Shadowed: Brides of the Kindred book 8 (30 page)

“Nothing,” she said, trying to smile. “I told him we can’t help leaving since your friends are here to take us home.” She smiled at Healing One and said, “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Hos…pi…”
The alien sent a feeling of confusion.

“Your friendship,” Nina clarified. “Your kindness. Sharing your food and shelter with us.” She sent images of them staying in the Feeling People’s guest house and eating the purple mush.

“Welcome…”
Healing One brushed a soft furry tentacle over her cheek again.
“You are always welcome here, Nina. You and your mate.”
He sent a picture of her and Reddix holding hands, just as they were now.

Nina had to sniff hard to keep from crying. “Thank you, Healing One,” she said, trying to smile. “I’ll never forget our time here on…” She paused for a moment, realizing she had never learned the name of the planet they had crashed on. “Um…what
do
you call your home world?” she asked.

“Home,”
Healing One sent simply.

“Home,” Nina echoed. And it had felt like home because she and Reddix were together.

Reaching down, she gave Healing One a warm, one armed embrace. She would probably never see him again, but he had been kind to her and left a lasting impression on her heart. Even if she went back to living a boring, mundane existence on Earth, she’d had adventures here she would never forget. “Thank you,” she whispered again and then straightened up and looked at Reddix. “All right. I’m ready to go.”

* * * * *

“So what was that all about?” Saber asked as he strapped himself into the pilot’s chair and started checking the controls for take-off.

“What was
what
all about?” Reddix growled, strapping into the passenger side. The females were in the back, presumably getting along wonderfully if the emotions he felt coming from Lissa were any indication. But just now, it was hard to pay attention to anything but Saber’s sharp curiosity, pricking him like thorns.

“You know—the two of you were actually
holding hands
back there,” Saber said. “She reached for you, and you didn’t pull away.”

“Yeah. And?”

Saber blew out a breath in obvious frustration. “
And
you were touching her
voluntarily.
Do you not mind the feel of her emotions?”

“I can’t feel them at all,” Reddix said shortly. “In fact, I can’t feel
anyone’s
emotions when she touches me. It’s like a fucking miracle.”

“That’s
amazing.”
Saber’s excitement stabbed at him, like too-bright sunlight lancing his eyeballs after an extended stay indoors. “So then, you’ve found your female—the one you’re meant to be with. Right?”

“Wrong,” Reddix growled. “You know damn well I can’t join with anyone outside the Clans—our son would never be accepted as a ruler.”

“You don’t need to worry about that anymore,” Saber said in a low voice. “Lissa and I are going back to Tarsia with you. We’ll announce our relationship, and I’ll state that I don’t intend to step down as the next OverChief.”

Reddix laughed harshly. “Forgive me for being pessimistic, old friend, but do you really think the Clans will accept a male embroiled in an incestuous love affair as their ruler?”

“They’ll have to.” Saber raised his chin, his determination like a warm stone in the palm of Reddix’s hand. “The old ways are outdated. Lissa and I have no blood ties between us. We’re not really related at all.”

Reddix shook his head. “That won’t matter. The older generation clings to tradition. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t get my hopes up and declare my own hopeless and forbidden love affair just yet.”

“Do what you like.” Saber looked away but his worry about the future was like an ache in Reddix’s gut.

“Hey…” Reddix reached out a hand to his old friend and then let it drop. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to cause you more distress than you’re already in.”

“It’s all right. Lissa and I will be fine. And if the older generation won’t accept it, that’s their problem.” Saber was obviously trying to sound confident, but his uncertainty still gnawed at Reddix like many tiny, sharp teeth. “We’ll be fine,” he said again.

Reddix simply grunted as there didn’t seem to be anything else to say. Already he was tired of feeling everyone’s emotions again. How in the Seven Hells was he going to manage when Nina had gone back to Earth and he had to deal with it all the time again?
You managed for years on your own,
he lectured himself.
And you can manage again. Leave Nina out of it.

