Lost Heart: A Celta Novella (Celta HeartMate Series)
Page 16
As soon as they'd docked, they heard a yell, "Barton! Barton Clover, are you there?"
"Yes!" Barton shouted back.
When they disembarked, two of Barton's guards ran up to them, linked her and Balansa — whom they'd recognized — and Barton together and teleported them to Clover Compound.
Chapter 26
They alit outside Walker's chambers, Balansa shaky with weariness. Thankfully, Resup slept in the duffle and Glabra sat quiet and fluffed on Enata’s shoulder.
One of the older women took Balansa away to sleep with Trif Clover Winterberry's family, and Barton strode into Walker's bedroom, drawing Enata with him.
The Head of the Household looked bad. Worse off than Barton had been when he'd lost his memory, awake but weak. Barton politely asked Walker's HeartMate to go for clucker soup and dark bread and after one long stare, she'd agreed.
Barton glared at Enata, widened his stance, and crossed his arms.
"We're suffering from memory loss," he informed his brother. "Enata, as a PublicLibrarian, has the information, but I have refrained from asking her about it. Until now.
“I think we should know."
"Know what?" Enata delayed.
"Everything," both men said in unison.
Raising her brows, she faced off against the two Clovers. "I would advise against this."
"We need to know."
"Why?" She truly thought that the worst was over for them. Obviously they both had been tied to Savi as a distant cuz, but from what Barton had told her before, they barely knew him. "You need to know because you are the Head of the Household and Chief of Security for a large Family.” She shrugged. "I'm sure you have secrets, even Family secrets I will never be told. We, the Licorices, have and protect secrets, too. Let this one be."
Barton stood even taller. "Walker will someday be the most powerful man on Celta, the Captain of All the Councils."
She had heard that. "To me that's more of a reason for him not to know."
Both Clover brows wrinkled in frustration.
"Walker would never abuse power."
Walker angled to a straighter position and even that effort seemed to cost him. “Whatever happened is hurting me, and through me, my Family.” He rubbed his chest. “It’s limiting my ability to protect them. And if the effects linger, or occur again . . .” He shook his head. “I don’t want my Family hurt.”
She stared at the two stubborn men for a full minute, and her own will began to weaken. So much easier to be with Barton without this particular secret between them.
If Walker knew of Celta and the Chosen, she might be able to ask him for advice. She believed other Clovers would be Chosen in the future. Wetting her lips, she repeated, "There will be a physical price to pay for this knowledge."
"We will pay it," Walker stated, white around the mouth.
It only took a wisp of a thought of Celta, the first Word of the long spell rhyme the entity had taught her, for Enata to feel the deep interest of the being who was a planet. And pause.
“No,” she said, looking at the half-brothers. “No. I’m not going to tell you.” Glabra shifted on Enata’s shoulder, but said nothing.
“I am the head of the Family,” Walker stated, and she felt his Flair fill the room. A touch of charisma, but most of all, empathy – and . . . at that minute he removed the dulling shields of all the threads of the individual Clover bonds. All the ties he had, Barton had, to the nearly two hundred member Family.
She made a sound as they began to twine through her and Barton hesitated, but came to her and put a hand on her shoulder. That helped her deal with the influx of emotional ties. In the shadows of all the other links, she felt the one that only she and Balansa knew of – Savi.
Stiffening her spine, she stood solid and nodded once to Walker. “You are the head of the Clover Family, but not the Licorices, and head of the Family or not, every person must decide the points of their own honor and to act responsibly.”
Barton dropped his hand from her shoulder, and that hurt, hurt. Her mouth dry, she continued. “For your protection, and the protection of all the Clovers and, in fact, the protection of us all, I am not going to tell you.”
Walker appeared offended, but wary. Anger slipped from Barton to her along the bond.
“You’re judging me?” Walker asked.
Again a dark stirring of a tendril of the lady of Celta. “One of the prices for you to pay is a journey like the one Barton and I made.” Anxiety, trying to do the right thing for everyone, made her smile sharp. “An open-ended journey.” She put up her hand and stroked Glabra with the backs of her fingers. “It could be trying. Would you go, Walker Clover? Alone, or take your HeartMate and children? Some . . . rituals demand days. Can you afford days away from Druida City?”
Walker crossed his arms. “I don’t like your tone.”
“I don’t like your demands.” She looked at him, watched Barton from the corner of her eye. “And if you don’t respect me and my judgment, now, when you are not the most powerful man on Celta, will you make even more demands of those around you when you are? Listen only to your wants and needs at the expense of others?”
“We’re protecting the Family,” Barton said in a rough voice.
