Pissed with their exchange, she followed the hulking male.As they left the room and headed down the stairs, she took several breaths, forcing herself to stay calm.She was going to see her sister, and that was where her focus needed to be.
Morlie.Morlie.Morlie.She kept repeating her sister’s name.Since waking on clean sheets after her bath, her mind became inundated with guilt, once again, at how she’d spent her days instead of being by her sister’s side.She vowed it would not happen again.She’d now kept her word to Aodh and given her body over to him.Repeatedly.There wasn’t any further need for her to do it again.There was a shot of pain that went through her body at the thought of not being with him.She ignored it.
When they arrived at the medical room, Kai rushed in when Aodh opened the door.She was anxious to see her sister.In the antechamber, she stopped at the glass wall.
“Morlie?”She could see Morlie now.The room only had wisps of white smoke floating around.Staring at the bed, she saw her sister’s body, still prone.She wasn’t strapped down to the bed any longer.Her face, which had once held a gray cast, now looked healthy and vibrant.Her eyes were still closed, but her chest lifted and lowered even and steady.
Kai exhaled.She let all the worry and tension leave her body.The fear that knotted in her gut and made her feel ill when she thought of losing her sister settled.Morlie was going to make it.She wouldn’t lose her like her parents to the horrid virus.
“Can I go in to her?”She glanced away from Morlie to Aodh.
He was standing next to her.It surprised her that he wasn’t staring at Morlie but fixed his eyes on her.Reaching out, he dragged a thumb over her cheek.
She saw the wetness on his finger when he pulled it away.Kai hadn’t realized she’d been crying.She swiped at her face to stop the stream, but more fell.
“She will be all right.The worst is over now.”Aodh confirmed her hopes.“You can’t go in yet.”
“I want—”
“Soon,” he cut her off.“The healing smoke is almost gone.It is good for Morlie but bad for you.”
Rolling her bottom lip in, she swallowed back the accusations on her tongue.Shifting her gaze back to her sister, she said.“I won’t leave her again.”
She caught Aodh’s short nod.“I will have Tana bring your evening meal here.”
Kai looked at him.Stunned, she couldn’t believe that he’d agreed so fast.She would have thought he’d press her on sex.Give some reason that she had to return to his bed since Morlie hadn’t recovered yet.
“Thank you.”
Instead of responding, Aodh walked away.
She turned her head and followed him.He didn’t leave.Instead, he went to one of the oversized chairs against a far wall.Picking it up, he brought it to where she stood.
“Sit,” he commanded.
Lowering her body to the seat, she folded her legs in the chair and rearranged the dress skirt so it wouldn’t get tangled up.“Thank you.”
“I have things that require my attention.”He didn’t wait for her to respond before he walked out.
Kai sat stunned, staring at the now-closed door.She felt some way about him just leaving her.
What did you expect?
She didn’t have a response to the question.Maybe part of her was disappointed he’d given in to her demand that she stay by her sister’s side.Was it that easy for him to walk away from her?Has he gotten his fill from me?
Her fists tightened in her lap as she tried to bury the thoughts of him seeking out Ninki.The woman had told Kai plainly that she was his past and future lover.So, Kai knew if Aodh went to the other woman, she’d welcome him with open arms.
Kai’s teeter-totter emotions were making her feel nauseous.
They would probably laugh at the inexperienced human who’d rolled around for three days in his bed.
Everything Kai knew about sex, she’d learned it from Aodh.How to receive pleasure and how to give it.But she wasn’t a fool and knew her knowledge was limited.She’d seen a few movies in the archive room, nothing too salacious, but enough that she understood there was more to it even with the earth-shattering things they had done.
Shaking away the images of Ninki and Aodh, which would do nothing but drag her down into darkness, Kai placed her focus on Morlie.
~YH~
Aodh went back up to his suites.It was as he figured, Tana had finished cleaning off the dining room table where Kai had taken her meal.His attendant now headed toward the door.
