Chapter Twenty-four
“Sylvan, can I talk to you? Alone?”
He looked up and for a moment Liv thought she saw a brief flash of hope in his ice blue eyes. But when he saw it was only her and not Sophia, he simply nodded and stepped away from the chart he was coding at the med station.
“I am at your service, mate-of-my-kin,” he said gravely. “What can I do for you?”
Liv studied him for a moment, taking him in. According to Sophie he’d become a whole different person during the time they’d spent together on Earth. A very frightening person, apparently. But there were no signs of that now. His fangs were as short as his other teeth and his eyes were their normal icy blue. There was a sadness in them, though, that Liv had never seen before. A kind of calm despair that made her sorry for him.
Well, he made his choice, she reminded herself. Both Baird and Sophie had told her that Sylvan had chosen to do a cleansing ceremony to rid himself of his unwanted feelings for Sophie. It was probably just as well—Liv couldn’t imagine a more mismatched pair. But ever since they’d come back from their short stay on Earth, almost a week ago, both of them seemed quiet and sad. Liv wished she knew what to do to cheer them up but there didn’t seem to be any way. And since they were avoiding each other like the plague, there was nothing they could do to help each other, either.
“I need to know something,” she said to Sylvan in a low voice as he came around the station he’d been working at to stand by her. “Do you have a pregnancy test I can use? I’ve searched in every shop selling Earth products on the ship and I can’t find a single one.”
Sylvan frowned. “That’s because an Earth standard test wouldn’t show if you were pregnant by a Kindred warrior.”
“Shhh!” Liv looked around the busy med station. “Can we go some place private to talk about this?”
“Of course.” He led the way into a back room where medical supplies were stocked. As Liv closed the door behind them he began rummaging through the cabinets. “I think I have the necessary equipment…here,” he said, turning around at last. “I’m afraid I’ll have to draw some blood, though—quite a lot of it, in fact.”
“That’s fine,” Liv said though she couldn’t help recoiling a little at the large gauge needle he was pointing at her. “Geeze, you guys really need to get some smaller needles up here if you’re going to treat the Earth brides as well as your own warriors,” she complained as he swabbed her arm with antiseptic. “We don’t all have veins the size of fire hoses, you know.”
“I’ll order some at once if you can recommend a good supplier,” he said. “A little pinch here, I’m afraid.”
Liv winced as he slid the needle in. To his credit he did it quickly and smoothly so that even though the large needle stung, it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. “A little pinch, huh?” she said dryly. “You’re a good stick, though. I’ll give you that.”
“Thank you. I’m a natural with sharp objects.” He gave her one of his rare grins, showing his double set of fangs which were small and innocuous looking at the moment.
“Ha-ha.” Liv grinned back at him, glad to see a small vestige of humor returning. “You know,” she remarked as he drew vial after vial of blood. “It’s a good thing I’m the one you’re sticking and not—”
“Not who?” He looked at her sharply.
“Uh…” Liv frowned, God, she’d really put her foot in it now. “Not Sophie,” she answered reluctantly. “She, uh, has a phobia of needles. Ever since she was a kid.”
“Does she?” Sylvan was trying to appear unconcerned as he finished the draw but she could tell that he was dying to hear the details.
“Yes, really. She had ITP when she was little—only about five or six.”
“ITP?” he asked, sealing the small needle wound with some flesh glue and placing the freshly drawn vials in a coffee mug-sized silver machine. He tapped in a sequence on its tiny keyboard and then said, “What’s that?”
“It’s a blood clotting disease. Your spleen attacks your platelets and starts chewing them up. And of course without platelets, your blood can’t clot. Theoretically, in an extreme case, you could skin your knee and bleed to death.”
“Fascinating.” Sylvan crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her, giving her his whole attention. “Go on.”
“Well now they have a cure for it. But back when she was first diagnosed the only thing you could do was blood transfusions or a spleenectomy. Of course my parents didn’t want Sophie to go through such a risky surgery so they opted for the blood transfusions. And you know what a big needle you have to use for those.”
