

Stars, how she wanted to blurt out what the real problem was. She wasn’t used to keeping secrets from Challen, though right now he more than deserved it after he’d kept secret from her the real reason behind these competitions. But getting him incensed over his daughter’s now missing innocence wasn’t going to accomplish anything other than his disappointment in Shani, and add more problems to join the rest.

So all she answered was, “Sure. Whatever you say, babe,” and got him off the subject of Shani’s suitors by adding, “But he’s not so hot. You could take him easily.”

“You have too much pride in your lifemate,” he replied, trying to sound admonishing, but he couldn’t quite pull it off, too pleased by her remark.

“With reason.”

She grinned and bumped hips with him before sauntering off. His laughter followed her. She savored the sound, realizing that in a few days she probably wouldn’t hear it anymore for a very long while.

Falon was in the corridor when Shanelle opened her door the next morning. It was kind of obvious that he was waiting for her because he just stood there, leaning casually against the wall across from her. That she didn’t want to speak to him again was obvious, too, since she promptly closed her door.

But he didn’t push his way into her room as he had yesterday, nor did he knock on her door. He didn’t do anything. Since she was inside waiting nervously for him to do something, his not doing anything managed to stimulate in her aggravation of the teeth-grinding kind.

She wasn’t about to remain in her room all day just because the man wouldn’t take no for an answer. She would simply leave without acknowledging that he was out there. She wouldn’t even look at him.

She did just that. But it was a well-known fact of Sha-Ka’ani life that it was literally impossible to ignore a warrior who didn’t want to be ignored- and this one refused to be ignored.

He fell into step beside her. “Where do you go this rising, Shanelle?”

Without answering, she just kept walking-and found herself suddenly up against the wall with his arms caging her in on both sides.

“I repeat, where do you go?”

For about two seconds she considered still not answering, but he looked so damn stuck-in-the-ground obstinate, she had the feeling he’d keep her there all day if she didn’t.

Coldly, so he wouldn’t doubt her reasons for saying so, she told him, “I’ve heard that you don’t like visitors, so I’m going to spend the day with my visitor friends.”

“At the competitions?”

“Where I go is none of your-”

“Answer!”

“Dammit, I won’t! Where do you get off-”

“I liked your white cloak better,” he interrupted again, fingering her garment, leading their conversation in a new direction. “It was not mine, yet was it my color.”

She snatched the material from his fingers, glaring at him. “I told you I would never wear white again.”

“You will,” he said with supreme confidence. “You will wear my colors and be glad of them. The day will come when you will want everyone to know that you are mine.”

She turned ashen. “You’ve spoken to my father, haven’t you?”

“Not yet.”

Both color and relief flooded her face. “Don’t. I mean it, Falon. You wouldn’t be happy with me as a lifemate. I would make you miserable because you won’t be able to help making me miserable.”

“It distresses me that you think so, kerima.”

Was he joking? She wondered. “I don’t just think it, I know it.”

“Tell me why and I will correct you in the matter.”

She stared at him incredulously. He had to be joking this time.

“Are you going to tell me you’re not a slaveholder? That you’re not a warrior? That you Bar-Harani don’t punish your women for every little thing they do wrong? Are you going to tell me you aren’t inflexible, aren’t hotheaded-”

“Enough!” he said, his tone blasting her with heat. “You will come to love me despite all of your objections.”

“I see I forgot to add arrogance to the list.”

He frowned at her sarcastic tone. “You are in definite need of a lesson in the proper respect due a warrior. This will be seen to when you are mine.”

She refused to be intimidated by threats based on “when.”

“Now there’s a classic example of why I don’t want you, Falon. I’m not yours yet, but you’re already planning on punishing me.”

Even more disgruntlement entered his expression. “Your father should be told he has been neglectful in that area.”

He had managed to intimidate her after all. Her father’s punishments were mild compared with Falon’s, but she didn’t care to spend the next week peeling falaa in the kitchens. On the other hand, the odor of falaa was so unpleasant and strong, it permeated the clothes and skin with the same scent, so that the peeler was definitely avoided until she’d had a thorough scrubbing. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Shanelle grinned, imagining Falon taking one whiff of her and running in the other direction.

He mistook her amusement, asking, “You do not think I would tell him?”

“Actually, I wish you would. It will be interesting to see what you do with your time when I’m not around for you to bother.”

“What in Droda’s name would your father do to you?”

She burst into laughter. She couldn’t help it, he looked so appalled. “What do you think he would do to me for such a minor offense-and I say minor, warrior, because whatever disrespect I show you, you provoke. I’m usually much better mannered.”

“You tease me, I think.”