Authors: Eve Jameson
Beyran looked irritated and glanced back out toward the
gardens. The men he’d brought with him were steadfastly holding their gazes
away from Aurora and Brooke and standing as mute and stiff as statues.
Brooke took a step toward Beyran. “Are you married?”
“Yes.”
“And do you have children?”
“Yes. Two.” It was painfully obvious from Beyran’s
expression that he understood exactly where Brooke was heading with her
questions.
“Do you remember how your wife’s body—”
Beyran held up his hand to stop her. “We’ll wait here.”
Brooke’s smile was deep and so genuine, Aurora almost felt
guilty.
“Good,” Brooke said. “I’ll make sure you and your men are
brought refreshments. We’re going to eat out in the garden.”
“That’s not necessary,” Beyran said, not happy about the
arrangements but grudgingly resigned to them.
“Of course it’s not. But indulge me while I practice my
hostessing skills.” She nodded to a man standing off to the side and then
turned her attention back to Aurora. “Come on. One of the best things about
this place is the garden.”
Aurora noticed as she followed her out to a large walled
garden that the Kilth seal of the abstract fighting lion was set into the
design of the columns they passed under. Only this lion wore a blue stone in
the fourth place in its collar rather than the red of the Third House.
“Wow,” Aurora said as they entered the garden. Spread out
before her were flowers of all kinds and sizes rioting in a raging symphony of
color punctuated by large fountains and rambling arbors.
“I’ve been told that before Rordyc was born this was a very
formal garden. But he tore it up so much as a child practicing and playing
warrior that the gardeners eventually turned it into a mini jungle he could
pretend to hunt in. They even installed a pool at the far end he could dive and
swim in when they were away from their home by the sea. His mother loves
gardens, and according to Rordyc, this pales in comparison to her favorite at
the main house in their home territory, but I haven’t had the chance to see
that one yet.”
“It’s beautiful,” Aurora said.
“Yes, it is.” A small, secretive smile tugged at Brooke’s
lips as she looked back at a bench that was tucked between two columns they
were passing. A flowering ivy twined thickly around the columns and reached out
to tangle their vines together at the top creating a private alcove safe from
any prying glances originating from the main hall.
“I gather this is one of your favorite places for more
reasons than just the flowers.”
Green eyes flashing with remembered delight, Brooke said, “This
place can be very romantic at night.”
“And getting from the garden to your rooms takes too long
once the mood strikes?”
Brooke laughed. “Oh yes. And it’s nearly impossible to
resist a man who wants you that much.”
“The fact that he’s one of this planet’s reigning sex gods
has nothing to do with it, right?”
“Nope. Not a thing. By the way, nice ditch job with your
watchdogs. I’ll have to remember that line the next time mine are breathing
down my neck.”
“They’re not bad inside the family’s sector, but once
outside it’s like there’s a threat under every pebble. I’ve been dying to see
the market but that’s a big no-no.”
“I think all the cousins have an overdeveloped sense of
safeguarding their own, especially their mates. They spent such a long time
looking for us that having something happen to us after they’ve found us is
completely untenable to their way of thinking. Though from the viewpoint of
independent women, it does get overbearing and exasperating.”
They stepped down into a round, sunken garden. Aurora
goggled and tried to catch her breath. The spot looked like a fairy’s garden on
steroids. Shaded from one corner by a humongous old tree whose branches bore
thin, whispery leaves as broad as a grown man’s spread hand, the spot was lent
an air of privacy by the long, dark green vines that fell from its outlying
branches to kiss the ground. They swayed in the breeze and allowed rays of
sunlight in to chase each other across the soft, thick grass. Lacy white
flowers burst out of tall, elegantly thin sapphire-blue urns of varying heights
and graceful stands that held the same style of bowl and rock that provided the
favored form of light used on this planet.
“This spot was created for Rordyc’s sisters and patterned
after an imaginary land in one of their favorite childhood stories. Almost
immediately, Rordyc was banned from it for years after he was caught trying to
house some sort of water snake in the fountain that ended up eating most of the
fish. He doesn’t like to discuss it, so I’ve never gotten the full story of his
sisters’ retaliation. But I’m sure I will when they come to see the baby.”
