Romancing the Stars: 8 Short Stories of Galactic Romance and Adventure

by Sabine Priestley

  Sanah looked at Dem. We have to go to Tarsiss.

  “Outsiders aren’t normally welcome,” Jaxon said at the same time. But he looked at Tamari for a long moment. “I think they’ll make an exception in this case.”

  If they don’t, they’ll be answering to me.

  Sanah shouldn’t have been surprised at the sudden presence of Cannon’s mental voice; very little happened on this ship that the pirate King wasn’t aware of. She felt him focus on her.

  The Hunters swore an oath of loyalty, just like the rest of the pirates. If that’s where Tamari needs to go, I will call upon it. You and Dem just stay with your daughter. I’ll handle the rest.

  Thank you. She looked at Jaxon. “Thank you.”

  “No need to thank me. No Hunter would turn away from a situation like this.”

  It occurred to her that he had no kith, but she wasn’t going to ask; it felt like an intrusion to do so. She considered the grief she’d felt from him, and thought she might already know the answer.

  She squeezed Dem’s hand tightly, wondering how he felt about all of this. His emotions were largely relief and a cold determination. He was clearly focused on Tama right now. But would he question why he had no kith bond? And how would he feel about the answer?

  Things to consider another time.

  How long? She sent the question to Cannon

  Tarsiss Prime is on the other side of fringe space, several jumps from here. Calculations have us arriving in a little more than nineteen hours.

  It was going to be a long vigil.

  Doc chased them out of the infirmary six hours into the journey. He told them in his usual cutting manner that watching their daughter sleep wasn’t helping them rest, and they’d be no good to her by the time Nemesis reached its destination. He wasn’t wrong.

  Dem and Sanah hadn’t slept much in the past few days, not since that tumultuous morning when he’d first teleported Tama to the infirmary. Sanah had spent every moment chasing down possible genetic anomalies, while Dem scoured the ship for environmental factors.

  Now they lay together on the bed they shared in the quiet of their quarters, and Dem thought how unusual the silence was. Since Tama’s birth, there was always some form of background noise, even if it was only her busy mind, questing her new surroundings.

  For three years, Dem hadn’t understood how much he valued that noise. Now, only in its absence did he understand how much it meant to him.

  “I know,” said Sanah softly. She leaned her head against his shoulder. “It’s so strange not having her here. So empty.”

  “She’ll be home again soon,” Dem said. He was certain of it.

  Sanah said nothing, and Dem glanced down at her. What?

  “Nothing, it’s just…have you ever seen one of these kith off world?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Tamari is going to bond with one. Jaxon didn’t say, but I get the feeling it would be very unusual for one of them to leave Tarsiss Prime. What if they want Tama to stay? What if she has to stay?”

  Dem was no empath, but Sanah’s worry was obvious in the timbre of her voice, the fine tremble of her fingers twined with his. For Dem, it wasn’t a question at all.

  “Then we will relocate to Tarsiss Prime.”

  Sanah stirred, turning to face him, looking him in the eye. “But your whole life is here, on Nemesis. Your brothers. Your friends. Your job.”

  Dem cupped her face in his hands. “You are my family, you and Tama. Nothing else matters.”

  He had often found that actions reassured Sanah better than words. Dem leaned down and kissed her, keeping the contact soft, but lingering. After a moment the kiss deepened, becoming more urgent. A little later, Dem used his telekinesis to remove their clothing. He lost himself in Sanah, the sensation of sliding against her, into her. The joy of feeling her emotions coil with his when she embraced him with her empathy.

  Dem would do anything, give up anything, for this woman and the child they shared. And he wouldn’t regret it for a second.

  Mama!

  Tamari clung to Sanah, practically choking her, but Sanah didn’t mind. Seeing her little girl awake and alert was worth any amount of discomfort. She held her so hard, Tama wriggled to escape.

  Too tight!

  Reluctantly, Sanah loosened her hold and Tamari used the opportunity to throw herself at Dem with an abandon that used to make Sanah stop breathing.

