“Yes. He made me so angry I tried to leave again first, though.”
Relieved to listen to someone else’s problems, Leora led her to the hoverseats by the little corner table. “What happened?”
Lamira explained their quarrel, blushing as she arrived at their reconciliation. No doubt she’d just had incredible, ravishing sex. She wondered if all Zandians had the capacity to turn human females into weak-kneed, swooning fools with a simple touch or command. Was it their natural dominance? Their size and stature? Or was it something particular to Zander and Seke?
“So what happened with Seke? He never broke his vow of celibacy, then?”
Her shoulders sagged. “Actually, that’s the worst part. He did. But he hated himself and me for it. And when Zander gave him leave to end my training, he took the opportunity and dropped me like a hot coal.”
“I suppose you are like a hot coal to him.” Lamira tapped her lips with her fingertips.
“Thanks,” she said drily.
“I don’t mean you would burn him. Only that there’s fire between you. He can’t touch you without coming away changed.”
Lamira’s unexpected poetics had tears filling her eyes. “I don’t think that’s it,” she said stiffly.
Thankfully, Lamira changed the subject. “Lily’s coming. She’s on her way now—Zander just told me. Why don’t you wash up so you’re ready when she gets here?”
Leora took that to be Lamira’s kind way of telling her she looked awful, so she agreed, trudging to the washtube. The idea of seeing Lily did brighten her outlook slightly, as did the shower.
After she dressed, she and Lamira went to the kitchen to let Barr know another human would be arriving, and they’d require extra food.
~.~
A mother’s reunion with her long-lost daughter shouldn’t include moping over a male. Somehow, though, she’d blurted the whole story. After taking Lily on a tour of the pod, the three women had spent at least five hours sitting at one end of the long dining table, eating, talking, and drinking sweet blueberry wine.
Zander and Rok had left them to it, although the males had checked in a few times to see how they were doing. Lily had filled them in on her torrid love affair with Rok—how she’d stolen his ship, only to have him rescue her and keep her prisoner, punishing her in ways she’d discovered she loved.
Lamira had shared her story of being purchased as Zander’s breeder, and what it was like to be the first female the palatial pod had housed. Lily had some fierce questions about their captivity—whether they were still held as slaves or not—which led to telling Leora’s short and tumultuous tale with Seke.
“If he didn’t bear so much guilt for saving Zander instead of his mate and children, he might be a different being,” Lamira said. “But holding himself away from you is how he chooses to punish himself.” Sometimes Lamira sounded wiser than her years. “How did Rok escape Zandia?” she asked Lily.
“He said he got lucky. He lived in the palace because his father was a laborer there. A guard helped him and two daughters of an important advisor get out through an underground tunnel. They got to a ship and flew off the planet. They were shot down over Stornig, where he was adopted and raised by locals.”
“Two daughters of an important advisor.” Lamira’s eyes had the unfocused look they took on when she was seeing with her inner eye. “Seke’s two daughters.”
Leora stiffened, sitting straight up in her hoverseat. “Are you sure?” she asked sharply.
“Remember? I only saw his mate and infant had died in the invasion.”
Lily focused on her sister. “Rok told me there was something unusual about you.” She glanced over at Leora. “I’ve always thought I had good gut instincts. Does it run in the family?”
Leora nodded. “Gut instinct is what I rely on as well. Lamira was born with this special knowing. We had to hide it to keep her from being logged as unusual and executed.” She turned back to Lamira. “What do you see?”
“The girls were Seke’s.”
“Did they survive the crash?” Lily asked. “Rok never knew.”
Lamira was quiet for a long moment, listening, looking inward. “They’re alive. I can’t see where. It feels dark to me. Imprisoned, perhaps. Or just unhappy.” Her focus returned. “They need our help.”
Leora rose to her feet. “You must tell him.”
“I must tell him? Shouldn’t you?”
Just the thought of seeing Seke’s face sent her heart rate crashing, a tumble of sputtered breath and seizing muscles in her chest. “I—I can’t. I don’t want to see him. This won’t change anything between us.”
“Maybe not, but he should know. And you’re the one to tell him. You’re the one he confided in about his family.”