“They don’t live here?”
“No. Three are married and live in different cities. Lyra is
still at home in their regional capital with his mother and father. His mother
isn’t in the best of health and she refuses to leave the open country for the
city. I only met them briefly when we took our trip. They all keep rooms here
and I think Lyra’s has an entrance somewhere along that side wall.”
Aurora looked to where she was pointing. “I don’t see
anything.”
“I know. It’s a secret door. Rordyc built it for her so she
could sneak into the garden when she was younger without her parents’
permission. She’s the youngest of his sisters and they’ve always had a special
bond.”
Aurora moved further into the wonderland scene and just
stared. Carefully carved swings, both single and double seats with arms and
backs, provided seating. Tables low to the ground had been covered with sheer,
ornately sewn runners and set with a variety of snacks surrounded by more
flowers. A small fountain splashed into a shallow pond where brightly colored
fish darted in and out of the dappling sunlight, their antics sending rainbows
bouncing through the air above the water.
“This is my favorite spot,” Brooke said. “It amazes me how
much my body wants to sleep even though the baby is still so small, so I come
out here almost daily to take a nap.”
Aurora turned and saw where what looked like a double bed
hung from one of the largest branches of the tree. It had a loosely woven
canopy that served to shade it from any full sun and keep the trailing vines
off the mattress.
“That’s balanced so that if you push it once, it will rock
back and forth on its own for hours. And all these hanging vines are a
night-flowering variety. Deep blue and they smell amazing. I’d sleep out here
every night, but Rordyc is afraid I might catch a cold or something.”
Aurora settled herself into one of the swings and pushed off
gently. The branch above dipped and swayed slightly and a kaleidoscope of
emerald and white butterflies fluttered through the leaves for a moment like
tiny dancers dressed in sparkling gemstones startled into motion.
“Have you heard anything new about Ellen?” Aurora asked once
the show above her head ended. “Connyn said that Rordyc’s sister could
telepathically link with Shyrana who reported on what was happening Earth-side.”
Brooke chose a cookie from one of the tables and sat in a
swing opposite from Aurora. “She can normally. But there’s been some
interference along the telepathic links lately. They can’t seem to pinpoint the
source but think it might be coming from someone on Earth rather than from
here.” She took a bite of the cookie and watched a couple of fish jump over
each other in the pond. “But they really just don’t know. It’s making them a
little crazier than normal. Rordyc said they’re considering sending someone
through a portal for information.”
“So there’s a portal that leads back to Earth that remains
open?”
“I’m not sure about that. But I do know there are options,
though some they only use in an emergency. Which is why I think they’re
considering sending someone back. They can’t figure out why Amdyn hasn’t
brought Ellen home.”
“She didn’t want to come.” At Brooke’s widened eyes, she
added, “Yet. I think there are some things she wants to reconcile first, though
she didn’t exactly say so.”
Brooke nodded and looked thoughtfully past Aurora. “Yes.
That I can understand. The cousins knew that if we were still alive, we’d have
had to build lives in another world that didn’t include them, Ilyria or a
world-saving prophecy, but in reality, they see us rather myopically. For the
most part, they expect us to fall right back into the world we left as if we
never had left.”
Aurora stopped the swing and leaned forward. “I know. That’s
why I asked if Lyra had heard any news. I really need to talk to Ellen. She’s
taking care of something very important to me and I need to know how it’s
going. Before I can feel right here, I need to know everything is okay back
home.”
“I know. I had a similar hesitation, but Rordyc helped me
work it out. I’m sure Connyn will do anything he can if you ask him.” Brooke’s
sympathetic expression nearly had Aurora blurting out the truth, but the memory
of Connyn’s blatant refusal to offer the help she had asked for killed the
would-be damning urge.
“Probably so,” she sidestepped. “So how did you do it?
Adjust to suddenly belonging to a new world? A new culture, people?” Aurora
shifted to look around the garden, her mind gazing past the limiting walls to
the limitless possibilities and dangers beyond. “A new life?”
