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  “I didn’t,” I said. “But it’s Braxian cuisine. I think I’ve tried everything in Grav’s stores and none of it is much good. Still…” I sighed. “I didn’t mind so much. It was nice just…being with him.”

  “Mm-hmm. So, tell me…” Zoe put down her wine glass and leaned forward to look at me intently. “How long have you been in love with Grav?”

  “What?” I nearly choked on my latest bite of hudu cake. I swallowed with some difficulty and looked at her. “What do you mean? You think I love him just because I asked about his culture and said I don’t mind his weird food?”

  “Yes and don’t act like you don’t.” Zoe shook her finger at me. “You can’t lie to me—you know I can always tell. Because you’re a terrible liar.”

  “All right.” I sighed. “You’re right—I’m in pretty deep. But like I said, he doesn’t return my feelings. Or he does but he doesn’t think he should—at least, I think that’s the problem.”

  “What?” Zoe frowned and picked up another pink cracker with gray paste. “Go back. Let’s unpack this a little. Now, what do you mean he returns your feelings but doesn’t think he should?”

  I told her everything, up to and including Grav’s confessions at the hands of the Widow—the first where he confessed that he loved me and the second when he said he wasn’t good enough for me because of his past—because he’d killed his father.

  “So he really murdered his own father?” Zoe asked in an awed voice. “I mean, I knew he had a dark past but my God—not that dark!”

  “It’s pretty grim, all right,” I admitted. “But he did it for a good reason—he was trying to save his mother. I don’t blame him for what he did.”

  “So tell him you feel that way,” Zoe urged me.

  “I did,” I said. “It didn’t make any difference. He said he’s still a murderer and a bad person and I shouldn’t get mixed up with him.”

  “Hmm…so you already talked to him and he still won’t see reason?” Zoe frowned. “That is a problem.”

  “Well you’ve known him longer than me,” I pointed out. “Can’t you give me some advice on how to change his mind?”

  Zoe made a face. “Unfortunately, Sarden told me Braxians are really stubborn too. So…I don’t really know what to tell you.”

  “It’s just…he makes me feel.” I took another sip of bubble wine and let it burst in my mouth before going on. “I never told you or Charlotte this, Zoe,” I said, looking down at my hands. “But, well, I never actually felt anything, sexually I mean, when we were back on Earth. Not with Gerald or anyone else. It was like that part of me was dead…or asleep. But when I left Earth with Grav, well…he made me feel. In fact, I felt so much for a while I thought I was going to go crazy.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Zoe asked. She frowned. “You know, now that I think about it, I never felt much either. I mean, I always just thought it was because I was with the wrong guys. Especially Scott—what a loser that guy was. I don’t know why I stayed with him so long.”

  “I never liked him either,” I said. “He wasn’t mean like Gerald—just lazy.”

  Zoe made a face. “Lazy is bad enough. I mean, pick your underwear up off the floor once in a while!”

  I spread my hands. “And now you live in a palace and have maids and servants to pick up your man’s underwear, right?”

  “Wrong.” She grinned. “Sarden doesn’t wear underwear most of the time. Says it just gets in the way of us getting busy.”

  “Zoe!” I slapped at her arm and she giggled.

  “The point is, I never felt a whole lot until I left Earth either. But when I got with Sarden I couldn’t stop feeling for him—even when I didn’t want to. When I was mad at him or telling myself we shouldn’t be together or couldn’t be together.”

  “Why did you think you couldn’t be together?” I asked curiously.

  “Well, to start with because he wanted to trade me to get his sister back from this awful mud-monster-gangster guy. And then later, when he realized that was wrong and apologized, I was pretty convinced we couldn’t be together because Sarden said we wouldn’t be able to form a bond.”

  “That’s what Grav keeps saying too,” I exclaimed. “He says that since he’s a half-breed, he won’t be able to bond me to him properly—whatever that means.”

  “A bond means you have a permanent link to your man. Like right now, I can close my eyes and tell you how Sarden is feeling. And if I tune in really hard, I can tell you why he’s feeling that way and sometimes I even catch his thoughts.”

  “Wow…” I looked at her uncertainly. “And he has the same link to you? That seems…kind of invasive.”

  “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Zoe smiled serenely. “But it’s not—it’s wonderful. You’re always in tune with each other and it makes the sex just unbelievable.”

  I sighed. “I wouldn’t know about that. Grav and I have, uh, done some things but we haven’t actually…you know.”

  “Made the beast with two backs? Well you need to get after that because that’s how you bond. At least, that’s how Sarden and I bonded.”

  “Really? But Grav says we can’t bond because he’s a hybrid—half Vorn and half Braxian.”

  “Sarden is half Vorn and half Eloim,” Zoe said promptly. “We didn’t have any trouble bonding. Sarden thinks it’s because I have such pure DNA—from being from a closed planet. Or maybe it has something to do with me being a La-ti-zal.”

  “Grav says I’m one too,” I said. “I, uh, healed him and someone else too—the little girl we have with us, Teeny.”

  “Oh, she’s adorable—I wish we could keep her here on Eloim.” Zoe sighed. “But that’s amazing, Leah—you must be a Healer. I’m an Opener.” She frowned. “I wonder what Charlotte is?”

  “You think she’s a La-ti-zal too?”

  “I know she is,” Zoe said seriously. “Both of you are and, well, it’s kind of my fault.”

  “What? How?” I frowned.

  “Well, as far as I can figure out, any Earth girl has the potential to become a La-ti-zal.” Zoe sounded thoughtful. “Because our DNA from the Ancient Ones is so pure. But then something happens to trigger it—like a tragedy in your past.”

  “Your sister!” I said, putting a hand to my mouth. Zoe’s sister had drowned when she was just a little girl and it had affected her deeply.

  “Exactly.” She nodded. “And then when one person is a La-ti-zal her friends can kind of catch it from her. I think you and Charlotte caught it from me.”

  “How?” I asked blankly.

  “Actually, the same way you catch a sickness. You know—sharing food and drinks and that kind of thing.” Zoe shrugged. “Weird, huh?”

  “It sure is.” I frowned. “Who knew you could catch special powers as easily as catching the common cold?”

  “Well, I don’t know if it’s that easy…but it might be.” Zoe shrugged. “The whole thing is still kind of a mystery to me. All I know is when I left Earth’s atmosphere, I was suddenly able to open and unlock things I shouldn’t have been able to. That seems to be the trigger—leaving Earth. As long as you’re in its atmosphere you’re normal. But the minute you get into space…bam!” She snapped her fingers. “You’re special.”

  “Well, that would certainly explain why that awful Count Doloroso was after me and Charlotte,” I remarked.

  “And I am so sorry about that.” Zoe looked genuinely remorseful. “We thought Grav had killed him but I had a bad feeling he would come back somehow.”

  “He did,’ I said grimly. “He came back in another body—an Earth body this time. He paid the Commercians to get one for him. But you’ll never guess which one he picked.”

  “Who? Who?” Zoe leaned forward eagerly, her bubble wine forgotten. “Is it somebody I know? Somebody famous?”

  “More like infamous,” I said. I told her and her eyes got so wide they looked like they would swallow her face.