Relentless (2 page)

3. SURPRISE!

WHEN LEESA AWOKE
the next morning, she sensed right away that something had changed. Yes, she was married now, but that wasn’t it. And yes, she was no longer a virgin—she felt herself blushing as memories of last night’s torrid lovemaking came back to her—but that wasn’t it either. No, it was something much different.

She lay snuggled against Rave in a spooning position, her back against the smooth flesh of his muscular stomach and chest. They were in their magical honeymoon bed, and when Leesa opened her eyes she could see a carpet of red, yellow and white wildflowers stretched out before her. Rave’s right arm hung loosely across her side. She could feel his volkaane heat seeping into her body. She knew he was probably awake and watching her—he required very little real sleep, but had always been happy to lie beside her while she slept, no matter how many hours it was.

She rolled over to face him. As she had expected, his beautiful brown eyes were open and looking at her. He was smiling. She smiled back—god he was handsome.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” he said.

He must have seen something in her face, because his smile quickly vanished and his eyes narrowed.

“What’s wrong, Leesa?”

She shook her head and smiled. “Nothing’s wrong, my love. Just different.”

Rave still looked concerned. “What is it?”

Leesa didn’t know any other way to tell him other than to come right out and say it, so that’s what she did.

“I’m pregnant.”

Rave’s surprise was evident on his face. “Pregnant? How is that possible?”

“What do you mean, how is that possible?” Leesa grinned at him. “Have you forgotten last night already, my studly husband?”

From the look on Rave’s face, Leesa bet that if his skin wasn’t so bronze, she would have been able to see him blushing.

“I know how the process works,” he said, smiling. “What I meant is, how could you know so soon? It’s been less than twelve hours. That’s not the way it usually works for you humans, is it?”

“Well, I’ve never been pregnant before, but, no, I don’t think so. It usually takes awhile before we know. A missed period, or some nausea.”

Rave’s look of concern returned. “Are you feeling nauseous? It’s too soon for that, right?”

“Yes, it’s too soon, and no, I feel fine.”

“Maybe it’s a wizard thing, then,” Rave suggested. “Maybe your magic is telling you.”

“Maybe. But whatever it is, I know, without a doubt that I’m carrying our child inside me.” Leesa took Rave’s wrist and placed his hand on her bare stomach. “I can feel it in here. Something warm, a glow almost. I’m guessing that volkaane babies are probably extra warm.”

Rave smiled again. “I could ask some of the women, but I don’t think they’d know. We’re all pretty much the same temperature, so I doubt they feel any change. You’ve gotten me to thinking, though.”

“About what?”

“We probably should have talked about this last night, but as you may have noticed, I was a bit distracted.”

“No more than me,” Leesa replied, smiling.

“We don’t know the possible ramifications of interbreeding between volkaanes and humans,” Rave continued. “Or even if it’s possible.”

Leesa pressed Rave’s hand more firmly against her belly. “It’s possible, all right. I told you, I’m pregnant. But I get your point. We’d better learn all we can, so we can be prepared.”

“I think Balin is probably the best place to start. He knows more volkaane history than anyone I know, plus he loves to study the archives. Maybe he’ll know if anything like this has happened before.” Rave paused for a moment. “But if he knew of any real danger, I’m certain he would have warned us, at the wedding, at least.”

“Let’s hope so.” Leesa replied. Rave’s earlier comment about her wizard powers gave rise to another thought. “There’s the added complication of my magic, too. But there’s no one we can ask about that.” Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, she wished Dominic was still here with them. “So we’ll start with Balin. Let’s go see him this morning.”

Rave leaned forward and tenderly kissed Leesa’s forehead. “You got it.”

“One more thing,” Leesa said. “I don’t want to tell anyone else until we know more. Not even my mom. I don’t want to worry her.”

Rave nodded. “I understand. We can go see Balin right now if you want.”

“I do. But I think maybe we should take advantage of our present situation first.”

