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Xeva smiled and watched the stars flicker as Kaiso flew in lazy circles. She envied the freedom. No matter how hard she tried, Xeva couldn’t fly.
Jeron stroked her back. “What are you thinking?”
“If I were able to fly, I could have been out of there so much earlier.” She smiled. “I might have been able to make it to the capitol or off to Brehakel. Their age of majority is fifteen.”
He nodded. “Selfishly, I am glad that you remained there.” He paused. “Wait. That is when they started hurting you.”
“Correct.”
“In that case, I wish you had gotten away and that we had met at another time and place.”
“Right answer.” She smiled. “Better answer.”
“Is there any idea of where the lab workers ended up?”
“Oh, many of them got away, and others just disappeared.” She smiled. “It’s amazing how fine a human being can be sliced.”
“I thought you didn’t have a blade?” He looked at her with a smile.
“Oh. I never said I didn’t. I just said that Nelith had a speciality, and we developed differently.” She smiled and shrugged.
“Could you be any more beautiful?”
“You have a thing for dangerous women?”
“Just one.” He curled his arm around her.
“So, we can get a new com tomorrow?”
“Of course.” He smiled. “We will do that first so you feel more like yourself. I understand how it can be difficult when cut off from things that are familiar.”
“Yeah, I can’t even look up local courting customs.” She smiled. “The lack of information is making me itchy.”
“I promise to tell you anything you want to know.”
“How can I know anything if everything is alien to me? I don’t even know what to ask.”
He turned her. “Tonight, I will tell you every phase of courtship. Every bit of family involvement that is expected, and how long the honeymoon is.”
“I don’t need to know all that.”
“You really do. It is very important. Trust me on this.”
“I do trust you.” She smiled up at him.
He bent and kissed her, her head cupped in his hands. The kiss was sweet and intense but not hard enough to make her give in to the urge to climb him in front of his family.
Chapter Five
Someone was playing music near the shore, people were dancing, and kids were sleeping in little bundles on the sand under the watchful eye of their parents. Xeva smiled and looked up at Jeron. “So, party has been ticked off my to-do list.”
“What is left on it?”
“A whole bunch of things. Having a casual date, going shopping at a market. Eating in a restaurant. Applying for a job. Meeting strangers without being nervous.” She shrugged. “Sending Nelith a card on her birthday. Celebrating holidays with someone.”
“So, all the things a teenager would do.” Jeron kept rubbing her arms and back. “Which one of us is older?”
“Oh, shut it. I have lived a strange life. I missed a lot of normal things. I only got my pilot’s license because I needed it for work, but I don’t have a ground transport license.”
