Heart Sight

by Robin D. Owens

  “It is the closest to the path to the ocean.”

  “Oh.”

  With all the teams working on the house, it took only minutes to excavate the basement and shore it up, then lay the foundation and raise the frame. A pile of yellow stones appeared on the property, along with a vat of perma-mortar. Though Rhyz ran around the area, hopping now and then in glee that echoed through Vinni’s mind, he didn’t seem to get underfoot.

  “Your house has many corners!” Vinni exclaimed, surprised. Of course their forebears had instituted the circular shape as the basis of much of their culture, but most homes remained square or rectangular.

  “Octagonal,” Avellana confirmed. “I like corners. And it has a main front door, a lesser back door, and two of the double sliding glass windows on each side open as doors. Four entrances, like the Hopeful Cathedral. I wished to celebrate my religion.”

  “Glass doors,” Vinni muttered under his breath.

  “Armorglass. My home is strong.”

  Bricklike stones zinged across the sturdy composite foam metal beams, the girders produced by the starship Nuada’s Sword. Yes, his love’s house would be strong.

  The wide front porch and deck made the first story of the house look larger than the second level, equally full of windows, and with a much smaller top story, consisting of windows with only an edging of brick. His heart constricted as he understood she—and Antenn—had designed a perfect art studio.

  Rhyz raced up the porch stairs, then circumnavigated the structure. Apparently the deck encompassed the whole house. When he came back into view, he hopped up to the railing and called out mentally, The outside is done. Come see!

  At the same time, Antenn called telepathically, Come on down! So Vinni hurried beside his love down the trail to the valley and her house. He’d find out exactly when the shieldspells would be going up, and make sure the top security expert would be making them.

  Avellana flung herself into Antenn’s arms burbling gratitude, and only the knowledge that the architect loved his HeartMate kept Vinni from prying her from him. Still, Antenn smirked at Vinni over Avellana’s shoulder.

  Then Avellana pulled away and took the steps to the deck and walked around the front of the house. She inspected the wood of the wide porch, the stylish small pillars and railing, humming to herself—one of the simple tunes they would use in the ritual later.

  Vinni moved close to Antenn and murmured, “The town wall.”

  Antenn jerked his head in brief agreement and grimaced. “I got the gilt, and the wall will go up tonight after Arta Daisy’s home.” He paused, slid his gaze to Avellana, who moved to the next octagonal side and looked in the wide windows. “Some of us didn’t want a wall around the town.”

  “Like you,” Vinni stated.

  “Like me. And my partner. If the majority of the community members hadn’t already voted on a wall, I would not have accepted the gilt or put one up.” His lips compressed. “I’d been hoping to convince the others that a wall wouldn’t be needed. Or that the new people buying into Multiplicity wouldn’t want a wall.”

  “Plenty of reasons to have a wall,” Vinni responded stiffly. “Wild animals—”

  “—Bad people, tradition,” Antenn ended for him, then flicked his hand as if sending those arguments away. “Not sure how many big and threatening wild animals there were here on the Varga Plateau before the fire two years ago, but that destroyed a lot of habitats. And I know you’re concerned for Avellana’s safety.”

  “You don’t think the remnants of the Traditionalist Stance group would attack this?”

  Antenn’s face hardened. “I’ve fought those folks on several levels and won. Maybe they’d think of revenge, but I’m well able to defend this place.”

  Vinni grunted.

  “Come on, Muin. Come see my beautiful home. My very own place,” Avellana called.

  All right, more than a splinter, more than a twinge of hurt. How was he going to deal with this? Impossible and wrong to blame her, bad to keep hanging on to negative guilt at himself, too. But he’d have to deal with this, and before the ritual tonight, or he could ruin that. He—they—dared not fail tonight. Not with such a simple ritual.

  He found himself clenching his jaw, and when Avellana glanced at him, she stilled. Tilting her head, she asked mentally, Muin?

