by Diana Palmer
“You didn’t hurt me,” she said. Her breath was jerking, like her heart. “It was...beyond words.”
He understood then, and he laughed softly. “Perhaps we both improve with practice,” he teased.
She laughed. “Perhaps we do.”
“Where shall we go tomorrow?”
“You choose, this time,” she said.
He pursed his lips. “Memcache?”
Her breath caught. “Could we? But isn’t it taboo?”
“Not for an ambassador’s daughter,” he replied easily. “But if it makes you more secure, I will ask the approval of my government first.”
“Please,” she said. “I couldn’t bear to get you into trouble.”
He beamed. “In that case, I’ll do it tonight.”
She reached up a small hand and stroked his hard cheek. “I don’t know how I lived, until you came into my life. Everything before this is gray and still. When I’m with you, it’s explosions of color and light and joy.”
He brought her palm to his mouth and kissed it hungrily. “You have a way with words,” he said. “I could not have put it better. I feel the same.”
She searched his eyes. They were a somber, quiet blue. “I don’t think I could live, if anything happened to part us.”
His heart jumped. “I promise you, nothing will. And I never give my word lightly.”
She drew in a breath. The nightmare she’d had was disturbing. She thought about sharing it with him, but she would have felt ridiculous. So she smiled instead and walked reluctantly into the rooms she shared with her father.
“Good night, then.”
“Sleep well,” he said gently.
He stood, watching her, until she was out of view.
* * *
WHEN HE GOT back to his quarters, he turned off the white noise ball and called to the emperor, who was instantly inside his mind.
The emperor chuckled. “So this is the one, then?” he teased.
Mekashe laughed, too. “I’m afraid so. She is human...”
The emperor scoffed. “So are my son’s mate and your cousin’s. All my grandchildren have human blood. It enriches our culture. Even the Dectat approves. You will find no barriers here.”
Mekashe let out a sigh. “I have lived my life alone,” he said. “No female has ever appealed to me, except in the way of friendship. This one—she burns me.”
“A beautiful young woman” was the reply. “I have read the dossier on her father, which included one on her. She has a kind heart, which is far more important than beauty, although she has that in abundance. She will grace Alamantimichar,” he added, naming the great Royal Clan to which he and Mekashe both belonged.
“I am gratified that you have no objection.”
“You have spoken with Dr. Hahnson?” came an unexpected question.
Mekashe blinked. “Well, yes. I have been using dravelzium,” he began.
“Never mind,” the emperor replied, amused. “I understand. If you know the obstacles, that is enough. Take care. I look forward to meeting her at the reception, when all of you arrive on Memcache.”
“I had not thought to enjoy such a long R & R,” Mekashe mused.
“And I was certain that you needed one,” the emperor retorted. “As you can see, my decisions are usually correct.”
He laughed. “Indeed they are, sir. I will see you in three weeks.”
“You are sorely missed. But enjoy your time with her. Your duties will be rigorous when you return, I fear. We are entering into another bout of diplomacy with the Altair delegation. It will require much travel.”
“I will not mind.”
“Rhemun is considering a different position,” the emperor added. “This is something that might concern you. But we can discuss it when you arrive.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Take care.”
And he was gone.
* * *
MEKASHE WONDERED WHAT was going on with Rhemun. Now that he was comfortably bonded, with two children, he might be encountering resistance from Edris Mallory about his spacegoing duties aboard the Morcai. Rhemun headed the Holconcom, which faced many dangers.
He wondered if Rhemun was considering a post nearer home. His heart leaped. That would place Mekashe in command of the Morcai, of the Holconcom. It had been the dream of his life, that position, but he would never have begrudged it to his best friend, Rhemun. Clan status dictated position. Mekashe was next in the chain of command, if Rhemun relinquished command of the Holconcom.
If he was appointed, he could not refuse. But Jasmine would have issues with that. She still didn’t know what he really looked like, or what his position was in his government. She didn’t like the military. Mekashe was in command of the kehmatemer. How would that sit with a female who had pacifist leanings? Even worse would be the Holconcom with their fearsome reputation.
“Mekashe, put these concerns out of your mind and rest,” came an amused old gravelly voice into his thoughts. “And turn the white noise ball back on! Enemies thrive even on cruise ships!”
“Yes, sir!” he replied, chuckling.
He turned the device back on, shaking his head. The emperor was right. He could do nothing about the future. Karamesh. It was written. He turned away from the viewport and went to bed.
* * *
JASMINE’S FIRST VIEW of Memcache took her breath away. Mekashe, watching her reactions, felt joy surge through him.
“It’s more than I ever imagined,” she whispered. “It’s...perfect!”
They were in the middle of a forest that resembled bamboo forests on old Earth. The ground was sprinkled with pretty blue and gold flowers in an assortment of shapes and sizes. A silver ribbon of water curled lazily through it with small waterfalls made by natural stone barriers slowing it.
She reached out and touched the water. “It feels so real,” she exclaimed.
“The programmers are quite good. Most of them.” He glanced at her. “Come this way. I want to show you something.”
