But all the barriers she raised against intruders were weakening before him. She could not keep him out, but he allowed her to sense in him only those emotions that would draw her closer.
He touched her cheek. “I felt your distress. I came at once.”
“You felt—” She became aware of his caress and went very still. “I was guarding my thoughts every minute in this house, but you’re obviously linked to my emotions.” She sat down on the nearest step. “You’re getting stronger, Ronan. It’s even more important to take you to a specialist who can work with you.”
“So that I, too, can control my thoughts.”
“Among other things. Uncle Jesper may not be able to delay our debriefing beyond tomorrow morning.”
“And you still fear that I may be concealing something that would alarm your Council.”
“No.” She stood up, paced away from him, and turned sharply. “There are others like Janek who’ll be looking for any excuse to keep you in permanent custody.”
“Then we should make preparations.”
“Yes. I’ll gather my things and return with you to Jesper’s. You’d better wait for me outside.”
“You do not wish others of your House to see me.”
She paused on the steps. “If you read me a little more deeply—which I don’t advise—you’d know I’m only trying to protect you.”
“And yourself.” He listened to the sounds from another part of the house, vast as it was—human voices, mostly male. “It is better when females leave their young to be raised by those suited for it.”
“I have no intention of discussing family matters here. Wait outside, Ronan.”
She ran up the staircase. Ronan stared at the colored glass several stories overhead, wondering at the waste of space for the purpose of ostentatious ornamentation. This dwelling was far larger than Jesper’s, flaunting wealth in the way humans seemed to prefer.
Cynara had grown up to this life of privilege, daughter of the aho’va of Line D’Accorso. But she had not been happy. She had no desire to be here among her kin; they made no place for her to fill. She had chosen exile and fought to establish a new House where she could be First. Now that House was under threat, by Janek and by this Council.
Ronan’s most powerful urge was to protect her from all enemies. Every time he touched Cynara’s mind, even lightly, he wished to reach further and deeper. Every moment of sharing jeopardized his resolve to carry out the objective assigned him. Yet what he needed lay in her mind, and he must risk all to find it.
The male voices came closer, and he went quickly to the door and slipped into the garden. A few minutes later Cynara found him. She led him to a path that wound behind the great house and through a gate in the high wall.
The sun had crossed the horizon by the time they left the D’Accorso grounds and started for Va Jesper’s house. The scents of night were strong in the High City, the cloying perfume of some night-blooming flower, fuel from cars skimming along the narrow streets, spices seasoning fish cooked over an open fire.
Though they had been parted only a few hours, Cynara’s nearness had a curious effect on Ronan. He lost awareness of the streets they walked and the humans they passed. He did not forget what he must do tonight, but his reasons for attempting it became more and more confused.
A distraction was necessary. “Your parents,” he said. “They are joined for life, but they are not lifemates.”
“It depends on what you mean by ‘lifemate.'”
“In shaauri-ja, it is a sacred emotional and spiritual bond between male and female, blessed by the Ancestors. Only a small percentage of shaauri are so honored. It cannot be feigned, nor can it be broken. Lifemates are always the founders of a House or Line; without them there is no prosperity. Alone among shaauri mates, they remain together until death.”
“You make it sound like a kind of Selection.”
“In many ways, it is. Your parents’ marriage was arranged by their progenitors?”
“Yes.” She began to walk even faster, her gaze fixed on the ground before her feet.