HeartMate Page 22

  So, he fought desire. She scrambled to her feet. Princess rose with her.

  Zanth stalked into the room. He raised his lip at her in disapproval. She glared back at him. Her head started to ache. "He's your Fam, deal with him." She headed to the bathroom.

  T'Ash heard the flow of water start and stiffly uncurled himself. He rubbed his hands over his face and wondered what the odds were of Danith letting him use her shower. She probably expected him to teleport home while she bathed.

  His blood pounded hotly, his muscles were stiff with sexual tension and his body was hard and ready to mate. He ached.

  He wanted Danith. But more than he wanted her body, he wanted her company, now. He had to be sure she was well.

  He should leave. He knew he should. He was in a weakened emotional state—a weakened emotional state? Where had he ever come up with that idea? That damned book of D'Rose's, the gushy, flowery one. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure a woman wrote The Manual of Manners for the Gentleman of Noble Background, and what, by the Cave of the Dark Goddess, would a woman know of a man's emotions? Stupid. But women probably made up this whole manners stuff, anyway.

  My travel hard when FamMan and FamWoman in trance Passage. You not wait for Me.

  "I was in a hurry."

  Zanth tried a sniff, barely audible. T'Ash suppressed a smile; just being with Danith was curing Zanth's sinus condition. Soon it would be completely gone and Zanth would lose his sniff as punctuation.

  Zanth growled.

  We Family. Together. My help priceless. He jumped over T'Ash, and hit him hard with a paw to the jaw. Remember.

  Zanth's stench billowed over T'Ash as he rubbed at his jaw. He choked. "Lord and Lady, you are ripe."

  Zanth sat down, smugly. Took long way. Two good kills.

  "That bedsponge cover is never going to be the same. I hope it isn't Danith's favorite."

  "It's Danith's only cover," she said from the doorway. She narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin, actions T'Ash was beginning to dread.

  "You, Fam. Leave or smell better."

  Came to help. Un-grate-ful woman. Zanth huffed.

  T'Ash slowly smiled. "How about the de-stench spell?"

  Zanth shot a nasty look at Danith and hunkered down.

  "What's this on your collar?" T'Ash plucked a piece of jewelry from the emerald collar. "A diamond earclip? Why would you want to ruin the appearance of your elegant collar with a diamond earclip?"

  Zanth turned his head and stared out the window. His tail lashed. Cat wears earvlip. Other Mine.

  "Cat? What cat wears a diamond earclip?"

  "Pansy, ah, Princess." Danith sighed. She waved to a shelf in the corner where her cat preened. Princess turned her head, and the diamond clip on her ear caught in the sunlight from the windows.

  T'Ash grinned. Not only did her furred ears sport the clip, but chains bedecked her, a thick gold one, a spiral glisten one with an antique pearl pendant, and some matched ruby beads.

  "There sits an absolutely beautiful cat with no need for any adornment but her own fur, loaded down with jewelry and here…" He snapped his mouth shut before he made any disparaging remarks about his Fam, tempting though they were. "Zanth, stick with just the collar. You look quite—"

  "Debonair," Danith ended. "He's beautiful."

  T'Ash stared at her. She really meant it.

  He looked at Zanth.

  Zanth smirked.

  A soft smile on her face, Danith crossed to touch Zanth but stepped hurriedly back when she got another whiff of him.

  "You're going to have to submit to the de-stench spell if you want to keep your admiring female audience, Zanth," T'Ash said.

  Zanth hunched down again and curled the tips of his ears inward, preparing for the spell, but his gaze showed something close to adoration for Danith. FamWoman has good taste.

  "He says you have good taste, Danith."

  She winced and touched her temple. "Thank you, Zanth."

  T'Ash clapped his hands together, and the sound reverberated with Flair. Danith decided she didn't want to watch and went into her mainspace.

  Colors swirled on the ceiling over the scrybowl. She had message holos. Going over to the new bowl, she flicked a fingernail against the rim. The soft ping got lost in an outraged yowl coming from the next room.

  "Play," she said.

  GrandMistrys Balm, the clerk of the NobleCouncil, beamed from the message holo. "Happy Discovery Day, GrandLady D'Mallow." She smiled with self-deprecation. "I've assembled a display of the currently available GrandHouse estates."

