Unbondable(Kindred Birthright #1) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,19

be her great aunt and uncle.

“Yes?” The woman frowned at her, a sour expression on her thin, elegant features. “Who might you be and why are you calling us?”

“Aunt Zeelah? Uncle Grennly?” Kara asked hopefully. “I’m sorry to call you out of the blue like this but I’m here on Tranq Prime and I was hoping to meet you in person.”

“Meet us? Who are you?” Grennly demanded.

Kara gave them a close-mouth smile, being careful to hide her fangs.

“I’m Sylvan’s daughter,” she said. “Sylvan—your nephew. Or…sister’s son,” she said, remembering the round-about way they named kinship bonds here.

“Oh, good gracious!” Aunt Zeelah’s face cleared and she put her clasped hands to her heart. “Oh Grennly—it’s little Hara! My sister’s son’s daughter!”

“It’s Kara,” Kara corrected her gently. “And yes, that’s me! I came all the way from the Mother Ship.”

“Such a long way! Er…is anyone else with you?” Grennly peered at her anxiously, as though Kara might be hiding all the rest of her family in the back of her shuttle.

“Nope, it’s just me,” she said brightly. “I’d very much like to meet you in person, Uncle Grennly, Aunt Zeelah.”

“Well, of course, my dear!” Aunt Zeelah said. “Just come to the main grotto and we’ll meet you by the reflecting pool.”

“Wonderful!” Kara wanted to grin but instead she gave them another closed-mouth smile. “I’ll be right there.”

“We’ll see you soon!” Aunt Zeelah trilled and Uncle Grennly waved a hand at her in a friendly way before the connection was cut and her viewscreen went blank.

There, that wasn’t so bad—they’re welcoming me with open arms! Kara told herself as she pulled on her boots, grabbed her carryall cube and swathed herself in the thick vranna skin coat. She put on thermal gloves and a thermal face shield too, just to be safe. She well remembered the story her parents had told about how her mother had nearly died from exposure, even in the short amount of time it took her father to carry her from their ship to the entrance of the grotto, when she first came to Tranq Prime.

Finally, when she felt she was as shielded from the weather as she could be, Kara popped open the door to her shuttle…and was nearly knocked flat on her back by the gust of icy wind that shoved through the entrance like an overeager customer at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

“Whoa!” she muttered, bracing herself against the wind. “Good thing I’m covered up!”

She stepped out into a cold so icy it seemed to steal her breath. It made her nose and mouth go numb and her lungs ached when she breathed it in, despite her thermal face shield. Kara knew that she needed to get out of it quickly before she froze.

Up ahead, moving in a group over the snowy plain, she saw the traders and merchants. Raak was among them—a head taller than everyone else. He was also the only one not wearing any kind of face and head protection. His long black hair whipped in the icy wind but Kara didn’t think he looked distressed or even particularly cold. He moved easily, walking at the front of the pack of merchants and looking around, his silver-ringed eyes taking in everything while all the other traders were solely focused on the door in the vast stone wall that rose to their left.

Kara was focused on the grotto door too. She didn’t want to draw unwanted attention from the traders or let Raak know she was there but neither did she want to get left behind. Moving quickly and blessing the fact that the thermal face shield would mask her features, she made her way to the back of the group and was the last one through the rusted metal door before it clanged shut behind her.

She found herself in a long tunnel made of rough, brown stone walls which stretched downward at a mild slope as though going into the heart of the earth.

“Whew—fucking cold out there!” one of the merchants complained, blowing on his hands—which were large and blue and had seven fingers each. He looked like a Durstan from Drusia Seven to Kara.

“You’re not kidding,” muttered another. “Hope this stop is worth it.”

“If you’ve got the right wares to sell, you’ll make it worth it,” a deep voice said.

It was Raak speaking, Kara saw, glancing up quickly. She saw his nose twitch as he caught her gaze momentarily and she was glad all over again for the face shield. It would be so