Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“Oh, really?” Celia still wasn’t sure she wanted to try some. “That’s, uh, interesting.”
“There are a lot of interesting things here—never a dull moment with the Kindred,” Kat said helpfully. “By the way, I heard you got brought up to the Mother Ship suddenly and you didn’t pack anything—do you need any clothes?” she asked.
“Oh, I don’t expect to stay here long,” Celia told her. “My fiancé, Peter Thielgood, is getting his lawyer involved. See, my name was supposed to be removed from the Draft list, but it wasn’t by accident. But we’re engaged to be married on Christmas Eve so I really shouldn’t be here.”
“A Christmas Eve wedding—how romantic!” Kat smiled at her.
“Yes, it’s kind of a weird family tradition with my fiancé’s people,” Celia explained. “All of them get married on Christmas Eve—all three of Peter’s sisters have, anyway. And we’ll be carrying on the tradition ourselves this Christmas Eve. It’s all planned out,” she added.
“Well then, I guess Hold and Fierce are going to have an uphill battle trying to convince you to stay here with us instead,” Kat remarked.
“Oh, they can’t convince me,” Celia said firmly. “I mean, I’m engaged and my wedding is barely more than a month away!”
“A month can be a long time up here—especially during your Claiming Period,” Kat remarked, grinning at her. “I mean, between the Holding Week and the Bathing week…not to mention the Tasting Week! But did I hear Hold say that you’re an interior decorator?” she asked, clearly changing the subject.
Celia was rather relieved to have it changed, though she was intrigued by the different weeks Kat had mentioned. Holding and Bathing and Tasting? What was that all about? But she decided to let it drop and pursue the new topic of conversation.
“Oh yes—yes, I am a decorator,” she said, smiling. “Why—do you need something decorated?”
“Only the whole damn Mother Ship!” Kat laughed. “Not really, but I have been given the job of trying to spruce up some of the common areas like the tram stations,” she said. “So many of the Kindred warriors still have no clue what Christmas is all about—we’d like to do some decorations to get everyone in the holiday mood, you know?”
“Oh, I love holiday decorating!” Celia exclaimed, getting excited. “Christmas is my favorite time of the year!”
“Well, if you hang around maybe you can help,” Kat told her. “I mean, if you’re not allowed to go straight back down to Earth, come find me and maybe we can work together. I’ll be sure you get paid, of course,” she added, sounding businesslike. “We can’t expect you to work for free.”
“Well…thank you.” Celia smiled at her. She couldn’t help remembering that only that morning Mother Frances had been insisting that she decorate her friend’s condo for free. But here aboard the Mother Ship, they clearly realized that someone ought to be paid for their work—that was nice.
“Have you met everyone at the table?” Kat asked her.
“Er, well…I had few introductions from Hold and Fierce. But I still don’t really know anyone,” Celia admitted.
The long table was filled with strange faces—mostly Kindred warriors and their wives. There was another, shorter table for the kids—the sons that were half Kindred and half human seemed to take after their Kindred fathers while the daughters seemed to take after their human mothers, Celia thought.
“Okay, well I’ll take you around afterwards,” Kat promised her. “But for now, those are my two guys—Deep and Lock,” she added, pointing out two other Twin Kindred who were talking together. “We have three children together—all sons, of course,” she added and laughed.
“Oh, so you’re, er, married to Twin Kindred?” Celia threw her a glance. “Uh, how is that exactly?”
“Well, they can drive you nuts sometimes—I mean, the Kindred are amazing and sweet and kind and protective but they’re still men if you know what I mean.” Kat laughed. “But I wouldn’t trade them for anything. They’re such good fathers to our three boys—Deep is more of the disciplinarian while Lock is more of the teacher of the two.”
“That’s wonderful,” Celia said politely. “But, well, how is the sex? I mean how does it work? If that’s not too personal a question—I’m sorry, I know we just met,” she added, hoping she hadn’t offended her new friend.
But Kat only laughed again.
“That was my first question when I got with my guys too. I was at a complete loss to understand how they could possibly both fit at the same time!”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to know!” Celia said, feeling relieved. Maybe now she could finally get some answers to the question that had been nagging at her.
“Well, it has to do with Bonding Fruit—” Kat began.
But just then the Kindred warrior at the head of the table—he had short, spiky blond hair and pale blue eyes and fangs, which Celia knew meant he was a Blood Kindred—rose and tapped his wine glass with his knife.