Free Army of the Goddess: A Bona Dea Novel (Stormflies Book 2) by Elizabeth N. Love Page A

hypersensitivity to seismic movements in the planet's crust, for instance, which also manifests itself as severe motion sickness—which, if you haven't noticed, is worse when you are traveling west, against the rotation of the planet. Something similar may be occurring with the suns. Perhaps a hypersensitivity to temperature changes or UV radiation.”
    One eyebrow arched, Axandra intensified her look of annoyance at this long, drawn out, unsolicited speech. “West? Really?”
    With a surrendering gesture, he said, “I notice these things. Drink, darling. We'll discuss it when you feel better.”
    “What else should we talk about tonight?” she pleaded, curling her legs up beside her on the cushions. Resting against her damaged right arm, the chilled wine glass disguised the ache beneath numbness “Have you heard from Tomas?”
    “As a matter of fact, yes. I just received a letter from him today, quite a long one. He described his Sunflower lake expedition and promised he is about to send me a curious crate-load of clay statues different from anything we've seen before. It's quite the find and quite the place. I've never been in that area before.”
    She was so glad to hear him rattle on. Following the words diligently kept her mind from drifting back to the terrible news of the day. She focused her eyes on his expressive face, admiring the light brown mole just at the edge of his jaw below his ear. His hands gestured abstractly as he vocalized his excitement for the developments.
    “He also believes that we should petition to take a team to the Haven—now that it is deserted, we'd like to study whatever the Prophets left behind. Obviously, the previous civilization left the place behind. The Prophets probably removed any artifacts while they lived in residence. I hope they saw fit to store the pieces somewhere safe. I would think they would be that smart.”
    “Who has to approve such a petition?” she questioned, though her mind wandered from the topic as she straightened one finger and traced the outer curl of his ear.
    A pleased smile touched his lips. “Well, in this case, the petition probably goes to the Council. Normally, there is a regional ministry that approved such requests to utilize open land. What used to be under the Great Storm has no regional jurisdiction, at least not yet.”
    “Ah,” she agreed. “I don't know of any reason they wouldn't approve that. That would be fascinating.”
    Quinn shifted his weight to the side to face her, leaning one elbow on the back cushion and leaning his head on his hand. “I hope it is. I promise it won't be too soon. I'm not ready to go back to work full-time just yet.”
    “Why not?” she teased. She knew the reason.
    “I know you'll miss me while I'm gone.”
    “You're assuming that I won't be going with you,” she scolded. She watched his amused chuckling through her crystal goblet as she drank.
    “My mistake,” he apologized. “I would love for you to join me whenever you can. Nights can get a bit chilly all alone.”
    She leaned in to kiss his smiling lips, enjoying the feel of his cheer manifested in the generous arc of flesh. She unfolded herself to ease onto his lap. “I promise that cold nights won't be a problem.”

Chapter 8 - Advancements
    31 st Unimont, 308 (Matersday)
    “Ouch!”
    Healer Phineas Gage paused his medical ministrations momentarily at the verbal protest. His patient so rarely vocalized pain during procedures, he acknowledged such as a request to stop.
    Axandra Saugray, the most prominent patient of Healer Gage, sucked in a noisy breath through her teeth as the tweezers removing used gauze struck a sensitive nerve on the pale underside of her right arm.
    “That causes you pain?” Gage questioned. Many of the nerves in that region of her scorched arm had been deemed non-functional, all but destroyed by near incineration of the surrounding muscle tissue.
    “Very much so,” Axandra confirmed. Having become accustomed to