  Papa!

  Now, of course, she knew that if Tama’s own telekinesis wasn’t enough to support her, Dem’s always was. It still made her cringe a little on the inside, but only a little. She watched as Tama treated her father to the same choking hold, but Dem just smiled, smoothing a hand down her back. She was wearing her favorite outfit, a miniature space suit identical to what the technicians wore to work outside the ship, in the vacuum of space. It even worked, not that Tamari would ever have the chance to test that out. Dem gave it a tug, and Sanah heard him ask Tama if it was new.

  Papa, you’re silly! Tamari giggled, easing her chokehold so she could look her father in the eye. Uncle Treon made it, ‘member?

  Oh, yes, I do remember.

  Nayla came over, holding out Rasa. Sanah took the toy from her sister, knowing if they left it here, she’d never hear the end of it.

  I’m blocking her pain, Nayla said mentally, but it will only work for a few hours. Jaxon said the drugs could interfere with the connection. I hope they find this kith quickly. Nayla’s Talent was powerful, but she had her limits like everyone else.

  Jaxon said the ruling families are asking the kith for help. Signs of the sickness should be obvious, as much pain as the bond rejection causes. It breaks with their tradition, but I get the sense that Tama’s journey to get here is enough to satisfy their spiritual requirements.

  Especially since the alternative was to allow a young kith to die.

  As if speaking about him had summoned him, Jaxon appeared in the doorway.

  “Everyone ready?”

  Dem held Tama tucked against his side, and Sanah stepped up and took his free hand in her own. Tamari ducked her head, suddenly shy in the presence of a stranger. Sanah could feel her uncertainty and curiosity. The shyness wouldn’t last. With Tama, curiosity always won.

  Sure enough, by the time they’d boarded the dropship to go down to the surface of Tarsiss Prime, Jaxon found himself being asked question after question. He handled it well, clearly comfortable with children. Sanah was grateful to him for distracting Tamari, because the closer they got to the planet, the more her stomach tied itself into knots. She could tell Dem was tense as well. His emotions became more and more remote, until Sanah knew the Killer side of him was a breath away from surfacing.

  She just prayed this worked. Please let us be in time.

  The fear no one wanted to mention aloud was that Tama’s kith might be too far gone for the bond to take; it might die anyway, and with a child as young as Tama, the backlash of that could prove debilitating, if not fatal. Jaxon had been very careful to prepare them for the worst. He had assured them that the kith would be willing to leave Tarsiss Prime with Tama, but that was a faint comfort.

  Waiting for the ship to dock seemed to take forever. But at last, they were settled and able to disembark.

  The woman who waited to greet them at the spaceport bore a more than passing resemblance to Jaxon, though gray had long since threaded her hair and time had added lines to her face. She wore a more formal kind of armor than Sanah had ever seen. Thin, overlapping plates connected in an intricate pattern, sheathing her torso, arms, and legs. The material was a matte gray, so non-reflective it seemed to pull in the light and swallow it into darkness. The effect was disconcerting. She wore boots of a slightly darker version of the same material, but scuffed and scarred in a few places. A torque in hammered copper lay across her collarbone.

  The woman looked at Jaxon, and a frown tugged her mouth. “How hard is it to get a decent haircut, Jax? I know you don’t like nanites,
and that’s fine, but surely someone aboard that ship has the skill to cut a straight line.”

  He rolled his eyes and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Mom, this is Sanah, Dem, and their daughter, Tamari. Everyone, this is Jusilla Shi’arl, matriarch of House Shi’arl, Fifth among the Ruling Houses.” He smiled. “And my mother.”

  Sanah met the woman’s eyes and saw understanding in them, felt compassion and the tension of worry from her. She could tell the exchange with Jax had been more a ploy than serious; a way of putting them at ease and helping them feel comfortable and welcome.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said. “Thank you for hosting us. For helping us.”