  So he went with the other concern that she would understand. Clearing his throat, he nodded at her house as he joined her on the porch. “Nice wide stories. Your home looks more horizontal than vertical. Huge windows. They seem thinner than armorglass. What of the stone you’re using as bricks? How strong are they?” he muttered.

  She tucked a hand around his arm. “All the best materials, I promise. I know how you fret.”

  He gave an inarticulate grumble but couldn’t deny the fact.

  “And the township has scheduled the placement of the strongest shieldspells for our homes and shops at the beginning of next week.”

  “Two days from now, long enough for—”

  Avellana lifted her brows. “For what? For someone to set a trap in my house? I assure you, we, the members of the community, will have guards.” She paused. “Furthermore, the houses will be occupied—”

  “You aren’t coming out here tonight after the ritual!” Vinni felt blindsided with the blow, the sense of loss. Avellana in her home, a place she hadn’t invited him into even now. Abandoning him.

  She wet her lips. “I have not decided.” A little sigh escaped her. “No doubt it would be more sensible to stay in Druida City.” Her gaze slid to his.

  He grabbed her fingers and lifted them to his lips. “You know you are welcome to stay with me in my suite.”

  Her chin dipped in a nod, but she gazed through the windows, watched the inner wall panels being laid, smooth and tinted a creamy color.

  Letting a breath sift out, he said, “Organizing furnishings and moving them in tonight could be . . . difficult.” He wondered about the bed. What size bed had she chosen?

  She nodded, expression serious. “This is true. Better to furnish the house tomorrow. Perhaps midmorning.” Not looking at him, she said mind-to-mind, I do not trust myself with you anymore, Muin.

  Hurt stabbed through him. He had to settle into his balance to keep from rocking back as if from a blow. And he hid that from her, too.

  But she continued, I do not think we will be able to be together physically and not initiate the HeartBond.

  Relief dizzied him.

  Come, FamWoman. We must explore inside! Rhyz bolted from the front porch through a newly made swinging Fam door. Avellana sent Vinni a laughing look and followed her cat, entering her house through one of the sliding glass doors.

  Vinni allowed himself a shudder in delayed reaction.

  Antenn glanced at him, then away as if he’d seen too much. After a moment’s hesitation, he strolled up to Vinni and murmured, “I’m not going to let you hit me.”

  Vinni raised his brows.

  “You look like you need some sort of release, but it isn’t going to be hitting me.” Looking at Avellana visible through the windows, he went on, “You might want to take a little sparring time at The Green Knight, or spend time in your HouseHeart or something before that ritual you two are leading for your Family tonight.” He gestured widely with his arm. “I will be here most of the evening and into the night.”

  “Good.”

  Antenn rolled a shoulder. “Yeah, building your damn wall.” He smiled, with teeth. “But if you have some excess energy or . . . irritation . . . I can assign you to one of my subcontractors and we’ll be glad to work it out of you.”

  “An untrained laborer just to provide Flair,” Vinni muttered. “Nice to be appreciated.”

  Now Antenn’s smile flashed with real sincerity. “Yeah, you FirstFamily GreatLords are so very good at being humble.” But then his brows
dipped and he added quietly, “I don’t understand what’s bothering you, but don’t spend a lot of time beating up on yourself or trying to figure stuff out. Remember what we learned at The Green Knight. Sometimes it’s enough to physically act and let emotional problems unknot that way.”

  And Antenn knew him very well. “And sometimes you could be correct,” Vinni replied. He let loose a little sigh. “You sure I can’t hit you?”

  “You can’t even try.”

  “Muin!” Avellana called. “Come in and up to the third story and look out!”

  Twenty-one

  Vinni’s heart constricted. Invited into her home now, and casually, as if Avellana had never thought of abandoning him. But this was her place, not in any way his or theirs. Rather reluctantly, he walked through the double doors and—the house already smelled, felt, like Avellana. He didn’t know how that could be unless she’d been hooked into the energy of Antenn and his crew during the raising and Vinni had failed to notice.

