Breath of Life (The Gaian Consortium Series)

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Book: Breath of Life (The Gaian Consortium Series) by Christine Pope Read Free Book Online
Authors: Christine Pope
Tags: science fiction romance
A shake of the head, and no awkward words?
    I should have been relieved. For some reason, though, I felt oddly bereft. The evening seemed wrong without its usual punctuation of question and refusal. What was I supposed to do now?
    Be careful what you wish for , some part of my mind jeered at me, and I told it to shut up, and then went to my computer to check my messages.  

    Despite these small bumps, and despite a growing sense of unease that I had made some sort of fatal mistake, the pace of our lives continued without much disruption. It was something of a shock when I received my final grades several weeks later and realized I had been living under Sarzhin’s roof for almost three months.  
    I had a month-long break before my next round of classes started, and I didn’t quite know what I would do with myself. True, I could increase my time with Sarzhin in the greenhouse, but I worried being around him that much more would only contribute to the awkwardness between us. I had been using my schoolwork as something of a buffer, a welcome distraction to keep me occupied. Sarzhin had accepted my course load without question, but now I was unencumbered, I worried what he might think if I kept coming up with excuses to stay away from him.
    Not that I disliked being in his presence. Nothing so simple as that. When we put aside our uneasy detente, I did like talking to him. For all his isolation here, he was extremely well-read and appeared quite interested in interplanetary politics. He provided insights that I know helped me with some of my papers, especially the ones on xenolinguistics. If circumstances had been different, he was actually someone whose company I might have sought, just because I enjoyed being around him more than I did just about anyone else on Lathvin, with the possible exception of my father. In fact, loath as I still was to admit it to myself, I had actually become quite fond of the Zhore.
    Fondness, however, isn’t too sturdy a basis for a marriage.
      My father and I had continued to exchange messages on a daily basis, and from time to time I’d even get one from my mother. Not that she ever said anything much beyond hoping that I was well. As dull as her mail might be, at least I didn’t have to continually dodge questions from her the way I did with my father. I’m sure he knew I was hiding something, but I kept my word to Sarzhin—I said nothing of the marriage proposals, even though they appeared to have stopped for the moment.
    One morning, only a few days into my break from university, I received mail from my father with astonishing news: Libba was engaged, to a junior professor at Epsilon Eridani. Even more amazing, she was traveling with her fiancé to Lathvin IV so he could meet the family, and my father wanted to know if I could possibly come to visit for a few days?
    I wanted to say yes, but of course I had no idea how Sarzhin would respond to such a request. Still, as Libba and Cole were apparently already en route, I knew I’d have to ask sooner than later.
    At that time of day I knew I’d most likely find the Zhore out the greenhouse, waiting for me to join him, as we generally did most of our work in the morning, sometimes continuing into the afternoon if the project was involved enough. Sure enough, he was there tending a row of carnivorous orchids from Cygnus Alpha. Luckily, we were both far too large to be considered prey by the orchids; their preferred snacks were small insects. At least I’d timed my arrival well, as the flowers were all shuddering by the time I got there, the sign that they’d already been fed and were happily digesting their late-morning meal.  
    Sarzhin turned as I approached. “What is it, Anika?”
    “I just had mail from my father.”
    “And?”
    Why did it suddenly feel so difficult to make such a simple request? “My sister is coming for a visit—with her fiancé. So my parents would very much appreciate it if you would let me go see

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