  “Of course. Though it isn’t just you we are helping.” Jusilla smiled a little stiffly, as if it wasn’t an expression she wore often. “We believe we’ve found the kith in question. A cub. His parents have brought him to one of our family’s offices here at the spaceport. We felt it best to have him as close as possible, so—”

  Rasa!

  For a second Sanah was confused. Rasa was clutched against Tama, as he always was. Before she could point this out, her daughter disappeared. Everyone stared at the empty space in Dem’s arms.

  Foolish, Sanah thought. In all of their planning, none of them had factored in Tamari’s Talent. She looked at Dem, and he disappeared as well.

  Leaving Sanah to explain things.

  “Ah. Tamari can teleport,” she said, spreading her hands in apology. “And obviously, so can my husband.”

  To her surprise, some of Jusilla’s tension eased once she’d recovered from her shock.

  “That’s likely for the best,” she said, turning and gesturing for Sanah to step beside her. “Assuming they’ve teleported to the cub. Fortunately for all of us, no one will interfere with a kith bond forming. Especially the cub’s parents.”

  They walked swiftly to a waiting shuttle, giving Sanah time to reach out for her daughter and Dem. Tamari’s emotions flooded her. Excitement, joy, the warmth of love.

  Dem.

  We are fine. Though the Hunters here are not happy that a Killer teleported among them.

  Oh no. She touched him with her empathy, felt the icy cold.

  You’re…in control, right?

  None of them have stepped toward Tama. If they do, they know I will kill them. Even the cub’s parents are wary, and they don’t know what I am.

  Sanah was sure they sensed what he was well enough. Predators usually recognized one another. She worried the whole, short drive, and by the time they exited the shuttle, she was running. She felt sure Jusilla wouldn’t hold it against her, given the circumstances.

  She could feel where Tama and Dem were, and she followed that feeling through an entryway, up a lift, and down hallways she barely saw, until coming into a room past two startled Hunters who would have moved toward her if Jusilla and Jaxon hadn’t been right on her heels.

  Dem was standing in the middle of the room, but Sanah’s gaze went right past him to Tamari…who was sitting in the middle of the floor, an enormous kitten in her lap. No, not a kitten, a cub as big as she was. It had a long tail, huge paws, and white fur with a pearlescent sheen, spotted by rosettes in coppery brown whorls.

  Gold-green eyes were half lidded and sleepy, and a low thrum that sounded half a purr and half a growl reverberated through the room. Sanah stared, noting the size of the talons that unsheathed on one enormous paw…a paw that cub was sure to grow into.

  The blood froze in her veins at seeing those talons so close to her baby.

  Something brushed against her side, startling her. It felt like…a warm, furry body, tall enough that it solidly hit her hip and forearm.

  Peace. Rasa would never hurt your cub.

  The voice in Sanah’s mind had an odd timbre to it, a sort of reverberation like the cub’s purr. She had the impression of a feminine mind, though she couldn’t tell by the words. The air shimmered beside her, and a much larger version of the cub became visible. Much larger. The cat yawned, showing the flash of some truly impressive fangs, and wrapped her long tail around her feet.

  Sanah stared. “Rasa?” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded faint.

  Rasalas is kith. Your cub is his bond-mate. She will always be safe with him.

  Sanah had a moment where she imagined a cat the size of this one following Tamari wherever she went.

  Oh, Rasa will not be my size. Male kith-skarin are larger.

  Sanah felt a little faint. Larger?

  She realized Dem had come to stand beside her. He put an arm around her shoulders, supportive. He no longer felt icy cold, and the thread of satisfaction and amusement from him had her raising an eyebrow. He shrugged.

  Is it not a good thing, he said, to have so impressive a friend to protect Tama?

  Of course he would think that.

  Exactly. The same satisfaction echoed in the cat’s tone. Your cub has an interesting mind. I think she will make an excellent bond-mate. She blinked gold-green eyes slowly. A strong pairing.

