“Hark?” Everyone turned at the sound of a new voice.
“Zee?” answered her father.
The woman had arrived at the reservoir in one of the quiet little electric carts. Her cropped platinum hair glowed like a beacon in the sun.
Asha noticed Iris had targeted Zee with her gun. “It’s okay, she’s a friend.”
“Okay,” said Iris, but she didn’t lower the gun.
Zee jumped out of the driver’s seat and took a couple of halting steps before freezing. “I knew it,” she called. “When I saw all the ships, I knew it.”
Asha’s father stepped toward her and then stopped and glanced back.
“Go, Dad,” she urged.
He took off, and Zee ran to meet him. He embraced her and lifted her off the ground.
“Who is that?” asked Pax.
“It’s complicated. Crazy complicated. I’ll explain later.”
Pax bent and began nibbling her ear again, raising chill bumps on her arms.
“Pax,” called Iris, “we need to figure out where we’re going to base.”
“We don’t need to figure it out now,” he grumbled. Asha gasped as he lifted her off her feet. “You call me if you see the villagers running over the hill with pitchforks.”
“If you think we’re going to stand out here watching the sun go down while you—”
“I don’t think that,” he called, carrying Asha up Banshee’s ramp. “I think you’re going to come get your mother off my ship while I interrogate this prisoner. Better bring the priest, too—that mate of hers is big.”
“Paxton!” yelled Iris.
“Do you think if I ignore her she’ll stop making so much noise?” Pax asked.
“I doubt it.”
“Then let’s go where we can’t hear her.”
“I like the way you think.”
As they boarded the ship, she glanced at her father, who was mercifully too occupied with his reunion with Zee to notice his daughter being carried off by a Manti prince for what would no doubt turn out to be a reunion much more carnal in nature.
Before she returned her attention to the place she most wanted it to be, she noticed a figure standing on the hill just east of the reservoir. A wispy figure, cotton dress billowing in the breeze, with a vast quantity of silver hair.
She lost sight of the woman as Pax carried her through the corridor to his quarters. He laid her across the bed on her stomach, slowly lifting her tunic. He bent and gently kissed her wounded lower back.
“It’s healing well, Ash. There won’t be more than a faint scar.”
“Have I told you how much I love it when you call me that?”
“You have now.” He trailed kisses up her back. “Mmmm … for a second I thought you were going to say something else,” he murmured.
“Like what?”
“I’m not going to tell you. I want the credit for myself.”
“Credit?”
“For being the one to say it first. I need to be able to remind you of that every time you get fed up with me being a bastard and threaten to leave.”
“You haven’t said much of anything yet,” she pointed out, but instead of the teasing tone she was going for, her voice trembled.
She felt his hands at her hips, and he tugged down her pants, slipping them over her thighs and then off. He bent over her again, and she felt him rearranging his own clothing.
Her whole body lit up with anticipation, and she felt him slide slowly between her legs.
“Aaaaah,” she sighed as he pushed right up against her, filling her.
He nuzzled the back of her neck. “I figured something out when they took you away from me.”
“What’s that?” she breathed.
“I love you, Ash. I’ve known it for a while. I thought I was going crazy.”
She smiled. “They’re sort of the same thing, I think.” Arching her hips against his, she added, “Keep going with your interrogation and I might just confess how I feel about you.”
TOR BOOKS BY SHARON LYNN FISHER
Ghost Planet
The Ophelia Prophecy
Praise for Ghost Planet
“An absorbing and exciting story full of science, sex, and intriguing plot twists.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Fisher offers a pitch-perfect balance of a cohesive scientific vision with poignant, naked emotion.”
—RT Book Reviews
“I have a winner! This is a really fun sci-fi romance—with a very cool setup and characters—that I couldn’t put down.… I loved it!”
—Felicia Day, actress, blogger, and geek
“A won’t-let-you-go story … Hooked me right up front and kept on twisting and turning all the way to the satisfying end. Fantastic! A wonderful read!”
—Kat Richardson, national bestselling author of the Greywalker paranormal detective novels
“A heartfelt science-fiction romance with an intriguing mystery, an accessible what-if concept, and a whole lotta chemistry.”
—Heroes and Heartbreakers
“Grabs you right from the start and doesn’t let go. An entrancing, addicting read, it keeps you on the edge of your seat with a fresh and fascinating take on the human/alien problem, while at the same time it seduces you with a poignant love story. It’s a psychological thriller, a science-fiction adventure, and an endearing romance all rolled up in one. Highly recommended!”
—Linnea Sinclair, award-winning author of the Dock Five Universe series
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An RWA RITA Award finalist and a three-time RWA Golden Heart Award finalist, Sharon Lynn Fisher lives in the Pacific Northwest. She writes books for the geeky at heart—sci-fi flavored stories full of adventure and romance—and battles writerly angst with baked goods, Irish tea, and champagne. Her works include Ghost Planet (2012), The Ophelia Prophecy (2014), and Echo 8 (Available in 2015).
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE OPHELIA PROPHECY
Copyright © 2014 by Sharon Lynn Fisher
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Juliana Kolesova
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Fisher, Sharon Lynn.
The Ophelia Prophecy / Sharon Lynn Fisher.—1st Ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates Book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-7418-9 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4299-6055-7 (e-book)
1. Science fiction. I. Title.
PS3606.I7769O64 2014
813'.6—dc23
2013025944
e-ISBN 9781429960557
First Edition: April 2014
The Ophelia Prophecy Page 28