Burning for Love (Kindred Tales)

“Oh, um…” Rissa was suddenly covered in blushes. Though Duke Grabbington had rudely eluded to her points as a means of bringing up the topic of her Heat Cycle earlier, it was not normally a part of her anatomy she would discuss with a man.

“I seem to have embarrassed you.” James looked at her more closely. “But why? Have I said something wrong?”

“No, no,” Rissa hastened to assure him. “It’s just…not something I would usually speak to a, er, man about. But you are not a man—you are a cyborg and you have no emotions about such things,” she said, trying to reassure and remind herself of this fact. “And you are my new Companion so you will see my, er, problem sooner or later.”

“And the problem is?” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

“The problem is my Heat Cycle,” Rissa explained. “As a member of the Very First Family, I have Fire Blood. It heats up and collects in my more, er, sensitive areas and causes them to…to glow when my Cycle is rising.” She nodded down at her points to illustrate.

“Then…those are not lights sewn into the front of your underthings,” James said. “They are your—”

“Yes, they are a part of my body,” Rissa said quickly. “And one reason I must wear ice packs under my clothing and take icy baths several times a day. If my Cycle rises too high and I overheat completely, then…” She bit her lip. “Then my fate will be the same as my mother’s,” she finished in a whisper.

James’s frown deepened.

“Why is something not being done about this? Why isn’t anyone helping you?” he demanded.

“Oh, they are,” Rissa explained hurriedly. “At least…in a way,” she added doubtfully. “You see, the only thing that can truly stop my Heat Cycle is finding the right suitor and getting married to him.”

“So…getting Joined in a ceremony somehow affects your biological functions?” The big Kindred sounded doubtful.

“Well, not the ceremony, no,” Rissa said. “But what happens after the ceremony. What he…what he will do to me—that will help.”

“And what will this new mate of yours do to you?” James demanded.

“I…I don’t know, exactly,” Rissa confessed. “But whatever it is, it will stop my Heat Cycle and then I shall be safe from combustion.” She shrugged. “Until then—until I find the proper suitor and marry him—I must simply keep taking ice baths and wearing the ice gel packs under my clothing to help keep me cool. There is nothing else I can do to control my Cycle.”

James shook his head.

“I still don’t understand—why are you not allowed to know what will be done to you in order to control your Cycle?”

“Because it is something only married people may know,” Rissa said, repeating the words that Lady Mildew had said to her many times when she, too, had asked why she could not know more about her Heat Cycle.

“I don’t think it is right or wise to keep you in ignorance of your own body simply because you are not Joined,” James said, frowning. “I am also un-Joined, but my neural implants send me constant updates on the state of my body. I never have any doubts about the functioning of my organs and limbs.”

“But I don’t have any, er, ‘neural implants,’” Rissa pointed out. “And besides, you are a man while I am a lady.”

“Why should our respective sexes have anything to do with it?” James demanded.

“Well, because…” Rissa said, frowning. “A man moves more freely through society. There are not so many constraints on him and he may know more—much more—about…things of the flesh, than a lady may know.”

“So you’re saying that only males should be allowed to understand their basic biological functions and females must be kept ignorant simply because they are female?” James said flatly. “Does that sound right to you, Princess? Does it sound fair?”

“Well, no,” Rissa admitted. He was saying what she had often thought, but she was surprised to hear a man speak so. “It is not exactly fair, but it is the way things are,” she said. “At least, it is the way they are here on Regalia Five.” She looked at him curiously. “Is it really so different on your home world?”

“As I told you, Zeaga Four has no females,” James said. “So the question is moot. But aboard the Kindred Mother Ship, where males and females interact freely, things are very different—at least from what I have observed. I have never had many interactions with females myself.”

“Different how?” Rissa was consumed with curiosity. Regalia Five had space flight—even interstellar flight—but only men were allowed to strap themselves into a ship and blast off for the stars. Women were considered much too delicate for such activities and so she knew she would never be able to travel beyond her own planet. Still, she wished she could—it would be so interesting to meet a whole new race of people and study a new culture!