“Maddie, wait!” Rayn called to her.
“Rayn, let her go. Can you not see how confused and overwrought she is?” Annalise commanded.
Rayn tried to interrupt her, but she continued, “My son, put yourself in her shoes. She has just learned she has grandparents that are living here on Vesturon and that she is a part of a new world. For the last couple of years, she thought all of her family was gone, and now, she finds that is not the case. She is learning about her new world, not to mention she finds herself in the middle of planning a unity ceremony with the family of her soon to be mate, who is the Firstborn son of the Great Leader. Can you only imagine all the emotions she has been experiencing? I think she is making a wise decision here.”
“Your mother is right,” Rowan added. “She is undoubtedly a female of strength, and she wants to do the right thing. She has so much to learn, Rayn. It is obvious she adores you. She wears her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see where you are concerned. You do not have to worry that she will be back and ready to be your mate. Right now, I am thinking she is using better judgment than you. Just let her have this time to get to know her newfound family and world,” he said.
“Sharra?” Rayn asked.
“Rayn, you know I would do anything for you, but why do you have to be so dense here? Maddie adores you, and it is obvious to everyone. Mother, why are men so doggedly blind when it comes to females? First, it has been Therron and his blindness regarding Athyna, and now, it is Rayn with Maddie. Yeesh!” Sharra said exasperatingly.
When her comment about Therron and Athyna sunk in, the room exploded with questions, sounding like rapid gunfire. After several moments of utter mayhem, Rowan finally exploded. “Enough! I demand silence!”
He shot a look of exasperation at Sharra who responded by saying, “Well, I certainly let the dog out of the bag with that one!”
Everyone one in the room shot back in unison, “Cat! You let the cat out of the bag!”
“Yes, well that too. Whenever.” she began, and they all retorted, “
Whatever
!”
“Sharra, if you cannot capture the American sayings correctly, can you please refrain from using them?” Rayn requested impatiently.
Therron, who was by now trying to yank his hair out of his own head, took a deep breath and asked sarcastically, “Would one of you please care to explain the meaning of that comment regarding Athyna and me?” He was obviously perplexed, which caused more eye rolling from Sharra.
“My dearest brother of such vast intelligence, to put it plainly, you are a dunce!” Sharra stated. “I have had the pleasure of observing this play out for years, culminating with Rayn’s trial and then Athyna’s stay with us. It would be obvious to anyone that Athyna is wild about you, and, you, my brother, are a total fool; a blind fool at that. For the love of the Divine Being, does that poor female have to throw herself at your feet and beg you to notice her?”
Therron couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It seemed everyone agreed with Sharra and her assessment of this. Therron was always very fond of Athyna, but he assumed she was interested more in Rayn or even Rykerian. They had known each other for as long as he could remember, and they had gone to the academy together. How could this have escaped him?
“I…um…she…er…I guess I never paid attention to her in that regard,” he stammered.
“Oh, is that a fact?” Sharra asked sarcastically.
“Sharra, please stop with your sarcasm. You know how I dislike it. Therron, maybe it is time you should pay closer attention to Athyna. Far be it from me to meddle in your affairs, but you do seem to be a bit obtuse where that female is concerned,” Annalise suggested.
Silence descended on the room, and Rayn thundered out, intent on seeking solace in his own chambers. He was halfway to his room when he heard an enormous crash, followed by Maddie’s curses, another crash, and, finally, a scream.
He ran to the source to see Maddie lying in the corridor amidst two of the shattered marble busts. She was noticeably injured as she was writhing in pain.
He ran to her aide and said, “Are you all right? What happened?”
She groaned and shook her head in response and just kept moaning. Finally, he noted traces of blood on her arm and saw where she must have crashed into the busts. She appeared to have cut herself, but he wondered if she had broken a bone. She seemed to be in a great deal of pain.
He was quickly joined by the rest of the family, where Tesslar used a body scanner on her.
“She has broken her arm and her ankle,” he informed them. “That is why she is in such pain. Rayn, you are going to have to take her to see Julian.”
“Does anyone know what happened?” someone asked.
“She must have crashed into one of the busts.”