But he didn’t want to. And it wasn’t only Nina’s emotion-dampening ability he would miss. It was her beautiful face and deep blue eyes…the soft sound of her laughter…the touch of her hands and the feel of her body against his…the way he felt he could talk to her—really
talk
about almost anything. Gods, living without her was going to be sheer
hell
…

Forget it,
whispered a little voice in his head.
It’s not like you could ever really satisfy her or bond her to you for life. She’s better off without you, and she probably knows it.

“So are we about to take off?” Nina’s voice shocked him out of his gloomy reverie.

“Um, in just a minute,” Saber answered. He shot Reddix a glance as if to ask how long she had been standing there. How much of their conversation had she heard?

Reddix shrugged and looked back at Nina. “You two had better get yourselves strapped in, sweetheart,” he said. “We’re all ready for takeoff, and it might be a rough ride going through the wormhole again.”

“Oh, we’re not going back through that wormhole,” Saber said, shaking his head.

“What? Why?” Reddix frowned.

“Well, for one thing because it’s gone. It was so unstable it collapsed in on itself not long after we finally located your beacon’s signal,” Saber said.

“Then…how are we getting home?” Nina sounded worried, and Reddix felt a stab of regret—his own, not hers. Probably, she couldn’t wait to get back to Earth and her regular life.

“We’ll be using the Fold,” Saber told her.

“The fold?” Nina still looked uncertain.

“Don’t worry—it’s safe,” Reddix explained. “The Kindred Mother Ship has the ability to fold space between one point and another. We’ll enter the Fold and come out in orbit around your moon.”

“Wonderful.” Nina smiled, but Reddix thought the expression looked forced. Was she worried about the trip? Scared? For the thousandth time he wished he knew how she was feeling.

“It really
is
safe,” Saber tried to reassure her. “It’s the way the Kindred Mother Ship came to your world in the first place.”

She shook her head. “I wasn’t really worried about the safety. I was just…”

“Just what?” Reddix asked, feeling a surge of frustration.

“Nothing.” She gave him a strained smile again. “Just thinking about getting home, I guess.”

“Oh.” He sat back in his chair heavily. “Well, you’ll be there soon. Better buckle up.”

“Right. Well, I’ll go in the back with Lissa and leave you two alone to fly the ship.” She nodded and disappeared into the back of the ship without another look at Reddix.

He felt utterly miserable. Would she leave him the same way when she went back to Earth—without even a backward glance? Could it be that the whole time they’d been together she’d just been appeasing him? Doing whatever she could to get along with her kidnapper until she could be rescued and taken home?

Or maybe she had just been helping to satiate the collar in order to keep him from getting shocked because she was such a compassionate person. Reddix put a hand to his throat which was now bare, wishing for the black wire of the Hurkon collar again. Wishing for the few brief days they’d shared together. But was Nina wishing the same thing or was she looking forward to getting home?

Did she even really care at all?

“All right, here we go,” Saber said.

With a roar of engines the little ship shot up into the sky, leaving the pale grayish-purple planet behind. As he watched it get smaller and smaller in the viewscreen, Reddix reflected ruefully that he had been happier there on that featureless, barren place than he ever had been on his home world.

And he doubted such happiness would ever come again.

Chapter Twenty-five

The ride through the Fold was…interesting to say the least. But Lissa warned her it affected different people in different ways so at least Nina felt semi-prepared. When they flew through the red gash in space it felt like she was being pulled out long and thin, like a piece of spaghetti. It was a painless sensation but disconcerting—Nina refused to freak out. She just closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing.
I’m okay,
she told herself over and over.
Everything is going to be all right.
Luckily the weird feeling didn’t last long.

“It’s over now. We’re through.”

At the Kindred girl’s voice in her ear, Nina’s eyes flew open. She looked at her arms and legs to be sure and was relieved to see that the spaghettification really had been all in her mind—everything was normal. She flexed her fingers and toes cautiously, making sure everything was in working order. It was.

“So…can we get up now?” she asked, looking at Lissa.

“Of course. We should be right by the Mother Ship. We’ll land there briefly to drop you off, and another shuttle will take you back down to Earth.”

