Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 84949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
What are they doing? I ask Jenny.
She's using seatbelts, I think. It's an interesting concept. Her thoughts tumble with how she could pull together some sturdy belts and make a seat upon my back if she needed to ride. Providing you'd let me, of course.
Why would I not let you?
Amusement curls through Jenny's thoughts. Sometimes you forget who I am?
Ah.
At least until I play with my breasts. Then you remember pretty quickly.
I see no problem with this sort of reminder, I tease, brushing a flyaway piece of my mate's hair back from her brow. Perhaps you should sit on my back and play with your breasts to ensure that my attention remains on you at all times.
She snorts, laughter in her thoughts as the mental image drifts between us.
It is moments like this when I need no others. I only need my Jenny, her charming mind touching mine, her scent in my nose. I do not care about the rest of the world. I do not care about anything other than this moment.
I'm happy, too, Jenny sends me. But Mhal, I worry. What if they're right about the Rift? Rachel wouldn't lie, so she truly believes that something big is coming through and only the children can stop it. Do we even want to play into his little games?
I do not know. Is it a game if we want to have a child of our own?
She looks up at me, her eyes bright. I like the thought of a family, but I look around at this place and think, why would I do that to anyone? Why would I bring them into this world? Maybe it's because I remember what it was like in the Before. Things were so wonderful and easy.
Regret fills my thoughts. And now it is not.
No, it's not easy. She turns and slides her arms around my waist. But I have you, and that makes everything better.
A child would have us, I point out.
So you do want one?
I am like you—I would like a family. A nest full of my children and my mate. Would I bring them into this world? I consider this carefully. If I knew they would not be affected with the mind-turmoil like I am, then yes. I am learning that it is not a bad world, just a very different one and not made for drakoni. But a child? Yes, I would bring one into this world, because I would protect it and care for it, and you would, too.
But what if things get even worse? What if it's like Rachel said, and the Rift is a wound that's getting infected? How do we fix that? Do we do like they said and have a child just because it helps us?
I do not know. We will sleep on it and see how we feel in the morning?
She nods and tucks her face against my chest, her thoughts whirling with confusion. She has lived through one world-shattering event and is terrified of another. I understand this well. I am stranded here in her world, but this is not the world she expected, either. It belongs to neither of us.
But it might belong to our children.
Jenny looks up at me, a smile curving her mouth. "You think their baby will look more like Rachel or like Jurik?"
I try to picture Jurik's mate, and shrug. Her features were unimpressive.
"Really? Even her scars?"
I did not notice them.
Her eyes widen. "How did you not notice?" She studies me closely. "Show me your mental image of her again?" I do, and Jenny cocks her head, puzzled. "Show me your image of me?"
An odd request, but I do as she asks.
A smile crosses her face. "Mhal, honey, do you need glasses?"
Do I need what? I scowl at her mental image of a strange contraption worn across the eyes and over the nose. Why would I need such a thing?
"To help your eyesight! Everything's a blur to you!"
It is not if I squint hard. I do so, and her face comes into sharper view, her bright eyes dancing with amusement. See? It is fine.
Jenny giggles. "We are going to find a glasses store and get you some to wear. I can't believe this. My fierce drakoni warrior is nearsighted."
It is not necessary, I grumble. I do not like her pointing out my flaws. Is my vision as crisp as hers? No. But it serves me just fine.
"And I think we should get you glasses," Jenny says again.
And because I can refuse my mate nothing, it seems we are going to get these “glasses” after all.
30
JENNY
My thoughts are a mess with everything we've learned from Rachel and Jurik, so I focus on the small things—like getting glasses for Mhal.
I can feel he's completely opposed to the idea but he likes to humor me. All this time I thought that his mental pictures were just hazy because that was how mental pictures were. It wasn't until he commented on the fact that he didn't notice Rachel's scars. I love Rachel dearly and I think she's beautiful, but her scars are the first thing one notices about her when they meet her. They cover one side of her face and her lower lip is bisected by one of the marks. They're impossible to miss. You don't notice them much after you get to know her, but a stranger would.