Page 7 of Unfinished

She’d known Edgar was a sore loser, but she hadn’t expected him to have that level of vitriol inside of him. They’d loved each other once, hadn’t they? She shook her head and wondered if he was right. Would she really have that much trouble finding the kind of man she needed here in the city? Would they look at her and see the same things Edgar did?

Sienna thought of feathers and the flash of dark scales, of sharp eyes that glinted like cut crystal. She might not have admitted it to Tasha, but she’d noticed when the advertisements for the Mate Portal Program first started appearing. It’d been about two years ago, not that she’d been a candidate then, but everything had changed, hadn’t it? Maybe a completely fresh start was exactly what she needed. An entire world away should be enough distance for her to outrun the voices inside that tried to tell her why she should just be content with her life the way it was. The ones that reminded her why she should give in and just do what her mother wanted.

A world away, an entirely different kind of man from any she’d ever known might be waiting for her even now. All she’d need to do was open her eyes and look.

Sienna double-checked that her door was closed and locked and pulled up the security access screen. She erased Edgar’s privileges and then headed towards the slim desk set against the far wall of the living room. She pulled back the chair and slid a large viewscreen out of a shallow drawer. She didn’t allow herself to think about what she was about to do as the screen flared to life. Her fingers seemed to move all on their own as she brought up the page for the Xithilene Mate Portal.

She was going to do this. She really was, and it wasn’t nearly as impulsive as it felt, she realized as she began to input her personal information. Once she’d filled out the basics, the following questions made that clear. If this worked, if there really was an alien man out there for her, it wouldn’t be a quick process.

You understand that no in-person meetings will occur prior to six human months of contact between the two mate candidates.

Sienna checked “yes.”

Indicate whether you wish to remain on Earth or relocate to Xithilene.

That one was harder. Her hand hovered over the screen, and her cheek worked before she clicked a check in the box beside “Xithilene.”Sienna swallowed hard. Did she really mean it? Could she really do that—leave it all behind?

Do you consent to receive a mate bite if your Xithilene mate is compatible.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Another yes with a check beside it.

She kept her personal description short. She could always add more later, but she needed to finish this now before she lost her nerve. Sienna added two pictures to her profile. One was a business headshot, and the other was a candid image Tasha had sent her from a boat trip they’d taken earlier that month. Her hair was caught in the wind, the messy strands covering half her face, but Sienna was looking at the camera, a half smile on her lips. She looked younger there—freer. She liked it.

After a final glance over all of her information, she hit “complete.” Only a few seconds passed before she received a confirmation message promising that the Mate Portal Program administrators would be reviewing her application.

That was that. She’d done it. She could go to sleep tonight knowing that Edgar’s words weren’t true. If she didn’t have a chance to find what she was looking for here on Earth, she was going to search for it on Xithilene.

Sienna closed down the viewscreen before she could consider logging back in to delete her profile. She hadn’t made any promises—just opened the door on some new opportunities.

She sighed and glanced back at her kitchen counter. Maybe a glass of wine wouldn’t be so bad, but she really wasn’t in the mood. No, she’d take that long shower she’d been dreaming of in the transport and fall asleep to the glow of the city lights. When the morning sun on her face woke her tomorrow, things would feel better. She just knew they would.

5

“She’s stuck again.”

R’kash looked up from the sacred scroll he was tying to the blessing tree in the courtyard to see one of the younger priests standing just outside the southern facing doorway.

“Ivekth, thank you for informing me. Is she in her chamber or another area of the temple?”

“Her chamber. Jesthi had H’viss go to fetch her for the evening meal, and he couldn’t find her. She’s on top of the wardrobe again, but now she won’t come down. Jesthi said she asked for you.”

The now familiar lurch in his chest still caught him off guard. Veesha didn’t understand who he was to her. Not really. Still, the child knew something, knew that she was bound to him more than to any other priest at the temple. It shined out of her fire-bright eyes every time she looked at him.

He’d learned more about her mother. The knowledge wasn’t pleasant. L’eesha’s life had been troubled and tragically short. Her wings had been a constant source of difficulties—no one had said as much to him, but he’d understood the words that went unspoken: large amounts of credits owed to men with unsavory reputations, her general ill health, her lack of occupation. It wasn’t hard for him to deduce that she’d been dependent upon mind-altering substances, that she’d given up her responsibilities as a mother to pursue an escape from her reality.

And the child, Veesha, had survived such an environment. Knowing she’d had to made him want to challenge Jesthi to the sands just to work out some of the rage that burned through his veins, but he could recognize the desire was unjustified, and he swallowed the anger down until it settled dull and heavy in his core.

“I’m coming. Make sure the others wait for me. I don’t want anyone to scare the girl.”

How easily he’d come to think of Veesha as his responsibility, but he was still accustoming himself to the idea that she was actuallyhis. It still didn’t feel quite real. He woke every morning wondering for a few brief moments whether he’d imagined it all, but he and his fellow priests couldn’t deny Veesha’s presence throughout the temple. One small child had irrevocably changed the place, breathing a new sort of energy into the isolated structure.

He found himself almost running as he moved through the public side of the temple. He should move her to a room closer to his own. No, he should have another bed brought to his own chambers—yes, that would surely help. A child so young shouldn’t be alone. When she wasn’t hiding or acting out, he’d noticed that she often curled up to rest. She was probably barely sleeping at all, most likely scared, reaching out for a mother who wasn’t there.

“R’kash?”

Jesthi’s voice brought him out of his musings. His friend stood beside the open door to Veesha’s chamber, a small room similar to those assigned to apprentice and junior priests.

“Is she still up there?” he asked.

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