“You mean I had a choice to accept the Rakanasmara or not?” she asked. But that makes no sense. If Rakanasmara only happens once in a person’s life, my life, by saying no I condemn myself to never finding another life partner.
“Yes,” Ktua Barrin said. “Did Ktua Ringa not explain this to you?”
At the Ktua’s question Judan’s fingers dug into her back. Not painfully, but enough to indicate his agitation with her line of questioning. Or the outcome. He’d been gone for two hours and returned with two Ktua in tow to verify the Rakanasmara between them. Had he presented his case for Rakanasmara to the Ktua and what? Been denied immediate approval until they got a look at this upstart foreigner who claimed to have the genetic compatibility to mate a Dakokatan. She bristled at the notion.
“There wasn’t any need,” she said at the same time Judan said, “It wasn’t an issue.”
She quirked a smile at him and stepped closer into his embrace. He didn’t smile back, but his fingers unclenched and his hand slid around her waist, securing her next to him. Ktua Longi watched their interaction with rapt interest.
What was it with these people that they kept watching her? Looking for…what? An outbreak of green skin? It wasn’t going to happen. Did she need to paint a sign on her forehead saying “Dakokatan genetic code found inside, honest”? Except, of course, it now appeared carrying Dakokatan DNA wasn’t proof enough.
“Are you doing this because I don’t look Dakokatan?”
“Myrina,” Judan said, rather sharply. “The verification is necessary. It’s standard procedure for everyone.”
Okay, I get it, big guy. Standard procedure, but I’ll bet this house call isn’t very usual because something about the verification has you worried.
“The doctor is correct, though. It has never been heard of,” Ktua Barrin said. “Rakanasmara occurring with an outsider.”
“Not quite,” Ktua Longi said in a quiet voice.
“What?” Myrina asked, glancing around the small group.
“Why don’t we sit down?” Judan gestured towards a group of oversized chairs at one end of the room.
Judan’s spacious apartment, much like his office aboard the Speedlite, was filled with wood and a minimum of metal. He had many water-themed decorations, including a fish tank filling one corner of his living room. Not surprising, once she’d discovered that Bandar Besar was situated at the edge of the Tekur desert. The same Tekur desert that was home to the giant sand lizard and tekurilite.
Judan steered her toward a soft, sky blue chair. She caught him glancing at a picture of Zane which sat on a nearby table before he pulled her down to share the seat with him. The picture was one of several she’d found of the young boy in the apartment along with a bedroom that seemed to belong to Zane. At least part-time.
Is he somehow mixed up in this, too?
Ktua Barrin kept her cape on, but Longi removed his before choosing a seat opposite Myrina.
“Tell Myrina what you told the Ktua,” Judan said to Ktua Longi once everyone was sitting down.
It seemed as if a pair of moths chose that moment to set up residence inside Myrina’s stomach. “Tell me what?” she asked.
“I am Spar Longi.” He paused as though waiting for some sort of reaction. After a moment, he added, “I see that my name means nothing to you.”
“I’m afraid not,” she said. Judan’s fingers threaded their way through her hair.
Spar Longi sighed and shook his head. “I was expecting too much. I suppose it is not surprising, though, given what Judan told us of your personal history.”
“My personal history?” She couldn’t seem to string a coherent sentence together. She felt as though she was balancing on the fine edge of anticipation. “You mean the fact that I’m an orphan.”
Longi winced, then nodded. “I have every reason to believe,” he said, “That my eldest uncle was your grandfather.”
Chapter Sixteen
“We have not yet verified the familial connection,” Ktua Barrin said. She did not sound pleased by Spar Longi’s revelation. She seemed to be a real stickler for regulations. And, for the first time, Myrina understood Judan’s concern. This woman wasn’t going to give them any latitude.
“A DNA test is simple enough,” she said then turned back to Spar Longi. “Please,” she said. “Tell me what you know.”
