Chapter 38

Only Skonn and Sonak would be permitted to accompany Sarek to the Marriage site itself. Sarek's control, though not as complete as before—was somewhat restored by the compound Verena had administered to him following what had happened on the ship. She and Zareth were waiting in one of the stone cottages that Sarek's Clan owned on this millennia old ancestral ground. For over 5000 year, Sarek's family had wed their bondmates on this site, in accordance with Vulcan custom.

Verena was horrified over what had happened to Lady Amanda. Sarek already knew about it when they had met Skonn at the Spaceport and asked his father about Amanda. For such a logical society, this man who had taken Sarek's wife was criminally insane in a way that was almost unheard of on Cerelan.

What Verena was unaccustomed to was the heat. Thank the gods there was no walking involved, as she certainly would have fainted. It was so seasonable on Cerelan all the time and the heat on Vulcan was legendary. It had more than lived up to its expectations, in Verena's dehydrated opinion.

But the cottage was cool and she and Zareth were left alone, to contemplate the situation that had brought them there, and that had brought them together…and to wait of the fate of Sarek and Lady Amanda.

Amanda watched from the doorway of her cottage. She was almost to the point of fainting in the heat, but the freedom of looking outdoors seemed to somewhat quell the iron bars she felt around her spirit, as a result of Salek's abduction and violation.

Salek sat in the corner, only leaving her side to allow the handmaidens to dress her and coif her hair while he guarded zealously outside the door lest she attempt to escape. Salek needn't have worried about that. Her bond to Sarek was as strong as ever, calling her here beyond her control.

Hulking Vulcan males, dressed in silver, carried large heavy weaponry. Amanda recognized them from her brief study of Vulcan history…the lirpa, the ahn-woon and the senapa. Amanda gasped at the sight of them. "Such weaponry...what purpose does it have at a marriage ceremony?"

In the corner, like the legendary grinning cat, Salek looked amused at Amanda's lack of knowledge of the culture she had married into