“Most days, I still have to work at it. Finding my place and
accepting this mammoth change isn’t easy. But it helps knowing that I still had
family that never gave up on me. Being reunited with my sisters helps make
sense out of memories I thought were just nightmares or dreams.” She kicked her
shoes off and curled her toes into the grass. “Plus, it really helps loving and
being loved by the man who totally upended my world. Both my worlds.”
She studied Aurora not unkindly for a moment and then asked,
“Connyn hasn’t told you he loves you?”
“No.” The answer was out before Aurora could amend the
emotion attached to it. She shook her head and tried to laugh and deflect the
stabbing disappointment that Brooke’s question brought and that hung on the one
word that had escaped. Sitting back, she breathed in the warm sweet air,
pushing aside emotion that wasn’t hers to claim. “I mean of course not. Why
would he?”
Brooke flicked a dark auburn curl away from her face. “Stupid
men. They could all use a course in Relationships 101.”
“Not much difference from world to world in that area.”
“True.” Brooke waved away what looked like a cross between a
bluebird and a hummingbird when it dipped too close to the last part of the
cookie she held. “Have you told Connyn that you love him yet?”
Aurora’s head jerked back. “What? I don’t love him. I can’t.
Couldn’t. I mean, it’s just too early. We’ve just met.”
“Not wanting to love him is not the same as
not
loving
him.”
“You’re wrong. I don’t. I mean I’m
grateful
for him
bringing me here and for rescuing me from a Predator, although I was holding my
own on the Riverwalk. And there’s quite a bit of lust going on between us, but
it’s jumping the gun to say we’re in love.” Aurora stopped to take a breath.
Brooke was listening with an amused look on her face. Aurora realized that her
headlong rush to explain why she couldn’t possibly love him pretty much
cemented the fact that she did in Brooke’s eyes.
She tried to brush off her too ardent denial, taking another
tack. “Even if I do, it’s beside the point. Because to Connyn, love isn’t what
matters. Duty covers it all. And to him, it’s all the same thing. Duty, love,
lust, need. At least as far as mates are concerned. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.”
Brooke’s frown was sudden and intense. “Oh yes it does
matter. Very much. And Connyn’s being a complete ass by telling you that to him
love and duty are the same thing.” Her full lips flattened with her burst of
anger as she scowled in the general direction of the Third House’s sector. “A
total and complete jackass,” she hissed.
Aurora’s own complicated and swirling feelings calmed
considerably in the face of Brooke’s anger on her behalf. “Not a fan of duty?”
she asked.
Brooke turned her gaze back to Aurora, her livid eyes still
gleaming darkly as her words snapped out, “Duty is fine. But it is not a
substitute for love.”
Rising from the swing, Brooke moved to one of the tables and
silently filled two cups with pink liquid from a crystal pitcher. Once she had
finished, she plunked the container down and stood rigidly over the glasses,
looking down at her handiwork. Finally, she picked up the glasses and handed
one to Aurora.
“I sincerely apologize. I have no right to snap at you like
we’ve known each other for years.”
Aurora started to say something but Brooke continued. “As
much as I’d like to blame my outburst on hormones, it’s more that I just haven’t
gotten complete control over that particular button of mine and still tend to
idiotically blow off steam when it comes up. I believe in duty as much as the
next person, but I don’t believe it gives a person the right to use or abuse
another.” She shrugged and returned to her seat. “But that’s part of my history
and baggage. The whole duty thing.”
She took a long drink and settled more comfortably against
the back of the swing. “But enough about me. Get this pregnant woman’s mind off
the fact that in spite of her suddenly amazing life with or without duty
lurking, she’s still scared stiff about having her first baby.” She smiled
disarmingly and said, “Tell me about your life since I last saw you when we
were orphaned in a cave over twenty-five years ago.”
* * * * *
After a return to lighter, sociable girl-talk, they’d both
taken their fill of the mid-morning snack and then Brooke had taken Aurora on a
tour of her new home. When Brooke caught her staring at a mark on the inside of
the door to their private rooms that was very similar to the one scratched on
the inside of their door, Brooke said, “Yes, I recognized the same mark on your
door and Bethany has one on her door too.” Her lips twisted up. “There’s a lot
to be said for family traditions.”