“Have you heard of the hill dwellers?” he asked.
Myrina shook her head.
“They are the indigenous peoples of Dakokata. Our race settled here much later, but we enjoyed a peaceful coexistence for many centuries. The hill dwellers tended to keep to themselves, living in caves and valleys deep in the Gunun Mountains that border Bandar Besar to the north.
“Many years before I was born, my uncle declared that he’d experienced Rakanasmara with a woman of the hill dwellers. At that point in our recorded history,” he said with a stern look at Barrin, “there were no instances of this happening. Unfortunately, despite some support from his family, their Rakanasmara was not validated.
“I think he would have gone to live with her anyway, but her family didn’t support the partnership at all. My uncle owned his own ship, a prototype of the Speedlite model. One night they disappeared and nothing more was known of them until now.”
Myrina hadn’t realized how hard she was gripping Judan’s hand until he caressed her arm. Moved by Spar Longi’s story, she blinked back the suspicious wetness that filled her eyes. She didn’t dare ask how many Longi relatives there were. After twenty-nine years alone, having one living, breathing cousin of sorts sitting across from her, talking about her grandfather, was about all she could handle at the moment. Still a feeling of elation stole over her. Threatened to overwhelm her.
“Did you know?” she asked Judan.
“I just found out the story this morning,” he said, giving her head another caress.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about him or my grandmother,” she told Spar Longi with regret.
“But you already have,” he said. “You are here. Proof that my uncle and his wife had a child who also found a life partner.” Here he paused to pull a piece of cloth from his pocket to wipe the corner of his eyes. “I profoundly regret, Dr. deCarte, that none of them felt able to return here. To see that you had a proper home.”
“Please,” she said. “Call me Myrina. The other name isn’t really my own. It is the family name of the patroness who sponsored me and was given to me at the orphanage.”
“And I,” Spar Longi said, “would be honored if you called me cousin.”
“This is all very well,” the woman said. “But it does not help us validate the Rakanasmara between the Ktua and the doctor.”
At least she hadn’t called Myrina an outsider, again.
“Did you explain the rituals to Dr. deCarte when Rakanasmara occurred between you?” Spar asked.
“No,” Judan said. “I wooed her instead.”
“Wooo-ed?” the woman said, a puzzled frown on her face. “What is that?”
“An old custom that involves chocolates and flowers and dinner dates,” Myrina answered. “I don’t suppose any of those things are on your list of rituals.”
The woman shook her head, obviously confused by the answer.
“Careful, Little Warrior,” Judan growled. “This is serious.”
Then he reached over and unsnapped her jumpsuit straight down to her cleavage.
“Don’t you dare do that again,” she shouted and tried to bat his hand away. “You said I could wear this.”
“Yes,” Judan said, delving past her hand to reach inside her jumpsuit. “I’m also honored you choose to wear the pendant I gifted you with.”
Myrina felt the heat of a blush creep up her neck when he pulled the pendant out to show the two Ktua. Okay, so she already knew the pendant was a ritualistic symbol, but she preferred to keep her exhibitionist tendencies strictly private.
“You could have asked,” she grumbled as she re-snap
ped the suit.
“Judan has obviously fulfilled the requirement for the Token of Wealth, if Myrina has been wearing the pendant for a few days. I believe we can assume the gifting occurred after the other two tokens were shared.” Here Spar Longi glanced rather pointedly at Judan, who nodded.
“Fine,” Ktua Barrin said. “What of the first token, the Water of Life?”
“Hey,” Myrina said, sitting up straight. “I can answer that one. That’s that glass of water thing we did the first night we met, right?”
“Right,” Judan said.
He was leaning back in their chair, one arm behind her while he fingered her hair. His casual gesture was a little odd considering he’d told her twice how serious this was. But his relaxed manner helped Myrina ease up a little, too, which was probably his intention. She grinned at him. Judan really had covered the bases. And he’d been creative and sexy and…loving while teaching her Dakokatan customs.