“Of course.” Sylvan frowned and rubbed his jaw. “So she had to endure these transfusions…?”
“It was a weekly thing and she absolutely hated it.” Liv shook her head. “Sometimes my mom would let me come with her to hold her hand. That was when I decided I wanted to be a nurse—I wanted to help heal sick people, people like Sophie.” She sighed. “Poor Sophie—it was terribly traumatic for her. She used to beg my mom not to make her go and they would both wind up crying and crying. It was awful.”
“She, ah, told me she didn’t like sharp objects like…like my fangs.” Sylvan looked down at his boots. “But she never told me why.”
“Honestly, I don’t think she lets herself think about it much,” Liv said candidly. “See, one thing about Sophie is that she’s really good at burying bad memories.”
“So I noticed,” he said dryly. “I had to almost pry the story of her attack on your, ah, prom night from her.”
“She told me what you did to Burke Simpson,” Liv said softly. “And I want to thank you for it—that’s exactly what I would have liked to do to him. Only I would have broken both his legs and his jaw too.”
He sighed unhappily. “Unfortunately Sophia didn’t see it that way. I think seeing him again and watching what I did to him traumatized her.” He shook his head. “I can’t forgive myself for that.”
“You didn’t know, Sylvan. You were just doing what you thought was right,” Liv protested. “And, like I said, Sophie doesn’t like to dwell on the past. I’m still not sure if she’s processed all her grief from our parents’ death—it’s like she’s afraid to let herself feel because it might hurt too much.”
Sylvan laughed brokenly and shook his head. “Gods, to hear you say that…”
“What?” Liv frowned.
“It’s just…ironic. I was told by a priestess in the sacred grove recently that I had the exact same problem.”
Liv shook her head. “You two are a pair, all right.”
“No, we’re not.” Sylvan was suddenly serious. “And I’m afraid we never will be. How can we be? Aside from her past trauma, Sophia fears needles. And I have what amounts to four, incredibly sharp needles in my mouth that I long to pierce her with.”
Liv frowned. “Do you really have to do the biting thing? I know Sophie likes you—likes you a lot. But after what she went through with the ITP, the biting is sort of a deal breaker for her.”
Sylvan ran a hand through his spiky blond hair. For a moment he looked more miserable than Liv could ever remember seeing him, then his features smoothed out and he shook his head. “I’m afraid the ‘biting thing’ as you put it, is part of bonding sex for a Blood Kindred. In fact, it’s part of any kind of sex with us.”
Liv shook her head. “That’s really too bad, Sylvan. In that case, I don’t know what to tell you. But…does it really matter to you? Baird told me you vowed never to take a bride. And anyway, I thought you did a cleansing ceremony to get rid of your feelings for Sophie.”
He looked down. “The priestess released me of my vow and refused to perform the cleansing. She says Sophie doesn’t care for me because I haven’t given her a reason to care. But I don’t know how to do that.”
“Back off a little to start with,” Liv suggested. “I mean, you’re giving her space right now and that’s good but when you do get together again, don’t go all he-man protective on her. Sophie’s not big into alpha males.”
“Yes, she told me as much. She, ah, said I wasn’t her ‘type,’” Sylvan admitted.
“Honestly, you’re not,” Liv said candidly. “But then, I don’t really know what is Sophie’s type. She hasn’t dated anyone seriously in so long it’s hard to say. Just…be gentle with her Sylvan. She’s been hurt before, as you know. And trust is a big issue with her. If you lose her trust, you’re going to have a very hard time rebuilding it.”
He sighed. “Thank you for the advice, mate-of-my-kin. Tell me, does she still have this ITP disease you spoke of? She didn’t seem to have any problems clotting when we were on Earth together. I know—I healed her several times.”
“Yes, she, uh, told me.” Liv cleared her throat. “No, they developed a cure for it a few years after she was diagnosed—Sophie was one of the first ones treated with it, in fact. My parents always kept her very sheltered, though—it’s one reason she became such a great artist. She wasn’t allowed to run and play outside with the rest of us. She had to stay inside with her paints and crayons.”
