Seeing with the Heart Read online

  “Actually, Belcose went to the Heela crags and caught my mother a jubjub avian,” Belka said. “My mother made a beautiful amulet from its feathers. I’m wearing it tonight—see?”

  “What? He only caught a jubjub?” The first girl sounded disappointed. “Anyone can do that!”

  “They can not!” Belka snapped. “Jubjubs are known to be fierce and vicious predators. Why, they can peck out your eyes with their beaks if you’re not careful. Leave you as blind as a Deep Dweller!”

  There was a pregnant pause in the room and Molly could almost feel them looking at her.

  “Belka,” someone hissed under her breath. “You shouldn’t have said that! Molly from the Stars cannot see. And you said—”

  “It’s all right,” Molly said loudly, smiling in the direction of the voices. She was used to sighted people feeling they had made a social blunder when they somehow referenced blindness around her. “I’m not offended, Belka,” she hurried to assure the girl. “But I am interested to hear more about these, uh, acts of daring. How do they work?”

  The girls crowded around her, the mingling scents of their perfumes clashing in her nose and their voices talking over each other.

  “An act of daring is what a male does to prove he deserves you.”

  “That he cares about you and wants to claim you.”

  “The more daring the act, the more impressed everyone is.”

  “And then he can claim you and own you for all to see.”

  “That’s…amazing,” Molly said, trying to smile at all of them and hoping she was succeeding. “And how exactly does he, uh, claim you?”

  There were girlish giggles all around her and she thought she detected a hint of embarrassment in Belka’s voice when she answered.

  “Well, first he pledges to you…and then he marks you with his scent and you mark him with yours,” she told Molly.

  “Forgive my ignorance, but how exactly does he mark you?” Molly asked but the only answer she got was a lot of embarrassed giggling.

  “Tonight at the feast you’ll understand,” Belka said primly. “Is that big handsome male going to claim you?”

  “Who—Braxx?” Molly felt her cheeks get hot, though she attempted to retain a professional demeanor.

  “No, not that one,” Belka said impatiently. “He never seems to want to claim anyone. I’m talking about Drogor the Deep Dweller! I heard he was telling people at the male’s hut that he was in love with your scent, Molly from the Stars. Scents are all the Deep Ones care for since they do not see as we do.”

  “Oh…” Molly was momentarily nonplussed. “Well…”

  “Didn’t he say he wanted to claim you?” Belka demanded. “He told my Belcose he’d said as much but that the other male with you tried to block his way.”

  “Well, I—”

  “Ooo, could you imagine being stolen away by a Deep Dweller, like the mother of the Wise One was?” interrupted another girl. “Just imagine going to live in the Depths where everything is dark and cold all the time!”

  “But you’d have a big male like Drogor to keep you warm,” Belka pointed out. “It might not be so bad. So, Molly from the Stars, do you think he’ll claim you? Down in the Depths, your lack of sight wouldn’t matter,” she pointed out.

  Of course, this would have been insulting back on Earth but Molly didn’t think the other girl was being inflammatory on purpose—she was stating what she genuinely thought was a fact to be considered.

  “I’m really not here to be claimed by anyone,” she said carefully. “And while I’m sure the Depths and the Deep Dwellers who live there are wonderful, I prefer to stay here in the lighted world and learn about the People—the Top Dwellers.”

  “Well, but you’d have to go if you were claimed,” another girl protested. “I mean, you don’t have a sire here to speak for you and forbid it and no mate either. That means you’re ripe for claiming.”

  Molly wasn’t sure what to say to that but just then the door of the hut swung open with a squeak and someone who sounded like an older woman said that the Feast was about to begin.

  “Ooo goody! Come on, Molly.” Belka took her by the hand and led her out of the hut while all the other girls crowded around them, trying eagerly to get out and chatting excitedly at the same time.

  It was something of a confusing crush but once they got out of the hut it was a pleasant walk to the center of the village. There was smooth sand and lush grass underfoot and Belka was a surprisingly good guide.

  “I have some kin who are Deep Dwellers,” she explained to Molly, when she commented on it. “Some of them have poorer eyesight than others. Though they can get around fine in the darkness, too much light confuses them and I have to help lead during the day.”

  “Well, you do an excellent job of it,” Molly said, thinking again that the Tal’ossi might almost have been tailor-made for her to study.

  “Now here we are by the crystal fire in the center of the feasting ring,” Belka told her in a low voice. “Who do you want me to seat you by—the male you came with or Drogar?”

  “With Braxx—the male I came with, please,” Molly said quickly.

  “Are you certain? If he’s not interested in pledging to you—”

  “But Braxx has already pledged to me,” Molly told her, suddenly thinking of the way the big Kindred had taken her hands in his and promised to protect her with his life. “So we should be together.”

  “Oh really?” Belka still sounded doubtful. “He doesn’t act with you like a male who is pledged. But if you say so…”

  She led Molly over to where Braxx was already sitting by the side of the fire, made a short singing greeting to him, and helped Molly sit down beside him.

  “Thank you, thank you,” Molly sang to her. “It was so nice to meet you,” she added. “I hope I’ll get to speak to you again soon, Belka.”

  “Oh, well… that depends. I might be away for a while after tonight if Belcose claims me and carries me off.” She giggled shyly. “But I hope to see you again before you go, Molly from the Stars.”

  “I hope to see you too,” Molly said, smiling up in the direction her new friend’s voice was coming from. “Have a good time at the feast tonight.”

  “Oh, I will!” Belka laughed again and then left them, after singing a brief goodbye.

  It was time for the feast.

  Chapter Eleven

  “So, the women’s hut was interesting,” Molly murmured once she was seated beside him on the broad, cushiony leaves of the cantan tree which were placed on the ground around the large central crystal fire. “How did you like the male’s hut?” she asked.

  Braxx had to hold back the growl that wanted to rise in his throat. How had he liked the male’s hut? Not very fucking much.

  The problem had been that Drogor was there, talking about Molly, about how sweet her scent was and how he was certain she would taste just as good as she smelled. Braxx had nearly come to blows with the Deep Dweller, because he wouldn’t stop bragging about how he would claim her. Finally, he’d gotten right up in the big male’s face and informed him that he’d better stop.

  “Molly is my female—mine,” he’d growled, glaring at the other male. He knew Drogor probably couldn’t see the expression on his face very well but he hoped he could smell his aggression. “You better fucking stop talking about her or we’re going to have trouble—understand?”

  “You talk a good game, off-worlder,” Drogor taunted. “But your scent is nowhere to be found on her. Are you going to pledge to her tonight? Are you going to mark her with your scent?”

  “I am already pledged to her,” Braxx snapped.

  “A pledge is nothing without scent,” Drogor said dismissively. “We will speak no more of this, off-worlder. But Molly from the Stars, will be mine.”

  The exchanged worried Braxx—scent-marking Molly was out of the question. Though they had admitted an attraction to each other, scent-marking—at least the way Kindred did it—was an extremely