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  Her face was the same, but there was something in her mind behind her eyes. The cool crystal gaze stared back at her, but something was awry. She didn’t feel quite like herself, and it confused the heck out of her.

  She combed her hair, washed her face and found some clothing in the wardrobe. Loose trousers and a long tunic with a sash fit well enough, so she put on the sandals that matched the clothing and went in search of the ambassador or his wife.

  Daphne was sitting with her feet up in the area where Teyha vaguely remembered eating a meal the night before. A breakfast plate was waiting for her.

  “Morning, Teyha. Or should I say afternoon. You have been out for sixteen hours.” Daphne smiled brightly.

  “Yech. No wonder my mouth tasted like the bottom of a sand dune.” She took the open seat and looked around. “Where are the Shadow Folk?”

  “Gone. They are back on the mother ship by now, and those younglings are getting swatted and hugged in equal measure. How was your trip?”

  Teyha felt unaccountably disappointed that Ekinar had not come by to say farewell.

  “Thinking about Representative Rossing?”

  Daphne’s voice cut right through her mopey thoughts.

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “Because I look that way every time Apolan has to take a trip to the mother ship for status reports. I have seen it in the mirror.” Daphne’s lips were twisted in amusement.

  “I don’t event really know…I mean, I thought there might be…I mean he kissed me.” The last came out on a rush.

  Daphne’s brows lifted as she smiled. “A very good sign, that. The Nine only come into contact with us under duress or attraction. I am guessing it was both in your case.”

  Teyha thought about it. “No. He touched me first. I mean, I had to take the hands of the others to get them out of the oubliette but that was duress, but he wasn’t dumb enough to walk into it.”

  Daphne blinked in surprise. “You have a lot to tell me, but eat first, you are so pale, I can almost see through you.”

  Before stuffing her face, she had to ask, “Did I miss my lecture?”

  “We postponed it. You looked a little rough when you arrived. The university understood.”

  Teyha found that hard to believe. “Are you serious?”

  Daphne laughed, “No, but Apolan agreed to do a speaking engagement, and they jumped at the chance to have one of the Nine speaking.”

  Snickering, Teyha finished her breakfast. “So, what did I miss?”

  Her friend smiled slowly. “Well, you have not seen the last of Ekinar…”

  Chapter Eight

  Ekinar paced restlessly. The children had told their stories to the governing body, Nosku had tried to cover up for his nephew, and Ekinar had contradicted his version. They had to wait for the verdict of the council.

  It was peculiar to have part of him so far away, but the emotions that he was picking up from his mate soothed him when his impulses started to rise. In the two days since he had returned to the mother ship, his every waking moment had been spent thinking about Teyha.

  He felt her confusion the first time she woke and every emotion she had had since. There was nothing that Ekinar wanted more than to get down to Gaia and claim his mate, but until this inquiry ended, there was no chance of that happening.

  His shadow was barely under his control today. It lashed out at anyone who got too close and that alone had him worried. If he didn’t get to Teyha soon, he was going to go mad.

  “Representative Rossing? They will see you now.” The voice was calm and low as if trying not to enrage him.

  Ekinar jerked his head in affirmative and followed the messenger back into the council hall. The chairs were arranged in a semicircle, and he walked to the central point to wait.

  They did not leave him waiting long.

  Councillor Rothaway leaned forward, “There is some conflict in your stories, Ekinar Rossing.”

  “I suspected as much.” He was resigned to whatever disciplinary actions the council chose to enact as long as he could return to Gaia and claim his mate. After that, he didn’t care as long as she was next to him and safe.

  “We have had to engage in a last-resort effort and made arrangements to contact your guide. Do you have any objections to this?” Rothaway had a smile at the corner of his mouth.

  Ekinar was glad that they couldn’t see his grin, but then, Rothaway could probably smell the change in his biology at this distance. “I have no objection.”

  “Good.” He pressed a few controls, and an orb rose in the centre of the room, mere feet from where Ekinar stood.

  Ekinar could feel the curiosity in his mate even before her face appeared in the orb.

  She grinned down at him. “You called?”

  His heartbeat sped up, and the tendrils of his shadow reached out for her before he could call them back. He was sure that the council had noticed.

  Rothaway cleared his throat. “The council of the Nine needs you to fill in the details of what occurred during your trek through the Shadow Lands.”

  Teyha sobered, her mood chilling through their link. “Shall I begin at the beginning?”

  “Please, and leave nothing out. Careers are at stake.”

  Teyha shrugged and left nothing out.

  Ekinar winced at her initial opinion of him and his shadow as creepy.

  The rest of her story was plain and direct, including things she had noted that he had not.

  The chair in the shuttle had been set for a far larger male, so Darku’s claim that Hiska had landed the ship was ridiculous. Hiska had bruising consistent with someone gripping her forearms and forcing them onto the controls.

  When she finished her statement, she appeared outwardly patient, but Ekinar could feel the curiosity in her from orbit.

  He grinned at the way she was able to hide what she was truly feeling with a calm demeanour. Inside, she was hopping up and down to find out what was going on.

