“If I tell Thalassa you go to a battlefront while pregnant, she will come to admire you greatly.”
“Really?”
“Women on my planet do not have children. They expect it to weaken them. She will see you are still strong and not mistake you for a weak female like some of the other species.”
“Some of the others?”
“Sorry, you are not accustomed to different species. Soon that will change, sweetling.”
He kissed the top of my head.
“What are we going to do this morning?”
“In two hours, we will land on the planet’s surface and I’ll take you to my estate.”
“Your estate?”
“I’ve been alive a long time. In that time, I’ve managed to do quite well.”
“As a soldier?”
“Not quite. We are considered Lords and Ladies, descending from priests and priestesses of Devor, the last heirs to the Thessal province.”
“The Thessal province,” I played with the words, understanding that this province he spoke of could be my future home. It most likely would be where I spent my future, with this child that I was expecting.
And perhaps another? Was that what the dream meant? I wasn’t quite sure. I asked Kronos to tell me more about the planet and he indulged me in excitement about the snow and ice on the planet. I couldn’t imagine a world that dark, a world that blue. I curled up in Kronos’ arms. I could listen to him forever.
I must have drifted off to sleep again. This pregnancy appeared to be having that effect on me, although I was pleased with the absence of morning sickness which my mama and grandma had both suffered from.
“We’re here,” Kronos said, “On my planet.”
“Already?”
“You were asleep for a while. It was nice. You were having a dream.”
“You could sense all that?”
“And more.”
“Like what?”
“Your feelings. How they’ve grown.”
He lifted me off the bed and pressed me against the wall for a kiss before setting me down.
“Come. You will need furs if you must descend to the surface.”
“Come on, it can’t be worse than Alaska?”
“It can be worse, sweetling. Now come.”
Kronos led me proudly to a room with three attendants. They were tall men, dressed in white, moving silently around me, taking measurements and then programming the specifications for my robes. They first slipped me into a wool body suit of thin fleece, then leggings as soft as cashmere. They sized me for boots made of a leathery brown substance, moisture wicking by nature. My tunic was made from an equally soft wrap and then they placed a large brown fur coat over my shoulders.
I held my head high as they attached a brown fur hood to the coat and helped my hands into red gloves.
“You look beautiful. Perfect for a Devoran lady.”
The attendants were uncomfortable with Kronos’ “boisterous” verbal speech, but they’d all been told by then that this was my preferred way to communicate. Once I wasprepared, Kronos fit into furs of his own. His coat was pure white, a thick glistening wool.
