The Joiner King: Star Wars Legends (Dark Nest, Book I) (Star Wars The Dark Nest Trilogy 1) by Troy Denning

Author:Troy Denning [Denning, Troy]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780345463142
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2005-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-ONE

A weight lay across Jaina’s chest, and the inside of one ear was being warmed by a soft, pulsing growl. The dormitory air was filled with a comforting mélange of refresher soap and body smells from a dozen different species, but the predominant odor, familiar and musky and strongest, was human.

Male human.

Zekk.

Jaina reached down and felt his arm across her, and his leg a bit lower, then slowly turned her head. Through a lingering fog of membrosia excess, she saw the familiar chiseled features surrounded by a frame of shaggy black hair. Thankfully, he was still clothed.

The previous night came flooding back to her: Unu’s arrival at Jwlio, the Dance of Union, the Taat drifting off into the Harem Cave, the Joiners leaving in twos and threes and fours, her hand in Zekk’s …

Zekk’s green eyes opened, and the smile on his face was replaced by a confused squint. He blinked two or three times, then glanced at the lightly-clothed female body over which he’d draped himself and raised his brow. Jaina sensed a distinct click in the back of his mind. His eyes slid away from hers, and she felt his emotions swinging from disbelief to bewilderment to guilt.

“Well,” Jaina said, hoping to set a casual tone. “Interesting night.”

“Yeah.” Zekk pulled his arm and leg off of her body. “I—I thought it was a dream.”

Jaina cocked her brow. “You’re saying it wasn’t?”

Zekk’s eyes widened. “No, it was fun!” he said. “Great, even. I just … it just didn’t feel real …”

Zekk let the sentence trail off, sharing his thoughts and emotions with Jaina directly via the meld—or perhaps it was the Taat mind—instead of trying to explain. He had loved her since they were teenagers, and he had imagined waking at her side countless times. But last night had not felt like them. They had been carried along on a wave of Killik emotion. He had sought her out in the rapture of the dance, even when he knew she did not share his feelings, and found himself leading her down into the dormitory with all the Joiners—

“Zekk, we didn’t do anything,” Jaina said. She could have answered him more quickly and clearly just by thinking, but right now she needed the sense of separation that came with speaking—even if it was an illusion. “It was just a little cuddling between friends. You have a problem with that?”

“No!” Zekk said. “I just feel like I took advantage.”

Jaina clasped his forearm. “You didn’t.” She was genuinely touched by his concern—and truly relieved that it had been handsome, muscular, familiar Zekk who had taken her hand instead of Raynar. “We lost control there for a minute, but we got it back. I’m just glad Alema went home with Mom and Dad.”

Zekk remained quiet.

Jaina propped herself up on an elbow. “Hey!” She punched him in the shoulder. “I know what you’re thinking!”

“Sorry.”

Zekk blushed and turned away, and Jaina felt him closing down emotionally.

“Zekk, you can’t do that,” she said. They had to

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