14. Kaelus #2
“It’s…wonderful,” she said in a slightly choked voice. “So many tastes and textures…all in one dish.”
“Delicious,” Kaelus agreed, hoping his voice sounded believable.
Clair nudged him under the table. Apparently he had not sounded convincing enough.
“Really delicious,” he amended. “Your culinary skill is remarkable.”
Maera beamed.
“I’m so glad you like it.”
Clair took another heroic bite and so Kaelus did the same, though he noticed she was barely chewing the gloopy mixture but only swallowing as fast as she could, presumably so she wouldn’t have to taste it too much.
Varell ate his portion with obvious delight, looking extremely pleased with himself.
Kaelus decided Titus Four culture was considerably stranger than he had originally believed.
After several bites, Maera reached for a tall translucent pitcher near her elbow.
Unlike the goosenburly, what she poured into her glass looked genuinely appealing.
The drink was thick and pale lavender, almost like a fruit cream, and tiny silver flecks shimmered throughout it whenever the light struck the glass.
Clair noticed too.
“Oh, that looks good,” she remarked. “What is it?”
Maera lifted the glass, so the light of the two suns caught it and made the lavender contents sparkle.
“This? It is veloria nectar.”
Clair immediately looked interested.
“veloria? Is that some kind of plant?” she asked.
Maera nodded.
“A flowering vine native to our lovely planet.” she took a sip. “The blossoms are harvested just before dawn and crushed with several fruits. Nearly every woman on Titus Four drinks it regularly.”
“Only the women?” Clair asked curiously.
Kaelus looked at her. There it was—that particular expression. He knew it well. Doctor Donovan had just smelled a scientific mystery.
“Mostly women,” Maera said. “Men can drink it, of course, but it is considered especially beneficial for the female body. Our healers have recommended it for thousands of years.”
“What does it do?” Clair asked.
Maera shrugged.
“Many things, supposedly. It promotes good health, balances the body, improves fertility in younger women, and helps older women maintain strength and vitality.”
“Interesting,” Clair murmured.
Her eyes had gone to the lavender liquid again and she was studying it as if she wished she could take a sample to the lab to analyze.
Maera smiled. “
Would you like some?”
Clair nodded.
“Yes, please.”
Of course she would. Kaelus almost laughed. If Maera had told Clair the substance was made from venomous fungus and might cause her ears to fall off, she probably still would have wanted to taste it simply because it came from an alien plant.
Maera poured her a glass and Clair lifted it first to her nose. She inhaled deeply.
“Mmm. That smells amazing.”
“I’m glad you like it, my dear,” Maera said, smiling. “But believe it or not, it tastes even better than it smells.”
Clair tasted it and her face lit up.
“Oh, wow! This is really good!”
“Better than goosenburly?” Kaelus asked gravely.
Clair kicked him under the table.
“They’re both unique.”
Maera laughed.
“The flavor of the drink comes partly from the mirren fruit we blend with the veloria blossoms.”
Clair took another sip.
“It’s fruity but floral too,” she said. “Almost like berries and honeysuckle together.”
Kaelus watched her drain the glass. Something about the exchange bothered the scientific part of his mind—not because there seemed to be anything dangerous about the drink, but because the statement that nearly every female on Titus Four consumed a particular native botanical substance seemed significant when the entire reason they were here was to discover why the same virus produced radically different effects in this population.
He was about to ask Maera what compounds had been isolated from the veloria blossom when footsteps sounded in the corridor and Sendar entered the dining room.
“Good morning.” He inclined his copper-haired head. “I trust everyone rested well?”
Kaelus exchanged a look with Clair.
“Yes,” they said together.
“Extremely well,” Clair added, smiling brightly.
“Is that right? How lovely. But I can tell just from looking at you that you had a good night’s rest, Doctor Donovan,” he continued. “Why, you look twice as beautiful today as you did when I first met you.”
Kaelus felt a possessive growl rising in his throat and swallowed it down with difficulty. He disliked the male more every time they met.
“I have arranged our work for the day,” Sendar said, giving them a genial smile.
“Doctor Kaelus, you will accompany me to the Blood Archive. I can give you access to the public viral records and several nonrestricted blood collections. Doctor Donovan will remain with Doctor Maera and examine our medicinal plants and traditional treatments.”
Clair’s face brightened.
“Oh, that sounds wonderful.”
Kaelus frowned. He did not like the idea of being separated from her. But if they had to divide, leaving Clair with Maera was infinitely preferable to leaving her with Sendar.
