Six
Cold air buffeted my legs. I shivered and reached out, my hand groping for the blankets and yanked them up to my neck. The covers were promptly torn right back off. It’d better be Marin. Anyone else and I’d have to kill them. I caught an edge and he pulled the blankets away again. The bastard. My eyes opened, bleary.
Marin grinned at me from the side of the bed. “Time for work, Elizabeth.”
I glared at him and hugged the pillow to my chest. “Five more minutes.”
“Oh, no.” He laughed. “Five more minutes means you do not get up for an hour.”
He grabbed the pillow and tugged. I held on like a pit bull. My pillow.
“Time to head to the greenhouse,” he said. “You were the one who said you needed to work or you would go crazy. I would have let you stay home and take care of me, but no.”
I glared at him harder and meaner, and this time added a proper huff. “Fine, I will wake up.” But I didn’t want to get up. How about another tactic? “I’m chilly though. I wonder what would warm me.”
Now he was the one who shivered. “As much as I love that idea, we do not have time. Get up, my love.”
Huh.
That was the first time he called me that. I think we both noticed. His eyes softened and he ran his hand down my face. He leaned down and nipped my lower lip. As he gathered me close, I let the pillow drop. Quick as a cobra, he threw the thing across the room, tugged me up into his arms, and walked me over to the dresser.
“I don’t want to work,” I whined.
“I wish we had more time.” He curled in behind me, grazing my sides with his hands.
His touch tickled but didn’t. Goose bumps broke out on my arms. I arched my head back in invitation. Marin obliged and trailed his mouth down my neck. I reached up and tugged on his hair. A sigh escaped me. There was never enough time.
Reluctantly, he stepped back and dressed, while I pulled on my own clothes.
The key to cold weather was layers, lots and lots of layers. Four shirts later, I was ready. He preceded me to the door and hip checked me before racing to the dining room, taking the lead.
George ran under our feet on the stairs. I’d forgotten about him last night in our tide of lovey-dovey, but there were enough guards about that someone took care of him. He kept going for my toes. And those little teeth were sharp. I stumbled and slammed into the hallway walls to avoid stepping on him.
“Georgie.”
The little dude’s ears perked up and he leapt for my leg. Thank god for the layers. He scrambled up my body and I gathered him close to my chest and carried him into the dining room. Marin diverted to grab the books from the library.
When I entered the room, food waited. And the box with the mating bands sat on a nearby chair. I rushed to grab it and tucked it inside my shirt just in time, George cuddled on top of the box to hide it.
Marin entered behind me and waved the books in the air. “Got them.”
“You’re going to see Stein again today?”
“Yes.”
I snorted. “You have fun with that.”
“Oh, I am sure to.”
He scanned the room. I tucked the bands closer to my chest and wolfed down my food. Once they were hidden, he couldn’t put on the male band and force the issue. That had to be his plan. He suggested and led until people did what he wanted them to do. He was usually crafty about it too, ever so subtle. Most people didn’t realize how much they ended up doing his bidding myself included.
Marin seemed to feel he knew best what people should or shouldn’t do. He set a task and then went about obtaining it. His current task appeared to be me. He wanted me in the worst way. I wanted him too, but I wanted the E’mani as well, dead and dying. Hiding the bands was best for both of us right now.
“You headed to work?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I will see you soon.” He gave me a swift kiss and sauntered out. The door slammed and I bolted to my room, George hot on my heels. No one touched the shivat so I shoved the bands under the uniform. That done, I went back downstairs.
I dreaded the trek to the greenhouses. I loved working there. It was winter I hated, but I was getting to know the agriculture. Every day, I took samples and used the herbology and basic pharmacology books to try to figure out some of the components of the plants. I found it fascinating that the Fost eschewed anything to do with the E’mani, yet they kept books of their knowledge. It was one of the few things they did take after the war. Marin’s library held advanced technological manuals and rarely used medical textbooks.
I’d already made several interesting finds, which I was not sure the Fost appreciated. I’d made aspirin, an antibiotic and some liniments for sprains. Every product I made was met with suspicion. Except by Ute, that dude loved everything. They associated drugs and their treatments with the E’mani. Like I said, our histories were similar, though the E’mani far outstripped us humans in this regard.
I couldn’t stop the twinge I felt at their suspicions. It reminded me I was not Fost, I didn’t belong here. Not even a little progress was acceptable for fear of becoming like the E’mani. I couldn’t really blame them, having met the freaks.