  The council nodded and Rothaway spoke. “Ekinar, no charges will be filed, but we have decided to sentence you to a minimum of six months on Gaia, after which, we will assess your situation and consider allowing your return to the mother ship.”

  Ekinar was stunned.

  Rothaway smiled, “While you are on Gaia, we will outfit you with equipment and recording devices to investigate all of the available ruined cities. I trust that you can find a reliable guide, Emissary Rossing?”

  He fought his howl of relief. “It is an acceptable compromise for my participation in this covert activity. May I reside at the embassy?”

  “Ambassador Leoraki has the Shadow Folk floor ready for you. You may take one of the two-seater shuttles and leave whenever you are ready.”

  He nodded and bowed shortly. “Thank you, Councillors.”

  The bubble with Teyha remained.

  Rothaway waved for him to leave. “You are dismissed, Emissary. Enjoy your new posting.”

  Confused, he exited the hall and took the rail to his quarters. He could feel Teyha’s emotions go from shocked to confused, then finally pleased, and he was damned if he didn’t want to know what the hell they were talking about.

  * * * *

  Facing the representatives of the Nine felt peculiar, but since Teyha was sitting in the embassy back on Gaia, she felt comfortable telling the absolute truth.

  When Ekinar was dismissed, she wondered why they still wanted to talk to her, but before she could ask, the Shadow Folk contingent stood up.

  “What is your name, miss?”

  “Teyha Wynn. What may I call you?” She raised her brows and waited.

  A low chuckle came from within the shifting shadows. “Representative Naluriak Rossing-Deenar. I believe you are about to become my sister-in-law.”

  Shock rippled through Teyha. “What? I am sorry, but Ekinar never mentioned anything of the kind.” She snorted. “Mind you, I didn’t know he had sister either.”

  Naluriak laughed. “We are not a forthcom
ing folk. You will eventually draw him out, but he is already within you, learning your moods.”

  Blinking rapidly, she asked again, “What?”

  “He kissed you, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “And in doing so, he placed a tiny bit of his shadow, or his soul, within you. He has been using it to monitor your moods.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “In public, even amongst the Nine, we always wear our shadows around us. For our males to keep out of trouble, as the third step in courtship, they place a piece of their shadow inside their female. That tiny piece of him allows him to know your moods and your location. It is a handy thing on wilder planets, and I believe that Gaia counts.”

  “Naluriak, I am not sure that that is the case with me.” Teyha bit her lip, though she knew she was lying. Whatever had changed inside her was enhancing her normally impressive echolocation, and she could feel that she was being monitored during her waking hours.

  “I am sure that it is. I can see it. My family’s shadow has a distinct pattern. It is flickering behind your eyes every time you look around. I formally greet you, sister, and I welcome you most heartily.” The woman inclined her head.

  “How is it that you were allowed in here as councillor to your people with your brother facing charges?” Teyha had to ask.

  “I could always be outvoted by the other eight. It is really that simple. I was here as a character witness.”

  Teyha nodded her head and sat up straight before she inclined her head in a mimicry of Naluriak’s. “Thank you for your greeting, sister. I look forward to one day meeting you in person.”

  There was a concentrated sigh from the eight chairs, and Teyha knew she had done something significant.

  “I just sealed my fate, didn’t I?” Her tone was wry.

  The shadow laughed. A bright, cheerful sound. “Public acknowledgement of my brother’s claim. In the eyes of the Nine, you are now declared to him and he to you.”

  Rothaway wished her luck with Ekinar, and he closed communication, leaving her sitting and facing the Forest Folk ambassador and his Gaian bride.

  “I am completely hooped, aren’t I?” She sighed.

  Daphne got to her feet. “It isn’t that bad. Living on a spaceship, they mostly clean up after themselves.”

  Apolan snorted and he grimaced. “For a woman who can turn invisible, you are around an awful lot lately.”

  She smacked her husband in the arm and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

  Apolan’s cheeks darkened, and he got to his feet.

  He stood in front of Teyha and took her hands in his. “Congratulations, new daughter of shadow. May your souls twine brightly.”

  Looking at Daphne, she shrugged, “Um, thank you?”

  He snorted and patted her on the shoulder, his face in a wicked grin. “Close enough.”

  Chapter Nine

  Teyha was nervous as she went through her daily tasks of cataloguing the few photographs from her first visit to the Temple of Shadows. She hadn’t put them into the archive, because they were her last link with her parents and their last trip together.

  It was that emergency that necessitated the flare system at least once per day or at scheduled times.

  She tried to remember them in everything that she did, and her job of archivist and guide crossed both of their disciplines. She hoped that she made them proud.

  The access to the Shadow Land had been an alternate from the one she had first taken with her parents. The first route was faster but far less stable as her parents had found out after she had left them to engage in a meeting with the faculty of the Gaian University. Speaking engagements had been arranged, and she had returned to her parents as quickly as she could. She was too late by twelve hours.

  It was something she lived with every day that she walked into the archive and saw the discoveries of her family posted on the walls.