“I have seen several of her paintings—both in real life and in my dreams,” Sylvan said softly. “She is very talented, though perhaps too generous to her subjects.”
“She paints things as she sees them. Her art is the one place where she’s truly honest with herself, I think,” Liv said. “If she painted you as strong and handsome and brave then that’s really how she sees you.”
“Or saw me, anyway,” he murmured, looking down.
“I think she still sees you that way,” Liv said thoughtfully. “But…I think she’s afraid. Both of what you want to do to her and what you represent. You’re a whole lot of male, Sylvan—any Kindred warrior is. I think Sophie has to realize she can handle someone like you and well, she’s just not there yet. Just give her a little time, okay?”
He nodded. “All right.”
“And speaking of time, when will I get the results?” She nodded at the small silver machine he’d placed the vials of blood in.
Sylvan turned and studied it. The configuration of lights on the outside seemed to be slightly different but there was no other discernable change that Liv could see. “Right about…now,” he said, pressing a final button on the keyboard. The machine emitted a small beeping noise and from out of the slot where he’d put in the vials, a small blue flower appeared.
“What’s that?” Liv asked as he gave her the flower. She couldn’t tell if it was real or not but it had silky, periwinkle blue petals and a mild, sweet fragrance that reminded her of baby lotion.
“Your answer,” Sylvan said. “If the results were negative, you would have received a white flower. If you were carrying a female baby, the flower would have been pink—that’s a very rare result indeed.”
“But blue means…” Liv looked up at him, her heart pounding. “A little boy? I’m carrying a boy?”
“You are,” Sylvan said gravely. “May I be the first to congratulate you, mate-of-my-kin, and wish you a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.”
“Oh my God!” Liv was so excited she couldn’t speak. Instead she rushed forward and pulled him down into a hug. Sylvan was stiff at first, clearly surprised by her exuberance. But then he loosened up a little and hugged her back carefully. “Wait ‘til I tell Baird,” she exclaimed. “He’s going to be so surprised!”
“He’ll be extremely pleased and so proud there’ll be no living with him.” Sylvan smiled when she finally let him go. “Are you going to tell him at once?”
“Yes, him first and then the girls. Oh, Sophie’s going to be so excited to be an aunt!”
“I’m excited to be a…what is your term for it?”
“An uncle. You’ll be the baby’s uncle.” Liv grinned at him. “Oh, I have so much to do! And no time to do it.”
“You have plenty of time,” Sylvan assured her. “According to the results and the size of the flower you received, you’re still in your first quadmester.”
“My first what?” Liv frowned. “You mean trimester , right?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Carrying a Kindred baby to term takes twelve of your Earth months, not just nine. So you see, Olivia, you have plenty of time to get everything done.”
“Wow.” Liv was a little nonplussed. “Uh…a whole year, huh? You guys should really put that in the brochure.”
“We don’t hide anything,” Sylvan protested. “You just have to ask about some things if you want to know.”
Liv laughed. “All right—I’m so excited right now I don’t even care. Although by my eleventh or twelfth month I may want to shoot myself. Or Baird, for that matter.”
Sylvan gave her one of his rare, one-sided smiles. “Go tell him now before you start wanting to shoot.”
“I will.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “ And I’ll tell the other girls what they can expect if they end up getting claimed. You know, we used to joke about having sixteen pound alien babies but none of us thought it would take a whole year to have one.”
He looked suddenly sad again. “Tell Sophia she doesn’t have to worry. I would never claim her unless I knew she wanted me to. So she doesn’t have to fear carrying my son.”
“Oh Sylvan…” The sorrow in his eyes made Liv forget her own joy for a moment. Sophie was wrong, she thought. He cares, he really does. And he loves her so much it hurts him. Just like Baird loved me before I finally let him in. Impulsively, she stepped forward and gave him another hug. “Don’t give up,” she whispered in his ear. “I know things seem hopeless but they did for Baird and me too, remember? And we came out all right in the end.”
Sylvan smiled at her. “More than all right. Forget about my worries, Olivia—go tell my brother that he’s soon to be a father.”