Aw, well, I arrived at the front door. George had to stay behind much to his dismay. It was way too cold outside for him. And he would get lost in the snow drifts.
Marin usually walked me to work, but he had Clan Hanat to visit. Zanth wasn’t fit company for anyone. Marin sent the guards, Jace and Bob, along with me. Jace was tall, rangy, and an absolute menace with a blade as I could attest. He reminded me of a cowboy with his sly ways. Bob on the other hand was a beast of a guy, huge, shy and quiet. If you painted him green, he resembled the hulk, thus his nickname, Gigantor, or Giggy for short. They had guarded me from the Fost and the Fost from me when I first arrived all those months ago. Despite that, I kind of liked them. I lucked out with my guards. They met me at the door.
“Hi,” I said.
Jace tipped his head in response. Giggy smiled his sweet smile and off we went trudging through the snow down to section three. Not much for small talk, these two. They were all business when it came to my safety.
The valley consisted of three separate levels or sections and it housed nine separate clans.
Section one, the uppermost area, held the largest lake, Mirror Lake, surrounded by extensive forests. Within the forest were the animal livestock and orchards. Their aqueduct system started there and extended down into the valley. Two clans called section one home, Clan Gaol and Clan Hanat. Marin was leader of Clan Gaol and clan chief. Section one was up on a cliff and connected by one main path that ran through the surrounding woods.
The second section was near the entrance to the valley. Right beyond the gateway was the largest clan, Clan Orin, and also Clan Tern. Their clan home centered around a lake as well with some greenhouses and farmland along the base of the cliffs. The land then sloped down to form four smaller lakes and the largest land mass.
Five clans called section three home, the Hazerns, the Forgs, the Tryst, the Forik and the Barrel. The majority of the Fost’s crops grew along this basin.
The valley, through sheer geography, was well protected. The entrance was the only way inand out of the area. Up until I arrived, there were a few guards located at key points in the valley but most efforts focused on the entrance. But since the E’mani attack, regular patrols were set up in the towns for added protection. They’d lost children to the E’mani in those attacks.
Before that, they’d never needed the guards in town. Crime was almost unheard of here. They had the odd theft, curfew breaking, domestic violence, but overall they were a Zen people, were the Fost, and environmentally aware. All food they didn’t eat got composted. The compost was then used on their agriculture. And their agriculture, for the small amount of land they had, supported the number of Fost living. And that was improving as powers resurfaced and aided in the harvests.
About halfway to the greenhouse, dizziness swamped me. Bile rose in my throat. I smelled something burning. I scanned for a threat but felt no sense of cold like I did when the E’mani were present. I sat right there in the snow and worked on keeping my breakfast down. By the time I got the nausea under control, my ass was numb.
“Beta,” Jace started.
“I’m fine. Copping a squat.”
They both blinked. Ha. I found it fun to use slang because it confused them.
I pulled on my power to warm my frozen nether regions. I felt the power stretch, a fluttering deep in my gut. It was always like that. And of course, my seat of power would be my belly. Within a few seconds, I could feel my fingers, toes and rear again. My head cleared. My stomach stopped its churning. Maybe the food settled wrong.
I loved having magic. I never got used to it, nor took it for granted. To be honest most of the time, I forgot I had it until something happened and I was reminded. Earth had no magic.
Yes, there were some on Earth who claimed powers, but it was never proven and science was quick to debunk it. I think in the end even if true magicians sprouted up and saved the world half the population would be like, “Pht, that was all special effects.”
We were a cynical race, arrogant like the E’mani. Assumed we knew everything. That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“Jace,” I said.
“What.”
“How’s Hana.”
Jace glanced away. “How would I know?”
The dude was still in denial. “Silly boy.”
I lumbered up and continued down the path through section two. I made it part of the way before dizziness swamped me again. My stomach rolled, my head swam. I puked once into the snow. Finn came upon me like that, face hanging over my own vomit.
Finn.
Looking at him was a kick in the gut just like the first time I saw him. Tall at six and a half feet, he was pure rage and hormones, wrapped in the Fost leather and ready for a fight or something more interesting.
I sighed.
Finn stooped at my side. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You know better than that.” He tsked and bundled me up against my guard’s objections and whisked me off to Ute’s nearby.