  It wasn’t until Tama started giggling that Sanah truly relaxed. She watched as her daughter buried her hands in the cub’s fur, and laid her head against him. Tamari had clearly accepted this in stride. Even Dem had. Perhaps that was the Hunter in him.

  She needed to accept it, too. This was Tama’s future. And who knew? Maybe the cat would help keep her out of trouble.

  Doubtful, until he is older, said his mother. Sanah glanced over, smiling despite herself.

  “That’s too bad,” she said with a sigh. Cat and woman shared a long, wordless look. Two mothers in perfect understanding.

  Sanah leaned her head against Dem. She realized something, watching cub and child. She was going to have ample opportunity to observe the kith. She imagined how the cub would get along living aboard a large capital ship, and how a bunch of pirates would get along with an energetic cub.

  Mama?

  Yes, baby.

  Uncle Treon can make Rasa a suit?

  It took Sanah a moment to understand. Then she grinned.

  You’ll have to ask him.

  Sanah couldn’t wait to see Treon’s expression when Tama asked him to make a custom space suit for a cat.

  About Carysa Locke

  Carysa Locke is the pseudonym for writing team Carysa Locke and MaLea Holt, two best friends who have been creating imaginary worlds together for more than twenty years. The worlds they write in exist first as roleplaying games, where much of the bare bones of world building and character development take place. They currently reside in the Pacific Northwest with their families, where they still routinely roleplay together, when they aren’t too busy working on the next novel.

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  Gifts of Jangalore

  About Gifts of Jangalore

  Heat Level: Mild

  Empath Rosa Spruce is the hired guard for Psi Master Varan, a powerful psychic seeking an ancient site within an alien jungle. Their perilous venture brings unexpected rewards.

  Gifts of Jangalore

  Rosa Spruce steered the flitter across the continent, high above the forest stretching from the amber ocean to the horizon. Jangalore was an untrammeled planet of jungles covered in a blanket of yellow clouds. The trees had leaves of a strange indigo color, instead of the familiar green of forests on her distant home world. As far as she knew, this uncharted land had no sentient inhabitants.

  She glanced at the date on the com screen and swallowed a sigh. Tomorrow was the festival of lights, when families gathered together to decorate a tree, exchange gifts, and offer prayers of thanks. Rosa had no plans to celebrate on the eve of the New Year. She had no living relatives and her parents were buried half the galaxy away. Since they had died, she had struggled to survive on her own.

  Spruce Security was her most succe
ssful enterprise so far. She had scrambled for the credits to buy good quality, reliable hand weapons and the survival suit with its lightweight armor. Then, Rosa had registered as Spruce Security, capitalizing on her skills with weapons and her psychic talent of empathy. Now, she earned a meagre wage as a guard for dangerous enterprises. If this trip went well and they found the ruins left by the fabulous ancients, her bonus would pay off her loans.

  Today, she flew over the jungles of Jangalore as the hired guard for Psi Master Varan, one of the elite Grand Masters. According to the most reliable reports, he resided in a splendid mansion on a planet terraformed to his specifications. After three days of travel in his company, she had become inured to the electric hum of his psychic power. She had not anticipated her attraction to the lean athlete with the strength and agility of a man a third of his reputed age. A hopeless attraction, she feared. Surely he could claim any woman in the galaxy, if he wished. Instead, his passion was reserved for the remnants of an ancient civilization. He hoped to discover a new site concealed in the jungles of Jangalore.

  Psi Master Varan sat beside her, intent on the detector he had invented. The silver band around his brows was the sole indication of his superior rank of psychic power. The rank of Grand Master was achieved by a combination of inherited talent, rigorous training and artificial enhancements. The faint scar above his left ear suggested one of the ubiquitous com inserts, but she had no idea if he had other implants. His single-minded pursuit of the beings who had once ruled the galaxy had led to this uncharted wilderness. The steady clicks from his detector signaled the ancient ruins lay somewhere in the depths of the expansive jungle.