“Looks like she crashed into both of them.”
“Maddie, hold on. I have to lift you; I am taking you to see Julian. He can have you fixed up in no time,” Rayn told her.
Maddie was in pain, so much so that she couldn’t speak. She had flown around the corner and tripped on one of the busts and twisted her ankle, which caused her to lose her balance and crash into the second bust. She knocked both of them down, destroying two priceless artifacts; typical Maddie.
Rayn and Maddie teleported to the medical facility, where Julian made his confirmation of Tesslar’s diagnosis. She had, in fact, broken both her ankle and her arm. She had a sizable laceration on her arm as well, along with some deep bruising. Julian used the bone-mending device on her and put her arm and ankle in braces. He also used the device on her laceration and pronounced that she would be back to normal within a few days.
While she was there, he mentioned to both of them that he needed to begin her treatment for slowing down her aging process. Since Vesturions aged much more slowly than their human counterparts, Maddie would need to be treated for this. It would take weekly injections of medication that would increase her bone and muscle density as well. She wondered if this would enable her to move as quickly as Rayn and Julian told her that it would. He also began to discuss with her the placing of the unity markings she would receive at their ceremony. This caused them both to lapse into silence. Finally, Maddie broke the news to Julian about her delaying the ceremony.
If Julian was shocked, he hid it well. Rayn wondered if he was the only one who felt Maddie’s decision wasn’t right. He glanced at Julian to see him gazing intently back at him.
“Rayn, may I have a word in private with you?”
At his request, Rayn followed him to an adjacent room where he inquired if everything was all right.
“It seems I am the only one that thinks this decision of Maddie’s is senseless.”
Julian, being the great listener that he was, let Rayn vent his frustrations. When he finally finished, Julian simply said, “She loves you deeply, and your patience here will be rewarded a hundredfold, Rayn. Do not be hasty in this, as the two of you will have a long and beautiful life together. If you give her this time, she will come to you a more worldly female. And who knows? Maybe a less clumsy one at that!” he finished with a bit of a chuckle.
Rayn couldn’t fault him, but he wished at least one person could see his side.
Julian suggested that Maddie rest for the remainder of the day, and by the next, she should be able to resume her activities. Rayn picked her up, and they teleported back to her chambers, where he tucked her into bed and brought her food and drink. He saw to it that she ate and drank and he stayed by her side until she fell soundly asleep.
* * * * *
Hours later, Maddie awoke in a state of confusion. She couldn’t remember coming to bed, and it was only when she moved and felt the aches in her ankle and arm that she remembered her unfortunate collision with the busts. She heard a light tap on the door and saw Sharra stick her head in.
“Oh, good, you are awake at last.” Sharra sauntered over to the bed and plopped herself down next to Maddie. “How do you feel?” she asked.
“Like a clumsy fool. I’ve made a mess of things again.” Maddie frowned and let her anger show as she rubbed her temples.
“Do not concern yourself. It is not a big dally.”
“You mean ‘deal,’ don’t you?”
“Yes, well that too. Anyway, the busts were not the ones we are fond of, and I have always said there are entirely too many of them here anyway. Besides, who wants to look at statues of dead people all the time?” Sharra decided to waste no time with her news, so she blurted out, “I have come to say good-bye, sister.”
“What do you mean ‘good-bye’?” Maddie asked, clearly alarmed.
Sharra explained that they had to return to Earth. “We do have our duties to see to, and we never expected to even stay this long.”
“I never thought about that.” Maddie couldn’t imagine life without Sharra and the rest of the clan.
“Is everyone going?” She wanted to ask about Rayn, but somehow, she was afraid.
“If you mean Rayn, then yes, but do not worry, Maddie. If you need us, any of us, just send thoughts our way, and we can answer you quickly. We can even teleport here if necessary,” she added.
“I don’t know what I’ll do without you, Sharra. You’ve been my best friend and sister. I…” She couldn’t continue, as her voice would give her sadness away. She swallowed the lump in her throat trying her best to keep her tears at bay.
“You can come to visit any time you want, you know. It is not like we will be that far away. Well, on second thought, I guess we will be far away after all, but we have our Vesturion tech, which makes it seem not so far,” she said with a wink.