  Danith watched in stunned fascination as holos of GrandHouse Residences and their properties were projected. Views inside and out of the Residences and grounds were shown, including aerial scans and walk-thrus.

  "And"—a note of excitement entered the GrandMistrys's voice—"I've heard rumors that GrandLady D'SilverFir, the renowned telepath, is placing the D'SilverFir properties on the market. What a plum!" A shadow briefly crossed Balm's face. "A FirstFamily estate, founded by one of the Earth colonists herself. It's so rare for those to be sold. A pity for GrandLady D'SilverFir, of course, but luck for you—"

  Danith stopped listening and staggered over to collapse on her settee. It struck her that every aspect of her life had changed. The Flair she'd always felt within herself had been freed, she had been named Noble, jumped two classes, had her yearly salary quadrupled, and was offered a choice of prime property. Nobles constantly intruded on her life. And a cat talked to her!

  Pansy meowed from the other room. Even Pansy. Pansy was no longer Pansy, but a walking advertisement for T'Ash's Phoenix called Princess.

  Her scrystand was gone, an antique jewelry chest in its place. Her whole house reeked of powerful Flair and the persistent sexuality of the HeartGift necklace.

  T'Ash had made himself felt.

  Her friends deserted her.

  Her entire life rocketed out of control.

  She caught a misshapen reflection of herself in the little glisten vase holding T'Ash's rose, his first gift to her, just a couple of days before. Only her appearance hadn't changed, but everything else, every single thing in her life had shifted in the earthquake called T'Ash, and in moments.

  She sank her head on her hands. She wanted to cry but felt beyond that, close to simple shrieking horror.

  Large arms scooped her up, shifted her, cradled her as he sat on the settee and placed her on his lap.

  "Stop holo," T'Ash commanded. The holo abruptly ceased. "You will live with me. From this house to T'Ash Residence. Nowhere else."

  The earthquake T'Ash had spoken and expected everything to be conducted as he wished.

  She giggled, a high, hysterical giggle.

  A hand soothed her, stroking her head. "You're reacting from the Passage. Calm. It will pass."

  "You're sure you don't want me to color my hair, my eyes, my skin?" she asked.

  His muscles tensed a little under her cheek. "You are perfect as you are."

  How trite. The man had no delicacy with words that pleased. She looked up at him and saw an unyielding jaw. "I want my Discovery Day gift from Claif."

  His narrowed blue eyes blasered at her. "No."

  "Then let me go, and leave yourself. And take the cat. Your cat. I haven't had much say in anything lately, and I want my gift."

  She lifted her chin.

  Zanth hissed. From the angry throbbing in her head, he and T'Ash were exchanging snarls.

  A tattered, little velvet box appeared on her lap. She sat up straighter, but T'Ash's arm around her waist didn't waver.

  She opened it and gasped at the lovely white-blue diamond. Tears for all she'd once wanted, all she'd lost, dampened her eyes.

  T'Ash picked up the ring box. "CeltaDiamond, not of the first wat—"

  Danith placed her fingers over his mouth. "I don't want to hear what it isn't. What it is, is an engagement ring."

  He put his own hand over hers, nibbled at her fingertips. An
arrow of pure desire speared through her.

  He took her hand from his lips. "I have crafted marriage armbands, from redgold, during my last Passage. You've seen the old HeartGift I created during my third Passage, when I was a young man of twenty. A new HeartGift awaits you at my Residence." He lifted a hand.

  She stopped it. "Don't summon it."

  He looked at her slyly and snapped the box closed, tossing it to a nearby table. "And you don't like diamonds. You like colored stones."

  She sighed, inwardly. She'd almost forgotten that teasing, intricate game he'd played with her over the months. She'd been half-aware of it. Majo would hustle to a corner of the shop when she'd enter, bringing out a new item that wasn't displayed in the cases, pitching its quality and uniqueness.

  She tilted her head up. T'Ash's face looked hard, all angles, his skin swarthy, his light blue eyes intense. He'd always carry some part of Downwind about him. She wondered, secretly, if that was part of his attraction. The toughness he would always have, the strength of mind and body she could lean on.

  She sighed.

  "I didn't think of engagement rings, or of an engagement. I thought of marriage," he said.