Rave smiled. “What exactly do you have in mind, wife?”

Leesa wrapped her arms around Rave’s back and drew his naked body against hers.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something, big boy,” she said, then pressed her mouth to his.

4. GOOD NEWS

LEESA AND RAVE WASHED AWAY
the sweat from their morning interlude in the chill water of the nearby stream. Rave kept a hand on Leesa’s shoulder the whole time, sending heat into her body so she never felt the cold. When they were done, he stepped up onto the bank and pulled Leesa up after him. By the time she had planted her two feet on dry ground, Rave’s inner fire had already dried him completely.

Leesa had grown proficient enough with her heat spell to be able to dry herself, but where was the fun in that? She much preferred to have Rave do it for her by running his hands all over her dripping skin, which was exactly what he did. By the time he was finished, Leesa’s body was so excited again that it was all she could do to refrain from starting up another round of lovemaking. That cycle—make love, bathe, have Rave dry her, make love again—could happily go on all day, she knew, and in any other circumstance that’s exactly what she would have done. But she was eager to find out what Balin might have to say about a volkaane/human pregnancy. She reluctantly forced down her ardor and began donning her clothes. Rave smiled at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and then did the same.

“Would you like a ride down the hill?” Rave asked when they were dressed. “Or would you prefer to hike down?” He grinned. “I hear that pregnant humans are supposed to get lots of exercise.”

Leesa smiled back. “We are, that’s true. But I’ve already had quite a bit of exercise this morning, if you’ll recall. So I think I’ll take a ride. You wouldn’t want me to slip and fall in my delicate condition, would you?”

Rave laughed. After the things he had seen Leesa do, it was difficult to think of her as delicate in any way. And she definitely had already gotten some vigorous exercise this morning. He smiled at the memory.

“Heavens no,” he replied. “We certainly can’t have you slipping or falling.”

He held out his arms and Leesa hopped up into them. Rave kissed her forehead and then sped down the steep hillside as if it were level ground, never missing a single step. In less than five minutes, they had reached the wide dirt pathway that wound through the volkaane settlement.

“I guess I can walk from here,” Leesa said. “It’ll do me good to stretch out my legs.”

Rave lowered her to the ground. They strolled hand in hand toward Balin’s cabin, which was still nearly half a mile away.

It was a beautiful morning for a walk. The sky was a cloudless blue and the temperature hovered in the high 60’s. The trees in the huge apple orchard that flanked one side of the pathway were heavy with ripe red apples. Rave stopped and pulled two down from a low hanging branch.

“Breakfast,” he said as he handed one of the plump fruits to Leesa.

The apple crunched as Leesa bit into it. She loved fruit fresh off the tree. The flesh of the apple was firm and the juice was pleasantly tart.

“It’s delicious,” she said between bites. “Thank you.”

Rave smiled. “Nothing but the best for you, my love.”

They had just about finished their apples when they reached Balin’s cabin. They found the old volkaane outside, tending to his vegetable garden. As usual, he was dressed in buckskin clothes he had made himself. The shirt was short-sleeved.

He looked up and smiled as they approached.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the newlyweds. I trust you enjoyed a pleasant night?”

Rave grinned. “I can only speak for myself, but ‘pleasant’ is a bit of an understatement, I think.”

Leesa linked her arm around Rave’s. “I second that, for sure.”

Balin straightened up and brushed some loose soil from the knees of his pants and then from his hands. He stood an inch or two taller than Rave, but was not quite so muscular. His long, lead-colored hair retained only small streaks of the customary volkaane dark copper. All in all, he looked amazingly good for someone who had lived more than five centuries, Leesa thought. She imagined Rave would look just as good as the centuries passed—she just hoped her wizard magic would allow her to remain equally as attractive.

“So, are you two just passing by,” Balin asked, “or do I detect in your manner that you have something more on your minds?”

