B00CH3ARG0 EBOK (32 page)

“And the male was here? I had supposed him to be in the
southern oceans with the rest of their kind. She missed him.”

“While the Sural negotiated with the Neven for permission to
send rescuers, the female arrived. She was very agitated.”

“The Neven? I was in the Sea of Nevenar?”

“Indeed.”

He snorted. “What did the Neven extract from the Sural in
return for permission to retrieve me?”

She laughed. “You know him too well. He spent needless time
negotiating a trade deal.” She laid a hand on his cheek, sobering. “You could
have died while he delayed.”

He shook his head and closed his eyes, surprised when he started
to drift into sleep. She brushed a soft kiss across his brow. “Sleep now,” she
said.

He brought the hand he was holding to his lips and opened
his eyes. “Not yet,” he said, shaking his head. “Forgive an old fool for
causing you pain.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper. “You are no fool, my
love.”

My love.
Hearing those words on her lips warmed him. “I
have been an addle-brained flutterwit for not realizing what I held in my arms.
Will you allow me to spend my life at your side?”

Her sharp gasp was the only answer he needed. He ran a hand
into her hair and pulled her mouth onto his, losing himself. Willingly.
Happily. The sound of her sigh turned him to liquid fire in spite of his
weakness. Time stopped – nothing existed but Cena and the taste of her mouth.

It was never like this with—

Someone coughed. He stifled a groan as Cena broke the kiss
and straightened to turn toward the door. Marianne was just inside the doorway,
eyes dancing, and Laura stood beside her, a delightful blush setting her face aglow.

“Earth has laws against that kind of behavior between doctor
and patient,” Marianne said in English, visibly struggling to keep from
laughing.

“Then it is well we are not human,” he replied in the same
language, his voice as dry as he could make it.

Laura was staring. “You’re
happy
,” she said. “What
happened to you out there?”

Cena snorted. “He lost an argument with a hevalrin.”

He smiled, ignoring the comment. “I will be happier still if
the Sural’s apothecary will share her supply of the Jorann’s blessing with me
in the presence of our friends.”

Marianne gaped. “Does the Sural know about this?” Then she
stopped. “Of course he does. The guards are probably telling him as we speak.”

Cena made a gesture. “An aide will bring it.”

Laura cleared her throat and addressed Storaas. “I’ll be
returning home soon, but I was hoping to spend a little time talking to you
about ... these.” She ran her finger over her forehead, glancing at Cena. “If
it’s not too much for him.”

Cena nodded. “If he sleeps, do not wake him, but talking
will do him no harm.”

An aide appeared, carrying a small crystal box. Cena relieved
him of it, offering the box to Storaas.

He took it from her and opened it, gazing at the tiny cubes
inside.

“Take two,” Cena said.

Without ceremony, he plucked two cubes out of the box and
consumed them. The world swayed around him – or perhaps it was the bed. His
vision blurred with a white haze. Gentle hands took the box from him, and the
soft hum of Cena’s medical scanner filled the air.

“Is he all right?” It was Laura’s voice.

“Yes.” That was Cena. Her presence was incandescent with joy.

The white haze cleared, leaving the world brighter and
colors more vivid. He blinked, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He’d taken
the blessing ... many more times than he could ever admit, but never from such
an advanced state of aging. It would take much of the day for his body to
rejuvenate. He stretched and sighed and let himself fall into slumber.

* * *

“It always amazes me how quickly the stronghold’s mood can change,”
Marianne said, then bit into a piece of fruit. She surveyed the room. A murmur
of conversation ebbed and flowed as staff and guests ate their midday meal, and
the ambient mood was one of ebullient joy.

Beside her, Laura shook her head. “If you could see all the
connections, it wouldn’t surprise you at all,” she said, giving the Sural a
pointed glance.

He raised an eyebrow. Laura laughed. “Everyone is connected
to the Sural,” she continued, “and he’s
really
happy.”

Marianne smiled. The Sural’s joy over Storaas’ return, and
subsequent decision to take the Jorann’s blessing, thrummed through her.
One
of the perks of bonding,
she thought. “Storaas has been with the Sural’s
family for generations. All’s right with the world now that he’s back.”

“Will he bond with Cena, do you think?” Laura asked.

The Sural shook his head. “Not soon. He adheres closely to
tradition. He will not bond until he and Cena both have heirs.”

Marianne made a face. “He’s already looking for a woman to
mother his child.”

“It will be years before Cena’s son is old enough that she could
do so herself,” he said. “They wish to avoid a long delay.”

“I’ll never understand it.” She ripped a roll in half.

The Sural gave Marianne a long look. “It may be necessary to
wait in any case. Women with the genetics to give him a child with his gift are
rare, though he has admitted he wasted most of his life requesting analyses of
the wrong women. Perhaps he will find suitable candidates more quickly now.”

She made another sour face.

