“You’re not happy with your gift?”
“Don’t treat me like I’m a doddering old fool! I’ve seen the way you look at her when you think no one’s watching. And as for the female…”
“Her name is Lexi.”
She glared at him. “My point exactly. You dared to interrupt me, to correct me. For her. And she’s besotted with you. She looks at you with so much love in her eyes. It reminds me of…”
He interrupted her again, his voice cold. “Don’t you dare say it. Don’t compare her to Naia.”
Eva drew herself to her full height and stared into his eyes a foot and a half above her head. “Sit down and shut up.” She pointed to a stone bench. Ayron took two steps back and sank down on it, feeling like a naughty little boy.
“It’s high time I quit coddling you,” Eva snapped. “You need to face the truth. Your mate is dead. And your son, my beloved great-grandson, is dead too. You’re not the only one who misses them. I trained Naia from the time she was a child. She was to be my successor one day. Mother to the Tryb. I grieve her loss every day.”
She sat down beside him. “But she’s gone. And you’re still here. You have another chance at happiness, with a strong, passionate woman. You’re still young enough to have fine sons and daughters with her. Do you really think Naia would want you to spend your remaining days whining and pining? If she were to appear before us right now, the Naia I knew would tell you to seize this chance.”
Ayron shook his head. “You don’t know Lexi. She may look like us, but she comes from a different world, Eva. She’s told me about it. One where people aren’t struggling to survive. She lives a life of luxury and ease, where her every need, every desire, is fulfilled. She could never be happy here…with me.”
“Did you give her the choice? Did youaskher to be your mate?” When he didn’t answer, she went on. “I don’t think it’s Naia’s memory you’re trying to protect. I think it’s your own heart. You loved and lost. And it caused you pain. Now you’re afraid to love again. You think Lexi will leave you the minute she has the chance to go back to Earth, and you’re not willing to risk feeling such pain a second time.” Her eyes flashed. “But I didn’t raise you to be a coward.”
She took his hand between her gnarled ones. “Thank the gods for Naia because she taught you how to love. You’ll treasure the memories of her and love her for all your days, as I still love your grandfather. But life goes on, child. And our capacity to love is infinite. Open your heart, Ayron. Take a risk. Accept this gift the gods have sent you. Choosing to give your love to Lexi won’t take away the love in your heart for Naia. Take what she taught you and honor her memory by sharing your love with this woman. Shower her with it. Show her how it feels to be cherished. And accept her love in return, for as long as Fate allows.”
She stood and pointed to the door. “Go and claim your mate. I’m not long for this world. I want to hold a babe in my arms who is blood of my blood once more before I die.”
“First anger, now guilt? Have you no shame, old woman?” His words were stern, but the warmth in his eyes told Eva he didn’t mean it.
“I will do whatever it takes,” she declared. “It’s time for me to quit lecturing you as if you’re still a lad. There’s a woman longing to feel your arms around her. Go. Be a man — her man.”
He stooped and kissed Eva’s cheek. “You’re wrong about one thing, Mother. It wasn’t Naia who taught me how to love. It was you.”
He headed for the door, but before he reached it, Mara burst in.
“The female — she’s gone!”
Chapter Seventeen
Lexi stumbled through the Outlands, tears blurring her vision. He’d given her away. Wanted nothing more to do with her. Their time in the grotto had been a farce.
For the first time in her life, she’d known what it was to be in love. She’d given him her heart as well as her body. Thinking, foolishly, that he felt the same way about her. On Earth, love was considered an archaic sentiment, one that impeded the rational performance of one’s duties. Now she understood why her people had given up the concept along with all its forms of expression. If such intense pain came along with the indescribable pleasure, the price of love was far too high.
Swaddled from head to toe in her cloak, Lexi made her way slowly through the darkness in the opposite direction of the grotto. She’d had no real plan when she sneaked out of the city. Only to get as far away from Ayron as possible. Fortunately, the simple act of putting one step in front of the other had restored rational thought. Dawn would break soon. She needed shelter.
She bypassed the dark yawning mouth of a cave. Ayron had taught her a place like that was likely to be the home of a large animal. She needed a smaller space to hide. A niche without coal-black tunnels leading off in every direction, hiding who knew what kind of creatures.
Lexi whirled around, tamping down her rising anxiety. She didn’t recognize a single feature of the landscape. Everything had been altered by the storm. Some boulders were nearly buried in drifts of sand, while others had emerged. The thought gave her a ray of hope. If she could find a newly uncovered opening, it might not harbor any undesirable roommates yet.
The moon’s purple rays shone brighter than they did the night before. Fine particles of dust kicked up by the sandstorm were settling to the surface. Lexi studied the landscape and caught sight of a dark streak running up from the base of a huge boulder in the distance. She picked up her pace.
When she got to it, Lexi slipped off her pack and squeezed through the narrow crack. Perfect. It opened onto a small cave, barely higher than her head, and just big enough for her to be out of the slanted rays of Iridia’s suns when they neared the horizon and penetrated the entrance.
She laid her pack carefully against one wall, sat down beside it. Then she took out the orchid she’d carefully wrapped in damp moss — and gave way to the heart-wrenching sobs she’d held in since she’d heard Ayron’s speech.
***
Ayron ran full out. He didn’t know how much of a head start she’d had. Her tracks stood out in the fresh layer of sand deposited by the storm. She hadn’t even tried to conceal them. The little fool. Where did she think she’d go? The next city was five or six nights away. And that was assuming a traveler knew the route.
Mara said Lexi’s pack was missing, along with two water flasks and all traces of the dinner she’d been served. Barely enough to sustain her for a day. Ayron barked orders at Mara as though she was one of his hunters in training.
“Pack my hunting gear. Food, water, torches. I’m going home to get my cloak and my weapons. Meet me at the entrance to the city.”