She followed him to a clearing. There, among flowering shrubs and fountains, was the most majestic, beautiful stone house she’d ever seen. It had towering columns with designs on them, and the sound of wind chimes were all around them.
“What is this place?” she asked, breathless with delight.
He smiled. “It’s my home,” he said simply.
CHAPTER SEVEN
JASMINE’S HEART SKIPPED wildly as they walked down a paved walkway, past a huge ornamental fountain that featured a cat sitting in the bowl, with water pouring from his mouth.
She stopped, disturbed.
Mekashe grimaced. He took her hand in his. “My culture reveres cats, I’m afraid,” he said gently. “You will have to adjust to this. There are statues of cats in most private homes and in many public buildings.”
She took a deep breath. She turned and looked up at him. “I’ll do my very best. I promise.”
“If you are exposed to the things you fear, they become less troublesome,” he said softly, searching her eyes. “I know that we have many differences. But I think that we can overcome them.”
She moved a step closer. “I think so, too.”
He stepped back and made a sound deep in his throat.
“Oh dear,” she mused. “Have I stepped on another taboo?”
He chuckled at her wording. “In fact, you have. We permit no overt displays of affection in public.”
“I see.” She moved back a step and grinned at him. “Okay.”
He smiled. “You adjust quickly.”
“I certainly do.” She hesitated. “Mekashe, you’re sure you won’t get in trouble for this? I mean, taking me to your home?”
“I have permission from the highest authority on Memcache,” he said. “I will not get in trouble.”
“In that case, can we go inside?” she asked. “I love this architecture!”
“So do I. This home has been in my family, in my Clan, for generations. I love every stone in it.”
She ran her hand over one of the smooth columns and caught her breath. “It’s warm!” she exclaimed. “But it looks like marble!”
He frowned. “What is marble?”
She went into an elaborate description of the stone building material that humans had brought from old Earth. They’d located quarries of a similar stone on Terravega.
“We build with it, but it’s only for the aristocratic families,” she said sadly. “Daddy and I live in a wooden house, with fancy gingerbread boards and high eaves. It’s painted white, and we think it’s charming. I’ll have to show you a capture of it.”
“I would like to see it,” he said. He searched her face. “If we had the schematics, I could have my friend who manages the programming unit aboard this cruise ship re-create it.”
“I’d have loved that,” she said. “But I’d have no idea how to obtain them.”
“Nor I,” he confessed. He pursed his lips. “Perhaps we might ask your father if he knows someone who could do such a favor for him.”
“Now, that’s what I call an idea,” she teased.
He smiled. “Meanwhile,” he said, catching her fingers in his, “we can explore my reality.”
The inside of the great house had many rooms. All were open, airy, with small balconies that overlooked the stream on one side and the mountains on the other. The trees, which looked like ancient bamboo, reached high into the sky, which was an odd shade of blue. She remarked on it as they watched the wide stream flow lazily over a series of natural waterfalls from a balcony.
He laughed softly. “The color of the sky comes from the source of power that we use. This is close enough to our main city that you can see the plasma discharges in the sky. It was one of your people, Dr. Madeline Ruszel, that made a treaty with the Nagaashe possible. They have abundant resources of Helium three, which we use in our reactors.”
“The Nagaashe?” she asked, puzzled. “They have a culture?”
He didn’t feel uncomfortable telling her about them, since the Nagaashe were not Cehn-Tahr and the secrecy laws did not apply. He turned to her. “The true Nagaashe, the counterparts from which your virtual one is taken, have an ancient and great civilization on Akaashe, their planet. They are sentient, as tall as two-story houses on your world, and they have advanced psychic powers. They saved Dr. Ruszel’s life when her vessel crashed on Akaashe during a rescue operation, by calling for help.”
She searched his eyes. “She couldn’t mend herself?”
“Her wrist scanner was broken, beyond repair, and she had fatal injuries,” he said, recounting the story that most Cehn-Tahr knew by now, especially members of the Royal Clan, who were her relations by bonding. “The Nagaashe had affection for her already, because she had rescued a Nagaashe child on Memcache. As a result of her interaction with them, a treaty was made, which all the diplomats on Memcache had not been able to accomplish in a century,” he added with a deep chuckle. “Needless to say, there was an uproar in the Dectat.”
“She must be a fascinating person,” Jasmine said. “I’d love to be able to meet her, but she’s royalty, isn’t she? I’ve read about royalty. You have to be an aristocrat even to be allowed into their presence...”
He drew her gently to him. He’d used a dose of dravelzium covertly to keep from injuring her. “You will be able to meet her when we arrive on Memcache,” he said softly, bending to brush his mouth over hers. “You forget that your father is now an ambassador. He will have access to the emperor, something that no humans, except Ruszel and the human members of the Holconcom, have ever been privileged to accomplish.”
She caught her breath. “There are humans in the Holconcom, besides Dr. Ruszel?” she exclaimed.
