Close Remembrance (The Krinar Chronicles 3)

id I worked in one of their labs. Surely they wouldn’t let me do that if they thought that I was just an unusually smart monkey. Not to mention, they marry us . . .”

“Marry us?” Delia looked surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t that what being a charl is? Like being married to one of them, only without the official ceremony?” That was the impression Mia had gotten yesterday from her conversation with Korum.

Delia regarded her with a thoughtful brown gaze. “I guess you could think of it that way,” she said slowly. “Particularly if you apply the definition of marriage as it used to be in the past.”

“In the past?”

“Yes,” Delia said. “Before your time. When a wife lawfully belonged to her husband.”

“What do you mean, belonged?”

“By Krinar law, a charl belongs to her cheren, Mia. We don’t really have any rights here. Korum didn’t tell you that?”

Mia shook her head, feeling an unpleasant tightness in her chest. “Are you saying we’re their . . . slaves?”

Delia smiled. “No. The Krinar don’t believe in slavery, especially not as it was practiced during my time. Most charl are very well treated and loved by their cheren. They truly do regard them as their human mates. But it’s not exactly the type of equal relationship a modern girl like you would be accustomed to.”

Mia stared at her. “How so?”

“Well, for instance, a Krinar doesn’t need your permission to make you his charl. Arus asked me, but many cheren don’t.”

“Did Korum ask me?” Mia waited for the answer with bated breath.

“I don’t know,” Delia said regretfully. “I’ve never been privy to the particulars of your relationship. However, from what I know about Korum – and from the fact that you helped the Resistance before – I would guess that he wasn’t quite as considerate of your feelings as he should’ve been.”

Mia frowned. “What do you mean, what you know about Korum?”

Delia looked at her, as though weighing whether to proceed further. “Your cheren is a very powerful, very ambitious man,” she finally said. “Many on the Council think he has the ear of the Elders. He’s also known to be quite autocratic and ruthless with his opponents. That’s why I was initially worried about you – because I didn’t think Korum would be a particularly caring cheren. But I think I was wrong. From what I could tell, you seemed happy with him before. The last time we met, at Maria’s birthday, you were practically glowing. And even now, when most women would be feeling lost and intimidated, it looks like you’re doing well – and Korum has to be the one responsible for that.”

Mia studied the other girl, wondering if there was something else Delia was not telling her. “You don’t like my cheren, do you?”

“I don’t know him personally,” Delia said carefully. “I just know that Arus and he have clashed in the past over a number of different issues. But I’m glad he’s good to you. When I first saw you, you seemed so young and vulnerable . . . and I couldn’t help but worry about you. Now I see that you’re stronger than I originally thought. You might even be a good influence on Korum. Arus thinks your cheren truly loves you – which is something we would’ve never expected from him.”

“I see.” Mia drew in a deep breath and looked away, trying to process what she’d just learned. Perhaps her silly thought about Korum as a villain wasn’t as far-fetched as it seemed. Not for the first time, she wished she could remember the past couple of months, so she could better understand this complex relationship she was in. What exactly was Korum to her? What did it mean to be his charl? And which was the real Korum? The tender lover of last night, or the ruthless Councilor Delia had described?

Perhaps he was both. Mia considered that for a minute. Yes, she could definitely see how that could be the case. After all, Korum himself had told her about how he had used her in the past to crush the Resistance. Yet he seemed to truly love her now – and Mia couldn’t help the warm feeling that spread through her at the thought.

Turning back toward the Greek girl, Mia looked at her. “Delia,” she said quietly, bringing up a topic that had been worrying her since yesterday, “do you know what happens in an Arena fight?”

“Yes.” Delia gave her a sympathetic look. “You know about Loris’s challenge?”

“Korum told me about it yesterday,” Mia said. “Have you ever seen one of these fights? Are they common?”

“They’re not as common as they used to be a long time ago, but they still happen with some regularity. There are usually a couple of fights a year, sometimes more.”

“And how dangerous are they?”

Delia hesitated for a second. “Arena fighting is the number one cause of death for the Krinar,” she finally said. “Followed by various accidents.”

Mia felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “Does someone always die during a fight?”

“No, not always. Sometimes the winner can control himself enough to stop in time. Generally, though, Krinar men don’t have the best control over their instincts during the heat of battle.” The Greek charl didn’t seem particularly bothered by that.

Mia swallowed. “I see.”

“But to answer your earlier question, I do think Krinar attitudes toward humans are changing,” Delia said, coming back to their previous discussion. “Two thousand years ago, the idea of a human working in a Krinar lab would’ve been unthinkable. They’ve come a long way since then, and I see things improving more and more every day. The fact that they’re living here on Earth, among us, is a game changer in many ways. They see now that we truly are their sister species, that we have the potential to achieve as much as they did.”