Leesa was not surprised by Balin’s perceptiveness. He had always been able to read Rave quite easily, and as he had gotten to know Leesa better and better, he was getting pretty good at reading her as well.

“Well, there is something we want to ask you about,” Rave replied.

“I’m thinking by your tone and your faces it’s probably something that’s going to take more than a minute or two to discuss,” Balin said. “Shall we go inside and sit? It’s a bit early in the day for mead, but I could use a cool drink of water.”

“Inside would be fine,” Leesa said. “I’m a bit thirsty myself.”

Balin led them inside the simple, one room cabin he had built almost by himself several hundred years before. As soon as they stepped through the doorway, Leesa smelled the tempting aroma of Balin’s stew, which was simmering in an iron pot over a small fire in the stone fireplace. The delicious smell made her stomach rumble slightly, reminding her that all she’d had for breakfast was an apple.

Rave and Balin both looked at her, their volkaane hearing picking up the low growl in her stomach that no human would have heard.

“Would you like some stew?” Balin asked her. “You look hungry.”

Leesa laughed. “You mean I sound hungry, don’t you? But yes, I’d love some, please.”

Balin turned to Rave. “What about you, young Rave?”

Leesa smiled at the familiar appellation. Even though Rave was more than a century and a half old, Balin still usually addressed him as “young Rave,” a term of endearment left over from Rave’s childhood.

“Sure, I’ll have some,” Rave replied. “I can’t have my beautiful bride eating alone.”

Leesa felt that warm glow spreading through her again. She always loved it when Rave called her beautiful, but “beautiful bride” had an especially wonderful ring to it.

“Have a seat then,” Balin said, indicating the handmade wooden table that dominated one end of the cabin. “Two bowls of stew coming right up.”

Leesa and Rave sat down next to each other on the half-log bench on the far side of the table. Balin grabbed two blue and white ceramic bowls from inside a tall cupboard and filled them with stew. He placed them in front of his guests and then handed each a wooden spoon.

“Enjoy,” he said. “We’ll talk about whatever it is you want to discuss after you’ve taken the edge off your appetites.”

Leesa took a spoonful of the vegetable stew and blew on it softly to cool it off. When she put it into her mouth, the stew tasted as wonderful as she remembered.

“It’s delicious,” she said to Balin, who was busy filling three mugs from a jar of spring water. He turned his head and smiled.

“It should be,” he said. “I’ve had several hundred years to perfect the recipe.”

Returning to the table, he handed Leesa and Rave a mug of water and then sat down opposite them.

Leesa was almost half way through her stew before she decided that she had quenched her hunger enough to slow down and begin to discuss the matter that had brought her and Rave here this morning. Rave had eaten less—he seldom seemed to eat very much—but she knew he was waiting for her to bring the subject up to Balin.

She took a swallow of water to clear her throat. Balin looked at her expectantly, aware that the time for talking had arrived.

“I may as well start with the most important part first,” Leesa began. “I’m pregnant.”

Balin’s eyebrows rose slightly. Whatever he had been expecting to hear, it clearly wasn’t that.

“Are you sure? Isn’t that awfully quick? For you to know about it, I mean.”

Leesa smiled. “That’s pretty much what Rave said when I told him this morning. But yes, I’m sure, without a doubt.” Without really thinking about it, she rested her hand on her belly.

“Well, I guess congratulations are in order, then,” Balin said. “I’m also going to go out on a limb and guess that you’re both a bit concerned about it?”

Leesa and Rave nodded in tandem.

“A bit,” Rave said. “We were wondering if you knew whether this has occurred before.”

“And what happened if it did,” Leesa added.

“I had a feeling we might have to deal with this sooner or later,” Balin said, “so I’ve been researching it, just in case. I found two instances in the archives, both many, many years ago. Back before I was born, even. Neither was from our clan. In both cases, it was a male volkaane and a human female, like you two.”

Leesa put her spoon down into her half-finished bowl of stew. She was no longer interested in eating—she wanted to concentrate fully on whatever Balin had learned.