“Allowing someone other than Cena to mother his heir means
nothing to him, beloved.”

“So you keep saying,” Marianne muttered.

“It means nothing,” the Sural said. “And as for me, my own
requirements are more difficult to meet of late.”

Marianne stopped in the act of tearing her roll to pieces
and squinted at him. “What did you say?”

“It means nothing,” he repeated.

“No, after that.”

“My requirements are now more difficult to meet.”

“What does
that
mean?” Laura asked.

“A genetic analysis must meet high standards before I will agree
to father an heir.”

Marianne’s voice was high-pitched and soft. “You raised your
requirements?”

“Yes, beloved.”

“Why?”

“To make such requests as infrequent as possible.”

“Oh.”

“I hoped to ... spare your feelings, as you put it.”

She nodded and studied her food, taking deep breaths. “I
thought it didn’t matter how I felt about it.”

His hand curled over hers. “Of course it matters, beloved. I
cannot change our ways, but I will do what is in my power to ease your
adjustment to them.”

Beside her, Laura cleared her throat.

“When I get home, the Paran and I are going to have a talk,”
she said. “He never mentioned this.”

Marianne hiccupped a laugh. “Uh oh. Batten down the
hatches.”

“Perhaps he has not received a request during your time with
him,” the Sural said.

Laura threw him a sidelong look. “Maybe. Maybe not. But he
still has some explaining to do.”

“He can no more deny all requests than can I.”

She pursed her lips and turned in her chair toward him. “I
won’t make the Paran’s life difficult if he has to be with other women, but
he’d better tell me when it has to happen. I won’t live with him sneaking out
on me.”

The Sural nodded. “He will agree to that.”

Marianne cocked her head and blinked at him.

He shrugged a shoulder. “It is a reasonable request.”

“God,” she breathed. “What have I gotten myself into?”

“A new home,” Laura said, her voice soft. “One where you
will always be loved and cherished and protected.”

Marianne flung her arms around Laura and hugged her close.
Her eyes stung. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

“Do you have to go?” Marianne sighed and pulled away.

“I miss my Paran.”

Marianne sniffled. “I’m not the only one who found a new
home.”

“Maybe next time ... you will be the one visiting, and I’ll
be the one with a new baby.”

“Really?”

Laura nodded and blushed. “I think I’d like to have a little
boy who looks just like the Paran. And his daughter has a little boy too – he
wouldn’t be too much older. They could grow up as friends. But we’ll see.” She
stood. “Don’t see me off. It’s easier if you don’t. I’ll just find the Paranian
servant who came with me and go.”

Marianne’s eyes stung again and blurred with tears. “All
right,” she said, her throat tight.

Laura went over to Rose, asleep in her nurse’s arms, and
gave her a light kiss on each tiny cheek. Then she spun on her heel and headed
out the refectory door.

The Sural’s long fingers stroked Marianne’s wrist. “She goes
to her happiness.”

“I know.” She looked over at him and wiped away her tears. “Beloved...”

He met her eyes.

“Thank you.”

His smile could have lit a city.

The Marann
(Tales of Tolari Space #1)

"A beautifully realized story that proves that
politically driven space opera and tender love stories do not have to be
mutually exclusive."
Kirkus Reviews

"For anyone who enjoys tightly written, wonderfully
imaginative Science Fiction wrapped with romance, this one is a must!"
InDTale
Magazine

A story that will appeal to fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley
and Zenna Henderson,
The Marann
recounts one woman's experience on a
world where everyone can read her emotions.

Marianne Woolsey is a high school Spanish teacher in rural
Iowa, when Earth Central Command decides her linguistic talents would be better
exercised if she spent 26 years teaching the daughter and heir of an alien
ruler on a planet 24 light years from Earth. Now she's alone on a planet of
aliens so humanlike that she has to keep telling herself her student's noble
father is just her boss.

Handsome – and deadly – the Sural has ruled his province and
led his planet far longer than he can admit to his daughter's human tutor. He
hides much more from the space-faring races of the Trade Alliance than he is
willing to reveal. What he doesn't want Central Command to know, he has to
conceal from Marianne, but Marianne is concealing her own secrets from him –
and as an empath, he knows it.

The Marann
is a sweet romance. Might not be suitable
for young teens.

A portion of the proceeds from
The Marann
goes to
support
Warming Hearts
, a
charity dedicated to providing winter firewood to the poorest of Navaho elders.

Into Tolari
Space ~ The First Contact Stories

Free!

Two short stories from the author of
The Marann
.

First Contact

Earth’s Ambassador to Tolar, Smithton Adler Russell, gets a
call in the middle of the night.

Field Work

The ruler of Monralar is ambitious, ruthless, and out to
unseat the Sural. Can one laborer put a stop to the Monral’s scheme before
Tolar’s advanced technology is exposed to the Trade Alliance?