  Without a word Danith slid from his lap.

  T'Ash stood to tower over her, his eyes fierce. He gestured to Claif's jeweler's box. "He doesn't want you. Not like I do. He isn't fighting for you."

  Danith spun to face him. "He bought me an engagement ring!"

  "He left you. He didn't stay to fight, to claim you or deny me."

  Danith stomped her foot, crossed her arms. "You left, too."

  T'Ash made a sweeping gesture. "That is irrelevant to this argument. That is between you and me and has no bearing."

  Zanth hopped onto the settee, turning his head back and forth to watch T'Ash, then her. The Fam appeared amused.

  Danith whirled around, afraid T'Ash's words were right. The tears returned. Rejected by Claif, too. She blinked the wetness from her eyes, looked at the timer. Gasped. "It's four septhours after Bel-high." Unsteadiness swept her, she tottered over to put her hand on the wall.

  "Correct. Ritual time has come and gone. The Clover Family knows you are mine, not theirs."

  First she'd missed their party, now their Ritual. Pratty would be spreading word that Danith was a noble and too good for them. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. She stared blindly at T'Ash.

  "They were going to be my Family. I have gifts for Mitchella, and Trif, and Claif, and Pratty. I have a house gift for Pink. I have a token for the Ritual. I have food to contribute to the feast. It's over. They think I abandoned them."

  "I am here. We are two, matched. We need no one else."

  "I do."

  "We have Zanth and Princess."

  "I need more. I need a Family."

  He set himself squarely before her. A gleam lit his eyes. "I can give you Family."

  "You can't—" Her voice broke. "You can't give me aunts and uncles or sisters and cousins."

  The air around him deadened.

  She looked at T'Ash and Zanth, uncompromising in their maleness. "I need females, too."

  "Zanth." He opened his arms and the huge cat leaped into them. "We go." Without the merest hint of sound, they vanished.

  Danith didn't know what to do. She'd hurt him again, and now she felt guilty again. But why couldn't he compromise, for once?

  There was no chance now she'd marry Claif, and she desperately fought to hold off her deep attraction to T'Ash, an attraction she knew he reciprocated, but with no idea whether he felt more than lust.

  "Play," she said to the scrybowl.

  GrandMistrys Balm faded away to be replaced by a worried Mitchella who paced in and out of scry range. "Danith. You've missed both the party and the Ritual. That's not like you. Are you all right? Everyone asked about you, and Claif sniped his way through the Ritual. He heard from Pink about that, let me tell you. I've never seen Claif's temper so ruffled. Viz me as soon as you can—that is, as soon as you get home. Blessed be."

  Chapter Twelve

  « ^ »

  Danith found herself bone exhausted, and quietly weeping. Passage, she thought. She wasn't accustomed to using Flair, but it would now be integral to her life—to spend energy and need to renew it. She went into the kitchen for some redberries and swallowed a quick handful before she returned to her scrybowl. The antique jewelry stand kept it too high; she'd have to rearrange her mainspace to accommodate the larger bowl and the new piece of furniture.

  Her bedroom held both the telepathic and sexual scents of T'Ash. The little glass shelf in the bathroom still housed his carved gemstone animals. The mainspace displayed gifts from T'Ash, Zanth, and Holly. Now only her kitchen was free of any hint of her new life, and she couldn't hide in her tiny kitchen!

  "Mitchella," Danith said. The water in the scrybowl spun, then the image formed.

  "Here. Danith, thank the Lady and Lord. Are you all right? Where were you last night?"

  "Downwind."

  "Downwind. I'm coming right over. Don't move. You look awful. Have you been crying?"

  Danith nodded.

  "I'll be right there."

  "Thank you."

  Gloom, gloom, gloom. Zanth grumbled. T'Ash lay in the center of the Rainbow Serpent mosaic, encompassed by the painted World Tree in his HouseHeart. He tried not to think, but to let the ancestral pulse of his land and his Residence calm him and imbue him with revitalizing energy.

  He heard the swishings of Zanth rolling in the dirt. The smell of scorched whiskers tinged the air. T'Ash opened his eyes but only saw the gently rounded dome of the chamber overhead. When he heard the tiny slap of a paw in water and a cat hiss, he smiled. Zanth was conducting his own ritual.

