The Priestess and the Thief Kindred Tales 30 - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,101

he wanted to bond with her—to bond her to him and love her all of his life. Finally, he was ready to take the risk he’d been avoiding for so long—finally, he was ready to love.

He just hoped that Ellilah would feel the same way.

I’ll tell her I love her, he thought as he paced back and forth in front of the statue. I know it’s not fair of me to ask her to break her vows permanently and come away with me but I have to at least ask. I’ll live with regret all my life if I don’t.

The memory of his mother’s death and his Sire’s suicide was still in the back of his mind—an aching wound that would never completely heal. But those awful old memories no longer had power over him. He was free now—free to love Ellilah the way she deserved to be loved and cherished.

If only she would consent to love him in return…

“Roke?” her soft birdlike voice—the voice that had tamed the fearsome Demon and had tamed his own reluctant heart as well—came to him through the trees.

“Ellilah?” Looking up eagerly, he saw her coming through the Sacred Grove. “Ellilah!” Running to her, he took both her hands in his. “Sweetheart! Are you all right? Did Commander Sylvan get to you in time? I wanted to come too but he wouldn’t allow it.”

“I’m fine,” she assured Roke, smiling up at him.

But Roke thought there was something sad in that smile—something that troubled him.

“Why did you come back?” she asked. “Weren’t you worried about getting caught?”

“I was caught,” Roke said. “And I’ve promised to make reparations. But I came back for you, Ellilah—I had a terrible feeling you were in trouble.”

“Well, you were right,” she said seriously. “It turned out that the old Priestess Superior wasn’t dying of a wasting disease after all—the Ascending Priestess was giving her Dreaming Drops to make it look like she was. We caught her trying to poison the old Priestess Superior once and for all with an overdose and then things got a bit tense.”

“A bit tense?” Roke demanded, raising his eyebrows. “What does that mean?”

“She pointed a blaster at me,” Elli admitted. “But don’t worry—she never even got off a shot,” she added quickly, obviously seeing his horrified look. “And the piece of the Healing Lattice worked on the old Priestess Superior even though she didn’t have a real wasting disease and now she’s much better. So, well…” She shrugged, looking suddenly shy. “That was all I wanted to tell you. I just thought you’d like to know. So I guess…” She looked up at him. “I guess now that you know everything is all right and you’ve vowed to make reparations for drugging the Christmas punch in the first place, you’re going to go.”

“No, I’m not,” Roke said firmly. “That is…” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to go without you, Ellilah.”

“What?” Her eyes widened as she looked up at him in incomprehension.

“I love you!” Roke said, more harshly than he’d meant to. He ran his fingers through his hair and began pacing again. “I’ve tried for so long not to love anyone—to stay true to the Havoc side of my heritage and never bond. But I can’t help it, Ellilah—I love you and I want to bond with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He raked his fingers through his hair again. “Hell, I know it’s not fair of me to ask you to give up your vocation as a priestess, but I think you feel the same way I do. And if you do, I want to ask you to Join with me and bond with me and spend the rest of your life with me. So will you, sweetheart?” he asked, turning to face her at last. “Will you bond with me?”

But to his dismay, Ellilah was shaking her head and tears were rolling down her cheeks.

“What is it, sweetheart?” Quickly, Roke dropped to his knees in the grass before her. “What’s wrong? Is it that you feel like you can’t leave the Mother Ship? That you have to keep your vow to be a priestess all your life?”

“No.” Ellilah shook her head and swiped at her tears. “Or, that’s only part of it.”

“What’s the other part, then?” he demanded urgently. “Tell me the reason we can’t be together!”

“Roke, I…” She rubbed at her eyes again and took a deep breath. “I already drank of