Ktua Barrin nodded as if she had a damn checklist hidden under her cape. “What about the second ritual, the Token of Welcome?” she asked. “The Ktua had to pay a visit to your relatives, doctor, who would gift him with a token, welcoming him to the family.”
“Myrina,” Judan said, pulling her back into his arms.
She waved him off.
“But I’m an orphan. I have—had no family.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if there were any exceptions. Then she remembered that no one on Dakokata went without a family. Which meant…
She looked at Spar Longi. The concept was still too new, too weird to think of him as a long lost cousin who could help her out of this mess. Besides, according to his story, she was the one who’d been lost.
“I’m sorry, Myrina,” Spar said with a helpless shrug. “If we had met sooner, my family would have been proud to gift Judan on behalf of your grandfather. But, I’m afraid the order of the rituals is quite precise, as is the requirement of a gift.”
And that was what was wrong here with this whole validation process. Everyone was so concerned about the rituals being done in the correct order. Being done properly, that the meaning behind them was lost in translation. No wonder Judan didn’t understand love. Where was the time to stop and experience it when you were suffering from performance anxiety…of the ritualistic kind?
“Myrina,” Judan said, again.
She shook her head. “No, wait,” she said. “I just want to understand this.”
If she’d wanted to take it this was her perfect way out. Heck, she hadn’t been too enamored of the complications Rakanasmara had brought to her life when she’d first come face-to-face with it. So, who needed it?
Judan does.
The thought shot through her brain like a falling star. The kind you made a wish on and then believed that wish comes true. Was Judan that kind of man? A man to make a wish on. A man to take a risk on. He’d certainly been stubbornly dogged in his pursuit of her.
Who needed Rakanasmara?
I do. Because she did. She wanted him.
She shook her head. Judan was right. This was serious. Too serious to wimp out on.
She turned to Spar and Ktua Barrin. “So what you’re both saying is that even though I have the genetic code, even though the Rakanasmara kicked in when Judan and I met, even though we performed the Water of Life and he gifted me with a pendant and even though neither one of us wants to deny our partnership, the validation is bust because he couldn’t get a gift from my nonexistent family. Is this what you’re saying?”
The Ktua glanced at each other in pained silence, which was answer enough. No wonder her grandfather had decided to leave Dakokata where customs meant everything and there were no exceptions for the surprise of love. Until now.
“Then,” she said. “It’s fortunate that Judan followed my traditions.”
She shuffled forward in her seat and then lowered herself onto one knee on the floor and faced Judan. She ignored Ktua Barrin, though she didn’t mind Spar Longi watching. She picked up Judan’s hand and he sat a little straighter, a quizzical look on his face.
“I didn’t exactly tell the truth yesterday when I told you I want you,” she said.
The brilliant sparkle in his eyes dimmed a little with her words. Still he nodded in understanding. “What is the truth, Myrina?”
“I love you, Judan Ringa,” she said. “Will you follow my customs and marry me?”
A grin quirked the side of his mouth and then he laughed. “A, what do you call this, a proposal. Yes, Little Warrior,” he said. “I’ll marry you. I love you, too.”
With that he hauled her up into his lap. She had just enough time to wrap her arms securely around his neck before his mouth descended onto hers. The kiss warmed her straight to her toes.
“This is most curious,” Spar Longi said when they came up for air.
Myrina tried to shuffle over so she could sit beside, rather than on top of, Judan. He was having none of it and simply shifted his own position on the chair to hold her more securely on his lap.
“It does not change the problem before us,” Ktua Barrin said.
“No, no, that is not what I meant,” Spar said. “Judan, you said you loved this woman. I have heard of the concept, but don’t understand it. Can you explain?”
Well, hot damn. Myrina turned to look at Judan. He had told her he loved her, hadn’t he?
Judan shook his head. “I don’t understand it. Can’t explain it. And don’t care to. I just know how I feel.”