“All right.” She patted his arm. “But just know that I’m rooting for you.”
“Thank you.” He nodded. “Go—and don’t say a word. Just hand Baird the flower. He’ll know what it means.”
Still feeling troubled for him, Liv left the med station. She couldn’t wait to tell Baird they were going to be starting a family but as happy as she was, she wished her sister could have the same joy. If only she and Sylvan could find a way around their differences…but Liv couldn’t imagine how they could. Sylvan’s need to bite every time they had sex was a serious issue for the needle-phobic Sophie. Although if Liv could get used to Baird’s mating fist, it seemed like her twin could find a way to cope with being a pin cushion. Couldn’t she?
For Sophie and Sylvan’s mutual happiness, Liv hoped she could.
* * * * *
“A year? Really? A whole year ?” Kat’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “That is seriously messed up, Liv.” She scooted forward on the couch to pour herself another tiny cup of klava. Olivia had mysteriously told them she had some very important news and suggested a breakfast get together at her suite. Baird had been called away early to some sort of conference so they had the place to themselves. But so far they were doing a lot more talking than eating.
“I don’t think it’s so bad.” Sophie hugged her again—it seemed she hadn’t been able to stop ever since her sister had told them the news. “It gives you more time to get everything ready. The nursery and baby-proofing the suite…”
“It’s easy for you to say it’s not so bad. What if you were the one that was going to be preggers for a solid year?” Kat objected.
“I hear it’s longer if you’re mated to Twin Kindred.” Olivia nudged her playfully. “Takes more time for the babies to develop because you always have twins.”
“Ugh, don’t even joke about that!” Kat glared at her. “You know it’s not funny.”
“Deep and Lock might think so,” Sophie said with a little smile.
“Speaking of which, are you still reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum’s feelings loud and clear?” Olivia asked.
“No, thank God.” Kat put a hand to her head and sighed in relief. “It finally stopped. I know this sounds strange but I never thought I’d be so glad to be alone in my own head.”
“Honey, nothing sounds strange when you’re mated to a Kindred,” Olivia said, sweeping a strand of blonde hair behind one ear. “But what about the headache?”
Kat frowned. “Still just the tiniest bit—like a dull throbbing at the back of my head. But it’s not nearly as bad as it was.”
“That worries me.” Sophie frowned at her. “Couldn’t that be the sign of something bad?” She looked at her twin for confirmation. “Like a subdural hema-whatsit or something?”
Olivia smiled. “Subdural hematoma, you mean? Not to worry, Sophie, that’s an injury you usually get from bumping your head really hard—not from having a kinky alien ménage with hot Kindred twins.”
Kat crossed her arms over her chest. “Again, not funny. As if I would ever go there—they’d freaking split me in two.”
“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Liv looked like she was trying not to smile again. “You know, Jillian never has any complaints about her Twin Kindred hubbies. Practically all she can talk about is how wonderful three-way sex is.”
“Yeah, but let’s be honest—Jillian isn’t the brightest crayon in the box,” Kat said. “I mean, there’s a reason she was captain of the cheer squad instead of captain of the chess team, you know?”
Sophie tried not to laugh. “Kat, you’re so bad.”
“All right, that was kind of bitchy of me,” Kat admitted, one corner of her mouth twitching. “It’s just that this whole thing has me so freaked out. I mean—”
“ Lilenta?”
They all looked up to see Baird standing in the doorway to the food prep area. Right behind him was Sylvan, who Sophie tried unsuccessfully not to look at. He was looking especially handsome in his pale blue uniform shirt, but he and Baird both had grave looks on their faces.
“Baird, there you are.” Olivia jumped up from the circular bench and ran to give him a kiss. Then she drew back and looked at him worriedly. “Is everything all right?”
Baird sighed heavily and ran a hand through his thick black hair. “You’re probably not going to think so. The High Council has finished their analysis of what happened when Sylvan and Sophie crashed and what it means in terms of security.”
“We’ve just come from giving testimony,” Sylvan said. “I’m afraid they weren’t pleased when I told them all the details of what happened.”