  The open interior of the first story surprised him, and he caught a flash of Avellana’s swirling robe and glanced up. The center of the house featured a fancy greeniron staircase spiraling upward through the floors, surrounded by open space. The second level looked like it had rooms walled off, and a central inner balcony around the stairs.

  He ran up the twisty steps to the third story, about a third of the size of the first two, again all one chamber. The floor-to-ceiling round-topped windows gave a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of . . . everything. To the west shone the rippling waters of the Great Platte Ocean; to the south, hills rising into mountains; and not too far away on the plain, the road to Gael City. Turning, he saw more of the plain and rolling hills to the east. And to the north the Hopeful Cathedral stood proudly, then in the distance, the tiny smudge of Druida City, the bulk of which was the starship Nuada’s Sword. He couldn’t discern T’Vine Residence on his hill.

  He looked away from the horizon and focused on the township itself, Multiplicity Community Center due east, the four unique homes dotting the area below.

  “I want one,” he said abruptly. He’d promised Avellana’s governess that he’d buy a place the night before, but now he truly wanted something of his own. Not generational. Something new.

  Blasphemy! At least his Family would say so. And if he let the tiniest whisper of that feeling out to his huge castle Residence, it would hurt the intelligent home’s feelings. He’d have to be careful.

  And he wanted to be part of a community, not just his Family, or the highest status of all of Celta, the FirstFamilies. New faces, new neighbors, out of the rut he just realized he’d somehow fallen into.

  “Oh, Muin. I can feel your yearning.” She glanced at his face, then the valley. She took his hands, brushed a kiss over his mouth. “But if you want, I will share this with you.”

  “A generous offer, but I want one of my own. Something designed for me.”

  “Good idea,” a dusty and sweaty Antenn replied, boot heels clattering on the last of the stairs. He strode to the southeastern windows, set his hands on his hips, and nodded. “Exactly as planned. Damn, I’m good.” Then he glanced at Vinni. “And your reaction is exactly what I hoped for. People wanting something new instead of living in old buildings constructed by our ancestors. After all, those folk came from Earth. We are Celtans. Native born to this planet.”

  Avellana nodded. “There will be lesser sons and daughters of the Nobles, even the FirstFamilies, who do not want to live with their Families, in the Family home.”

  “Sacrilege,” Vinni murmured.

  Antenn shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “What of you?” Vinni pressed. “You live in the Turquoise House, and if you become T’Blackthorn, you’ll live in that Residence.”

  Antenn’s face softened. “I must admit I won’t be establishing a home here. I love my intelligent Residences.” Then his eyelids lowered and he murmured, “But I don’t think there will be a member of a FirstFamily living in Multiplicity for very long.”

  Vinni’s political antenna quivered and his gaze sharpened. “No?” he asked casually. Taking Avellana’s hand, he said, “Of course Avellana will live in T’Vine Residence when we marry and she becomes D’Vine. What of your brother, Vensis Betony-Blackthorn?”

  Antenn’s lips pressed together, then released. “Of all Straif Blackthorn’s adopted children, I think Vensis is the one most likely to succeed him.”

  Huge news indeed.

  “Then we will find someone . . . someones else from the FirstFamilies to buy homes here. I believe we need that cachet.” Avellana gave a decided nod.

  Flashing a smile, Antenn patted her on the shoulder. “You’re right. Always good working with you.” He looked at his timer. “Last roofing and touches here, then break time for a meal. Also a change of shift. See you two later, or, if not tonight, tomorrow.” He teleported away, and a couple of minutes later Vinni saw him step out of the Community Center.

  “Pretty, pretty place,” Vinni murmured. His eyes focused on a small fold of land next to a hill marking the southwestern end of the township, the curves of a brook glistening in the sun curling in a wide arc around what would be a perfect place for a house.

  “I like the aspect very much,” Avellana said, then glanced around the room, down the staircase opening at the other floors. “After we are wed, I can use my house as my studio, and with the four doors like the Cathedral, a chapel sometimes.”

