Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Several times she thought about going to his suite to talk to him…but if he didn’t want to communicate mentally, it seemed reasonable to assume he didn’t want to talk face-to-face either.
She told herself she would leave him alone and let him be for a while. Clearly what had happened between them had upset him. Maybe what he needed was time to himself.
She took an early pregnancy test in the Med Center two days after they got home and found out that she wasn’t pregnant. She was surprised at the mingled feelings of relief and regret she got, holding the little white flower in the palm of her hand.
Aboard the Kindred Mother Ship, the pregnancy tests gave flowers as results. A pink flower meant a baby girl—a rare occurrence among the Kindred who were 95% male—and a blue flower meant a boy. A white flower was negative.
Sylvie kept the flower with her—though she didn’t know why. She could just throw it away but somehow she wanted something to remember their encounter…even if it hadn’t resulted in anything lasting. Well, other than the mental link that Kross stubbornly refused to use.
She couldn’t stop thinking about how sweet the big Kindred had been to her during their captivity. How he’d healed her and comforted her and held her while she cried. He’d acted completely different…and now he wouldn’t even talk to her!
She was musing about the separation between them one night about a week after getting back to the Mother Ship as she walked in the park that was at the center of the ship. The artificial green sun that powered the ship had been dimmed for the night and it gleamed softly, putting out “moonlight” that turned the purple and green grass silver.
It was late and no one else was around. Sylvie was just thinking of going back to her suite when she saw a figure in a long white robe gliding towards her over the rolling parklands.
Surprise made her freeze to the spot and she recognized the figure as one of the priestesses who served the Kindred Goddess. The priestesses lived in the Sacred Grove, which was at the very heart of the parklands. It was a small forest of green and purple trees that served as a shrine to the Goddess. Sylvie had been there once when she was attending a wedding or “Joining Ceremony” as the Kindred called it. It was beautiful inside but the priestesses rarely left, which was one reason she was so surprised to see one now.
She was even more surprised when the priestess raised an arm and waved at her. Sylvie actually looked behind her, wondering who the other woman could be waving at because she was sure it couldn’t be her. However, there was no one behind her—no one else in the entire part, that Sylvie could see—so she turned back around and waited until the priestess came to a stop in front of her.
“Daughter,” she said. “I have a warning to give you.”
In the moonlight the green streaks that all priestesses of the Goddess had looked silver and her green-within-green eyes gleamed mysteriously.
“A warning? For me?” Sylvie put a hand to her own chest uncertainly.
The priestess nodded solemnly.
“From the Mother of All Life herself,” she said, which, Sylvie knew, was another name for the Kindred Goddess.
“All right,” she said uncertainly. “What is it?”
“You are very close to losing he whom you love, though you do not know it,” the priestess told her. “The warrior that I have put aside for you is contemplating leaving—he may even go tonight. And if he does, the distance between you will eventually erode your Bond.”
“You mean Kross? He’s thinking of leaving?” Sylvie felt as though her stomach had dropped to the ground. “Really? How do you know that?” she demanded.
“The Goddess knows everything,” the priestess said gravely. “She sent me to warn you before it is too late. Will you heed her warning and seek the male she sent for you to love?”
Sylvie’s heart started pounding.
“Are you saying that Kross loves me?”
“He has always loved you, for you are his Fated Mate,” the priestess assured her. “Go and speak to him now, before it is too late and you will learn it from his own lips.”
It seemed crazy to Sylvie—other than their brief time together in the compound of Dr. Barbarous, Kross had never been anything but sarcastic and irritating towards her. But now the priestess was telling her that she was his Fated Mate, whatever that meant. Could it really be true that he cared for her?
“Will you go?” the priestess asked again, breaking into her train of thought. “The time grows short—even now he prepares to leave.”
“I’ll go—I’ll go!” Sylvie said quickly. “Er…thank you for telling me,” she added.
The priestess nodded and tucked her hands into her long sleeves.