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  Storic’s gold eyes were wide. “You ate them?”

  She rubbed the back of her neck. “I involuntarily broke them down. When the nightshift showed up, they released me and used the monitors to find out what happened. I was as horrified as they were.”

  Burn gave her an understanding look. “What happened then?”

  “The goddess project was put on hold, they removed my hunger from the sequence of events for the next clone and I was sent to Ki. Ostensibly, I was supposed to prepare it for Ichadra-forming and keep new colonists from landing, but it was a prison.” She was sure that he knew that already, but it was freeing to say it out loud.

  “You learned to control your hunger.” Burn smiled.

  “You saw Ki. The only desert was my home. The rest was recovering with plant life. I learned control about five hundred years ago.”

  Storic nodded, “Which was why you warned me not to touch you when you woke. In that state, you would be working under reflex, not self-control.”

  “Precisely. I don’t want to get so hungry that I lash out without control, so I try not to let that happen. On a space station, it is hard. The only element I can grab easily is air, and moving it takes a lot of effort. If I eat the station to move the air, we will all be in trouble.”

  Burn nodded. “So, if Turan makes an appointment for you on any world, he has to make sure they are willing to let you feed.”

  Vexa smiled. “It would have helped dramatically.”

  They sat and continued their conversation until Turan’s secretary came in and summoned them to his office. They had an assignment.

  Chapter Seven

  “You know, I do enjoy these armoured suits.” The blast struck her mid-chest and Vexa flew backward, stopping her progress inches from the stone wall behind her.

  Burn was laying down covering fire, but Vexa still had to pull the water out of the cliff face.

  Making a well under fire was not something she considered to be an option previous to this moment, but the Gorwins were addicted to the plants that the Cawhiel traded for fresh potable water.

  The Cawhiel wanted to get out of the drug-running business, so they had asked the Sector Guard who had asked the Citadel for a tamper-proof well. Vexa was currently in the process of pulling the water through layers of stone and sand to the surface.

  It was coming from a depth that she would never have considered feasible before, but it was the deepest and closest water table that she could access.

  “It’s almost here. Just a little longer.” She divided her attention between the rapidly approaching spring and building barricades in front of the Gorwins.

  They didn’t want to hurt the six-legged beings, but their opponents did not have that personal restriction.

  Burn was at her side, backed there by the impending physical attack as the Gorwins got too close to shoot.

  “It’s here.” She dove forward, tackling Burn to the ground as the initial geyser of water sprayed over both of them, hissing as it struck his overheated skin.

  The Gorwins rushed the newly born spring. No matter how hard they struck it, how many blasts they delivered, the water kept coming.

  “Send up the flare.” She whispered it into Burn’s ear and he removed the flare from the safe case on his belt, lighting it and aiming it skyward.

  As it soared upward, the Gorwins howled in denial as a jubilant cry came from the lowlands nearby. The Gorwins retreated as the Cawhiel surged up the hillside to their new water source.

  “Elemental, you can get off me now.” Burn was lying under her and grinning.

  She kissed him quickly and got to her feet.

  He rose, and they stood as the terrifying view of thousands of insectoids rushed at them, chattering and clicking in delight.

  She inclined her head toward the matriarch. “I need to eat, madam. May I?”

  The matriarch clicked affirmation.

  Vexa hadn’t been planning to offer them the service of delivering their water, but the Gorwins had really ticked her off.

  She ate the stone, creating a path one-foot deep that zigzagged down the stone hillside to the edge of the village where she consumed enough rock to provide them with a good-sized holding tank.

  Chuckling, she used her hunger to consume handholds leading back to the light from her rapidly filling holding tank. Ten feet deep should be enough for casual water and they could easily structure something for standard drinking water on the pathway above.

  Burn reached in and hauled her out when she got within reaching distance. “Well done, Elemental.”

  She sighed. He had renamed her because her old designation was part of her old life. Elemental was her new call sign while on assignment to match Burn. That his name was his own, apparently, was not a matter for concern.

  “Thank you, Burn. How is the matriarch?”

  “She thanks you very kindly for the path and will name her next thirty children after you in honour of the tank. They are very pleased and wish us many children of our own.” His eyes were twinkling.

  “What?”

  “Apparently, they can see pheromone bonds, and we have one that is very strong.” Burn gave her a quick kiss and waved to Storic.

  The shuttle was waiting for them under guard by twenty Cawhiel. As they approached, the six-legged beings rose to their hind four legs and saluted with their arms. Vexa inclined her head as the guards passed them on their way to the village’s celebration.

  With one simple spring, they had ended a cycle of being blackmailed into growing drugs. The Cawhiel were capable of defending themselves against the Gorwins, as was evidenced by the hasty retreat that the attackers had engaged in.

  The safety of Novice Storic and the shuttle had been assured. No one had tried to get near it with the guards standing by.

