UNGLOVED

Chapter Seventeen, part one - Healing

It took a week for Lorenzo to heal enough to get out of bed. Although Adina was a very competent Marulan, the damage he had sustained was not easy to repair. As was often the case, she was obliged to leave him with some healing to do on his own.

Liriel fretted over him, checking the wound several times a day, making small adjustments. She was grateful to Adina for her assistance, saving Lorenzo's life with quick intervention.

The delight she felt in Lorenzo's increasing health was overshadowed by the shame she felt in her actions. Liriel had chosen to use her special knowledge of maru to do the most unthinkable. She had done so only when hard-pressed, but she had no way to know if the maru she had siphoned had killed the man. It was possible he lived in spite of her, yet she couldn't help but obsess over the ideas that she, a healer who had always lived to help others, might have taken a life.

Liran was snoring fitfully in a padded box in the corner. How strange to think that she had recently taken a life as well as given one.

"I'm fine, my love. You mustn't worry about me." He drew her close as they lay on the narrow bed Liriel had occupied during her stay. Lorenzo's presence and warmth overwhelmed her. After being without him for so long, he was finally here. And she had almost lost him. She checked his body again. He rolled his eyes and smiled. "Was that really necessary?"

"No, but I learned something." She licked her lips, chewing the lower one for a moment. She drew her hand across his chest and shoulder, then reached behind his arm and tugged him down until he hovered over her.

"Oh, is that how you tell? I can assure you Trillas women need no power to tell them when a man wants them."

Liriel closed her eyes, her sensitive hands making contact with his bare skin, allowing her easy communion with his mind. He permitted her the contact. She had shown him how he could block it if he preferred. It was only fair. She also sank into awareness of his body, reaching for the mental caress that would boost his desire. She opened her eyes to see him gazing into her own, a simmering fire burning within.

"How did I ever get so lucky?" he said, or rather thought into her mind. Liriel had ached for Lorenzo for so long that she attacked him with enthusiasm. "Are you healed enough yourself, my precious? You just had a baby less than a week ago."

"I had the assistance of a Marulan, my dear. My body might be tired, but its whole." She stroked his hair as she kissed him, then withdrew. "You aren't looking for an excuse not to, are you?"

"You wound my pride. Lorenzo Calimero would never seek excuses not to make love." He pressed his lips to hers, and for a long time, no more complicated thoughts intruded on their desires.

#

"Are you still glad that you married me?" Lorenzo murmured into Liriel's ear.

The baby gave a desperate wail. Liriel leapt out of bed to fetch him. She returned with him suckling fiercely. He was always hungry. Lorenzo watched with is deep blue eyes framed by dark brows as the baby fed. He was still waiting for her answer.

Liriel turned to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Are all men this insecure?"

He laughed. Caressing her leg he lowered his head to reply confidentially. "Only when we aren't making love." Liriel pulled the baby away to switch sides. He grumbled and whined until he found his stride and settled once more.

"He's a hungry little thing."

"If he's going to grow up to as big as you, he's got some work to do."

Lorenzo laughed. His bright teeth flashed. "He may well be a tall man when he grows up. Most of the men in my family are." He sobered. "Do you think your brother has a point, Liriel? Have we created a being without a future?" A look close to panic briefly flashed across his face.

Liriel searched herself to find what she believed. Valran might be right, but even if he was, nothing could be done now. They couldn't unmake their little boy, nor would she ever want to. She stroked his soft dark hair. Her eyes shifted focus as she watched him; his mouth working at her breast. Tears sprung to her eyes and through them she saw an aura of silver blue about him, as bright as a star in a darkened sky. She had slipped into that special vision that showed the world as maru. The intensity of the light measured well into the range she knew any Hilliri possessed. Her baby might possess Hilliri abilities and lifespan after all. Another moment passed and her vision returned to normal. Valran was wrong. Not a freak at all. A gifted Marulan, perhaps?

She looked back at Lorenzo. "I think in some ways, he will be more like your people, my dear, and in some ways, he will be more like mine. The divide is never perfectly equal between the gifts of the mother and the gifts of the father. As a whole, though the child gains equally from both parents, but for the individual aspects, he may be closer to one than the other."

Lorenzo tilted his head. "You mean he might be tall like I am, rather than short like you, but he might have your healing abilities, which I don't have?"

Liriel held her breath. He had come too close to the truth that she had just perceived, but she couldn't be sure of it, so it was best not to share her vision. "We will just have to wait until he grows up to see how things turn out."

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Cheers!

Rebecca