Maddie thought about everything for a minute and how different her life was now.
“Is Rayn…?”
Sharra quickly interrupted her, “He is right outside the door and has been since you fell asleep. He has been pacing the halls, guarding the door like a caged kitty.”
“Tiger, Sharra. A caged tiger.”
“Yes, well that too. Anyway, he is acting as if you are in some kind of danger here. I thought I was going to have to beat him senseless to come in here!”
“He does have his protective instincts, doesn’t he?”
“Newsflash, Maddie: he is like your bodyguard. I wonder if anyone will ever feel that way about me,” she asked aloud.
Maddie didn’t quite know how to respond. On one hand, she loved it that Rayn felt so protective of her, but on the other hand, it made her guilt increase a hundred fold.
“One day, you will meet your Prince Charming, and your world will turn upside down, Sharra.”
Sharra reached over and gave Maddie a huge hug. “Take care, my true sister, and do not forget: I am your unity celebration planner. Do not take too long. I do not want all my ideas to go to waste! I am excited to get back to Earth so that I can watch some of the TV shows about weddings, especially Say Yes to the Dress and Bridezilla. That will help me come up with some extraordinary ideas for you!”
She hopped up and was out the door in a flash. Maddie had a fleeting moment of regret, but her thoughts were interrupted by Rykerian, Tesslar, Xarrid, and Therron.
“We wanted to see how you were doing, and my brothers wanted to tell you good-bye, Maddie.” Therron was the spokesperson. “I will be staying for a short while to take care of some an issue that needs resolving.”
Maddie didn’t know to what he was referring. She was truly remorseful over the way things turned out and blurted out to them, “I hope you all don’t hate me too much!”
“We most assuredly could never hate you, Maddie,” Therron replied. He went on to ease her mind about that and went so far as to tell her that they all agreed with her decision. She and Rayn could share a lifetime together. To wait a bit longer would only strengthen her, and in turn, it would strengthen their bond. Then, he shocked her by filling her in on how Annalise and Rowan supported her decision. They both told Rayn he was being a dunce.
Maddie got a good chuckle out of that. “A dunce, huh?”
Therron nodded, and then, he added, “Well, admittedly, I was also called a dunce by Sharra.”
Maddie gave him a questioning look.
“I can tell you about it later. My brothers must leave now. Sharra has gone on ahead to the Star Transporter to ready the ship so that we can be on our way. If you need us, you only have to think of us. Take care, little one, and I will be checking on you later,” Therron said. They each gave her a hug and filed out of the room.
Finally, it was Rayn’s turn to come in.
“How are your ankle and arm feeling?” he quietly asked.
“They have been better, but thank you for coming to my rescue again. I cannot believe I did all of that. I guess I was preoccupied and in a hurry. I am so very sorry about the busts. What can I do to replace them?” she wanted to know.
“Yes, well those were sort of ancient and just maybe a bit irreplaceable,” he said sheepishly.
“Oh, no! Now I’m sure your parents really hate me!” She looked up at him in remorse.
“No, they do not hate you at all. Truthfully, they think you are making a very wise decision here,” he informed her.
“I don’t mean about us! I mean about how I destroyed the busts!”
“Do not worry about those. I am just glad you will be back to yourself by tomorrow. We have plenty of busts in the house, and there were too many anyway,” he said with a smile.
“Will I ever quit making a mess of things?”
“I hope not! Maddie, you have a way of keeping things interesting!” His eyes locked onto hers, and he was silent for a moment.
Maddie was thinking about how kind he was—kind and considerate, drop dead gorgeous, and completely unselfish.
“Why would you think I could ever be anything less to you, Maddie?” he asked, reading her thoughts.
She would probably never get used to the telepathy thing, but she answered him by saying, “Because I’ve made a mess of things and hurt you terribly. I would want to hurt me back if I were you.”
“No, you would never do such a thing. Anyway, it is time for me to leave. You know we are headed back to Earth now. You know how to reach me if you need me, and I will try my best not to send many thoughts your way. However, sometimes, I may not be able to help myself.”