Falling for Kindred Claus: A Kindred Tales Novel (Brides of the Kindred) Read online

  She was wearing a blue dress-type garment very much like Lisa’s own which wrapped across her body in a diagonal line and tied with a feathery sash on the side. Her shoes, also, seemed to be made of feathers—or at least covered in them, Lisa thought. She hoped her own plain sandals were appropriate.

  Helios Beta—at least what she could see of it—seemed to Lisa to be a kind of desert planet. A hot dry wind blew through the night air and brilliant dunes of turquoise sand could be seen piled outside the borders of the landing area.

  “We should go—the heat is oppressive, even this time of night,” Natillus said. He reached up and nudged something at the base of his neck. “Come, Veronis—we are going,” he said, as though talking to another person.

  There was a sleepy-sounding squeak and then a little creature, about the size of Lisa’s palm, crawled up Natillus’s green fringe of hair and perched itself on his head, like a living hat. It was bright blue and furry and it looked a little like a cross between a monkey and a cat to Lisa.

  It had the sinuous movements of a feline but the quick, clever little hands of a monkey which it used to groom Natillus’s hair. Its face was pointed and cute with large, dark eyes and it yawned widely, exposing tiny pointed teeth. It also had an extremely long tail—about four times as long as its body, Lisa estimated, which it reached down and curled casually around Natillus’s throat for balance.

  “Oh,” she exclaimed, before she thought about it. “What’s that little creature? It’s adorable!”

  “This is my chewchi,” Natillus said, apparently using a word the translation bacterial couldn’t translate.

  “I’m sorry—your what?” Lisa asked, frowning. “I didn’t quite catch that.”

  “Hmm…how to put it?” Natillus frowned in apparent concentration. “Veronis is…how do you say…the part of me that knows my every thought and judges my every action. He helps to guide me through life and facilitates a deeper bond with my mate…my maker…and the universe itself.”

  “It sounds like you’re describing your soul,” Lisa said. Or maybe Jiminy Cricket, she thought but didn’t say.

  “Soul?” Natillus shook his head. “I do not know this word.”

  “The immortal part of you, that lives on after death,” Lisa clarified but he shook his head.

  “No, that is not quite what I mean. For a chewchie cannot live without their host. Without me, Veronis would be no more.”

  “Veronis could not live without my mate any more than my own Yilla could live without me,” Lambada said and Lisa noticed that she also had a fluffy little chewchie perched in her hair as well. This one had purple fur and it looked like a feathery jewel riding on her head.

  “Well, your chewchies are truly remarkable creatures,” Asher said. “Do all of your people have one or are you and your mate especially blessed?”

  “Oh, everyone has one, naturally,” Lambada said, as though the idea of being chewchie-less was unthinkable.

  “Of course—how else could one communicate adequately with one’s mates?” Natillus asked reasonably. He frowned. “Do your people not have chewchies then? If not, how do you communicate and share your emotions?”

  “The Kindred form a soul-bond with their brides,” Asher answered. “In this way we are always connected.” Taking Lisa’s hand, he brought it to his mouth and kissed it while looking into her eyes.

  His intense look and the warm brush of his mouth against her skin sent Lisa’s heart racing as she looked back, meeting his deep green eyes. Take it easy, she told herself, he’s only playing a part. But damn, he was playing it really well.

  “Ah—so you carry your chewchies inside you!” Lambada exclaimed. “That explains much. For I confess, I wondered how a civilized people could communicate without them.”

  “Exactly,” Asher agreed, finally letting go of Lisa’s hand, though he still held her eyes with his. “A Kindred could no more severe his bond from his mate than a Chorkay could be without his or her chewchie.”

  Lisa tore her eyes away at last, her heart still pounding as she tried to concentrate on the furry little animals instead of the intense look on the big Kindred’s face.

  She wished she could ask to pet one of the chewchies but she didn’t think it would be a good idea. The Chorkays seemed to consider them much more than pets and she didn’t want to be asking to stroke someone’s soul or conscience or however they thought of the little creatures. They were undeniably cute though, as they sat there on their masters’ heads and stared at her with their wide, dark, liquid eyes.

  “Well, we had best get out of this heat and take you both to the Temple of Thufar for purification,” Lambada said. “Come—the tunnel that leads below is this way.”

  And turning, she pointed to a large round entrance that appeared to lead straight down into the ground.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lisa didn’t love the idea of going under the ground but when she asked, it turned out that the capital city of Gomber, where the coronation of the new Potentate was going to take place, was located beneath the surface.

  “For the sands overtook the surface of our world many hundreds of cycles ago,” Natillus explained, as he led the way through the broad, well-lighted tunnel.

  “And sandstorms here can last for days—even months,” Lambada added. “So we thought it best to move below the ground, where we would be untroubled by the elements.”

  “If you’ll forgive me asking, how do you survive if your upper world is a desert?” Asher asked. He was walking beside and a little behind Lisa, as though he was guarding her back—which was kind of nice, she thought. She certainly felt safer with the big Kindred nearby.

  “Oh, we have many sources of underground water,” Natillus explained. “Vast lakes with sunless shores so deep no one had ever plumbed their depths.”

  “Indeed, Thufar has blessed us with an abundance of water,” Lambada agreed and exchanged a tranquil smile with her mate.

  The graceful alien woman and her husband certainly seemed to be in perfect harmony, Lisa thought. But just then the tunnel came to a forking of ways with one part continuing on straight and the other leading off to the right. Here, as if by some silent agreement, Natillus and Lambada both stopped.

  “Here is the entrance to the temple and the baths of purification,” Lambada remarked to her husband, pointing to the tunnel that led off to the right. Over the entrance was a carving of a three-eyed god covered in what appeared to be real gold with precious gems for eyes. Perched on his (or her? Lisa wasn’t sure) head was a tiny chewchie carved in silver. The god’s face was serene but the chewchie’s mouth was open in a silent howl, as though it was upset about something.

  “Yes, this is indeed the entrance to the Temple of Thufar,” Natillus agreed. “And yet, I wonder if maybe it wouldn’t be better to first introduce our guests to the head priest who is to perform the coronation?”

  “Before they are purified? I fear that would be an inauspicious idea, my dearest mate,” Lambada objected in a calm tone. On her head, her little chewchie sat up and began to squeak and chatter.

  “Actually, I think it would be better for the head priest to see them first—he can approve what level of purification they require,” Natillus replied mildly. On top of his head, his own chewchie started howling and screeching.

  The sound was like a monkey fighting with a cat, Lisa thought, wincing. She wondered why the two Chorkays didn’t control their animals better. Neither of them was even trying to quiet their chewchies even though the sound they made was echoing around the tunnel loudly.

  “But should they not be purified at least on the basic level before they even meet the head priest—so as not to defile him with their unclean presence?” Lambada enquired, in a very mild tone, as though she was simply asking an innocent question.

  “I think not, my dear—he specifically told me he wished to see them as soon as they reached the planet’s surface,” Natillus answered courteously.

  As he spoke, his chewchi