Instructing the Novice Read online

  “What?” Lone exclaimed. “But Lizabeth’s hurt! She needs medical attention at once! I have to get her to the Mother Ship quickly—I have to—”

  “YOU WILL NOT FOLD SPACE.” The Goddess’s words thundered in his ears, making him feel deaf and also stupid—what was wrong with him, arguing with the Goddess herself?

  “Forgive me, Goddess,” he said in a low voice. “It’s just that I love her so much and she’s been through such horrible trauma tonight. I just…just want to heal her.”

  “And so you shall, Warrior.” The Goddess’s voice was a little gentler now. “Look to your viewscreen.”

  Lone did as he was told and saw, to his astonishment, the blue, swirling vortex of a wormhole opening right in front of the ship.

  “What’s that?” he murmured hoarsely, staring at it. “A rogue wormhole? I’ve never seen one just open like that before.”

  “Don’t be afraid, Warrior—this is your path home,” the Goddess told him. “Fly forward without fear. And remember—that which was broken may always be healed. If you have the patience and devotion to heal it. Now, farewell.”

  The presence faded and at last Lone was able to get a deep breath again. He stared for a moment at the rogue wormhole…then launched the ship into it.

  He had already foolishly argued with the Goddess once—he wasn’t going to do it again.

  Twenty-Two

  “All right—here we are, back at your own suite. Home suite home—no pun intended.”

  Kat laughed nervously and Lizabeth got the idea she was making her friend uncomfortable. Probably because she was so changed now—silent and withdrawn—after what she’d been through and her long recovery at the Mother Ship’s main med center.

  “Thank you Kat…Liv,” she made herself say to the girls helping her. She was still walking stiffly because of the Friezen words branded into the skin of her inner thighs. She had been given some ointment to help numb the pain and to heal the worst of the burns, but she would be marked for life in that area.

  Marked in more than one way, she thought bitterly. The last place the Friezen Shaman’s knife had cut her was the worst because she couldn’t feel anything there now—nothing at all.

  “I am so sorry, Councilor Paige,” Commander Sylvan, who was also a doctor, had said when explaining her final diagnosis. “But the nerve endings were not only cut but cauterized by the…” He swallowed hard, a look of pity coming over his face. “By the red-hot knife you told me was used on you. Kindred medical technology is very advanced but in such a delicate area…”

  “It’s all right,” Lizabeth had said dully—or rather, husked. Her voice, like so much of the rest of her, was never going to be the same. All the screaming she’d done had ruptured some of her vocal chords. So she was never going to argue in court again—at least, not without the help of a voice projector of some kind.

  “Councilor Paige…” Sylvan had seemed to hesitate before going on. “I’m told by Lone, your assistant that the two of you formed a…a connection,” he said delicately at last. “Often in these cases, a Kindred male is able to help or even heal the female he is connected to by—”

  “No.” Lizabeth held up a hand to stop him. “No, I don’t want to see him. And no, I don’t want him to try and heal me,” she whispered in her ruined voice. “Lone thinks he loves me but he’s wrong. And I…” She shook her head. “I’ll never be the same again. He needs to get over me and move on.”

  “I don’t think you understand how it is with Kindred. Once they find the one female in the universe they are destined to be mated to they can’t just ‘move on.’ They are forever tied—” Sylvan had begun but Lizabeth had only shaken her head. “Just let me go,” she told him. “I want to go back to my own suite and be alone.”

  “Very well.” Sylvan had looked unhappy. “You’re as healed as we can make you. Unless you’d like to consider the surgery on your voice or the skin grafts on your thighs that we discussed? We have a Tolleg surgeon on board the Mother Ship who is excellent at such procedures.”

  “No thank you.” Lizabeth didn’t like the idea of having an artificial voice box—she thought she would probably sound like a robot. And she’d had enough people between her thighs to last her for a lifetime. She just wanted to go home and lick her wounds for awhile in privacy.

  “All right. Then I’m discharging you. But please come see me again if you change your mind.” Sylvan had called for her nurse, Liv, who happened to be friends with Lizabeth’s other friend, Kat. And so the two of them had brought her back to her private suite on the Mother Ship and here was where Lizabeth intended to stay—locked away from the rest of the world indefinitely.

  “Would you like to sit on the couch? Maybe watch a trashy movie to take your mind off things, doll?” Kat asked her.

  “Sure. That would be fine I guess.” Lizabeth shrugged listlessly. It didn’t really matter what she did—nothing mattered anymore, she thought. She was changed now—not just on the outside but on the inside too. She wasn’t herself anymore—she wasn’t the confident, successful attorney she’d been before she left for Yonnie Two. Now she was just…broken.

  They got her settled and Liv stepped back, hands on her hips as she frowned uncertainly.

  “I don’t like leaving you here alone,” she said, shaking her head. “I have to get back to my shift at the med center and Kat needs to pick up her kids from daycare but why don’t you let us call someone for you?”

  “What about your assistant, Lone?” Kat asked hopefully. “Liv says he’s been coming by to see you every day, you know. Don’t you miss him?”

  Lizabeth looked down at her hands. Did she miss Lone? Of course she did—and she could still feel his sorrow and longing coming through their emotional bond. But it was like she’d told Sylvan now—she was a changed woman—broken both inside and out. It wasn’t fair to tie someone as young and vibrant as Lone to herself. If she just kept ignoring him and putting him off, he’d forget her soon enough, she told herself. It was better that way—better to let him go free.

  “No,” she lied dully. “I don’t miss him—and I don’t want to see him.”

  “Sylvan said that he told him you two had formed a connection,” Liv protested. “Are you sure you don’t want to see him?”

  “A connection?” Kat put a hand on her ample hip and raised an eyebrow at Lizabeth. “What kind of connection exactly and how did you form it?”

  “None of your business,” Lizabeth whispered defensively. “We just—ouch!”

  She grabbed at the side of her head and doubled over in sudden pain. A spike of pure agony had just stabbed right through her left eye and it was still going on. It felt like someone had shoved a dull knife in her eye socket and was digging around in there.

  “What? What is it?” Liv was by her side immediately, concern written all over her pretty face. “Oh, I knew Sylvan was letting you go too soon! We have to get you back to the med center right away!”

  “It’s not a matter for the med center.” Kat was still looking cool as a cucumber, a little frown playing around the corners of her mouth.

  “What do you mean? She’s clearly in pain!” Liv exclaimed.

  “Yes, but there’s nothing you or Sylvan or anybody at the med center can do to help her,” Kat said. “The only one who can help her now is Lone.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lizabeth demanded in a hoarse whisper, looking up at her friend who was still frowning at her. What was wrong with Kat and why was she being like this?

  “I’m talking about the partial bond you formed with your assistant when the two of you were away at that Tower place,” Kat said sternly. “That’s what ‘connection’ is code for, isn’t it? The two of you formed a bond only it’s not complete.”

  “How do you know that?” Lizabeth asked in an indignant whisper. “Did Lone talk to you?”

  “No, he only talked to Sylvan and me in the strictest confidence,” Liv was quick to reassure her. “And he only said you two ha