Stardoc #01 - Stardoc by S. L. Viehl

Author:S. L. Viehl [Viehl, S. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General, High Tech, Medical, Life on Other Planets, Women Physicians, Torin; Cherijo (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780451457738
Google: Dv65c8KezT4C
Amazon: 0451457730
Publisher: Roc
Published: 1999-01-01T23:00:00+00:00

When I could breathe again, I floated down like a feather — drifting, untroubled, complete. I opened my eyes. We were still in the center of his quarters, clothing scattered around us. My hair and limbs were wrapped around him. He disengaged our bodies and gently placed me back on my feet. I smiled up at him.

"Wow." Someone needed to update the database. "That was incredible." He brushed his lips over mine, but when he drew back I saw the bleakness in his eyes, felt the tension in his limbs. "Kao?"

"I could not stop myself," he said, his hand stroking the hair away from my brow. "I frightened you, hurt you."

"No." I shook my head, swaying a little. "Not at all." Now I understood why most patients got so upset whenever I had to temporarily restrict certain activities. I'd be mad, too.

He lifted me up, carried me over, and placed me on his wide sleeping platform. Carefully he pulled the bed linens over me, and made as if to stand.

I pulled him back down. "Don't go."

"You are so small," he said, and touched his forehead to mine. "I hurt you."

"It always hurts Terran females the first time," I said, and smiled. "It wasn't bad. I hardly noticed."

"Cherijo." He sat next to me, held my hand between his. "You honor me, but I—"

Hadn't I said men never knew when to shut up? Exasperated now, I tugged his arm. "If you don't get in bed with me this minute, I'll do a lot more than honor you. You won't like it, either."

His lips curved with relief. "I will never leave you again," he said as he stretched out next to me. He placed one palm over my heart. "I dwell here forever."

Hours passed unnoticed as we lay together, holding each other. I slept for a long time, and when I opened my eyes his hands were caressing me. It was a great way to wake up. Each time we made love, the unique meld of our bodies thrilled me.

"If we were on Joren, would we be bonded now?" I asked him once, my cheek pressed against his chest.

"Almost," was his reply.

I lifted my head warily. "There's more?"

He rumbled a soft laugh at my disbelief. "Wait and see."

While we were together, Kao filled in some of the gaps about Jorenian sexuality. I learned a complete bond could only take place on Joren, where Kao's entire HouseClan would acknowledge the match during a mysterious ceremony, and that Jorenian males control conception, through deliberate glandular repression (so much for my contraceptive booster).

Leaving him after that night was the hardest thing I'd ever done. When 1 drew away from his last embrace, he turned me to a mirror and lifted my hair away from my throat. There, beneath my left ear, was the faintest shadow of a mark. A mark like the upswept wings of a dark bird.

"E'amyorn keleah es, m'adeunam," he said, and met my eyes in the glass. "You bear the mark of my honor, my Chosen.

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