Healing the Broken Read online

  “So…they evolved to live in the water? Wouldn’t that take time?” Sarah frowned again.

  “This was not a natural evolution.” Sazar gestured at the males on the vid. “Their scientists developed a gene therapy which allowed them to draw oxygen from the water much in the same way fish do. They were able to survive in their new environment both on land and in the sea.”

  “Wow, amazing.” Sarah’s lovely hazel eyes shone with excitement. “You know, I used to go to the library and read books about different cultures and exotic people but I never thought I’d get to meet anyone outside my own little circle in the—.” She stopped abruptly.

  “In the Compound?” Sazar raised an eyebrow at her. Little by little she was letting tidbits about her past drop. It sounded extremely restrictive—who ever heard of a religion where swimming was forbidden? He wondered if she’d had to sneak away to the library—it didn’t sound like this Compound place where she’d been would allow or encourage the seeking of knowledge.

  Sarah flushed, her pale cheeks getting pink.

  “Well, yes. So do the Alquons live underwater most of the time?” she asked quickly. “Or do they spend more time in their indoor dry areas and just go out into the ocean occasionally?”

  “As to that, I’m not entirely certain. I only know that the Alquon Minister of Cultural Studies has promised me that we will be given dry facilities to stay in.”

  “Okay, that’s good enough for me.” Sarah nodded. “So where are the women—the females?” she asked, nodding at the vid. “Do they look like mermaids too?”

  Sazar shook his head. “I’m not sure what they look like. The only vids I was sent are all like these. They appear to be prominent males discussing Alquon culture and laws.”

  Sarah remembered that Kat had also complained the only vids she could get of Alquon fashion were all males and no females.

  “Discussing it for hours on end, huh?” she murmured. “Not exactly must-see TV is it?”

  “It’s not very exciting,” Sazar admitted. “But I couldn’t exactly ask for their most salacious entertainment—I had to take what was given.”

  “Oh no—it’s fine,” Sarah said quickly. “I just wish we could see their version of a soap opera or a drama with both men and women. It would be nice to know what I’m supposed to act like once we get there.”

  “You’ll act as though you were my mate or my pair partner as they are called on Alquon Ultrea,” Sazar told her. “The Minister specified that they do not allow singles to visit their communities—obviously this is something I hope to change their mind about if we are to make a genetic trade with them. A single Kindred male cannot call a female from a society where he is forbidden to come alone to see her.”

  “That would seem to pose a problem,” Sarah mused. “So is that the only reason we’re going—so the Kindred can, uh, do a trade with them?”

  “No—I’m also hoping to see if they have any technology or weapons we can copy to use against the Hive. Have you heard of them?”

  “Kat told me a little.” Sarah’s face was pale. “Giant insects who want to abduct Earth girls and do awful things to them, right?”

  “Essentially,” Sazar said grimly. “Any new weapon we can find to use against them will help.”

  “Then we have to make sure we don’t blow our cover,” Sarah said firmly. “And for now we’re pretending we’re a, uh, a couple, right?”

  Sazar nodded. “On Alquon, almost everyone is paired off at a very young age. It is imperative that they believe you are my partner.”

  Sarah’s cheeks got pink again but she nodded.

  “Yes, Commander.”

  Sazar frowned. “You’ll have to stop calling me by my title, I’m afraid. You will call me simply ‘Sazar’ and I will call you ‘Sarah.’ Is that acceptable?”

  “It’s…” She got even pinker. “It’s just fine. It’ll feel kind of funny to call my boss by his first name but I can manage…Sazar.”

  Hearing her name on his lips did something strange inside his chest. No one had called him by his first name without ‘Commander’ in front of it in so long…so very long. It felt right to hear Sarah speak his name. It was…intimate.

  Sazar wished he could take her hand or pull her into his lap again as he had the night before but she wasn’t dizzy so he had no excuse to hold her.

  He contented himself with reaching over and brushing a strand of her long brown hair which had escaped from her bun out of her eyes. Her cheek was hot against his fingertips and he couldn’t miss the way her breathing suddenly quickened but she didn’t pull away. In fact, for just a moment, she nuzzled against him and her big eyes turned up to his.

  Gods… Sazar found he couldn’t stop looking at her—their eyes were locked and he was aching to taste her sweet lips again. He knew Sarah felt the same—he could tell it by the way the warm, feminine scent of her desire suddenly filled the small cabin of the shuttle.

  She feels it too. Last night wasn’t just a fluke. She desires me as I desire her.

  He had to shift in his seat as his shaft hardened in his flight leathers.

  “Commander…I mean, Sazar,” she whispered, nibbling her lush lower lip indecisively. “I…I’m supposed to ask you something but I don’t know how to do it.”

  “You are?” he murmured, picking up on her uncertainty. “What is it, Sarah? Just ask.”

  “It…it has to do with another Earth legend. Like the mermaids?”

  The idea of the half human-half fish people she’d talked about turned his attention back to the Alquons and the mission they were supposed to be on. The one which didn’t allow for personal feelings or inappropriate contact with his subordinate.

  Sazar had been leaning over, cupping Sarah’s cheek. Now he straightened up and cleared his throat.

  “You do seem to have a lot of legends. Which one is this?” he asked, trying to sound more businesslike again.

  “It’s…about Christmas,” she said hesitantly. “Do you think we’ll be back in time to celebrate it on the Mother Ship?”

  “Christmas?” Sazar shook his head. “I’m not sure, to be honest. That’s your festival of giving, correct? Somewhat analogous to the Kindred Winter Solstice celebration?”

  “It’s more than that,” Sarah said earnestly. “It’s a religious holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ. But there are also many legends and traditions associated with it. Like Santa Clause.”

  “Santa Clause? What is that?” Sazar shook his head. “I moved to the Mother Ship just after the Christmas festival concluded last cycle so I’m afraid I’m not well acquainted with your holiday customs.”

  “Not what—who. Santa Clause is this fat, jolly old man who dresses up in a red and white fur suit. He comes around on Christmas Eve, goes down the chimney, and leaves presents for all the good girls and boys of the world as they sleep. When they wake up on Christmas morning, they come downstairs and rip into the packages he leaves to see what they got.”

  “Hmm…” To Sazar it sounded bizarre and not remotely logical. “How can one elderly overweight male get to every house in the world to leave presents in a single night?” he demanded. “Also, if he is overweight, how does he fit down the chimneys of the respective houses? And what about the domiciles which have no chimneys?

  “He flies through the sky in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny flying reindeer,” Sarah said, with a completely straight face. “And don’t worry about the chimney thing—he manages.”

  “This legend gets stranger and more implausible all the time,” Sazar complained. “How are the deer able to fly? Are they somehow genetically modified to take flight? Or is there some kind of motor in the sleigh?”

  “No, no—it’s magic.” Sarah was laughing now and Sazar found that the corners of his own mouth were twitching though he didn’t really understand why.

  “Magic? There is no such thing,” he said, trying not to laugh.

  “There is at Christmas. Look—I know it sounds crazy but it’s a