But he reminded himself that they couldn’t act like that when they were alone together. It was bad enough they had to be all over each other in front of the H’rakens—they had to put some space between them when they were away from their suspicious hosts.
Got to put her out of my mind, he told himself. This feeling that we ought to be together is just an illusion—just a side-effect of that damn pink radiation.
And to think, they had only been exposed to it at a distance for a couple of hours the night before.
Brav wondered uneasily what would happen when they got a full blast of the Mother Stone’s power tonight at the Adoration ceremony…
Twenty-Nine
“There must be some mistake—this, uh, dress has holes in it.”
Danni looked down at her Adoration garments uncertainly. Like all the other clothes the H’rakens made, the dress she was wearing was plain white linen. But there were slits over her breasts and a split in the middle of the dress that went all the way up to her bikini line.
Not that she was allowed to wear any underwear with the outfit, Danni thought resentfully, bikini or otherwise. She just had to keep tugging the sides of the long white dress closed and hoping she didn’t flash anyone. But the slits over her breasts made it a certainty that her nipples were going to pop out. The float dots she was wearing made her breasts so perky that they were always poking out. It looked bad enough when there was fabric to cover them but with the slits over her breasts, there wasn’t anything in the way of a full-blown nipple slip.
Luckily, the rest of the H’rakens had already left the dressing area, which was attached to the huge metal pyramid that housed the Mother Stone by a long hallway. But she still didn’t feel comfortable going around with all her lady bits sticking out.
“Uh, I’ve got a hole in mine too,” Bravik rumbled. He pointed to the plain white Adoration trousers he’d been given to wear and Danni could see they were slit in the front, rather like a pair of boxer shorts. There was definitely going to be some flashing going on from the big Kindred as well if he didn’t get a different pair to wear.
But Navii only laughed.
“My dear friends,” she said to them. “The Adoration garments are designed so for a purpose.”
“And what purpose is that?” Bravik growled, raising an eyebrow.
“Why, healing of course!” Navii widened her large purple eyes. “For how else can you heal the other half of your heart but through pleasure?”
“Pleasure?” Danni’s voice came out in a squeak. On the way to the feast that night, she and Bravik and promised each other all over again that they wouldn’t do anything sexual—well, other than what they had to do in order to convince the H’rakens they were really Joined. But the fact that they were both wearing clothes that were clearly made for easy access, made Danni distinctly nervous about being able to keep the promise she and the big Kindred had made to each other.
“I thought the Mother Stone did the healing,” Bravik said, frowning.
“And so she does—but your mate will act as a conduit for her healing energy,” Navii explained. “Of course, she will heal children directly, because they are too young to have been Joined and to have a spouse. But once two have become one, she cannot heal one mate without the other being involved.”
“I…see,” Danni said hesitantly. “But…” She cleared her throat. “But what if you don’t need healing? Then what do you do?”
“But my dear friend, you do need healing—your womb must be healed in order that you may bear the children you so long for,” Navii said gently.
“Um…” Danni wanted to tell her there was nothing to heal. Her cervix had been left intact during the hysterectomy she’d had so many years ago, but the womb itself had been removed. There was literally nothing there. And no matter how amazing the Mother Stone was at healing, she was certain it would at least have to have something to work with in order to help.
But she didn’t like to say that in front of Bravik. Her infertility was a touchy subject for her—it hurt to admit she couldn’t have children. She had told Liv because she was certain another woman would be more able to understand. But she just didn’t feel comfortable letting the big Kindred know.
Of course, she thought guiltily, he had revealed the fact that he couldn’t bond a woman to him. Which, for a Kindred, was a form of infertility since they usually couldn’t have children without bonding. She probably ought to admit her own problems to him in a gesture of reciprocity.
But somehow, when she opened her mouth, none of that came out. What she asked instead was,