“Are you? By hurting one member of the Family? Me?” She took in an uneven breath. “There are truisms that apply here. ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ ‘The ends justify the means.’ I won’t tell you this particular secret.”
“You may go then,” Walker said. “Barton, I’d like to debrief you on everything.” Walker waved and the door opened.
Not looking at Barton, but with a cooing Glabra cradled in her hands, she left.
Would Barton follow her? Choose her over his Family? She didn’t know, and sometime in the last few minutes, their bond had closed to a strand. She took the wide marble stairs down, walked slowly along the wide hallway to a door she thought open into the courtyard. One of the three courtyards of the long blocks of Clover Compound.
Despite the continuing discomfort of all the bonds of all the people pushing at her, despite Walker seeming to give her a choice between her Family or the Clovers, Enata would stay. Somehow she would find Barton’s home. It had been on the east . . .
Now that she truly felt the links of the Clover Family, among some individuals was a dark trauma of missing Savi.
And she realized that love would get them through, heal those fractures in the Family when one went missing. Only love could do that. Her Family had been mending, and she'd work hard on ensuring her sister and her parents knew she loved them, on weaving the bonds between them all — love bonds — tighter.
Love had to be the only way such wounds could heal. She would also observe the Hazels, the Heathers, and the Mors. Perhaps invite them to certain rituals. She knew a creative priestess who crafted good rituals for specific purposes.
Then, no more than half way down the courtyard, strong arms grabbed her from behind, and swung her up against a broad chest. Glabra chirped in happy welcome and transferred to Barton’s shoulder.
“You chose me." Enata's voice trembled.
“I will always choose you,” he murmured near her ear, stirring her hair.
“Even over your Family.”
“You are my Family.” His breath came a little rough. “I admit I like to be in control, and am overprotective. But I’ve learned that I can’t hold myself responsible for everything that happens to a member of my Family. And that my life should be more than working to keep them safe. I have you now.” He tightened his grip around her, then swung her to her feet and twined his fingers with hers.
“So you told Walker, what?”
“That I trust you. That you’re my wife and if he doesn’t trust you, then I can resign and head up security for the Licorice clan.”
The shock had her jerking. “You did?”
“I did. He was pleased, and when his HeartMate returned, she was pleased, too. I translocated my duffle and Resup hom
e." He glanced at Glabra. "I've got my woman now. Why don't you fly and explore the Compound?"
She flicked her tail, chirped mentally, I am happy to do so! and took off.
Barton continued, "Oh, and Walker said that if you think the FirstFamily nobles will ever let him have absolute power, you should think again.”
“There is that.” She rubbed her head, but now felt the flicker of attention she’d had from Celta was gone. Then Enata brought up something bothering her. "We aren't HeartMates."
"I'm glad you're not my HeartMate," Barton squeezed her. "Should I die, our children will not be abandoned by both parents. Even with all the Clovers to help them, my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, I don't want that."
Enata's voice clogged with horrified tears. "I don't think I could go on well without you, HeartMate or not."
He pivoted fast, lifted her chin so she met his intense gaze. "You would not abandon our young children."
Gulping, she shook her head. "No. But though my body might not die, I think my heart would." Again she shook her head in denial. "I can't think of that. Please don't make me think of that. We will grow old and die together in bed." She said it like a spell, hoped the entity of Celta listened.
Barton's lips quirked. "Having sex."
She closed her eyes at the embarrassment of that particular scenario.
"We wouldn't be around to be humiliated," he pointed out, issuing her through the doors of the wing between two of the Clover Compound blocks.
They traversed the short corridor in silence. As they reached the door to the next courtyard, Enata saw through the window that the area was populated. This was the original square of houses built by the Clovers, the main outside living space of Clover Compound.
Chapter 27
She tugged Barton to stop. "What would you say if I told you we were made for each other?"
He promptly lifted her hand to his lips. "I'd say I knew it all along."
But she had to know, had to feel, had to probe to his farthest depths, and her own, to vanquish that last fear that this sudden love would evaporate. She turned and put her hands on his shoulders, looked into his eyes, and opened herself as she hadn't since she'd drunk the potion at T'Willow's.
Her mind spun together with his, her emotions mingled with his and she plunged down, down, down into her own heart and found the sparkling wonder and solid belief in him, as her one and only true love. When she peered as deeply into him, she saw the same reflected.
Enough, for now.
He kissed the top of her head. "My dear wife."
"Yes."
Then he pushed open the door and nodded as people greeted them. They angled across the courtyard to a large, refurbished looking house.
"We've moved?"
"You like the afternoon, western sun in the windows, and looking out in the direction of the ocean." He studied the building and nodded. "It's very well situated, security-wise."
On one of the eaves, Glabra warbled. I have found a perfect place for a nest! Resup is sleeping in the kitchen!
