Kiera's Moon

Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

"Romas, no!" Her latest protest was lost on the warriors, who dragged her aboard yet another ship. "I want to stay!"

"Not with these people," he said, once again the egotistical protector who knew better than her. His quick pace forced her to trot to keep up, and the two warriors behind her let her go to pursue their leader. "I promised Evey I'd rescue you when we went to war."

"I don't need rescuing!" she argued. "I want to stay there with A'Ran!"

Romas whirled at the name, and she ran into him before taking a quick step back. His gaze was cold, his jaw ticking.

"That barbarian has dishonored you and my family! If it were up to me, I'd take you back to Qatwal and mate you to one of my brothers, but Evey forbade it," he snapped. "You should be grateful I rescued you before he could sully you."

Her face felt hot as her fear turned to anger. He spun and strode away before she could formulate a response. She continued after him.

"Romas, he's my mate. I can't just leave him!" she tried again. "And I have to stay and help the planet."

"The decision is made. You're going back to your planet. Evey was right—it was a mistake to bring you with us."

His words stung, and any further argument died on her lips as she realized how serious he was. She stopped in the hall. He motioned for the guards to take her down another corridor, and she went.

She awoke from the nightmare she'd had every night since being dragged off Anshan. It was past sunrise, so she rose and flung off her bed covers. Her things and most of the furniture had been returned with her to the row house. She'd refused to unpack everything, instead digging out only what she needed as the days passed.

She didn't expect her sense of loss to be so deep. It'd hit her on the spaceship ride home and had only grown deeper. Romas hadn't even accompanied her to the row house but sent her on a small shuttle to the local park and left her there. No farewell, no apology, nothing. She'd cried for two days before finally realizing on day three that no one was coming for her.

She looked around her room. Her feet were cold on the wooden floor, and she'd caught herself looking down many times to see if she made grass grow here, too. She didn't, and the disappointment brought tears to her eyes once again. Wiping them away, she padded into the hall, down the stairs, and to her studio, which overflowed with paintings she'd done in the eight days since returning. She stood before her favorite, an image of A'Ran the way she remembered him from the day they'd first met.

Even the sight of him immortalized in paints made her chest tight and her knees weak. She hadn't realized what she felt for him until it was too late to tell him. She may have been a duty for him, but he'd been so much more ... and Anshan...

Her gaze went to her cold feet again. Anshan's energy had kept her feet warm, even on the rocky terrain. Grass had sprung up from boulders she touched, and she'd felt truly a part of her world for once in her life.

And now she had ... nothing. She shivered and twisted to see the rest of her paintings. Talal, their home in exile, the canyon filled with hulking grey ships in the moonlight near Romas's home, the flower in the fountain of the sacred temple.

She missed them.  She sat down at her desk and grabbed the waiting sketchpad.  Food had become an overlooked stranger, and she'd found herself leaving her studio only for the bathroom and the bedroom.  Otherwise, she drew and painted.  Today, she returned to the drawing she started long ago on the portrait she had intended to give Evelyn for her wedding.