KINSMAN’S OATH By Susan Krinard
KINSMAN’S OATH By Susan Krinard
Contents
Prologue
PART I – Pegasus
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
PART II – Alliance
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
PART III – Shauri-ja
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Glossary
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“A Vivid, talented writer with a sparkling imagination.:”
—Anne Stuart
In her popular novella in the New York Times best-selling Out of this World anthology, Susan Krinard created a futuristic world of humans, telepaths, and an alien race called the shaauri. Now, she returns to that future galaxy with a captivating tale about two telepaths who have nothing in common…except the love they share for one another.
Ronan VelKalevi was a man torn between two worlds. Born into the human race, he was kidnapped at the age of six by shaauri. More than twenty years later, he has found himself on the run from the aliens who raised him—and being saved by a ship of humans…
Captain Cynara D’Accorso, the commander of the Pegasus, has no reservations about rescuing the telepathic Kinsman from his damaged ship. But she isn’t expecting the dangerous emotions this troubled man awakens in her—or that he isn’t the innocent fugitive he claims to be.
Now, as Ronan and Cynara’s hearts fall prey to passion, they must discover the paths to which they each were born before their destinies destroy them both…
“Susan Krinard has set the standard fro today’s fantasy romance.”
—Affair de Coeur
* * *
Titles by Susan Krinard
kinsman’s oath
to catch a wolf
the forest lord
secret of the wolf
out of this world
(anthology with J. D. Robb,
Laurell K. Hamilton, and Maggie Shayne)
* * *
Kinsman’s Oath
Susan Krinard
BERKLEY SENSATION, NEW YORK
* * *
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
KINSMAN’S OATH
A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Sensation edition / May 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Susan Krinard.
Cover illustration by Franco Accornero.
Cover design by George Long.
ISBN: 0-425-19655-0
BERKLEY SENSATION™
Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY SENSATION and the “B” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
* * *
This book is respectfully dedicated to the Science Fiction and Fantasy authors who have had the greatest impact on my life:
Madeleine L’Engle—whose A Wrinkle in Time, read to my fifth grade class, introduced me to the wonders of the genre;
Andre Norton—whose stories helped me live through the challenges of adolescence;
Marion Zimmer Bradley—whose work introduced me to lifelong friend Brett Carter;
C. J. Cherryh—my ideal world-builder, ultimately responsible for my wonderful marriage to fellow science fiction reader Serge Mailloux;
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller—who not only write wonderful romantic “space opera,” but who, along with friends and mentors eluki bes shahar and Jennara Wenk and the television series Beauty and the Beast, can take full credit for setting me on the writing path.
Thank you all.
* * *
Prologue
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The boy was young—young enough to be barred from the areas of the Persephonean corvette he most wanted to see, and to be assigned one of the Archon’s own special agents during the voyage into shaauri space. Too young for wandering the corridors, where he might interfere with the duties of busy crew; too young to visit engineering with its vast sparkling pillars filled with dancing light like rainbows in a bottle, or to join his parents on the bridge.
All during the journey, he had spent most of his time in his small cabin or in the Aphrodite’s mess hall, where he played games on the holosim or cards with Agent Teklys. She laughed when he almost beat her at Nova and told him he was too young to be so good.