“I have news for you—we already made one. Also, here we are at the top. Let’s look inside the crater like we wanted to.”
Raak was standing on a ledge just about four feet below the lip of the crater and looking down into the hole. Of course by now he was soaked from the multicolored streams of water which flowed down the side of the mountain and Kara was pretty wet herself. His warm, wet skin was slippery to hold on to but Raak reached behind him and supported her easily with one big hand under her thigh.
Kara bit back a moan at the sudden contact and bent over his shoulder to examine the inside of the crater, interested despite herself in the water pumping mechanism. Science, tech, and mechanics had been her three favorite courses in school and she had also excelled in piloting, which her Uncle Baird had taught her when she was barely twelve cycles old.
“Look at that,” Raak murmured. “Looks like they have a flow disbursement mechanism but how do they keep the colors of the water separate?”
“Maybe repelling nanites in each of the streams?” Kara suggested. “Watch…”
Leaning down over his shoulder, she scooped some of the yellow water into her hand and then held it under the blue stream. But instead of mixing to form green, the blue water made a little jump and went back to its own stream, avoiding the yellow water in her palm completely.
“You were right, has to be nanites,” Raak growled.
“Cool,” Kara breathed, trying again with two different streams with the same result. “Why didn’t I ever notice that when I was a kid?” Maybe because the last time she’d come here she was only 4 or 5.
For a moment she was completely mesmerized by what she was seeing. Then a familiar voice came floating up from below.
“Kara? What are you doing up there? Come down—that’s dangerous!”
Looking down, she saw her twin brother with a horrified look on his face. There was a large knot of people gathered around him pointing and talking too.
“Uh-oh,” Kara muttered.
“Guess it’s time to go back down, huh, baby girl?” Raak growled. “Okay, hold on tight.”
He climbed down the side of the artificial mountain as quickly and competently as he had climbed up it. Much sooner than she could have wished, Kara found herself facing her outraged twin.
Kaleb was red in the face, his green eyes narrowed to slits. But it wasn’t Kara he was glaring at.
“Who in the Seven Hells do you think you are and how dare you risk my sister’s life?” he demanded, poking a finger at Raak. “She could have been killed if she fell from such a height!”
“Your sister was never in any danger—I wouldn’t have let her fall.” Raak eyed the other male coolly, his silver-ringed eyes unreadable.
“You shouldn’t even be with her in the first place—you’re an Unbondable!” Kaleb continued.
Raak’s eyes flashed but he spoke mildly enough.
“I wasn’t trying to bond her to me—we were just having a little fun.”
“A little fun? You—” Kaleb surged forward as though he wanted to punch the big Y’lyn Kindred but Kara stepped hurriedly between them.
“Stop it, Kaleb! It’s not like Raak forced me to go up the side of the mountain—I wanted to go.”
“And make a spectacle of yourself? What is Father going to say?” her twin demanded.
“You let me worry about that,” Kara snapped. “It’s my problem, not yours.”
Her father and mother were probably not going to be very happy but really, where was the harm? It wasn’t like she and Raak had hurt anyone or damaged any property—they were just having fun.
Kaleb stepped back, a hurt look in his eyes.
“Sorry for caring, sister. I was just worried about you.”
“Well, I’m fine.” Kara felt completely miserable now. She and Kaleb never fought. It felt wrong and it worried her to be at odds with her twin. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to make her voice softer. “I just…I’ll have to deal with this on my own—okay?”
“Just come home with me, all right?” There was no demanding in Kaleb’s low tone—more a note of pleading, Kara thought. He’s frightened for me—that’s what made him angry, she realized and felt guilty all over again.
“Let me say goodbye to Raakshas,” she told her twin. “I owe him that much. Then I’ll come.”
“I’ll wait.” Kaleb took a few steps back, crossing his arms over his broad chest. He kept a stern eye on Raak, who didn’t seem to even notice, anymore than he noticed or bothered with the crowd that had gathered when they were on the side of the mountain.
He really doesn’t care what anyone thinks, Kara thought enviously. Wish I could be that way.
“Looks like I got you in trouble again, huh, baby girl?” he rumbled when she turned to him. “Sorry about that. I guess I should have warned you from the beginning that I’m bad news.”
“I had fun,” Kara said, lifting her chin. “I don’t…don’t care if I got into trouble.”
“Sure you do. But that’s okay.” He cupped her cheek, looking down into her eyes. From the corner of her vision she could see Kaleb make a restive move towards them and then pull himself back. Clearly it upset him to see Raak touching her—even minimally. “At least we had a day you’ll never forget,” the big Y’lyn Kindred growled softly.
“No, I…I won’t.” For some reason Kara’s voice came out sounding breathless and faint. “And I…I’ll never forget you, Raak.”
“We might see each other around sometime. I’m leaving tonight for Tranq Prime in a cadre of a bunch of other trading ships. But you never can tell when I might show up at the Mother Ship again.”
From the corner of her eye, Kara saw Kaleb’s mouth twitch into a tight-lipped frown. She knew her twin well enough to realize he was biting his tongue on purpose—probably to keep himself