  Though the Fam made no more noises, T'Ash knew the cat had padded over and jumped into a niche, holding his paw out to the draft of fresh air that swirled in the duct. Then the Fam would jump down and go over and sit before the black Egyptian cat-goddess statue that graced one of the dim corners of the room. The statue was smaller than Zanth.

  Zanth didn't often use the HouseHeart. T'Ash wondered if his Fam sought answers to the same questions that plagued himself.

  At least they were both replete with cocoa mousse. T'Ash shifted a little. They'd finished the large batch for evening meal. T'Ash would have to order at least two batches from his chef to tide them over during the next holiday—Summer Solstice, six weeks from now.

  The chef would be back tomorrow. The holiday was over. Most people would return to work, including T'Ash's shop manager, Majo.

  T'Ash had just fulfilled a demanding commission and could rest. On the other hand, he'd given most of his backlog for women's jewelry to Danith.

  Danith. His thoughts circled round to her. They always would, his HeartMate. Again, he wondered what to do. How he could win her. All she had to do was accept the earrings, his new HeartGift, and he could draw her into the HeartBond Ritual, a mental and physical consummation that would bind them to each other forever.

  Zanth traipsed over and flopped himself on T'Ash's ankle, then wriggled around, finding his personal painted space in the roots of the World Tree.

  T'Ash grunted. The Fam felt considerably heavier on T'Ash's ankle, and his stomach rounder than the last time they'd been like this.

  T'Ash stopped thought and let his mind drift once more.

  The scent of jasmine rose around him. Jasmine. Both his mother's name and the perfume she crafted. She hadn't been a great Flair, but an adoring wife and a fine mother. Mother. His father loved Mother. The younger Nuin, the Heir and his brother, loved Mother. Gwidion loved Mother. Rand, who became T'Ash, loved Mother, too.

  And then he knew his mind would wind back to the fire or to Danith and HeartMates. He chose Danith.

  He wanted the same sort of marriage his parents had. For once in his life, he wanted someone to put him first. Danith had to accept the HeartGift.

  He didn't want to think that she'd reject the HeartGift, or him, again
. That it wouldn't be so easy as just giving her the HeartGift to win her.

  Nor did he want to think of what he could offer her as a HeartMate. A week ago he could have offered her wealth, rank, and an end to the drudgery of her job.

  Now rank and wealth had been conferred upon her, along with a future of Flair and fulfillment. It was only a matter of time before she gained a prominent reputation.

  He couldn't give her wealth or rank or freedom from a struggling life.

  She had to accept the HeartGift.

  All he could give her was himself.

  Too frightening to contemplate.

  She had to accept the HeartGift.

  His meditative state destroyed, T'Ash rose.

  Zanth grunted. You woke me!

  So much for a Fam's heavy thoughts.

  T'Ash went to the altar and blew out the candles. The room dimmed to the flickering fire that never died.

  T'Ash dismissed the Guardians of the Watchtowers and opened the circle.

  "Coming?"

  You SURE no more cocoa mousse?

  "No more."

  Zanth's tongue flicked out and swiped around his mouth. Mice in GrandHouse Wheat Res-i-dence. Fat, tasty mouse. Yum. Yes.

  "You're thinking about your belly again? Let me tell you, Fam, if we don't win Danith, we won't care about anything as simple as our bellies."

  Zanth stretched luxuriously. FamWoman your Mate. Dice say so. Her cards say so. Done.

  T'Ash gritted his teeth. "Then you believe everything is destined, every single paw-step is preordained."

  Me do what Me want and everything follows.

  "That's contradictory."

  Zanth shrugged. Me want mouse. One, two.

  "You're getting fat."

  Zanth narrowed his eyes and hissed. You not only one in Passage with FamWoman. Me there sometimes too. Hungry.

  T'Ash put his hands on his hips. "You remember that lean, gray alley cat that hung around our hovel? I bet you couldn't beat him in a race to a sewer rat now."

  Zanth lifted his head haughtily. Cat dead. Ferals not live long. Two years.

  T'Ash narrowed his own eyes. "I think I've seen a youngster or two around that looks a lot like him, maybe even one in Danith's neighborhood, that eats from her outside bowl. To beat a rival, you have to be tough."