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  “Welcome,” it said. “To the Pillar of the Heart. How may I help you become one?”

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Stavros disengaged hastily. Though he hated to pull out of Charlotte so quickly, he wasn’t completely sure that whoever was on the other side of the golden pillar was friendly. He wanted to be ready to defend his female if necessary and he couldn’t do that while he was still thrust balls-deep inside her.

  “Who are you?” he demanded, rising and pulling on his sleep trousers hastily. He had been under the impression that the Heart of Love was an inert artifact kept locked away in the golden pillar. So who in the Seven Hells was speaking?

  “It is I, T’dai al J’Lorgon,” the voice replied. “Come in and let us speak.”

  “Should we go in?” Charlotte was also scrambling to get dressed as the crack widened into a kind of doorway.

  Stavros nodded. “I think we should. But stay behind me.”

  He walked carefully through the glowing aperture and into the inner sanctum of the Heart of Love with Charlotte close behind him. As soon as his eyes grew accustomed to the light, he saw the source of the pinkish-golden glow.

  In the center of the room inside the Pillar of the Heart was a cleansing pool. As with the other pool he had seen, it appeared to be made of flowing, swirling liquid which he knew was actually plasma. But instead of turquoise, this plasma was a warm rose-gold. It rose in a vast, round, translucent column from the floor up into the darkness to some invisible ceiling above.

  The being who was speaking to them-- T’dai al J’Lorgon himself if he was to be believed—was standing in the center of this pink column and staring at them with ancient eyes. He was old—so old it was hard to tell what species he was though Stav knew he was supposed to be Syntharian. His skin was wrinkled and his hair and beard, which floated gently in the plasma, was pure, snowy white.

  “Greetings.” He bowed to them. “Forgive me for not leaving the healing plasma—it is all that keeps me alive.”

  “Of course.” Stavros bowed and Charlotte copied him. “It is an honor to meet you,” he said, straightening. “We did not know you still lived.”

  “I live…I live…” The old male made a cackling sound Stav assumed was a laugh. “Though mostly I sleep. In fact, if what the plasma is telling me is correct, I have been asleep for five hundred cycles this time. Your attempt at oneness is what woke me.”

  From the corner of his eye, Stavros could see Charlotte blushing.

  “We’re, uh, sorry if we woke you up from your nap,” she said, reaching down to straighten her robes which were on a bit crooked.

  “Not at all, not at all.” J’lorgan nodded genially. “I do not mind. I rise to the surface of wakefulness from time to time—mostly whenever a new couple attempts to achieve oneness together. But the two of you woke me completely. Truly, your love and desire for each other must be unquenchable to have brought me completely awake.”

  “Oh, uh…” Stavros cleared his throat, not sure what to say. It was true that he had foolishly declared his love for Charlotte right before the pillar split, but he was certain she didn’t feel anything for him. The old male must be confused about what had wakened him.

  “We’re here to learn about the Heart of Love,” Charlotte said at last, breaking the awkward silence. “We’ve heard so much about it. Where is it, please? Can we…could we see it?”

  “The Heart of Love?” To Stavros’s consternation, the old male burst out laughing. “Why, my dear—this is the heart—the center of the entire place.” He gestured around him, indicating the pink pillar of plasma.

  “Where?” Charlotte asked. “You don’t mean your pink and gold swimming pool, there do you?”

  “That is exactly what I mean. When I constructed this resort, many cycles before, I envisioned it with a place where couples could come together in the light of love and since this is the center or heart of the entire resort, it was called The Heart of Love.” He smiled. “Now, I, of course, am the mind. That is why it is called J’lorgan’s Mind. I am able to command and control all of it right here, from inside my plasma pool. Though I mostly leave it to others now.”

  “You might want to look into what kind of others you’re leaving it to,” Charlotte said tartly. “The Joined Ones in charge right now are sadistic assholes.”

  J’lorgan frowned.

  “Joined Ones—what do you mean? I left Ye’ha and Na’ho in charge—a loving pair of Hossans which I trained myself. Their oneness was almost complete which was why I felt confident enough to let myself slip into unconsciousness.” He sighed. “I am well over two thousand cycles old, after all, Such age weighs heavily on a male.”

  “Ye’ha and Na’ho have fused together into Ye’he’Na’ho. Facilitated, I think, by the other plasma pool—the cleansing pool,” Stavros told him. “They share a body and even their heads are conjoined though they still have separate faces. Their joining seems to have affected their minds.”

  “It’s made ‘em crazier than a couple of shit house rats,” Charlotte said bluntly. “They gave me licks with a fire whip for talking about the past and also put both of us in the Temple of Regrets.”

  “The Temple of what? There was no such place here at the resort the last time I was awake. And a fire whip? But I have never condoned any kind of corporal punishment! It is strictly against my beliefs!” J’lorgan was growing agitated. “Wait a moment,” he said, waving both hands excitedly. “Give me a moment to verify all you are saying.”

  Closing his eyes, he spread out both arms and floated upward, disappearing into the top of the vast cylinder of plasma.

  Charlotte turned to Stav.

  “Think we should’ve told him?”

  He shrugged. “If he is awake it seems he would have found out sooner or later anyway. The real question is, what are we going to do about the Heart?”

  “I don’t know.” Charlotte sounded despairing. “I thought it was something we could pick up and take home in our pocket.” She reached out and stroked her fingertips over the surface of the plasma but quickly drew back. “Oh—it tingles!”

  “We had better not touch it,” Stavros said darkly. “There is no telling how it might affect us.”

  “You’re right.” Charlotte wiped her palm down the side of her robe. “But do you think it would be possible to transport any of this stuff home? And how would we use it when we got there? Put it in a bomb and shoot it at the Dark Kindred?”

  “I don’t know if something like this can be weaponized,” Stavros said thoughtfully, looking at the golden pink glowing pillar. “If I understood J’lorgan correctly, it is the embodiment of pure love. Or at least, some kind of pure emotion. How would exploding a bomb like that stop our enemies?”

  “Well, I know they don’t have emotions but I’m not sure.” Charlotte looked down at the metal floor. “Speaking of love—it’s weird how we woke him up, huh? I know you were just, you know, shouting out stuff in heat of the moment. When you…when you said you loved me, I mean. But I guess the pillar thought you really meant it.”

  “Charlotte, I did m—” Stavros began but just then a familiar voice interrupted him.

  “So you do care for each other after all.”

  Turning quickly, he and Charlotte found themselves face to face to face to face with Ye’ha’Na’ho.

  The Joined one was frowning at them with both faces.

  “What’s this? The pillar not only split but completely open?” the female face asked, eyes widening. “This has not happened in over five hundred cycles!”

  “Where is J’lorgan?” the male face demanded. “What have you done with him?”

  “Perhaps the old fool has finally dissolved inside his pool of plasma,” the female face said hopefully. “If so, we are now in position to take complete control.”

  “You will do no such thing!” Suddenly J’lorgan himself descended from the top of the plasma cylinder looking like an avenging angel.

  “Master?” both faces of the