Icarus Unbound (16 page)

by Bernadette Gardner

"Jaran!" Odan called after his brother, but Jaran refused to acknowledge him. Odan would survive and he would be able to mate with Jehri. Jaran had no reason to remain at the research station while Lara was still lost.

Ignoring the protests of all he passed on the way to the beach, he launched himself unsteadily into the air and set his course for the island where he and Lara had spent the night with Odan.

Lara woke to the sounds of symbion birds calling to their young. It was rare music, considered sacred by the Icarian people.

She yawned and stretched and slowly the events of the previous night solidified in her memory. She'd been exhausted, cold and soaked through to the skin, her wings almost too saturated with water to carry her another meter, but somehow she'd made it back to the aerie where she thought she'd left Jaran and Odan. When she'd stumbled inside and found no evidence that the brothers had been there she panicked. She'd ended up on the wrong island.

They might never find her.

She'd wanted to cry with frustration, but her eyes, too long assaulted by the briny winds, couldn't produce any tears.

Instead she'd sunk into the cold, stiff alor fibers of a long abandoned sleeping pallet and passed out. Yes, she was sure she'd actually fainted from exhaustion. Sleep usually came slowly, a comforting release of consciousness. This had been quick and unceremonious, like a light being extinguished. She recalled no dreams, nor had she awakened at all through the remainder of the night. Now her head pounded and her limbs 147

Icarus Unbound

by Bernadette Gardner

still felt heavy and damp. Her clothing clung to her, in parts dry and stiff and in others still wet and cold. Her hair felt like sundried alor and crackled a bit when she attempted to smooth out the unruly curls.

Her stomach rumbled.

With no supplies she couldn't even make breakfast for herself and regain some strength before setting off home. At least the rain had stopped, and the brilliant tropical sun shone as it was supposed to. As soon as she returned to an inhabited island everything would be right with the world, as long as Odan survived his ordeal.

She heard her name on the wind just as she hauled her aching body off the alor pallet. Something in the center of her chest did a flip when she recognized Jaran's voice.

He'd found her!

She flung herself through the stone archway and searched the sky for a sign of him. His silhouette circled the ground, a brown shadow cast by the late morning sun, and a moment later, he landed before her.

"How did you know to find me here?" she asked before he scooped her up in his arms and hugged her so tightly she lost her breath.

"I didn't. This was the only island I hadn't checked." Jaran whispered the words into her hair, then kissed her ear and her neck and her throat. "You saved Odan, but you shouldn't have flown off by yourself."

Lara managed to slide partway out of Jaran's embrace and plant her feet back on the ground. She looked up into his golden eyes. "I knew you wouldn't leave him, and you 148

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shouldn't have. I saw a break in the storm and hoped the radio would work if I found calm air. He's all right then? Odan is alive?"

"Yes, he's fine. Or he will be once Jehri stops fussing over him. He'll fly again, but probably not before his first child is born."

Tears of relief sprang into Lara's eyes at the mention of Odan's future child. He wouldn't lose out on the mating cycle.

She threw herself back into Jaran's arms and hugged him, reveling in the warmth of his skin against hers.

"Are you strong enough to fly home?" Jaran asked after planting a few more kisses on her forehead and her eyelids.

"You look ... exhausted."

"I look like rotten alor, and I smell a little like it too. I'm starving and I'm tired but I'd much rather eat breakfast at the royal aerie than here. Let's go ... oh..." Lara glanced at her mate, and the relief of having been reunited with him faded with the realization that in a few short days the committee might still tear them apart. "I was going to say 'home.' Is the royal aerie going to be my home? I haven't found a black egg."

"True, but you did save the life of the Icarian leader."

She scoffed. "Your life was never in danger. I doubt the committee will believe—"

Jaran cupped Lara's face in his hands. "The committee voted in your absence because I ordered them to. They chose to appoint Odan as leader. You saved Odan's life and therefore you qualify to be the leader's mate, but since he already has a mate, I believe you're stuck with me."

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Lara's throat closed on a half-sob. Her shoulders and her wings drooped. "Jaran. I'm sorry. I never wanted you to give up your leadership for me. You belong there. Jidar chose you because you were the right person to take his place. The committee needs to vote again."

"They may. If Odan insists. He doesn't want to rule, but right now, he's too weak to protest it, and I have a feeling before he recovers fully Jehri will convince him he can do just as good a job as I can."

Lara regarded him out of the corner of her eye. "Do you think he can?"

Jaran smiled. "I do. He's Namara's son. I've always suspected he was a bit smarter than me, and a bit more logical. He'll do well, if he wants to. If not, he'll return the position to me. Either way makes no difference as long as you're with me." He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. "The committee didn't vote to dissolve our union. Only you can do that. If you want to."

Lara stared at Jaran. For a moment she allowed herself to remember the young boy who'd taunted her, and the teenager who'd so often flattened her with icy stares and whispered rumors. That boy was gone and so was the little human child who'd longed for his approval. Today, Lara was Icarian, and Jaran was her chosen mate. Whatever had passed between them years ago was dead and buried.

"I have no intention of ever letting you go," she said, and caught his lips in a searing kiss that left them both breathless. "Let's go home, my liege, wherever that may be."

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Jaran eyed her for a moment, then his gaze slid past her into the dark recesses of the empty aerie behind her. He lifted her in his arms again and, ignoring her half-hearted protests, carried her inside. "I think, for the moment, home is right here."

The End

About the Author:

An avid reader all her life and an aspiring writer since the age of ten, Bernadette Gardner realized her dream of becoming a published author in 2005. Inspired by the romance she devoured as a teen and the science fiction classics, she hoped to combine those elements into her stories. Since beginning her career, she has branched out from science fiction romance into paranormal, contemporary and even historical genres and hopes to continue bringing sexy adventurous tales to her readers for decades to come.

Bernadette currently lives in the NY-NJ Metropolitan area with her husband of eighteen years, two creative children, a slightly neurotic Dalmatian and two spirited black cats. When not hard at work on a novel or short story, she spends her time reading, quilting and haunting the local craft stores.

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