"Thank you," they said in unison.
Barton turned to her and clasped her other hand. "'Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That valleys, groves, hills and fields, Woods or steepy mountains yield.'"
Her brows rose. "I know a rebuttal for that."
He touched her lips. "So do I, but don't say it."
She kissed his fingers, even touched them with her tongue and he jerked his hand back, gave her a hot look.
Her own voice husky, she said, "Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove . . ."
Again he acted, sweeping her into his arms. "Door open!" he ordered. The dark brown wooden door opened outward and Barton strode in. Pale beige-cinnamon walls welcomed them along with the scent of the Clover Family, and Barton.
"Close door," he murmured, staring down on her with such a look of tenderness she was glad he held her because her muscles had weakened and her core gone molten, needing him.
"We will all the pleasures prove since you have come to live with me . . ."
"And you are my love," they said in unison, gazes locked.
The End
Author’s Notes
If you enjoyed this novella, please, leave a review at your favorite online site. This is my first venture self-publishing and I really appreciate all the support you can give me! I thank you all.
I also have a brand-new Author Robin D. Owens’ Monthly Newsletter. Hopefully it will have a little information about me and some cut scenes from my stories (including Lost Heart!)
I also spend (too much) time on Facebook and will answer questions there:
https://www.facebook.com/robin.d.owens.73
FOR A PRINT COPY: I would deeply appreciate it if you purchased Lost Heart from my estore on Createspace. They give me the most royalties. Here: Lost Heart Print Copy.
Thank you.
MORE ABOUT LOST HEART:
This novella sprang from several cut scenes from the novel Heart Fortune. Those scenes were in the viewpoint of Glyssa Licorice (Enata’s sister) and Jace Bayrum (Glyssa’s HeartMate). I have posted the scenes on my blog (you may have to do a search for them).
Throughout the series I misplaced a few people (the Hazel-Heather couple and Enata’s older brother), and I wanted to address this, as well as throw a twist into the series, which is why this novella was written.
Since I am accustomed to writing longer books (more than twice as long as Lost Heart), I also cut scenes from this novella: a couple from the beginning, a couple from after Enata left the Clover Compound, and one near the end.
About the Author
Robin D. Owens
RITA® Award-winning author Robin D. Owens has been writing longer than she cares to recall. Her fantasy/futuristic romances found a home at Berkley with the issuance of HeartMate in December 2001. She credits the "telepathic cat with attitude" in selling that book. Currently, she has two domesticated cats (who have appeared in her stories).
She loves writing fantasy with romance or romance with fantasy, and particularly likes adding quirky characters for comic relief and leaving little threads dangling from book to book to see if readers pick up on them (usually, yes! Reader intelligence is awesome!).
Robin loves hearing from readers, tries her best to respond to any questions and has been known to take reader advice for her work (eg., the mole in Heart Thief). Please e-mail her at robindowens@gmail.com
She is profoundly thankful to be a recipient of the 2002 Romance Writers of America RITA® Award (like the Oscar in her field) for HeartMate, and various other awards.
When she receives good reviews or fan mail, she’s been known to dance around bored cats…
I’d love to hear from you! Contact me here:
@RobinDOwens
robin.d.owens.73
https://robindowens.com
robindowens@gmail.com
Also by Robin D. Owens
Celta HeartMate Series, in Reading Order
**Heart and Swords — Heart and Sword (This first story takes place on board the generational starship Nuada’s Sword)
HeartMate
Heart Thief
Heart Duel
Heart Choice
Heart Quest
Heart Dance
**Heart And Swords — Heart Story
Heart Fate
**Hearts And Swords — Heart and Soul
Heart Change
***Free Short, short story ZANTH AND THE TREASURE
Heart Journey
***Script of the Heart novella, Coming Autumn 2016
**Hearts and Swords — Noble Heart
Heart Search
Heart Secret
Heart Fortune (Glyssa Licorice and Jace Bayrum)
Lost Heart (This novella!)
Heart Fire
Heart Legacy
Heart Sight (Coming 2017)
* * *
Feral Magic, a Conte
mporary Paranormal Romance E-Novella
* * *
The Ghost Seer Series
Contemporary Paranormal, with Ghosts of the Old West!
Ghost Seer
Ghost Layer
Ghost Killer
Ghost Talker
Ghost Maker
The Mystic Circle Series
Contemporary Fantasy
Enchanted No More
Enchanted Again
Enchanted Ever After
The Summoning Series
Average American women are summoned to another dimension to fight hideous evil…yes, flying horses!
Guardian of Honor
Sorceress of Faith
Protector of the Flight
Keepers of the Flame
Echoes In The Dark