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“Why aren’t you speaking, Orenn?”
“I was going to kill you. The image of my hands on your throat was all I could see.”
“He didn’t leave you with amnesia then?”
“No. I am guessing that you caught him by surprise and he was unable to plant the suggestion, or your mind to mine gave me some immunity.”
She smiled. “I am good at that. My mother and I have discussed almost everything of importance and now, I simply have one question for you.”
“What?”
“Where do I put these guys? I can keep them confined indefinitely, but it would be easier if I had some sort of a vessel to put them in.”
He smiled, a small, wan smile. “I believe I can arrange something. Come with me to the com centre and I will make a call.”
Two days and a short trial later, the Skarrols were sentenced to the same fate they had encouraged her to be given. Death.
The family wailed and whined, but when Orenn testified to how many of the locals that he studied had been manipulated and bore the marks of altered memory, they changed their tune.
Because of the nature of Morcryn’s talent, they were not allowed to testify in their own favour. Instead, Zeyan sat in her mask and cloak, a silvery black pearl hanging between her breasts. The pearl contained the souls of the Skarrols and while it was true that folks had sentenced them to death, it was only their bodies that would be destroyed.
Zeyan had been asked and had agreed to become the Soul Keeper, in perpetuity.
When the final gavel came down, she sighed and watched the gurneys with the bodies being taken away.
One of the elders caught her eye and nodded for a private audience. She followed him out of the courtroom and to his private offices.
“Elder Wiln, what may I do for you?”
“Soul Keeper, you can listen. I have spoken to Doctor Helsin and he has given me detailed information about the plague.”
She waited.
“It was designed to kill us. Only us. Our parents have found us and they are out to punish or destroy.”
“You are going too quickly for me. What parents?”
He sat back behind his desk. “The Heschell were born out of a protest movement, a group of like-minded folk who wanted a fresh start on a new world with no interaction with their home.
“The parent planet had become corrupt and they were engaging in new and horrible medical treatments to bring about a talent. In an effort to preserve the purity of their evolving species, a group of folks followed Jinwing Heschell to this world and started over.
“Talents and psychics were reviled as signs of the tampering that had begun on Sunlieta. I am sorry that our attempt to control our past has led to such an uncertain future for you and your kind.”
She sighed. “We aren’t a kind. From what I have been able to determine, we are a necessary evolutionary step.”
The elder nodded. “When Helsin informed me that the disease was designed to destroy our kind and our kind only, I knew what it had to be. The Sector Guard has come to our aide once. Do you think they will do so in the future?”
She bit her lip. “I have no knowledge of the Sector Guard or their practices, but I can tell you that as long as they are greeted with the respect due those who risk their lives daily, you will get a fair hearing.”
Elder Wiln smiled. “I am glad to have you back among us, Granddaughter.”
She reached forward and put her hand on his. “I am not back, Grandfather. I am merely here on assignment. Being forced to leave broke something within me and only Orenn can make it right. I need him and I will go where he goes.”
“Then I am sad for our loss but rejoice in his gain. When can I expect great grandchildren?” His eyes were twinkling as they always did when he contemplated the future.
She sighed. “Let me have a moment alone with him and I will be able to give you an answer on that as well. We are taking things slowly.”
He rubbed his chin. “You might not want to take things too slowly. Trust me. Sometimes, the time to act can pass you by and you can spend a lifetime regretting it.”
She grinned. “Then I will simply have to make sure that I have nothing to regret.”
Chapter Twelve
Life at the Citadel was colourless when they returned home. After having a chance to use her talent daily, exercise her mind and body and to defend her own honour and that of her people, going back to teaching the side effects of over extending a soul was going to be dull.
Dropping her bag at the edge of the bed, she sighed and looked at it. “It seems like a weird dream.”
Orenn smiled. He was still quiet but getting better. “It will until your dozenth trip. Would you care to hit the dining hall?”
Zeyan shook her head and unlaced her top. “No, I thought a night in would be nice.”
With the open vest barely covering her, she sauntered up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He froze. “What is this?”
“We are home, we are back in one piece and I don’t want to miss any opportunities.”
His arms came around her waist and slid up her bare back under the clothing. “Am I simply an opportunity for you?”
She could feel the sudden rise of interest below his waist. With his words, he was trying to get her to confirm that she wanted him.
“You are not an opportunity. You are the best thing that has happened to me in the last year, possibly my life.” Zeyan caressed his jaw with her fingers. “Your mind accepts the touch of mine and mine yours. As much as I touch the souls of others, you keep mine safe.”
She didn’t have to keep speaking. He lifted her up and joined their lips in a kiss that spoke beyond words.