“Very well,” he said, frowning. “As long as my wife will be safe.”
“Of course she will,” Maera said, smiling. “I’ll keep her with me all day long.”
Sendar nodded.
“Most kind of you, Maera dear. And now, I believe we should begin,” he said, turning to Kaelus.
“One moment,” Varell said. “You are forgetting something, Doctor Kaelus.”
Kaelus felt an immediate sense of dread. Had he committed some kind of faux pas that had offended their host?
“What?” he asked. “Is everything all right?”
Varell gave him a disproving look.
“You are leaving your goddess for the day.”
“Yes,” Kaelus said blankly. “But I was assured that she would be safe with your wife.”
“Yes, but you are still leaving her for the day,” Varell said.
“And?” Kaelus asked.
Varell shook his head patiently.
“And a husband never parts from his goddess without offering the Kiss of Parting.”
Kaelus looked at Clair.
She shrugged.
“The kiss of what?” she asked.
“The Kiss of Parting.” Maera smiled as though explaining something to children. “It is an old tradition. A husband honors the three sacred parts of his goddess before he leaves her.”
Kaelus’s unease increased.
“What three parts?” he asked warily.
Varell rose.
“It’s a good thing we brought the two of you here to learn. Watch me and follow my lead.”
Kaelus had a bad feeling about this—what exactly were he and Clair going to have to do to satisfy their hosts? But all he could do was wait and watch.
Maera stood as well, smiling serenely as her husband approached her.
“My husband,” she murmured.
“My wife,” he returned. Then he took her face gently between his hands and kissed her mouth.
It wasn’t a brief kiss either—it was soft and lingering, full of affection, and when he finally pulled away Maera smiled up at him.
“You start with her mouth,” Varell explained. “Because her voice must always remain precious to you.”
Kaelus nodded—he could understand that.
Then Varell bent his head and kissed Maera once on each breast through the soft fabric of her silver gown.
“Then you must kiss her breasts,” Varell continued calmly. “Because they rest above the heart and represent both love and nourishment.”
Kaelus glanced at Clair. Her face had turned pink. At the thought of kissing her breasts, his body reacted immediately.
Goddess-damn it.
Then Varell sank gracefully to his knees in front of his wife. Kaelus’s eyes widened as he watched—surely he wasn’t going to do what Kaelus thought he would do.
But he did. Varell rested his hands lightly at Maera’s hips and pressed a reverent kiss against the lower portion of her gown, directly over the place where her thighs met.
Clair stopped breathing. Kaelus knew because he was suddenly intensely attuned to her.
“And you must kiss and pay reverence to the source of her female pleasure,” Varell said as he rose again, apparently seeing nothing remotely unusual about what he had just done, “because it is the sacred center of your goddess’s body—the place from which life and desire may flow.
Thus a husband reminds his wife before every parting that he honors her voice, her heart, and her womanhood. ”
There was a long silence.
Sendar looked bored, Maera looked pleased, and Varell looked expectant.
Clair looked as though she might spontaneously combust.
Kaelus knew exactly how she felt.
The problem wasn’t that he didn’t want to do this…it was that he did. He wanted to kiss Clair again—wanted to kiss her everywhere. But he knew if he did, he would only become even more possessive of his lab partner.
“No,” he said.
Clair elbowed him.
“Kaelus.”
He looked down at her and saw that her cheeks were bright red.
“This is an extremely intimate performance,” he growled. “I would be kissing you in places that no one should watch me kissing.
“There is no choice,” she whispered.
He frowned.
“There is always a choice.”
“Yes. Our choices are do this or get thrown out before we find the cure for Savage Syndrome,” she said.
That was unfortunately true. Kaelus exhaled slowly…then he looked at Clair.
“Are you comfortable with this?” he asked quietly. He didn’t care what their hosts said—if Clair didn’t want this, he wasn’t going to do it to her.
Something in her expression softened.
“Yes,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”
Only then did he step toward her.
Clair rose from the table and for a moment they simply stood facing each other. Then Kaelus cupped her cheeks. The instant he touched her, the memory of their earlier kiss returned with brutal clarity.
He had gone too far with that kiss—Kaelus knew he had. He told himself this kiss would be controlled…ceremonial and nothing more.
Bending low, he kissed her.
Clair’s hands came to his chest. Again she softened beneath his mouth, and again Kaelus had to force himself not to deepen the kiss until he forgot where they were and why they were doing it. Somehow, he broke away before his control deserted him completely.
Her eyes were dark with desire when they opened.
Kaelus swallowed.
One sacred part had been honored…two remained.