Submitting to the Shadow (Kindred Tales #27) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,80

at Sammi. “I will listen to them and try to ‘tune’ your new vocal chords to sound like the old ones as much as possible. Yes I will, yes I will.”

“I have recordings of lots of her lectures,” Meg volunteered. “From when I audited the very first class you taught,” she added, looking at Sammi. “Because you asked me to take it and let you know how you were doing?”

Sammi nodded gratefully at her friend. It was amazing that Meg still had those recordings—but they were from years ago. Would her new voice sound like her younger self? Would it sound like her at all? The little Tolleg surgeon was promising earnestly to do his best and it was amazing that he could replace a voice box, but what would she really sound like after the operation was complete?

“We’re not ready to do the operation yet, of course,” Liv said, breaking into her thoughts. “Yipper will need time to build your new larynx. But in the meantime, I’m releasing you from the Med Center. I understand you have a, uh, ceremony to attend in the Sacred Grove this afternoon?”

Yes—the Severing, Sammi thought as she remembered all over again that she and Roark would soon be splitting up forever. The thought made her want to cry and tears stung her eyes. She blinked them away and nodded shortly, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her.

“All right then.” Liv squeezed her hand comfortingly. “I’m going to release you from the Med Center and I’m going to ask you to continue to rest your throat and not try to say anything or make any kind of sounds. We’ll need you to be healed up completely before Yipper can replace your injured larynx with the new one.”

Sammi nodded dully. Why should she try to talk? She had nothing to say and no one to say it to.

Well, that wasn’t quite fair, she reminded herself. Meg was there with her and she knew her best friend would be by her side every minute of the day if Sammi needed her.

But right now, she just wanted to be alone.

I understand, she mouthed to Liv, who nodded.

“Good. Then you can gather your things and go whenever you want to.”

“We’ll be out of here in no time,” Meg promised, looking relieved. Sammi remembered that her friend wasn’t a big fan of hospitals, since she’d had to watch her grandmother die in one when she was in high school. But she had stuck by Sammi anyway, despite her own discomfort. She was a true friend.

She reached for Meg’s hand and squeezed it gratefully.

“I know—you’re going home!” Meg grinned down at her.

Sammi shook her head and mouthed, Ceremony.

“Oh, right.” Meg frowned. “Well, that shouldn’t take long, right? And afterwards I have an amazing girls night planned. We’re going to stay up late watching chick flicks and eating ice cream. I’m sending Berik to bed early so we’re going to have the whole suite to ourselves!”

Sammi tried to smile, but somehow the corners of her mouth just wouldn’t turn up. She knew that her best friend was trying to cheer her up, but she had a feeling that after the formal Severing from Roark, she would just want to lie in bed and cry for the rest of the night—possibly the rest of the month.

“It’s all right, hon.” Meg rose and gave her a hug. “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but you’re going to get through this and everything will be okay.”

Sammi nodded and sniffed, trying to hold back her tears. But she just didn’t see how her best friend could be right—she was about to get the Kindred version of a divorce.

Nothing was ever going to be all right again.

Sixty-Two

Roark looked at himself in the 3-D viewer. He was wearing his best dress uniform—an emerald green, long-sleeved shirt with shiny gold buttons and the tight black trousers that went with it. His black boots had been shined to a high gloss—not that anyone would see them, as it was considered improper to walk on the holy ground of the Sacred Grove in anything but bare feet.

All in all, he looked like he was going to a Joining Ceremony.

When in fact, I’m going to the exact opposite, he thought ruefully.

His heart was aching and he couldn’t count the number of times he’d had to stop himself from going to Samantha and begging her to let him call it off. Once he had been actually