As his hands started to smooth over her flesh, he whispered, “I thought you would not forgive me for almost killing you.”
She chuckled and wound her arms tightly around his neck. “I never believed you would. Not under your own will. I know you, Orenn. You would no more endanger me than you would break our connection.”
He nuzzled at her neck. “I would never break our bond.”
She chuckled. “I know. If I had to, I would have used it to snap you into your senses, but the means I used was simpler.”
He lifted her as he trailed kisses down her torso.
She twisted in his arms. The surge of energy between them accompanying every touch of his mouth had her shivering and wishing for the release of complete contact.
Orenn swept her onto the bed that they shared and removed her clothing. When he backed away from her, she watched his skin revealed with a sense of anticipation that she hadn’t let herself feel before.
Biting her lip, she welcomed him back to her with open arms, writhing together until they were connected by body, mind and soul. They held still for long moments, adjusting to the overwhelming surge of sensations coming at them from every angle.
When her body settled into a pulse of desperation, she moved against him until they matched their rhythms in an endless surging wave that culminated in a shattering burst of pleasure.
That was…memorable. The sincerity in his thoughts was unmistakable.
She smiled and nestled against him, all of the barriers between their minds gone. He was inside her physically and as deep in her mind as he was in her body. I thought so. It was wonderful.
He nuzzled her neck and pressed light kisses up her jaw line. That it was. Would you care to try it again?
She laughed and ran her hands over his heavily muscled shoulders. I am always willing to join you in trying new things. Will this count toward my mark in the hand-to-hand combat course?
He rolled until she was astride him and she took the image from his mind of what she was supposed to do. The image in his mind was disturbing in that it was her face distorted in pleasure.
Having never seen her own expression during orgasm, it was a little distracting until she reached into his mind as she rode him and saw herself through his eyes.
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br /> She stared into his eyes and gave him the repeat of the experience. When they joined each other in pleasure once again, she was looking through his eyes and he through hers.
Zeyan sighed his name as she collapsed on his chest, stroking the slick sweat on his shoulders and arms as he held her tightly.
“You are my soul keeper, Orenn. No matter what I do, I know that my mind, soul and body are safe with you.”
His arms tightened a little more, squeezing the air from her lungs. His thoughts were a jumble of embarrassment, pride and pleasure.
She laughed at the confusion of emotions and images that spread into her via her lover. She gave him a quick kiss on the chin and returned to the pleasurable pursuit of listening to their shared heartbeats.
“Strike.”
With her body aching in the most pleasurable of ways, she stood with the rest of the combat class and punched the air for her warm up.
“Strike.”
She switched to the left-hand strike and Orenn stood next to her, correcting her posture. The lightest touch of his skin on hers sent a shock of remembrance through her mind. She gasped, firmed up her arm and switched the posture.
“Strike.”
He sent her images that were not from her point of view. She flushed, kept her self-control and continued with the exercise.
While she was working, she started to send graphic and detailed images that were picked up by at least two other students. Laughter started inside her as she watched the skin tighten on Orenn’s cheeks. He was so distracted that he almost walked into a set of sparring partners.
She felt lighthearted for the first time since her talent had begun to manifest. Her mother was proud of her, her sister was hale, healthy and beginning a courtship with one of the councillor’s sons. She had her family back, she had a lover who thought about her several times an hour and she had the potential to engage in some intriguing assignments when Orenn was sent out on trips.
She was happy, she was relaxed and with only two souls imprisoned in her necklace, there was barely any draw on her personal power levels.
Zeyan enjoyed a brisk morning of sparring, learning the fine art of dodging a punch. More than half the class had to make a short stop to the healing centre, but she was fine.
Orenn wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a kiss on the nose. “That wasn’t very fair of you, distracting me when I needed to keep my mind on what I was doing.”
“It was only fair. You did the same to me.”
His grin was all boyish enthusiasm and pride.
She punched him.
Laughing, they returned to their quarters for a shower and a little personal sparring either before or after or both.
At her neck, the pearl sent out a pulse of dislike, but she ignored it. It wasn’t their business how she enjoyed her life and since they were prisoners, she chose to disregard their nasty little opinions. Orenn was sending her an intriguing image as they walked the halls and she simply had to ask, “Are you sure that we won’t slip in the shower?”
His confident grin was answer enough.
Author’s Note
Welcome to the first book of Tales of the Citadel.
Organizing a new series has been a challenge, but thanks to the hard work of the artist, Martine Jardin, this series has evocative covers that help in the writing process.
The Sector Guard is not gone, but I needed to explore beyond the Guard bases. My brain screamed at me to get out and write something else and so I did. Sort of.
Viola Grace
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About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.