“What does that mean for us?” Olivia asked anxiously.
Baird put an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “It means they want to send Sophia away.”
“What?” all three girls exclaimed at once.
“Send her where exactly?” Kat demanded.
“Someplace the Scourge can’t find her,” Baird said.
“Someplace safe,” Sylvan added.
“I’m sorry kin-of-my-mate,” Baird said, turning to Sophie who was sitting there numbly at the table, trying to process the information being thrown at her. “The Council has determined that as long as you’re here in Earth orbit, the security of the entire Mother ship is compromised. They don’t know why the Scourge are after you but until they do, they want you someplace else.”
“Where?” Sophie asked, trying to keep her voice even. “I mean, I guess I can go back to Earth. If there’s a place the urlich can’t reach me…”
“They don’t want you on Earth either,” Baird said. “You’re to go to Tranq Prime. Don’t worry—it’s only about fifty light years away.”
“ Only fifty light years?” Olivia struggled to get out of Baird’s hug in order to glare up at him. “Are you seriously telling me the Kindred High Council has decided that we’re in so much danger Sophie has to be sent to a galaxy far, far away?”
“It’s okay, Liv.” Sophie held up a hand before her twin could really get going. “Look, I don’t mind—really I don’t.” In fact she was scared to death but she kept her chin up and tried to hide it.
“Well I do,” Olivia protested. “This is ridiculous!”
“Liv…” Sophie went to put an arm around her sister. “I don’t want to stay and put you and the baby in danger. If they think I should go, I…I’ll go.” She looked at Baird. “Do they speak English there the way you guys all do?”
“No. But we’ll give you a universal translator implant before you go,” he assured her. “And besides, you won’t be going alone. Tranq Prime is Sylvan’s home world—he’ll be taking you.” He nodded at Sylvan who nodded back gravely.
“I hope you don’t mind, Sophia,” he said, addressing her for the first time. “I made it very clear to the Council that you were in no way bound to me, but they still thought it was best because I had been your protector before.”
“Oh.” Sophie was flooded with a mixture of relief and dismay. Not going alone! sang a little voice in her head. On the other hand, now she had to deal with being in close proximity to Sylvan again. And last time that had ended badly—very badly.
“Sylvan has been charged with Sophia’s safety,” Baird said to Olivia. “He has accepted the charge and sworn to do everything in his power to protect her.”
“Well, as long as Sylvan’s going to be with her…” Olivia sounded slightly mollified.
“I will shield her with my life,” Sylvan promised seriously.
Olivia smiled at him. “I know you will. I just…don’t like the idea of my womb-mate being so far away.” She hugged Sophie, who hugged her back tightly. Kat joined in the hug as well and for a moment Sophie felt completely surrounded by their love and support.
Taking a deep breath, she looked up and met Sylvan’s eyes. “All right. When are we leaving?”
“Immediately. The space-folder is already primed and ready and I have your translator implant here.” To Sophie’s horror, he held up a large hypodermic needle. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Olivia told me how you feel about shots, but it’s the only way. The implant is actually a strain of bacteria that colonizes the language centers of your brain and enables you to understand new languages extremely quickly.”
“God.” Just looking at the needle made Sophie’s flesh crawl.
“Wait.” Olivia held up a hand. “You know I trust you Sylvan but are there any counter-indications with this stuff? Has it been tested on humans before?”
“The only side effect is a slightly improved short term memory and yes, many of the Kindred brides have already taken the implant injection. We don’t give it to pregnant females, however,” Sylvan added. “Just as a precaution.”
Liv looked at her. “Sorry, Sophie. It looks like you take the shot or you won’t be able to communicate.”
Sophie tried to laugh. “Yeah, well, how much do you really need to know what other people are saying?”
“Trust me,” Sylvan said darkly. “On Tranq Prime, you need to know.”
“Sylvan’s right,” Baird said, chiming in unexpectedly. “It’s not exactly the most straight-forward place in the world. You really have to stay on your toes there.”