It was a dangerous slip of the tongue. He amended the taboo statement. “The humans and our Cehn-Tahr were both apprehended by Mangus Lo during his rule on Enmehkmehk, the Rojok prime planet. That was before your government rescinded its mutiny charges against the humans for participating in Ruszel’s rescue, before they were allowed to go back to Terravega.” He was lying, but not really. He was insinuating that the humans had gone home. They hadn’t.
She pressed close to him, resting her face against his chest. “Your culture is very complicated,” she said softly.
“It is. But it is an ancient one, rich in legend and accomplishment. We govern almost a hundred and ten worlds, most of which revere the emperor and have representatives in the Dectat.”
“Your emperor sounds as fascinating as Ruszel,” she murmured against the soft fabric that covered his broad, muscular chest. Odd that he felt so much bigger, broader, than he looked.
He didn’t hear her thoughts because the white noise ball was still functioning. But he did feel her breath stir, her heartbeat quicken against him. He was feeling similar emotions. He wanted her. They were alone. No one would know.
His own breath quickened at the thought. They could bond very soon. It would not matter. He could mark her...
He drew his thoughts back, quite forcibly. He did not dare step over that invisible line. He would disgrace not only her, but her father, as well. When he returned to Memcache, there would be no white noise ball to shield his mind from the emperor or Dtimun or Rhemun, his friend. They would all know what he’d done. It would shame the Great Clan.
He laughed softly and drew away, but not before he touched his lips to hers in a long, sweet, tender kiss.
“Very soon,” he whispered, “I will have a question to ask you.”
Her heart was racing like mad. “Very soon,” she whispered, her pale blue eyes shimmering with joy, “I will have a positive answer.”
He hugged her close, careful not to be too enthusiastic, and then released her, taking her small hand in his. “There is an aviary in the room that faces the mountain. We keep birds here.”
“In cages?” she asked hesitantly.
He smiled. “We keep the injured ones,” he amended. “We have a worker who cares for them, tends to their wounds, and releases them when they are healed. It is against the law to contain any wild thing.”
She caught her breath. “I’d love to help do that!” she exclaimed. “My mother would have loved it, as well. She was a physician, a very good one. She tried to discourage me from medicine. She thought I was too soft, that I would never be able to cope with the horrors she had to see.” She looked up at him. “But I think she was wrong. I know I could do it, if I really wanted to.”
His hand linked into hers. “You will have no need to work here. As you can see—” he indicated the spacious villa “—we will be quite self-sufficient. And I have my position, as well, which provides anything else I might need.”
She cocked her head. “You won’t tell me what that profession is.”
“I promise you that I will, at the correct time,” he said with a smile.
“All right.”
* * *
HE LED HER past a huge bedroom with a circular bed and many live plants and a balcony that opened to the outside. The furnishings were in natural colors, greens and browns and tans. She noticed a lounging chair and what looked like a telescope.
“That’s your room,” she said at once.
His eyebrows arched.
She laughed self-consciously. “I’m sorry. I’m being presumptuous.”
“You are not. And it is my room. For now.” His eyes promised a future that set her heart beating wildly again.
He ground his teeth together. The bed was very tempting. But he fought the inclination and tugged her toward the area in the back of the house, which was outfitted like a human animal treatment center. It had expensive equipment, and the cages were the largest, most natural s
he’d ever seen. They were like being outdoors. Even trees grew in the ones which contained a variety of colorful birds. Some sort of force field seemed to be used as walls.
“We use force technology to keep them inside. It isn’t like hitting what you call a window,” he added. “It is a soft repelling, which doesn’t hurt them.”
She smiled and shook her head. “This is like an animal hospital,” she exclaimed as they walked among the cages. Besides the birds, there were some small rodent-like creatures and a larger, colorful lizard with a long tail, who came right to the front of the cage and wagged his tail like a dog. He even panted.
“Brulius,” he commented. He pushed his hand very slowly through the force web and patted the great lizard on the head. The tail wagged even more. “Good boy. Very good boy,” he said softly, as he withdrew his hand.
“A lizard who acts like a dog,” she exclaimed.
“A trilerius,” he told her. “Native to Memcache.”
“He’s so cute! I’d love to...!” She stopped dead. In the farthest cage was a solid black cat, bigger than a man, with glittering green eyes and white fangs that displayed as he lowered his ears and growled at her.
“I forgot. We have a virtual galot here, to protect the injured animals from predators. We have only a small family of true galots on Memcache,” he began. “They live in the mountains, near my cousin’s home...” He didn’t need to add that all the animals in the facility were virtual, as were their surroundings.
She screamed. And screamed. The birds went wild. The lizard shot up a tree. The virtual caretaker made a sound like a sob.
“Let’s go. Quickly!”
He drew her out of the enclosure. She was crying wildly, shaking. He ground his teeth together. This was a bad omen. The worst. Because he had as much in common with a galot as he did with a humanoid.
“Jasmine, you must stop screaming,” he said sternly. “Even virtual animals can attack if they are provoked!”
She was still shaking. “Please. I want to go,” she cried wildly. “I have to get out of here! I’m sorry, but I can’t... I just can’t...!”