The light of a bright yellow sun shone down upon it, illuminating the interior of the building through tall, wide doors and windows, splashing across a floor paved with colored stones.
Beyond the structure to the east, a young city budded from a flat, green plane.
The air was clean and sweet, the sky bright turquoise.
“Itisbeautiful!” Dalia exclaimed, turning to encompass Reuel with her smile of appreciation.
Pierce’s face was taut when they reached him. With an effort, he disengaged his gaze from Reuel’s challenging one and looked down at her. “If you don’t need me, I should go, I think,” he said stiffly.
Dalia grasped his hand, stopping him. Shaking her head ever so slightly, she smiled at him coaxingly. “Reuel offered to show us the city. You’re not going to run off?”
Pierce glanced from her hopeful face to Reuel’s unwelcoming one. Finally, grinning, he looped his arm through hers. “It doesn’t look like a complicated layout. I expect we can find our own way around.”
Reuel’s eyes narrowed. Matching his pace to theirs, he caught Dalia’s other hand and looped it through his arm. The two men exchanged challenging glances above her head.
Dalia tugged at both of them. “What is this building? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Smiling in a faintly triumphant way, Reuel glanced down at her. “I designed it after an ancient human structure. I made some modifications, naturally.”
“I couldn’t help but notice you have a ... passion for ancient things.”
Reuel sent her a smoldering glance. “I have a passion for beautiful things.”
She could hear Pierce grinding his teeth. “It doesn’t look very practical. I’d think it would take a great deal of energy to keep this comfortable. It wouldn’t meet the conservation laws of the confederation.”
“Human laws do not apply to us. In any case, it is very efficient. It uses virtually no energy to maintain the comfort level because this area we chose to build our city has very little fluctuation in temperatures throughout the year. We wanted to build a city that was beautiful and preserve the natural beauty of our world at the same time, not despoil it as the humans did theirs. Every effort has been made to incorporate the latest conservation technology, because it is wiser to do so than wait until there is no choice.”
Dalia sighed with a touch of impatience as they strolled through the structure and out the other side. It seemed likely that Reuel and Pierce would be snipping at one another throughout the tour, but she decided she wasn’t going to choose between them and hurt one to please the other, or allow them to spoil her enjoyment.
Determinedly, she forged onward as they left the building and started along the stone paved road that led to the city. She began to tire, however, long before they reached the outskirts, the muscles in her distended belly straining from the walk. Tugging her hands free, she slipped one beneath the weight to support it, rubbing her aching muscles absently with the other.
Chapter Eighteen
“What’s wrong?” Reuel and Pierce demanded in stereo.
“Nothing!” she said irritably, struggling to maintain an even breath and wondering why she felt as if she were climbing when the road seemed perfectly flat.
Reuel stopped, glancing from the building they’d just left to the city. “You’re tired?” he asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
Dalia gave him a narrow eyed glare. “Try strapping twenty pounds to your cock and carrying it around!” she snapped.
Pierce let out a bark of laughter before he apparently thought better of it. She sent him an evil look. He lifted his brows, assuming a carefully neutral expression. When she glanced back at Reuel, she saw his lips were twitching on the verge of a smile. Quite suddenly, despite the throbbing ache in her back and stomach, Dalia chuckled. “Sorry. It hurts, damn it.”
Without a word, Reuel scooped her into his arms.
Pierce glared at both of them, but Dalia found she was too relieved to be off her feet to worry about the prick to his ego at the moment. “I don’t suppose there’s any ground transportation?” he said tightly.
Reuel glanced at him. “I have personal transport,” he said slowly. “But it’s across the city, at my home.”
“Not very helpful. Why don’t you let me take her and you go get the transport?”
Reuel’s face darkened. “I can carry her.”
“She’d be more comfortable in a transport on a padded seat, though, wouldn’t you?”
Dalia glared at both of them. “It would serve you both right if I dropped this thing right here!”
A look of horror washed across both men’s faces as they looked at each other sharply. “Majia’s balls! You’re not going to, though, right?” Pierce exclaimed.
