Sam's Secret (Icehome)

He says it more like a statement, as if he already knows the answer. Perhaps he does. "Sam is everything I wanted," I admit. "I am well-pleased."

Rokan nods. "After you visit home, you will come back here for the birth?" He pauses, thinking. "You will be at Croatoan through the brutal season?"

Will we? I turn toward my brother, wondering if this is another one of his “knowings.” "Is that bad?"

He shakes his head. "It is quiet there. Sam will like it. Mother and Father will like having a new daughter to fuss over, too." He nudges my shoulder. "Sam will stop sleeping with her knife soon enough. After she does, will you tell Mah-dee and Hassen something for me?"

I groan. He is naming them specifically, which worries me. "Let me guess, another resonance for them? That will make things uncomfortable." They were not shy about the sounds—or locations—of their mating the last time they resonated, and I suspect if their khuis sing again, we will all be treated to far too much of Mah-dee and Hassen for my tastes.

Rokan chuckles. "There is nothing wrong with being eager to touch your mate."

"There is if they end up in my bed again," I grumble. I do not know how they managed that before, but I was not pleased to find the couple mating in my furs back when they were newly mated. They said it was “exciting” and Mah-dee was aroused while pregnant. Hassen pounded me on the shoulder and laughed, but I distinctly remember having to wash all my furs again because I could not get their smell out of my nose. K'thar and Lo-ren are newly resonated once more, too, and I look over at the couple. It is a second time for one of the islanders, and K'thar hovers over his mate protectively, his pet perched atop his head, between his short horns. He has two of his hands on his mate's middle and another around her waist, as if he is guarding her from the world…or the jealousy of Shadow Cat clan. I feel badly for O'jek and I'rec, and R'jaal of Tall Horn. All of them have waited so long for a mate and K'thar is resonating a second time. "Do you see more resonances on this beach?" I ask my brother.

"Oh yes," Rokan says, and his gaze is distant. "A great many."

"Even for those that have no mate yet?"

He glances over at me. "If you worry for them, my brother, do not. Their hearts will be full soon enough." His smile broadens. "I should tell Day-see to watch for her left."

I frown to myself. Sometimes Rokan's statements make no sense. "What do you mean, watch for her left?"

"Her left," he says, as if this is the simplest thing. "It will give her everything if she reaches for it."

I think of Day-see and her burned face. It was hard to look at it, and the listless female with the shorn hair is nothing like the laughing, flirty female I remember. Which side of her face was the injured one? I stop my brother before he gets up. "Maybe do not mention this to Day-see yet? She might grow upset if you warn her of something and did not warn her of the fire."

Rokan's face grows devastated. He scrubs a hand over his jaw and nods. "Sometimes I do not see everything. I wish I did." He shakes his head. "Perhaps we keep silent, then. Do not say anything to Mah-dee when you go back." He pats my shoulder again. "Some secrets are best buried, yes?"

My brother gets to his feet, and I watch him go with narrowed eyes, wondering if he saw the stranger's fate.

I do not ask, though. I swore to Sam I would never bring it up again, and I will not, not to anyone. Our secret is safe.

Epilogue

SAM

Croatoan greets us with open arms and a lot of gifts.

"You guys can have this chess board Warrek and I made this last brutal season," Summer says, pushing a leather-wrapped package into my arms. "He even had Drayan help us carve the pieces. Everyone will play you, too. I swear, Croatoan is addicted to chess. It makes me so happy! You don't know how hard it was to find people to play with back home and now everyone here wants to play! It's like paradise! But cold and snowy." She pauses. "And without a warm beach or cocktails. Or palm trees. Or chocolate. So I guess, not like paradise too much. Still really great, though! And we call it 'Chiefs' and not Chess, just because it helps everyone understand it more."

I clutch the board, trying to absorb Summer's cheery rambling and she puts another bag in my hands. "I'm not sure I know how to play chess—"

"Oh, Sessah can teach you! I showed him how to play already." She pulls out one of the little castle-looking pieces, carved from bone and rubbed with ash to give it a dark color. It actually looks really nice and I'm impressed at the detail. "So we call these 'elders' instead of rooks. The queen is the chief's mate, of course, and…"