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  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Good morning.” Nadiah smiled as Sylvan came into the dining area. She and Sophia were already up and enjoying a traditional Earth breakfast. Well, traditional to Sophia’s part of Earth, anyway. Apparently different regions of the planet had different cuisines.

  Nadiah wasn’t a big fan of the yellow fluffy stuff the mate of her kin had called scrambled eggs—they had a strange texture. But there were thin crispy slices of something called bacon that were salty and delicious. Also, there was a warm, crunchy kind of bread with sweet, sticky berry spread on it that was wonderful.

  But best of all, in Nadiah’s opinion, was the bright orange juice squeezed from a fruit—it tasted like liquid sunshine, tart and sweet and utterly delicious. Sophia had offered her white liquid called ‘milk’ as well, but Nadiah had turned it down. She’d already been warned by Baird that it came from a skin bag between a large Earth animal’s legs. Apparently, the bag was squeezed and the white fluid came jetting out. Ugh! It sounded every bit as disgusting as fleeta pudding to Nadiah, who had never been fond of her native dish.

  “Good morning.” Sylvan smiled at them both. He kissed Sophia on the cheek and Nadiah on the top of her head before seating himself at the table. “I see you two are finally up.”

  “What do you mean ‘finally up?’” Sophia protested. “I’ve been up for ages making you this yummy breakfast. Where were you, anyway?”

  “In the viewing room,” Sylvan said, pouring himself a tall glass of the orange juice. “I had a very interesting call to attend to.”

  “Oh, was it that annoying Detective Rast?” Sophia asked eagerly. “Did you give him a piece of your mind?”

  Nadiah frowned. “How would you do that? With some kind of telepathy?”

  “No, it just means to tell someone off,” Sophia explained. She looked at Sylvan. “So did you? Tell him off?”

  “I didn’t get a chance,” Sylvan said mildly. “He wasn’t the one who called.” He looked at Nadiah. “It was your parents. And they were very unhappy. Is it true you left your home on the day you and Yo-dah were to be mated?”

  “Well…yes.” Suddenly the orange juice tasted sour and flat. Nadiah put down her glass and sighed. “But Sylvan, if you could see him. He’s just so skinny and scrawny and whiny and…and so not Kindred.”

  “You have a blood bond with him though.” Sylvan gave her a stern look. “That is not a commitment to be taken lightly.”

  “Surely you’re not telling her to go back home and marry a man she doesn’t love?” Sophia scooted closer to Nadiah and put an arm around her shoulders. “I mean, they betrothed her to this guy when she was a little girl—she didn’t even have any choice in the matter.”

  “That is how things are done on my planet,” Sylvan said, frowning. “I was betrothed to Feenah. We didn’t have a blood bond but the engagement between us was sacred. If she had not broken it, I would have mated her.”

  “And you would have been miserable the rest of your life,” Sophia shot back.

  “Sophia’s right,” Nadiah toyed with the strange silver eating utensil Sophia had called a ‘fork.’ “I don’t see why I should go home and be mated to Yo-dah when you didn’t have to mate with Feenah.”

  Sylvan sighed. “I didn’t say you had to go back to Tranq Prime—not right away, anyway. But I did have to promise your parents I was watching out for you. And you will have to go home eventually, you know. The blood bond will compel you.”

  “I’m not going until I find a Kindred male capable of challenging the bond,” Nadiah said stubbornly. “If I go back alone they’ll tie me down and force me to say the sacred vows. Then I’ll be stuck on that ball of ice having a bunch of scrawny babies with Yo-dah’s ugly face on them.”

  Sophia looked like she was trying not to laugh. “Then let’s hope you find someone who can challenge the bond soon.”

  Sylvan sighed. “I give up. Do as you please as long as you stay safe and retain your virtue.”

  “Sylvan!” Sophia looked shocked. “You can’t tell her that she has to…to do that. A woman’s body is her own to do with as she pleases.”

  “Not on Tranq Prime. And not my kin.” Sylvan glowered. “I won’t have it said I couldn’t protect Nadiah’s virtue.”

  “Relax, Sylvan, no one has to protect me,” Nadiah said quickly. “And don’t worry—I have no intention of doing anything rash. I’ll go intact to my mate to be—whoever he is—or I won’t go at all.”

  Sophia shook her head. “I had no idea you guys had such primitive ideas on Tranq Prime. But whatever makes you happy.”

  “What makes me happy is making sure that Nadiah is safe,” Sylvan said. “And furthermore—”

  A small chime from the holo-link cut him off. Sophia hurried to answer it and a small blue dot above the unit quickly expanded to form the shape of a Kindred warrior’s head. “Pardon me, Commander Sylvan,” he said formally, nodding at Sylvan. “But there is another call for you in the viewing room and the caller requests that your kin should come as well.”

  Nadiah groaned. “Omigoddess. I knew they wouldn’t leave me alone. Now they’ll be calling all the time, telling me to come back to Tranq Prime.” She looked at the disembodied blue head hovering above the holo-link. “Please inform my parents that I will come home when I am ready and not before. And I don’t wish to speak to them.”

  “Forgive me, kin of Commander Sylvan, but the caller is not related to you.” The warrior nodded at her respectfully. “It is a human calling from the HKR building on Earth. He says his name is Detective Rast.”

  “Detective Rast?” Sophia frowned. “Why is he calling us?”

  “I don’t know.” Sylvan frowned. “But let’s go find out.”

  Leaving the half-eaten breakfast on the table, the three of them hurried down the curving metal corridor to the viewing room where all off-ship communication took place.

  Nadiah wasn’t a bit surprised to see that the human detective didn’t look any happier than the last time she had spoken to him. If anything he looked angrier. The moment she and Sylvan and Sophia stepped into sight of the big viewscreen mounted on the viewing room wall, he started firing questions at her.

  “Is this the girl you saw?” he demanded. A picture flashed up on the viewscreen. The girl has Lauren’s same warm brown skin tones but other than that, she bore little resemblance to Sophia and Olivia’s cousin when viewed face-on. Still, Nadiah recognized her at once.

  “Yes,” she said as the picture was replaced by an angry looking Detective Rast. “That’s her.”

  “All right. Where were you last night?” he asked, glaring at her with those startling green eyes. “Were you anywhere near Sarasota?”

  “Nadiah has been here on the Kindred Mother ship since she came for my joining ceremony, detective,” Sylvan said, frowning.

  “I’d like to hear her answer for herself, if you don’t mind,” Rast snapped.

  “I have no problem with answering your question.” Nadiah put a hand on her hip. “As Sylvan said, I’ve been here aboard the ship. Why do you ask?”

  “Can anyone verify your whereabouts?” he demanded, ignoring her question.

  “Sylvan and I both can.” Sophia crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s been staying in our suite with us.”

  Rast frowned. “She could have gotten out during the night, when the two of you were sleeping.”

  “No, she couldn’t,” Sophia snapped. “She had a nightmare last night and Sylvan and I were up with her.”

  Nadiah’s cheeks burned. She knew Sophia was just trying to defend her but the way she talked it sounded like Nadiah was a baby who needed to be protected and coddled.

  “A nightmare, huh?” Rast glared at her. “What was it this time? Another vision? A prophesy?”

  “I saw the same girl that I saw in my previous vision, if you must know,” Nadiah said coldly. “The one who looks like Lauren. She was…” She swallowed hard, remembering the horrible images the vision had sho