  Storic smiled as she sealed the ship and prepared for take-off. “That went a lot better than the first one.”

  Vexa laughed. “I am aware of that. Thank you, Burn, for being with me while I worked.”

  He winked and settled back in his seat as they exited the atmosphere. “It was my pleasure. So, where to next?”

  Storic sent them a data pack on their small screens. “They are asking for you to assist in thawing a historic site. They found an ancient site on Horcoric and have requested your assistance for a few days with the possibility of weeks.”

  Vexa sighed and flicked through the scans. “Weeks?”

  Burn grinned. “I think it will be fun.”

  Storic laughed, “Good, it was you they requested. They have no idea that Elemental is on board.”

  He leaned over and kissed Vexa. “Days then.”

  She laughed and stroked her thumb over the pattern on his cheek. “Days then.”

  “Will you two stop that?” Storic grumbled.

  Burn leaned in and turned his head toward their pilot, “No.” He twisted back and kissed Vexa again.

  He was very good at kissing, she had to admit it even to herself. It made her wonder what spending the night with him would be like. Since they had started to make inroads on a physical relationship, she had extended her learning to include a sexual component.

  Both of his parent species had determined sex drives, and she had to imagine that he shared them. The details of Dhemon and Enjel mating were enough to make her blush, but both species had strictures on proceeding sexually until the female gave authorization, and as Vexa was one of the first of her species and one of the three only survivors of her designed world, she had no idea what, if any, sex drive she had.

  She wished that she could call the Destroyer to find out what she had learned, but communication between them was not encouraged. She had tried.

  Vexa read the details, flicking the pages through with her left hand. Her right was being held by Burn, and they were quietly exchanging heat and energy.

  It was a sort of exchange that had become comforting for her. She was used to him touching her at any time, and he took every opportunity to be in con
tact with her that he could manage. She enjoyed it. It was proof that she wasn’t still alone on Ki, fantasizing about a life that she couldn’t have.

  Chapter Eight

  The air was icy and the accommodations primitive, but Vexa was enjoying herself. Burn was doing a lot of the bulk melting, and Elemental was being called on for the detail work.

  The art of giving heat to the ice was assisted with Burn at her back. With a crew of archaeologists standing by to grab and catalogue the treasures, it was a slow and labour-intensive process.

  “Careful, careful.” The professor was flapping his hands in agitation.

  Vexa sighed. “We have been over this, Professor. Burn is powering me, and I am simply giving heat to the ice. We are not heating the artefacts.”

  He scowled at her. His downy features were fluffed against the cold and his beak was clicking in a stuttering rhythm.

  She completed the melt of the desktop, and the archaeologists went to work. With an instinct that the investigation was starting in her blood, she thawed the desk drawers and tugged one open.

  Smiling at the contents, she stepped aside and let the professor dip his hands in to remove a stack of journals.

  His hands were shaking as he held them, and an assistant offered him a bag to put them in. All the objects were being taken to a drying room and slowly being dehydrated to bring them back to identifiable life.

  The sun was casting everything with a burgundy glow, so it was time to call a halt to the day’s festivities.

  “Time to call it a night, Professor. We will be back here bright and early unless we are called to an emergency.” It was the same every night. Burn called a halt, the professor squawked and, in the end, everyone went to dinner.

  They had decided early on that Novice Storic should have the shuttle as her private quarters. Neither Vexa nor Burn noted the cold.

  Vexa walked into her private dome and shrugged into the long robes of her status as a Specialist with the Citadel. Burn wore his, and they walked into the dining area full of academics abuzz with the discoveries of the day.

  It made her laugh, these folk that were excited about things that happened hundreds of years earlier.

  “You are laughing at them again, aren’t you?” Burn grinned.

  “I am. Hundreds of years is such a funny concept to me. I spent longer than that trying to get my hair to stay flat after I washed it.” She snorted.

  He suddenly sobered. “Do you think you will live forever? I mean, barring disaster.”

  Vexa looked into his face and saw what she wanted for her future. “I will live as long as you do. After that, I don’t think there would be any point.”

  Burn smiled. “I will take that as an agreement to pursue more in-depth courtship.”

  She cocked her head. “Enjel or Dhemon?”

  “Enjel for the most part with Dhemon waiting until we are back on Arcani or a friendlier situation.” He took one of her hands and pressed it to his lips. “Just be lucky that I am not insisting on the Leap of Faith. We both would lose there.”

  Sobering, she stroked his cheek. “I can fly if I have to, so yes, we would both lose.”

  The idea of an Enjel female jumping off a cliff with her wings tied so that her husband-to-be could catch her was an ancient ritual saved for the most dedicated of partners. It proclaimed to any and all that no one else had a chance with either party.

  The Dhemon courtship was more basic. The male seduced the female, got her agreement, and while mating, he roared loud enough to bring anyone nearby running to investigate. With the union witnessed and confirmed by the female in question, the bond was locked. Noisy sex on Dhema was a dangerous business.

