Page 135 of Tempted by Celestial Bodies

My heart leaps into my throat. I thought I’d gotten used to his touch after that flight, but no. The sudden awareness of my own skin shocks me. I check my mask again. Still on. Still functioning.What is happening to me?

His steps are light and sure. I force myself not to look down.

Jalus sets me on my feet, businesslike, as if he hasn’t just lit every nerve in my body on fire. I try not to hyperventilate.

“You’re at a disadvantage here without wings,” he observes. “Please, tell me if there are any more places you feel unsafe, and I’ll carry you.”

I mentally resolve not to ask for help, but that lasts all of two minutes before we hit another tightrope crossing. I’m drowning in a mix of embarrassment and confused arousal. Should I just fling myself off this tree and accept my fate?

But no. Jalus would probably dive to catch me.

Why do Iwanthim to catch me?

We arrive at a storage area where a cluster of large plant-fiber cocoons hang close together from the branches under our feet. Jalus calls out to one of the Kin women and asks her for a healing salve, which she extracts from a pot sealed in one of the cocoons.

“Thank you,” I say as she offers it to me on yet another leaf. I smear it across my palm and apply the extra to the cuts on my arms. Instantly, the stinging is gone, the redness fading.

“What is this?” I exclaim. “It works so well.”

“A Kin secret,” the woman tells me with a wink.

Jalus whispers another request, and she gives him a small gourd with a wax seal, sloshing with liquid. He stows it in his pocket, kissing his hand to her in thanks.

When he turns back to me, he seems almost shy. “This is my mother.”

I look up in surprise and reevaluate the woman. I can see the resemblance. They have the same beautiful eyes, the same shiny brown hair. “Mother, this is Lady Sinead.”

“The Governor’s daughter.” Jalus’s mom gives me a once-over. “This planet has always turned easier when a woman rules us.”

“Mother…”

“Are you talking about Governor Crowe?” I lift my eyebrows. “I thought she was unpopular. I saw the bonfires after her execution. Dad said they—you—were burning her in effigy because you hated her.”

Jalus’s mom raises her eyebrows right back at me. “Oh? Isthatwhat he told you?”

“Burning is a sign of honor among us,” Jalus tells me quietly. “We burned leaf dolls in the Lady Governor’s memory because she had treated us kindly. Allowed us sovereignty over our own dealings. Often she visited the villages and spoke with us to learn our concerns. We mourned her passing greatly.”

“Oh.” Governor Crowe must have done all that in secret, because she’d have been mocked out of the Ruling Council for such softhearted behavior. Maybe that was what got her removed and executed. “I’m sorry for your loss,” is all I can think to say.

“As I said, a woman’s rule has always brought this planet good fortune.” Jalus’s mother is staring at me with a calculating look on her face. “Especially a woman linked to our kind by?—”

“It was good to see you, Mother,” Jalus interrupts. “We have to go now. I’m taking Sinead to meet the Old Kin.”

“Are you, now?” Jalus’s mother gives a brief smile. “Good. Good.” She reaches out to clasp my shoulder. “I will see you again,” she says, sounding much more sure of it than I am.

Jalus leads me across a few more tightrope-bridges before he speaks again. “Mother is nearing the age of an elder, so she feels she’s earned the right to speak her mind.” He sounds apologetic.

“I like her,” I say. “I didn’t know about the former Governor. Thank you for telling me.”

“I should have known the Governor wouldn’t—” Jalus stops. “Forgive me. I don’t mean to insult your father.”

“He misinterpreted what he saw,” I say, wishing I believed it. “Burning effigies means something else in Imperial culture. It would be beneath him to knowingly spread lies about his predecessor.”

But that wouldn’t stop him,whispers a voice in the back of my mind.

To distract myself, I ask, “Who are the Old Kin?”

“You’ll see.” Jalus flashes me a mischievous smile. It’s the first one I’ve seen on his adult face, and it transforms him. He’s handsome when he’s solemn and cold, but smiling, he’s so beautiful it’s like staring directly into the suns.

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