He looked down at her, dared to raise a hand and touch her lips.
“You're pregnant,” he said, recalling that moment, or hour, when he had known her as entirely as himself. “The tree is a brute.”
“Indeed, it is,” she said warmly, “and so I shall say to it! However the means, the babe was got beforetime. Master Kestra gave me the news when I came to the Healers. I could not speak to you and did not wish to disturb Mr. dea'Gauss with the matter, fearing to introduce too many factors into his calculations . . . ”
“I understand,” he murmured. He brushed his thumb over the high curve of her cheek. Gods, she was so beautiful—and now they fitly belonged to each other . . .
“Daav?”
He shook himself out of the growing reverie of passion.
“There is precedent,” he managed to say, fairly calmly. “Shan preceded yos'Galan's lifemating by several Standard years, after all. We need not be concerned with the tree's sense of humor in this, except, to chastise it for circumventing your wishes.”
Relief washed over him—her relief. He caught his breath.
“Van'chela?”
“All's well,” he said, unsteadily, his hand cupping her cheek. “Aelliana, I can—I have your signal.”
Joy flared, and he nearly lost his balance. Aelliana pressed closer to him, her joy joining with his, arousing him—and her . . .
“Perhaps,” Er Thom's voice came quietly from just beyond his shoulder. “Perhaps you had best go home.”
Daav turned his head.
“Brother, we expect a child.”
Er Thom's eyes took fire, and he extended a hand to each, his grip fierce.
“The Clan rejoices,” he said. Releasing them, he stepped back.
“Go now. I will make your apologies to the host.”
“Kareen!” Aelliana brought her hand to her lips, and Daav felt her chagrin.
“The whole purpose of this gather was to show the world how unsuitable I am.”
“She failed,” Er Thom said. “If Kareen were less ruled by spite, she might succeed more often.” He bent gently and kissed her cheek.
“Welcome, Sister,” he murmured, and stepped back. “I will deal with Kareen, and with The Gazette. Now, if you please, take your lifemate home before he embarrasses us all.”
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Contents
Liaden 11 - Mouse and Dragon
Chapter Thirty-Three
Korval is contract-bound to stand as Captain to all the passengers until released by the Council of Clans, the successor to the Transition Committee. I should've written that contract looser, but who knew we'd even survive?
—Excerpted from Cantra yos'Phelium's Log Book
The window was open, admitting the sounds of the nighttime garden. Inside, the room was cozily bathed in butter-yellow light. Daav was stretched on his side on the sofa, reading his letters. Aelliana, on the chaise, with Lady Dignity's chin on her ankle, looked up from her screen, and considered him.
“Did you say something?”
He raised his head, black eyes dancing.
“I did not, though I might have done.” He rattled the paper in his hand. “Here's an invitation for Kiladi to teach a guest seminar on cultural genetics. Impossible, of course, but one cannot help to be proud of his accomplishments and the notice he receives from his peers.”
“Why is it 'impossible, of course'?” Aelliana asked. “Scholar Kiladi has much to offer. Some of his students at least found him to be of use.”
“One of his students,” Daav amended, shaking his hair back from his face.
Aelliana smiled. He had thought to cut his hair when they became lifemates, which was the custom of the tribe of the grandmother whom he honored. He had allowed, however, that the decision ultimately rested with his wife and that the grandmother would never gainsay the mother of another tent.
“You may drag a crimson fish across my path, but I will not be diverted,” she told him, pleased to recall Anne's phrase. “Even to alter the thought of a single student is sometimes enough reward for all a teacher's efforts. It is the duty of scholarship to share, and to illuminate. Scholar Kiladi publishes—and so he ought!—but that is no substitute for teaching.”
“To teach, Kiladi would need to absent himself—and myself, his willing vessel—for somewhat more than a relumma.”
Aelliana moved her shoulders. “There's no trick to that. We have already established that we may absent
