Free GalacticFlame by Mel Teshco Page A

aside, he kissed her
nape, his lips and tongue and breath causing her belly to flutter while longing
curled as though smoke deep inside. “What’s done is done,” he said. “Let’s not
dwell on it.”
    “You’re right.” She leaned back a little more as she said
huskily, “There’s nothing that can be done to change the past. But our future
is a whole lot brighter.”
    “Agreed, Sheehar .” Clearly changing the subject he
pointed to the thick, jelly-looking stalks that reminded her of aloe vera. “Those
are an excellent tonic against our endless daylight.”
    She frowned, intrigued and puzzled all at once. “Oh?”
    “When a person sucks the plant’s jellied sap, it darkens
vision. The more one drinks the darker the surroundings become.” He offhandedly
added, “It also substitutes for water in a pinch.”
    He showed her a dozen more plants, each with amazing
capabilities. She leaned against him fully, absorbing his strength of will
before allowing her awed gaze to travel over the extensively planted gardens.
“Why are the gardens here? Why not have them closer to where you live?”
    He swept out a hand. “The mountain gives off enough
naturally occurring underground moisture and nutrients to keep all the plants
alive and healthy, without any help from us once we’ve planted the seeds.”
    So the water from here was nontoxic, unlike the lake water.
The mountain suddenly took on a whole new perspective, the desert not quite the
inhospitable terrain she’d once thought. “So why don’t you and your people stay
here too?”
    “Aside from the fact it’s near impossible to syphon the
moisture from underground to use as drinking water, the caltronians prefer to hunt when the suns are at their weakest—about the same time our body
clock tells us to sleep.”
    “Weakest point?”
    He nodded. “The suns follow the perimeter of our far
horizons. It’s coolest when all three are on the horizon opposite the
mountain.”
    “Do all the bears —caltronians— live on the mountain?”
    “Almost exclusively,” he said, “though occasionally a rogue
male will be chased into the desert by his competition in the mating cycle,
which is bad news for the rogue if it isn’t able to return with a few days at
most. Its only source of pure, drinkable water is what little there is that
runs off the cliff face up high.”
    She shivered, no longer so eager to climb off the bolishta’s back and carefully examine each and every plant. She never wanted to be in the
vicinity of such a dangerous animal.
    Not even for your sister?
    Genesis’ warm breath tickled her ear as he laughed from
behind. “You’re safe with me, Sheehar . I won’t let anything or anyone
hurt you. The bolishtas have amazing hearing and senses, they would have
been spooked long ago if a caltronian was near.”
    “So they’re like an alarm?”
    “Yes, I guess they are. Nature’s own warning system.”
    She gave the beast they were riding a pat on the neck,
thankful for its company.
    Genesis’ arms tightened around her in an oddly proud but
possessive gesture as he informed, “In a day or so your footwear will arrive
and I’ll bring you back here so that you can have a better look at the plants.”
    “Thank you, I’d love that.”
    He turned the bolishta back in the direction of the cercanne .
She craned her head upward to peer at the seemingly endless mountain, trying
not to think about the predators that might well be lying in wait.
    It made her realize just how brave and devoted Auron and
Trasean were travelling up and down the mountain probably countless times to
work on the tower in the hope of finding their intended.
    A blinding thought hit her, catching the breath in her
throat. If Aline had been the one who’d gone with Genesis as his rightful
intended, Auron and Trasean might well have discovered her as their next
intended!
    The idea was almost too incredible to contemplate.
    Yes, she found them both beyond good-looking, but she