  Vinni tore his gaze away from . . . his . . . land and frowned. “Are there others of the Hopeful religion in Multiplicity?”

  Avellana hesitated. “Yes, but he . . . she . . . they . . . do not . . . flaunt their beliefs.”

  Vinni knew that if he pressed, Avellana would tell him, but he wished to continue to build rapport with her, not make her withdraw even an iota from him. Particularly since he figured she wouldn’t be happy with him as soon as she learned about the wall.

  Abruptly, he stated, “I will be buying land here. This house or the one I build here can be a retreat for us, a getaway place, still close enough for me to handle any emergencies, but far away enough from the Family that they don’t see and hear and sense everything we do. That’s begun to wear on me lately.”

  She nodded. “I understand. This time apart has been hard on you, too. You did not have me here in your daily life for support.”

  Stepping close, he framed her face with his hands, stared at her. She looked at him with big solemn eyes. “You need an heir.”

  With a crack of laughter, he dropped his hands to wrap an arm around her waist and draw her to him. Felt the warm and sexy softness of breast and thigh against his side. To test himself, he kissed her nose. Yes, that sent a surge of lust through him. Lost. He was lost.

  “I love you, Muin. I love touching you.” She loved the feel of his skin, the slight bristle of his late-day beard under her palms. She had shaded many of her words this last week with tints of the truth, but her love declarations were complete and sincere.

  “We can run away,” he said.

  The very concept made her gasp. “Run away!” Her breath expelled shakily. “You would not!” Setting her feet and sinking into her balance, she said, “We would not. We have responsibilities as the heads of the GreatHouse T’Vine.” Her voice emerged crisp, but she did not care. “I never ran away. I have been sent away.”

  He leaned over and kissed her temple. “We’ve talked about that too much; let it go.”

  She sniffed, then replied, “I am having trouble letting my long and underlying irritation go.”

  “I know. It’s a solid strand in our emotional bond. Just try.”

  “Yes, I will continue to do so. But we will not run away.”

  “No. I would never abandon my Family or the Residence, no matter how much they irritated me. But recent events in the FirstFamilies have placed that option in people’s minds, including my hideb
ound Family.”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  Then he narrowed his eyes, and she had not seen that calculating smile of his for a long while. “Or we could pretend to run away.” His mouth curled. “And the Family doesn’t seem to know me or us so well as to understand we would never shirk our responsibilities as others have.” His expression hardened. “Those who . . . don’t appreciate you . . . in the Family must be shown they could be playing a dangerous game, should I leave.” He grimaced. “But one of the things that’s keeping me here and in the Residence is the lack of an heir. That is a concern for all of us.”

  “Yes.”

  He made a circuit of the room, staring out all the windows except the ones to the north and Druida City. “There is no Vine who has sufficient Flair in prophecy to follow me.”

  Tilting her head, she said, “I did not keep track of all the Flair power in your Family members. I know you need an heir, but not for that in particular. That is one of the reasons you worry for my safety. Because we are HeartMates and though we are not HeartBonded yet, if I die you will follow and leave a FirstFamily without a head who can practice the Family Flair.”

  “Your safety is primary with me because I love you,” he spit out, and yanked her close. He pulled her up the few centimeters between their mouths and his lips crushed hers.

  Desire overwhelmed her surprise. Rarely had he been so fierce with her, so uncontrolled, but his need, his huge love swamped her own emotions.

  Perhaps their conversation had opened this need in him. One she had been oblivious to. Perhaps it was the emotional changes he, and they, had been through this last week.

  Perhaps it was because of this new house around them, the freedom of being alone and simply themselves.

  Suddenly her own fierce need rose to meet his. The scent of him and new wood and stone and sunlight enveloped her in one of those crystalline moments that she would remember always. The moment she kissed her love in her new home. The septhour she and he made lo—

  Yowl! The cat shriek echoed throughout the house. You are not paying any attention to US! Rhyz sounded highly offended.