One Heart

37. Family

"What do we have next?"

Anna looked down at her electronic schedule. "Your ten o'clock is with three members of state government... Companions. It should be fairly straight forward, it's mostly just a catch up."

Kensie rolled her eyes. "Can't things like this wait until we're back to normal?"

"You're the Ahein Rah, your people need you."

Kensie slammed her open palm against the mahogany desk. "No, our people need her! It's been almost five weeks. Why are we continuing business as usual when she is gone? None of what I'm doing is a priority. I need to be out there looking for her."

Anna took the abuse. She pursed her lips before offering a counter argument. "When we find her, which we will, we need to make sure she returns to a smoothly run monarchy. Whatever we delay now she will have to add to her duties upon her return, and we have no idea what state of mind she will be in when that day comes."

Kensie sighed, her hands on her hips. "Fine."

She made her best effort to conduct the meeting to a satisfactory standard to prevent further work for Sorah, but her mind wandered as Anna steered the conversation. She withdrew into herself, daydreaming about the girl who was always in her thoughts, vaguely aware of the conversation taking place.

"Do you agree, Your Highness?"

Anna's calm, serious voice interrupted Kensie's thoughts. Her eyes widened in surprise and confusion. She wracked her brain, trying to gain some understanding of the conversation, and as she stared at Anna she received a soft nod in response sighing in relief. "Yes. That sounds fine." Kensie looked to her three guests, trying to gauge their reaction. It was as if she were looking at them for the first time. Her eyes fell on the young woman to the left. Her hair was a touch lighter than Sorah's and her eyes were blue, rather than green, but she noticed a resemblance between the two. "How closely related are you to the royal line?" she asked.

The girl's eyebrows rose in surprise as her cheeks reddened. "My grandmother is Queen Isha's sister, Your Highness."

"Hmm."

The conversation continued without the Ahein Rah's attention. Now noticing the resemblance, she couldn't stop her gaze wandering to the young companion. As the girl noticed the attention, Kensie heard her heart rate quicken, and saw the blush in her cheeks return. She wasn't attracted to the girl, that much she knew, but something about her caught her attention.

She felt Anna's discontent burn into her from her left. When she turned, her gaze met worried eyes and she narrowed her own in question. Anna looked down and gestured to her bouncing knee and then to her knuckles. Kensie followed her line of sight, unaware she had been so restless. She took stock of her posture, and the way both hands clenched the arms of her chair, her knuckles white from the prolonged grip.

As Kensie's mind flooded with memories of her teeth sinking in to the soft skin of Sorah's neck, she realised why she was so agitated. She had not fed in almost five weeks. Two would be a reasonable time frame for many of her kind, yet she had become accustomed to enjoying her wife in every way possible on a daily basis. Now in the presence of three companions, her body felt that loss. She swallowed hard as she tried to clear her mind. Her usual level of control had been obliterated by weeks of starvation. She turned to her left in panic and sighed in relief when Anna understood her silent plea.

As Anna saw their guests out, Kensie began to relax, the closed door forming a barrier between her and the rest of the world. She stood on shaky legs and returned to her desk to continue with her paper work. She needed to stay busy, to distract her mind from the memories of Sorah. Memories that provoked reactions within her body she could not satisfy.