Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“But what if I can’t? What if they don’t like my lecture and I can’t convince them I’m a good enough teacher?” Victoria shook her head. “God, this is like an observation times ten.”
Chain gripped her shoulder firmly.
“You can do this,” he murmured, wanting to give her as much strength and courage as he could. “Remember how you faced down those Varians when they came after me in the Last Call? I was in awe of your performance—the way you dived right into the roll. You can handle this, Victoria.”
She threw him a grateful glance and he thought again how lovely she was in the fluttering green gown and exotic eye makeup. Then again, he found her lovely in just about anything—or nothing at all, he reminded himself, remembering how luscious she looked naked. He just wished she could see herself the way he saw her—as a sexy, confident mature woman who was incredibly desirable.
Did she find him desirable too? She seemed to, but Chain couldn’t help remembering the way she’d talked about going their separate ways after this and how he ought to find himself a younger female. If only she knew how difficult it was for an M-Switch Kindred to find any female at all who wasn’t immediately turned off by the thought of being with a “Snatcher” like him!
Or did she already know? Was she trying to put him off nicely with all that talk of him finding someone else?
Surely not. Chain pushed the thought away uneasily. Anyway, she was speaking the truth about them going their separate ways after this mission was over. Although, the longer they were together, the less he wanted to part with his curvy little Elite…
“Here we are—the Grand Lecture Hall.” The rather pompous voice of Professor Lornah interrupted his uneasy thoughts and he looked up and saw they were heading into a dim, cavernous room filled with tables and chairs.
Each table seated four and he saw that most of the guests consisted of mature women in their fourth or fifth or even sixth decade and males who all appeared to be in their second decade. So apparently the teacher-student relationship here was strictly male/female and based on age, Chain thought. There were plates in front of each of the audience members and they looked to be finishing some sort of meal.
They were coming in from the side and at the head of the huge room Chain saw a tall stage with a woman standing on it. She was wearing the same flowing gown and elaborate eye makeup of the other females in the room and she seemed to be finishing a lecture.
“And that concludes my presentation on the Blood and Bile Based Delicacies of Xuuruu Prime,” she was saying. “I hope you have enjoyed this lecture and thank you for your kind attention.”
She bowed deeply and the audience all began to clap as a long blue curtain came down and hid her from view.
“Oh—it looks like a kind of dinner theater,” Victoria murmured. “I wonder if that’s what Professor Lornah meant by ‘tasty remarks’?”
Speaking of the Professor, she was leading the way to a center table right in front of the stage which had apparently been kept empty for her. There was no one else there and the four chairs all faced the stage.
“Now then, here we are,” she said, speaking exclusively to Victoria. Apparently males were treated like furniture on this world—useful for some things but regarded more as a functional item than a person, Chain thought dryly.
Well, he could deal with that, he decided. He wouldn’t want to live on such a world all his life—the Kindred believed in equality and mutual respect between males and females. But it wouldn’t bruise his ego to be quiet and take a back seat to Victoria while they were here—it was just a necessary part of the character he was playing.
“Have a seat,” Professor Lornah continued, still talking to Victoria. “And watch my presentation to get an idea of how to do your own. When the curtain falls for me, you come up those side steps there to the backstage area.” She pointed to some steps to one side of the stage. “I’ll help you get all set up and introduce you. All right?”
“All right—thank you,” Victoria said as she and Chain and Lorn, Professor Lornah’s student, all settled in three of the chairs. “Oh, and break a leg!” she added brightly, before she thought.
“What?” Professor Lornah looked shocked. “Why would you hope that I break my leg?”
“Oh, uh…” Victoria’s cheeks got pink with a blush. “It’s what we say on my planet right before any important presentation or performance. It means ‘good luck’ but since we consider it bad luck to actually say, ‘good luck’ we say ‘break a leg’ instead.”
Professor Lornah shook her head.