Seeing with the Heart Read online

  I won’t need to do that anymore, she reminded herself. If this crystal really will last like the Wise One promised, I’ll be able to see where I’m going from now on. I won’t need a special lane or a cane or the voiceover feature on my phone and computer or my brail keyboard or…

  But the list was too long to name. Her whole life would be different now. She wasn’t sure if this new vision was good enough to drive with—probably not—but just being able to take public transportation and see where she was going was going to be amazing.

  Somehow, though, Molly couldn’t feel quite as happy as she had earlier.

  It’s because I’m still thinking about Braxx, she thought, and knew it was true. I need to get this out before it makes me completely miserable.

  Molly kept a recorded diary—something she’d stared on the advice of her therapist when she was newly blind and had continued, even after she had come to terms with her blindness. Talking about her troubles—even if it was only to a recorder—really helped and she felt the need to write an entry now.

  Feeling clean and refreshed on the outside but still troubled within, she came out of the water. She didn’t have a towel, so she pushed the water off her skin with her hands as well as she could and then put both negus back on. The long grass strands clung to her damp skin but Molly thought that if she sat on the mossy side of the stream for a little while, she would probably dry off.

  She settled herself with a sigh and picked up the small hand-held recorder. She didn’t bother to loop the strap over her wrist this time, though. She just pushed the button, mentioned the date, and began recording.

  “Private entry—I’ve done a potentially very stupid thing and I’m not very happy about it,” she began. “I had sex with Commander Braxx, the Kindred scout who found Tal’os Trenta and who subsequently agreed to come with me to help on this field mission since Denise couldn’t come.”

  She stopped for a moment, an unexpected wave of homesickness coming over her. She didn’t usually mind being away from her apartment but it had been a long, long time since she’d done field work without her best friend and assistant.

  I hope she’s all right! I hope Scott pulled through.

  Molly felt a stab of guilt. I’ve been so excited getting to know a new planet and then getting some vision back I haven’t even thought of her. What if she needs me? What if Scott isn’t okay?

  She could feel herself going into a guilt spiral and had to pull herself firmly back from the edge.

  All right—what had happened to Denise’s fiancée wasn’t her fault—it was just really bad timing. And Molly couldn’t miss a once in a lifetime opportunity—Denise hadn’t wanted her to. In fact, she had urged Molly to go to Tal’os Trenta and she did have her mother and sisters for moral support so it wasn’t like Molly had left her all alone.

  She’ll be fine, Molly told herself. I’m probably missing her way more than she’s missing me right about now.

  The thought calmed her somewhat, although she still felt a bit homesick.

  “I’m feeling homesick,” she said, recording the emotion as it came to her, just as her therapist had taught her so many years ago. “I miss Denise and I think I may have really screwed myself here—allowing myself to be, uh, intimate with Braxx.”

  “So you regret allowing the off-worlder to pledge to you, do you?”

  The deep male voice surprised her so much, Molly dropped the hand-held recorder with a little squeak.

  “What…who…” she gasped, looking around wildly.

  “It is Drogor—your future mate.” He stepped forward, a huge gold and crimson glowing shape coming up from behind her. Well that answered the question about why she hadn’t seen him coming. He’d been hiding back there for who knew how long watching her and listening to her.

  The thought made Molly’s blood run cold.

  “I…I thought you were gone,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and ignoring the ‘future mate’ statement. “Thought you’d left the village, Drogor.”

  “I did leave—the smell of that off-worlder Bastard pledging to you, ruining your sweet scent with his own—sickened me.” He spat on the ground, as though to show his disgust. Then he inhaled deeply. “But I don’t smell his scent on you anymore.”

  “Only because I took a bath, er, a dip in the stream,” Molly said hastily.

  “No.” He shook his head. “No, if he had truly claimed you, his scent would not have washed off so easily. He didn’t, did he? Though he pledged to you, he has yet to claim you completely.”

  “I don’t…I mean…”

  Molly wasn’t sure what to say. She still felt caught off guard and more than a little uneasy to find herself alone with the huge Deep Dweller. He was every bit as big as Braxx was and he loomed in her new field of vision like a glowing god…or maybe a monster.

  “Drogor—” she began but he cut her off.

  “Say nothing, Molly from the Stars. For surely this is a sign. I came here wanting only a drink of water before I made my way back to the Depths and instead, I find you here—your body cleansed and your lovely scent washed clean of the off-worlder’s stink.”

  “I don’t know what sign you think it is,” Molly began. “But I’m not—”

  But before she could finish saying, “I’m not interested in you,” Drogor scooped her up under one arm as one might pick up a small child.

  “Hey…hey!” Molly exclaimed, struggling in his grip. “Stop this! Put me down right now!”

  “You will be mine, Molly from the Stars,” he declared, taking a firmer grip on her as she tried to wriggle free. “The fates have decreed it will be so.”

  “No they haven’t and no I won’t! Let me go! Hel—”

  Before she could get the rest of the scream out, his big palm slapped over her face, covering her mouth and part of her nose so that Molly could hardly breathe.

  She wiggled and fish-tailed wildly but it didn’t seem to matter to Drogor. He only tucked her more firmly into his big, sweaty armpit and took off at a dead run, despite her wild gyrations.

  Oh God, Molly thought desperately as she jounced along under his arm. This is crazy! I can’t believe I’m being kidnapped by one of the natives! I have to get out of here—get away!

  But there was no getting out of Drogor’s iron grip. And soon the lack of oxygen made her stop trying. He had all but one nostril covered and her heart was pounding a frantic rhythm, begging her to take in more air, not less. Soon she began to feel dizzy and faint.

  No, she thought desperately as they jounced along through the forest, the only sounds the surprisingly soft footfalls of the big Deep Dweller. No, can’t faint…who knows where I’ll wake up?

  And then everything was darkness as her new vision flickered and she felt herself go limp.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Why did I push her away? Why did I shout at her not to touch me? What’s wrong with me?

  Braxx had no answers to any of the questions crowding his mind. But that didn’t mean they would stop coming.

  He paced up and down the length of the small hut—an exercise which only took him three steps in each direction, and wondered why he had acted the way he had with Molly.

  Why didn’t I just tell her what was wrong with my cheek—the reason it looked different to her than the other? he asked himself.

  In answer, a picture of Danella rose in his mind, her sleek cap of raven black hair so different from Molly’s tumbled caramel locks. The look of disgust and pity on her perfect features was all it took to turn his stomach. His ex-intended had always been extremely concerned with appearances. She had loved going out and feeling every eye on them, putting herself and Braxx on display and knowing they were the most beautiful couple in the room.

  The crash had taken that from her in one fell swoop. Oh, there were still many eyes on them, but now the look they held was one of horror, not admiration. Danella hadn’t been able to stand it.

  Braxx thought he knew Molly well enough to know th