HeartoftheOracle (2 page)

As the night sky became visible to her astral form, she also looked up into his eyes. He winked and took the strands lowered from the open hole above them, hooking her couch to the ship above.

He must have given a signal, because they rose swiftly into the belly of a small shuttle while guards were reacting to the blowing of the roof.

"We are off Miska, Lara. Soon, you will wake and then we will be able to discuss what I am and why I am here." He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Heat flared out of that one touch and she watched everything in the ship the whole night through.

The pilot and co-pilot were a different race from her hooded man. They respected him and stuck to the business of making their getaway.

With her body paralyzed and locked, she had never considered an escape. It had seemed like an unachievable dream that she would be free of her duty as an Oracle. Even back at home, her precognition had drawn the attention of those around her, but when the virus hit, all possibilities of using her talent to benefit her own people had gone out the window.

The city of Akaheel had been a thriving metropolis until the plague broke out and slowly killed their entire population. The city fathers had locked the virus inside with the population and as far as Lara knew, she was the sole survivor of the city that she had called home.

The Edinar purge had occurred more than a hundred years after her
landing
on Miska. Her soul had wept when the reports came to her through the petitioners that the Edinar were now considered an extinct species.

Whoever had stolen the Oracle of Miska, at least he was breaking up a mind-numbing routine. She only hoped that her systems were able to keep her alive long enough to enjoy the novelty of being in a cargo hold and flying through the eternal midnight of space.

There was a crew waiting for them on the station and the moment that they docked, the medical and engineering staff swarmed the shuttle.

Her companion was ordering the staff around as they rolled the entire support structure she was wired to into a medical bay.

He barked commands and she watched from beside her body as they lifted the wires and began to replace the fluid that sustained her with blood.

She knew enough about physiology to know that they had to use the correct blood type or she would die, but as her body slowly shifted from chalk white to pink, she realized that they knew exactly who and what they were dealing with.

"Did you put the anti-viral in the blood?"

"Yes, my lord." The physician nodded rapidly. "She is warming."

The engineer stepped forward. "Are you ready, Doctor?"

"I am."

The physician had a glowing rod in his hand and Lara couldn't figure out what it was for until the engineer removed the first wires attached to her arm. The physician moved quickly and the searing pain that went through Lara's astral body was enough to make her try to cry out.

Her arm was on fire and she sobbed.

Over a century of no feeling and her first real touch to the physical was pain. Desperate to tell someone what was going on, she ran forward and passed through the male who had started all of this, falling and settling back in her body. She was unable to keep her mind separate from her body any longer. The pain was going to be the first thing she felt when she woke, if she woke.

* * * *

Prince Saber Enders reeled at the pain that Lara was feeling. She had passed through him but now was nowhere in the room. As he focussed on her body, the faint glow that was her astral self mixed with her physical features.

"Sedate her."

The engineer and the physician paused.

The doctor stated, "She is asleep, my lord."

"She is anesthetised, not asleep. Her body still feels and her mind is screaming as you proceed."

The doctor blinked and quickly administered a gas to the still woman. As she relaxed, her aura melded to her body and the tiniest smile came to her face.

The doctor looked down at her and blinked in surprise. "She's smiling."

Saber nodded. "The pain is gone. Her aura is changing from hot purple to blue."

The surgery to his future bride continued, separating her from the wire and metalwork that had kept her alive. He had searched hard and long for another woman of his species and he was not about to let a little thing like her being clinically dead stop him. She was coming back to life in front of his eyes.

* * * *

Lara's first deep breath on her own ended in a coughing fit. Without electronics propelling her breathing, her body had forgotten what to do.

Her hands flailed and clutched weakly at the bedding. Her mystery man was at her side in an instant.

"Lara, how are you feeling?"

She moved her hands, her feet, felt her heart beat in her chest and smiled before she tried to speak. It took her more than five tries to speak the word, "Better."

He pressed a kiss to her lips that sent another wave of heat through her, far stronger than the first touch against her cold hand. Blinking in shock, she lay staring at him. "Who are you?"

He smiled, stroking her hair back from her cheek. "I am your destiny."

"I have heard that many times." Her voice was so much lower than she remembered it.

"Were you ever awake and in someone's embrace when it happened?" His smile on his firm but sensual lips sent a tremor through her.

"No, that is a first."

He stroked her hair back, "That is good to hear, my sleeping beauty."

"Do you have a name, my prince?"

His eyes widened. "How did you know that?"

"What?"

"That I am a prince."

She chuckled weakly. "I didn't. My mother used to tell me a tale from one of the ancient races. It involved a sleeping princess and the prince who woke her with a kiss." Lara tried to move her head, but it was so heavy. "You are really a prince?"

"I am. Prince Enders of the Sisithan royal family."

She sighed, then frowned. "What does a Sisithan want with me?"

He grinned and kissed her again. "Oh, my dearest, so many things."

Three weeks of intensive therapy later and Lara could walk again, though not with any kind of speed. She had spent every moment not in muscular therapy working on her knowledge of current events. Her species had almost been completely eradicated by governments looking to expunge the psychic strain in her people. It was dangerous to be one of her kind in the political climate.

Prince Enders was next to her every step of the way, literally. He seemed upset by the baggy clothing that the therapist had her in, but he accepted it as necessary while she learned how to use a body that had been unused for over a century.

"Soon, we will have you dancing." They were walking slowly through the halls of the station.

"I never knew how, so we will have to skip that particular torture." She smiled at a few of those that she passed. The same faces were on guard in the halls of the otherwise silent station.

He seemed surprised at her lack of skill. "We will have to remedy that."