  “I never asked, do you have anything to do with family on either side aside from your parents?” She ate her nutrient soup and waited.

  They had plenty of privacy. All the academics sat by themselves, and Storic preferred not to leave the shuttle if she didn’t have to. They would see her at breakfast for the morning briefing.

  “I have met my grandparents on both sides, but they are not enthusiastic for my parents’ choice in mates. It is only my obvious power that contents them that the union was not a waste of time.”

  “So, how did they meet? I don’t have parents, so this is fascinating to me.” She smiled. It was easier to ask personal questions now, but she still was careful to ease into them. She had made it halfway through her mental list with suiting the question to the moment.

  “My parents were both at a symposium regarding genetic blending, an interest that both of them share, by the way. A colleague with a perverse sense of humour invited them both to a dinner after the symposium, and they were seated next to each other. By the end of dinner, they were finishing each other’s sentences, and the next day, they applied to be moved to a research station in the Alliance, together. I came along two years later.”

  “Have they ever expressed regret for their choice? I mean, not you, but the leaving their family and such.”

  “My father tells me that while he was very popular with the women on Jela, none of them could debate him for any length of time. He craves the mental stimulation as much as the physical. My mother bemoans her bad taste at regular intervals, then my father gets dressed up, makes her a formal high tea, and suddenly, she has the best husband in the universe.”

  Vexa laughed. “I see. It seems like a solid match then.”

  “It is. Very. I am blessed beyond measure with my parents. They didn’t stop when my talent began to flare up. They found a way to channel it and keep me safe when my own body would destroy me. They protected me without thought for themselves. They held me in the night after I had torched my own bed. They trusted me with everything they were, and they are the reason that I chose to work with the Citadel.”

  She cocked her head. “Why not the Sector Guard?”

  “Both my lineage and my talent are unstable and cause for caution. I have been more stable with you than I have been my entire life. That is one of the many little things that have proved to me over and over that we are meant for each other.”

  She twisted her lips, unsure of the next question. “I would agree with you on the being better together. I feel it too and not just when you are behind me pouring heat into me.”

  “And?”

  “Where did the patterns for your markings come from?”

  He grinned, and the marks on his face flexed. “Ancient Dhema. They are the marks used by the warriors to show family and ranking. My mother wanted to put her mark on me when she realized that I would not have horns.”

  Vexa giggled. “It must have been a shock for her.”

  “As was my lack of wings to my father. He got over it, but Mom is a little more proactive.”

  She looked at the marks that travelled down his neck, across his chest and over his arms. Dr. Argee was definitely proactive. Lovely designs though.

  Chapter Nine

  “I want to show you something.” Burn led her toward their domes and tugged her into his.

  “What?”

  He suddenly turned shy as he extended a pouch to her. “It isn’t for use when you work, but it is a star stone.”

  She opened the pouch and looked at the stone wrapped in strands of metal work that formed a tree and tiny leaves. “It is beautiful.”

  He sighed in relief. “The Cawhiel gave me the stone, and I refined the metal in the evenings here. I pulled it to form the tree.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Thank you. It is the first present I have ever gotten aside from my uniforms.”

  He chuckled and kissed her again. The heat sparked between them, and it had nothing to do with their talents.

  She opened the seal of his suit and peeled it back. Out of impulse, she traced the pattern of the swirls with her tongue.

  He shivered in her embrace, and his hands contracted on her waist.

  When his hands found the closure, she paused and kissed him again. It was her version of
agreement, and he was astute enough to take her hint.

  The feel of his hands on her bare skin sent her head spinning, and she removed his uniform while he removed hers.

  They explored, teased, touched and tasted each other, and when he eased her to his bunk and moved over her, she stopped calculating her reactions and just felt the strange ease of mingling her body with a lover. The feel of being intimate with someone she trusted was completely new, and she enjoyed every second of it.

  When they were lying side by side, he stroked his hand down her ribs, over her hip and thigh and back again. “The people who designed you didn’t know what they were letting loose on the worlds. You are completely perfect.”

  She blushed. “You are quite exotic yourself.”

  He grinned. “I am going to ask you something very serious now.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Will you share quarters with me?” He kissed her. “We can tell everyone we are conserving heat.”

  She laughed. “We both generate more heat than all the units in this expedition combined.”

  “So, why should we waste it?” He nibbled his way down her jaw and neck.

  “Why indeed?” She tilted her head to one side and let him work on convincing her.

  The next morning, she crept into her dome and tugged on a fresh suit after a flash shower. Her body was sensitive, and her heart was humming a cheerful tune that she had never felt before.

  She met Burn in the dining hall, and they sat next to each other while Storic took records of their progress as she shivered in her insulated robes.

  Under the table, their hands were woven together and their thighs touched. It was a comforting closeness that Vexa wanted to have again and again.