Lover Beware 04 - Only Human

Nokolai."
    Lily didn't have to ask what the worst would be. She could guess.
    The lupi had such final concepts of discipline.

Chapter 12
    ONE LAST SLIVER of sun clung to the rounded shoulder of Bole's Peak like an incandescent fingernail clipping. The moon hung low on the opposite side of the sky, looking more shadow than substance, her solidity drained by the presence of her fiery sister. Rule hurried toward his aunt and uncle's house, buzzing inside as if his skin were but a coat slipped on over a teeming hive of choices, chances, fears, and dreams.
    When the moon rose tomorrow, it would be full. But the buzzing came from more than the proximity of the full moon.
    He was returning to Lily.
    Night came earlier in the mountains than down in the city, but it was still later than he'd planned to return. There had been so much to arrange, and discussion had taken longer than he'd expected. So had the congratulations. But his plans had gone well, he thought. Extremely well.
    It remained to be seen how well his other plans had worked, and whether Lily would be angry. No, he thought ruefully as he reached the front door, the real question was how angry she would be. Lily was not going to like learning she'd been deceived.
    The second he crossed the threshold, she looked up. She'd Only Human
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    been playing chess with his uncle. Nettie wasn't there, of course. She'd remained at his father's to make sure he hadn't set back his healing too much.
    His uncle gave him a searching look, and Rule nodded slightly.
    Lily stood. "All right. I've had enough of cryptic glances.
    What's going on?"
    He smiled. The sight of her lifted his heart, even if her expression left something to be desired. And his news was good. “The Council has agreed that you are to be allowed to ask your questions. You are to be answered as honestly as if the Lupois himself posed the questions."
    Her eyebrows went up. "The Council has already met."
    "I'm afraid so. You made a very good impression on them."
    "How remarkable of me, when I never met them." Her voice was flat with suspicion. Or maybe hurt.
    "Yes, you did." He held out his hand. "Walk with me, and let me give you the explanations you deserve."
    She looked at him for a long moment. Then she took his hand.
    THE SKY WAS messy with sunset when they left the little house, darkening to indigo overhead. Lily didn't speak as Rule led her away from the scattering of lights that was the little village. It felt so good to be with him. She wanted to thump him in the head—hard—but still it felt right to walk beside him."This path leads to the lake," he said. "Though that's a rather inflated term—it's more like an ambitious pond, but lovely by moonlight. I asked the others not to take you there today. I wanted to be the one to show it to you."
    "You also wanted to explain some things," she reminded him. "Not that I haven't figured some of it out. The Council meeting was never set for nine o'clock, was it?"
    "No, though you weren't the only one who believed it was.
    They met around six, after most of them had had a chance to meet you and form an opinion."
    Lily had been passed from person to person, group to group, all afternoon—courteously, often with real friendliness, but after a while it had been obvious her time and encounters were being managed. She'd thought they were checking her 336
    EILEEN WILKS
    out because they were curious about the cop Rule had gotten himself involved with—and that they were making sure she didn't speak to anyone she wasn't supposed to. "Why all the secrecy?" she burst out. "Why go to the trouble to trick me?"
    "We are a secretive people. Too much so, perhaps, but we've had reason to be wary. My father knew his councillors wouldn't agree unless they trusted you. They in turn wanted to meet you without your knowing who they were. Didn't you wonder why everyone you met put you to work?"
    "I thought it was a custom or something." She'd fixed tea and swung a hammer, helped clear away deadfalls in the woods, washed a baby, and swept an old woman's floor.
    "What did they learn by watching me work?"
    "What did you learn by watching them while you worked together?"
    It was a fair question. An excellent question, actually. "A lot. One of the biggest surprises was how familiar some of it seemed."
    She'd startled him. "Familiar?"
    "Sure. The respect for tradition, the importance of family, work, and honor, the duty owed to one's elders—that's all very Chinese, you know."
    "I