They continued their walk through the silent halls. "Are all stations this quiet?"

He chuckled. "No. This is a mobile station owned by my family. The idea is to keep the Miska from finding you until you are fit and able to defend yourself."

She ignored the reference to the Miska trying to reclaim her. "How long do you think my recovery will take?"

"You are almost physically capable now. Would you care for a dance lesson?" His hand moved from her arm to her waist and she froze.

No one had touched her with interest in her entire life. She had gone from being a sick teen to a deathly ill adult. There had been no time for sex.

"I am not sure. I haven't had any experience with any…couple activities." She tried to say it bluntly but wasn't sure if he had gotten her subtext.

"I see."

"No, I am not sure that you do."

He turned her toward him and looped his arms around her, settling his hands loosely above her hips. He kissed her, slowly and leisurely, his lips parting hers.

She had her hands flat on his chest and slowly let them caress and explore as she allowed him access to her mouth. The first touch of his tongue on hers made her jump a little at the sharp twinge that tingled the tips of her breasts and swirled low in her belly.

He teased her tongue with his until she started to mimic his actions. The groan that came from his chest sent a surge of damp heat between her thighs. She parted their mouths with a jerk of surprise.

It took him a moment to get his breathing back to normal, but he smiled. "Yes, I am aware that you are not practiced in couple activities. I stand ready to instruct you at any time."

Lara tried to back out of his embrace, but he didn't let her. The heated bulge that was pressed into her body continued the pulse that her channel had taken up. The throbbing was awkward and she hoped that he didn't know about it.

The slight brush of his hips against hers was a tease and until she included this kind of thing in her research, she was calling a halt to the exploration. "I will ask you when I have enough information on both dancing and other couple activities."

He laughed and turned them back to where she was quartered. "That sounds like a fair compromise. Dinner tonight?"

"That would be nice. I am back on normal foods, finally." She rolled her eyes at the endless rounds of nausea that had accompanied her relearning to eat.

"You will dress for dinner. The exercise togs have outlived their usefulness." He smiled at her expression.

"I am not a doll for you to play with."

"I know that, Lara. You were the Oracle of Miska and one day, you will be a princess of the Sisithan."

She stopped in place. "What?"

"I promise to explain it all at dinner." He turned her toward her quarters and when she was at her door, he kissed her forehead, her nose and her lips before bowing gracefully and leaving her.

Lara sighed, watched the muscled contours of his thighs through his trousers and when he was out of her view, she retreated into her quarters and proceeded to her education unit.

Requested topic?

She took a deep breath and said, "Sex."

She spent the next two hours working on learning what she could about sex and trying to analyze the responses of her body that were generated simply by reading about the topic.

When she had exhausted the basics and was sweating lightly while her body rioted, she decided to calm down by requesting, "Dance."

Dance was not nearly as calming as she had anticipated, based on the previous images. Now, she was simply imagining that those dancing were engaged in foreplay. It was enough to make her close the unit down and head into the shower.

The water in her shower was her favourite part of the station. It reminded her of her life before the plague and before her family had died around her. Her long blonde hair had always been carefully maintained by the Miska, but washing and brushing it had become part of her recuperation. When she finished with her shower, she wandered into her bedroom, her body cooled and her mind still replaying the images that she had witnessed during her research.

The wardrobe that had been provided for her had been mostly untouched until now. She had only used the exercise clothing for her daily wear.

The smoky blue-grey gown seemed to be her best choice. She remembered her older sisters commenting on matching their eyes and it seemed appropriate for her to do the same. The shoes that matched the gown were a challenge as well, but she remembered lessons in her home and managed to practice enough to get from one side of the room to the other without killing herself.

When she tried it while wearing the gown, keeping her balance managed to distract her from the constant thoughts about sex. Sex with Prince Enders would be nice, she was sure he would help her introduction to the sensual arts. What happened next was a matter of conflicting thought. Either they had a good interaction and wanted to try it again, or he would be disappointed and she would be left without a home, a species and a place to call her own.

The mystery was why a prince of the Sisithan had come all the way to Miska and incurred the expense of rehabilitating her.

Lara checked the time and quickly ran a brush through her hair. The door chimed the moment that she put the brush down.

Nervous, with her stomach doing a distinctive shimmy, she answered her door and gave Prince Enders a welcoming smile.

He looked her up and down and grinned. "Lovely. Shall we?" He offered her his arm and she took it, sealing her rooms behind her.

The dining room was well appointed. He held her chair out for her before taking the seat on her left. She knotted her fingers in her lap and tried to remember her earlier research on etiquette. For some reason, couples in the throes of passion kept intruding in her mind. It made it very hard to concentrate on her meal.

Lara crossed her legs at the ankles and pressed her thighs together while she focussed on soup and course after course of exquisitely prepared food.

She was taking a sip of water when he spoke to her.

"You are very quiet today, Lara. What did you research this afternoon?"

She sprayed water over the table and thanked her stars that they were between courses. "I beg your pardon?"

"Normally you tell me what you researched during your afternoon. What was the topic today?" He was persistent and amused.

"Uh. Dancing."

"Really? Perhaps you could show me what you learned after dessert."

She blushed a hot pink. "I only watched some of the demonstrations. I am not confident in my ability to complete any of those moves."

He smiled and sipped at his own water while the dessert course appeared.

"Now, step back as I move and take the cue from my hand on your back."

They were standing chest to chest with only inches between them. The music in the background had a soft and steady beat.

Lara was surprised when he moved, how easily her body followed his lead. With only a few small collisions, they managed to do sweeping turns around the room.