  A shadow caressed her arm, and she turned to see Ekinar in the doorway. She wanted to tell him that he startled her, that she was surprised, but she had felt him coming, and he had known she was expecting him.

  Teyha tried to keep her mind blank as she walked up to him. “So, I hear that we are a pair now.”

  He didn’t say a word but lifted her off her feet and pressed her against the wall, his lips found hers and shadows covered her completely, wrapping her in a cocoon that felt like being surrounded completely by the man holding her.

  His lips teased at hers, and she gave into him without a second thought. She wrapped her thighs around his hips and hung on as her body soared under the all-consuming touch that was not barred by clothing.

  Ekinar’s kiss lit a fire in her that burned along her limbs until she bucked and shivered in his arms from no more than his lips on hers and his shadows around her.

  She gasped and waited for the trembling to subside. He slowly, deliciously, let her body slide down his until her feet were on the floor.

  “I believe that Apolan has some information for us so that we may complete this bonding with a bit more dignity than a wall in an office.” He trailed her lips with a tendril of shadows.

  When Teyha turned her head, Reesha was staring from the hallway. “I was coming to tell you that you had a visitor, but I am guessing that you know that.”

  Reesha’s unacknowledged talent was to share vision. She could touch your head and project what you saw through your own eyes. It was one of the spookier talents that Teyha had met in her life and not one that you wanted enacted on you.

  It took a few tries, but Teyha said, “I figured it out. Reesha, this is Ekinar Rossing, Emissary of the Shadow Folk, and he will be requesting that I help with explorations of the ancient cities.”

  Reesha nodded. “Of course. There is no one better. Do you want me to cancel the readings to the children?”

  Teyha frowned. “I have not thought that far ahead.”

  Ekinar put an arm around her. “I have an idea for that, and I am sure that Apolan will be amenable if you can take the journal you were reading from along with us.”

  Teyha shook her head. “No, but I can make a copy.”

  “Good. I would hate to disappoint those little faces. They were hypnotized by your voice.” He squeezed her waist.

  “Okay. Can you suspend my speaking engagements at the Uni? I get the feeling that I will be a little distracted for the next few weeks.”

  Ekinar didn’t give Reesha a chance to continue the conversation. He used his grip on Teyha’s waist to lift her up and out of the archive to a waiting transport.

  She didn’t make a noise, her body was completely supported by the shadows, and they had chosen interesting areas to support her.

  “How much can you lift with the shadows?”

  He smiled as they sat in the transport and the driver aimed for the Embassy of the Nine. “Up to five hundred pounds. Your weight barely registers.”

  She snickered and let second thoughts creep in.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Is this correct for you? I mean, I met your sister, and she is obviously wed to another of the Shadow Folk. Isn’t there a dark, mysterious woman out there for you somewhere?”

  He held her close. “I have been actively seeking a mate for ten years. You are the only woman who has woken my senses and made me want to be at your side all times, day or night.”

  Instead of going inside the embassy, Daphne met them at the cul-de-sac and spirited Teyha away to get her dressed in a lovely tissue-thin gown that wrapped her in all the right places.

  “The ceremony is finalised with an exchange of blood in complete privacy. You don’t drink it, he bites you and you cut him. Then, you slip the dagger into the stone it came out of, and it registers you as a bound couple. It is a lovely ceremony and very above ground.”

  “That is a strange non-sequitur.”

  “I will tell you about it one day, but it caught me by surprise.” She winked.

  With the bride ready, they walked to a h
uge garden at the back of the property. White flowers gave off the most calming scent, and when Ekinar took her hand, Teyha smiled.

  They entered the garden with a shield snapping into place behind them.

  It all went as Daphne had said, Ekinar bit her, she used the knife in the stone to slice his wrist, and when it was over, she slid the blade back into the stone. The kiss took her by surprise, but she leaned into it, her body pressed to his in an intense need that swept through her.

  “I think we need some privacy.” Her voice was low and husky to her own ears.

  “Excellent thought.”

  He lifted her in his arms, her skirts foaming around her legs as he carried her into the embassy.

  The floor of the Shadow Folk was surprisingly bright. She didn’t have a chance to admire the décor though. He carried her into one of the guestrooms and set her on her feet.

  “My bride, I have waited for you, hoped for you and dreamed for you. To have you here within my touch is enough.”

  From inside her, the words came. “My husband, I have hoped for you, waited for you and now that you are here, I wish for nothing more than your embrace.”

  To her shock, his shadows moved away from his face and body, answering a question that she had never dared ask before. “Oh, so you do wear pants under the shadows.”

  He laughed and took her in his arms, bearing her to the bed and using the remaining tendrils of his shadows to peel her gown from her and wake her body using delicate touches.

  Ekinar removed the impediments to her seeing every inch of him, and while he was chalk white, his muscles were well defined, and there was nothing untoward about the erection that called to her with silent desperation.

  Smiling, she rolled him to his back and woke his body the same way he had woken hers, but she had to use her fingers, and his shock and arousal finally necessitated her joining their bodies and beginning a slow dance that ended with their room covered in darkness and their bodies glowing within.