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  Once inside the small wooden lodge, which looked to Becca like a grown up version of the tree house her brother used to have as a child, she had finally been able to relax. The hostile natives were down on the ground and the cold wind had been shut out. She felt safe here and much more welcome than she had been with the other Rai’ku she’d met. Now if Truth and Far would just hurry up and come back, she’d be perfectly happy. Well, almost.

  “Are you well, lady? Can I offer you a bowl of chii?”

  Becca looked up from the crackling blue and green flames and saw that Garron was holding out a small palm-sized wooden bowl halfway filled with clear green broth. A delicate steam rose from its surface conveying a strange but delicious smell to her nose. It was slightly herbal and vaguely sweet with hints of exotic spices she couldn’t name.

  “Thank you,” she said, taking it from him. “That’s very kind of you. All of this is very kind. I mean, you offering us hospitality.” She made a gesture with the hand not holding the chii meant to encompass the entire small, bachelor-neat, wooden lodge.

  “It is nothing. The least I could do for my brother,” Garron murmured.

  “It’s not nothing,” Becca protested. “I saw the way those people were looking at us. I just hope offering us a place to stay won’t cause you any problems.”

  “If you’re worried that your presence here will affect my standing in the community, don’t be,” Garron said quietly. “My status was already ruined long before the three of you came.”

  Becca remembered him saying something similar to his mother when she’d first objected to Becca and her men staying with him.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked carefully. “Is there anything we can do for you while we’re here? Anything—?”

  “I thank you but no, there is nothing anyone can do. Do you like your chii?” Garron asked pointedly, obviously changing the subject.

  “Oh, let me try it.” Fearing she might have offended him, Becca took a big mouthful of the steaming green broth…and nearly choked. From the scent, she’d been expecting something that tasted like slightly sweet herbal tea. But her mouth was telling her something completely different from her nose. The liquid was like a cross between cream of chicken soup and hot chocolate with an alcoholic aftertaste that made it burn going down.

  Somehow she forced herself to swallow but the strange broth brought on a coughing fit that wouldn’t stop.

  “Are you all right?” Garron hovered anxiously, offering her a glass of plain water. “I’m so sorry! Nella always says I make my chii too strong. Well, she used to say that, anyway,” he added, almost as an afterthought to himself.

  “No, no—it’s delicious,” Becca assured him in a choked voice. “Just…not what I expected.” She put the small bowl of chii down carefully on the low table beside the fire. “So tell me, who’s Nella?”

  “No one.” Garron looked away. “She is…gone.”

  “Gone where?” Becca asked softly. She could tell that Truth’s brother had some secret pain. He’d been so kind to offer them a place to stay when everyone else hated them, she wished she could make him feel better.

  “To the sky. More chii?” Garron asked, reaching for her bowl. “You still have a little left.”

  “I, um, I’m watching my figure,” Becca said weakly. “So maybe in a minute. First tell me about this Nella. What do you mean, she went to the sky?”

  “To be with the Father of Flight.” Garron sighed. “It’s the way we say someone is deceased. She’s dead.”

  “Oh!” Becca put a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry! I feel like such an idiot for prying. I know how your people are about privacy. I just thought that maybe if you wanted to talk…” She shook her head. “Never mind, it’s stupid.”

  “No, it’s not.” To her surprise, Garron pulled up a small seat which looked like a log with a padded blue cushion on top. “Will you sit?” he asked courteously, offering it to her.

  “Yes, thank you.” Becca settled herself on the cushioned log, which was surprisingly comfortable. Garron simply sat on the wooden floor beside her and crossed his long legs in front of the fire.

  “Forgive me if I sounded unwelcoming of your questions. It’s just that…no one asks questions here. Not personal ones anyway. It is…not the Rai’ku way.”

  “So I gathered from Truth,” Beca said dryly. “He’s an intensely private person.”

  “Then he probably hasn’t told you much about our society,” Garron said.

  “I know a little,” Becca said cautiously. “I know you have a second nature—that your people can turn into some kind of, um, animal when they want to.”

  “Males only. Females do not have a dr’gin within.”

  “They don’t?” Becca was surprised. “Truth never mentioned that.”

  “Being pure bred Kindred he has no dr’gin within to speak of.”

  “And you do?” Becca asked without thinking. “I mean, being only half Rai’ku…oh dear, I probably shouldn’t have asked that,” she said, seeing the closed look in his turquoise blue eyes. “It’s way too personal, isn’t it?”

  “It would be coming from one of my own people but you are an outsider,” Gannon said stiffly. “You’re entitled to some curiosity.”

  “But if you’d rather not answer…”

  He sighed. “No, I don’t mind. Everyone else knows—why shouldn’t you? The color of my eyes proclaims that I should have a dr’gin within me—one of exceptional size and power.”

  “But?” Becca prompted gently when he fell silent.

  “But I don’t,” Garron said bluntly. “Or if I do, it has yet to manifest and it is long past the time when it should have come to light.” He ran a hand through his thick, black hair. “I cannot tell you how many times the virgins have been gathered for me and yet…nothing seems to bring it out.”

  “Virgins? What does gathering virgins have to do with it?” Becca asked uncertainly.

  “When it comes time for a male’s first change—his first turning as we call it—all the unmated females of the pack must be called together so he can pick one.” Garron shook his head. “To be surrounded by a group of very expectant females over and over again and not be able to turn…” He trailed off, staring into the fire.

  “That must be really frustrating,” Becca said softly.

  “It is humiliating.” He sighed. “But also…something of a relief. I’m only half Rai’ku—I suppose that’s why I have no taste for blood.”

  “Um, what?” Becca coughed to cover her confusion. “I’m sorry but what does that have to do with anything?”

  Garron looked up at her. “Oh, I suppose that’s another thing Truth never told you. It’s the real reason the Kindred High Council won’t sanction a formal trade with the Rai’ku.”

  “Do you bite the girl you pick as a mate?” Becca asked, fascinated despite herself. “Because I know the Blood Kindred—”

  “We kill and eat them. One at least—sometimes several. It depends on how long the dr’gin has been waiting to surface and how bloodthirsty it is when it finally emerges,” Garron said in a low voice.

  “You…eat the virgins?” Becca felt a little sick to her stomach and it wasn’t just the chii she’d had that was making her ill. “Seriously?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.” Garron looked into the fire again. “You may have noticed that there are many more females than males in our society.”

  “I, uh, mostly noticed the way they were looking at me and Far and Truth,” Becca said in a low voice.

  “There is a ratio of about three to one. It is nature’s way of making sure the race doesn’t die out completely,” Garron explained. “When at least one or two females must be sacrificed for every male who comes to maturity, you must have many more females to start with.”

  “I suppose that makes sense,” Becca said faintly. “But why…why do you kill them?”

  “It’s not intentional,” Garron said. “It’s simply that the dr’gin is a mindless beast—