Kat shrugged. “Lissa said Saber thinks he might take her back to Tarsia—their home planet. But so far they haven’t showed up there. Apparently Reddix had some kind of a weird idea about needing her for a cure for his condition—that Reverted Touch thingy, whatever it is.”
Liv frowned. “Reverted what?”
“It’s Reverse Touch Syndrome, and it only affects Touch Kindred males with the Star Clan blood,” a new voice said from the doorway.
Kat, Liv, and Sophie looked up in surprise. Lissa was standing just inside the doorway, a drawn look on her face.
“Forgive me for entering without asking,” she said quietly. “But I wanted to come and say goodbye to all of you before I go.”
“Before you go?” Kat asked, getting up and going to her. “Before you go where?”
“Back to Tarsia.” Lissa’s face was pale but determined. “To face the consequences of my actions.”
“What actions?” Liv asked as Kat led Lissa to sit on the extra-long couch that came standard in all Twin Kindred suites.
“She means falling for Saber,” Kat said quietly. “Don’t you, doll?”
Lissa nodded. “Saber and I were never supposed to fall in love in the first place, much less act on that love,” she said. “But since we have made the decision to be together, we must go back home and announce it to all of Tarsia.”
“Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but won’t that be like going home and telling everyone you married your big brother?” Liv asked, frowning.
Lissa nodded again. “That is exactly what it will mean. Even though there are no blood ties between us, we will still be reviled as incestuous and disgusting.”
“But…why put yourself through that? Why go home at all?” Sophia asked.
“We have to. It’s our fault Reddix was desperate enough to abduct that innocent girl and get both himself and her killed in the process,” Lissa said softly.
“What? They’re sure they got killed now?” Kat exclaimed.
“No, but what else could have happened?” Lissa said. “They haven’t shown up anywhere on Tarsia, and they haven’t set off their emergency beacon. Saber has been waiting, hoping against hope it would go off. We don’t…” She choked for a minute, then forced herself to go on. “We didn’t want to have to go back home and announce that Reddix was dead and ask for an acknowledgement of our relationship at the same time. It’s just…too much bad news all at once.”
“That would be hard to break to everyone,” Liv said sympathetically. “But maybe it will force your people to accept you and Saber as their rulers.”
“Or it will force them into a bloody civil war,” Lissa said and wiped at her eyes. “This…it’s going to be horrible. I know it’s selfish to care about myself when Reddix and the girl he took are probably dead, but to go back to my home planet and stand up in front of everyone to admit that I seduced their rightful leader away from his post…”
“You can’t look at it like that,” Kat said firmly. “The people back on Tarsia—they’re the ones with outdated, old-fashioned ideas. They’re the one with the problem, not you and Saber.”
“Kat’s right,” Sophia said indignantly. “Don’t let them push you around or make you feel bad for loving your own husband! Listen, none of Sylvan’s relatives like me—well, except for Nadiah—but I don’t let it bother me a bit.”
“It’s not just her relatives though—it’s the whole freaking planet,” Liv pointed out. She reached across Kat and pressed Lissa’s hand. “I can see why it’s so hard, hon. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right.” Lissa sniffed and tried to smile. “I’ll be all right. I just need to get over feeling sorry for myself and get ready to go.”
“When are you leaving?” Kat asked quietly.
“Tonight. Or maybe tomorrow some time,” Lissa said. “We might wait one more night and hope that the beacon goes off. Saber has everyone in the scanning section of the Mother Ship on the alert for it.”
“Give yourself the night,” Kat advised. “And spend it with Saber. Take some time to remember how much you love each other and promise to stay strong before you go.”
“Reaffirm your relationship,” Liv said, nodding. “You guys are going into a really tough situation. Give yourself some time to prepare for it.”
Lissa sighed. “I feel like all we’ve been doing is preparing. We’ve been talking about this—going back—since the first night Reddix showed up in our suite.”