“But this is truly extraordinary,” Spar said. “I have spent most of my life studying Rakanasmara. It has been my dream to somehow validate my eldest uncle’s claim, but there is one point that has always baffled me.”
“Love?” Judan asked, a look of stunned surprise on his face.
“Do any of you know what Rakanasmara really means?” Spar asked. The question appeared rhetorical because he proceeded to give them an answer. “Although we have come to understand the term as meaning a life partnership, the ancient texts in fact give an entirely different explanation. Rakanasmara refers to finding one’s love partner, although until now I had no idea what that meant.”
“A love partnership, huh,” Myrina said with a grin. “I like that. It means I haven’t so much started a new tradition as resurrected an old one.”
“That may be so,” Ktua Barrin said. “But without the Token of Welcome the Rakanasmara as it is currently understood cannot be validated.”
Well crap. Hadn’t she been listening?
“The validation doesn’t matter anymore,” she said.
“Yes, it does,” Judan said.
Double crap. What is he doing messing with my plan?
“It does? Since when?”
“Since always, Little Warrior. You do not think I would, how do you say, come this far without making sure the Rakanasmara between us would be accepted. That you would be accepted.”
Just like that she melted at Judan’s words. Then she remembered that he’d agreed with Spar Longi that he’d given her the pendant after completing the first two rituals. Then she remembered the coffee, her adoptive brother Parker’s, coffee, that he’d served at the midday meal the first day she’d come aboard the Speedlite. And those tears she’d held back before pricked the corners of her eyes.
“Made sure you covered all the bases, huh,” she said. “Protecting me as best you can.”
Judan nodded. “That’s what you do when you love someone.”
* * * * *
Well crap. So much for romance and a cool, breezy apartment. Myrina was hot and sweaty and her limbs were definitely starting to ache.
About two seconds after resolving the Token of Welcome issue, she and Judan had faced one more hurdle. While the requirements for the three ritual tokens had now been validated, thank you very much, there was still the matter of final acceptance. And wouldn’t you know it, her marriage proposal and his acceptance of it didn’t count. Because she was the one who had to do the accepting.
&n
bsp; The moment the woman had started in on her explanation, Myrina had cringed. Judan had been stoic and blunt. Yes they had mated, but no he hadn’t enticed her to his bed—they’d used hers. More or less. Her newfound cousin had immediately declared this lapse in protocol understandable, given the circumstances, and stated he was sure the situation would be rectified, soon. He’d then hustled both himself and Ktua Barrin out of the apartment. Myrina swore she’d seen him wink at Judan.
Who hadn’t waited two seconds longer to invite her out.
So here she was tramping up some damn mountainside rather than warming his bed. The least the man could have done was to show a little appreciation. Thank the second moon or the first moon or heck, maybe all three moons. She’d taken a big risk back there, they both had.
She paused on the trail, hoping to catch her breath. Below her Bandar Besar snaked like a green ribbon on either side of the meandering river that ran between the desert and the mountains. She still had only fleeting impressions of the Dakokatan capital. The town her grandparents had fled so many years ago. Heat, humidity and bright, rich colors all vied for her attention. And she’d been curious and eager to explore, but Judan hadn’t given her time. He’d headed straight for the suburbs, past the small farms and into the foothills.
In the distance she glimpsed the flat sea-green delta that led to a sea. And on the edge of the green, stretching as far as the eye could see was the desert. Surprisingly not flat, but undulating rolls of sand. She looked back up the trail and beyond to the sharp peaks.
“I’ve got to tell you. If this is my grandmother’s definition of a hill, I’d hate to see what she called a mountain.” She grinned in spite of herself. She’d just mentioned a relative in casual conversation.
“To the hill dwellers, these lower elevations are hills. Myrina.”
“Umm.” Geesh, the green guy wasn’t even breathing hard.
Love Partner Page 21