Sophie took another deep breath and blew it out, trying to steady her nerves. Then she looked up at Sylvan. “Okay, you can stick me, but don’t be surprised if I puke or faint or both.”
“Come sit down,” Liv said practically. “Kat and I will hold your hands and support you.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophie apologized as they settled on the circular bench, one on either side of her. “I hate being such a baby.”
“You’re fine,” Sylvan assured her. “And I promise to be as quick as I can.”
“I have really bad veins,” Sophie warned him faintly. “They’re tiny and they roll.”
“He’s a really good stick,” Olivia assured her. “He stuck me for the pregnancy test and I barely felt a thing.”
“Yeah but you’re not a wuss like me.” Sophie extended her arm, feeling like a sacrificial lamb. Sylvan swabbed the inner bend of her elbow and the sharp, astringent smell of antiseptic assaulted her nostrils, making her feel sick. The gonna-get-a-shot smell , She thought faintly. It made her heart race and her breathing shallow. “God,” she whispered, squeezing Liv’s hand tight. “I don’t know…don’t know if I can do this.”
“You can do it,” her sister murmured, squeezing her shoulder. “Hang in there, Sophie, you’re going to be all right.”
“I’m sorry,” Sylvan murmured, kneeling in front of her. And then she felt the needle slide home and liquid fire was traveling up her arm.
Sophie gasped as tears sprang to her eyes. “It burns! Is it supposed to burn like that?”
“Only for a moment,” Sylvan assured her. His voice sounded strange and Sophie looked up at him. What she saw took her mind off the burning in her vein.
Unshed tears glimmered in his ice blue eyes and the pain on his face was unmistakable.
“Sylvan?” she whispered. Freeing her hand from Kat’s supportive grip, she reached out to touch his cheek.
“I’m sorry. I hate being the cause of your pain.” His deep voice was rough with emotion and he looked away, blinking rapidly.
“It’s all right,” she said softly as he withdrew the needle and sealed her wound with flesh glue. “You couldn’t help it.”
“But I didn’t want to hurt you,” he said fiercely and looked at her again. “I never want to do that, Sophia.”
“I know,” she whispered.
For a long moment they just looked into each other’s eyes and then Kat cleared her throat. “Um, I can tell you two are having a private moment but do you mind telling me what in the world you just said?”
“Huh?” Sophie turned to look at her friend.
“Kat’s right.” Olivia looked puzzled. “For a minute there you were both talking a whole different language. Actually, it sounded a little like French.”
Sylvan looked embarrassed. “I must have slipped into my native tongue. And Sophia answered me the same way.”
“Wow.” Sophie was amazed. “It works that fast?”
He nodded. “You only need to hear a few words of any given language and the translation bacteria do the rest. So.” He stood and cleared his throat. “Are you ready to go?”
“I guess I don’t have a choice.” Sophie stood too, still feeling a little wobbly. “Can I have a few minutes to pack?”
Baird looked at his chronometer. “Ten minutes and not much more. The Council may be slow to make a decision but once they make one, they want it acted on quickly.”
“That’s not nearly enough time,” Sophie protested. “My stuff’s spread all over Kat’s suite.” She had elected to stay with her friend rather than her sister, to avoid the embarrassment of hearing Liv and Baird having “sexy-time fun” as Kat jokingly put it.
“Just pack your personal items—toiletries and underclothes—things like that,” Sylvan directed. “Don’t worry about clothing.”
“Don’t worry about clothing? You expect me to walk around in my bra and underwear all day?” she demanded without thinking. “Uh, I mean…” She could feel her face getting hot.
“I know what you mean.” Sylvan’s voice was deceptively soft and she suddenly knew he was remembering how she looked naked. “But no, I don’t expect that at all. None of your clothing is suited to the climate on Tranq Prime. We’ll have to get you new clothes when we get there.”
“Hear that? The first thing you get to do is go shopping .” Kat grabbed her arm. “Sounds like fun! Come on, let’s go pack up your shampoo and other stuff quick.” She and Liv hustled Sophie away to throw her things together.
