“So, how do you know Grace?” he asked.
She laughed that bright laughter of hers again. She slapped a hand against her chest. “I’m Patience, Grace’s twin sister.”
“Holy shit. Holy, holy shit.”
“Yeah, and double that.”
He stared at her for a long, long moment. The nature of her scent, so similar to Grace’s, now made sense. And that she said he smelled of wine. He also marveled at what he considered a significant twist of fate—the kind of synchronicity he’d never really believed in, yet here was some kind of proof.
“As for the bed,” he began, “believe me, Patience, if I’d caught your scent even three months ago, that bed would already be out of the wall. But I’m not that man, or I’m trying not to be that man. If you are my breh, and I’m yours, then fate has brought us together and I don’t want to screw it up.”
She nodded. “I get where you’re coming from. But I hardly know what to think. Third Earth is a shitfest, and the last hundred years have been a trial. The one good thing that has come of it is that I was able to serve as a Militia Warrior, something Thorne fought against my whole life.
“But I never felt like I belonged here. I never quite fit in, probably because I have no family in this world. I’m not anchored.” She then tossed her hands in the air. “But, hey, you’ve got a lot on your mind and I just came over to check on the portal. And I have to get back to my barracks. Maybe we can reconnect once you get Leto ascended. How does that sound?”
He took a few steps toward her. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not. I’m lonely as hell, but that’s not your problem.”
“James shouldn’t have brought you here. I can see that it’s taken a toll on you.”
She laughed. “Well, that was my fault. He asked me, and I jumped at the chance to do something different. I haven’t lived the most stable life, just so you know.”
She returned to the observation deck, and he followed.
She touched a panel on the wall and a computer emerged. She fired it up, took several looks at the portal, then typed in what Casimir supposed was her report.
She then moved to the steel gates.
He didn’t want to let her go. He could see that she was hurting, maybe even embarrassed. He wanted to do something for her, at least to reassure her, but she waved her hand over the steel lock to the left of the door, and the gate slid open. He reached a hand out to her, but she stepped through and waved. The gate closed.
He realized that his millennia of seduction hadn’t exactly prepared him for handling a real relationship with a woman.
“Well, shit,” he muttered.
That afternoon, Grace had just finished her first meal of the day when Leto got word that Endelle wanted them both at the palace. Alison was ready to work with Grace on her obsidian flame power, and Thorne was busy setting up a temporary command HQ in the middle of the palace’s central rotunda. It would seem that Endelle and Thorne both believed a decisive battle with Greaves was on the horizon.
After dressing in soft black yoga pants and a loose blue cotton top that gathered at the hips, Grace folded with Leto to the palace. He held her hand the entire way, and it was so strange to feel what her hand felt like to him. She could sense his external sensations, which had been a bizarre experience upon awakening. His arm had been draped over her waist and stomach, so that when he began touching her, she could feel how soft her skin was to his callused warrior fingers.
Of course, he had made love to her, a very quick and erotic experience because of the extraordinary nature of the breh-hedden. It seemed to take so little to become thoroughly aroused, which she could see had terrific benefits. But at other times, she had no doubt it would be very inconvenient.
As Grace materialized on the landing platform in what she recognized as the dining room rotunda of the palace, Alison was there to greet them both. The blond beauty looked tall and elegant as always, her hair pulled back in a twist. She wore navy slacks and a lavender silk blouse. She gave Grace a hug. “Welcome home,” she said. “You were in so much pain at the contest grounds that I’m not even sure I welcomed you home.”
Grace smiled. “Yes, my head really hurt, and you helped me so much. Thank you again.”
“How are you feeling now?”
“I’m fine now, really.” She glanced up at Leto. “We’ve taken care of the problem.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
Grace felt Alison’s compassion like a wave flowing toward her. Everything about Alison brought a sense of peace and rightness with the world.