“The first ended in a miscarriage,” the old volkaane continued. “The mother was fine afterward, but apparently the couple decided not to risk trying again.”

“And the second?” Leesa asked, worried that Balin may have been saving the worst for last.

“The second turned out significantly better, at least at first.”

“What do you mean, at first?” Rave asked, knowing that Leesa would want to know about any problem right away.

Balin folded his hands atop the table. “The child was a boy, and he was born healthy. His volkaane fire was not as strong as most, however, diluted no doubt by his human mother. He fell prey to a vampire during a period of
Destiratu
late in his first century. His weakened fire left him quite overmatched, I imagine.”

Leesa was saddened to hear the boy had been killed, but getting killed by a vampire was a hazard of being volkaane, especially if his fire was not as powerful as it should have been.

“I’m glad to hear the child was healthy.” Leesa reached over and took Rave’s hand. “That’s the important thing—that the biology can work.”

“Yes, it certainly seems that it can,” Balin said, “though your magic is a wild card. What effect it might have on your child, we cannot know.”

Leesa sighed. “I don’t think even Dominic would have been able to answer that question. There’s never been a female waziri until me. A pregnant wizard is not something the waziri would ever have had to think about.”

Balin nodded. “We will just have to play it by ear. There are two more things you need to know, though. Has Rave told you anything about volkaane babies?”

Leesa glanced at Rave and then turned back to Balin. “Only that they’re taken from their mothers and raised communally. I hope no one expects me to go along with that.”

“No, of course not.”

“Good.” Leesa leaned back until she was resting against the wall behind her. So far, she hadn’t learned anything overly worrisome. If their child’s fire was weak, she and Rave would protect him, especially when another
Destiratu
arose. “So, what do I need to know about volkaane babies?”

“First, volkaane pregnancies always last exactly six cycles of the moon,” Balin replied. “Again, I don’t know what effect your human and wizard natures will have on that, but you should be prepared for a shorter pregnancy, just in case. Volkaanes grow fast.”

Leesa wasn’t at all worried about that. Being pregnant for six months instead of nine didn’t sound like a bad thing at all. The only real problem she could think of was telling people when the baby was due. People were going to ask, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to handle that. Telling them the due date might be in April—or it might be in July—just wasn’t going to fly.

“Will there be any clues as to which it will be? Six months or nine months, I mean.”

Balin smiled. “Oh, yes, I think there might well be a pretty obvious sign. You see, when volkaane females are with child, they experience two periods of extended sleep, one between the second and third months and one in the fifth. The baby grows extremely rapidly during those sleep intervals. So in a bit over two months, you should get your first clue.”

Leesa took a moment to absorb the new information. “By extended sleep, what do you mean? Sleeping past noon or something? I’m usually a pretty early riser.”

Balin and Rave both broke out into broad grins.

“What?” Leesa asked, looking back and forth from one to the other. She didn’t understand what the two volkaanes found so amusing.

“It’s a bit more than sleeping past noon,” Rave explained.

“The females sleep for a week,” Balin added.

“You’re kidding—a week?!?! Straight through?”

“Straight through,” Balin replied. “The baby usually triples in size during the first period, and then doubles in size during the second.”

“Wow,” was about all Leesa could think of to say at the moment. It was going to take some time to wrap her mind around all that. “You said there were two things I should know about. What’s the second thing?”

Balin smiled again. “Volkaane children are little hellions for the first few years, until they acquire full control over their fire. It’s not uncommon for bursts of blue fire to spout unexpectedly from a finger or mouth. If you were a normal human, you would have to be extremely cautious, but your wizard powers can protect you in the same way you can give yourself some protection against Rave’s fire. While your protective spell cannot defend against the full strength of an adult volkaane’s heat, it should be enough to keep you safe from your child.” Balin’s face and tone turned more serious. “I can’t say the same for your family and friends, though.”