Almost before she could blink, Sophie was in Kat’s suite stuffing bras, panties, nightclothes and hair care products into a bag as fast as Liv and Kat could hand them to her.
“Sophie,” Olivia said as they worked. “There’s something I meant to tell you this morning except I got sidetracked with my little guy here.” She rubbed her still-flat belly protectively.
“What is it? Is it bad news?” Sophie asked, alarmed.
“Well, it depends on how you take it,” Liv said carefully. “Uh…how do I put this?”
“You’ve only got two minutes,” Kat informed her, stuffing another handful of underwear into the travel bag. “So however you put it, talk quick.”
Olivia frowned. “Fine. Sylvan didn’t have that cleansing ceremony you thought he had. So he still has feelings for you, Sophie.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “Like anyone with half a brain couldn’t tell that just by watching him. He’s so head over heels for her it’s a wonder he’s not flat on his back.”
“You guys!” Sophie could feel herself blushing again. “Come on.”
“Sorry, but I had to tell you.” Liv pressed her hairbrush and some hair bands into Sophie’s hands. “I promised I’d put in a good word for you. He really loves you, you know?”
“He does?” Sophie felt elated for a moment, then her heart sank. “But what about his vow to never take a bride?”
Her sister shrugged. “He said the priestess released him from it.”
“Oh.” Sophie bit her lip. “That’s nice about the cleansing and the vow and everything but it’s still not the main point. I mean what about…”
“I know, the biting,” Liv said.
“It’s not just that he wants to bite me,” she objected. “He wants to inject me with his essence .”
“His what?” Kat and Liv frowned as Sophie explained rapidly.
“…and I just can’t imagine feeling what I just felt in my arm times four every time we have sex,” she finished.
“Can’t say that I blame you.” Kat shook her head. “Damn, why can’t anything ever be normal with these crazy Kindred? They all want to inject you or invade you or—”
“Or love you,” Olivia finished firmly. “Maybe it’s not that bad, Sophie.”
“Yeah, but the only way to find out is to try it,” Kat objected. “And since it’s part of their bonding sex, she couldn’t exactly back out if it turns out to be as painful as hell. The Kindred don’t do divorce, remember?”
“She doesn’t have to try it—she could ask ,” Olivia pointed out. “She’s going to a whole planet full of women who are mated to Blood Kindred males.” She looked at Sophie. “Find one you can trust and talk to her.”
“I’ll try,” Sophie said doubtfully. “But honestly, you two are the only ones I’ve ever talked to much about, well, you know.”
“Not to mention that if it’s the norm there, they might have a skewed viewpoint,” Kat said. “I mean, if the women there all get bitten every time they get busy they might think it’s normal to feel pain while your having sex. Like a S&M kind of thing. And Sophie’s not exactly the kinky type.”
“Hardly.” Sophie shivered and looked down into the bulging travel bag. “Is that everything? I hope so because I don’t think anything else is going to fit.”
“That’s it, I think.” Olivia frowned. “Oh God, Sophie, I really wish you didn’t have to go. Promise to call me as soon as you get there.”
“From fifty light years away? I’ll try but I don’t know if we’ll still be in Think-me range,” Sophie said doubtfully.
“We won’t be but you can communicate using the ship’s viewscreen.”
“Oh!” Sophie looked up to see Sylvan standing in the doorway. “Oh, uh, thanks,” she said weakly. My God, how long has he been standing there? How much did he hear? She couldn’t tell from the stoic look on his face and she didn’t dare to ask.
“We have to go now.” Sylvan took the bag from her hands and zipped it up quickly and efficiently despite the way the contents were bulging out the top. “Come, the space-folder takes vast amounts of energy and it’s already been running for a long time.”
“All right. I’m ready.” Sophie turned to give Kat and Liv one last hug. “I’ll let you know when I get there safely,” she said bravely. “Love you.”
And then Sylvan was leading her out of the suite and down the long metal corridor at a brisk pace with Kat and Olivia calling ‘I love yous’ from the doorway of Kat’s suite.
Sophie risked one last glance behind her and blew them a kiss, wondering when she would ever see them again.