“Oh?” Nina asked. “And where are you and Saber going? And…and Reddix? What about him?” she couldn’t help adding. “I thought maybe…he might at least tell me goodbye.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to say your goodbyes before we drop you off on the Mother Ship. The three of us are all going straight on to Tarsia,” Lissa said. She had a grim look on her lovely face. “We have…unfinished business there.”

Nina thought about the swamp witch again and the mark on Reddix’s arm. She wanted to ask Lissa about it, but she had the feeling that the Kindred girl wasn’t on the very best of terms with Reddix. Also, though Lissa was extremely sweet and friendly, Nina simply hadn’t known her long enough to get into personal details with her.

“Well,” she said lamely. “I guess I should go ahead and say goodbye if we’ll be docking so soon.”

“It should only be a minute or two,” Lissa assured her. “I—” But just then worried voices from the cockpit of the ship interrupted her.

“…sorry to tell you this,” an unfamiliar male voice was saying. “But she might not make it. and she’s asking for you.”

Nina and Lissa exchanged uncertain glances and then hurried up to the front of the ship together.

A Kindred warrior with pale, spiky blond hair and ice blue eyes was on the viewscreen. The grave look on his face told Nina that he had very bad news. A second look at Reddix’s face confirmed it—the big Kindred looked absolutely stricken, as though someone had punched him in the stomach and he couldn’t get his wind back.

“What is it?” she asked urgently, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“My little sister, Minda…” He shook his head, his mouth working for a moment as though he didn’t know how to say the words. “She was pregnant, but the baby…came too early. The delivery was hard and now…they’re not sure…not sure…”

“She’s in critical condition, and she’s asking for her big brother,” the blond Kindred said. “The message came to us and we couldn’t relay it until you were within range.”

Reddix looked up at the man. “But Minda…will she…?”

“I’m sorry, Reddix—the physician I spoke to said she had lost a lot of blood. There’s still a chance, but you need to go now. In case…” The blond Kindred shook his head. “Just in case.”

“We’ll go at once, Sylvan. Can you calibrate the Fold to take us to Tarsia?” Saber was already setting the controls on the complicated looking main panel.

“I’ll have it done right now,” the blond Kindred assured him. “Just give us a minute to recalibrate.”

“But Nina…I’m sorry, but we promised her Mehoo she’d go back to Earth,” Lissa said, coming up behind her. “Do we have time to drop her off on the Mother Ship, Sylvan?”

The blond Kindred on the viewscreen frowned. “Possibly but the message was urgent. Every minute you spend—”

“Then don’t. Take me with you,” Nina said quickly.

Saber frowned. “Are you sure? We promised your kin—”

“Mehoo will understand,” Nina said firmly. She looked at the blond Kindred called Sylvan. “Could you or could someone possibly get a message back to my grandmother telling her I’m fine and I’ll be back soon?”

The blond warrior nodded. “You have my oath as a Kindred warrior, it will be done.”

“Are you sure?” Reddix looked up at her at last. He was still sitting slumped in the passenger seat, and the look on his face was one of shock and sorrow. “Sure you want to do this?” he asked Nina.

“Of course I’m sure,” she said firmly. “I can’t even think of letting you waste time dropping me off. And besides if something…happens, I want to be with you.” She squeezed his broad shoulder gently.

Reddix covered her hand with his much larger one and squeezed back. “Thank you, Nina,” he said hoarsely.

Sylvan had been talking to someone off-screen, but now he faced them again. “The Fold is calibrated for Tarsia,” he said. “May the Goddess be with you. Reddix, we will be praying earnestly for your kin.”

“Thank you, Sylvan.” Reddix nodded. Then he squeezed Nina’s hand once more. “Better go back and buckle up again, sweetheart. Tarsia is located near an asteroid field—it might be a bumpy ride.”

The second ride through the fold
was
a little bumpier, but Nina was so concerned about Reddix she barely even noticed it.

“Now, I warn you, Tarsia isn’t the most open and friendly place in the world,” Lissa told her as they unbuckled themselves from the deep bucket seats that folded out of the wall for the second time. “In fact, they can be downright hostile to outsiders or anyone they perceive as different.”

“I’m not worried.” Nina lifted her chin. “I’m not here for any of them—I’m here for Reddix.”